(CSRHoD) Creamsteak's Red Hand of Doom [IC]

[Creamsteak]

[sblock=Warren]While inspecting the owlbear statue in the middle of the main room it becomes apparent to you that this isn't any sort of statue, but rather a real one stuffed and preserved. Quite the unusual toy.

Further, while inspecting the strange equipment at the top of the tower, you can determine that there's nothing magical about the contraption. Rather, it looks like the hobgoblins were setting up the entire display intentionally. It looks like they wanted to scare off any passers-by.[/sblock]

The keep is chilly already as night approaches. There's not much in the way of protection from the elements. Every room has holes in it in some form. The map room (15 foot by 10 feet) is the best protected from the elements, followed by Koth's room (the lower part of the tower). The draft there comes from the stairs leading up to the tower above, and is quite significant, but you might be able to improve upon that situation by sealing the exit somehow, perhaps uprooting one of the working doors and forming a cover of sorts.

The manticore's room is also somewhat livable, as is the goblin bedding, but these rooms are filthy and somewhat cold, in the manticore's case the room is littered with sharp spikes from the creature's tail.

 

[pathfinderq1]

Once she saw Avril bring Jorr and the horses in Tyrla made her way down from the tower for a while. Several of the others seemed occupied with a new-found map, and now seemed like areasonable time to decide upon their next actions. "Do we want to camp here tonight?," she asked the group. "We need the rest, and this seems like the best shelter we're going to find. Once we wake in the morning we can decide whether to head back to Drellins Ferry or press on to see if we can impede this apparent invasion..."

 

[Redclaw]

Larian moves away from the table for a moment to look at the two rooms with a discerning eye. That seems like the best idea. It should give us a chance to better understand the map, and to search for the vault our map hints at. This is far from the most enjoyable waystation for a night's recovery, but it far exceeds the comfort of the open road.

 

[Pinotage]

Avril - Human Druid - AC 18 - hp 31/36 - Spot +11 - Listen +11
Scarlet - Riding Dog - AC 25 - hp 28/30 - Spot +5 - Listen +5

Once Avril had seen to the horses and tied them down outside the camp where they could graze on the nearby plant-life, she entered the keep again and joined the others in the map room, Scarlet not far behind.

"I agree," she said, "We should spend the night here. It'll be more shelter than we can get elsewhere, and besides, should more hobgoblins or goblins arrive, we can perhaps capture one for questioning, or at least stop them from getting news out that this keep has fallen. And, as rightly pointed out, it gives us a chance to have a look for this hidden vault around the keep. My guess would be a hidden trapdoor of some sort."

Turning to Jorr, she asked, "What do you think about this army? You know the area better than we do. Can you offer and suggestions?"

[SBLOCK=OOC]
OOC:

Spells and Abilities Active:

Barkskin (Avril, Scarlet, +2 AC, 50 minutes)

Spells Cast and Abilities/Items Used:

Summon Nature's Ally III (Call Lightning)
Cure Moderate Wounds
Wild Shape (1 Used)
Metamagic Rod of Lesser Extend (2 Used)
Barkskin
Extended Cat's Grace
Extended Produce Flame
Cure Light Wounds
Bear's Endurance

Spells Prepared:

Level 0 (5): Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Guidance, Naturewatch, Resistance
Level 1 (4): Enrage Animal, Entangle
Level 2 (3):
Level 3 (2):
[/SBLOCK]

 

[Creamsteak]

Jorr, upon being escorted into the keep and seeing the numerous goblin bodies, the worgs, the manticore, and the minotaur he seems to scratch his head hard enough to uproot some of his greying hair. "By the wilds, all that noise, I thought it sounded like a war. I guess it was."

Turning to Jorr, she asked, "What do you think about this army? You know the area better than we do. Can you offer and suggestions?"

