Why is the compass keep spinning? I dunno probably because it's Magic!

[GM]

Quick Recap:  The group was sidetracked by a random pirate invasion of dry land ( yeah go figure ).  And after handing them their collective asses, the adventurer's Guild says goodbye to a previous member (Amaril) and hello to a new (Elia).  The crew pick up a few magical trinkets and some coin, while trashing a little bit of their hometown in the process.  But that is life in Grifdale!

So back on track!

The morning comes quickly, and the group gather outside Te'Wigs home. Charlie is there with the supplies needed.  All loaded on a mule. "Here is Betsy, she isn't as stubborn as the rest of the mules, so she should serve you well on your adventure.  I've packed 5 days of food and water, 2 extra swords, 4 daggers, a long bow and a quiver of arrows.  I also packed bedrolls, and 2 tents.  Good luck!"

[Kirin]

Kirin smiles not only at the thought of new adventures and the experiences they will bring, but also at the thought of leaving the small city behind. It isn't that he dislikes Grifdale, the small hamlet is as close to home as any place he has ever lived. The problem stems from his inability to connect with any particular place or group of people. While he is loyal to his small band of adventurers, he knows he doesn't really fit in among them. The mage has learned over time that his talents might set him above common folks, but his heritage sets him outside the comfort most towns people find dwelling in communities.

Approaching Charlie as the boy introduces the mule, the young half elf walks up to the creature and gives it a good scratch between the ears. When Kirin's father had explained that a mule was a mix between a horse and a donkey all those years ago, Kirin had instantly felt a close bond to the animals as they seemed to so akin to his own dilemma and had always carried that fondness with him. 

"Good looking Mule Charlie, and thanks for the gear. This equipment should get us well on our way to hunting down the scum that is threatening Grifdale." Circling the mule, and watching the other party members, Kirin checks that his own light pack is situated on his shoulders so as best to distribute its weight evenly, his staff, as always, settled in his right hand.

[Aaron]

Mutt scans the inventory of supplies and attempts to observe the general conditions and demeanors of the crew; an unfamiliar weight on his shoulders and sensation in his gut. His uneasy gaze comes to a halt at the sword manifesting as the material representation of his evasive emotions. He rests his hand on the hilt in acceptance and barks,  "Te'Wig" nodding to indicate for Te'Wig to lead the way. 

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[Te'wig]

Te'wig nods to Mutts obvious eagerness to get going, the sooner we finish the sooner we are done with this whole mess and back to something familiar. Grifdale the place where most of us have called home for a better part of our lives. A familiar place, predictable and welcome home life. Now the time has come and as a cohesive unit Te'wig looks at the compass. All eyes looking expectedly at the magic box in the Dwarfish palms held extended. Te'wig's eyes patently watching the needle spinning in place clearly the box is possessed with a wandering enchantment and the intended target's essence is growing very faint. The time held in deep anticipation, a minute passes, a few more, all present are thinking it until the silence and constant spinning grows to be too much. "Why is the compass keep spinning?!" a voice acknowledged by all yet none recognize the person. The question was on everyone's mind and possibly more than one said it causing a blend of voices that seemed to come from all around. Te'wig assuming it could have been Kirin, "I don't know maybe because it magic!" sarcasm clear in his response. Te'wig clearly tired of waiting closes his hands over the box and commands, "We head north, we will try to pick up the trail when we get to higher ground." Te'wig leads the group north without a chance for any objections.

[Lisa Schnurr]

Elia falls in line and obediently follows the group. However, as the new person, she feels completely confused about what is going on. To no one in particular, she asks, "So, why exactly are we following a magic compass and what is it supposed to lead us to?" 

[GM]

Te'Wig leads the group towards the mountains to the north.  Since he isn't allowed in the mines, the only way to get to the north side is to head east across the new bridge, to the new side of town...Francis' side of town.  The side where the elite of the town live in large above ground houses.  Mostly Human but Francis has forgotten his Dwarven roots and taken stead in a giant home next to one of the founders of the Merchant's Guild's private home.  As you pass by Francis' home Te'Wig's stomach turns into knots of disgust as he looks at the home. But now is not the time or place!  

Te'Wig quickly takes you to an old hunting trail that will lead up to Googer's Pass.  An old out of date hunting trail that is said to be haunted.  Soon as you step onto the trail, the Compass stops spinning and points directly along the trail!  (Weird Science Roll 6,1).  The actual "pass" is a good 3 days away, but the strong pull of the compass tells you that is where you are heading! 

