[KAUAI]The Rod of Seven Parts: Of Hexes and Gems

[CanadienneBacon]

Mazzel shakes his head no. "I don't know nothin' about their slimy frog god and I don't think I wanna."

All: If your character took any of the goods offered from Mazzel's chests, please declare what items and how many of each were taken by your PC.

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

Gamad

Gamad takes tindertwig, empty waterskin and the jar of mushrooms. He'll inspect the mushrooms later.
Upon arriving to the cliff, he tries to spot an easy route up.
I need a rope to climb.
He says while eying the foot and handholds

 

[SlagMortar]

Mazzel crosses the room and roots through a shelf, sending a spray of knick knacks off to the side to clatter on the floor. Triumphantly holding up a scroll tube, the gnome jabs goodnaturedly at Brakkus. "Here now, just a little something, but maybe you'll find it useful sometime. Think there might be a Nahal's reckless dweomer and maybe something else in there, not sure."

Brakkus takes the scroll tube, but says, "Here Gamad, see what you can make of this. I'm afraid I'm not as scholarly as Mr. Voadam."

Brakkus eyes the equipment, regretting now that Chop Liver isn't here. It all looks like it could come in handy. He picks up one of the coils of rope and settles it over one shoulder, ties the grappling hook to a strap on his back back, tucks two of the torches in a side pouch, and puts the climber's kit in the main compartment. He works the hooded lantern in the main compartment as well and puts two pints of oil in the other side pouch.

As he lifts his now heavy pack, he groans a bit, not so much from the pack itself, but the pack coupled with the rest of his equipment is a pretty heavy load.

"Someone should grab the rest of that oil, in case the trees decide to throw us out."

The climb looks steep but there are natural hand and footholds in the rock.

Brakkus unslings the rope and begins fastening the grappling hook to the end. If anyone volunteers to climb up to secure the rope instead, he'll hand the rope to them. Otherwise, he'll begin flinging the grappling hook on a wing and a prayer up the cliff, hoping it manages to snag a good hold. (DC 14 vs Brakkus's use rope +2).

OOC: Brakkus has a backpack, but it was essentially empty. I think those things should fit. Brakkus added 20 lbs of equipment. He is still at a medium load.

 

[Ambrus]

From his hiding spot in the stairs leading up, the Gudwulf warrior listens intently to the discourse in the burrow's main room. When the mongrels lead his allies into their storage room Maelicent takes the opportunity to steal into the area they'd just vacated. Finding a hiding spot isn't difficult amongst the room's clutter and the goblin once more takes up a silent vigil as he peers around the burrow curiously. Once his allies have collected their new equipment, Maelicent waits in hiding as the mongrels lead the giant-kin back through the main room and up the stairs to the forest above. Now alone, the wily goblin steals into the storeroom to plunder what was freely offered to his allies. Taking what, to his eyes, appear mysterious and magical the Gudwulf warrior snatches up a bundle of delicate but surprisingly sturdy silk rope, the odd telescoping pole, the sack of caltrops and as many of the odd alchemical wands as are left. On the way back out, the goblin snatches up whatever foodstuff is left in the main room.

Returning to the surface above, Maelicent pauses to sniff the dusk air and listen for his allies and their mongrel guides. Easily determining which way they've headed, the goblin takes advantage of the nearness to his hovel to execute a quick stop-over. Accessing one of his many secret hiding spots (out of sight of the prying trees outside) Maelicent quickly stashes the two Al'miraj horns along with the surprisingly heavy bag of caltrops for later retrieval.

With the mongrel-folk leading his allies on their winding route, the Gudwulf warrior has little trouble locating and catching up with the wandering group moving through his territory. Once within a few dozen yards, the goblin slows down and begins stepping softly as he resumes shadowing the party.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Brakkus secures the grappling hook to the end of a length of rope and, seeing that no one volunteers to be the first to make the climb, tosses the hook over the cliff face. On his first try, the grappling hook flies into the air and latches securely onto the back of a heavy boulder. Giving the rope a hard tug or three to test how much weight the hook will hold, Brakkus sees that even his weight won't strain the rope's capacity. The hook has a good hold.

