"I don't be good at tracking or hunting. Someone be taking the lead to do that, or I be barging up the tower to find what Morthos be hiding." Gimdir is looking impatient to be doing something.
Gimdir bangs loudly and repeatedly on Morthos's door, bellowing, "Yer mushrooms be done yet? Ready to tell me what you be hiding or be showing me this top floor!"
Morthos opens the door and casts Suggestion and spends a Sorcery point to cast using Subtle Spell. Saving throw is Wisdom DC 14.
Morthos says "Instead of doing that, you should go talk to Old Bran, he's a decent hunter, knows the countryside well, you can find him at the hunting shack east of the farmsteads outside of town. Ask him to take you to some likely Peryton nest locations"
Gimdir finds Mortho's suggestion to be the perfect solution to his dilemna, "Right! That be just what I needed. Old Bran. Hunting shack, east of town. Lets be going boys!"
Morthos closes the door and goes back to whatever he was doing.
Gimdir leads the party through the town. The townspeople know the next attack will be coming in 1-2 days, everyone is on edge. Groups of townspeople point at you and whisper to each other when you pass, others stop talking when they see you.
A town-crier rings a bell while he stands on a small wooden box and yells out "All women bearing children are to stay indoors until further notice by order of the Alderman, anyone skilled with a bow is commanded to report to Captain Rurik for guard duty!"
On the town gate house someone has painted a likeness of the alderman with the words TIEFLING'S LACKEY written below it. A team of workmen on ladders are busy painting it out.
When you arrive at the hunting shack you find a young hunter's apprentice preparing a hide for the tanner. The apprentice tells you that Old Bran is at the north end of the pastures this morning.
When you arrive at the pastures you find Old Bran near a section of broken fence, he's one knee examining some animal tracks around the fence breach. He's a minotaur, wearing a light green gambeson and has a massive longbow slung across his back, his face is worn with deep wrinkles, and he has a long greying goatee. At the sound of your approach he stands up, "Ah, so your the adventures the alderman hired. The townspeople are mighty suspicious of you, they say you were walking about town with the tiefling yesterday. I'd be careful if I were you, people in this town can get very jumpy. Well I assume your not here for the weather, what do you need?"
"so, the beast is a peryton, I've never seen one, thank the gods! But I've heard they live around high cliffs, and mountains, only place like that near here is the Marrow Foothills. It's about half a days journey from here, I'll grab some equipment and we'll be ready to go"
Gimdir is very conflicted. The suggestion requirements met, he now remains very much fixated on Morthos' top floor, but is stuck having to go hunt Peryton's in the Marrow Foothills instead.
Old Bran comes out of the hunting shack ready to go, he's got his bow, two quivers, one with normal arrows, one with silvered arrows. He has a short sword hanging from his belt, and a backpack slung over his shoulder. He tells the apprentice huntsman to stake out some wolf traps along the pasture boundary. He then turns to the party "ready to go? we have a half a day's march ahead of us, and half a day's march back mind you"
The party sets off following Old Bran, the minotaur points out locations along the way, telling you about the various beasts he has hunted during his time as the town's game warden. (If there's any information you want from Bran you can ask him during this time)
For a few hours you wind through old back roads, past various farms, and small clusters of houses, civilization thins out and then your trekking through open meadows. After trekking though the meadows and plains for a few hours you see the Marrow Foothills rising in front of you, low at first and then rising in tiers of rough earth and jagged rock, connecting with the Bonerock Mountains in the distance, a range of mountain tops stretching away to the west, jagged eruptions of white granite puncture the densely forested sides of the mountain range.
Bran stops, cautiously looking around, and eyeing the distant mountains suspiciously."Welcome to the Marrow Foothills, be on your guard, hill giants and worse, call these lands home. I know of three places a peryton might nest, the Spindle Cliffs, west of here, its a cliff of tall rock columns lots of good crannies high up that a peryton would like. Ogre's Thumb, west of here, it's a high rocky tor, no caves, but the top would make a good nest for a bloodthirsty flying beast. Brindle's Cairn, north of here, high plateau looking over the old river bed, lots of old ruins and such scattered about, a beast might make a nest in the cairns. We have time to visit one before night falls, which cup would you like to check under first?"
Gimdir looks to the old hunter and figures now is as good a time to learn about Peryton's as any, "Bran, be you knowledgeable about Perytons? Ever heard of one attacking folk in a city, repeatedly, for several weeks?"
To his final question, Gimdir says, "I tried flying the other night. It didn't go well. I rather be not climbing or cliffs if I don't have to. I be choosing the Cairn."
