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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Adventure: The Power of Knowledge (DM: Fragsie, Judge: TwoHeadsBarking)
- Thread starter Fragsie
- Start date
Shane shakes himself free from his stricken reverie and crosses to the altar. "I'll agree with Andrec" Shane bends over the wasted bodies of the minotaurs. "I think there's little I can do for them except keep them comfortable while we track down the ones who stole their strength."
[sblock=heal]
Heal check (1d20+11=16)
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[sblock=heal]
Heal check (1d20+11=16)
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Fragsie
Explorer
Kargh chuckles a little at Mikara's fumbled pronunciation "A 'Vy-ad-han' is like a cadre of hunters, yet with the bonds of brotherhood. In our tribe a vyadhan is chosen every ten cycles to be sent out of the blessed lands to learn. We have been in your lands for nearly eight years now, and this is the first time that I feel that I have let them down."
"Well how were you captured anyways? I mean, from all the tales that I have heard about your kind... Minotaurs, I mean... you have innate underground direction senses, and can never get lost. So how was it that you were defeated in battle (unlikely I think), or how were you ambushed? Knowing this may give us an edge on what to expect from the next set of idiots we slaugh--- er, deal with."
Fragsie
Explorer
"It is a strange tale, I would maybe not believe it myself if I had not lived it. It took us a while to find this shrine; a sacred place to my people from long before the Allarians came to this isle.
We entered, lit the braziers and began to pray. after a while we were all overcome by the feeling of a great presence; one of strength and love, and we took it for Maraz the Great Hunter blessing us with his power. A belief that was; we thought, confirmed when three cowled priests bearing His symbol entered the shrine behind us.
Then, we heard a voice, a voice so powerful that the ground seemed to shake with its authority, so pure that a tear came to my eye at its delicacy. The voice said 'Give me your devotion and your strength shall be tenfold.' and then form the stairs," Kargh points to the steps with a strange look in his eyes, "Came a being the like of which I have never seen before, like the light of the gods wrapped within human flesh. This pure warrior child shone with divine brilliance, and when he opened his mouth, the voice of heaven issued from it; 'Do you love me?' he asked, 'yes' we replied.
As we knelt before him, the angel touched us each with a brand singing all the while with his innocent voice, and we felt pain; but, I thought, that is the way of Maraz, strength comes through understanding of pain. I was wrong however, slowly, we began to wither and fall. As the strongest I suppose I was the last to succumb and before I slipped into laboured sleep I saw the brand carried and set upon the flesh of those robed in false priests clothes and those men cried in ecstasy even as my cry had no strength to leave my throat. That is the last that I remember before waking to a vision of this scaly warrior." Kargh thumps Skalisss on the back in what is obviously meant to be a show of camaraderie, the force of the blow almost knocks the dragonborn from his feet however.
We entered, lit the braziers and began to pray. after a while we were all overcome by the feeling of a great presence; one of strength and love, and we took it for Maraz the Great Hunter blessing us with his power. A belief that was; we thought, confirmed when three cowled priests bearing His symbol entered the shrine behind us.
Then, we heard a voice, a voice so powerful that the ground seemed to shake with its authority, so pure that a tear came to my eye at its delicacy. The voice said 'Give me your devotion and your strength shall be tenfold.' and then form the stairs," Kargh points to the steps with a strange look in his eyes, "Came a being the like of which I have never seen before, like the light of the gods wrapped within human flesh. This pure warrior child shone with divine brilliance, and when he opened his mouth, the voice of heaven issued from it; 'Do you love me?' he asked, 'yes' we replied.
As we knelt before him, the angel touched us each with a brand singing all the while with his innocent voice, and we felt pain; but, I thought, that is the way of Maraz, strength comes through understanding of pain. I was wrong however, slowly, we began to wither and fall. As the strongest I suppose I was the last to succumb and before I slipped into laboured sleep I saw the brand carried and set upon the flesh of those robed in false priests clothes and those men cried in ecstasy even as my cry had no strength to leave my throat. That is the last that I remember before waking to a vision of this scaly warrior." Kargh thumps Skalisss on the back in what is obviously meant to be a show of camaraderie, the force of the blow almost knocks the dragonborn from his feet however.
