Barrowmaze III: Grave Returns.

[sastaz]

Gerdal

"Treyvor, any idea where this map originated? Like Sven says, it could be any mound, this place seems huge."

She will also join the crew as they press on.

[Spearmint]

Konrad is not with you only Gnimish & Treyvor.


Sven while I wait on Isvand as he silently studies the map portion also, as you mentioned listening in to the screeching owls, can you give me a 4d6 vs Intelligence please.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sven can be seen peering up through the mist at the strange owls, scratching his sweaty orange head under his hat.

"Hey....aren't owls noctern.......oh shit!"

Hard Int Check (15) [4d6]=14

The mage immediately gets the attention of the group as the figures turn back for another swoop.

"Is that a spinal cord......those are definitely not owls!!! Open fire on them! NOW!!!"

[redwarrior]

Isvand hearing Sven cry out immediately targets the nearest flying creature and decides to give his boomerangs a real test.

Boomerang THAC0 18 [1d20]=15 damage [1d4+1]=2+1=3

[Spearmint]

first person to post can add a group initiative to his macro.

Swooping down upon the group are a quintet of grotesque, fang toothed, bat winged, decapitated tentacled heads.

Like this:

[redwarrior]

Init roll added to attack

Init [1d6]=2

[OGRE MAGE]

Initiative roll [1d6]=4

Sven aims his new crossbow at the nearest head, firing off a bolt into the sky.

Crossbow Attack [1d20]=16 Dam [2d4]=5

"We need to take these abominations out quickly!"

[sastaz]

Gerdal gasps and rushes close to Orgoth where she starts waving her hands in the air in circles, the air quickly getting substance and hardens around her.

Casting Shield

"Hewa inanikinga na jeraha na jeraha"

Retain cantrip vs 15 [4d6]=9

sorry accidentallt used the cantrip instead of lv 1 retention macro, but seems she passed even with +1

[Rex]

Orgoth

Orgoth tosses a Javelin at the nearest head,

Javelin, thrown [1d20]=17 to hit [1d6+3]=2+3=5 damage

[Spearmint]

May 10th 1066

Barrowmoor, south of Helix. Duchy of Aerik.

09.30am Light rain.
Light: Visibility poor. Lantern (Truro) Lantern (Treyvor).
Effects none.

Critters initiative [1d6]=1
Gnimish & Treyvor [1d20]=5 [1d20]=17 [2d4]=6 [2d4]=7

The evil, ghoulish flying heads screech above your heads and dive at the group. Sven gets a telepathic message, "£@#& this ain't having one of them bite my ass." as a lupine familiar gets scared by the screechy vampiric abominations and he runs into the grassland.

Everyone else brings arms to bear and fill the skies with a volley of medieval 'ack-ack'. It becomes an exercise in kamikaze dive bombing as the swooping critters crash to the ground. One is impaled in the middle of its forehead by the bullseye target shot from Sven's new weapon. The next is shattered into brains and bone as the barbed javelin erupts it open like a soft melon. The gnomes raise the contraptions and trigger shafts. One miss and one hit is enough to bring down a third Vargouille. Isvand throws his own new weapon, hoping his field practice can be put into good effect. The crescent hardwood is thrown and arcs through the sky, the Vargouilles dodge out of the way and the boomerang flies high into the mist as it spins.

"Just wait a second." he says confidentially as a creature swoops to attack his bare fleshed neck. As it opens its fang toothed mouth, dribbling with necrotic poison, almost upon the stranded halfling, the boomerang arcs out of the mist and uppercuts like a prize pugilist to land a knockout blow upon the creatures open jaw.

The last of the critters must have some brains still functioning in its unholy head and flaps away.

Once more, avoiding a surprise ambush and gaining initiative proves crucial to the team.

next actions please

[Rex]

Orgoth

"What the Hades are those things?" Orgoth moves over and retrieves his javelin.

[OGRE MAGE]

"Ohhhh Smokie! You can come out of your hiding place now!"

Sven sounds a little embarrassed that his new best friend ran off in his time of need.

"I have never seen their like before, Orgoth. But whatever they are, they look pretty nasty. I am glad we didn't learn just how bad they could be."

The mage pokes at one of the deadheads with the butt of his staff, taking a closer look at them before they set out again. He sacks one up and ties it shut, hoping to bring the specimen back to show Mazzah.

"If there were no issues with that attack, let's keep moving. Good job on the quick reactions and accuracy everyone!"

[sastaz]

Gerdal swiftly waves the palm of her hand in a backwards motion, the cloudy barrier surrounding her disappearing in a puff of purple smoke.

"I never thought I would hear myself saying this, but I should target practice before our next journey."

