Letera... a world ravaged by plague, war, and calamity. Over the years there have been many disasters, but none quite so horrific as the Spellplague. The plague infected the weave of magic, driving practitioners to madness or killing them outright. It was said that the gods themselves fell to the plague... perhaps that is why they abandoned this world.
Still, where there is life, hope springs eternal. Within a century after the Spellplague, the people of the world turned their attention to a new pursuit: technology. Within two hundred, great metropolises dotted Letera. Wizard duels have been replaced by gunfights. Both arcane and divine spellcasters are nearly non-existent. Those few who remain are mere dabblers, a pale imitation of the earth-shaking mages of old.
This is the world where our story takes place...
The five of you have been called together for a seemingly simple mission. The authorities have recently lost contact with a research team studying a strange structure discovered near the peak of an icy mountain. Your superiors could give you only limited information on the structure, as even before the communications cut out entirely there was always severe interference that made it nearly impossible to send or receive detailed information. All that you know for sure is that it is incredibly ancient...
As the helicopter drops you off, you can see the structure in the distance, partially buried in the ice:
Adams, a mountain of a man (Bugbear that looks mostly human), surveys the area cradelinging his long gun. He sniffs the air, places a hand on the ground, checks the wind direction for any signs. He's 7' tall middle aged man with brown hair and a leather trimmed overcoat with a hint of metal under that. He has multiple knives and pistols and appears most at home in the wild than a city.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Simon being the dashing and cunning detective, (very human-looking Tabaxi with Purple cat eyes and sharp K-9 like a cat) will kneel and rub the dirt in between his figures. He will make a history check to see if he has ever read anything about ancient pre-spellplague structures.
Toa taps the haft of his maul thrice for luck as the large hollow bird with the spinning metal wings deposits him and his strange new companions at the ice-bound mountain cave. He recalls his homeland and its pristine beauty, wherein snowbound peaks such as this, flanked by green treed vales would dive down into turquoise ocean. Perhaps not so truly far from home after all. Tāwhirimātea of the storm is ever present.
He tilts his head squinting at the structure and unbeknownst to him, a neural implant actuates silently. Toa thinks on the power of his ancestors and a flickering echo of himself appears thirty feet away (Manifest Echo), garbed similarly in metal bound by tough, flexible reeds, carrying a maul to match.
Both the echo and the dwarven man stand just under five and a half feet tall but seem to be hewn directly from a boulder, a solid slab of muscle and bone, with runes graven on face and arms for battle. So it is a little jarring when a strangely-accented dad joke spills from the island warrior's mouth.
It doesn't take Eppie Thyxius, the little green goblin, too many hours of the long helicopter flight to figure out that none of her companions are very talkative. Or maybe they just don't talk to her. She does look awfully eccentric, after all. Dressed in good felted wool clothing to mitigate any combustion from sudden explosions, draped in a thick white feathered mantle, and wrapped in a heavy canvas apron, hood, and goggles, not to mention the heavy gloves, Eppie spends the flight ignoring her companions and working on some of her equipment. She seems to be doing odd and inexplicable things to her revolver, taking it apart, pouring a strange colored liquid into the barrel and the moving parts, putting it back together, muttering things in Goblin. Next is her shield, a primitive looking thing, the hammer blows clearly evident in the metal, but she's crouched over it tediously wiring it up with a pair of pliers, a jar of glue or some other thick, sticky substance, and something else that sizzles, pops, and lets out a spark of flame every few seconds. Every few minutes, she goes back and forth to some mechanical device in the corner, although she mostly seems to be taking and replacing tools and other items out of some bags attached to it.
A few hours into the trip, it becomes apparent that the feathered mantle is actually an animal, whether a lizard or a bird or some combination it's hard to tell, with a long feather-plumed tail, stubby feathered wings, long talons, and a narrow scaley snout with a beaked tip and pointed teeth. This becomes apparent because it undrapes itself from over Eppie's shoulder and goes sniffing around the passenger compartment of the helicopter.
