Doom of the Savage Kings - IC

[Excior]

Almost as an afterthought Molly turns to bull “Master Bull can I take your wolfspear with us?”  He looks as if it pained him to even ask. "We may need it if they Jarl catches up with us to switch it for the real one if needed."

[Tecumseh]

Helge Haisley

Helge offers her mace to Molly and/or Llore.

"I have no more need of this," she tells them. "The spear is just wood. I do not think it will serve our purposes."

Presuming they get out of town unmolested, Helge will ask Llore questions about the tomb.

"Is is a cave?" she asks. "A mausoleum? A chambered cairn? Do you have any sense of the size or scale of it?"

 

 

 

 

[cailano]

On 8/31/2023 at 11:21 AM, Tecumseh said:

Helge Haisley

Helge squeezes Father Beacom's hand.

"Thank you, Father!" she says earnestly. "You are a blessing to us. It is brave of you to defy the Jarl to warn us. Please pray for our success!"

She turns to the barmaids.

"Quickly! Whatever repast you can provide. Bread from last night, whatever stew is in the pot."

To Thugnar she says, "They may not follow us, but they may await to see if we emerge. Battered and bruised by whatever traps such a tomb has in store for us, they will swoop down on us. We must take necessary precautions."

Helge doesn't actually know what these precautions are, but she's hoping some of the others have an idea.

"Father Beacom, Broegan Haverson, there are seven thegns in Hirot, yes? Are they all loyal to the Jarl? Eadric told us that if we mean to fight the Hound, then we are welcome in his eyes. While we are away, you must find other sympathetic ears and bend them to our cause. If the Jarl chooses to be willfully blind, then he too must be brought to justice for the safety and security of all."

Father Beacom bows his head, "It is the right thing to do. That can be a hard thing to know when one is afraid, but you are as a light along a dark path, young woman."

"The Jarl has seven thegns, yes. They are all loyal to him, but a few are just as loyal to Hirot. I will not name them here, but they may help you if they can do so without violating their oaths of fealty."

[cailano]

Molly

Bull seems alarmed when you ask for his replica wolf spear.

"Ah, I don't know, master Molly. It was a gift passed down from my father, it was."

Once your companions express doubt that it will work to fool the thegns, Bull decides to keep it mounted to the wall.

 

[cailano]

Leaving Hirot

You quickly head for the town gates in the pre-dawn light. The gates are closed when you arrive, but after your battle with the Hound last night, the watchmen grant your request to open them without question or hesitation.

And so you soon find yourselves miles down the King's Way. As far as you can tell, no one is following you.

"There is an old road," Llore tells you, pointing to the northwest. "It's grown over, but you can still see it if you know what to look for. That's the path to the Tomb. All we have to do is follow it."

The minstrel leads the way, humming as he goes. You don't recognize the tune. Perhaps it's the first bars of the song he plans to write about your adventure.

[cailano]

The Old Road

The overgrown path Llore leads you to is much as he described it. While no one has maintained it in a very long time, once you're on it you can see the signs that it was once better-traveled. You walk on a broad, flat path. Dust and debris have long since buried the road itself, but you pass markers along the way, built of stone and covered in moss. Some of the markers bear runes or other engravings, most worn away.

The day passes as you walk beneath the sprawling branches of oak and ash. Other than a few birds and the odd squirrel, you don't see anything along the road.

As evening comes, you reach a valley bisected by two silvery streams. Between them, in the valley's center, is a large earthen mound topped with tall grasses and shaped like a long serpent.

Llore stops and gestures down at the mound. "The Tomb of the Ulfheonar," he says with no small amount of reverence.

All of you look on for a few moments. The valley doesn't seem dangerous. You see a few deer nibbling at a shrub in the distance, and crows fly overhead.

"So," Llore says, breaking the silence. "What now?"

[Tecumseh]

Helge Haisley

"Let us look for an entrance," Helge suggests. "Let us walk all the way around it, and perhaps even on top of it, looking for the safest way in."

She leads the way to do so.

 

 

 

 

[cailano]

18 minutes ago, Tecumseh said:

Helge Haisley

"Let us look for an entrance," Helge suggests. "Let us walk all the way around it, and perhaps even on top of it, looking for the safest way in."

She leads the way to do so.

 

 

 

 

Llore points to where the two rivers come together, right at the head of the Serpent Mound.

"That's the entrance, but a great boulder seals it. You can see it from here if you look hard. We didn't get much closer than this, but from where we looked, it didn't seem possible to move the boulder. You'd need an ogre or a team of oxen to roll that thing."

[Dixi]

"Or a team of dwarves," added Thugnar. Unfortunately, they could as well wish for an ogre."Let's get there and see. If someone tried to get inside before, they had to leave some tracks."

Thugnar himself was not a mason, not really. But a dwarf is a dwarf - if there was a path inside, he was sure he could spot it.

"You sees, you do not always need to move boulders. Some can simply find a way around it."

The relative easiness of the task ahead did feel suspicious but Thugnar decided to stick to the problem-solving one-by-one style. He boldly made a few steps forward towards the entrance.

[Shocker]

 

Bernard D'Ambresi

---

 Level 1 Warrior/ Noble

AC: 15, HP 14/14, speed 25 Initiative +1

Bernards Stats

Strength:	12(0)		Personality	13(+1)
Agility:	10 (0)		Intelligence	11 (0)
Stamina:	13 (+1)		Luck:	9 (-1)

saving throws

Ref.	Fort.	Will
1	1	0

Weapon: Longsword 0 (1d8)

Chainmail AC +5

Deed Die: d3 applicable on each roll to attck and damage roles.

