Prolog/Chapter 1: The Company forms

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drpete
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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#141 Post by drpete »

The search of the room turns up a number of things.

The altar is made of a black wood with elaborate carvings of spiders and webs on it, along with images of people being eaten by spiders or wrapped up in webbing. The table has actual webbing attached to it, as well as being half buried in bits of blood-encrusted copper. There are copper bars and what must be thousands of copper coins piled in heaps on the altar. They seem to have dried blood on them Hazrahi senses an evil, reddish glow emanating from the altar.

In the northeast corner of the room, there are five still human-sized "cocoons". Three seem to be adult sized, and two seem child sized, all wrapped in spider silk. Each cocoon has a leather strap or belt wound around it.

Along the west wall, there are some shelves built into the wall. There is a fine wooden box on one shelf. Several black robes also hang from hooks along this wall.

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#142 Post by CharlesDM »

Aghilas rushes to one of the child-sized cocoons, drops his weapon, and tries to open the cocoon with both hands.

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#143 Post by Lamech »

"Anyone have a spare dagger so I can help cutting open these cocoons?"

If Willow is given a cutting weapon she'll start cutting away at the cocoons.

"I vote after getting the survivors out, we kill the spiders, get the valuables out, and burn the place. That includes the Beserkers by the way. I'd prefer if they not tell whoever runs the other side I burnt them alive."

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#144 Post by Rex »

Khawaji say, "I agree on killing the spiders, something evil is clearly going on here. But I feel we need to investigate more before we put it to the torch. Spiders don't wrap leather belts around their cocoons. Someone or something is behind this and I want to know who or what. Then everything goes up in flames."

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Rex
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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#145 Post by Rex »

Solomon will help free whoever is in the cocoons, starting with the children.

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#146 Post by tymir »

Jaskar coughs. Nor Do they wear cloaks. There's a fair reward for the spiders also! We can inform the farmers of the details we found them in. Stay vigilant. There may be more than one way into this place.

Jaskar examines the bookshelf.

Hamiya cocks her head to the side. Does your God have ways of sanctifying evil altars, paladin? I think we should free the captives, despoil the altar, and return to the town to inform the populace of what we have found.
I think we should grab the cloaks and box off the bookshelf, free the captives, and get out of here.
Last edited by tymir on Mon Aug 21, 2017 1:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#147 Post by drpete »

You cut and rip the cocoons open, revealing two children and three adults. At first, they appear to be dead, but then you realize that they are in some sort of very deep sleep. In the process of freeing them, you notice that the belts which were wrapped around them each have a red stone pendant dangling from them.
carnelian-red-agate-pendants-for-necklace.jpg
carnelian-red-agate-pendants-for-necklace.jpg (17.97 KiB) Viewed 426 times
The shelves have a few thick red candles on them, and a fine wooden box. It looks like it might be used to hold valuables. It has a hole for a key in it, and a delicate spiderweb design etched into the lid of the box.

There are also two barrels, covered with black cloths, beneath the shelves.

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#148 Post by sulldawga »

Hazrahi says, We should destroy the altar, for sure. But we'd need to sprinkle holy water on its remains to ensure the threat is well and truly gone. And this assumes there is no unholy burial ground underneath it.

As for the rest of this place, it's certain there's evil afoot. The cultists are not here but they must be close by. It might be in our best interests to kill these spiders, before they're used against us or others. We don't know who to trust.


Hazrahi offers to Lay on Hands for anyone who is injured.

EDIT: Sorry, meant to say these are my recommendations. Didn't want this list to look like orders or anything. My bad.
Assume the box is trapped.
Check the barrels.
Once we're ready to leave, we should burn the webs and the robes and belts with them. Might be a good idea to smash the stone pendants, too. I'm assuming that because they're stone, they're not valuable.
Last edited by sulldawga on Mon Aug 21, 2017 3:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#149 Post by Rex »

Khawaki: Valuable or not, good idea to destroy them. He then searches the room carefully to make sure they didn't miss anything.

