The Wilderness: Arriving at the Keep

[Spearmint]

Thirteen Twojaws

Quite clearly hearing what Sabine thought of him and his mother, decides not to hang about the drawbridge. Another time will come when he can enter.

I am not going to wait outside until hours after dark or later in the hope that other characters will want to gather with myself and Crobeus after they have concluded their initial affairs. So I will gather my stuff and move on, aiming to go North in the footsteps of the strange figure we saw.

who knows, he might have dodged a bullet not going into the Keep and he wants to dodge the Bullette outside.

[Scott308]

Crobeus - Human Paladin

Crobeus will relay to Thirteen that a few of the adventurers will be happy to join with them once their business inside the keep is finished. "I'd rather set up camp somewhere nearby to make it easy for them to find us while we get some rest, but if you want to go see if we can find that strange person that tamed the Mystic Mastic, I'll go with you."

[ravenn4544]

Haldric indeed offers his name, "My apologies, Madam, Haldric is my name. Haldric Hammerheart, a Dumathoin faithful. My years are catching up with me and my memory and manners are perhaps not what they used to be."

Haldric is interested in entering the Keep for now.

Sorry for the oversight on the name, my memory is also not what it once was....

[GreyWolfVT]

Pimlan shrinks into himself feeling berated and that he has messed up he gulps and says "Ssss..sssorry. No some halflings I knew back home and met on my way here told me to seek him out. I was not informed of his uh, career choice, or reputation. I guess. Maybe someone better is available with more intel on the caves?" he asks here in a meek voice.

[OGRE MAGE]

"Thank you, Haldric."

"And Pim, I'm not saying the rascal doesnt know a lot about the caves. I just don't like the little sneak myself. The only thing he cares about is his own safety and making more money. I can show you where to find him once we all enter."

The gates are about to close again, so if Pim wants to be inside with the others, he needs to make that decision soon. https://www.unseenservant.us/forum/view ... hp?t=12926

---

TT and Crobeus watch as all the friends they traveled here with continue into the splendiferous Keep one by one.

Outside Actions?

[Spearmint]

Thirteen Twojaws

Well I am not going to scale the walls or mope around waiting on others to reinforce us. And just camping nearby to tag onto a team whenever they depart for the caves could take a while, certainly all night I should think.

So bring proactive, I will suggest we do a bit of scouting, making contacts and discovery ourselves.

"Let us follow after the Tortle Mystic, whoever it may be." he says to Crobeus and does a practise of 'the Tortle Fingers', the gesture that it made to distract or calm the Bulette from eating him.

It might be a hypnotic gesture he can learn himself he thinks.

[GreyWolfVT]

Pimlan nods his head slowly "Ok. But if there is a better person to speak with, by all means point me their direction instead. I'd rather not affiliate myself with someone that upsets the guards or anything." he adds.

[Scott308]

Crobeus - Human Paladin

Thirteen Twojaws
"Let us follow after the Tortle Mystic, whoever it may be." he says to Crobeus and does a practise of 'the Tortle Fingers', the gesture that it made to distract or calm the Bulette from eating him.

"Sounds good to me. With just the two of us, the hermit may be more willing to talk than if there was a large, intimidating group.
But, since it is just the two of us, we are more vulnerable to bandits or beasts so we need to keep a wary eye.

Crobeus begins walking toward where they saw the odd turtle-like person.

[OGRE MAGE]

Revenge Tour
Rocky Fields Outside Keep
Late Afternoon

Twojaws and Crobeus set off alone into the wild, walking north along the Keep grounds on the lookout for beasts or bandits.

The grassy fields close to the keep show signs of animals grazing, dairy cows by the looks of the prints, but none are currently seen. There are also many areas where stone cutting is evident, likely old quarrying done for material used in the original construction, now grassy habitats for normal fauna. A whitetail deer is suddenly spotted bounding through the rocks well off to your west.