She smiles towards her companions.

"Let's not linger, we should move on."

Inspired by Sven, she breaks/saws a wing off one of the flyers and put it in her backpack.

[redwarrior]

Isvand recovers his boomerang. These may come in handy indeed! He says as he cleans it and returns it to his bandoleer.

[Spearmint]

May 10th 1066

Barrowmoor, south of Helix. Duchy of Aerik.

12.30pm Light rain.
Light: Visibility poor. Lantern (Truro) Lantern (Treyvor).
Effects none.

Truro, "Don't you wish to bury these heads? Taking one as a keepsake will surely bring Ygg's wrath upon us." the young cleric is appalled at the desire to use the heads in research or autopsy. The heads indeed are not owl, not bird like at all but have definite human features, though each has been grotesquely distorted. The wings sprout where ears would be, the severed heads have spinal columns and bones, viscera and tendons attached. Almost as if a head was wrenched off. The teeth elongated and boney protrusions complete the diabolic metamorphosis of perhaps once upon a time adventurers across the Moor.

Amos helps dig a slit trench, pouting oil over the remnants and lighting it before leading you off again. The choice was to go north around the hillock of bracken and the Standing Stone camp. It adds a few minutes to your time as you have to cut through tangles of brush. A large snake lurks in the mud. A giant of its type but your intuition and senses see the creature and you can swerve the predator. Its mouth could open to swallow a gnome or hobbit with ease without having to dislocate reticular jaws too much. But keeping your distance it slithers away to hide under the muddy pools.

Gnimish & Treyvor breathe some relief at least.

After finding the trail again you press on, unhindered though aware that just beyond your sight, shadows move furtively though nothing approaches your group. By the middle of the day you gain entrance upon the grassy meadows, leaving behind the wet peat bogs and swamp grass. The fetid air and eerie mist is ever present though. The last time you entered the meadow a welcoming committee of skeletons met you. Today just an echo of stone upon stone, a rythmic hammering from far off to the left.

In front of you a grassy knoll that you climbed before. You have arrived directly to the north of BM5.

actions please

Barrow 5:

A large green knoll. A rounded hill covering an oval shape, ellipsoid like half a giant green egg.

At the top is a freshly dug grave. A small wooden sign simply states, Rufus, "butcher, baker, excavator. died, April 1st 1066 we staked him down, just in case like, ... No hard feelings, just the way it is". Pat Doggrel n' the Boyz

At the bottom of the hill facing east, an area of excavation has taken place. Abandoned now but the lintel of a grey stone door contrasts to the buttercups and daisies growing around it.

[Rex]

Orgoth

"We going in the same way again?" He leads the way.

[sastaz]

Map showing Bear Tomb and entry part of maze section

a) Sarcophagus chamber
b) Large domed chamber with alcoves
c) Freedom

[sastaz]

Entire maze map

Doors
A. 'Trickling water'. Wedged shut, sodden wooden door.
B. Locked, reinforced with iron and embellished with verdigris designs.
C. Iron reinforced, well preserved, lacquered and greased hinges. Has a panel containing a book cover? Two scarabs cover keyholes.
D. Wooden, opens freely.
E. Swollen oaken door, previously shrunk but now stuck once again.
F. Leeing face. Smell of hops or barley.
G. ??
H. ??
I. ??
J. Wooden, green with mold and swollen by damp. Locked and the rusty keyhole has a broken lockpick in it.
K. Wooden, green with mold and swollen by damp. No lock or securing device. Opened and shut before by Amos without trouble.
L. Wooden, opens freely.
M. Iron reinforced door.
N. ??
O. Exploding skeletons exited this room.

Unexplored areas
I. ??
II. ??
III. Rusted porticulis, behind it some sort of storage or guardroom.
IV. This is where the cultists made their stand and the location of their sacrificial pit.
V. ??
VI. There's a large stone table or something similar in this room.

[sastaz]

Gerdal thinks for a while.

"We should check on the things Sven left in the tomb, after that head directly towards the Bug Room. Please see bug on map Remember that Sven shrunk that door (E) last time, we'll have to get through it in order to reach the wall to the cobras. Once through that door, we should have a plan for the cobras. Their poison is deadly and they are lightning fast. Perhaps lure them out one by one and pick them off with arrow and....what was that you called it again Isvand? Boomerang?

Anyway, we have to assume we'll be jumped by ghouls, cultists or exploding skeletons. What's our plan for that?"

[Spearmint]

Just for your record. You are in the hex north of Barrow 5. Each hex is 60'ft and your visibility is limited to the mid point of each neighbouring hex.

Previous mound descriptions in the Maps thread.