[LPF] Greener is the Grass

[jbear]

Maui arms his shield and draws his blade. "Aoro should stay with te horses." He leads his horse to the Goti scout and offer him the reigns. He then moves to follow the trail towards certain violence that Boots and Taniwha have discovered. "Tane protect us" he prays.

[sblock=ooc Maui casts Guidance and will keep doing this as the near the danger.

Are we going to have Sylla scout with stealth so we can prepare/power up before we move into attack? [/sblock]

 

[GlassEye]

The trail is fresh, which doesn't seem to make sense with the state of decay of the messenger. Boots' best guess is that the bandits are a good lope away which seems to mean that they are within an hour but how far ultimately depends upon how fast both groups are traveling. Unfortunately the grasslands in this area are rolling and getting rougher and you are unable to just look out over the plain to spot your quarry or their camp like would be possible closer to the heart of the grasslands.

GM: Let me know how you are proceeding...

 

[GlassEye]

Denizel peruses the sheaf of papers he has managed to collect from the grass, eyes agleam with magics to enhance his comprehension of the unknown language as he skims for important or interesting information. The papers seem to be a mixed lot: a letter from the huntmaster's wife to a cousin in Hammerhall, filled with gossip about some place called Dyrstan, in particular the wayward exploits of a nephew of the lord of the keep; a letter from said lord, Hranmark Strongarm, filled with excuses of bandits, brigands, and the predations of an ogre down from the Seithr as a reason for not sending warriors to fulfill his contractual service to the lord of Hammerhall; declarations of devotion from a love-lorn warrior of Hranmark's warband with absolutely no talent for poetry; much more but from what Denizel can tell with a quick read the boring mundanity of life in the grasslands of the Pell.

 

[Systole]

"We should ride them down. A foe like this, it is better to simply meet in force. If this thing we hunt turns out to be stealthier than Boots..."

"Hey, I'm pretty sneaky!"

Sylla glares him into silence before continuing. "If it turns out to be stealthier than Boots, we'll be scattered when it attacks. My magics will be partially wasted. So will Denizel's. We saw that in the battle with Juhelos. Better to ride together and have a sure advantage."

[sblock=OOC]Would rather stay together to we can hit everyone with a Haste this time. I also don't like stealth here because I have a bad feeling it's a one-round KO if someone gets caught alone.

Sylla will also cast Barkskin and Unfetter. She'll renew them if it takes longer than an hour to get to the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny.[/sblock][sblock=Mini Stats]

Sylla the Grim
AC: 18 (14 flat-footed, 14 touch)
HP: 40/40
CMB: +6 CMD: 20
Fort: +2 Reflex: +6 Will: +5 (All saves +2 when adjacent to Boots)
Perception: +6, Low Light Vision
Initiative: +4
Current Weapon in Hand: Cestus (+6, 1d4+2, 19-20x2) & Longbow (+7/+7 or +9, 1d8+3, 20x3)
Current Conditions in Effect: None
Spells Remaining (1st): 4/5
Spells Remaining (2nd): 3/4

Boots
AC: 23 [30] (20 [27] flat-footed, 13 touch)
HP: 52/52
CMB: +10 CMD: 23 (27 vs. trip)
Fort: +6 Reflex: +7 Will: +1 (+5 vs. enchantment)
Perception: +7, Darkvision 60', Scent
Initiative: +3
Current Weapon in Hand: Natural weapons (+8/+8/+8, 1d6+9, 20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: Power Attack, Unfetter, Mage Armor +4, Barkskin +3

Used Items:
Mage Armor x1
Whistling Arrow x1
Smoke Arrow X2[/sblock]

 

[Scott DeWar]

"Maui, Perhaps we should travel a half hour longer on horse and proceed on foot from there. Sylla, Denizel? how does that sound?"

 

[ScorpiusRisk]

Denizel snaps out of his trance like state to find people speaking to him about sneaking, and magic and the like. He shakes his head and stands up again, carefully folding the paper and placing it into his bag.