"Well... this map matches my understanding of the vale pretty damn well. A map is just a map though. There's no way to tell how many gobos and other monsters were talking about with this." He turns to Larian expecting the elf to know a bit better than himself about that last comment. "There have always been more goblins in those mountains. Even when the dwarves ruled over this whole vale, the goblins still outnumbered them 2 to 1. They were only a threat when they had a powerful leader though. They have tribes and clans, and when groups of those follow the same banner they can cause quite the mess. My grandfather was around during their last incursion. Some great chief led an attack on the vale that destroyed the bridge that used to exist around Drellin's Ferry, but that's as far as they got. Rumors were that when that chief went back to the mountains, the tribes that hadn't joined him took that opportunity to kill him and subsume his tribe."

Looking at the map, Jorr points to the name Kharn. "That name... that's one that sticks to the mouth. And it says right here in that the goblin armies gather under him... he's probably their warchief. If you cut down their leader, they'll cut each other to bits before they do anything to the vale."

He looks around the castle. "You know, I've never been this close. We always stayed away from the place because it's haunted, but up close, besides the bodies, this isn't so bad."

 

[Dalamar]

"The blessing of Kord makes me strong, but I hesitate to challenge someone who has managed to overpower several tribes of goblinoids," Shiobhan says. "We would be better served by driving a wedge between them and their goal. The critters should turn on themselves given time."

 

[Redclaw]

You speak wisely, good huntsman. History is full of savage humanoids united under a single, powerful leader. Sadly such unions often end in suffering for those around them. There simply is no way for them to support themselves in such numbers without taking from those unable to fend them off. Here he looks sadly at the map and at Jorr. That bodes poorly for the fine folk of the Vale, I fear.

 

[Dalamar]

"We need to settle down for the night. We can settle on what we do come morning," Siobhan says, noting that the day is coming to an end. "I would suggest the minotaur's room, as it has several exits in case we do get attacked during our rest."

 

[Creamsteak]

(Right from one battle into another? What's wrong with me?)

Warren and Larian are hard at work trying to uncover this rumored vault. Sadly the map doesn't specify where this vault really is. As they work, the group sets up camp in the keep with some debate over where to set up. The chill of night is harsher than usual tonight, and the wind seems to rip right through the stone walls of the keep.

After a while Jorr curses a bit, "This is horrible. I havn't had a night like this during the summer... ever."

Some time passes at night, watches change, people move in and out.

Poor Gurguannin seems particularly disturbed during the night. "Somethin' ain't right about this place. Somethin familiar, but I can't place it."

While you camp in the south-west building or the tower, in the very early hours of morning, sounds alert those on watch. Bone scraping on stone, then wood breaking on earth. Suddenly the crash of stone on stone wakes those few that were sleeping. A boulder, like the ones in the courtyard, crashes into the side of the main building and breaks through the wall, then making a loud crack and thud as it lands on the stone inside the building.

Outside, through the hole, you can make out the appearance of a large skeletal figure - it's the bones from inside the courtyard - but clearly something has disturbed these old bones and now they move with some dark intent.

Initiatives
Larian 22
Avril 19
Gurguannin 17
Skeletons 15
Siobhan 15
Tiefling 13
Warren 10

You can choose to start your action from any square within the red borders.

 

[Redclaw]

Larian--Transmuter 5--AC 13--HP 25--Fort +2/Ref +_4/Will +4

Larian, breaking out of his reverie, stares grogily out at the moving skeleton. I'm afraid I won't be much help in this battle, my friends. I'm mostly tapped out. Here, Gurguannin. The one thing I can do is add to your strength. With that he reaches for the dwarf, gestures and intones the word, Bovires
[sblock=ooc] cast bull's strenght on Gurguannin, +4 str for 5 minutes [/sblock]

[sblock=spells]Spells Prepared
0-Detect Magic, Lesser Acid Orb, Mage Hand, Daze
1-Color Spray
2-
3-Mass Resist Energy

Spells in effect

Rod of Extend--1 uses left
Pearl of Power--used [/sblock]