You are hired by the King of Krawl to search for and acquire the Soul Stone, an artifact said to have powers over life and death. His magicians have failed him and he thinks that your group of heroes might be successful in finding it.
After brief preparations, you step into a teleportation circle and are whisked away into a forest on the border of a high hill. The sun is just coming over the trees, a faint breeze blows through the air. Upon the hill are the ruined grey stone walls of a former fortress. Your guide says you can keep anything you find except the Soul Stone. Then he gives your party an amulet with a large red gem. “When you are ready, hold the gem and click your heels three times. Anybody and anything within 10 feet of you will be transported back to the Kingdom. Don't come back without the stone. Good luck.”
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
Ember looks about at the surroundings; taking note of the swaying grasses on the edge of being ripe for a burnoff. Not seeing any major threat (other than their companions), Ember lets out a breath and relaxes.
"Any of you ever hear of a soul stone before? Any clue what it may look like?"
The diminuative fey looks at each of his companions for a response.
Grey, the Elven cleric squints his eyes as the sun shines brightly overhead, gleaming off his smooth, shaven head.
He mutters a few choice curses in the dwarven language.
“Sorry” he says, looking at the others “I’ve spent most of my life underground, and now that I’m finally above it, it looks like this job is going to take me right back under.”
Looking at Ember he adds “I do not know what a soul stone is exactly, but if we find something that looks like a possibility, I should be able to Identify it.”
"Any of you ever hear of a soul stone before? Any clue what it may look like?"
"Nope," replied Nico with a grin, looking down from his driving seat on his wagon, "but that ain't gonna stop us from findin' it, methinks!" With a nod of determination, he winked at the fey before adjusting his sheathed rapiers and hopping off the vehicle to pet his horse, before gently guiding it--and the wagon--into the treeline as the others conversed.
"You stay here now, Alfred," he said in a low voice as he unhitched the mount. "We shouldn't be too long, but we'll come getcha if we need ya." With that, he pulled an apple from his backpack and fed it to the creature before walking back to the others.
"I'm ready. We can come back and grab Alfred if we run across more loot than we 'spect." Looking at Grey, he nodded at the unusually-dressed elf and added, "Ah, I doubt we'll be underground for too long. That stone's as good as found! By the way... you all can call me Nico."
The man steps away from the teleportation circle, shading his eyes from the sun as he stares up at the ruins before them. Medium height and broad shouldered, Anton has tawny skin criss-crossed with scars from past battles. Piercing hazel eyes look out from underneath a tangle of dark brown, almost black curly hair.
“Soul stone? No, I’ve not seen one either, but I like your confidence friend.”He looks at Nico and nods before turning to the others. “I am Anton. Shall we see what’s hidden away in the tower?” Anton wears well-maintained splint mail and has a battleaxe and a simple shield emblazoned with the flaming sword of the Foehammer slung across his back.
The walls of this once mighty fortress stand 40 feet high with several sections broken and cracked into ramps of tumbled stone. At each corner of this square stronghold stand towers, two northern towers stand 100 feet high, the two southern towers are broken and are only about 60 feet high. There is a gate in the center of the southern wall but it is blocked by a thick metal portcullis, long rusted.
Otho, walks towards the rear of the group looks up at the large structure and lets out a whistle, impressed by its stature. His cloak hanging loosely over his shoulder, perhaps a size or two too big, his tattoos and markings cover half of his body.
“nor have I, but if it’s this important, a duty to the kingdom we must honor, no?” He smirks with a nod “perhaps there are more treasures await, secrets yet uncovered and monsters in our future…my names Otho, of house Silverlight. A pleasure.”
Razzec can be seen doubled over holding his knees and what looks like him trying to will himself not to get sick. With a low grumble you can hear him mutter, "I never can stand those teleportation cirlces, always leaves the world swirling around me for a bit afterwards. Every dang time!" With that he finally stretches full upright and starts taking in the scenary. Realizing everyone else is already heading towards the keep in the distance, he hurries up to catch up with them.
"Hey everyone, sorry about that. Teleportation and myself do Not get along", everyone hears from a stout Red Dragonborn covered an plate mail and carrying a glaive and shield on his back. "Anyone have any ideas on where we should start looking first?" Razzec asks while pointing at the rusted gate. "That doesn't look like it'll open up for us so easily."
