RC Jalpiar (Formerly RC No America Tue/Sun)

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As Karak examines the tracks found on the cavern floor, Naffin approaches Knorr:

"Knorr, a moment. Something has been bothering me since we fought those creatures at the cliffside...

"Minister Montague had told us a few things that may or may not be of coincidence. One, the Priest of Simberal, who was found dead by the roadside, was clawed by some creature. Two, one of the missing party members *knew about the wilderness,* and Three, they were in search of a magical tree that produced a special fruit of some kind...

"Lets say for the sake of argument that their *friend* was a druid. Druids have ways of controlling plant creatures, such as these Twig Blights. These are clearly creatures of the wood.

"Perhaps the Druid (if it is in fact a druid) is seeking this tree for reasons other than healing fruit, and the Priest had detected this. The druid summons, or somehow utilizes said creatures to kill the priest, and he is found by the roadside - clawed to death.

"Perhaps the fruit, or its seeds are the source of these creatures.

"Finding and controlling this tree, and the creatures, could be the intent of this one, if this theory were to be correct.

"I understand, however, that it is far too early to tell, but I wonder what your thoughts are on this."




[This message has been edited by ArtEChoke (edited January 16, 2002).]

 

Knorr has, in fact, started to suspect that Naffin, whom he considered a mere beggar that invited himself along when Knorr was really after Oscar, is actually a bit more than he previous suspected.

"Maybe he's one of those peace-niks," Knorr thought to himself. "I notice he didn't take part in either of the fights."

Then aloud: "Well, from what I know about twig blights, you could very well be right, Naffin.

"And even if that's not the way things shake out, it occurs to me that we shouldn't assume that Maid and Master Montague will be happy to see us. They may have been working with this druid of yours or have decided to abandon the path of good men.

"By the way, you seem a stealthy sort. Perhaps you should take my place alongside Karak scouting ahead. Nyora and I are most useful in any encounter as the second line. Just don't let Olanth sneak up behind you."

 

Naffin thinks for a moment.

"Yes, a wise observation of the Montagues. If we find them alive, we should handle them with caution. We may not be rescuing them, so much as interrupting them."

"I'm sure we'll speak of this again as we proceed," he hesitates once more, and continues:

"I will take your comment about Olanth into advisement." he finishes, looking sidelong at the huge barbarian.

 

Kneeling, Karak searched for tracks and clues amidst the sunken courtyard and at the base of the tower. What he came to notice was that in roughly a five by ten area in front of the door on the tower, there was nothing. At first glance one might not notice such an observation, but looking deeper one would notice that no tracks, no dust, no signs of anything, laid in front of the door. This compared to the rest of the area, which on this level of detail looked as one would expect an area of land that got swallowed in an earthquake should, perturbed Karak.

He rose to his feet and approached his adventuring compainions with this observation.

 

With Karak's observation of the out of place area, Naffin decides to take a brief look for anything unusual in the area surrounding the tower.

After searching through the debris however, he manages to turn up nothing (with the obvious exception of debris).

Thinking that the "clean" area may have been someone's overzealous attempt to conceal their passage, Naffin decides to take a closer look at the door. Before reaching the door, however, he notices a crack, or an irregularity where the 'clean' area meets the natural ground.

Crouching down, he looks closer at the break in the ravine floor, and follows its perimeter around the conspicuous area. The seam in the floor forms a perfect 5x10 rectangle, roughly one foot from the door of the tower.

Naffin calls out, "I think this is a moving panel. It could be a push plate, or a sliding panel, or a trapdoor, I'm unsure."

"I wonder if its pressure sensitive, or perhaps tampering with the door activates it..."

 

Nyora glanced at the pile of debris upon hearing Naffin's discovery. She then glanced back at the rectangle on the floor.

Addressing the group: "If the trap is indeed 'pressure sensitive' then opening the door won't do us any good at all. Perhaps we should put some of the debris on top of the rectangle, rocks or....something. Then we might be able to trigger the trap door, without harm to anyone else, and without fooling ourselves into thinking it is safe to cross simply because the door is open."


[This message has been edited by Xenecor (edited January 18, 2002).]

 

"Unless, of course, it's not a trap but an alarm."

Knorr looks up to see if there are accessible windows, as he's now quite sure the party would like to be inside the tower, if not for safety then for glory.

[This message has been edited by Shralp (edited January 18, 2002).]

 

"Maybe it is an alarm of some sort. I'm not sure. If we open the door it might just let someone know that people are crossing that particular threshold. I don't know exactly how... but I suppose it's possible. The only question that remains is, what do we treat it as: A trap door or an alarm of some kind? If it is an alarm, than I don't see how there is any way we can open that door without setting it off."

Not knowing exactly what to do, Nyora addressed Naffin "Is there any way you can check for traps on the tower door without actually stepping on the rectangle?"



