I : There is a place we're coming to. (Campaign Thread)

[MetroMagic]

As Blisss and Loptr catch up with Ádhúil and head toward the temple to Kord in the center of town, Blisss adjusts the coloring of their clothing slightly to include more of the tans and browns of wood and tile construction and muddy town roads, though still a good match for the wet, muddy forest.

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To save a lot of future posting, as a standard party protection Blisss will continue to adjust everyone’s clothing colors as the scenery, lighting, and day/nighttime changes around us, for those who have been willing to take the colors, so that the Camo +3 stays in effect. (I figured I’d write it once, since this is the first time the change arose.)

[Quillwraith]

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1 square = 3 metres.

1:
 A battered sign announces that this dirt path is Oaktop road; it turns to the west a short ways outside of town. It's seen other travelers since the town was abandoned, but not many.
 
2:
This warehouse has been gutted by fire, but some small amount of its contents remains intact: stored crops, primarily, but also a few singed crates of spices.


3:
This tall house is lightly fortified, and the stubby tower that extends from its roof likely once served as a watch post to guard against those threats that the village could fight off.

4: A sturdy octagonal stone building, ornately arched, stands near the town square. It seems rather well-built, but in the absence of inhabitants its doors loll on their hinges, the scorched remnants of a half-demolished house lean against it, and the interior server as a shelter to the ravens.

5: Debris lies on the cobbles of the town square. The krenshar are hiding here, beneath a derelict wagon.

6:
Another warehouse. Intact, mostly, but empty of its contents but for a stack of metal rods in one corner.

7:
This stately building appears to have been the town hall. For reasons not apparent to you, the interior is painted dark red. It's rather well preserved, as abandoned buildings go, but someone has scrawled obscure symbols on the door.

8: This house has magical lighting. Perhaps it was the home of the village adept?

9: Another watch post, very similar to 3.

10: The local church. Its builders seem to have put a lot of work into it; the bell tower is taller than any other structure in the town.
Pious folk, perhaps. It even has magical lighting still.
The symbol of Kord appears prominently, but most of the church regalia seems to have been taken.
Kord does not appear to have intervened.

11:
You are around here.

[MetroMagic]

Tugging Loptr forward by the hand toward the church of Kord to the west across the roads through the village, Blisss has been taking the lead, but then notices that Loptr’s attention is elsewhere.

Following Loptr’s gaze as the big man’s eyes sweep the buildings around the small town, Blisss sees him scanning even the rooftops, and smiles up at him admiringly.

Loptr, you’re really, really a trained warrior. I have a lot I can learn from you, even just about being careful. I was just skipping into an unknown town carelessly, wasn’t I?

Blisss sees Loptr looking back and forth from the weapons scattered on the ground near the buildings to the rooftops, then squinting for something up on the roofs, clearly studying them.

You want to get a closer look at the roofs of those buildings, don’t you? Maybe there’s something up there that will help us know what happened. I can get you up there for a look, but you’ll have to climb up, look and come down quick.

I can only hold this for a little more than thirty seconds. Then I’ll turn back, even if I don’t want to, and I won’t be able to push myself like that again for at least five minutes. I’ve been practicing, I’ve gotten better at it, when I first learned this I could only do it for maybe ten or fifteen seconds, now it’s a whole half a minute!

So climb up right away, see what’s up there on the roofs nearby, and come back down before I have to drop you. You could count seconds on the way up, and leave yourself the same amount of time back down. Then you’ll know how many seconds to count off while you look around at the top. While Blisss is talking he leads Loptr over towards the buildings that the man has been studying.

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Phae, Quill, it’s up to the two of you exactly where this happens. Building 2? 4? 9? An un-numbered one?

Blisss steps close to a building, plants his feet solidly, stretches his arms over his head, and suddenly changes into a sturdy A-frame ladder, about three feet wide, with four inch square uprights and broad, thick slat steps leading upward from Loptr’s feet, soaring up somewhere between seventy five and a hundred feet into the air, well above the roofs of some or all of the buildings, with the other base of itself anchored securely some distance away, with several paired cross-braces joined at the midpoint and extra wide feet for stability. The ladder has a hard, somewhat rough surface finish, not slippery at all; it’s easy to grasp securely. Even for someone of Loptr’s size, the ladder is so broad, stable, and well built that it’s an easy climb.

Blisss’ voice comes floating on the air just as he changes. Only thirty seconds, Loptr, start counting and go up now!

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Here’s the math: An object 150 cubic feet in size maximum. That’s 3 feet wide, 1/3 of a foot thick (4 inches), and 150 feet long, if it was solid, but it’s got lots of holes, so I figured that the overall length could be 200 feet plus and still fit the maximum 150 cubic feet size of a Mimic’s SLA. If not then it’s 75 feet up and 75 feet down, at an angle since it’s an A shape… probably still tall enough to see onto the roofs of some of the buildings, if not all of them.