When the pilot announces the landing, Eppie stands right up, straightening, and frowns, then quickly begins to put away her tools in a very orderly and exacting fashion, replacing them in the bags on the metal device. Then she walks to the window of the helicopter, standing on tiptoe to peer outside over the frozen, snowy landscape. Sitting now off to one side, the white lizard bird has its plumed tail curled around its scaled talons, its little wings folded, and it turns its head watching her she goes back and forth, putting tools away, peering out the window, going back to her bags, pulling out thicker and heavier layers of clothing, and putting them on. Fur-lined boots. A warm scarf that she wraps around her neck and hood. A heavy fur cloak with a fur-lined hood. A few more trips back to the window seems to solidify her decision with each further piece of cold weather clothing, and last she pulls out a pair of spiked crampons, and fastens them to her boots.
When the helicopter lands with a jolt, she looks at the lizard bird, nods, and walks to the metal device in the corner. It seems to have a seat built into it, and a control stick or steering device. But she only reaches out a gloved hand and presses a button on it with one finger. It suddenly jolts to life, uncoiling like a living creature, the bulk of it rising into the air on distinct legs, a pair of clawed arms hanging in front of it, a recognizable head and neck studded with steel spikes, and a long stiff tail for balance. It looks a bit like the small feathered lizard bird, only with metal joints and pistons and no feathers. It's awfully ugly. Oh, and don't forget the spiked steel teeth in its "mouth". Weighed down with the goblin's bags full of tools, the thing leaps up and scampers right out of the helicopter door, its steel clawed feet sinking into a pile of snow. It moves suprisingly gracefully for such an awkward-looking thing.
Then Eppie looks at the little feathered lizard bird, straps her shield to her back over the cloak and holsters her gun, and she boldly steps out of the helicopter herself, landing in the snow drift next to her "living" machine, and she sinks right in over her head. Her little feathered animal trots after her, leaps out, and starts to energetically dig her out of the drift, clouds of snow flinging into the air out behind it.
Slowly the fur-lined hood, goggles, and a pair of long green ears rises back up out of the snow, as Eppie clambers free. She is frowning, as if she made a strategic error, but quickly forgets about it as she walks over to the others, avoiding deep snow drifts, and surveys the ancient structure buried in ice. She blinks thoughtfully behind her goggles, opens her mouth and cracks her jaw a couple of times, and turns to look at Toa.
"I believe I have appointed myself to be able to withstand a further temperature reduction of at least twenty degrees."
Adams, looking down at Eppiesays "Good (in response to the withstand a temp reduction). It can a mite cold in these parts. Best be prepared." As he gives the goblin a smile.
It's a bit difficult to get a good read on the place initially, as it seems that there was a snowstorm recently. Still, you see several things out of place... pieces of broken equipment, scorch marks, etc. It looks like there was some kind of a struggle, though you don't see any human(oid) remains, at least outside of the structure, making it impossible to say what has become of the research team.
Simon:
The structure looks like it was some kind of fortress... it has an austere and foreboding design. It could probably have housed a few hundred soldiers and adequate supplies for them, but it would have provided precious little in the way of luxury, except maybe for the commanding officers. There may well still be active defenses in and around the fortress that you will need to be mindful of.
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Simon will stand and look at the dual form of the dwarf and then at the rest of the party. "I am unsure why our benefactors brought us here, but if I am here, then there is an abnormal form of trouble in this space. I have identified that this building was probably used as some form of barracks for a whole army. There will be defensive measures throughout the fortress so we should be careful. I do have a talent in disarming them but that only works if we stick together."
Toa grins in toothy approval at the thought of the little female animal-befriender's resilience against the cold, to which he himself is quite unaccustomed. Though at the mention of "twenty degrees," it is almost possible to see gears grinding in his head as he mentally attempts to count that high.
"Still pretty cold for a... what did you say, ah... Simon? Barracks? I wonder why so many warriors would build shelter all the way up here?"
Maul in hand and echo beside him, the island warrior studies the ice and snow and rock for signs of passage or bodies (or body parts) being dragged, perhaps towards the apparent barracks or in any other direction. Anything that might shed light on the creatures that were here, there number, which way they went, or what they took with them. The runes on his face seem to twist strangely as he mumbles something to himself about ancient battles.
