Chapter 16 - Tempus' recruiting drive

[AleBelly]

Lucas caves in the skull of his opponent, finally bringing this epic battle to an end. Tempus washes several of Lucas' wounds and presses mistletoe to them as he invokes his natural powers. A bruise disappears and one of his deep cuts heals nearly completely.

The only thing the party can hear now is the distant sucking sound of the pit-dwelling creature. Each of the nightman corpses has a crude leather pouch attached to its belt. Silver coins spill out of several of them.

Tempus runs over to check on his animal friends, but they both have passed, serving the druid faithfully until the end.

Actions?

Date: 4 Grasses (April), Year 44
Time: 19:45
Conditions: 44F, damp
Known Spells in Effect: None
Light bearers: Torch burning near Tempus' feet, burns through 20:20
Injury status: Tempus barely wounded; Lucas moderately wounded; Azor, Clarence dead
Nightmen Situation: 16 dead

[Storm11]

Tempus says the ritual of passing over both dog and bear and thanks them both for their loyal service. ”I couldn’t retreat and leave them to be butchered!” he says tearfully as he strokes their cooling fur.

The Druid will offer to cast a second healing spell over the ranger, and then help collect the nightmens pouches.

[1d8] = 5

He will search the leader as well. We should explore the cave some more now the threat is at its end. But cautiously.

[scottjen]

Zo: He searches the dead nightman leader 1st, then the others. Then wipes off his sword on one of the nightmen's rags. Why don't we throw their bodies into the pit to keep the creature busy? I expect more nightmen further in. I have no more magic, and we have lost 2 of our friends. Perhaps we should rest? (If the others want to keep going): I can go ahead & if find enemies I could lead them back to an ambush of our own.

OOC: I was asking about the multiple attacks & I may have got the answer - weapon specialization is allowed for multi-class, and one of the rounds was making up for missing it previously(?).

[Zeromancer]

"One more hit and I'm down! I need backup!" cries Lucas. He swings again at the nightman.

Init: 6
To hit: 15
Crit: 61
Damage: 6+1 = 7

OOC: Tempus healed you, guy. +11 hp total now.

[Zeromancer]

Lumenor gathered up any spent arrows he could locate, returned any which could be reused to his quiver, and removed the steel heads from those that could not. He then escorted Zo as the other elf moved to loot the leader's corpse, bow in hand once more and his eyes probing the area beyond the area lit by the torch. "I would not recommend engaging in further combat until we've had ample opportunity to rest. We may even want to consider hiring on replacements for those we lost." he replied as he gave a sympathetic glance toward the druid.

OOC: Unless I'm missing something I didn't see anything different in the house rules on movement from what OSRIC has printed. At least scottjen's question was answered. On another note, I did find it strange that the system allows specialization for not only paladins and rangers, but also multi-classed characters.

[CAI4]

Tempus says the ritual of passing over both dog and bear and thanks them both for their loyal service. ”I couldn’t retreat and leave them to be butchered!” he says tearfully as he strokes their cooling fur.

The Druid will offer to cast a second healing spell over the ranger, and then help collect the nightmens pouches.

[1d8] = 5

He will search the leader as well. We should explore the cave some more now the threat is at its end. But cautiously.

"Thank you!" says Lucas to Tempus, looking down upon the halfling with gratitude and warmth. "And also, I'm really sorry about your animal friends."

He pauses a couple of beats to show his sincerity. Then...

"Now that I'm healthy, I can explore too! Let's get this over with..."

[AleBelly]

Tempus appeals to his gods to further heal Lucas. The healing skills of the halfling prove superior to his skills with the scimitar. All of the boy's wounds are completely healed! Perhaps several reflect on their good fortune that the creatures seemed to have very little tactical sense. They surely would have been defeated by the grey horde if better organized. The party finds a total of 197 on the bodies of the nightmen, and nothing else worth keeping.

After some debate, the party decides to explore the underground dwelling further. They do so carefully, but with the leader gone they hold some hope that the fighting is over. The cavern continues eastward, with passages around both sides of a central rocky pillar. To the right is scattered a mass of crude bedding - skins stuffed with various feathers and fur blankets. The children and adults all appear to have slept in the same area, but after prodding around the grimy bedding nothing of value is found. The cavern then heads north, tapering to a point. At the end of the taper is what appears to be a crude shrine. Pungent herbs (rosemary, basil, dill), dried in the cool cavern air, are scattered around a suit of plate mail next to a pouch of silver coins (totaling about 80 sp). The armor is sized for someone about 5 and a half feet tall with a normal human build.

All of the walls continue to appear completely natural. No secret passages are detected by the elven folk, and the party concludes they have explored the entirety of the nightman lair. The only potential foe that remains could be the centipede-like creature that feeds on corpses in the pit.

The map isn't uploading - I'll include it as soon as I can.

Date: 4 Grasses (April), Year 44
Time: 20:20
Conditions: 44F, damp
Known Spells in Effect: None
Light bearers: Torch burning near Tempus' feet, burns through 20:20
Injury status: Tempus barely wounded; Azor, Clarence dead

[CAI4]

Lucas can't believe the party's luck, finding plate armor in this mess. He tries to fit it to his body. If it doesn't fit, he'll pack it up and take it back to town with him when they're ready to leave. Unless other party members object.

