[ARCHIVE] 02 - The Hunt Begins

[max_vale]

Vax shakes out of his disturbed thoughts and worries about the departed rising from the ground; and answered Embiri's question. "Indeed, I do have such a spell memorized and shall cast it now." Vax then takes ahold of his holy symbol and mutters the prayer needed to cast the spell....

-Casting 'Detect Magic' and have marked it off the character sheet. Also; in response to the earlier question; I have no problem with you making any/all needed rolls-

[mithrandir138]

The following takes about 6 minutes of concentration: Vax detects a moderate amount of magic coming from the sack of bones. But the holes themselves do not emanate any magical auras. However, Vax does detect a slight magical aura 30 feet away, and about 2 feet below the ground. This area has not been dug up, yet.

[mithrandir138]

Also, to give more context because I don't feel like I missed this detail: the bones are of small humanoids. So this means they are from 2ft. tall creatures.

[moorcrys]

Embiri follows the direction of the priest and, using the heel of his shoe, marks an "X" in the ground to note where the buried magical aura has been divined.

"Should we continue our mysterious friends' labors, or should we re-bury those bones already exhumed? I wonder what would be done with these..."

[Vargr1105]

"I think we have enough in our hands without needing to worry about burials." mentions Alias. "There will be time enough for that later...assuming no one needs to perform such rites for you before this is all over." he adds with a snarky smile.

[moorcrys]

Embiri pales a bit and laughs slightly too loudly and too long at Alias's comment.

"The suggestion, friend," Embiri chuckles, "... um was more to lay at ease a potential spirit of unrest disturbed by the disentombment of these bones... a being that may have sent the exhumers running. Or I perversely wonder if we should throw caution to the wind and collect the full set."

[mithrandir138]

OOC: Alright guys, what are we doing?

[Dogma]

" we could keep them...they are quite pretty," said the bard as he twirled one of the bones through his fingers. "Though I guess grave robbing isn't a very heroic action to put in a grand ballad."

"Perhaps we should try to follow one of the tracks leading from these bones? We might be able to find out who and why they were digging here."

[jdluna]

"I don't think we need to get into the grave robbing business. Finding out who is robbing these graves may be beneficial. I am sure people in this line of work have a good idea what really goes on around here."

[NJWilliam]

Done looking about, Arot stands up and says, "Seems like something we did well to avoid last night. I say we look into this after we ford the river and deal with what we already are set on." Arot points in the direction of the river with his axe and rests his left hand in his coil of rope slung across his chest.

[Mondego]

Yorick agrees that desecrating graves is not the noblest of actions. “Perhaps we could follow the set of tracks that goes in the general direction of the ford. If we are lucky we could learn more about the grave diggers while continuing on our current task.”

[moorcrys]

Embiri nods, rolling his shoulders in a futile attempt to ease the dragging discomfort of his backpack. "Very well, perhaps you should lead the way to the ford Filibert - it would be wise to have you scouting ahead of us, I think."

[Dogma]

"I wasn't suggesting we desecrate the graves, " Tomas mumbled to himself, tossing the bone back with the rest, "Someone else has already done that...I was just thinking we could keep the bones..."

The bard stood up and dusted his hands , "Alright then, off to the ford. This song isn't going to write itself and so far there isn't much to work with."

[Blazeguard]

"Aye", Filibert agrees, "Follow me". He starts heading in the direction of the ford keeping a watchful eye for any unusual tracks, people, animals, potential ambush spots, etc.

OOC: Do any of the tracks from the graves lead in this direction?

[jdluna]

Luna follows Filibert

[max_vale]

Vax; lost in his divinations from his spell; points towards the bag of bones and says; "My spell has shown that this bag of bones is enchanted; as is something over here..."; he adds as he walks to the area about 30 feet away. "I believe it is about 2 feet in the ground. Shall I attempt to dig whatever it may be up?"

[moorcrys]

Embiri looks over his shoulder and calls to the priest as he begins to ascend the ridge. "I was of a mind to dig, good priest, but we have been overruled. Trudging up this ridge is the new order of the day - we're to make for the ford."

[Blazeguard]

Filibert stops short at Vax's question. "If you think there might be something useful buried there, go ahead and dig it up. I'll do a little advance scouting as I see there's a set of footprints leading off toward the ford anyways."

Filibert will continue to follow the trail up to the top of the ridge or until he loses the trail (whichever comes first) and will then return to the party if they haven't caught up.

[mithrandir138]

Filibert stops short at Vax's question. "If you think there might be something useful buried there, go ahead and dig it up. I'll do a little advance scouting as I see there's a set of footprints leading off toward the ford anyways."

Filibert will continue to follow the trail up to the top of the ridge or until he loses the trail (whichever comes first) and will then return to the party if they haven't caught up.

Tracking (WIS) check: [1d20+2] = 16+2 = 18 PRIME
SUCCESS (by a pretty big margin)

Explanation of a SIEGE Check
From PHB: "In short, the process of the attribute check involves the player rolling a d20 and adding the character’s level and the appropriate attribute modifier. That total number must be equal to or greater than the challenge class, as determined by the Castle Keeper."

1d20 + 1 (WIS attribute modifier) + 1 (level) -- vs. -- Challange Base (CB): 12 (Prime attribute check) + Challenge Level (CL): 1 (Easy)

So it was:
18 -- vs. -- Challenge Class (CC): 13

As a note: I had to add the modifier and level together and add it to the roll in the dice roller, because it doesn't seem to handle [d20+1+1] in the rolling interface. I wont explain every roll this way, I just wanted to illustrate how the SIEGE engine works so you guys can see it/learn.


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Filbert follows the fresh tracks to the top of the ridge. It is obvious that the person you are tracking had tripped and fallen at the top of the ridge, but had then gotten back up and continued running down the other side of the ridge.

Filbert also sees something very concerning atop the ridge. He sees both old and new wolf scat (rather large specimens as well), the most recent remnants seem to be from two wolves (the other tracks are so old that he can't tell how many wolves there were, but there are enough that reveal several visits to this spot). The tracks are so deep that it makes him believe that something (or someone) was mounted upon them, or that these wolves are particularly hefty. It appears that this is a vantage point used by more than just our adventurers, and it seems to be frequently visited! You can see that from this spot you have a pretty good view of the town (from a safe distance) and the river. Filbert can also see a good spot to cross the river from here.

[Dogma]

"But what if this is nothing more than another grave of what ever these creatures are? If we dig it up then we will be grave robbers in name truly, not just in passing. We should take the bones we have and bury them in one of pits and leave well enough alone."