Red Dead Annihilation: Campaign Thread

Danica:

 The night passes without danger.  During Meili's first watch, the storm intensifies.  The wind roars outside the tomb's opening and branches, palm fronds and other debris scrape against the outside or sail past in the night.  Lightning crashes, over and over, sometimes brightening the night sky with such frequency it never gets back to full dark before the next flash.  Hew, huddled close to the fire, mumbles something about it being 'a good thing we stumbled into this place.'

Over the next few watches, the storm gradually works itself out.  By morning, the sky is still overcast and there is still a light rain, but it is nothing compared to the downpours of yesterday and last night.

Hew doesn't look any healthier this morning.  Spry and agile, especially for a dwarf, he was a character that seemed to defy precise aging.  Now, ill as he is, his movements slowed by fever and the shivering sickness, it is move clearly apparent that this is a dwarf on the wrong side of middle-age; a creature of experience and skill rather than physicality and instinct.  Despite his ailment, he rises to break camp, fill the waterskins and disassemble the rain catchers.  All done in his unique style, with armpits, chin, feet or knees standing in to do the work of his missing arm.

In the grey, drizzling daylight, you all get a better look at what Meili saw last night.  The tomb opens onto a landing our courtyard atop a low pyramid.  You are still below the jungle canopy, but sit a good 40' to 50' above the forest floor.  Covered as it is by dirt and plantlife, the pyramid could be mistaken for a rocky, overgrown hill.  There is a staircase down which is navigable, even if covered with roots and vines.

A last look for Velan still turns up nothing.  "It's likely to be another damp day, but the storm is past.  Let us get back on the path to M'bala."

Danica shrugs at Mica's kind offer before replying, "I'll rest. But don't need to rest as long as you young folk. I won't say no to some company as long as you get your rest first." She would also make sure that Hew wouldn't try and take a watch. The sound of the storm was almost comforting. If only the ground weren't so solid she could be rocked to sleep just like on The Swift Sorcerer. 

Eyes snapping open after her trance, the elf sits up with pale face, hand going to rub her neck where she felt her hairs raised. It took her a moment to truly register that she had her sight back. Trying to shake off the her churning in her stomach and coldness in her core, Danica took over watch. Keeping constant eye and ear out for any sign of Velan. Quietly walking to the back by the stairs where he had last vanished, looking vainly for any clues. Praying to Selune that the strange blue wizard was safe. 

When morning broke and the others awoke, she didn't hesitate to help the dwarf break camp, never stopping him from doing anything, just trying to get things done as quickly as possible so he wouldn't have much to do himself. After that was done, it seemed that everyone was ready to leave and Danica couldn't help but stare towards the steps at the back of the room where Velan had last been seen as she re-applied her insect repellant before asking, "Does anyone have any parchment and ink? Or anything to help leave him a sign..."

Ran stretches as he rises from the ground. He then checks his water. If the group needs more freshwater he'll use the Alchemy Jug to get more fresh water for the group.

He looks over at Danica when she mentions leaving a note or sign for Velan.

"I don't think he's coming back," Ran says. "I think he's on his last walkabout."

Ran will follow off down the staircase as they head on to M'bala, keeping an eye out for anything that might want to make a breakfast out of the group.

Perception 13  

Danica grimaces at Ran's statement of the hard truth but still tries to use Druidcraft to use any lingering vines or plant life to try and spell out "SEEKERS". 

All the morning while the party was making breakfast (or what passes for such activity with rations as a base ingredient), collecting water and redying to face the jungles again, Meili was watching Hew. Finally, she had to say it out loud.

"Are you sure we need to leave right away? Hew, one has to be blind not to notice you are sick. This is a good shelter, as you said yourself, and we do not know what awaits us on the road to M'bala or in the village itself. We can rest one more day, here. And if Velan truly left on his own somehow," she swallowed, cleared her throat and said more firmly, "he can return here, while we get some rest."

She looked at Hew intently, then at everyone around. Meili was still wearing the cloak but the mask was packed away for now and meeting others' eyes was not a problem. Should others refuse, she did not argue against continuing the voyage but nodded and continued packing. "It was probably the trap." Meili did not elaborate further, the meaning was obvious, but once the group was ready to go, she put on her mask and took her place behind Hew. Helping at much as she could to watch for danger.

Perception: 24

“Hew is right, we should move on.  Get to the village.”  Mica slathers a fresh coat of bug repellent on his face and shoulders his pack “Maybe they got a witch doctor or the like that can help Hew.  Better than shivering out here in the boonies.” Mica follows the others down the stairs, staying toward the front of the group to help Hew find the trail to M’bala.  He pauses, looking back up at the temple, and sends a silent wish to the primal spirits to watch over Velan, wherever he may be, then sets out in the jungle.

Survival to find the trail: 21.

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(did we get a full long rest?)

[Yes.  Long rest was had by all.]

Hew refuses to consider waiting another day.  "I'm fine!" he grumbles.  "I'll shake it off.  Gods, do you suppose this is the first time I've had the sickness?  Now let's move.  You're paying me by the day, remember?"

The party leaves the eerie confines but relative safety of the tomb and climbs down the exterior of the pyramid.  It takes no time at all to rediscover the path.  Adjacent to the sinkhole lies the enormous corpse of a single-horned, quadrupedal dinosaur.  Its midsection, from hind legs to the upper chest cavity, are all gone, devoured by the predator that felled it.  A few large dragonfly-like insects are picking at what remains but so far the rain and weather seem to have delayed the arrival of additional scavengers.  Hew suggests the group keep moving before that changes.

As you continue to follow the trail, a somber cloud [metaphorically] hangs over you.  A permeating feeling of sorrow manifests as you walk in solemn reverence, as if the rainforest itself were mourning.  You've been injured, chased and threatened by both natural and supernatural threats, but the disappearance of Velan has been your first real loss on this journey.  Whether as a source of wisdom about the hags which pollute this land, the security of his owl-scout-familiar, or simply his witty conversation, you cannot help but feel his absence.  Coupled with your guide's obvious illness, you have never felt so vulnerable as you do right now.

The grey morning does little to alleviate the mood.  The rain stops and starts again according to its own whims.  Everywhere there are signs of the powerful storm that raged last night.  The palms and giant ferns are unscathed, but harder trees like the soursops and mahoganies show damage or have been completely uprooted.  The emergent trees, those true giants that rise up even above the canopy, have weathered the tropical storm, protects by buttressed root systems and trunks many feet thick. 

Mercifully, the jungle holds no horrors for you today.  The passage of time is ill-defined as each of you balance your awareness of your surroundings vs your own internal thoughts.  Eventually, however, the great plateau to the northwest of the Aldani Basin appears through the trees.  It is 300' of grey and brown rock, with green trails of jungle foliage creeping up the sides, like the fingers of a clawed hand trying to pull it back down to earth.  

Emerging from the jungle at its base, Hew removes his pith helmet and wipes sweat from his brow.  His hand still trembles slightly, but he hasn't been coughing as much on the trail today, if that means anything.  He leads you to a thin trail that snakes its way up the side of the plateau.  It looks more suited to mountain goats than humanoids, but Hew insists it is safe, and the only real way up short of rock climbing.

Nearby there is a pile of rocks crowned with a blackened, soot covered lizard skull.  The arrangement of the rocks suggests a shrine, but before any of you have a chance to examine it more closely, Inete announces, "Kossuth.  The primordial flame.  He is not well-loved here in Chult.  Whoever left this was most likely foreign.  Unless your sister was a devotee of the flame, this could have been left by the Thayans," she asks of Ran.

As the shrine is examined, Hew approaches Meili quietly.  "Miss.  I apologize for grumbling at you earlier.  You're kind to worry for my health, but rest assured I can take care of myself.  On the other hand... take care with those new contraptions of yours.  They seem quite impressive, but do not allow your vigilance to lapse, or rely on them overmuch.  Magical capes or no, this jungle doesn't forgive mistakes."  He pauses for a long time, then puts his helmet back on.