You see signs of a struggle. It appears that there was a snowstorm since the struggle took place, hiding some key evidence. You don't see any human(oid) remains... however, you note some marks suggesting that someone was dragged into the structure.
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The little green goblin grins up at Adams. "I am always prepared. Glad to see you are too." Behind her, its joints squeaking awkwardly in the cold, the robotic contraption steps up through the snow, its awkward but intimidating metal visage peering over her shoulder. She deftly maneuvers around its head so that she can continue speaking to her much taller companions.
Turning to Simon, and then to Toa, whom she has to cran her neck a bit less to look up at, she slowly frowns. "If this is a military establishment, and it's this old, its technological level is likely to be primitive. Unless you suppose it's old enough to be haunted." Eppie uses a colloquial phrase sometimes tossed around in research circles to refer to artifacts or environments suspected of having magical residue or effects from before the Spellplague. Few enough know anything about magic nowadays to tell the difference between something with an actual arcane profile and something that just exhibits unexplained phenomenon of any type.
"Let me get a little closer, and I'll have a look." Pointing a long finger at the metal beast behind her, and then at the small, feathered one, as if to tell them to stay put, Eppie crunches off over the snow towards the structure, her furry cloak wrapped around her short, scrawny figure. Then, something odd happens. The outlines of the fur and the hood seem to blur, as if a sudden wind kicked up, and where they saw her before, they see only whirling snow.
The white feathered lizard bird stares after the goblin until she disappears, and then begins snuffling around Toa's boots. The metal robot stands completely still where she left it, as if it had been switched off.
Sneakily and silently, Eppie will get close to the structure and circle it, looking for traps, doorways, threats, or any sign of what may have happened to the research team or what could possibly happen to her group, the new investigation team.
The goblin sneaks along basically invisible for all practical purposes. She doesn't see any traps on the outside of the building. There are no ground-level windows (which makes sense for a military structure).
There are a total of three heavy doors; the massive main gate and two smaller gates. The main gateway is typical of ancient castles: a huge oak drawbridge (which is currently lowered) with a steel grate that can be raised or lowered from the inside. The other two gates are made of heavy oak and appear to be barred on the inside.
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Eppie eyes the drawbridge, looking for tracks in the snow across it, and, invisibly, peers down to see what's underneath it. A deep gorge full of snow? A frozen moat? Polar bears? Then she steps onto the drawbridge to see if anything happens.
If nothing does, and she's able to sneak safely across the enormous oak bridge, she looks to see if she can see anything through the steel grate, and if she can tell, with her engineering genius of course, where the mechanism to lift the gate is, or any other way it might be locked or closed. Eppie rubs her chin with a gloved hand, before tugging her scarf back up over it. She really ought to have brought more incendieries.
Toa looks down at the feathered lizard-bird snuffling at his feet, trying to fight back his hunter's instincts that urge him to thrust his dagger through the beast's center of mass so that the group can all have a warm little rotisserie snack to take the edge off the cold.
I love when the heated fat drips down onto the root vegetables below and...
Shaking himself from his reverie, the island warrior ventures "ah... nice lizard-birdie..." in a thickly-accented, rumbling whisper.
A small contstruct, blinks and looks at you all quizzically. "So you are not all researchers of ancient civilizations, like myself? Forgive me, my name is Pinion. It is a name given to me long ago. I have found new names and insights in my travels. The Spellplague is my primary interest. For it was that time I lost my master. I was lost and found a Way in ancient texts, written in a language I took years to understand. There is much to learn from the past as we walk in the present."
Pinion is an odd construct, as it seems he has perhaps been many things. But there are three distinct weapons you see Pinion carry- a longsword, a whip, and a revolver. We wears each like a person would wear a hat. Pinion's age is unclear, whether it a factor of his armored casing or drive for self-preservation.
Peeking through the iron gate, Eppie catches sight of an absolutely nightmarish scene in the courtyard...
