This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The female was also taken aback by your unexpected presence, but now speaks for the first time. "Please, sit for a while. Tell us more about yourselves, and then why don't you show us where the giant centipedes are and this tunnel of yours. We've been down here for a while and thought we had explored all of the rooms..." She smiles at you warmly. The other two nod their heads in agreement, looking at each other and then back to the party.
"Sure we can take you all there if you want." Cybele notices they still didn't introduce themselves when she'd asked. She wonders what they have to hide. "And I guess for me, I'm just here for a bit of adventure really! Just trying to see what kinds of neat things I can find down here. I usually spend most of my time performing in taverns, but I can never turn down a good adventure." Cybele watches the three as she speaks, and tries to detect any hostility or deception, looks at what they wear and their weapons, and tries to find any clues as to exactly who these people are, even if they don't provide their names.
The two men are simple enough - they were probably the ones thinking about food and their miserable life. The woman, however, appears calm and friendly - clearly the leader of this group! They are wearing leather armor and have regular longswords near them. They look a bit grubby - like they hadn't had a bath in several days. (Although, to be fair, many folks rarely bathed at all, and even city folk didn't clean themselves daily...)
The small talk continues for another 20 minutes or so before the woman stands and starts to buckle on her sword. "Why don't you show us where you came in... wouldn't want any creepy surprises coming in during the night! Please, lead on." She motions for one of the men to join her - the other stays seated by the fire.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Seraphina watches as the woman puts her sword on, also at odds as to why they didn't say their names. "We'll show you where we came in, but I'm not going through that tunnel for awhile, my knees still ache."
Seraphina thinks the woman isn't telling you everything, but then, we all have our own secrets, don't we...
Seraphina leads the group back through the passageways to the cavern. In the room where the concealed doors were located, the woman stops you and examines the doors. "Well would you look at that. Guess we missed this when we moved in..."
At the site of the brood queen's lair, the other guard swears loudly and spits on the ground. "Lucky for us that thing didn't come through! You must be really good fighters." His look is doubtful, but the results are plainly in front of him. "Maybe we could keep this lot, yeah?" he asks the woman.
She turns away from the carcass and looks you over with a new appreciation. "Ya know, maybe we can. You lot look like you could use some more adventure in your life, and a bit more jingle in your purses. Am I right? We might have a place for you in our gang...interested?"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Oh sure - we have a hidden hatch down in..." the guy starts to answer Cybele and gets a hard elbow to the stomach part-way through, making him gasp and stop before revealing the actual location of their entrance.
"Let's meet the boss first and see if there's a place for you in the gang - then we'll share our secrets with you. Follow me," the woman says smoothly. (Make a DC 18 Insight check!)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Seraphina is about to ask what kind of gang when her new friend Cybele eagerly agrees. She doesn't agree herself, but stays quiet and observes what is going on. This doesn't seem to be very up and up and it is concerning her.
Once the woman mentions meeting the boss, she can't help herself, "I'm sorry, what was your name again? And what kind of gang are we talking about here?"
"Oh, I'm Ginger. We're a group of adventurous folk who can solve problems and find treasures...and you three certainly appear to fit that description. Based on that dead centipede queen, I'd say you are good at solving problems. And finding a hidden way into our hideout shows that you can find what's hidden. I think the boss is going to like you."
Seraphina and Meiki are starting to get the feeling that there's something else going on down here - it could be a criminal gang - or maybe just some ruffians who found a forgotten underground laboratory. But Ginger and her henchman are walking you back to the big room where you found them. Do you continue along?
Meanwhile, Cybele has pretty much forgotten her previous worries about these mysterious folk. The call of being a part of a new and exciting group of adventurers was just overshadowing any suspicions. In the back of her mind she knows that her excitability and trustfulness had gotten her into the wrong crowd a few times before, but she selectively chooses to ignore those little thoughts.
"Ooh!" She chirps cheerfully. "What kinds of adventures have you gone on? What's the wildest thing you've ever seen? And how much treasure have you found?" She pelts the strangers with questions.