[This message has been edited by Xenecor (edited January 18, 2002).]

 

After standing back and listening to the conversations so far (especially the cook’s earlier wise crack), Olanth turns towards Knorr and laughs in amusement as he addresses him.“ Maybe I could place you on the panel and then we could find out if it is indeed a trap or not!” He laughs for a moment then continues, “ Do not worry cook. My stomach cannot bear the thought of losing you just yet.” He chuckles yet again to himself and then in a slightly more serious tone continues, “I think we should first see if there is another way into this place. If not, then maybe we could find a way to bridge this panel, allowing us to enter without touching it in any way.”

Olanth then turns his attention towards Nyora, “If you possess the ability to check this panel for magical properties, we would at least know that much about it.”

Then seeming to completely lose all interest in the conversation at hand, he turns away and starts to mumble to himself, “Ughh !…. All of this thinking on an empty stomach. I should have grabbed some rat steaks while I had a chance.”

 

After checking the tower door for traps, Naffin, having not found any, opened the door, and looked inside. Awaiting them was a circular chamber with 4 dead goblins strewn about, recently slain and one skewered to the wall by a spear. Seeing two doors leading out of the chamber, they decided to check the one in the northwest section. Behind it was a hallway leading west. Three doors could be seen down it, thanks to the sunrods given to Naffin by Oscar. Two of the doors were about 30 feet down the hall, one on each side, and the last was at the end. The door on the north wall of the hallway lead to an empty chamber. The one on the south wall, an Iron bound oaken door with a carved relief on it, was locked. The door at the end lead into an irregular shaped chamber with a cage in the southern section, a bench in front of it, and a bedroll on the floor. Coming from beneath the bedroll, whimpering could be heard. Knorr moved the bedroll aside with his short-spear revealing the curled up body of a whimpering kobold. Knorr, speaking draconic, began a discourse with the creature. He found out the creature was called Meepo, who spoke in broken Common in return. He was guarding his tribes dragon protector, which had been stolen by goblins. Meepo offered to take the party to his queen, Drasyl, who knew more than him. Karak, during the conversation decided to search the room and found five jade figurines carved into the likeness of a dragon. They accepted the offer and followed Meepo through a door in the center of the west wall, down a hallway, around a corner, and into the throne room of Drasyl.

The party explained to Drasyl that they were looking for a party of humans that had possibly ventured into the sunken castle. She explained that she had seen such a group. They had gone off to fight the goblins, and had not returned. There were four; one knight, one woodsman, one swordsman, and one female wizard. Knowing that they would have to return through the realm of the kobolds, the group decided to aid them in retrieving their stolen dragon. Queen Drasyl offered a reward if they returned with their dragon, and would send Meepo with them as Calcryx, the dragon, would respond well to him. The reward was to be three scrolls, one potion, and the key to the tomb of the dragon priest. The party, having accepted the rescue mission, returned to the room where the dragon was kept, and exited through the door in the northern corner of the east wall.

They followed the hallway revealed to the end where they found a door on the north wall. Opening this door they found an empty chamber. Karak identified several sets of tracks, and determined that the other humans went through the door on the north wall. Opening the door, they entered another chamber, this one has a door on the west wall, a hall leading out to the north, and a fountain in the eastern area with a statue of a dragon in the center. Naffin discovered that the door on the west wall was trapped. Karak found the bottom of the fountain was coated by a film. Carvings on the west door were found to read “Channel good, open the way”, written in draconic, while similar carvings at the base of the dragon statue read “Let there be fire”, Knorr provided the translations. The statue was made in the image of a red dragon. In fact all the images of dragons they had seen so far were of the same red dragon, identified by Knorr as Ashardalon, a female ancient red that he had read about. Not being able to determine how to open the trapped door, the party continued to the north. After 10 feet, they came to a crossroad intersection. The hall to the north went further than they could see, but there were some doors ahead on each side. The hall to the west went for 10 feet, and ended in a door while the hall to the east went 10 feet and ended in a pile of rubble. Finding that the tracks went both north and west, they decided to head west.