She can see several corpses, impaled on spikes and contorted in strange positions. The bodies show signs of torture and mutilation... so much so that it's hard to even determine their species or gender from where the goblin is looking in. As she watches from her hiding spot, she catches sight of a large humanoid creature with its back turned, covered in fur and with the head of a lion, crouched near a corpse that is lying on the ground and making disturbing chewing sounds... the monstrous creature doesn't seem to have noticed her yet.
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At this point, Eppie and the rest of the group will hear Simon's calm voice in their heads, and their eyes will slightly glow the same shade of purple as his. "I am creating a mental link between us so we do not need to speak and give away our position. Eppie what are you seeing, is it safe for us to join you?"
Well, that wasn't what she was expecting at all. Is this what happened to the research team?
Keeping her silent profile, Eppie cautiously looks around, and raises her hunting rifle to sight down its barrel at the brute. But, she decides against it--a bullet might not take that thing down, no doubt the research team had guns--and, grimacing, silently shoulders the gun. She's just about to turn and sneak back to the group, when she hears Simon's voice in her head.
Shaking her head slightly, Eppie taps the side of her ear and thinks back towards the group on the same wavelength. "I am at the gate. There is an enormous beast in the courtyard beyond the gate feasting on a veritable colosseum of slaughter. I thought about shooting it. But I'm uncertain that my tactic would be effective. Doubtless some of its victims were armed. Before we can proceed into this barracks, I believe we will have to have to kill or subdue the brute. I am not able to see a mechanism for opening the gate, but we may be able to shoot through it, and stay out of harm's way, as it is on the other side. It has not seen me. Gentlemen, I am an engineer; I am no tactician with living targets, and I welcome suggestions. If you would like to join me here, we may mount an attack in numbers. Vox IV's code is 3378, please bring it with you, if you come. If my retreat is advised, I will return promptly."
The lizard-bird, hearing Toa's awkward phrase of endearment, lifts its head up on its curved bird-like neck to look at his face, and chirps pleasantly in response, its feathered tailed waving in the air. It clearly has no fear of being turned into a rotisserie.
A small contstruct, blinks and looks at you all quizzically. "So you are not all researchers of ancient civilizations, like myself? Forgive me, my name is Pinion. It is a name given to me long ago. I have found new names and insights in my travels. The Spellplague is my primary interest. For it was that time I lost my master. I was lost and found a Way in ancient texts, written in a language I took years to understand. There is much to learn from the past as we walk in the present."
Toa only partly understands what Pinion is describing of his studies, though the island barbarian does consider himself to descend from a proud and ancient civilization, and the construct's final sentence clearly strikes a chord with him.
"Yes," he whispers in rapt solemnity. "Much to learn from the past. My own ancestors, whose spirits offer great protection in battle, trace their..."
Cutting off with his mouth hanging open as Simon, then Eppie speak like ancestral spirits within his head, Toa stares blankly at Eppie's friendly beast companion right in front of him, as if the delicious-looking lizard-bird can offer some explanation for this astounding telepathic phenomenon.
Yet when the gist of Eppie's words break through to him, Toa and his echo alike heft their maul. Utterly unsure whether it will work, he attempts to respond mentally: "I saw signs of bodies being dragged when I was looking for tracks earlier. Probably by this animal? If you can see it through the gate, Eppie, then the gate is no bar to the passage of my spirit echo, through which I can attack with my maul, up to some distance, staying behind the gate myself. Maybe some of you can also hunt it at range. Though it will probably move when it sees us. How far past the gate is it right now?"
Letera... a world ravaged by plague, war, and calamity. Over the years there have been many disasters, but none quite so horrific as the Spellplague. The plague infected the weave of magic, driving practitioners to madness or killing them outright. It was said that the gods themselves fell to the plague... perhaps that is why they abandoned this world.
Still, where there is life, hope springs eternal. Within a century after the Spellplague, the people of the world turned their attention to a new pursuit: technology. Within two hundred, great metropolises dotted Letera. Wizard duels have been replaced by gunfights. Both arcane and divine spellcasters are nearly non-existent. Those few who remain are mere dabblers, a pale imitation of the earth-shaking mages of old.