Quill, adjust as you see fit!

[phaedrusxy]

Loptr hesitates very briefly, then smiles and says "Well... that's quite a trick you know, Bliss! Don't worry about me getting down, though. I can take care of that myself."

[littha]

"I could do some areal scouting myself were we to need it but magic of that power is rather a scarce resource. Still, any thoughts?" Mystery looks towards the group.

[Quillwraith]

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Blisss steps close to a building, plants his feet solidly, stretches his arms over his head, and suddenly changes into a sturdy A-frame ladder, about three feet wide, with four inch square uprights and broad, thick slat steps leading upward from Loptr’s feet, soaring up somewhere between seventy five and a hundred feet into the air, well above the roofs of some or all of the buildings, with the other base of itself anchored securely some distance away, with several paired cross-braces joined at the midpoint and extra wide feet for stability. The ladder has a hard, somewhat rough surface finish, not slippery at all; it’s easy to grasp securely. Even for someone of Loptr’s size, the ladder is so broad, stable, and well built that it’s an easy climb.

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Here’s the math: An object 150 cubic feet in size maximum. That’s 3 feet wide, 1/3 of a foot thick (4 inches), and 150 feet long, if it was solid, but it’s got lots of holes, so I figured that the overall length could be 200 feet plus and still fit the maximum 150 cubic feet size of a Mimic’s SLA. If not then it’s 75 feet up and 75 feet down, at an angle since it’s an A shape… probably still tall enough to see onto the roofs of some of the buildings, if not all of them.

Quill, adjust as you see fit!

Clever, that.
The mimic's description says

A mimic can have almost any dimensions, but usually is not more than 10 feet long.

, so don't go overboard with this.
Only the two stone buildings even approach 150 feet, though, so you can reach any roof here.

You can also look inside any of the buildings; most doors are unlocked, and some broken.

[phaedrusxy]

Loptr heads up to the top of the church, since it is the tallest and will give him the best vantage point. He's trying to see if it looks like the town buildings might have been burned from above, as if a dragon flew down and breathed on them, or by an invading army of some kind. He uses Bliss' ladder to get started, but seems amazingly adept and climbing and jumping, scaling even the most difficult areas with no apparent problem.

[Quillwraith]

From your vantage point it's clear that only the north-west part of the town has been burned, with the exception of the church you are standing atop, which is scorched but still standing due to its stone construction.
By the look of the damage, the attacker wasn't flying, but was large enough to reach some of the lower roofs.

The warehouse (2) is worst damaged on the side facing the road, indicating that whatever caused the fires started inside the town, perhaps near the octagonal stone building(4).

[phaedrusxy]

Loptr climbs and leaps down to the ground, looking like some kind of giant blond monkey, and starts walking towards building four. He tells the others "It looks like the fire started over here, near this oddly shaped building."

[Quillwraith]

Loptr climbs and leaps down to the ground, looking like some kind of giant blond monkey, and starts walking towards building four. He tells the others "It looks like the fire started over here, near this building that looks like a guard tower."

3 and 9 are the guard towers. Is something mislabeled?

[MetroMagic]

The ladder folds in on itself soundlessly, collapsing back into... Blisss. He stands there for a moment, then draws a deep breath, and lets it out. His eyes are almost shining with excitement.

Thirty-six seconds! That’s as long as I have ever held, and that was a really hard, big shape!

Blisss trots after Loptr toward the building.

I see what you mean, Loptr, from the way the buildings are burned. I wonder if Misae…

Misae, can you tell anything about old fire that was here a long time before?

Blisss starts near the building where the burning seemed to begin, looks up at it, and starts to back away from it across the road of the town; he keeps glancing up at it speculatively. I’ve heard of creatures that can breathe fire, like Dragons! I wonder how big a creature would be and where it would have to stand, to cover a space that size when it breathed. Maybe that would tell us something about it! He points up at the building to the old signs of fire upon it, trying to guess.

[phaedrusxy]

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Loptr climbs and leaps down to the ground, looking like some kind of giant blond monkey, and starts walking towards building four. He tells the others "It looks like the fire started over here, near this building that looks like a guard tower."

3 and 9 are the guard towers. Is something mislabeled?

Nope. Just my bad memory... I didn't look at the key before posting. Just thought the guard towers were octagonal.

[VennDygrem]

Illurien floats by Blisss.

