IC II

[shaidar]

Newton and Ribar await to see the effectiveness of Telemachus's spell, then let fly with their arrows.

[Atlictoatl]

Haaki, the Feather Witch

"Harpies! Catch them before they take flight!" Haaki calls, then follows her own advice and casts Hold Person on them. "They're horrible!"

[VonAlric]

Gardo

Hearing the beginning of Telemachus' spell, Gardo dismounts and holds for a moment. "Notai, Wulfka, use bows for now and hold here.". He then moves as the spell is cast to engage the winged creatures.

[thirdkingdom]

Round One

As the harpies open their mouth to sing their beguiling songs Telemachus's fireball, cast with a seeming nonchalance, erupts among them. As the flames die down all five harpies are dead.

A careful examination reveals they have been nesting in the deadfall for what looks to be some time, arranging branches and leaves in much the same way birds would to create a large, nest-like structure. The nest is filthy, however, streaked with excrement and littered with bones, scraps of armor and cloth, and other detritus. The following items of interest are found:

*50 gold coins
*four gems, worth 10, 10, 100, and 100 gp.
*A skeletal hand is found with a ring around one finger. The ring is fashioned from a strange black metal, unfamiliar to any of the adventurers, that shimmers with an almost oily iridescence.
*A wand some 12" in length, of yellowed ivory, carved with what appear to be faces of the dead, or perhaps the damned. It's hard to tell exactly what they are, as the reliefs have the disconcerting habit of appearing to move and shift when viewed out of the corner of ones' eye.

Initiative, PCs first:: 2#1d6 5 2
How much damage does the fireball do? Fireball damage, save for half (14+):: 8d6 34 5#1d20 3 13 15 12 6
Harpy number three has 14 hp, even with a save that's not good enough.

[shaidar]

Newton

"Wow, nice fireball! I'm not sure I like the look of that ring, or the wand. Let's collect them up with the loot from the orcs and tomorrow I'll check it all for magic"

Ribar pipes up "Tomorrow I could also check them for evil, if you want"

[sulldawga]

Newton

"Wow, nice fireball! I'm not sure I like the look of that ring, or the wand. Let's collect them up with the loot from the orcs and tomorrow I'll check it all for magic"

Ribar pipes up "Tomorrow I could also check them for evil, if you want"

Telemachus

The mage actually does like the look of both the ring and the wand but agrees that detecting magic and evil is the prudent course of action.

"We still have lots of daylight. Let us continue on our way."

[The_Wanderer]

Feargus

Feargus leans over to Mardan Cy and says, "Ok, Rule number 2. Which may actually be Rule number 1: Always bring a mage who can do that." He chuckles a bit as the group rides past the shallow crater.

[thirdkingdom]

Fourthmonth, Fourteenthday
Hex 136.129

Even though the battle is over with shocking quickness it still takes a good hour or so before the adventurers are ready to move out. The lair must be thoroughly searched, and while the companions handle this task the mercenaries dismount and begin breaking out jerky and hard tack for a mid-morning meal. Eventually, everyone is ready to saddle up and ride out.

Fourthmonth, Fourteenthday
Hex 136.128
Around noon

Shortly before noon the adventurers come across the remains of a village, straddling the old road. It doesn't look old -- Lec opines that this was likely a border community, one of the first to be overrun by the orc hordes during the last Nadir -- with a wooden palisade wall that is partially burnt, partially knocked over. A wooden gate hangs drunkedly from one hinge, and through the large opening the adventurers can see a dozen or more wood and stone buildings within the walls of the village. Some standing, some collapsed. They all *look* abandoned, although it is hard to tell from where the adventurers sit, outside the wall. The road does run through the village, though.

Hex 236.128 Player's Map.png (64.53 KiB) Viewed 932 times

[sulldawga]

Telemachus

"Can we trouble our scouts and witches to take a closer look?"

[shaidar]

Newton dismounts and hands his reigns to Ribar, before proceeding to sneak over to the village and examine the outskirts for any recent tracks.

[thirdkingdom]

Newton dismounts and hands his reigns to Ribar, before proceeding to sneak over to the village and examine the outskirts for any recent tracks.

Newton spends a half hour or so searching the ground -- both on the road and off -- for tracks. He finds some old tracks leading into the village, but they're too old to properly determine what made them -- and some more recent evidence of what look to be orcs, or similar, that seemed to have skirted around the perimeter of the village, rather than go through it.

There's nothing else he can find.

http://orokos.com/roll/758675: 1d20 19

[shaidar]

Newton returns to the others

"Nothing obvious coming in or out, but the orcs have avoided going in there. We need to make sure this place is clear, but do you want me to sneak in and take a look on my own or do you want to make this a group affair?"

[sulldawga]

Telemachus

"We ought to go in as a group. Just on the face of it, I feel like there's undead in there. I wouldn't want you alone in there."

[The_Wanderer]

Feargus

"Fine. Let's go. Newt - Do you want to be on point?"

[VonAlric]

Gardo

"Wouldn't it be just as easy to make some noise and lure whatever is in there out here where we could fight it?"

[sulldawga]

Gardo

"Wouldn't it be just as easy to make some noise and lure whatever is in there out here where we could fight it?"

Telemachus

"I'm always open to new tactics. It's fine by me... as long as we don't wake up more than what we can handle in one encounter. I will remind you that I am much less effective against undead, especially without a Fireball handy."

[The_Wanderer]

Feargus

"That's not an excuse is it, T?" Feargus chuckles. "No worries. If we have to rely on you to end every fight before it starts, I think we're in trouble anyway."

He walks over to his horse and grabs his crossbow and loads a bolt.

"OK Gardo. Shall we make a bit of a racket?"

[VonAlric]

Gardo

Thinking for a moment about Telemachus' words, he doesn't respond to Feargus right away. "Well, since he put it like that... maybe better to look a little first before making noise. So, Feargus, you, Newton, and I go in, let Newton look things over for a few moments then decide if we should make some noise or have a different plan instead. Let's keep our scout safe, shall we?"

[shaidar]

Newton

"That's a good idea. It might give us an idea of what might be in there before it jumps out on us"

[thirdkingdom]

The trio enter through the gates. It's quiet within the walls; the birds singing outside the palisade sound muffled, as does the whinying of horses and the soft grumbling of the mercenaries.

The buildings inside the settlement look to be in decent shape, as if any ruin evident has been brought about by age, not battle.

Thirty or so yards in they pass a pair of intact structures opposite one another. There's movement from within, and the darkness pooled around the doors and windows begins to flow forward, resolving into shadowy humanoid forms!

Rolling on my phone. PCs are not surprised. Encounter distance is 35 yards.