Raising an eyebrow at the dragonborn, Nico could only smile and shake his head. "Well now, I think that's alluvus," he said as he looked over the party. He then handed the amulet out to Grey. "Here ya go. I might be tough for my size, but you look like you're the best protected of us; you should probably be the one to keep it."
Turning back to look at the portcullis, he examined it as he rubbed his chin. "First hurdle, eh? Lessee..."
(( Nico will start examining the entrance for a switch or lever to open the gate. Presuming he'll need a roll, I figure it would be Investigation? Let me know if it should be something else instead. Investigation Check:4 ))
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
((Razzec will roll a perception check to see if there's any additional general information about the outside of the keep he can see from near the gate. After that he'll follow Nico's lead and start searching from anything that might help them open the gate (I'm assuming would also be a perc check). ))
Otho peers to the tops of the walls and the gates, "An entryway that makes sense for us to use is first and foremost no? Lest we just barge into the front door...maybe a walk around the perimeter? Evaluate all of the options? With those towers being somewhat destroyed, who's to say there isn't a gap in a wall!" the sorcerer muses cheerfully
Ember looks about and considers speaking out but their internal dialogue is brief and leaves them shaking their head. With a tiny sigh and a spring up into the air, Ember flies upward to see if there is an access to the inner courtyard and perhaps a level to open the gate.
Flight - MotM pg 13
Because of your wings, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. [30 feet] You can’t use this flying speed if you’re wearing medium or heavy armor.
While approaching the gate and looking through the gaps in the portcullis you all see several section of the wall that have collapsed. Whether by siege or passage of time is unknown. Some gaps are bigger than others or higher, but all of them have ramps of broken stone.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
Ember looks about and considers speaking out but their internal dialogue is brief and leaves them shaking their head. With a tiny sigh and a spring up into the air, Ember flies upward to see if there is an access to the inner courtyard and perhaps a level to open the gate.
Flight - MotM pg 13
Because of your wings, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. [30 feet] You can’t use this flying speed if you’re wearing medium or heavy armor.
Looking from above, the fortress is a square shape about 500 feet on a side with towers at each corner. all four walls have broken sections and both southern are cracked. There are none of the usual outbuildings that are expected in most castles. Instead there is a huge circular pile of stones in the middle of the courtyard.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
Ember will drop back down and relay all they saw as to general dimensions and the access spots. "Good we came in the daylight instead of at night. I had good views of most everything in the courtyard." Giving a smile, "What say we enter this pile of stones and found out what lies below."
"What say we enter this pile of stones and found out what lies below."
"Well, looks like Otho was right. So, just wanderin' in sounds fine to me!" Nico grinned, a bit relieved at not having to try to raise the portcullis by hand. "I'll follow yer lead to the nearest wall breach."
A couple of you get bumps and bruises while scaling the broken stones into the courtyard. As you enter you also notice each tower has a door at ground level.
Aside from the large pile of dirt and stone in the middle the rest is mostly featureless.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
Razzec ponders before stating out loud, "Should we check the doors or the pile in the middle first? The last set of ruins I was in at least had signs of the previous owners that were unfortunately enough not to make it out of the place alive. I've yet to see any signs of those here..."
"I will admit, I am not the best at finding fancy, tiny clues but, I suppose I can snoop around the rock pile in the courtyard. I mean, is it piled here to someday repair the walls? Something buried under all that rock? A cairn of rememberance?" Ember clambers on the rock pile poking at certain rocks with a staff - attempting to 'get an idea' without bringing the entire pile down on the others.
"Any guesses on what is in those towers? Or if they all have stairs connecting up in chambers below?" With another grunt, a large rock shifts aside a few inches.
You are hired by the King of Krawl to search for and acquire the Soul Stone, an artifact said to have powers over life and death. His magicians have failed him and he thinks that your group of heroes might be successful in finding it.
After brief preparations, you step into a teleportation circle and are whisked away into a forest on the border of a high hill. The sun is just coming over the trees, a faint breeze blows through the air. Upon the hill are the ruined grey stone walls of a former fortress. Your guide says you can keep anything you find except the Soul Stone. Then he gives your party an amulet with a large red gem. “When you are ready, hold the gem and click your heels three times. Anybody and anything within 10 feet of you will be transported back to the Kingdom. Don't come back without the stone. Good luck.”