Opening the door, they found a room with a single door in the west corner of the north wall. Naffin failed to find the alarm trap attached to this door, and when the door was opened, the two goblin guards were alerted. They threw a barrage of javelins down a small hallway from their hidden location behind a small battlement built at the other end, Naffin was hit by one and took minor damage. Nyora cast bless on the party, and Knorr sang an inspiring tune. Karak went to charge down the hall, but he quickly found the floor of the hall covered with a multitude of caltrops. He stopped short and took out his sling. Naffin threw a dagger, hitting one of the goblins in the eye, killing it, while Karak having readied his sling, hit the other with similar effects. A search of the goblins yielded 44 silver pieces, 16 javelins, and four sacks designed to hold the caltrops in the hallway. Naffin and Knorr each took 4 javelins, Naffin collected one sack of caltrops, and all the silver was taken. The room the goblins were in had another door on the south wall. Moving through this door cautiously, the party discovered another room with a battlement in it. This one also had three target dummies against the south wall. Attempting to move hidden, Naffin, Karak, and Knorr tried to approach the battlement. They were assaulted by a hail of four javelins, thrown by the four goblins behind the wall. Knorr, Naffin, Karak, and Olanth moved up to the wall. Meepo yelled that he would cover them as they attempted to climb over the wall. Olanth was the first to go over the wall, and as the goblin tried to attack him, he was struck by a bolt from Meepo’s crossbow and fell dead. Olanth then swung his sword at another, slicing the creature in two with a mighty blow. The remaining two goblins threw their weapons down and lay prone on the floor. One, speaking in common, said, “We give up.”

Each party member received 150 experience points.
The updated Player Map can be viewed at: http://people.ne.mediaone.net/frankmarianne/Jalpiar/Player_Map.JPG


[This message has been edited by Baldak Oakfist (edited January 21, 2002).]

 

Knorr climbs the battlement and leans casually on his short spear.

"Olanth," he whispers to the barbarian in Common, "how about towering over my shoulder and making it clear to the goblins what will happen to them if they do not cooperate? Finger your sword or something."

Knorr waves to the rest of the party to join them on the other side of the battlement and then in the goblin language says, "You two can either join your two dead friends or tell us what we want to know.

"First. A party of four humans came through here. Did you see them, and where did they go?"

[This message has been edited by Shralp (edited January 22, 2002).]

 

Naffin, not sure he wants to see what's about to happen to the surviving goblins, instead turns his attention to the doors along the West and North walls.

Beginning with the handle of the southern most door, he examines the opening mechanism...

ooc: Baldak, he'll search each door for traps and alarms, so might as well give me a roll for each.

[This message has been edited by ArtEChoke (edited January 22, 2002).]

 

One of the goblins, after mustering up some courage, begins to speak to Knorr in goblin. "I can't tell you about what I ain't seen, but there were three humans that tried to bully their way through here. One is dead, and the other two were sent down by Durnn."

OoC: Naffin does not find any traps on any of the three doors, and the southern one is locked, but the other two are not.


[This message has been edited by Baldak Oakfist (edited January 25, 2002).]

 

Knorr translated the answer into Common for the rest of the party and, keeping his eyes on the prone goblins, turned to Meepo and asked in Draconic, "Do you know who or what Durnn is?"

Then again to the goblins in their own tongue, "Where is the dead one's body, and where can we find the other two now?" Knorr wasn't sure he believed the goblin, but it looked like Olanth's presence was having the desired effect.

 

Meepo approached Knorr cautiously, he did not trust the goblins. "Durnn is Goblin Cheif. He one bad ass. Me no want to meet up with him."

The goblin, still staring at the large barbarian, spoke again. "The dead one is probably Dragon fodder now, as you will all be. Durnn will be plenty angry when he finds you."

 

Nyora walked over to Knorr after he translated for the goblin.

"Ask the goblin which one of the party was killed."

When Knorr finished translating to them,, Nyora walked over to Naffin and voiced a probably shared and understood discrepancy in the goblins account of the humans.

"He mentioned a total of 3 humans. Where is the other human that Drasyl spoke of?"



[This message has been edited by Xenecor (edited January 25, 2002).]

 

Knorr translated for the others and then said "Worry less about Durnn and more about Olanth and Knorr," as he indicated the barbarian and himself respectively. "Which of the humans was killed, and where? Continue speaking, goblin, and we just may let you live instead of letting Meepo end your lives like he did the unfortunate dead one over there."

 

Having regained some of his courage, the goblin seemingly ignores Knorr's threat. "A human is a human. I can't tell them apart. They all look the same to me. He carried a sword and wore armor. All part of our treasure now. And I am not worried about Durnn, but you should be. He will beat you to a pulp, then turn all of you into soup."
The goblin then spits at Knorr, hitting the Bard on the boot with the slimy spittle.

 

Knorr suddenly looks far less friendly than your average singing chef. He places his spear point lightly on the nape of the other goblin's neck and speaks to him. "Goblin, listen carefully.

"Your friend is as good as dead. If you tell Olanth here where we can find the dragon, he may be overjoyed enough that he will not have me cook up a batch of goblin-leg chowder. Speak now."



[This message has been edited by Shralp (edited January 25, 2002).]

 

Feeling the point of the spear on his neck, the goblin, too afraid to speak, simply points to the northern door on the west wall. The other goblin still feeling quite brave, wriggles forward and tries to bite Knorr on the foot.