"Whatever you say. . horses. . . stay together. It all sounds good to me." He turns his mind back to the letters and says to no one in particular. "Our victim was a messenger, though not one with any particular message. There are a number of different correspondences here. It looks like they were being carried from Dystran to Hammerhall. Apparently Dystran has had some local trouble, though its not clear if its bandits and beasts or just poor leadership."

He mounts his horse as instructed and ponders the names he had read.

[sblock=ooc] http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3937636/ Knowledge Local 16 and Knowledge Nobility 24 to see if I know anymore about Dystran or Hammerfall. I'm especially curious about how long Dystran has been subservient to Hammerfall and if the trouble described is typical for the area. I guess I should add a History check then.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3937641/ History 21[/sblock]

[sblock=Denizel, Level 6 Bard/Oracle]Denizel
AC: 20 (18 flat-footed, 12 Touch)
HP: 38 Current: 38
CMB: 3 CMD: 15 Fort: +2 Reflex: +7 Will: +9
Speed: 20'

Current Weapon in Hand:
Current Conditions in Effect:

+1 Longsword: +4, 1d8, crit 19-20/x2
Wand, Inflict Light Wounds: 50/50, Touch, 1d8+2, Will DC 16 for Half, SR = Yes
+1 Crossbow: +7, 1d8+1, Crit: 19-20/x2, Rng: 80ft, 31 Bolts
Wand, Cure Light Wounds: 46/50, Touch, 1d8+2, Will DC 16 for Half, SR = Yes

Key Skills: Bluff +15, Diplomacy +12, Disguise +13, Kn Arcana +13, Kn History +10, Kn Local +10, Kn Nobility +10, Kn Religion +16, Linguistics +9, Perception +8, Perform (Dance) +9, Profession (Courtier) +6, Sense Motive +9, Spellcraft +8

Bardic Performance: 11/11 rounds per day

Bard Spells Remaining: 1st level 4/4
Bard Spells Known: 1: Charm Person (DC 16), Disguise Self, Hideous Laughter (DC 16)
0: Daze (DC 15), Detect Magic, Light, Message, Prestidigitation

Oracle Spells Remaining: 1st level 5/8 2nd Level 1/1
Oracle Spells Known: 2: Cure Moderate Wounds, Tongues, Zone of Truth
1: Bless, Command, Cure Light Wounds, Identify, Sanctuary, Comprehend Languages
0: Ghost Sound, Guidance, Mage Hand, Mending, Read Magic, Resistance, Stabilize, Purify Food/Drink.
[/sblock]

 

[jbear]

Maui nods. "Okay. Maui agrees." He remounts and follows on with the group.

 

[Systole]

Sylla shrugs. "Walk if you like. But the longer we stay on the horses, the faster we catch the raiders, and the more mobile we'll be when we do."

 

[Scott DeWar]

"Then we are in agreement. Horse travel on. Uh, will you ask boots which way from here then?"

 

[GlassEye]

Denizel muses on the names he read in the missives. Dyrstan may be the local parlance for Direstone, a wealthy border keep in the foothills of the Seithr mountains but remote and woefully far from any civilized settlement. It doesn't seem unlikely that creatures would wander down from the wild Seithr and threaten the keep. As for subservience, excepting the Goti tribes, the Pell is a feudal society with their king, Draken Everstar, third of that name, residing in Hammerhall. Hammerhall is widely known as the greatest fortified structure in the Pell. Despite Hammerhall's vaunted strength, it seems King Everstar is having trouble holding his lands; at least, according to rumors Denizel picked up in the Baronies when he encountered a Pellman expatriate some weeks back on their travels south to Martna. And Everstar's military campaigns to the north against the Kholani/Harran alliance and south against Rorn have left him little time to find a wife...

The group rides north-westward on the trail of the bandits. After nearly twenty minutes of riding the group crests a rise. On the slope below them, roughly one-hundred and fifty feet away ride eight Goti warriors. For the moment the group has not been detected.