To the group, Hew announces, "We've made good time this morning but this climb will take us longer than it looks.  If we want to get up there by nightfall we should start now."

[Skill check time.  Make an acrobatics or athletics check against DC 12.  Failures don't result in a fall... they just mean you can't keep up, struggle to get over a gap in the rockface, or otherwise make less than ideal time.  The group needs 4 of the 6 of you to succeed in order to reach the top before nightfall.

Hew and Inete:  Inete uses her Portent ability to foresee than both she and Hew succeed on the check.  That's 2 successes already!]

Ran looks at the pile of rocks and then laughs at Inete's comments.

"She's not devoted to anything except a full wallet and being a pain in my arse," Ran says.

At Hew's words, he takes a deep breath and starts heading up the 'trail'.

Ran Athletics: 14  

The shrine reminded the presence of someone else in the jungle and Meili was considering taking the mask off again (to not send the wrong message) when Hew came with his warning. "I appreciate the advice," said the girl taking the mask off. "Magic is still foreign to me I will not allow it to replace my skills." Not that there was much overlap but Meili was serious.

To prove the point, she climbed the steep surface using just that - skills.

Acrobatics: 20

Mica gives the pile of rocks with the lizard skull a curious look, especially after Inete explains the significance of the maker.  “Now why would the Red Wizards be lurking about the trail to the village? Shouldn’t they be with the rest of their kind in the basin?”  Mica looks up the trail and adjusts the pack on his back “Best be getting a move on, we want to make the top before dark.  Keep your eyes open.”

Athletics: 11.

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[That's 5 successes already.]

It's a physical ordeal, but with proper motivation and a little help from your friends you all make it up the side of the plateau in record time.  What Hew had warned could take all afternoon, you complete in less than two hours.  It is still early afternoon when you reach the top of the plateau.

The rain has stopped, though heavy bands of thick grey clouds still dot the sky.  The air is... a little cooler up here.  There is a breeze that mitigates the intense humidity of the jungle.  Speaking of which, you have a breathtaking view of Chult from up here.  You've arrived at the SE corner of the plateau.  From here, you have an uninterrupted outlook on endless green stretching away to the horizon.  It is interrupted by mountains far to the southwest.  To the southeast, the jungle slopes down to the Aldani Basin.  A thick mist hangs over the vast interior swamp.  Far past the swamp, in the utter south, are a line of smoking volcanoes.  Looking out from up here, you get a sense for the scale of this place... and also of how truly isolated you are from civilization.

Turning toward the plateau, you see something like a gate.  It is two sizeable tree trunks, sunk into the ground with another smaller trunk lashed across the top.  There is no fence or other obstacle on either side of it... just a gateway to nowhere.  There is a well beaten path beyond it leading deeper into the interior of the plateau.  A colorful bird with red and blue feathers peers down at you curiously from the top post.

Hew looks exhausted.  On the way up, he had done his best to compliment and encourage the group.  Now, he takes a seat on the edge of the cliffface, shivering and sweating... staring away south.  Quietly. 

There is one more thing.  Just past the wooden gateway, a stick of balsa is driven into the ground.  Skewered atop the post is a human skull.  It's not fresh... the sun-weathering suggests it has been here for months; maybe longer.  

Meili spent probably a whole minute admiring the view. Or, maybe not so much admiring as staring overwhelmed by the scope of... everything, including the task ahead.

"We came a long way," finally said she. "Can we take a short break, Hew, so you tell what to expect from here? The scull does not look very welcoming. And why the gates if there is no fence?"

Ran also spends some time looking at the view.

"You don't get that from the Dock Ward," he says while scanning the horizon.

When Meili draws attention to the gate, Ran moves over closer to take a look.

"Yeah, unless the fence is playing peak-a-boo with us," Ran suggests. "Take a wee step that way and a touch of sorcery lops your leg off?" 

He looks closer at the gate for any signs or ruins or door knockers.

