IC 004 - Water Never Sleeps

[sulldawga]

Fort Illumination
Date: Fourthmonth, Sixthday (The Bloom 6)
Weather: Clear, winds from the SE at 2 MPH, 62 degrees
Moon: Waxing crescent

Being of several minds about their next course of action, the party remained at the Fort for the entirety of the 5th and camped another night. When the sun arose, five had become three. Not the slightest bit perturbed about this turn of events, Ruprecht's Rangers packs up their gear and sets out for the wilderness once again.

From the Fort, it was a relatively easy task to head west and slightly south (~2 miles) and return to the giant wasp nests. Other than the wasp corpses being slowly devoured by bugs and other small scavengers, the site remained the same as when you left it.

The three of you set out in a westerly direction, seeking the sound of water. Perhaps another two miles of travel and the sound is unmistakably getting louder as you continue. You're leaning more toward river than stream at this point.

Stepping up to the top of a low rise, you finally come to the source of the noise. It is indeed a river, perhaps 50 yards wide where you approach. You can see that the river had narrowed a bit upstream and has widened where you are, and the result is a slower flow of water. This has made it an attractive site for animals to drink. You know this for sure because there is a massive boar drinking right now! Its mighty head, tusks flaring from its mouth, snaps around at the sound of your approach.

The boar is as predictably hostile to your approach as one might expect. It spins, lowers its head, and charges!

Yet again, the party wins initiative. Actions?

[Rex]

Ciarra

Ciarra sets her spear against the charging boar.

Spear [1d20+3]=19+3=22 to hit [1d6+3]=4+3=7 damage, shock 3/AC 15

[Marullus]

Gars reacts with clean efficiency, his dark-steel blade coalescing in his hand and slices upward as the boar approaches.

Accursed Blade (1-hand): [1d20+6]=5+6=11, [1d8+6]=8+6=14, Shock: 8/AC 15
Weeping Wounds [1d6]=4

(Guard the mules. Sword manifeston-turn. Weeping Wounds with its first injury (now lasts two rounds)

[Enoch]

Lavin steps forward to meet the charge, stepping to the side at the last moment and bringing her halberd down in a diagonal slice.

Halberd strike: [1d20+6]=9+6=15, damage [1d10+5]=7+5=12
If this would be a miss, I'll invoke Veteran's Luck to turn it into a hit.

[sulldawga]

Round 1

The fight, amazingly enough, is over before it starts. Ciarra sets her spear and skewers the mighty beast on it, pushing its body upwards, where Gars steps forward and neatly stabs the boar to death. Lavin's strike is of no importance as the beast was dead before his polearm struck true.

What now?

I was nervous about setting you against a 5 HD Large Solitary Predator so I decided to use a 2 HD Bull Pig instead. I really need to stop pulling my punches, especially now that you're all 2nd level.

[Rex]

Ciarra

Ciarra will pull her spear free and clean it up. Then she gets to field dressing, butchering, and skinning. She will attempt to try and save the hide and meat.

[Enoch]

Lavin walks over to the downed boar as Ciarra begins to skin it, pausing a few feet away and moving tentatively. "Ciarra, that was...well-struck. That boar was dead as soon as it hit your spear, or close enough. Do you...do you want any help with butchering it?"

If Ciarra does want help, Lavin will help with Survive-0:
Survive: [2d6]=7 (+0 Wis, Survive-0)

[sulldawga]

Ciarra can easily recover the hide, or the meat. If she wants both, she should make a Survive check vs DC 8. Failure means neither would be recovered.

Alas, Lavin cannot help with the roll of 7.

[Marullus]

Gars lets go of his sword, letting it disolve back into shadowy dust within the boar's side as he steps away. Blood gushes dramatically from the swine's wounds, pooling on the ground in a sticky morass until Ciarra begins field dressing it. "Roast pork for dinner - I can smell it now," he smiles at Ciarra and Lavin. "We still have the whole day ahead of us, though, so pack it out on the mule. The good news is that a good watering spot can reveal many things - perhaps a clue for our progress."

He walks down to the waterfront carefully and examines the ground for any sign of human - bandit, druid, giant wolf-mount - footprints that could provide a new bearing. If he finds none, he sets a course upstream when the others are ready.

Gars: INT+Survive [2d6+1]=8+1=9

[Rex]

Ciarra

Survive 0 [2d6]=8

Wasn't sure if she gets +1 for Dex or Int.

[Enoch]

Seeing Ciarra is well-capable of butchering the beast without her, Lavin wanders over to Mikhail and begins peppering him with questions.