[Storm11]

Tempus shares our all the coin and pats the ranger on the back. A good find. We did well I think all told. Mission accomplished.”

To the elves he nods and smiles. You run well. Like true professionals. We survived it seems, except poor Clarence and Azor. They are with their spirit people now. What about the centipede creature in the pit? Are we going to try and circumvent it, or are we going to take it down? It doesn’t seem natural to me! I can try and sense magic in the pit to see if it’s worth the risk when we are close by if you all would like?”

[AleBelly]

OOC: Unless I'm missing something I didn't see anything different in the house rules on movement from what OSRIC has printed. At least scottjen's question was answered. On another note, I did find it strange that the system allows specialization for not only paladins and rangers, but also multi-classed characters.

There should be language in there describing multiple attacks and how much movement is permitted. And specialization is allowed for the fighter class. I don't allow it for paladins or rangers. I started this game several years ago and regret allowing specialization, but I'm going to stick with precedent here.

Movement isn't much different. Running does double movement, but this can't be done every round IIRC. If you're curious about the nightman catching one of you during the battle, well, if PCs can run there's no reason monsters can't too.

[scottjen]

Zo: I would like to investigate the pit. We could use our bows and slings on the many legged creature. But I think we should wait until we have recovered our magic. (to Tempus): Sorry about your furry friends. Without their help we would not have defeated the nightmen.

[CAI4]

"Yeah, let's take that centipede thing out" suggests Lucas. "Especially if there's magic stuff down there. Nothing good can come of leaving it alive. We can stay above the pit and kill it!"

[Storm11]

If we take it out we could in theory rest here and recover our magic. I still have the ability to detect magical auras, speak with animals, Charm a person or mammal and heat metal. I could try speaking with it I guess to see if it understands us. But hay does run the risk of drawing its attentionif I can’t. But if I can it’s likely it won’t attack. the dreadlocked Druid says to the others, outlining the options.

[Zeromancer]

As the group completed its exploration of the cavern, Lumenor appeared anxious to depart. He assisted with carrying the coins found, but made no effort to portion them out at this time. That could wait until after they've returned to Alleborg. He showed no interest in the heavy plate armor.

He said to Tempus "My people are skirmishers by our very nature and avoid pitched battles like the one just fought, whenever possible." He paused for a moment, and added, "Further, many of us find confined places like this cavern... unsettling. If we're through here, I would like to breathe the fresh air once more." The high elf then turned and addressed the group as a whole, "The beast may seem to be confined to that pit, but it may surprise us with its capabilities should we antagonize it. I am in agreement with Zo, we should rest first before attempting to battle it."

[AleBelly]

The party discusses options. The elves wish to rest before fighting any further, while Lucas and Tempus seem keen to take care of the centipede creature - or at least scan the pit for magic to see if there's anything of value down there.

As the party considers their options, they realize that it's now dark outside and they are several hours' travel from the safe zone surrounding Alleborg.

[Storm11]

Tenpus will creepy back to the pit and cast his magic detection, moving around it stealthily to see if his more heightened senses can detect the aura of enchantment.

[AleBelly]

Lucas lights another torch, and the party returns to the pit. Tempus invokes the ability to see into another plane, detecting the magical aura dwelling within. By careful concentration he is able to scan the entirety of the pit by moving from one end of the pit to the other, stopping along the edge at intervals to concentrate. For good measure, he's even able to evaluate the suit of plate mail the party just found. The plate mail emanates no magic. But something from the pit glows blue in the druid's eyes. Leather armor, loosely draped about the skeleton of a dwarf, is the source of such emanation.

The disgusting centipede-like creature continues its slow devouring of the nightman carrion.

Here's the map, by the way:

080218b.png (1.46 MiB) Viewed 829 times

Date: 4 Grasses (April), Year 44
Time: 20:45
Conditions: 44F, damp
Known Spells in Effect: None
Light bearers: Lucas carrying a torch, burns through 21:20
Injury status: Tempus barely wounded;

[Storm11]

Tempus shares his findings with the others. If we can lure it out of the cave with missile fire I might be able to trap it in my entangling magic. If we throw your old metal armour onto it when it’s trapped then we might be able to cook it to death with my fire magic. What do you think? the Druid says slyly. At any rate, that could be our back up plan if talking with it doesn’t work, but draws it after me!

[scottjen]

Zo: He looks a little nervous, but the plan laid out by Tempus sounds good and he would like to see this fire magic. He adds: Does anyone have any more of those flaming oils? That would dissuade it from following if it is immune to your spells, and give us another chance with slings & arrows. If not, we could gather anything flammable to put down in the passage, that could also give us a more chance to kill it before it can reach us (when it comes after us). One other thing: we should be careful of possible returning nightmen while we are focusing on the creature.

[Zeromancer]

Lumenor pondered over the halfling's proposal as he moved along the ledge towards the cavern entrance with the others. He was rather skeptical about the plan's success, but as long as he and the other attackers were out of the creature's grasp, then it didn't hurt to try. He exited the cave and examined the ground for any signs of large arthropodal tracks that they had previously overlooked.

"The plan's success swivels upon whether the beast is even able to escape the confines of the pit. From what I've seen of its smaller kin, they are impossibly swift. If it does give chase, how do you plan to outrun it? " the elf replied.