The scattered rocks seem to get bigger the further you travel away from the Keep, and strange looking long furrows in the ground are found periodically along the hike to the tree line.

Up ahead, you see a few of the rocks appear to have brightly painted symbols or sigils upon them. The forest lies several hundred feet to the north.

Actions?

I would take d20 Wisdom checks with your next actions.

[Spearmint]

Thirteen Twojaws

Walks along, keen to watch out for the Bulette wandering by. He knows little about the creature except the story book pictures. "Best not to find out too much from personal experience." he reminds himself and Crobeus.

He tries to make a good impression on his armoured comrade, pretending he actually knows what he is doing or where he is going.

Thirteen Twojaws: Wisdom check vs 14 [1d20]=11

Not sure about investigating furrows and hollows, but the boulders have an interest. So he will trek over there.

Thirteen Twojaws: looses Sling bullet [1d20-1]=12-1=11 [1d6+1]=1+1=2

"Sun in my eyes."

Thirteen Twojaws: looses Sling bullet [1d20-1]=15-1=14 [1d6+1]=6+1=7

Target practise on a boulder. He is not really proficient in knocking coconuts from the shy posts at the fayre or hitting a cow's backside at close quarters.

[Scott308]

Crobeus - Human Paladin

As they walk, Crobeus examines the furrows. Do they look man-made, for some agricultural or drainage reason, or are they natural or even made by some sort of creature? How large are they? "Wonder what made these and if they serve some purpose?"

Seeing Thirteen launch a couple of sling stones at the painted rocks, his attention is drawn to the targets. "That's an odd place to leave a message of some sort. Let's go see what they say."

Wisdom Check (13): [1d20]=1

[OGRE MAGE]

Revenge Tour
Rocky Fields Outside Keep
Late Afternoon

As the afternoon sun continues it’s decent into the horizon, the pair of inexperienced adventures stay on course, reaching the area where they saw the huge monster and the seashell toting stranger earlier.

While investigating the furrows Crobeus confirms he has never seen their like before. They appear to be freshly made, but the plow that made these must have been huge. And there are no sign of tracks, only the long, undisturbed furrows. Then he starts to feel a little rumble in the ground as he’s inspecting.

Twojaws fires stones at the distant rocks, both of them ricocheting around loudly, causing the rumble from the ground to get much worse. When the half-orc heads for the stones, both men suddenly spot the source of the ground tremors, when a thick grey fin appears plowing through the ground towards them from over the next hillock.

The rapidly approaching ground shark fin heads directly towards Twojaws on his way to the painted stones he frivolously attacked.

Actions?

[Spearmint]

Thirteen Twojaws

Figures he doesn't have to outrun the Bulette, just Crobeus.

"To arms man, slay the beast as it emerges!" he encourages the paladin to noble deeds under the gaze of the Keep watchmen far, far away.

Less noble, he runs, not for the hills but in-between the boulders. "I'll cover you!" he shouts in hope.

not sure if you want a check of any kind, but here is a roll:

Thirteen Twojaws: (Str 10, Dex 17) [1d20]=5

[Scott308]

Crobeus - Human Paladin

"Well, shit!" exclaims the paladin, realizing that their first expedition is likely to be their last. Torn between fleeing in terror or fighting, he is aware that he told Thirteen he would not leave him to fend for himself, so he makes what is probably going to be the worst, and also the final, decision of his short life. Shouting at the top of his lungs, he charges toward the creature. "Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!" He wants to draw its attention to him, hoping Thirteen will have time to reach the rocks. Knowing he is no match for such a creature, he can only hope that he can make a decent attempt at replicating the gesture that the stranger made. If not, well, at least he made a decent donation to the needy of the keep. Damn the gatekeeper for turning the half-orc away! Damn the rest of the group for all entering the keep! And damn Thirteen for not wanting to wait for others! But mostly, damn himself for a series of bad choices that will end with his death outside the keep where his uncle died!

