While Soar is investigating, Jalt takes a look at the footprints and then back to the others. These creatures that Nate saw... I know of them. A primitive culture and quite territorial. If there is a castle nearby, they would definitely know about it. In fact, I don’t think it would be nearby without them having allowed it.
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Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
(Apologies, edited my earlier post, Soar will hold off on grabbing her flute.)
Soar tries to open one of the crates with the mark on it -- ideally the one that was broken that she'd used as the target of her locate object spell. She's not at all trying to be exhaustive. She's trying to be quick, quiet, and looking for low-hanging fruit.
She doesn't want to try forcing one open here, so she will grab the smallest/lightest marked crate or barrel she can find, and bring it down to Nub. She'll grab the next-smallest one, bring that down into the tunnel, head back up, grab her bedroll from the door, remove any other evidence that she'd been there, head into the tunnel, and lower the trap door quietly. Then she'll carry her crate and help Nub carry his crate down the tunnel before she thinks about going through them.
(She'll also reach out to her elk steed and tell it to come further west into the mere to meet her.)
The smallest marked boxes are one foot by one foot by two foot, and weigh about fifty pounds. You and Nub can take one each; you will need to strap them to your backpack if you're carrying them far.
Make a general DEX check to see how skillfully you conceal your tracks.
So, now Soar, Jalt and Nub are standing in the tunnel below the strong room, having replaced the wooden crate/trapdoor and disguised your presence as far as possible.
Either way, Soar would proceed to the tunnel exit and help Nub if he needed it. Once they get to the end of the tunnel, Soar will show the others the crates, pry them open with her dagger, and look inside. Just to get a sense of what's in there, and then she's ready to get a move on following the trail. Her elk steed can help carry the crates and anyone else's bags should they need it.
"So we weren't as quiet and sneaky as Jalt and Nate are, but I think we held our own! Couple of cat-burglars, aren't we, Nub?" Soar winks at the newest member of the team.
"Anyhow, we saw the tracks of the lizard folks, and we tried to cover our own tracks, but mostly focused on the room itself. The lizard folks will understand that someone's been down there other than them. I wonder if they're more labor than true believers. Maybe we could see if they're not happy with carrying crates through the swamp at night if we bump into them. Jalt and I should at least give it a try. You're a charming fellow,"she says, grinning at her friend. "Anyhow, let's take a quick look in these, maybe there's something useful or at least easy to stow among us so there's not so much weight in one place. Then we can close them back up. Maybe we can pass ourselves off as fellow couriers should we see someone else on the trail. That was mostly a joke!"
Reading again, I guess Jalt did his footprint reading in the tunnel, not outside it as I thought he wrote, so I'm wrong! Jalt can help carry another crate perhaps...
You set yourself up on the highest, least waterlogged part of the area you can find. You start work with the crate. It takes some time - the crates are closed pretty tightly, and a dagger is not an ideal tool for the job, but you get there in the end. One side of one of the crates pops off, and you get a look inside.
It's filled with gold. Gold coins, gold jewels, bracelets, necklaces, and more and more coins. You think there might be the equivalent of three or four thousand gold pieces' worth in this crate alone.
[Morning, just got home from school drop off, I'll make the tardy rolls: Never mind, I thought I needed to make a dex check when reading on phone, but looks like it was only Soar?]
When Soar makes the comment about cat burglar Nub looks a little confused (he hasn't heard the term before, but understands from context), he smiles and says "Yes, we held our own. Go team us! I wonder what is in the crates."
When the crate is opened, Nub looks in, his eyes widen and he half-seriously asks "Ummm, so are we going back for more?"
“Probably from Greenest and a dozen other towns they’ve sacked. Well, it’s better that they don’t have it and we can do our best to get it back to the people who lost it.”
Soar tries to get it all closed up and then the crates hitched up on the elk, using her rope, bedroll, and anything else others might have. She’s ready to move along, looking to the trackers to lead,
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"It's a very good question, Nub. I'm not great at puzzling things out. I'd love to hear your thoughts," she says, as the set off. "What we know is that they're very excited about Tiamat coming back, who they call their queen. There are over a hundred of them, but they also hire mercenaries. Their focus, we think, was freighting all this stuff from way down south to here, this Castle Naerytar. Rezmir might be the one in charge. They had a dragon egg in Greenest that we grabbed, but there might be more? So. I suppose they could be using all this loot to buy things to give Tiamat an army if she returns. Or maybe she needs a pile of gold and jewels to be enticed back. Jalt, what do you know about Tiamat?"