It is a long day of hiking, and just as dusk begins to settle in you make it to a split in the mountain side.  It looks as if the river below has carved out the mountains a bit and left a gap in the trail about 30 feet across!  You face your first problem.  The bridge spanning the gap is broken!  It is still attached firmly on your side, but across the gap you can see that the ropes have been severed!  The bridge itself still seems to be in good working order, as if someone has been keeping it up.  Only a couple of broken boards are visible as you look down at the bridge.....

Down to the river is a good 200ft down, and would require a good climbing still to survive. (Game mechanics wise, it would require 5 climbing successes to make it down safely.  1 roll for each 40 feet.  Without any climbing gear or ropes it will be at -2)

So wayward adventurers, how are you going to handle this? 

Also an extra benny for our next session to the first person to tell Elia in character what is going on!

[Kirin]

 

Finally on the road, Kirin smiles as the troop moves along the wandering path toward the mountains.  As they leave Grifdale behind, Elia ask about the party’s current mission. 

“That is a good question Elia. In a nut shell, unless you just came to town, which I guess you did not so long ago we had an angry giant, come to town and lay havoc to the smithy. We ended up going toe to toe with it and well, you’ve seen us in action so you probably can figure out how that fight went. Anyway,  We followed the beast back to his lair and found a strange dark spirit imprisoned there.  He explained to us that he was the spirit of Mount Ignis, a fire mountain not too far from Grifdale.  Apparently some mysterious man with a scar on one hand had imprisoned Glyphon, the mountain’s protector, and had stolen a magical stone which had previously kept the mountain dormant. Without that stone the volcano goes up in about 2 days give or take, and when it does so does Grifdale.  So in an effort to having to find new lodgings and another inn to drink at we have decided to try and return the stone. After all, the ale at the inn is fair and they do have a fantastic wine selection. Do you have any further questions?”

Hoping his explanation is adequate, Kirin goes back to nature watching as they approach and then follow the trail of mist, an old hunting trail that has been reported as haunted.  Keenly attuned to his surroundings, the young half elf answers whatever questions Elia has until the come upon the abrupt trail end and all find themselves staring at a 200 foot deep river chasm.

Pondering his options, Kirin begins to examine his surroundings for  large trees on both sides that might be dropped to make a physical bridge or to anchor a rope from an arrow shot. He also examines the cliffs on both sides to see if there is advantageous paths that for going down or up.  Lastly, the young mage re-examines the inventory on the mule to see if they have enough rope to lower someone down so they might be well rested to scale the other side.

“I don’t suppose anyone is familiar with mountain climbing or flying are they” he questions absently as he ponders the parties predicament. 

[GM]

And Kirin gets the benny!

As for Trees, the forest have some big ones, but no 200 footers!  You could make something by stringing 4 trees together.  That would require 4 repair rolls at -2 to string them together.  Then each person crossing would need to make an agility check to keep their balance.

There are plenty of trees on both sides of the chasm. And I'll say you have 50ft of rope.  ( I didn't originally give you any but I figure 50 ft of rope is standard with pack mules these days right? ).  

[Te'wig]

Te'wig scans the area for any materials for device construction, "Some type of catapult would work for this situation." Te'wig thinks to himself.  "Mutt could you organize a team to pull up the bridge that remains on our side?", Te'wig looks over the edge and kicks a bit of dirt to get a feel for the distance to the bottom.  "Even if I can't make a device that works I'm sure having the bridge pulled up will make repairing it easier."  Te'wig pats Mutts knee and starts muttering an old mining song happily wandering the area picking up anything that will aide in his newest construction.

[GM]

Te'Wigs mind as usual is racing with fantasic ideas and soon is at work!  Mutt begins swinging his Axe with a vengence bringing down lumber to build what he is calling a catapult.  (repair roll(-2): 5,1, Time 1 hour) With blinding speed both Mutt and Te'Wig work and soon there is a small but effective looking catapult.  While they were working Kirin and Elia managed to pull the bridge up to their side.  Mutt then grabs a huge boulder and places it on the Catapult.  Te'Wig smiles and ties the end of the bridge to it, and with Mutt's help positions the Catapult.

"Fire!" Te'Wig screams as he pulls the lever (Shooting: 2,4) The boulder flies across the gap and lands with a thud on the other side pulling the bridge somewhat taught, but nothing seemed to fray.

