Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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"Hello, nice set of Boar tusks, I can't place the fang, something recent you've taken down?" Rhok asks Raskin inquisitively, finishing his earlier ale, and orders another
Currently playing: Rhok Skatu - Another Dragon at Icespire Peak
Lia stays at her table, but would note the others moving to talk to the man.
"Straight to the point, we're gonna be getting along just fine!" replies Don-Jon "sunrise it is then. Plenty o' time to down a few more mugs then." He smiles as he takes a long gulp from the beer in front of him. "I was thinkin' about retiring, but I need someting to do. Takin' care of a goldmine sees as close as relaxing as anything else to me." He gives you the map he was looking at, it's centered on Phnadalin and has the goldmine location marked on the hills north of the Sword Mountains
The overseer seems honest to Xarroth. You notice a couple scars on his forearms that tell you he can stand his ground in a fight.
"Nice to meet a fellow hunter" he raises his tankard at Rhok. "That wild boar was specially vicious, took me a week to track it and gave me such a fight..." He seems fond of the memory. "Now this one" says tapping the fang on his necklace "belonged to a wyvern, but that would be a tale for some other night."
"Wyvern, huh? They're somewhat like dragons, am I right? Any tips on how to fight their kind?" Lothlién asks, in a faint hope that the man knows a trick or two that may be useful later.
"As I said, that one is a tale for a different night" Don-Jon replies "but I have plenty other stories to entertain us before nightfall." As evening passes, he tells you about his past as a prospector, miner and fur trader in the cold regions up north. He's specially fond of hunting memories and after a couple more beers he reenacts a fishing trip where he had to fight an enraged killer what that almost capsized the ship.
Night comes and goes. You get up at sunrise, have a quick breakfast and depart toward the mines. The day starts overcast, and there is little wind, it seems that the clouds are going to stay for the rest of the day. Raskin talks most of the trip, telling about defending himself from goblins one time and how he eventually opened up a trading post just outside the city of Neverwinter, but eventually got tired of the quiet life and is now starting a new trade as overseer.
After a dozen miles, Lia's owl spots something unusual in the rocky ground ahead. A low ridge rises to your right, beyond which you see the Sword Mountains scrape the gray sky. “Well, ain’t that something,” says Don-Jon, pointing at what appears to be six dead orcs.
Lothlién gets ready for battle. "Rhok, do you see or hear anything close to us that may have done that?"
If Rhok assures the group that whatever killed the orcs isn't near, Lothlién will search their bodies, both for loot and tring to identify what killed them:
Investigation check: 11
Rhok nods to Lothlién, and slowly approaches the dead orcs looking for any signs of tracks on the ground, anything that would reveal what slayed them. Once near the Orcs, he'll attempt to inspect the bodies to see if he can determine cause of death. If he doesn't see any tracks, he'll use primeval awareness in case if it was airborne, whatever killed them
OOC: Are we in a forested area for my favorite terrain bonuses to count? If so, and if he manages to find any tracks, thanks to Natural explorer: while tracking creatures, you learn the exact number, sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area
Investigation: 19
If in favored terrain add +2 more to above score
Perception: 20
If in favored terrain add +4 more to above score
medicine check: 7
Currently playing: Rhok Skatu - Another Dragon at Icespire Peak
Lia hangs back, letting the others check the bodies and keeping an eye for the area around them all. She has her owl keeping watch from overhead as well.
Owl perception: 21
I believe a terrain description is in order. I'm going to describe the area surrounding Phandalin in this post, the next post is going to continue with the game action.
Phandalin is some 35 miles inland from the Sword Coast, the coastline goes north to south and is directly west of the town. Going along the coastline, at most 10 miles inland, is the High Road. This road connects the large cities along the coast, Neverwinter 50 miles north and Waterdeep 70 miles south. The road continues past both those cities, but that's a bit too far for now.
Starting from the coastline, there is a meadow or plains area 20 to 40 miles wide, stretching from the city of Neverwinter until the Mere of Dead Men, an enormous swamp 25 miles south of Phandalin. East of Neverwinter and north of Phandalin you can find Neverwinter Wood, a massive forest (this is where Falcon's Hunting Lodge and the Logger's Camp are located.)
