Storm Lord's Wrath - RP Thread

OOC: how much for the persuasion suit of armor? So I can buy it when I come back.

Quote from GamingArcitectV2 >>

OOC: how much for the persuasion suit of armor? So I can buy it when I come back.

 1800gp

(I'll just do survival then! I assume Siegfried's still guidancing?)

Oloven scans the area as best he can in this dark, electing not to light a torch and potentially give away their position. When he's done, he takes his wand from its sleeve at his belt and casts detect magic around the area. 

Survival: 10

Guidance: 2

Quote from KRSalamander >>

(I'll just do survival then! I assume Siegfried's still guidancing?)

Oloven scans the area as best he can in this dark, electing not to light a torch and potentially give away their position. When he's done, he takes his wand from its sleeve at his belt and casts detect magic around the area. 

Survival: 10

Guidance: 2

 (Oof missed a 20)

You're able to discern that the fire is long cold, and was last lit over a day ago, but the tracks stumble over one another too much to discern much about who or what was here beyond what was listed above.

(I know. That hurt to see. No trace of magic?)

Oloven tells the others softly, "There was a cart here, and a horse, and a number of folk on foot... That's likely our zombies. Whoever was here seems to have packed out a while ago, headed southeast, could be towards Phandalin? Might've been this morning or even yesterday. But it's too dark to tell much more than that. With light I might be able to see more. I reckon whoever rode away on that cart is miles away by now, so it likely wouldn't be too much of a risk to light a torch or lantern, but what do y'all think?" 

There are no lingering traces of magic, meaning that if there was any magic done here, it was either very faint and not very powerful, or it was done awhile ago.

Tor will take out a torch from his pack and light it with his tinderbox. As he does so he says,

"If there's just the two trails, ours and theirs, they must have come from the southeast, dropped off the dead, then gone back again. If there's a dangerous wizard living in Phandalin, they won't be advertising it. This'll need a more careful investigation than us going in swords waving."

"With a wagon and half a day or more head start, we will never catch up on foot.  Shall we head back to the inn and resume this inquiry once we reach Phandalin?"  Brother Sigi seems somehow both relieved and disappointed to have not found the necromancer tonight.

"Oh, no. There's a necromancer in Phandalin? Is Glasstaff back, or maybe it's Hamun Kost. Either way, I would prefer to set out immediately. I could catch up, while you would not, but that would be unwise, as I don't know how many I would be up against. If we are to return to the Inn, we should set out for Phandalin as soon as we all wake up, even if the sun isn't up yet."

"Even if we could keep riding through the night, our horses couldn't. If we intend to set out after this fella, I agree with Brother Sigi, it needs to be tomorrow. But we might as well look around out here a bit more." 

With the light from the torches, Oloven makes another round of the campsite, this time with a more forensic eye. 

Investigation: 17

Guidance: 4

Oloven finds a large footprint that, at first glance seems no different than normal, but with closer inspection appears heavier and lands differently than the others, in a way that generally only a dwarf makes. There were no dwarf bodies amongst the zombies.

In addition, there is a bit of moss stuck in between the treads of the boot print that Oloven does not recognize.

DM: What does Tor know about the two people Ace mentioned?

"Brother Sigi," Oloven calls out. "Looks like we've got a dwarf's print here, and whoever it was has been steppin' in some unusual plantlife. Ya recognize this here moss?" 

Oloven carefully points out the spot for Siegfried to examine, and hands him his magnifying glass to examine it with. 

(Magnifying glass gives advantage to checks made to observe tiny objects.)

Intrigued, Siegfried joins Oloven in inspecting the moss, drawing on his knowledge of flora native to the region.  Nature:  18

Quote from EMIW >>

DM: What does Tor know about the two people Ace mentioned?

Those who have spent any time in or near Phandalin in the past few years will have heard the following:

Hamun Kost was a Red Wizard from Thay who came to the lands near Phandalin seeking Netherese artifacts. While there were many rumors of something more nefarious, all the rumors were third hand--a brother of a cousin of a friend of a bartender heard....xyz--and no one has ever been known to have suffered any real harm from him. He has not been heard from for several years. Most rumors say he went back to Thay--that's what the group of adventurers who interacted with him said. Though, of course, other rumors said everything from him being killed by a banshee to him killing a dragon and raising it as a dracolich to him being eaten by the dragon, etc.

Glasstaff was the head of a criminal group working out of Phandalin, but he was executed for his multiple crimes a few years ago. Though other rumors talk of "Glasstaff" as a title rather than a singular person.

Quote from Bartjeebus >>

Intrigued, Siegfried joins Oloven in inspecting the moss, drawing on his knowledge of flora native to the region.  Nature:  20

 The moss is familiar to you as growing near rivers fed by cold waters, like those from a mountain or glacier. You've seen this same moss innumerable times in Neverwinter Wood where it grows in abundance.

Siegfried examines the moss carefully under the magnifying glass.  He takes a bit between his fingers, crushing it, then sniffing.  He places a bit on his tongue... rolls it around... spits it out.  "Yes... Yes!  I have seen this before.  Lucky thing, too.  It is not a food crop and thus not part of my formal studies.  But it just so happens to be a moss I've seen before in my wanderings in the Neverwinter Wood.  It is most common along cold, clear streams fed by mountain snowpack runoff."  He rises and looks around at the stars trying to get his bearing.  "There are several such streams in the Neverwinter Wood... though if we stand where I think we stand, those streams are all far to the Northeast of here, and our quarry comes and goes to the Southeast."

(Is that true, Wiz? From my interpretation of what you wrote, it was vague about the direction the cart came from to get here. Does it definitely seem to have both come and gone from the southeast?)

There's no clear tracks leading to the spot, it's impossible now to tell. The tracks heading towards the spot could've been covered by either the zombie tracks leading away from the place to the southwest or the wagon tracks leading away from the place to the southeast. If they came in from a different direction, then either the wagon and horse flew or they'd been sitting there for several days for nature to reabsorb signs of their passage or they used some kind of magic to hide their trail.

(Got it, thank you!) 

"Well that is interesting, Brother Sigi! I knew you'd know a thing or two about a thing or two! But, it's not clear that the wagon did come from the southeast. I can't see any obvious tracks to indicate their arrival so we shouldn't make assumptions. It's possible this cart has been sittin' here for days. But that ain't as important as where they're goin. We know they're headed southeast, and we have an idea of who we're looking for... That'll have to do for now." 

He turns to Tor and Ace and says "I'm not sure there's much else to learn here. Should we head back to the inn?"