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Ember looks about at the surroundings; taking note of the swaying grasses on the edge of being ripe for a burnoff. Not seeing any major threat (other than their companions), Ember lets out a breath and relaxes.
"Any of you ever hear of a soul stone before? Any clue what it may look like?"
The diminuative fey looks at each of his companions for a response.
Grey, the Elven cleric squints his eyes as the sun shines brightly overhead, gleaming off his smooth, shaven head.
He mutters a few choice curses in the dwarven language.
“Sorry” he says, looking at the others “I’ve spent most of my life underground, and now that I’m finally above it, it looks like this job is going to take me right back under.”
Looking at Ember he adds “I do not know what a soul stone is exactly, but if we find something that looks like a possibility, I should be able to Identify it.”
"Nope," replied Nico with a grin, looking down from his driving seat on his wagon, "but that ain't gonna stop us from findin' it, methinks!" With a nod of determination, he winked at the fey before adjusting his sheathed rapiers and hopping off the vehicle to pet his horse, before gently guiding it--and the wagon--into the treeline as the others conversed.
"You stay here now, Alfred," he said in a low voice as he unhitched the mount. "We shouldn't be too long, but we'll come getcha if we need ya." With that, he pulled an apple from his backpack and fed it to the creature before walking back to the others.
"I'm ready. We can come back and grab Alfred if we run across more loot than we 'spect." Looking at Grey, he nodded at the unusually-dressed elf and added, "Ah, I doubt we'll be underground for too long. That stone's as good as found! By the way... you all can call me Nico."
Locke - V. Human Shadow Monk 3 / Undead Warlock 2 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in FOW - DMless West Marches
Nico - V. Human Swords Bard 5 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Wysp's Hidden Tower
Sterling - V. Human Bard 2 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Bards: Dragon Heist (w/ Mansion) - Jasper's [Pic]
Finn - V. Human Hexblade Warlock 5 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Beneath the Mountain
Tooltips Post (2024 PHB updates)
>> New FOW threat & treasure tables: fow-advanced-threat-tables.pdf fow-advanced-treasure-table.pdf
The man steps away from the teleportation circle, shading his eyes from the sun as he stares up at the ruins before them. Medium height and broad shouldered, Anton has tawny skin criss-crossed with scars from past battles. Piercing hazel eyes look out from underneath a tangle of dark brown, almost black curly hair.
“Soul stone? No, I’ve not seen one either, but I like your confidence friend.” He looks at Nico and nods before turning to the others. “I am Anton. Shall we see what’s hidden away in the tower?” Anton wears well-maintained splint mail and has a battleaxe and a simple shield emblazoned with the flaming sword of the Foehammer slung across his back.
The walls of this once mighty fortress stand 40 feet high with several sections broken and cracked into ramps of tumbled stone. At each corner of this square stronghold stand towers, two northern towers stand 100 feet high, the two southern towers are broken and are only about 60 feet high. There is a gate in the center of the southern wall but it is blocked by a thick metal portcullis, long rusted.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Otho, walks towards the rear of the group looks up at the large structure and lets out a whistle, impressed by its stature. His cloak hanging loosely over his shoulder, perhaps a size or two too big, his tattoos and markings cover half of his body.
“nor have I, but if it’s this important, a duty to the kingdom we must honor, no?” He smirks with a nod “perhaps there are more treasures await, secrets yet uncovered and monsters in our future…my names Otho, of house Silverlight. A pleasure.”
Razzec can be seen doubled over holding his knees and what looks like him trying to will himself not to get sick. With a low grumble you can hear him mutter, "I never can stand those teleportation cirlces, always leaves the world swirling around me for a bit afterwards. Every dang time!" With that he finally stretches full upright and starts taking in the scenary. Realizing everyone else is already heading towards the keep in the distance, he hurries up to catch up with them.
"Hey everyone, sorry about that. Teleportation and myself do Not get along", everyone hears from a stout Red Dragonborn covered an plate mail and carrying a glaive and shield on his back. "Anyone have any ideas on where we should start looking first?" Razzec asks while pointing at the rusted gate. "That doesn't look like it'll open up for us so easily."
Raising an eyebrow at the dragonborn, Nico could only smile and shake his head. "Well now, I think that's alluvus," he said as he looked over the party. He then handed the amulet out to Grey. "Here ya go. I might be tough for my size, but you look like you're the best protected of us; you should probably be the one to keep it."