(School just started up again for me, but I should still post regularly. I do tend to forget how much time has passed, so if i am taking too long just shoot me a PM)
As they walk in the stone corridors the woman is tight lipped, but the man engages the bubbly bard, speaking softly next to her. He brags about some of his 'adventures' and the loot they've taken. Seraphina can tell that he's exaggerating to make him sound brave and daring - does Cybele? Eventually they go back through the big room where the other man is still waiting. He gets up at a signal from the woman and follows you through the other opening on the eastern wall.
Cut from a single, extraordinarily large crystal, this 40’ diameter half-sphere chamber reflects the lights from several oil torches and refracts it back in a thousand directions, fully illuminating the area! Approximately halfway across the chamber is a 10’ wide river with a single 5’ crystal bridge leading across it. Between you and the river are four red marble pillars, each with several sets of manacles hanging from iron hooks set into the pillars about 15’ above the floor. On the far side of the chamber is an ornate chair, or perhaps a throne, flanked on either side by 7’ statues of stunningly beautiful, and mostly naked, human or elven women. Each holds a curved dagger close to her chest in one hand and what appears to be a heart in the other, outstretched hand. On the wall behind the throne is the start of an engraving or perhaps the carvings for an inlay. It looks somewhat like three interlocking circles…
In the ornate chair is a dark elf, in dark red robes with black trim. They (you can't quite tell if this drow is male or female...) watch you being led in and presented by Ginger. "Your grace, we have three applicants for membership in our order. They found a secret passage into our lair through a natural cave system, and supposedly slayed a giant centipede queen getting here. I think they could be of use to us."
The drow looks each of you over like a farmer examining horses. They even squeeze your arms and press against your stomach, testing your muscles. "They look suitable. It seems they have already passed the first test. Give them the second and then we'll discuss their initiation rites. Standard procedure to leave, though. And do keep an eye on the new exit, dear."With that, they return to the throne and dismiss the lot of you.
Back in the starry room, the one guy who was talking with Cybele moves close to her and whispers, "You seem nice, and I hope you stay, but this is your last chance to walk away." Before he can say more Ginger calls for you.
"OK, you've passed our first test to see if you can take care of yourselves. Here's the second test - you have to show that you can help further our cause by providing supplies or treasure. So off you go into town or the wilds to bring back something of value. You have two days. Come back in the same way you did today - we'll be waiting for you next time. We're going to take you out a different way now, though. Blindfolded, of course..." Before you can ask any questions, you have a heavy, thick sack put over your heads so that you cannot see anything, and all sounds are muffled. A hand grabs your elbow and you are led in different directions for several minutes, but eventually you all end up outside in an alley in Daggerford!
(If you roll a DC20 or higher Perception, you can figure out how to backtrack this trip and find their hidden entrance here in town =)
As they finally see daylight again, Seraphina breathes a sigh of relief. Being underground was not a place she enjoyed staying for any length of time, and the new friends they encountered were really starting to give her the heeby jeebies.
Perception 5
Once they are alone, she turns to Cybele, "Look, I can tell you really like making new friends, and even though I don't really understand that, I do appreciate it. Like the fact we're now friends. But those that we ran into, I do not have the best feeling about them, I don't think they do things lawfully and I will very much struggle with that." She looks to Meiki to see what he has to say.
Cybele was very quiet after the man whispered to her. She'd had such tunnel vision about the possibilities of joining new friends and going on new missions, that she was completely taken aback by this.
"Yeah... I actually think you might be right... I thought they seemed nice, but that one fellow was trying to warn me away." She taps her chin in thought. "I do think I could remember my way back if we decide to do that! I think I might be able to recognize the way they took us."
Meiki smiles at not losing his friend to a 'fit of fancy.' "So what's next, then? Should we report them to the city watch? They know who we are, so if they find out it could be dangerous for us."
After a moment, he exclaims, "Hey - what about that scroll we found? I wonder what that says, and who that person was? Why was he down there, I wonder..."