What does Soar know about Tiamat? Religion: 17
"Have I told anyone else that I've always wanted to visit a haunted swamp?"Soar is beaming positivity even in the creepy misty Mere of Dead Men.
Nub mentally notes down all of this, as this is significantly more than he was told by their "mutual friends" when asked to assist the party.
He now understands why he was taught some of the stranger magics that he has been trained in over the last 6 months (such as earthbind and feather fall, which he has never had to use so far except for during training, and which he often wondered why they were taught to him over other more common spells).
Nub says "Thank you Soar, I learn more and more from you every day and I am glad to be your ally. I think you are correct in your pondering. I only learned about dragons in the last year or two and I understand that they covet gold and treasure, so what you say makes perfect sense."
[For anyone that missed it, Nub is only 10 and a half years old, though in Tortle years that is like being in his early twenties.]
Soar, you know that Tiamat is an evil dragon goddess, as wicked as Jalt's god Bahamut is good, and she's trapped in hell; you don't know more than that.
Jalt, if you haven't already rolled a Religion check on Tiamat, you can do so now with advantage.
You head deeper into the Mere, following the trail left by the lizardfolk. So long as you stay on the trail, you think you will avoid getting lost, as it's clearly marked to anyone who knows what to look for. There are trees and bushes all around, and the terrain is a mix of shallow water and mushy wet ground, with only occasional periods when your feet are not squelching through swamp water.
As it's getting close to sunset and you are considering find a patch of land to camp, you come upon a clearing that’s slightly drier than the muck you’ve been wading through. Four wicker lean-tos and a stone platform (for lighting a fire above the soggy ground) command attention in this wilderness. This appears to be someone's camp, though that someone is not present at the moment. Three dugout canoes are drawn up near one of the lean-tos.
A few dozen yards beyond the campsite in the direction you’ve been traveling, dry or even wet land ends. Other than moss-covered trees, fallen logs, and thick clumps of reeds, nothing rises above the still, black water.
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While Soar is investigating, Jalt takes a look at the footprints and then back to the others. These creatures that Nate saw... I know of them. A primitive culture and quite territorial. If there is a castle nearby, they would definitely know about it. In fact, I don’t think it would be nearby without them having allowed it.
Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
"Ive heard it both ways."
(Apologies, edited my earlier post, Soar will hold off on grabbing her flute.)
Soar tries to open one of the crates with the mark on it -- ideally the one that was broken that she'd used as the target of her locate object spell. She's not at all trying to be exhaustive. She's trying to be quick, quiet, and looking for low-hanging fruit.
What is the mark?
The mark looks a little like the letter 'R' but not exactly.
Soar approaches the dented crate; despite the dent, it's still firmly nailed shut. How will Soar open it?
In her earlier investigation, does she see any of the crates that are loose or open or not firmly shut?
No, they are all firmly shut.
She doesn't want to try forcing one open here, so she will grab the smallest/lightest marked crate or barrel she can find, and bring it down to Nub. She'll grab the next-smallest one, bring that down into the tunnel, head back up, grab her bedroll from the door, remove any other evidence that she'd been there, head into the tunnel, and lower the trap door quietly. Then she'll carry her crate and help Nub carry his crate down the tunnel before she thinks about going through them.
(She'll also reach out to her elk steed and tell it to come further west into the mere to meet her.)
The smallest marked boxes are one foot by one foot by two foot, and weigh about fifty pounds. You and Nub can take one each; you will need to strap them to your backpack if you're carrying them far.
Make a general DEX check to see how skillfully you conceal your tracks.
Your elk responds and will meet you.
Soar DEX: 11
You think it's probably fine.
So, now Soar, Jalt and Nub are standing in the tunnel below the strong room, having replaced the wooden crate/trapdoor and disguised your presence as far as possible.
What's next?
Oh I assumed Jalt was out with Nate at the exit?
Either way, Soar would proceed to the tunnel exit and help Nub if he needed it. Once they get to the end of the tunnel, Soar will show the others the crates, pry them open with her dagger, and look inside. Just to get a sense of what's in there, and then she's ready to get a move on following the trail. Her elk steed can help carry the crates and anyone else's bags should they need it.
"So we weren't as quiet and sneaky as Jalt and Nate are, but I think we held our own! Couple of cat-burglars, aren't we, Nub?" Soar winks at the newest member of the team.
"Anyhow, we saw the tracks of the lizard folks, and we tried to cover our own tracks, but mostly focused on the room itself. The lizard folks will understand that someone's been down there other than them. I wonder if they're more labor than true believers. Maybe we could see if they're not happy with carrying crates through the swamp at night if we bump into them. Jalt and I should at least give it a try. You're a charming fellow," she says, grinning at her friend. "Anyhow, let's take a quick look in these, maybe there's something useful or at least easy to stow among us so there's not so much weight in one place. Then we can close them back up. Maybe we can pass ourselves off as fellow couriers should we see someone else on the trail. That was mostly a joke!"