Turning back to look at the portcullis, he examined it as he rubbed his chin. "First hurdle, eh? Lessee..."
(( Nico will start examining the entrance for a switch or lever to open the gate. Presuming he'll need a roll, I figure it would be Investigation? Let me know if it should be something else instead. Investigation Check: 4 ))
Locke - V. Human Shadow Monk 3 / Undead Warlock 2 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in FOW - DMless West Marches
Nico - V. Human Swords Bard 5 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Wysp's Hidden Tower
Sterling - V. Human Bard 2 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Bards: Dragon Heist (w/ Mansion) - Jasper's [Pic]
Finn - V. Human Hexblade Warlock 5 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Beneath the Mountain
Tooltips Post (2024 PHB updates)
>> New FOW threat & treasure tables: fow-advanced-threat-tables.pdf fow-advanced-treasure-table.pdf
((Razzec will roll a perception check to see if there's any additional general information about the outside of the keep he can see from near the gate. After that he'll follow Nico's lead and start searching from anything that might help them open the gate (I'm assuming would also be a perc check). ))
General area Perception Check: 18
Gate Perception Check: 6
Otho peers to the tops of the walls and the gates, "An entryway that makes sense for us to use is first and foremost no? Lest we just barge into the front door...maybe a walk around the perimeter? Evaluate all of the options? With those towers being somewhat destroyed, who's to say there isn't a gap in a wall!" the sorcerer muses cheerfully
Ember looks about and considers speaking out but their internal dialogue is brief and leaves them shaking their head. With a tiny sigh and a spring up into the air, Ember flies upward to see if there is an access to the inner courtyard and perhaps a level to open the gate.
Flight - MotM pg 13
Because of your wings, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. [30 feet] You can’t use this flying speed if you’re wearing medium or heavy armor.
While approaching the gate and looking through the gaps in the portcullis you all see several section of the wall that have collapsed. Whether by siege or passage of time is unknown. Some gaps are bigger than others or higher, but all of them have ramps of broken stone.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Looking from above, the fortress is a square shape about 500 feet on a side with towers at each corner. all four walls have broken sections and both southern are cracked. There are none of the usual outbuildings that are expected in most castles. Instead there is a huge circular pile of stones in the middle of the courtyard.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Ember will drop back down and relay all they saw as to general dimensions and the access spots. "Good we came in the daylight instead of at night. I had good views of most everything in the courtyard." Giving a smile, "What say we enter this pile of stones and found out what lies below."
"Well, looks like Otho was right. So, just wanderin' in sounds fine to me!" Nico grinned, a bit relieved at not having to try to raise the portcullis by hand. "I'll follow yer lead to the nearest wall breach."
Locke - V. Human Shadow Monk 3 / Undead Warlock 2 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in FOW - DMless West Marches
Nico - V. Human Swords Bard 5 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Wysp's Hidden Tower
Sterling - V. Human Bard 2 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Bards: Dragon Heist (w/ Mansion) - Jasper's [Pic]
Finn - V. Human Hexblade Warlock 5 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Beneath the Mountain
Tooltips Post (2024 PHB updates)
>> New FOW threat & treasure tables: fow-advanced-threat-tables.pdf fow-advanced-treasure-table.pdf
A couple of you get bumps and bruises while scaling the broken stones into the courtyard. As you enter you also notice each tower has a door at ground level.
Aside from the large pile of dirt and stone in the middle the rest is mostly featureless.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Razzec ponders before stating out loud, "Should we check the doors or the pile in the middle first? The last set of ruins I was in at least had signs of the previous owners that were unfortunately enough not to make it out of the place alive. I've yet to see any signs of those here..."
"I will admit, I am not the best at finding fancy, tiny clues but, I suppose I can snoop around the rock pile in the courtyard. I mean, is it piled here to someday repair the walls? Something buried under all that rock? A cairn of rememberance?" Ember clambers on the rock pile poking at certain rocks with a staff - attempting to 'get an idea' without bringing the entire pile down on the others.
"Any guesses on what is in those towers? Or if they all have stairs connecting up in chambers below?" With another grunt, a large rock shifts aside a few inches.
{character sheet} Passive Perception: 16
Prodding makes the unsteady rock pile slide and collapse! Luckily Ember can fly and isn't consumed by the crushing sinkhole.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale