Tomb-ward bound

[DM Bob]

Enemy's Slumber, 3rd to 4th of Fortuary - Travel to the Buried City of Tnor'morken

Current Locations: Travel through sand, scrubland and finally...

Little wants to show face or engage with a force of your size, make up & speed. There are various wildlife seen as you thunder through the brief sands, which let up to scrubland after another brief oasis stop. This one unoccupied by sentient folks at the present. However Sendic & Company do warn you from some of the vegetation that lies towards the eastern end of the waters as the mounts drink deep of the shallow oasis.

It isn't long thereafter that the sands let up to struggling grasslands. You make camp here for the evening. The next day, inix and gorak are seen wandering in the distance, looking up briefly as you pass by quickly. The wind blows into your eyes as you travel. While somewhat cooling, the temperature is much like anywhere else you've traveled. Hot. As you leave the oasis, some green is seen before the end of the mountain ranges to your left. Was that forest? No matter, this is not the path you take today. Your party thunders on.

Occasionally flyers are spotted, mainly circling high above and to either south or due west. Not close enough for general identification though.

Towards the end of the day on the 4th of Fortuary, the ground once again gives away to finer sands, slightly taller dunes than before and with some darker things in the distance. Even further than that, mountain peaks can be spotted, likely a solid 60 miles or further from the lower dark things you squint at.

Sendic states...

"Those are the ruins there." He points at the dark sight line. "We'll camp here for the evening, but we leave on the morrow for our rounds. If you are in need of help, do not forget that the Tribunal is easily contacted mentally if you hold those skills. I also can see Akos checking in, in a few days if you haven't mentally accounted for yourselves. Beware goliath scorpions and other vile things at night here... it seems to attract the worst of the wastes, this place." He wrinkles his nose as another three fires are lit behind him.

There is no music this night. There is a chill to the air this evening; the riders seem on edge.

[Attilius]

Nov 10, 2023 5:27:04 GMT -12 DM Bob said:

Sendic states "... Beware goliath scorpions and other vile things at night here... it seems to attract the worst of the wastes, this place..."

"You got DAT right BOSS: US!" the half-giant chuckles.

He then turns to the group in a serious manner. "Let's get a night watch order. We should pair up: one warrior, one magic wielder. I'll take the middle ov da night when it's darkest. Who will join me and who will take before and after me?"

[AthasianLaborer]

'Muiko responds to Attilius' suggestion "One slight problem with that plan is the fact that we lack enough magic wielders to accommodate it.  Perhaps it might be better to pair combatants with masters of The Way allowing our two only two magic wielders *'Muiko gestures towards Skrye first and then Quila* to get the rest they much require.  Aside from that minor oversight, I think it is a sound idea and will volunteer to be the mindbender on your shift though would ask that we take first or last rather than the middle shift"

[Deleted]

Chat'cho cocks her head to one side. "What do you mmean, dra? There will always *e a mmagic user awake, *ecause I will always *e awake."

[Attilius]

Proposed 4 hour increment watch order:

Watch 1
Chat-cho Druid
Muiko Mage
Quila Psion/Templar



Watch 2
Chat-cho Druid
Attilius Gladiator
Skrye Cleric/bard



Watch 3
Chat-cho Druid
Coden Psion/Former Fighter
Niachi Fighter/Shadow Mage

[Deleted]

As Chat'cho takes her position atop something solid, she clutches her Gythka and vanishes from view.

[AthasianLaborer]

Nov 10, 2023 6:22:12 GMT -12 @arkinneas said:

Chat'cho cocks her head to one side. "What do you mmean, dra? There will always *e a mmagic user awake, *ecause I will always *e awake."

Startled momentarily by Chat'cho's comment, 'Muiko gets a brief look of surprised realization "Apologies, I was unaware" and then opens his portfolio and begins sketching.  He doesn't look up for several minutes and uses all of the colors from the brace of chalks on his skullcap.  About halfway through, he laughs through pursed lips and finishes the sketch with a tearless grief to his eyes.  As he finishes, he looks at Quila and says [Elven: "The bug must understand that I have yet to meet another of their kind as learned and social as they must be to speak the trade language.  My experiences have been far different"] and then he reveals the sketch he's been working on.

Artistic Ability rolled a 3 needing a 13 or less (Success: The top left quarter of this parchment has a full color full body portrait of Chat'cho throwing up arcane gang signs (the unconcealed starting positions for the Somatic components to Nondetection and Spectral Force); the other 75% of the page is 'Muiko's recreation of his understanding of how the Thri-Kreen massacre of the Wind Dancers went)

[Skrye [AC3; 48/48HP]]

- Skrye smiles when the elf laughs but nods at the watch order that is suggested - "I'm good standing in the middle of the night watch"

[DM Bob]

The evening passes uneventfully. The riders bid farewell at sun up after packing their light tent frames and dousing the remaining embers of fire, replaced quickly by the brilliant burn of the red sun. Your goal remains dark, slightly unnerving in the rays of the rising light.