"Hmmm we could.....or we could go find out for ourselves," Cybele looks up at her two friends slyly, and continuing with a little hesitancy. "If we let the guards deal with it, they'll take all the glory! If we go find out more about these people, and then uncover any treachery, we'd be heroes!" Cybele gets visibly more enthusiastic as she speaks. "Maybe it could be an inside job! We could be like spies, learning all of their secrets...or...or we could sneak around and try and watch them from afar and see where they'd lead us!" She hums to herself and paces back and forth as she tries to come up with more ideas. Then she pauses, almost like she's suddenly remembering again her friends were there. "Oh the scroll?"
Seraphina smiles as she watches her new friend first change her mind on the slimy group they just encountered then get very animated on how to bring them down. She puts her hand on Cybele's shoulder, "Calm down. Yes, if we are able to find something more about them, or catch them in the act, its great that you know how to get back to their lair. I'm sure that will definitely come in handy. But I don't think we should go looking to bring them down, if it falls across our lap, great, but they seem pretty organized and ones I really don't want to cross." She shudders at the memory of the drow feeling her up.
She turns to Meiki, "A scroll? Is this something you found before finding me?"
"Maybe the mage, Delfen, can help us out?" Meiki suggests. You recall that Delfen owns the tower in the north wall of Daggerford. (Remember, that we have a map of Daggerford and a description of major sites in the campaign page here.)
The tower’s arrow ports are smaller than usual, since all they are needed for is room to let a magic user see a target for a spell. The windows facing in are much larger, allowing Delfen to look out over the town if he desires. Like all the other towers, this one is three stories tall. The top story is Delfen’s living quarters. The second story is where he teaches his apprentices and where they sleep if they are staying with him. The first story contains a stable for his riding mule and is also used for general storage.
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Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
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The female was also taken aback by your unexpected presence, but now speaks for the first time. "Please, sit for a while. Tell us more about yourselves, and then why don't you show us where the giant centipedes are and this tunnel of yours. We've been down here for a while and thought we had explored all of the rooms..." She smiles at you warmly. The other two nod their heads in agreement, looking at each other and then back to the party.
(DM Roll)
Deception: 21
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
"Sure we can take you all there if you want." Cybele notices they still didn't introduce themselves when she'd asked. She wonders what they have to hide. "And I guess for me, I'm just here for a bit of adventure really! Just trying to see what kinds of neat things I can find down here. I usually spend most of my time performing in taverns, but I can never turn down a good adventure." Cybele watches the three as she speaks, and tries to detect any hostility or deception, looks at what they wear and their weapons, and tries to find any clues as to exactly who these people are, even if they don't provide their names.
(Insight: 13)
The two men are simple enough - they were probably the ones thinking about food and their miserable life. The woman, however, appears calm and friendly - clearly the leader of this group! They are wearing leather armor and have regular longswords near them. They look a bit grubby - like they hadn't had a bath in several days. (Although, to be fair, many folks rarely bathed at all, and even city folk didn't clean themselves daily...)
The small talk continues for another 20 minutes or so before the woman stands and starts to buckle on her sword. "Why don't you show us where you came in... wouldn't want any creepy surprises coming in during the night! Please, lead on." She motions for one of the men to join her - the other stays seated by the fire.
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
Seraphina watches as the woman puts her sword on, also at odds as to why they didn't say their names. "We'll show you where we came in, but I'm not going through that tunnel for awhile, my knees still ache."
Insight on the woman 4
Seraphina thinks the woman isn't telling you everything, but then, we all have our own secrets, don't we...
Seraphina leads the group back through the passageways to the cavern. In the room where the concealed doors were located, the woman stops you and examines the doors. "Well would you look at that. Guess we missed this when we moved in..."
At the site of the brood queen's lair, the other guard swears loudly and spits on the ground. "Lucky for us that thing didn't come through! You must be really good fighters." His look is doubtful, but the results are plainly in front of him. "Maybe we could keep this lot, yeah?" he asks the woman.
She turns away from the carcass and looks you over with a new appreciation. "Ya know, maybe we can. You lot look like you could use some more adventure in your life, and a bit more jingle in your purses. Am I right? We might have a place for you in our gang...interested?"
