Having been hired to retrieve the goods of one Signor Geralt Franco, a Venzan shipping magnate, the party has braved the foul temper of the warehouse forewoman, a dwarf named Varga Renlow, and the marginal driving skills of a half-elf named Alvise Baggio. Some few days prior, Alvise had been waylaid on his way to Venza from Irthos by a band of pugwampi gremlins, losing a shipment of dueling swords that Signor Franco was particularly interested in.
After collecting a toad that a foul-smelling barbarian had been using as a chew toy and spending a night at the Owl and Stag Inn, the party made their way to the site of the attack, only to encounter a group of pugwampi returning to pillage more goods from the burned wagon. After defeating the pugwampi, the party followed their tracks westward, across the domain of a fey creature who called herself Beyal.
Beyal agreed to allow passage in exchange for one of Fae'shiel's bracelets, and then returned a considerably more valuable bracelet of dwarven origin in exchange for one of Marcus' stories. During the conversation, she mentioned that the pugwampi were being controlled by someone or something named "Lasher." She also seemed interested in the toad, describing him as a king of the forest, and suggesting that the party would find eventually confront another king of the forest. Before leaving, she told Fae'shiel that the elven magus
"would have to get your hands dirty to get that which you think you want."
Continuing westward, the party discovered the pugwampi village set around the ruins of a stone tower. Making their way inside, they were ambushed by several pugwampi gremlins and a three-eyed nuglub gremlin, and discovered several traps that the nuglub gremlin had set. During the battle, the sound of rushing water suddenly came from the basement, which is largely open to the sky.
The party has now descended into the basement, where a crack in the wall is gushing water out at a respectable rate, and is quickly flooding the room. Several of Franco's crates lie scattered about, soon to be submerged...
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As Maui and Taniwha advance toward the crack in the wall, the water next to them suddenly erupts with a tremendous croak, and an immense toad emerges from the pool, snapping at the jungle cat. Maui and Fae'shiel have time to react as the hulking amphibian finds its footing, but the druid sees something else creeping up next to him -- a froglike humanoid creature under the water to his left: a boggard, certainly. Maui can make out some sort of object (probably a weapon) in its hand, but the murky water and the rough surface prevent him from positively identifiying it.
[sblock=GM]Maui and Fae'shiel are up for the surprise round. One standard action each. Fae'shiel is not yet aware of the boggard due to line-of-sight, but will see the creature as soon as she moves up.
Artur, I placed Marcus about where I thought you indicated. If you'd like him somewhere else, let me know.
Re: Traps. The traps you've seen have all used the flagstone floor of the tower to maximum effect. Down here it's a dirt floor -- not the kind of environment the trapsmith seemed to have preferred. And Marcus, with his insane Perception roll, seems fairly certain it's clear. Although, he thought he'd seen everything in the guardhouse, too...
Re: Crates. DC 7 strength check to drag them two-handed. DC 12 strength check to drag them one-hands. +5 feet for every 5 that you beat the DC by, and you can Take 10. Moving the crates is a full-round action that provokes an AoO. The southernmost one is 3-5 rounds from getting wet and contains silk fabrics which probably will be damaged if they come in contact with the water. The others are more like 10-12 rounds from getting wet.
The water coming from the crack is filling the basement fairly quickly. The stone looks like it weighs probably 100 lbs, and given the water pressure coming from the hole, getting the plug in is going to have a fairly high DC. Higher than 15 for sure.
[/sblock][sblock=Combat]Giant toad: Uninjured, AC 12
Boggard: Uninjured, AC 14, unknown weapon in hand
Fae'shiel: 18/18
Marcus: 20/22
Vincenzo: 22/22
Maui: 19/21
Taniwha: 20/23, Good luck (+2 attack/save/skill checks)
[/sblock][sblock=Map, Surprise Round]
[/sblock]
That's fine placement for him. In this situation, he's staying back and preparing to let fly. I'll go back and count arrows used after this combat, to see what I used in the tower so I can accordingly adjust my tracking. Still in the high 20s at the least.[/sblock]