Solomon will examine the box, does he recognize any of the symbols, etc.? I feel we are missing something here.

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#150 Post by drpete »

As jewelry, the pendants dont look amazingly valuable. You estimate they would be worth 25 gp each.
There are also several thousand bloody copper pieces and about a dozen copper blocks on the altar (worth about 1 gp each as treasure, though they weigh 1/2 stone each)

The designs on the box aren't symbols so much as an artistic spiderweb pattern, as far as you can tell.

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#151 Post by tymir »

I think we should take the belt/pendant things, the box, and the robes as proof of what we found.

If everyone wants to kill the spiders Jaskar won't object.

The copper doesn't seem worth the effort.

Can we wake the captives or do we need to carry them?

If no one else is injured, Jaskar will take Hazrahi up on his offer of healing.

I think we should get the captives to safety and see what they can tell us, as a first priority.
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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#152 Post by drpete »

People who were injured:

Solomon: 1/4
Jaskar: 4/7
Khawaji: 7/9

They all have base healing 1d3.

Lay on hands will heal them this much, as will cure light wounds. Cure Serious will heal double that, comfrey half that. Heroic breakfast will also heal this much, as will a full day of complete rest. Being treated by a character with healing while resting doubles the healing for a day's rest.

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#153 Post by sulldawga »

Assuming he can do so without losing control of the spider in the net, Hazrahi uses Lay on Hands on Solomon.

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#154 Post by CharlesDM »

Aghilas speaks to those suggesting killing the spiders: Having captured the spiders, I do not think we should kill them. Would we be so swift to kill them if they were dogs or wolves? They may be just a weapon in someone's hand, someone we should identify, perhaps? We can test the spider handler's honor by returning the spiders. Will she pay? Will the spiders escape again? After returning the spiders, we can look for the hand that guides them. But certainly, let's get these injured people out first!

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#155 Post by Rex »

Solomon: Thank you Hazrahi, much appreciated.

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#156 Post by drpete »

Hazrahi heals Solomon for 2 Hit Points.

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#157 Post by Lamech »

"Good idea on collecting evidence. Also maybe the amulets are what kept them sleeping and alive? If we want to be responsible we should probably check them for evil or magic before sale. Also, if these analogy wolves had attacked five people and taken them back to their den for food then I would also recommend killing. " Willow says as she starts providing medical treatment to the folks in the cocoon. First seeing if they need help, etc.


25 gp for a pendant is pretty valuable, also they might be magical. Perhaps an "amulet of sleep" or something, although I can't imagine anyone would buy such a thing at the "normal" price.

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#158 Post by Rex »

Khawaji and Solomon will both go and check on the victims.

Khawaji: I could care less how much the spiders or loot are worth, if they need to be destroyed so be it. As far as other animals, if they are a proven danger to people then you kill them.

Khawaji has Healing at rank 3, Solomon has Healing and Alchemy, both at rank 3.

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#159 Post by drpete »

Further searching of the room turns up a pile of bones covered in spider webs. These bones seem to be human. A check of the barrels reveals that they are filled with preserved meat. It looks like pork.

The surviving berserkers manage to free themselves, and each one aids in securing one of the spiders so that the group can take care of other business. Solomon's monkey goes in close, sits on top of one of the spiders, and begins poking at it.

Slowly, under the care of Willow, Khawaji and Solomon, the unconscious humans begin to awaken...

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Re: Prolog: The Company forms

#160 Post by CharlesDM »

"Pfft!"Aghilas looks disapprovingly at Willow. "We suspected the spiders of capturing the children before we came in, yet we brought nets."Aghilas steps away for room and begins weapon practice. "The Lion spirit was strong today -- I might've have slain two spiders myself, if I wasn't playing with nets ... And our brethren would be uninjured."
Aghilas will assist in moving the unconscious/injured to open air above, if we are doing that. OoC: Aghilas is a supremely confident teenager; good luck in arguing with a teenager.

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