[D&D 4e PbP]In the Wake of the Plague [IC/Game Thread]

OptimusZed

Realizing that he's on the winning side in an apparent rout, Wil foolishly decides to press the advantage.

Charging forward, he chops clumsily at the archer.

"You coming, hothead? We've got 'em on the run!"

Move: To M12

Standard: Focusing Strike vs AC on GA2: 1d20+6 22 1d10+4 10 Hit! Celgar gets a save.

Celgar's Save: 1d20 18 Saved

Minor: Taunt the Paladin into following me.

"Suck it up, pal. We've got a battle to win and ladies to impress."

<< Next: Lilika | On Deck: Aria then The Rest of the Gang >>

Snowdown

Lilika sneaks up to the table on her left. Her thrown dagger zips out from behind it, hurtling towards the goblin back by the tent and thudding into his chest as he drops to the grass. She then ducks back behind it disappearing from sight.

Combat Actions:

Move(P,8)
Standard: RBA vs GA1 1d20+9+2(CA)-2(Range) = 20 HIT!
1d4+2d6+5 damage = 12 Damage to GA1
Stealth 1d20+10: 24

Squints

Vimak charges the last goblin, running through the fields with thunderous steps. He swings, missing the goblin as it steps back. He growls with rage, feeling his skin suddenly harden under that mud.

Move: Charge to K 12
Standard: Howling Strike vs AC: 1d20+8 14 Miss!
Minor: Stone's Endurance. Vimak gains resist 5 all until the end of his next turn

<< Next: Aria | On Deck: Celgar >>

Oloron

"Who sent you?" Aria yells as she runs after the retreating goblin. Glancing at Celgar, she puts an image of him charging up behind the goblin, covered in flame, into the mind of the goblin. The goblin is briefly distracted as it looks for another Celgar coming from behind. Taking advantage, she lashes out with her mind again, but to no effect.

Move: L8
Minor: Distract (CA on next attack)
Mind Thrust on GA2: 1d20+6+2=11. Miss!

<< Next: Celgar | On Deck: Archer, then Wil >>

Chanus

Current Map:

Fondor_Yards

Annoyed by the drunken fool, Celgar uses his anger to channel his divine magic throughout his arm, cleaning it of the necrotic magic attacking it. Running after the retreating goblin again, "Don't you worry about me man, you just try to keep up!" he yells as he he storms past Wil.

Raising his blade high above his arm, he brings it slashing down at his small foe. With all it's friends dead, and enemies closing in on all sides, he is far too paniced to dodge the blow, which opens a huge gash on it's front.

"Surrender evil one, and Erathis will show you her mercy!"

Move: L13
Minor: Divine Strength: Add my Stren mod *5* to my next attack.
Standard: Another Holy Strike vs GA 2 AC
Attack: 1d20+7= 17 Woo by the skin of my teeth
Damage: 1d10+7+5= 15

<< Next: Goblin Archer | On Deck: Wil then Everyone Else >>

Chanus

Shrieking in terror, the Goblin Archer turns tail and attempts to flee.

Shift to J14
Move to D8

Map:

Initiative Order:

Aria: HP: 18(22)
Celgar: HP: 15(26)

Goblin Archer (GA2): HP: 4(29) . AC: 17 . Fort: 13 . Refl: 15 . Will: 12

Wil: HP: 23(30)
Lilika: HP: 22(22)
Vimak: HP: 13(31) (+5 Resist until the end of his next turn)

<< Next: Wil | On Deck: Lilika >>

OptimusZed

"Oh no you don't you little pieshe of crap."

Wil stumbles after the fleeing goblin, shouting obscenities.

"Stop running or I'll feed you to the big guy."

Move: To H9. Should put me well with in range to;

Standard: Demand Surrender; Intimidate vs GA's Will: 1d20+9 26 With that roll, I probably could have killed him with a thrown halberd.

Chanus

The Goblin Archer cowers in fear.

"Please!" he pleads, "I'll do anything you say!"

Squints

Vimek heads over to the Goblin, blood drooling down over his muddy body - not to mention the gore on his large sword. "It speaks Common," the large man intones. "That is good for us, but may point to troubles elsewhere."

Vimak picks the Goblin back up to his feet. "Why are you here, greenskin? Who ordered this attack? I remind you that not all deaths are clean and from a blade." The large man throws his sword into the ground, then cracks his knuckles - his fist is probably the side of the goblin's face.

Intimidate: 1d20+5 22+2 from Wil = 24

Snowdown

Both mildly apathetic to the goblin's information (besides where she can find more of them to kill and rob) and confident that the big men could intimidate the goblin into revealing anything they'd like, Lilika steps out from hiding and begins to go through the possessions of the creatures. The Dark Servant and Human soldier particularly. She puts what she finds up on the table for all to see.