Reading again, I guess Jalt did his footprint reading in the tunnel, not outside it as I thought he wrote, so I'm wrong! Jalt can help carry another crate perhaps...
Nate greets the others when they arrive at the exit. "All clear here!"
"Hey, what did you guys bring back?"
Nate watches as Soar opens the crates.
You set yourself up on the highest, least waterlogged part of the area you can find. You start work with the crate. It takes some time - the crates are closed pretty tightly, and a dagger is not an ideal tool for the job, but you get there in the end. One side of one of the crates pops off, and you get a look inside.
It's filled with gold. Gold coins, gold jewels, bracelets, necklaces, and more and more coins. You think there might be the equivalent of three or four thousand gold pieces' worth in this crate alone.
[Morning, just got home from school drop off, I'll make the tardy rolls: Never mind, I thought I needed to make a dex check when reading on phone, but looks like it was only Soar?]
When Soar makes the comment about cat burglar Nub looks a little confused (he hasn't heard the term before, but understands from context), he smiles and says "Yes, we held our own. Go team us! I wonder what is in the crates."
When the crate is opened, Nub looks in, his eyes widen and he half-seriously asks "Ummm, so are we going back for more?"
“Probably from Greenest and a dozen other towns they’ve sacked. Well, it’s better that they don’t have it and we can do our best to get it back to the people who lost it.”
Soar tries to get it all closed up and then the crates hitched up on the elk, using her rope, bedroll, and anything else others might have. She’s ready to move along, looking to the trackers to lead,
(To Nub, Soar says that she’s not sure they can carry that much...)
Nub nods "I think you are right, I just have never seen such wealth. I wonder what they are using it all for?"
Nub offers to help Nate tracking the creatures through the Mere.
"It's a very good question, Nub. I'm not great at puzzling things out. I'd love to hear your thoughts," she says, as the set off. "What we know is that they're very excited about Tiamat coming back, who they call their queen. There are over a hundred of them, but they also hire mercenaries. Their focus, we think, was freighting all this stuff from way down south to here, this Castle Naerytar. Rezmir might be the one in charge. They had a dragon egg in Greenest that we grabbed, but there might be more? So. I suppose they could be using all this loot to buy things to give Tiamat an army if she returns. Or maybe she needs a pile of gold and jewels to be enticed back. Jalt, what do you know about Tiamat?"
What does Soar know about Tiamat? Religion: 17
"Have I told anyone else that I've always wanted to visit a haunted swamp?" Soar is beaming positivity even in the creepy misty Mere of Dead Men.
Nub mentally notes down all of this, as this is significantly more than he was told by their "mutual friends" when asked to assist the party.
He now understands why he was taught some of the stranger magics that he has been trained in over the last 6 months (such as earthbind and feather fall, which he has never had to use so far except for during training, and which he often wondered why they were taught to him over other more common spells).
Nub says "Thank you Soar, I learn more and more from you every day and I am glad to be your ally. I think you are correct in your pondering. I only learned about dragons in the last year or two and I understand that they covet gold and treasure, so what you say makes perfect sense."
[For anyone that missed it, Nub is only 10 and a half years old, though in Tortle years that is like being in his early twenties.]
Soar, you know that Tiamat is an evil dragon goddess, as wicked as Jalt's god Bahamut is good, and she's trapped in hell; you don't know more than that.
Jalt, if you haven't already rolled a Religion check on Tiamat, you can do so now with advantage.
You head deeper into the Mere, following the trail left by the lizardfolk. So long as you stay on the trail, you think you will avoid getting lost, as it's clearly marked to anyone who knows what to look for. There are trees and bushes all around, and the terrain is a mix of shallow water and mushy wet ground, with only occasional periods when your feet are not squelching through swamp water.
As it's getting close to sunset and you are considering find a patch of land to camp, you come upon a clearing that’s slightly drier than the muck you’ve been wading through. Four wicker lean-tos and a stone platform (for lighting a fire above the soggy ground) command attention in this wilderness. This appears to be someone's camp, though that someone is not present at the moment. Three dugout canoes are drawn up near one of the lean-tos.
A few dozen yards beyond the campsite in the direction you’ve been traveling, dry or even wet land ends. Other than moss-covered trees, fallen logs, and thick clumps of reeds, nothing rises above the still, black water.