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
Cybele immediately pipes up rather excitedly "Yes, absolutely!" She couldn't resist the temptation of more adventure with more friends.
"Say, where did you guys come in? Is there an easier way to get here then crawling through cold, dark tunnels?"
"Oh sure - we have a hidden hatch down in..." the guy starts to answer Cybele and gets a hard elbow to the stomach part-way through, making him gasp and stop before revealing the actual location of their entrance.
"Let's meet the boss first and see if there's a place for you in the gang - then we'll share our secrets with you. Follow me," the woman says smoothly. (Make a DC 18 Insight check!)
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
Seraphina is about to ask what kind of gang when her new friend Cybele eagerly agrees. She doesn't agree herself, but stays quiet and observes what is going on. This doesn't seem to be very up and up and it is concerning her.
Once the woman mentions meeting the boss, she can't help herself, "I'm sorry, what was your name again? And what kind of gang are we talking about here?"
Insight 15
"Oh, I'm Ginger. We're a group of adventurous folk who can solve problems and find treasures...and you three certainly appear to fit that description. Based on that dead centipede queen, I'd say you are good at solving problems. And finding a hidden way into our hideout shows that you can find what's hidden. I think the boss is going to like you."
Seraphina and Meiki are starting to get the feeling that there's something else going on down here - it could be a criminal gang - or maybe just some ruffians who found a forgotten underground laboratory. But Ginger and her henchman are walking you back to the big room where you found them. Do you continue along?
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
Insight: 9
Meanwhile, Cybele has pretty much forgotten her previous worries about these mysterious folk. The call of being a part of a new and exciting group of adventurers was just overshadowing any suspicions. In the back of her mind she knows that her excitability and trustfulness had gotten her into the wrong crowd a few times before, but she selectively chooses to ignore those little thoughts.
"Ooh!" She chirps cheerfully. "What kinds of adventures have you gone on? What's the wildest thing you've ever seen? And how much treasure have you found?" She pelts the strangers with questions.
(School just started up again for me, but I should still post regularly. I do tend to forget how much time has passed, so if i am taking too long just shoot me a PM)
As they walk in the stone corridors the woman is tight lipped, but the man engages the bubbly bard, speaking softly next to her. He brags about some of his 'adventures' and the loot they've taken. Seraphina can tell that he's exaggerating to make him sound brave and daring - does Cybele? Eventually they go back through the big room where the other man is still waiting. He gets up at a signal from the woman and follows you through the other opening on the eastern wall.
Cut from a single, extraordinarily large crystal, this 40’ diameter half-sphere chamber reflects the lights from several oil torches and refracts it back in a thousand directions, fully illuminating the area! Approximately halfway across the chamber is a 10’ wide river with a single 5’ crystal bridge leading across it. Between you and the river are four red marble pillars, each with several sets of manacles hanging from iron hooks set into the pillars about 15’ above the floor. On the far side of the chamber is an ornate chair, or perhaps a throne, flanked on either side by 7’ statues of stunningly beautiful, and mostly naked, human or elven women. Each holds a curved dagger close to her chest in one hand and what appears to be a heart in the other, outstretched hand. On the wall behind the throne is the start of an engraving or perhaps the carvings for an inlay. It looks somewhat like three interlocking circles…
In the ornate chair is a dark elf, in dark red robes with black trim. They (you can't quite tell if this drow is male or female...) watch you being led in and presented by Ginger. "Your grace, we have three applicants for membership in our order. They found a secret passage into our lair through a natural cave system, and supposedly slayed a giant centipede queen getting here. I think they could be of use to us."
The drow looks each of you over like a farmer examining horses. They even squeeze your arms and press against your stomach, testing your muscles. "They look suitable. It seems they have already passed the first test. Give them the second and then we'll discuss their initiation rites. Standard procedure to leave, though. And do keep an eye on the new exit, dear." With that, they return to the throne and dismiss the lot of you.
Back in the starry room, the one guy who was talking with Cybele moves close to her and whispers, "You seem nice, and I hope you stay, but this is your last chance to walk away." Before he can say more Ginger calls for you.