If that wasn't enough Te'Wig smiles to himself as he pulls the necklace from one of his many pouches, looks across the gap and mutters "Disaperos" (Spirit: 4, 14) and in a flash he is now sitting on top of the boulder on the other side of the gap, although he looks a bit winded.  Te'Wig pulls himself together and hops down off the rock and proceeds to reattach the bridge to it's original anchor points (Repair: 31, 2).  Hell after Te'Wigs done, the bridge is probably in better shape then it was before it was cut!

Te'Wig waves the rest of the party over, and the group crosses the bridge successfully!

At this point it is full night time and the party is getting tired.  Especially Te'Wig who is a bit fatigued ( -1) from using the necklace.  However it has already been 1 day.  You only for sure have 2 more, maybe Glyphon can give you a day or 2 more, but do you really want to count on that?

Actions?  Camp, or push on?

[Te'wig]

Te'wig feeling the fatigue from the days challenges and magic energies taking its toll he can't help a vote for resting and picking up bright and early tomorrow morning.  "I'm bushed everyone, lets make camp and pick this up first thing in the morning."

[Kirin]

Kirin nods with Te'wig agreeing that it might be best to sleep then push on in the dark. "It's best that we try and rest. None of us want to walk into what ever we find at the end of this trail without being fully ready to deal with it.

Unpacking the mule, Kirin gets some rations out for the group and then gets to the business of gathering wood for a fire. "I'll volunteer for first watch but lets get some food in us before we start bedding down."

[GM]

The group of you rest for the night and pick up in the morning and the compass is ready to go!  As luck would have it you find a small hunting trail that looks less traveled that is going in the direction of the compass.  The road is a bit rough, and the less hardy of the group feel the strain of travel, but you manage to make up some precious lost time!  As you emerge back on the main trail a good 4 hours later, you see a crevice carved into the mountain side, and the compass is pointing directly at it!  In addition you notice what looks to be boot tracks heading toward the crevice(too bad you don't have a tracker that could figure out how old these tracks are!).  

Ok how would you like to handle this? Actions!

[Lisa Schnurr]

Elia's muscles are screaming, she is pretty sure both feet are covered in blisters, and she is in desperate need of a bath. All she wants to do is lay down a moment and relax, but she knows this is not the time to let her guard down. She finds it strange that there are footprints heading in the same direction as her group and she wants to make sure they are not walking into a trap. Elia heads over to the crevice, keeping an eye out for any danger. 

[GM]

As you scan the area you notice that as you get closer to the crevice
there are not only the single set of human boot prints, but also some
sort of animal footprints, coming and going from the crevice. You
don't know anything about tracking, so you have no idea what kind of
animal it is, but judging from the size of the print, it's probably
pretty big. Maybe a cougar, or a bear or something. You aren't
really sure. Peering in the crevice you see the light fades quickly
and goes to pitch black after about 20 yards or so. From what you can
see the cave itself looks to be natural, you don't see any man made
structures holding it up, at least as far as you can see.

Actions?

[Hamal Winkel]

Te'wig heads on into the opening.  Studying the minerals and structure of the rock formations.  As soon as the light fades too much he turns on his helmet lamp and proceeds to lead the way.

[GM]

Te'Wig enters the crevice scanning the walls looking at the minerals trying to deduce something about this cave. However it looks like nothing more than a natural formed stone cavern (Kn: mining 2,2).  With a flick of the wheel at the front of his helmet the tinder sparks and the candle lights up with a flicker.  For most of you, it is nothing more than a dim glow showing the outline of Te'Wig, but for the dwarf it illuminates the entire cavern, giving him just enough light to see down the cavern.  It has a gentle slope heading down, the cavern floor is hard stone just like the walls.  About 40 yards down the cave Te'Wig notices something.  Some sort of scafolding. (notice: 5,2) It seems to be made crudely.  Simply large branches roped together, and it doesn't seem to be holding the interior of the structure up, but you are still pretty far away to really make that assertion.  

Actions?

[Hamal Winkel]

Te'wig's compulsive curiosity gets the better of him and puts caution to the wind.  He moves more quickly without regard to his companions ability to follow him or not.  Te'wig sees only to find out what the purpose of the scaffolding is for, "Ahh  some kind of contraption.  I must get a closer look!"

[GM]

As Te'wig moves closer he notices(4,3) that the scaffolding isn't attached to the crevice at all, it is a free standing structure, and although crudely made, looks very sturdy!  As he gets closer he sees that there are subtle claw marks carved into the scaffolding, like something with claws would grab onto it.....Then the floor gives out! (agility -2: 1,2) and in an instant Te'wig Vanishes from site!

Te'wig manages a quick curse to himself as he realizes he just found a pit trap! Hopefully there aren't spikes at the bottom!!!