"So what's the biggest creature you ever trapped? Do you think dragons are real? Have you ever seen one? Have you ever ridden a wolf?"

[sulldawga]

Ciarra deftly skins the beast and slices off enough choice cuts to feed the three of you for a day. Lavin can only marvel at the skill.

Gars observes the area around the watering hole. It looks like a number of different animals drink here. This wasn't the only giant boar to recently visit here, and it also looks like elk have visited recently.

It's harder to say what else has been here. The mud holds tracks for only so long. But judging by the pathways leading east from the river, the torn up earth, and the damaged flora, he'd guess some axe beaks come here from time to time.

Possible pathways from here:

• Back to the giant wasp lair to the NE

• You know the elk you previously encountered are somewhere to the SE

• The river flows south, with the Falkenhorn looming in the distance

• A mile away to the south, and on the other side of the river, you see a dark ridge of stone that stands out from the plains around it

• The river flows north and then blends into the forest to the NW

• Crossing the river and heading SW would take you toward Song Lake

Don't forget Mikhail is no longer with us.

[Enoch]

Yep, forgot we're down to 3 for the moment. Ignore that last part!

[Marullus]

Gars looks to the others. "You fancy a look at that ridge, or do we continue
upstream?"

[Enoch]

Lavin leans on her polearm, considering. "Well, we know where to find the wasps, and probably the elk. No telling what else is out there. But that ridge is right there, and I bet we get a good view from it. Let's check that out."

[Rex]

Ciarra

"Agreed, the ridge makes sense."

She will lead the way.

[sulldawga]

The party, having your interest piqued by the ridge to the south, discards the pursuit of the swamp and travels downstream.

Your curiosity is rewarded, as approaching the ridge reveals some sort of entrance carved into the rock face, toward the river. There are columns carved into the stone astride the main entrance, which used to be secured by two large iron-bound wooden doors. One is on the ground and the other swings crookedly in the wind, attached by a single remaining hinge. A walkway, paved with stone, leads from the entrance to the edge of the river. The walkway was lined with statues but only the bases remain upright, the figures once upon them lying smashed and disfigured on the ground, overgrown with weeds.

The river here is narrow and fast-moving, but there are a number of large rocks sticking up from the surface and someone has laid a number of tree trunks across them to make a sort of bridge.

There is also a crude raft pulled up on the party's side of the river. It appears to have been sturdily made but of unknown age and the effects of time and weather make its successful use unpredictable.

If you attempt to cross using the tree trunk bridge, make three Exert checks vs DC 8. One failure means you slip but catch yourself. Two failures and you've fallen in the river!

No one has a 10' pole but you can attempt to use the raft perhaps with a polearm to guide and push you across. Similar chances of success, the PC steering the raft must make three Exert checks vs DC 8. Each failure means a chance that the raft dashes into the rocks, knocking one or more PCs into the water!

There is a chance that either or both of the tree trunk bridge and the raft will fall apart upon use. A Survive check may reveal more about their condition.

Feel free to suggest other methods to gain the other bank of the river, or else move on and do something else! It's your choice.

[Rex]

Ciarra

Is the cave on our side of the river or the other?

[Marullus]

I appreciate the haste with which we're moving the story!
- we were at the fordable area of the river, where it is slow and animals drink. We know the ridge we are going to is on the other side of the river when we see it. Gars plan was going to be to just cross at the ford, then walk down the opposite bank. Is it feasible that we did that?

When Gars reaches the cliff face, he takes his time to look around cautiously. He examines the entrance area to determine its antiquity and provenance, which are of foremost importance to him over current use.

Detect Magic at will. Then a check for knowledge...(+3 if it is Magic, +2 if it is Know)
Int+Magic [2d6+3]=8+3=11

To the others he says, "Do you see any tracks by the river? And how old is the raft? If this is the bandit hideout or wolf-riders..."
Any of us can roll Survive, so I don't want to take all the rolls.

[sulldawga]

The ridge is on the opposite side of the river from the party.

The water flow at the watering hole was slower but you never tested the depth to see if the river was ford-able there. Happy to retcon any investigation there but (spoiler alert) you would find that the river is deep enough that you'd have to swim. There'd be an Exert test, with penalties depending on the weight of your armor and gear.

Just to throw out another option for crossing, it's certainly narrow enough that a PC could attempt to throw a grappling hook tied to a rope and use that as a guide to get over. I'd allow either an Exert or a Shoot check.

If you want to be extremely safe, you can just explore the river until you find a spot where it's obviously easy to cross.

I will hold that Know roll from Gars for when you make it across.