"OK, you've passed our first test to see if you can take care of yourselves. Here's the second test - you have to show that you can help further our cause by providing supplies or treasure. So off you go into town or the wilds to bring back something of value. You have two days. Come back in the same way you did today - we'll be waiting for you next time. We're going to take you out a different way now, though. Blindfolded, of course..." Before you can ask any questions, you have a heavy, thick sack put over your heads so that you cannot see anything, and all sounds are muffled. A hand grabs your elbow and you are led in different directions for several minutes, but eventually you all end up outside in an alley in Daggerford!
(If you roll a DC20 or higher Perception, you can figure out how to backtrack this trip and find their hidden entrance here in town =)
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
As they finally see daylight again, Seraphina breathes a sigh of relief. Being underground was not a place she enjoyed staying for any length of time, and the new friends they encountered were really starting to give her the heeby jeebies.
Perception 5
Once they are alone, she turns to Cybele, "Look, I can tell you really like making new friends, and even though I don't really understand that, I do appreciate it. Like the fact we're now friends. But those that we ran into, I do not have the best feeling about them, I don't think they do things lawfully and I will very much struggle with that." She looks to Meiki to see what he has to say.
Meiki is completely turned around and confused...he was much better out in the forest than underground - or with a bag on his head!
In response to Seraphina, he pipes in "Yeah - they were kinda slimy. They made me feel like I had bathed in mineral water..."
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
Perception: 23
Cybele was very quiet after the man whispered to her. She'd had such tunnel vision about the possibilities of joining new friends and going on new missions, that she was completely taken aback by this.
"Yeah... I actually think you might be right... I thought they seemed nice, but that one fellow was trying to warn me away." She taps her chin in thought. "I do think I could remember my way back if we decide to do that! I think I might be able to recognize the way they took us."
Meiki smiles at not losing his friend to a 'fit of fancy.' "So what's next, then? Should we report them to the city watch? They know who we are, so if they find out it could be dangerous for us."
After a moment, he exclaims, "Hey - what about that scroll we found? I wonder what that says, and who that person was? Why was he down there, I wonder..."
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
"Hmmm we could.....or we could go find out for ourselves," Cybele looks up at her two friends slyly, and continuing with a little hesitancy. "If we let the guards deal with it, they'll take all the glory! If we go find out more about these people, and then uncover any treachery, we'd be heroes!" Cybele gets visibly more enthusiastic as she speaks. "Maybe it could be an inside job! We could be like spies, learning all of their secrets...or...or we could sneak around and try and watch them from afar and see where they'd lead us!" She hums to herself and paces back and forth as she tries to come up with more ideas. Then she pauses, almost like she's suddenly remembering again her friends were there. "Oh the scroll?"
Seraphina smiles as she watches her new friend first change her mind on the slimy group they just encountered then get very animated on how to bring them down. She puts her hand on Cybele's shoulder, "Calm down. Yes, if we are able to find something more about them, or catch them in the act, its great that you know how to get back to their lair. I'm sure that will definitely come in handy. But I don't think we should go looking to bring them down, if it falls across our lap, great, but they seem pretty organized and ones I really don't want to cross." She shudders at the memory of the drow feeling her up.
She turns to Meiki, "A scroll? Is this something you found before finding me?"
"No, remember - we found it on the corpse in the centipede queen's lair," he replies, and pulls the scroll case and scroll out to show Seraphina.
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
Cybele looks over their shoulders at the scroll once again. "What language do you think that is? Maybe we could find someone who could translate."
"Maybe the mage, Delfen, can help us out?" Meiki suggests. You recall that Delfen owns the tower in the north wall of Daggerford. (Remember, that we have a map of Daggerford and a description of major sites in the campaign page here.)
The tower’s arrow ports are smaller than usual, since all they are needed for is room to let a magic user see a target for a spell. The windows facing in are much larger, allowing Delfen to look out over the town if he desires. Like all the other towers, this one is three stories tall. The top story is Delfen’s living quarters. The second story is where he teaches his apprentices and where they sleep if they are staying with him. The first story contains a stable for his riding mule and is also used for general storage.
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?