Voadam is the first to step forward to make the climb. Aided by both the natural hand- and footholds in the rock and the rope thrown up by Brakkus, Voadam easily makes the climb and is soon standing atop a 4-foot wide ledge most of the way up the cliff. From his stance, Voadam can see that the grappling hook is indeed securely wedged on a boulder. Behind him, a narrow crack in the cliff face looks out over the forest beyond. A small creature might be able to squeeze through the crack, but certainly no one larger, at least not without widening the hole.

Down below, Mazzel nods enthusiastically and points up at Voadam. "Aye, he's standing just in front of the cave mouth just now. You'll have to figger out how to get the largest of your number in through there, but that's the only entrance that I know of. Once you're in, the gear we left's stowed safely in a hidden cubby, there's a pool in there--don't touch it or look too closely at it!--and then there's the entrance to the passageway."

Gamad is next to climb up. Halfway up the short but steep cliff, Gamad looses his balance and almost falls, but at the last moment grabs hold of a bit of protruding rock and steadies himself. Hanging on for dear life for several long seconds and then firmly ensconcing himself part of the way up the rock, Gamad fails to make any forward progress for a long minute. At the last, Voadam hauls a frozen Gamad hand-over-hand while Gamad clings to the rope. The dwarf makes it up in the end none the worse for the wear, and Voadam lowers the rope, being careful not to disturb its purchase on the boulder.

Chev climbs up without incident, and soon enough only Brakkus and Maelicent are left below with Mazzel, Dungeddin, Fognewtin, and Thisbe the badger.

 

[Ambrus]

Maelicent watches the giant-kin lodge a grapple and systematically begin climbing the small outcrop. Too proud to step forward in front of the three smiling mongrels, the Gudwulf warrior stealthily circles around the group to approach the outcrop from the backside. As Gamad attempts his ascent, the goblin scouts about for a few moments to pick a good spot before attempting to climb freely up the rock-face. Taking advantage of his darkvision in the waining light Maelicent attempts to approach the opening from over the top of the outcrop.

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

Gamad

Gamad curse loudly and then inspect the view from the ledge.
Oh.. The scroll tube.
Now that he remembers, he takes out the tube Brakkus gave him and inspect the content

 

[CanadienneBacon]

By sheer weight of will and wily fingers that search out the smallest of hand- and footholds, Maelicent makes the climb of his own accord up the backside of the rock outcropping. The goblin is soon at the very top of the back of the cliff, but then is faced with a drop down to the ledge where the giant-kin stand. The drop is only 10 feet but is vertical. There are some hand- and footholds, but not as many or nearly so conveniently placed as the lower rock. While definitely possible, the climb looks to be more difficult. The view from up high, however, is a wonder. Maelicent spies all of the forest spread before him in the waning light of the day and can even see past the keep's inner bailey. The keep's inner grounds look manicured, very unlike the rest of the wildly overgrown citadel grounds. Off to the south, what must be Bathmere spoken of by the mongrel glistens in the setting sunlight. The rest of the city is spread like a fan to the south, and the folk walking the numerous byways seem like ants from Maelicent's upper perch.

Looking down, though, Maelicent is again confronted with the dilemna of how to get down to the ledge. To climb, or do simply drop and risk a bad fall?

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Gamad extracts the scroll tube and, opening the leather compartment, withdraws and uncoils a single length of parchment. Three separate spells, written using script and symbols, line the parchment. There's magic on the paper, alright, but try as he might using his training in spellcraft, Gamad is unable to discern the magic's nature without first casting a read magic spell.

 

[Ambrus]

Maelicent takes a few moments up top to catch his breath and admire the view. The only other place which afforded such an unobstructed view of the grounds, inner bailey and city beyond was from the vantage of the top of the outer curtain wall near his hovel; a place he'd spent many long nights since laying claim to his territory. Ready to resume his exploration, the goblin uncoils his rope and loosely loops it around a solid stone outcrop or tree stump. Taking both ends in hand, the Gudwulf warrior takes the measure of the ledge below him and, trying to use the jutting ledge to cover his descent from the mongrels down below, kicks off. Maelicent deftly repels down the few feet to the ledge below. Once he reaches the ledge Maelicent let's go of one end and uses the other to pull the full length of the rope down. Recoiling the length of rope and looping it across his chest, Maelicent takes his bow back in hand and takes a closer look at the small opening in the rock face, curious to spy to catch a glimpse of the inner cave.