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Mikara paces around and fidgets with her dagger. It was as if she didn't quite know where to go from here and was trying to work it out. After a couple of minutes she responds to the gladiator leader.
"Well, that sounds like my kind of deception!... no offense, but it does seem like we'll have to deal with all of the others that were branded, and maybe that glowing warrior you talked about too. If that's the case, we'd better try to get a better idea of where each of these guys are. Do you remember how many of those 'priests' got branded? Did you get a chance to see which way they went before you passed out?"
"Well, that sounds like my kind of deception!... no offense, but it does seem like we'll have to deal with all of the others that were branded, and maybe that glowing warrior you talked about too. If that's the case, we'd better try to get a better idea of where each of these guys are. Do you remember how many of those 'priests' got branded? Did you get a chance to see which way they went before you passed out?"
Fragsie
Explorer
"I fell unconscious as the third of them was branded, what happened next, or where they went I have no idea, sorry." The minotaur seems genuinely aggrieved that he cannot help more.
[sblock=Passive Insight 15]It is clear that Kargh feels a lot of guilt for allowing what has happened to his Vyadhan to occur without having fought to protect them.[/sblock]
[sblock=Passive Insight 15]It is clear that Kargh feels a lot of guilt for allowing what has happened to his Vyadhan to occur without having fought to protect them.[/sblock]
mohalloran
First Post
After looking around and then listening to the minotaur's story, Ceryx heads over to Tomas to take a close look at the brand. Committing it to memory, he then looks over to Kargh. "You know, it would help quite a bit if you could tell us what these false priests looked like. Any distinguising features would be nice, hair color, height, race, anything of the sort. Also, you said there were 3 false priests, and yet, there are 4 of you on the floor in pain. I guess we can then assume that the glowing person was either branded as well, or there is a 4th priest that you didn't see yourself. Please, tell me, was this one of the 3 men you saw before falling unconscious?" And with that, Ceryx points at Tomas.
"All, there is no time to waste in this shrine. Once again, I think it's best we go into the old area with whatever description of these criminals we can get from our friend here and start searching for leads as to where these men have gone. Of course, I guess we could also look for leads here as well. But we do have a time limit, and I'm sure that Mr. Pinch would love to have his fighters back and ready for action before their scheduled bout. I guess the only question is whether we should take these 4 back to Pinch first and then go searching, thereby getting the reward and also getting these 4 to somewhere safe. I'm sure Mr. Pinch would look after them."
"All, there is no time to waste in this shrine. Once again, I think it's best we go into the old area with whatever description of these criminals we can get from our friend here and start searching for leads as to where these men have gone. Of course, I guess we could also look for leads here as well. But we do have a time limit, and I'm sure that Mr. Pinch would love to have his fighters back and ready for action before their scheduled bout. I guess the only question is whether we should take these 4 back to Pinch first and then go searching, thereby getting the reward and also getting these 4 to somewhere safe. I'm sure Mr. Pinch would look after them."
Fragsie
Explorer
Kargh considers Ceryx before answering him, the curiosity in his eyes suggests that this is the first deva he has ever seen in real life. "As I said holy one..." The minotaur bows awkwardly, "...The false priests were hooded, I did not see thier faces, nor thier hair. From his height however this man could have easily been one of them, another was of the same height, and the third was shorter, and slighter, it could have been a woman or an elf, or both for that matter!"
While looking at rune upon Tomas' body Ceryx notices that it appears more like a faded tattoo than the brands that are upon the minotaurs, though the complex shape of the rune is most certainly identical.
//knowledge checks could possibly reveal more about the rune.//
Ceryx also notes the chain gripped in the fallen criminal's hand and realises that no one has looked for valuables on the bodies of their enemies yet.
While looking at rune upon Tomas' body Ceryx notices that it appears more like a faded tattoo than the brands that are upon the minotaurs, though the complex shape of the rune is most certainly identical.
//knowledge checks could possibly reveal more about the rune.//
Ceryx also notes the chain gripped in the fallen criminal's hand and realises that no one has looked for valuables on the bodies of their enemies yet.
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