This is the world where our story takes place...
The five of you have been called together for a seemingly simple mission. The authorities have recently lost contact with a research team studying a strange structure discovered near the peak of an icy mountain. Your superiors could give you only limited information on the structure, as even before the communications cut out entirely there was always severe interference that made it nearly impossible to send or receive detailed information. All that you know for sure is that it is incredibly ancient...
As the helicopter drops you off, you can see the structure in the distance, partially buried in the ice:
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Adams, a mountain of a man (Bugbear that looks mostly human), surveys the area cradelinging his long gun. He sniffs the air, places a hand on the ground, checks the wind direction for any signs. He's 7' tall middle aged man with brown hair and a leather trimmed overcoat with a hint of metal under that. He has multiple knives and pistols and appears most at home in the wild than a city.
Perception 24
D&D since 1984
Simon being the dashing and cunning detective, (very human-looking Tabaxi with Purple cat eyes and sharp K-9 like a cat) will kneel and rub the dirt in between his figures. He will make a history check to see if he has ever read anything about ancient pre-spellplague structures.
History: 19
Toa taps the haft of his maul thrice for luck as the large hollow bird with the spinning metal wings deposits him and his strange new companions at the ice-bound mountain cave. He recalls his homeland and its pristine beauty, wherein snowbound peaks such as this, flanked by green treed vales would dive down into turquoise ocean. Perhaps not so truly far from home after all. Tāwhirimātea of the storm is ever present.
He tilts his head squinting at the structure and unbeknownst to him, a neural implant actuates silently. Toa thinks on the power of his ancestors and a flickering echo of himself appears thirty feet away (Manifest Echo), garbed similarly in metal bound by tough, flexible reeds, carrying a maul to match.
Both the echo and the dwarven man stand just under five and a half feet tall but seem to be hewn directly from a boulder, a solid slab of muscle and bone, with runes graven on face and arms for battle. So it is a little jarring when a strangely-accented dad joke spills from the island warrior's mouth.
"Cold enough for, ya?"
Sabetha(Monk2):DungeonMair's Rime/Inge(Barbarian2):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Barn(Paladin1):Nyx's ToA
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric4):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard3):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Toa(Barbarian6/Fighter4):MrWhisker's Dark Lord's Return
It doesn't take Eppie Thyxius, the little green goblin, too many hours of the long helicopter flight to figure out that none of her companions are very talkative. Or maybe they just don't talk to her. She does look awfully eccentric, after all. Dressed in good felted wool clothing to mitigate any combustion from sudden explosions, draped in a thick white feathered mantle, and wrapped in a heavy canvas apron, hood, and goggles, not to mention the heavy gloves, Eppie spends the flight ignoring her companions and working on some of her equipment. She seems to be doing odd and inexplicable things to her revolver, taking it apart, pouring a strange colored liquid into the barrel and the moving parts, putting it back together, muttering things in Goblin. Next is her shield, a primitive looking thing, the hammer blows clearly evident in the metal, but she's crouched over it tediously wiring it up with a pair of pliers, a jar of glue or some other thick, sticky substance, and something else that sizzles, pops, and lets out a spark of flame every few seconds. Every few minutes, she goes back and forth to some mechanical device in the corner, although she mostly seems to be taking and replacing tools and other items out of some bags attached to it.
A few hours into the trip, it becomes apparent that the feathered mantle is actually an animal, whether a lizard or a bird or some combination it's hard to tell, with a long feather-plumed tail, stubby feathered wings, long talons, and a narrow scaley snout with a beaked tip and pointed teeth. This becomes apparent because it undrapes itself from over Eppie's shoulder and goes sniffing around the passenger compartment of the helicopter.