"I only know what I've read or been told, never had to hunt one myself. Only ever heard of one attacking a settlement repeatedly like this once, the peryton's mate was infertile, no matter how many hearts she ate she never laid so much as a single egg. The pair of em' killed all the monster hunters the town hired and the town was abandoned after a few months"
Bran leads you through the hills and small ditches. The ground is very barren, small patches of dried grass, the occasional withered tree, once in awhile you pass a decaying cabin or the skeleton of some beast. After cresting another hill, you see a flat, shallow, cracked up dry river bed snaking in-between the hills. Rising on the north side of the dry river bed is a steep hill, running the length of the river bed, that plateaus quickly at the top. Utilizing Bran's rope harnesses the party climbs up the steep grade, occasionally slipping on loose shale but the rope harness quickly stop you from sliding all the way back to the bottom. At the top Bran notches a silver arrow to his bow and keeps it at the ready. The sun is getting very low in the sky, casting a pale red hue on a dozen stone cairns, dark entrances to underground chambers, framed by stacks of large flat stones. Old runes are carved over the cairn lintel stones, the language is unknown to you. The air is acrid and the ground is rocky and completely barren, not even a solitary scraggy bush to break up the ground.
Bran scans the horizon briefly, "It is not good to tarry here, let us check the cairns quickly and be done with this place"
all the cairns are laid out in similar patterns, three chambers, one larger, two smaller. The smaller rooms have altars to unknown gods, dried blood stains the altars, recently as well, the altar has been used within the last week. The main chamber has stone slabs set into the floor in the center of the room, the slabs are covered in runes and geometric sigils made of silver inlaid into the stone. After quickly looking into each cairn you find no evidence that a peryton has been here.
Bran seems relieved. The sun is very low in the sky, almost about to slip behind the horizon. "We should make camp soon, and as far away from this place as we can get"
Pensive, Gimdir agrees and asks, "Bran, does the fresh blood on the altars be not worring you? Is it custom for beings to come and... ugh... be making sacrifices in a place like this?"
"There are cults out here who worship dark powers, they've been known to offer blood sacrifices on sites like this. They don't bother the town, they mostly ambush lone travelers. The duke once sent a company of soldiers and witch hunters to deal with them, but the cultists just fled deeper into the hills and waited for them to leave."
Bran leads you a mile away from the cairns, pressed for time you find a camp site that will make do. Bran pulls a ration out of his pack and sets up a couple of trip wires connected to little bells around camp.
Your current watch rotation is:
Zusag
Dredmor
Kreeng
Gimdir
Would you like Bran to take a watch and if so when?
"I don't be good at tracking or hunting. Someone be taking the lead to do that, or I be barging up the tower to find what Morthos be hiding." Gimdir is looking impatient to be doing something.
Gimdir bangs loudly and repeatedly on Morthos's door, bellowing, "Yer mushrooms be done yet? Ready to tell me what you be hiding or be showing me this top floor!"
Morthos opens the door and casts Suggestion and spends a Sorcery point to cast using Subtle Spell. Saving throw is Wisdom DC 14.
Morthos says "Instead of doing that, you should go talk to Old Bran, he's a decent hunter, knows the countryside well, you can find him at the hunting shack east of the farmsteads outside of town. Ask him to take you to some likely Peryton nest locations"
Gimdir Wisdom save: 12
Gimdir finds Mortho's suggestion to be the perfect solution to his dilemna, "Right! That be just what I needed. Old Bran. Hunting shack, east of town. Lets be going boys!"
Morthos closes the door and goes back to whatever he was doing.
Gimdir leads the party through the town. The townspeople know the next attack will be coming in 1-2 days, everyone is on edge. Groups of townspeople point at you and whisper to each other when you pass, others stop talking when they see you.
A town-crier rings a bell while he stands on a small wooden box and yells out "All women bearing children are to stay indoors until further notice by order of the Alderman, anyone skilled with a bow is commanded to report to Captain Rurik for guard duty!"
On the town gate house someone has painted a likeness of the alderman with the words TIEFLING'S LACKEY written below it. A team of workmen on ladders are busy painting it out.
When you arrive at the hunting shack you find a young hunter's apprentice preparing a hide for the tanner. The apprentice tells you that Old Bran is at the north end of the pastures this morning.
When you arrive at the pastures you find Old Bran near a section of broken fence, he's one knee examining some animal tracks around the fence breach. He's a minotaur, wearing a light green gambeson and has a massive longbow slung across his back, his face is worn with deep wrinkles, and he has a long greying goatee. At the sound of your approach he stands up, "Ah, so your the adventures the alderman hired. The townspeople are mighty suspicious of you, they say you were walking about town with the tiefling yesterday. I'd be careful if I were you, people in this town can get very jumpy. Well I assume your not here for the weather, what do you need?"
Finding Old Bran, Gimdir asks per the suggestion, "Take me to some likely Peryton nest locations."
"so, the beast is a peryton, I've never seen one, thank the gods! But I've heard they live around high cliffs, and mountains, only place like that near here is the Marrow Foothills. It's about half a days journey from here, I'll grab some equipment and we'll be ready to go"
Gimdir is very conflicted. The suggestion requirements met, he now remains very much fixated on Morthos' top floor, but is stuck having to go hunt Peryton's in the Marrow Foothills instead.