[Spearmint]

Thirteen Twojaws

"Wrong way!" he shouts. He figured the paladin would run too, but not actually towards the creature even at his blagged insistence of him doing heroic deeds.

[OGRE MAGE]

Suicide Revenge Tour
Rocky Fields Outside Keep
Late Afternoon

stones 1.jpg (437.01 KiB) Viewed 1729 times

After Twojaws orders the gullible Paladin to engage the monster, he runs for the strange arc of stones near the treeline.

When the Paladin blindly does as instructed, the half-orc suggests he didn't really mean it.

The ground shark seems to be heading after the fleeing TT initially, but when Crobeus starts shouting and charging at it, the monster changes its direction, now going straight after the Paladin instead.

The massive beast plows through the ground, exploding dirt in every direction when it rips through the surface right in front of the armored knight.

Boulee.png (460.64 KiB) Viewed 1729 times

With neither party surprised, the monster stands to its full 12 foot length, clearly ready to bite through the human tin can to get at the juicy food inside.

Actions!

[Spearmint]

Thirteen Twojaws

Thirteen Twojaws: looses Sling bullet [1d20+2]=16+2=18 [1d6+1]=3+1=4

"Do the sign thingy, do the sign!" he shouts to Crobeus. He crosses himself twice, one to mimic whatever the strange Tortle Whisperer did to calm the beast and the other to get divine blessing on his sling stone aim.

[Scott308]

Crobeus - Human Paladin

Please, Pholtus, let this work! The paladin offers a silent prayer to his god as the massive creature rises to its full height in front of him. He takes some solace in knowing there is only one witness to what will be an ignominious start and end to his adventuring career- and that witness may not survive anyway. Stop! Sit! he calls out in both Common and Halfling as he holds out his hand in what he hopes is something at least vaguely resembling what the shelled stranger did to calm the giant beast.

I screwed up. I should have asked for clarification about exact locations of everything because I did not think I could get to the rocks. That's on me for not making sure I was clear on things.

[OGRE MAGE]

Suicide Revenge Tour
Rocky Fields Outside Keep
Late Afternoon

At the urging from Thirteen, the doomed Paladin attempts to stop the hungry monster with a command and a raised hand. Things do not go well after that. The beast swipes a single massive claw at Crobeus that completely knocks him from his feet, ripping through armor and flesh with one fell blow. He lands in the soft dirt of a recent furrow and doesn't move again. 12 damage and I will need a System Shock roll.

Thirteen Twojaws sees this and decides to send a blessed sling stone towards the lumbering hulk, just as it's about to rip the human flesh from its hard shell with one immense bite. The stone plunks off the monster's hard armored hide without causing as much as a scratch. It does however, attract the beasts attention, causing it to slowly turn its massive head towards the half-orc. It sniffs the air a few times, darting its head back and forth, before using its front legs to shove the unmoving body of Crobeus deeper into the soil, until he is nearly buried. Then it moves away from the unconscious paladin and towards the slinging TT.

As it approaches the area of stones where he is hiding, it continuously sniffs the air, slowly but surely making its way towards some dessert.

Actions!

Crobeus AC3 -2/10 Unconscious
Thirteen TJ AC4 12/12

[Spearmint]

Thirteen Twojaws

"Make the sign, make the sign" he hurries himself to gesticulate imaginary wardings traced in thin air with whatever is at hand; a holy symbol, the hilt of his dagger, sprinkling the air with his 'eau de toilette' of choice 'Tarzan', the barbarian with a loin cloth smell'.

I don't want to agitate it by another useless sling stone, so will go with his self trust and confidence to equally charm and obfuscate the beast by mimicking the 'Tortle Whisperer' as best he can. I could carry on running away or try to hide in shadows (would that hinder it finding me?) but I feel such a coward doing that and under the watchtower guards (Thirteen is convinced they are watching even if they don't), taming the best and rescuing the paladin from near death might raise his stature.