When the pilot announces the landing, Eppie stands right up, straightening, and frowns, then quickly begins to put away her tools in a very orderly and exacting fashion, replacing them in the bags on the metal device. Then she walks to the window of the helicopter, standing on tiptoe to peer outside over the frozen, snowy landscape. Sitting now off to one side, the white lizard bird has its plumed tail curled around its scaled talons, its little wings folded, and it turns its head watching her she goes back and forth, putting tools away, peering out the window, going back to her bags, pulling out thicker and heavier layers of clothing, and putting them on. Fur-lined boots. A warm scarf that she wraps around her neck and hood. A heavy fur cloak with a fur-lined hood. A few more trips back to the window seems to solidify her decision with each further piece of cold weather clothing, and last she pulls out a pair of spiked crampons, and fastens them to her boots.
When the helicopter lands with a jolt, she looks at the lizard bird, nods, and walks to the metal device in the corner. It seems to have a seat built into it, and a control stick or steering device. But she only reaches out a gloved hand and presses a button on it with one finger. It suddenly jolts to life, uncoiling like a living creature, the bulk of it rising into the air on distinct legs, a pair of clawed arms hanging in front of it, a recognizable head and neck studded with steel spikes, and a long stiff tail for balance. It looks a bit like the small feathered lizard bird, only with metal joints and pistons and no feathers. It's awfully ugly. Oh, and don't forget the spiked steel teeth in its "mouth". Weighed down with the goblin's bags full of tools, the thing leaps up and scampers right out of the helicopter door, its steel clawed feet sinking into a pile of snow. It moves suprisingly gracefully for such an awkward-looking thing.
Then Eppie looks at the little feathered lizard bird, straps her shield to her back over the cloak and holsters her gun, and she boldly steps out of the helicopter herself, landing in the snow drift next to her "living" machine, and she sinks right in over her head. Her little feathered animal trots after her, leaps out, and starts to energetically dig her out of the drift, clouds of snow flinging into the air out behind it.
Slowly the fur-lined hood, goggles, and a pair of long green ears rises back up out of the snow, as Eppie clambers free. She is frowning, as if she made a strategic error, but quickly forgets about it as she walks over to the others, avoiding deep snow drifts, and surveys the ancient structure buried in ice. She blinks thoughtfully behind her goggles, opens her mouth and cracks her jaw a couple of times, and turns to look at Toa.
"I believe I have appointed myself to be able to withstand a further temperature reduction of at least twenty degrees."
Adams, looking down at Eppie says "Good (in response to the withstand a temp reduction). It can a mite cold in these parts. Best be prepared." As he gives the goblin a smile.
D&D since 1984
Adams:
It's a bit difficult to get a good read on the place initially, as it seems that there was a snowstorm recently. Still, you see several things out of place... pieces of broken equipment, scorch marks, etc. It looks like there was some kind of a struggle, though you don't see any human(oid) remains, at least outside of the structure, making it impossible to say what has become of the research team.
Simon:
The structure looks like it was some kind of fortress... it has an austere and foreboding design. It could probably have housed a few hundred soldiers and adequate supplies for them, but it would have provided precious little in the way of luxury, except maybe for the commanding officers. There may well still be active defenses in and around the fortress that you will need to be mindful of.
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Simon will stand and look at the dual form of the dwarf and then at the rest of the party. "I am unsure why our benefactors brought us here, but if I am here, then there is an abnormal form of trouble in this space. I have identified that this building was probably used as some form of barracks for a whole army. There will be defensive measures throughout the fortress so we should be careful. I do have a talent in disarming them but that only works if we stick together."
Toa grins in toothy approval at the thought of the little female animal-befriender's resilience against the cold, to which he himself is quite unaccustomed. Though at the mention of "twenty degrees," it is almost possible to see gears grinding in his head as he mentally attempts to count that high.
"Still pretty cold for a... what did you say, ah... Simon? Barracks? I wonder why so many warriors would build shelter all the way up here?"
Maul in hand and echo beside him, the island warrior studies the ice and snow and rock for signs of passage or bodies (or body parts) being dragged, perhaps towards the apparent barracks or in any other direction. Anything that might shed light on the creatures that were here, there number, which way they went, or what they took with them. The runes on his face seem to twist strangely as he mumbles something to himself about ancient battles.