Venturing closer, an odd pole marker with a tattered red ribbon and small black skull is spotted standing before sand broken up by large stone blocks. Here, the going is slower. Some vegetation peeks from here and there... the ground is grassy, but in patches. There is eventually evidence of past wheeled travel as well.

Evidence of prior camps are about. Used fire pits, cleared ground, etc...

In the immediate area, there are some remains of buildings. The most structurally sound looking ones are a large (100' width, height unburied about 25' high) granite tower, half buried in the earth and sand, a broken columned building that once may have been white, now half broken and stained grey and black and another squarish, squat building built of mortared stone - that seems the most intact.

Each building is surrounded by scree, sand, grasses and chunks of other building remains. The ground is also a bit raised here, it dips oddly at points. There are many places one could hide.

There is a generally feeling of malaise, or just general uneasiness. Like a psychic darkness; a drag on the senses here.

[Deleted]

Noticing that the area seems to be clearly dangerous, but that the source of the danger is not immediately visible, Chat'cho transforms herself into a Kes'trekel carrion bird, in which guise she attempts to survey the surrounding area from the air and triangulate the location of anything besides the party that might be nearby.

[DM Bob]

Easily done. Clearly from this height, there's evidence of long demolished wall bases covered by debris and sand. No active camps are seen. The heaviest wheeled tracks come from the west side of the grounds - which are huge, not quite City State huge, but it's hard to tell what it would have encompassed given it's current state. There is ample space between the three mentioned buildings. Plant growth is heaviest by the squat building towards the rear opposite a pair of huge double doors.

The tower has no apparent access from the ground, a trap door is seen on the top.

You assume access to the columned building is beyond the colonnade.

You think you see some larger (dog sized) scorpions to the north end of the ruins, but they quickly scamper for cover behind some decent sized stone blocks.

As far as building positions, the tower is furthest east, the columned one to the north and the squat one further west... all positioned like a triangle.

[Deleted]

Chat'cho lands on the top of the tower before shifting back to her normal form. From there, she ties off her 100ft of silk rope to one of the tower's sturdier-looking protrusions and drops it down, hoping it's long enough for the rest of the group. She deactivates her magic weapon's effect, becoming visible and audible. She waves her arms and shouts, pointing at where she saw the scorpions.

"These ruins are inxhested! They hide ammong the rocks! Look xhor mmy ro*e!"

[Quila Oris (John M.)]

If Quila gets no immediate signal from the Sacred Guardian spell that Chat'cho is in danger atop of the tower of Aman, she says "I think it might be a good idea to start out with a prayer that allows me to Locate Objects like the flask of scented oil I have from here. But for it to work we need to be within bow range of the squat building, for I presume that to be the tomb."

When the rest of the group follows Quila will eventually be in a position (ideally within 50 yards or so from the walls of the squat building) where she will cast a Locate Object spell and focus on flasks of scented oil like the one she has in her hands.

[Attilius]

Nov 10, 2023 8:10:25 GMT -12 @arkinneas said:

Chat'cho lands on the top of the tower before shifting back to her normal form. From there, she ties off her 100ft of silk rope to one of the tower's sturdier-looking protrusions and drops it down, hoping it's long enough for the rest of the group. She deactivates her magic weapon's effect, becoming visible and audible. She waves her arms and shouts, pointing at where she saw the scorpions.

"These ruins are inxhested! They hide ammong the rocks! Look xhor mmy ro*e!"

The half giant squints up at the kreen at the top and shakes his head from side to side with a frown
"I 'memba Aman’s bro’s name is Myron. They don’t like each other much. Myron’s imprisoned somewhere in another structure, which is what Aman wants. He also didn’t want Manu or Gallard called to his door? Somethin’ about not directly playin’ his hand?"

He thinks some more

"After raising Hurkette, Aman told us not to go back in his tower. He wanted to rest in torpor? Something about not controlling his bloodlust? Either way let's NOT go in there, he liked that we didn't really mess with his stuff and home. If Aman wants to talk, he knows Coden and I. He could easily cast sum of his fancy magiks to talk to us..."

He turns to Coden

"OR Coden can use the way to talk to HIM?" he asks

[Deleted]

"WHAT?" Chat'cho shouts down.

"THIS IS THE WRONG *UILDING?!"