<<There are many sources of fire, young one. Dragons are but one source, and then only certain types. As well you know. I must admit, though, that the destruction in this town is, indeed, curious...>>

[Harald]

Misae has been silent all along, following the group without a sound. Bliss' good humor and joyeful behavior managed to make her smile slightly, but nevertheless, she seemed to be pondeirng about something. Old memories of brotherhoods long gone, of meetings along a fire in the night long ago, sweet and bitter at the same time.
The question awaken her from her melancholic meditation.
"I'll give a look, but I'll promise nothing, little one. I am Fire, I burn as brightly if I come from the fiery guts of a dragon, the spell of a mage, or a candle falling from the clumsy hands of a peasant.
I do not care much how about the way I'm kindled. I am.

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OOC : it should be a knowledge check I think, but I don't have any. Spellcraft perhaps, as that how I produce my Fire ?

[Quillwraith]

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it should be a knowledge check I think, but I don't have any. Spellcraft perhaps, as that how I produce my Fire ?

That makes a sense.

(Magical fire actually does burn hotter than

a candle falling from the clumsy hands of a peasant

)

[Quillwraith]

You are not able to make any conclusions about the fire.
(failed the skill check)

[MetroMagic]

When Misae doesn’t come up with anything about the fire, Blisss begins telling her what he notices about the scene, to draw on her experience with Fire and help him with what he is seeing, so he can develop a coherent explanation or theory about it:  Misae… I know you didn’t notice anything special here, but… I’ve spent a really long time just …….looking at things, you know, just seeing what there was to see until I saw every bit of it. Every little teeny bit, like the tiniest fish in a big ocean... it came from somewhere and is going somewhere and it has its place and its reasons.

So maybe I’ll notice something you didn’t happen to notice and then you can help me understand about Fire, if I can explain to you what I see, and between us maybe we can realize something we couldn’t separately. I’ll tell you what looks like it could have been Magic, too, and what looks like it wasn’t.

Blisss begins by pointing out what he notices on the buildings, how they were damaged, and what they were built to withstand (as an indication of what the villagers thought they might have to face), and continues with any patterns he sees or residual signs of Magic – not necessarily lingering Magical auras, but rather the aftereffects of Magic, signs that may still be in place and can tell a Story.

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I’ll try a Spellcraft roll, a Spot roll, a Knowledge Arcana roll for signs of Magic, and a Knowledge Engineering roll since it’s a town, using Font of Knowledge. With all that care, hopefully he’ll get at least something useful he and Misae can share with the party.

Blisss also has Detect Magic running as an SLA, just in case there ARE still any lingering Magical auras to notice.

Over to the Dice Rolls thread! C U there.

[VennDygrem]

Illurien tries to piece things together from half-remembered whispers and nearly-trivial visual cues.

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I'm going to roll Knowledge (History) and (Local) to see what I can come up with:
History:
1d20(7)+24=31

Local:
1d20(1)+24=25

Damn, low, sub-average rolls. :/

[Quillwraith]

Blisss begins by pointing out what he notices on the buildings, how they were damaged, and what they were built to withstand (as an indication of what the villagers thought they might have to face), and continues with any patterns he sees or residual signs of Magic – not necessarily lingering Magical auras, but rather the aftereffects of Magic, signs that may still be in place and can tell a Story.

The village was clearly as well defended as the inhabitants could manage, but they clearly were not warriors.
The buildings are 'built of pine wood, though the local forests are primarily oak' except for the stone church and this octagonal building. Most have been damaged only by fire and weather, but a few walls appear to have been broken down by something large.
A Dim aura of magic surrounds the octagonal building, but the spell is too complex for you to identify its school.

Illurien tries to piece things together from half-remembered whispers and nearly-trivial visual cues.

It's an obscure town, and you don't know how it was destroyed. Sorry.

[MetroMagic]

Blisss passes along his observations to the party, and especially calls their attention to two things:

Oooh, look at those walls over there! The buildings aren’t really strong, just pine… I didn’t see much pine in the forest on the way here, so that’s kind of odd... they could have used all the oak that’s here instead… but those walls, see the way they are broken now? It looks like something REALLY big did that. Even bigger than Loptr! I mean, a lot bigger!

Blisss turns around in a full circle, lingering on the church of Kord and the octagonal building, and then staring hard at the two buildings back and forth.

I don’t see any lingering Magic around the church building, but there could be some inside, out of view… but that building, the one with eight sides, there’s lingering Magic around it! The Magic is really dim, and really complicated, so I can’t much tell what kind, but… that light around it is Magic, I can tell that. But if the really complicated part was just light, I’d probably be able to tell that, so maybe the complicated Magic isn’t just the light we can see there. I think maybe it’s something extra, but I can’t tell what.

Fwisp……………… Blisss pauses, thinking hard to get his words organized the way he wants them, …………….What aura Magic has the octagon tell us can you?