Toa's Survival: 23
Sabetha(Monk2):DungeonMair's Rime/Inge(Barbarian2):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Barn(Paladin1):Nyx's ToA
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric4):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard3):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Toa(Barbarian6/Fighter4):MrWhisker's Dark Lord's Return
Toa:
You see signs of a struggle. It appears that there was a snowstorm since the struggle took place, hiding some key evidence. You don't see any human(oid) remains... however, you note some marks suggesting that someone was dragged into the structure.
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The little green goblin grins up at Adams. "I am always prepared. Glad to see you are too." Behind her, its joints squeaking awkwardly in the cold, the robotic contraption steps up through the snow, its awkward but intimidating metal visage peering over her shoulder. She deftly maneuvers around its head so that she can continue speaking to her much taller companions.
Turning to Simon, and then to Toa, whom she has to cran her neck a bit less to look up at, she slowly frowns. "If this is a military establishment, and it's this old, its technological level is likely to be primitive. Unless you suppose it's old enough to be haunted." Eppie uses a colloquial phrase sometimes tossed around in research circles to refer to artifacts or environments suspected of having magical residue or effects from before the Spellplague. Few enough know anything about magic nowadays to tell the difference between something with an actual arcane profile and something that just exhibits unexplained phenomenon of any type.
"Let me get a little closer, and I'll have a look." Pointing a long finger at the metal beast behind her, and then at the small, feathered one, as if to tell them to stay put, Eppie crunches off over the snow towards the structure, her furry cloak wrapped around her short, scrawny figure. Then, something odd happens. The outlines of the fur and the hood seem to blur, as if a sudden wind kicked up, and where they saw her before, they see only whirling snow.
The white feathered lizard bird stares after the goblin until she disappears, and then begins snuffling around Toa's boots. The metal robot stands completely still where she left it, as if it had been switched off.
Sneakily and silently, Eppie will get close to the structure and circle it, looking for traps, doorways, threats, or any sign of what may have happened to the research team or what could possibly happen to her group, the new investigation team.
Stealth: 31
Investigation: 13
The goblin sneaks along basically invisible for all practical purposes. She doesn't see any traps on the outside of the building. There are no ground-level windows (which makes sense for a military structure).
There are a total of three heavy doors; the massive main gate and two smaller gates. The main gateway is typical of ancient castles: a huge oak drawbridge (which is currently lowered) with a steel grate that can be raised or lowered from the inside. The other two gates are made of heavy oak and appear to be barred on the inside.
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Eppie eyes the drawbridge, looking for tracks in the snow across it, and, invisibly, peers down to see what's underneath it. A deep gorge full of snow? A frozen moat? Polar bears? Then she steps onto the drawbridge to see if anything happens.
If nothing does, and she's able to sneak safely across the enormous oak bridge, she looks to see if she can see anything through the steel grate, and if she can tell, with her engineering genius of course, where the mechanism to lift the gate is, or any other way it might be locked or closed. Eppie rubs her chin with a gloved hand, before tugging her scarf back up over it. She really ought to have brought more incendieries.
Perception: 12
Investigation: 22
Toa looks down at the feathered lizard-bird snuffling at his feet, trying to fight back his hunter's instincts that urge him to thrust his dagger through the beast's center of mass so that the group can all have a warm little rotisserie snack to take the edge off the cold.
I love when the heated fat drips down onto the root vegetables below and...
Shaking himself from his reverie, the island warrior ventures "ah... nice lizard-birdie..." in a thickly-accented, rumbling whisper.
Sabetha(Monk2):DungeonMair's Rime/Inge(Barbarian2):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Barn(Paladin1):Nyx's ToA
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric4):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard3):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Toa(Barbarian6/Fighter4):MrWhisker's Dark Lord's Return
(Earlier introduction- sorry for delay)
A small contstruct, blinks and looks at you all quizzically. "So you are not all researchers of ancient civilizations, like myself? Forgive me, my name is Pinion. It is a name given to me long ago. I have found new names and insights in my travels. The Spellplague is my primary interest. For it was that time I lost my master. I was lost and found a Way in ancient texts, written in a language I took years to understand. There is much to learn from the past as we walk in the present."