Old Bran comes out of the hunting shack ready to go, he's got his bow, two quivers, one with normal arrows, one with silvered arrows. He has a short sword hanging from his belt, and a backpack slung over his shoulder. He tells the apprentice huntsman to stake out some wolf traps along the pasture boundary. He then turns to the party "ready to go? we have a half a day's march ahead of us, and half a day's march back mind you"
Gimdir looks frustrated, "Aye, lets get this over with."
The party sets off following Old Bran, the minotaur points out locations along the way, telling you about the various beasts he has hunted during his time as the town's game warden. (If there's any information you want from Bran you can ask him during this time)
For a few hours you wind through old back roads, past various farms, and small clusters of houses, civilization thins out and then your trekking through open meadows. After trekking though the meadows and plains for a few hours you see the Marrow Foothills rising in front of you, low at first and then rising in tiers of rough earth and jagged rock, connecting with the Bonerock Mountains in the distance, a range of mountain tops stretching away to the west, jagged eruptions of white granite puncture the densely forested sides of the mountain range.
Bran stops, cautiously looking around, and eyeing the distant mountains suspiciously. "Welcome to the Marrow Foothills, be on your guard, hill giants and worse, call these lands home. I know of three places a peryton might nest, the Spindle Cliffs, west of here, its a cliff of tall rock columns lots of good crannies high up that a peryton would like. Ogre's Thumb, west of here, it's a high rocky tor, no caves, but the top would make a good nest for a bloodthirsty flying beast. Brindle's Cairn, north of here, high plateau looking over the old river bed, lots of old ruins and such scattered about, a beast might make a nest in the cairns. We have time to visit one before night falls, which cup would you like to check under first?"
Gimdir looks to the old hunter and figures now is as good a time to learn about Peryton's as any, "Bran, be you knowledgeable about Perytons? Ever heard of one attacking folk in a city, repeatedly, for several weeks?"
To his final question, Gimdir says, "I tried flying the other night. It didn't go well. I rather be not climbing or cliffs if I don't have to. I be choosing the Cairn."
"I only know what I've read or been told, never had to hunt one myself. Only ever heard of one attacking a settlement repeatedly like this once, the peryton's mate was infertile, no matter how many hearts she ate she never laid so much as a single egg. The pair of em' killed all the monster hunters the town hired and the town was abandoned after a few months"
Bran leads you through the hills and small ditches. The ground is very barren, small patches of dried grass, the occasional withered tree, once in awhile you pass a decaying cabin or the skeleton of some beast. After cresting another hill, you see a flat, shallow, cracked up dry river bed snaking in-between the hills. Rising on the north side of the dry river bed is a steep hill, running the length of the river bed, that plateaus quickly at the top. Utilizing Bran's rope harnesses the party climbs up the steep grade, occasionally slipping on loose shale but the rope harness quickly stop you from sliding all the way back to the bottom. At the top Bran notches a silver arrow to his bow and keeps it at the ready. The sun is getting very low in the sky, casting a pale red hue on a dozen stone cairns, dark entrances to underground chambers, framed by stacks of large flat stones. Old runes are carved over the cairn lintel stones, the language is unknown to you. The air is acrid and the ground is rocky and completely barren, not even a solitary scraggy bush to break up the ground.
Bran scans the horizon briefly, "It is not good to tarry here, let us check the cairns quickly and be done with this place"
Gimdir nods, "Then lets be at it."
Investigation: 12
all the cairns are laid out in similar patterns, three chambers, one larger, two smaller. The smaller rooms have altars to unknown gods, dried blood stains the altars, recently as well, the altar has been used within the last week. The main chamber has stone slabs set into the floor in the center of the room, the slabs are covered in runes and geometric sigils made of silver inlaid into the stone. After quickly looking into each cairn you find no evidence that a peryton has been here.
Bran seems relieved. The sun is very low in the sky, almost about to slip behind the horizon. "We should make camp soon, and as far away from this place as we can get"
Pensive, Gimdir agrees and asks, "Bran, does the fresh blood on the altars be not worring you? Is it custom for beings to come and... ugh... be making sacrifices in a place like this?"
"There are cults out here who worship dark powers, they've been known to offer blood sacrifices on sites like this. They don't bother the town, they mostly ambush lone travelers. The duke once sent a company of soldiers and witch hunters to deal with them, but the cultists just fled deeper into the hills and waited for them to leave."
Bran leads you a mile away from the cairns, pressed for time you find a camp site that will make do. Bran pulls a ration out of his pack and sets up a couple of trip wires connected to little bells around camp.
Your current watch rotation is:
Zusag
Dredmor
Kreeng
Gimdir
Would you like Bran to take a watch and if so when?
Gimdir shrugs, "Bran be the expert and would know best when two pairs of eyes would be appropriate."
Bran decides to take watch with Dredmor.
Random Encounter, Badlands, Night Roll, trigger number 15+ 16
Whose watch does it happen on? 1
Which random encounter is it? 24