Chanus

The Goblin is quite visibly intimidated. Most of his response is blubbering nonsense, but you do gather, "the.. the man in the black robes paid us... he said we get big reward... he said Slaathen protect us! ... easy job then we safe in caves ... please don't kill me! I give you gold!"

He reaches with a shaking hand into a coinpurse and produces 3 Gold Coins. You think this is not all he is carrying.

Chanus

Lilika finds an amulet and some coin on the Human Soldier. He wielded a long sword and wore chainmail. The Dark Servant has a large sum of gold, a brooch in the shape of a scarab, and a letter. He wore cloth robes and wielded a short sword. The goblins were all wearing leather armor, carrying short swords, and the archers had crossbows.

100GP on the Dark Servant, a total of 15GP on the others. You understand 100GP is an unusually large sum of money, especially for one to be carrying.

Fondor_Yards

Sheathing his blade, Celgar begins worrying the bolt still in his shoulder back and forth, trying to get it out. Ripping it out with a gasp of pain, he looks at it for a moment in his hand. Concentrating, he sets it aflame before throwing it at the pair where it lands on the ground next to the goblin.

He figured he let the others do the talking, he seemed to be doing fine without him and he never exactly had a way with words anyhow. Looking over at the dead humans, he saw a small girl rummaging through their pockets and laying the stuff out on the table. It took him a second to realize she was the one he saw briefly stab the robbed man right when he first approached him. He walked over to the table to see what she found.

"Nice job out there, didn't even see you out there most of the fight." he said as he turned the small bug shaped brooch over in his hand, before putting it down. Spotting the letter, he opens it to see what it says.


Religion to see if I can remember anything more specific than what we know about Slaathen and the scarab brooch: 1d20+6= 20

Insight to see if he's telling the truth: 1d20+7= 25

Man wasting all the good rolls on skill challenges....

Chanus

By the coloring of the brooch, you surmise it is of significance to this rumored cult of Slaathen, but it holds no divine influence. It is apparently just a trinket.

You are sure the Goblin is telling the truth. You don't get the feeling he's hiding anything.

Chanus

The letter reads:


The festival begins in three days, that is the time to strike. Put the fear of Slaathen in their hearts and slay any who resist. What I have included should well cover your costs and should also provide ample motivation if your faith in our lord is not enough.

The caves to the west of Khenua should serve well as a base for your operations.

May Slaathen’s power lead you to glory.

The letter is not signed.

Squints

"Slaathen, eh? Not Kord, so I don't know him. Her. It." Vimak then looks to the others, "There is no honor in killing him when he has surrendered. Simply a mercenary. My advice would be to give him to the law of this town and let them judge him for his crimes."

Vimak shrugs, then looks at the money - and all of the money the others have gathered. "Quite a bundle - this man was obviously working for a more important one. Only a fool charges in with paid help."

Snowdown

Lilika smiles sweetly at the big flaming man (no pun intended) who paid her the compliment.

"I find it's best for my health if they don't know what's coming. These things sure were loaded. I wonder if there's any more of them at that cave the letter talks about."

Oloron

Looking around and smiling to the other defenders, Aria says "For those not from here, thanks for the help defending my village. My name is Aria." Aria glances at the brooch and the symbol.

Aria then walks over to the goblin. He begins to see her as even taller, shrouded in smoke, as she says, "You have greatly displeased me here today, but..." In his vision, he sees her transform into someone shorter, kindlier, empathic "... If you tell me everything you know, I may be able to help you. Do you mean the man there?" She points to the corpse of the Dark Servant. "Where did you meet him and what did he tell you about Slaathen? Please tell and show me everything so I can help you."

Intimidate: 1d20+8+3 = 15
Diplomacy: 1d20+9+2 = 26

Checking for information on the brooch and amulet:
Arcana: 1d20+9 = 26
Religion: 1d20+4= 11

Also, a preemptive history roll for goblin's answer, the contents of the letter, and the goblin caves he mentioned. I can make this more explicit later or do separate rolls if you like, but just speeding up things by getting the obvious rolls done in one fell swoop.

History: 1d20+11 = 16

Squints

Vimak begins to clean himself - of course, the only liquid around id booze. He doesn't seem to mind, even if the alcohol stings while it cleans his wounds. Vimak notices that his skin is a different color now that the mud is off of it, but he doesn't make a big deal out of it, figuring he is stained, or something. The hard rock-like things in his arms can be picked out later... right?

Vimak uses 3 surges to get to full health. 8 remaining.

Chanus

"I telled you everything I know!" the Goblin cries. "That is the man who paid us. We come from caves west of here. In the caves, we worship Slaathen and he comes to us to give us strength!"

The brooch appears to be nothing more than a religious trinket. It holds no powers as far as you can tell, and you aren't sure it has much significance except to identify its owner as a follower of this Slaathen.

The amulet you recognize to be magical.

Amulet of Health +1 (+1 to Fort/Refl/Will and +5 Poison resist)

You are vaguely aware of an old mining network about half a day's travel by foot from town. You think these may be the "caves" to which the letter and the goblin refer.

Chanus

As you collect yourselves, you see other goblins off to the northeast being run down and killed by the town guard on horseback. Apparently yours wasn’t the only fight this evening. The glow from several fires can be seen, and you can hear the commotion of the villagers working to put them out as quickly as possible. It appears the village has been able to fend off the attack and all that is left for now is to clean up and grieve those lost.

You have plenty of time here for a short rest. Each of you receive 150XP for the fight.

Oloron

"Hello Wil - as sober as always I see, but you fought well.

I agree, Big Guy. There's definitely more going on here and we should turn this one over to the town guard. We should probably see if any others discovered anything in their fights. As much as I hate to say this, someone will eventually need to check out those caves."

And if I'm lucky, I can be one of the ones who goes. Wait, have I really come to this? I'd actually head into those caves to get away from my family and Sarron?

Aria takes one healing surge to get to full HP.
Down to 5/6 surges.

Fondor_Yards

"Hmmp. As much as I might want to kill the annoying fool myself, you're right it would be for the best to give him to the local guards. Not that he can expect much mercy from them after tonight. I'd be surprised at anything but a quick hanging. This letter matches his story about the caves west of town, if any of the goblins survived the battle, they would retreat back there. We should inform the local guard, so they can take steps to wipe them out."

Looking around, and remembering that not only that he was a outsider that had conveniently showed up in time to help, but alien looking one at that. He didn't even know this towns name.

"My name is Celgar Pius, Paladin sworn to the service of Erathis, and it is my pleasure to meet all of you."

Burn 2 surges at go back to full health, leaving me with 8 left. Ready to continue whenever everyone else is.

Squints

Vimak cleans his sword, looking towards the others. "I would have the idea to let him go as a level combatant, but... he killed townspeople. He deserves the justice they will bring them." Vimak attempts to flag down some of the town guards so they can take the goblin away - or kill him right there, Vimak has no thought either way.

"I will join them if they head to the caves. A worthy battleground. I am Vimak - I enjoyed fighting beside you."

OptimusZed

"Shober enough to kick some goblin assh, honeybunch."

With that, Wil finds a bench to nearly collapse on.

"What's this about some cavesh?

Spending one surge to bring me to full.

Oloron

"A pleasure to meet you too, Celgar. I was glad have you to stand behind and thanks again for felling those goblins."

Sending the following thought to Celgar... "I may have helped some with a couple of those, but I would appreciate it if you didn't mention it. The village does not know."

Grinning she says, "Now maybe you can tell me the tale of your fire hair."

FYI - "Send Thoughts" allows the recipient to send a response (25 words or less) for any message I send. It's an encounter power, but I assume I have fairly free use out of combat.

Chanus

You see riding toward you Guard Captain Zethain and an escort of four soldiers. As they approach, he continues toward you and the four split off to the flanks and begin checking the corpses. For a Captain of the Guard, his dress is rather modest. His armor is made of well-worn scale plates; though, it is apparent he maintains it as well as he can, as the armor is polished despite the many nicks and scuffs accumulated from years of use. He carries an unadorned broadsword at his side and has a small shield strapped to his back. His rank is marked only by a green and white sash draped like a bandolier over his left shoulder.

He salutes you as he guides his horse to a stop and pauses before speaking, apparently taking stock of this unusual band of heroes he has just discovered in his village.

“We appreciate the help! This assault took us quite by surprise and we were ill prepared to fend it off. I fear we’ve lost a few friends and neighbors this night. And to what end? This attack was coordinated, but they didn’t attempt to pillage. It was meant to strike fear, but why?”

Snowdown

Despite the fact that she did something good, Lilika's run ins with any sort of established law have never been particularly positive before. Out of instinct she keeps quiet and shies away from the guards slightly. If an opportunity presents itself, she slips behind some sort of cover and hides. Likely, being childlike in size, the guards haven't even noticed her yet.

Stealth 1d20+10: 30, Critical Stealth!

Squints

Vimak nods, "I hope you understand we wish to keep the spoils of our defense of our town here," the Goliath rumbles towards Zethian. "The fi-" he looks around, "four of us do not have any more knowledge than you as to why this horrible attack happened." Vimak looks to the others, to see if they have anything to add.

Chanus

Zethian chuckles a little before he responds. "Fear not, we have no interest in taking the spoils you have rightly earned. We are only patrolling to be sure the threat is gone.

Still, I can see you have a prisoner there. If he has provided any useful information, I would be grateful if you could share it with us. I would hope we are of a common cause in protecting the village at least."

Oloron

Looking around and seeing that she and Wil are the only natives of the town (not to mention that Lilika was nowhere to be seen), Aria says,

"Hello Captain. My name is Aria. As Vimak said, these visitors - and Wil - were very helpful in defeating the invasion here. We took this goblin captive and found this on the one who looked like the leader." She shows him the letter. "We we're planning on turning the captive over to you. Any indication why this happened from the other sites?"

It occurred to me that I never gave my father a name or position (other than "successful merchant"). Assuming that, probably even odds on if he knows who I am or not. Given Wil's past, I'm guessing he knows Wil.

Fondor_Yards

Startled by the foreign thoughts, it took Celgar a second to respond. I,.... uhh... very well I shall keep your secret safe with me, I owe you at least this much. How does this work do I... but any further thoughts are cut off as the message reaches it's limit.

Celgar frowned and looked at the big man, Vimak he said his name was, spoke to the guard captain. Looking around he was right, the girl had somehow disappeared again, to where only the gods knew.

"According to the letter, they are working someone or something named Slaathen. This base of operations are some caves off in the west, and our goblin friend there says the same thing. It would probably be our best bet for finding the rest of his ilk."

Chanus

Zethain reads over the letter, his demeanor is measured, but you can tell he is struggling to maintain an even temper.

"This must mean the old mines west of here. I've heard rumors of this Slaathen and they point to nothing good. Some sort of deity, from what I gather, but unless it's a regional name for one, it's not a name I've heard until recently. Until now, it's been relatively harmless cult gatherings... I would have taken it more seriously if I'd known their intent was so destructive.

This is obviously a sign of more to come, and I'd like to root it out before more harm comes to my town, but I can't spare the men. We've a lot to clean up here, and I wouldn't want to leave the place undefended. I don't suppose you four would be willing to investigate? I can't offer much of a reward, possibly a handful of coin, but I would see to it that you always had a home here in Khenua if your assistance could stave off further attacks."

OptimusZed

Wil struggles to hide his ill-gotten armor from the guard, striking a less than impressive pose.

Squints

Vimak hmms, "Well, if you can get it in writing that we are welcome to stay here as... heroes, or something, than I suppose we could be of much help clearing those caves."

Vimak tugs his sword out of the ground.

Oloron

"I can't speak for the others, but I'll go. Until we check things out, we won't know if or when they might be back. We'll appreciate what the town can pay, but will also take for ourselves what we can from the invaders."

Packing for a longer trip that morning had only been with the fantasy of giving herself the option to run away, she never thought she'd actually use the supplies. Oh well, turns out this will come in handy.

Taking a small piece of paper from her pack, she writes the following:

Father,

By now you will have likely heard of the attacks. I am fine and helped fight off the goblins who attacked the fairgrounds. The group I'm with is pursuing them back towards the west to ensure they don't return. This town has always treated our family well and I need to do my part to protect it.

This will likely be easier for me to write than for you to do, but please don't worry. I will return soon and let you know why we were attacked.

Love,
Aria

She then folded up the paper and wrote "Dathan" on the outside.

"Captain, if you could please give this to Elder Dathan, I would appreciate it." She gives him the note.

Maybe coming back victorious and with a bit of extra gold will soften the blow when I tell Father I'm kicking Sarron to the curb...

Vimak could probably use the necklace the most.

Diplomacy, for request to deliver note, if needed: 1d20+11=15. (he clearly isn't thrilled about being a postman)

I'm ready to proceed.

Chanus

Zethain sighs and turns to Vimak.

"I can give you my word as Guard Captain of Khenua. Anything beyond that would require convening a Circle of the Elders, which would take days, and I can assure you they can't be bothered at a time like this. Perhaps something could be arranged upon your successful return if you insist, though I am sure if you are successful it will not be necessary."

To Aria, he says, "Your father is a man of great standing here. I will have one of my men deliver your note as quickly as possible."

Fondor_Yards

"It would be an honour to assist you in this manner sir."

!Ready

Oloron

"Vimak, for what it's worth, I can vouch for you upon our return as well."

If nothing else, this can explain why the cloth wearing civilian get's taken along at this point.