Pinion is an odd construct, as it seems he has perhaps been many things. But there are three distinct weapons you see Pinion carry- a longsword, a whip, and a revolver. We wears each like a person would wear a hat. Pinion's age is unclear, whether it a factor of his armored casing or drive for self-preservation.
Fargen Hill Dwarf Cleric/Barbarian - Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Jodie Olwen Half-Elf Bard- Chronicles of the Accursed
Peeking through the iron gate, Eppie catches sight of an absolutely nightmarish scene in the courtyard...
She can see several corpses, impaled on spikes and contorted in strange positions. The bodies show signs of torture and mutilation... so much so that it's hard to even determine their species or gender from where the goblin is looking in. As she watches from her hiding spot, she catches sight of a large humanoid creature with its back turned, covered in fur and with the head of a lion, crouched near a corpse that is lying on the ground and making disturbing chewing sounds... the monstrous creature doesn't seem to have noticed her yet.
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
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At this point, Eppie and the rest of the group will hear Simon's calm voice in their heads, and their eyes will slightly glow the same shade of purple as his. "I am creating a mental link between us so we do not need to speak and give away our position. Eppie what are you seeing, is it safe for us to join you?"
Well, that wasn't what she was expecting at all. Is this what happened to the research team?
Keeping her silent profile, Eppie cautiously looks around, and raises her hunting rifle to sight down its barrel at the brute. But, she decides against it--a bullet might not take that thing down, no doubt the research team had guns--and, grimacing, silently shoulders the gun. She's just about to turn and sneak back to the group, when she hears Simon's voice in her head.
Shaking her head slightly, Eppie taps the side of her ear and thinks back towards the group on the same wavelength. "I am at the gate. There is an enormous beast in the courtyard beyond the gate feasting on a veritable colosseum of slaughter. I thought about shooting it. But I'm uncertain that my tactic would be effective. Doubtless some of its victims were armed. Before we can proceed into this barracks, I believe we will have to have to kill or subdue the brute. I am not able to see a mechanism for opening the gate, but we may be able to shoot through it, and stay out of harm's way, as it is on the other side. It has not seen me. Gentlemen, I am an engineer; I am no tactician with living targets, and I welcome suggestions. If you would like to join me here, we may mount an attack in numbers. Vox IV's code is 3378, please bring it with you, if you come. If my retreat is advised, I will return promptly."
The lizard-bird, hearing Toa's awkward phrase of endearment, lifts its head up on its curved bird-like neck to look at his face, and chirps pleasantly in response, its feathered tailed waving in the air. It clearly has no fear of being turned into a rotisserie.
Toa only partly understands what Pinion is describing of his studies, though the island barbarian does consider himself to descend from a proud and ancient civilization, and the construct's final sentence clearly strikes a chord with him.
"Yes," he whispers in rapt solemnity. "Much to learn from the past. My own ancestors, whose spirits offer great protection in battle, trace their..."
Cutting off with his mouth hanging open as Simon, then Eppie speak like ancestral spirits within his head, Toa stares blankly at Eppie's friendly beast companion right in front of him, as if the delicious-looking lizard-bird can offer some explanation for this astounding telepathic phenomenon.
Yet when the gist of Eppie's words break through to him, Toa and his echo alike heft their maul. Utterly unsure whether it will work, he attempts to respond mentally: "I saw signs of bodies being dragged when I was looking for tracks earlier. Probably by this animal? If you can see it through the gate, Eppie, then the gate is no bar to the passage of my spirit echo, through which I can attack with my maul, up to some distance, staying behind the gate myself. Maybe some of you can also hunt it at range. Though it will probably move when it sees us. How far past the gate is it right now?"
Sabetha(Monk2):DungeonMair's Rime/Inge(Barbarian2):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Barn(Paladin1):Nyx's ToA
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric4):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard3):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Toa(Barbarian6/Fighter4):MrWhisker's Dark Lord's Return
Adams, will move up to Eppie. Leaving Ben the bear behind.
Stealth: 24
D&D since 1984