The Fall is quick but hard as Te'wig slams into the ground below. (11 Damage, Shaken and a wound!)  There is a loud snap, and Te'wig hopes it wasn't him!  Pain shoots through his chest as he hits and during the fall the candle on his helm blew out, and you realize somewhere between the fall and the impact you dropped your crossbow down here somewhere!

Actions??

[Hamal Winkel]

"Curse you Francis somehow I know this is your doing!!!", Te'wig thinks loudly to himself.  Trying to calm himself he looks around to see if he can locate where his crossbow has landed and pats his aching body for signs of injury in the mean time.  "I don't think its a good idea if anyone decides to follow this far in they would surely land on top of me and really ruin the rest of my day!"  Te'wig warns with a yell of his Distinctly Dwarvin voice.

[GM]

Te'wig pats down his body and quickly finds the source of his injury.  Half impaled into his side, is the remains of the magic compass that let the party to this cavern. Nothing do deep, but you are pretty sure you got a couple broken ribs out of the deal.  Pushing that aside for the moment, Te'wig reaches up and spins the dial on his helmet causing the candle the flicker to life.  You figure you fell about 30 feet or so, so it'll be a hell of a climb out of here.  You quickly search around for your crossbow and you find it across the floor about 12 yards away (6 squares).  That is when you realize you are not alone in this pit.....Standing across the pit from you is what can only be described as a giant toad!  It is easily the size of a horse and it's mouth is just Massive!  As you focus in on it, you see it's eyes lock on to the light of your helm.  Then you see it's muscles start to coil, and it's lips start to peel back....

The rest of the group fall into total darkness!  You hear Te'wig note not to follow after him, and then you see what looks like the outlines of a pit illuminate around the edges.  Elia - you are pretty sure that as the light came on, you noticed movement on the scaffolding, waiting a moment, you can faintly hear scratching on the wood... looking to your companions, you are pretty sure they haven't noticed it yet.

With the current lighting you can't see that far in front of you.  You can make out the edge of the pit and the bottom of the scaffolding maybe like 3 feet up because of the light from Te'wig's helm.  But everything else is cast in shadow due to the bad lighting.

Actions?

[Kirin]

Dusting himself off, Kirin is about to tell everyone to group up before entering the cavern when he sees the dwarf wandering through the entrance, something obviously catching the inventor's eye. Walking up behind Elia, the young mage notes the scaffolding and then the cave is plunged into darkness following an ompf!  that sounded disticlty dwarven.  Well at least he found the bottom of what ever hole he fell into quickly, Kirin thinks as he goes to retrieve the rope from the mule. 

Making his way back to the lip of the pit, Kirin silently thanks his father for one of the few gifts his mixed heritage has given him.  With the ability to see in quite well in darkened surroundings, the half elf caster approaches the pit trap, scanning the scaffold above and being very careful to look closely for any other traps that may be hidden along his path.

[GM]

Kirin - As you head towards the lib of the pit, you can start to make out the scaffolding more clearly.  Good thing to be a half elf sometimes!  As you get closer and start looking for additional traps along the scaffolding, you see what Elia though she saw.  Movement!(Notice 11).  You can't quite make out what they are, but there are a lot of them!  More than 6 you think, humanoid of some sort, and ridiculously fast.  almost dancing across the scaffolding.  And as you notice them, they see that their cover has been blown and they pounce!

Initiative:

• Mutt -- Ac 
  
• Elia -- Kh 
  
• GM leader -- Kd
  
• Te'wig -- Js
  
• Kirin -- 10h
  
• GM toad -- 10d
  
• GM minions -- 7h

The setup - Te'wig and the toad are down in a pit 30 feet deep.  it is a pretty big pit 12x12 squares (24x24 yards).  Kirin is at the edge of the pit looking up at the scaffolding, Mutt and Elia are still back near the light about 40 yards (13 squares) away.

Mutt - you didn't notice anything but upon seeing Kirin looking at the scaffolding, you start to see some heat rise from the scaffolding, it is moving quick and hard to keep a bead on, and there is alot of it. more than 7 you think.  (you are at a -2 to attack)

Elia - Even though you noticed the movement before the light went out, even with the dim light from the pit, your human eyes are no match for the darkness.  It is essentially you guessing where people are without proper light in here.  You are at -4 to attack the creatures ( the only reason you have a shot is because of your awesome notice roll, you have a pretty good idea where they were before the lights went out )

Mutt and Elia give me your actions and we will resolve them, then I will go.

Actions?