Perception: 21 

Danica's stomach clenches as they decide to press on, though she tries to push past it and uses Hew's humor of brushing off his own illness by quipping, "Och, you've already been paid a month's worth, you'll guide us back well within that time, right Hew?" She gives him a wink before chuckling, her smile fading a bit at the end. Seeing the damage the storm did to the jungle as they trek through it makes the druid very grateful that they had stumbled into that sink hole. 

Frowning with tilted head at the blackened skull that Inete shed some light on, the elf smirked at Ran's description of his sister Shepard. "What a woman." 
The idea that they were that much closer to the Theyan's trail was heartening and yet made her wary. She was a lot less confident challenging wizards without one on their side anymore. She could only pray that Selune would guide her true. 

The climb wasn't awful, however Danica didn't truly think she could get any stickier, but was proven wrong by the time they had all reached the top, now completely soaked if not from the rain, now from sweat. Though she wasn't sweating or breathing nearly as heavily as Hew was as he sat overlooking the view. It certainly was impressive. But Hew's quiet stare caught her attention more than anything oddly. "Is that where the dragon was?" Motioning to the volcanoes to the South towards where he was staring, attempting to gauge his reaction. 

Nodding at Ran's words, the elf did a double take at the gate as Meili spoke of it. She had noticed it upon their arrival up top but not really looked closely. Staying seated next to Hew for now, Danica offers, "Gimme 'bout ten minutes n I can see if there's anything magical goin' on with it?" 

((Danica will start casting Detect Magic as a Ritual.))

Mica pauses at the top of the plateau, looking over the expanse of jungle below.  His eyes are drawn to the mist shrouded basin below as well as the jagged mountains in the distance.  He slowly realizes the sheer scope and size of both the jungle and the task at hand.  “Gods, Hew.. you have tramped through all of that?” 

He turns his attention to the gate with the others. “A gateway with no gate and no walls.  Not keeping any critters out with that.  What purpose does it serve? Marking a boundary.?”  As Danica begins her ritual, Mica explores around the head of the trail and the gateway, being careful not to go through it until they learn more, looking for any tracks or signs of those that came before them.  Survival: 18.

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[Sample jungle photo for some ambiance...]

Danica and Ran take a long look at the gate.  After 10 minutes, Danica's ritual reveals the gate has no magic attached, and there no invisible fence or other danger.  But your search finds unexpected results within sight.  The skull on the balsa post hums with necromantic and divination magics.  Curiously, the colorful bird atop the gate also radiates with transmutation magic.

Ran, you can't find any traps, but you do discover wear marks on the top of the gate where it looks like rope or vines had once held something there.  You briefly imagine a bold-colored 'The local chamber of commerce welcomes you to beautiful M'bala!' sign hanging there... but in reality it could have been a warning, or even a place to hang criminals.  

At Danica's question about the dragon, Hew replies "No.  Far off, still."  It is a quiet answer.  He is not yanked from his reverie so much as he slowly drifts back.  He doesn't react with the gruff, angry responses he has had lately, but neither is he forthcoming.  Responding to some of the other questions, he reports that M'bala is an isolated community.  They aren't known to be hostile to outsiders and will trade but otherwise they are seldom seen.  Inete confirms some of this.  "They moved here centuries ago as part of a religious split with the rest of the faith of Ubtao.  They were thought lost until traders encountered them.  Little is known about them and they seem to like it that way."

Hew takes a last long look at the rainforest below.  He replies to Mica, "Most of it, yes."

Mica, there are no fresh tracks here.  The storm cleared the ground.  You do notice the ecology seems slightly different here from the lower jungles.  With the breeze, it is drier.  The trees do not grow so tall here and there are some different varieties, including some with long needles on their branches and trunks.  The trees are less dense up here as well, though the ground is littered with anvil-sized cycads and their green fronds obscure visibility past 30 - 60'.

Ran, hearing that the door itself doesn't appear to have any magic but that the bird and skull do, looks up at the bird.

"Bird, we've come to have a wee chat with the locals. You can let them know we mean no one harm," Ran says. He then reaches out and taps on the gate as if knocking on the door. 

Assuming no answer, he pushes the gate open and steps through rather than going around it.