Phandalin is set on the end of a hill area leading to the Sword Mountains. The Sword Mountains start 25 miles (diagonal) south west of Phandalin (the Dwarven Excavation area is 7 miles from the start of the mountains), then stretch for 40 miles going east-north-east forming a curve surrounding Phandalin. When the curve is 15 miles east of Phandalin, the Montains continue almost straight east. Gnomegarde is about halfway the curved area, south east of Phandalin.
Between Phandalin and the Sword Mountains to the east, the terrains is made of hills. The hills continue on the northern side of the mountains. South of the Sword Mountains is the Kryptgarden Forest.
There is a trail south of Neversinter Wood and north of the Hills, called Triboar Trail. It connects the High Road with the ruins of Conyberry, and has a detour going south to Phandalin.
Rhok searches the area and walks in circles arround the bodies a couple times. There is a clear trail leading to the orc corpses, but no tracks go out of the area. He signals to Lothlién that the area is clear and both inspect the orcs.
The grass around the corpses is dead and there are claw marks in the ground. They are wearing hide armor, greataxes and javelins broken arond them. You determine that extreme cold killed these orcs three or four days ago.
Lia and Sabastian don't see anything out of the ordinary. The sky is still overcast, with very little wind.
"Damn, it probably was the dragon. And it looks like it's hunting quite often around her, huh? We should keep an extra eye towards the skies..." Lothlién says gravely.
Xarroth mumbles a prayer in Draconic before speaking up in Common, "That sounds wise - seeing the embodiment of wintry death descend does improve our chances of survival, if only a little."
"Agreed, it would be wise, Sebastian will be a great boon to us for scouting ahead if that's ok with Lia, I'd hate to put him into any danger that you'd be uncomfortable with. I have a very limited amount of times I can try to detect the dragon each day, and those would remove my ability to heal us as well" Rhok says as he looks at the bodies one more time looking for any coin pouches or anything of worth
Investigation: 16
Currently playing: Rhok Skatu - Another Dragon at Icespire Peak
Lia shrugs. "It is what I have him doing already." She replies. Since the dragon she would have him up keeping an eye out constantly.
"Let's get to the mine, so we are not out in the open any more than needed." She suggests.
"I was thinkin' the same. On the sunny side we don't need to fight orcs on our way." Agrees Don-Jon.
Rhok examines the bodies and finds that two of them had pouches attached to their belts. One contains five half carved stones and a small chisel, the other 6 silver pieces.
You walk the remaining of the distance to the mines. It takes you some time to find their location. Hidden among bushes, a tunnel burrows into the foot of a soaring, snow-capped mountain. Above the mouth of the tunnel is a wooden plank with the words “Mountain’s Toe” carved into it in Common.
Rhok takes in the tunnel and the surrounding grounds, trying to get a sense if anyones been here and if only Don-Jon will be working the mine "Anyone else working this mine with you? should we check out the mine to make sure nothings hiding in it from a dragon?" he asks
Perception check if needed: 8
Currently playing: Rhok Skatu - Another Dragon at Icespire Peak
"Sonds like a plan" Lothlién agrees with Rhok
The tunnel leading to the mine is big enough for everyone in the group to enter, but a dragon would have a hard time squeezing to get inside. There are no claw marks on the ground near the entrance and you can see an oil lamp burning inside.
Before entering the mine Don-Jon replies "my employers said that 15 people work and live here, most of them dwarves. The old overseer quit suddenly and they sent me here to make sure production continues."
OOC: are you checking the surrounding area or the inside?
OOC: I think we are checking the mine itself, making sure nothing bad happened inside, nor are monsters there waiting to ambush don-jon
Rhok would want to look around the general vicinity of the mine opening to make sure nothing is waiting to charge them from behind/seal off mine entrance before venturing inside
Looking at Don-Jon he asks "Dwarves eh? I'm assuming they live inside the mine? Since the entrance was nicely concealed, no outside structures?"
Investigation if needed: 19
Currently playing: Rhok Skatu - Another Dragon at Icespire Peak