Mighty deed of arms: succeeds on d3 roll better than 2

Critical hit: occuring on natural 19 and 20

Weapon training, battle axe, club, crossbow, dagger, dart, ail, hand axe, javelin, longbow, long swrod, mace, polearm, short bow, short sweord, sling, spear, staff, two-handed sword and warhammer.

Equipment: Chain 10' (30 gp)
Trade good: Gold ring worth 10 gp
Starting Funds: 43 cp, 7sp, 6,gp
Lucky sign: Pack hunter (Attack/damage rolls for 0-level weapon) (+0)
Languages: Common

Bernard is the never do well second son of Count Dargolin, and has sent to manage his father’s estate in an out of the way village. In the counts words to stop him from getting into duels with other men all the times, especially not over the wenches. 

He still isn't the shining Champion his father would wish for, but the experiences in the starless sea, have increased his martial skills and sensibilities.

 

---

 

Bernard looks around to see if there are any slender trees or even better fallen trees that could be used as lever against the boulder “If we just can get a lever in there, a few men can do what a team of ogres would.”

He is generally uneasy with the fact that they haven’t run into any other problems on their way. It feels like the calm before a storm.

Edited September 4 by Shocker (see edit history)

[Draidden]

 

Lyra, Level 1 Thief, Ostler, Chaotic

AC: 15, HP: 5/5, Speed: 30, Initiative: +3

 

STATS

Abilities

	Strength:	12 (+0)		Personality:	14 (+1)
	Agility:	18 (+3)		Intelligence:	14 (+1)
	Stamina:	8 (-1)		Luck:	14 (+1)

Saving Throws

	Reflex:	+4
	Fortitude:	+0
	Willpower:	+1

Weapons

Weapons	Attack Bonus	Damage
Staff	+0	1d4
Shortbow	+3	1d6
Short Sword	+0	1d6

Equipment: Backpack (2 gp), Green Cloak, 6 arrows, Leather armor
Trade good: Bridle
Money: 6 gp, 7 sp, 35 cp
Lucky sign: Resisted temptation (Willpower saving throws) (+0)
Languages: Common, Kobold
 

Lyra quietly walks along with the others. She keeps her eyes open for trouble, but luckily their trip to the tomb is uneventful. She eyes the deer eating in the clearing.

Do we want to shoot one of those and have it for dinner?

If not then she glances up to get an idea of how much more light they have for the day, wondering if they should set up camp before too much longer. If they have a couple hours left then she will start walking around the area and looking for another way into the tomb while the others go and look at the boulder.

Not sure what the check is to find a hidden entrance, so just rolled a basic Intelligence check. If luck would apply then it is the same bonus.

 

 

Edited September 4 by Draidden (see edit history)

[Excior]

Leaving Hirot

The sun had just peeked over the trees and Molly and his companions found  themselves miles down the King’s way. He was no  tracker but the bard had not seen any signs of being followed.

“Reckon we left at about the right time; I don’t see any signs of being followed do you?” He asks the question to nobody in particular.

Llore explains to the group that a little farther up ahead they would be leaving the King’s way for an overgrown older road that ran in a northwesterly direction. The group follows Llore as he leads the way humming as he goes.

 

 The Old Road

The overgrown path Llore leads you to as much as he described it. While no one has maintained it in a very long time, once you're on it you can see the signs that it was once better-traveled. You walk on a broad, flat path. Dust and debris have long since buried the road itself, but you pass markers along the way, built of stone and covered in moss. Some of the markers bear runes or other engravings, most worn away.

The Old Road soon comes into view, if one knew where to look, Llore points it out to the group as the walk off the road into the forest.  “Its amazing how nature will reclaim its territory once man leaves it to itself.” 

The day passes as you walk beneath the sprawling branches of oak and ash. Other than a few birds and the odd squirrel, you don't see anything along the road.

The trip is rather uneventful beneath the sprawling branches of the forest here and  there birds can be heard in the trees, on the ground squirrels and other small forest animals run through the leaves  but even then it was not too often.

 

As evening approaches the valley of the tomb comes into view it was as described bisected by two creeks the tomb was a large earthen mound topped with tall grasses. Molly was told it was shaped like a long serpent but those details he would have to take for granted since he could not see it from this point of view.

~Llore stops and gestures down at the mound. "The Tomb of the Ulfheonar," he says with no small amount of reverence.~

If  the few deer foraging for food in the area was any indication Molly did not think the valley was very dangerous.

~"So," Llore says, breaking the silence. "What now?"~

Molly places his hand on the other man’s shoulder “ Now my friend the fun begins, we look for a way in.” as he spoke those words Molly walks off in the direction of the tomb’s entrance. Once he gets to the boulder the thief begins searching the area for footprints or any sign of the 3 men from the Ratt that might tell him if they were here and if so how they might have gotten in.

 

OOC: Search is an Int check I have +0 to this roll

 

Edited September 5 by Excior (see edit history)

[cailano]

Bernard

A quick glance around the forest reveals a few thin trees that could be used as a lever. Cutting one of them down will take approximately one hour which, coincidentally, is the amount of daylight you have left.

[cailano]

Lyra

Thinking outside the proverbial box, you disregard the boulder-blocked entrance of the Serpent Mound and look for an alternate way in.

It's a large area, and knowing how or where to search is hard. The streams run alongside the Serpent Mound, or something could be on top of the mound or around the back.

Where would you like to start looking? How will you search?

[cailano]

Molly, Thugnar, and Anyone Else who heads for the Boulder

The two streams cross at the head of the Serpent Mound, forming a shallow, glittering pool.

The pool is twenty feet across but only a foot or so deep. The bottom of the pool is mica-flecked sand, which is what causes the glittering effect. It should be easy to walk across it. The boulder and entrance are on the other side.

What do you do?