A second series of random DnD Adventures: The Last Initiate

[Sithdarth]

Your party has traveled for several weeks now, passing through very rugged wilderness. The mountains that rise about you are carpeted thick, deep forests of yew, pine and ash. As if the steep terrain was not enough, an impassable undergrowth of laurel has hindered your travel, often making you travel far afield of your chosen path. Cold, swift moving rivers pass through the many valleys you travel.

Upon the banks of a swift moving river, you see bits of bone and metal protruding from the mud. Upon closed examination, the bones are found to be rib bones, and the metal to be the remains of armor, mostly rusted armor that is.

The body appears to have been that of a human in chain armor. A large, flint spear head lies within its rib cage. A rusted iron gear hangs on an equally rusted chain around his neck. The tattered remains of a leather pouch are buried in the mud. Several gold coins are visible.

Amongst the bony remains rests a bone scroll case. The foot long bone tube has stood up well against the waters of the river. Its' end still bears a bone stopper held tightly in place by a wax seal. The seal bears a strange glyph, a toothed wheel.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Violet eyes narrowed down as a fair face creased in a frown. Mizashka stepped forward cautiously along the riverbank, her elegant body hindered only slightly by a backpack upon her shoulders and the quiet clink of her chainshirt. She crossed the distance quickly and knelt by the decayed corpse, dark blue hair swinging down in a braid.

She blinked once, twice, then...

Her eyes changed colour, shifting from those exotic purple to a deep black-red (detect magic activated, focused on the bone tube). Upon the certainty that there was nothing that could possibly be unleashed magically, Mizashka reached over and picked up the tube with her gauntlets. She examined it carefully.

"Hey, Lex! Come and see."

Carefully breaking the sealing wax, Mizashka took the care to shake the tube to and fro for a moment. What was within sounded like nothing but dust scrapings. She opened it and tipped its contents into her gauntleted hand.

[Sithdarth]

The seal opens with a pop and a swoosh of dusty air. Inside is a well preserved roll of parchement. Unrolled, the sheet reveals a note and a crude map that appear to have been scribed on a prayer sheet.

(These are the parchement.)
http://www.sithdarth.spatchcock.net/Handout1.png
http://www.sithdarth.spatchcock.net/Handout2.png

[The Kneumatic Pnight]

Lex walked calmly over to the riverbank and took a place next to Mizashka and leaned on his dark, ornate cane. His long fingers plucked the parchment from her hands, and brought it before his olive eyes.

Flipping the paper over with a flutter, Lex let out a musing sigh. "It seems..." he began, slowly, "that this... 'Artificer' is some sort of God. Intriguing..."

Lex fell silent for a moment before continuing.

"Well... as much as I do want to see precisely what this is... judging from the state of the corpse, I think the keep of this 'Artificer' must have fallen a while ago. Though... there may yet be something left untouched by the Orcs."

[Inbred Chocobo]

"Right. Judging from this map, we can follow the river and get there easy." Jericho said. He walked over camly, and bent down, scooping up the 15 gold from the mud. "Kinda don't think he will be needing this." Jericho said as he got back up.

"Shall we be on our way?"

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Mizashka's eyes returned back to normal as she stood up, stretched her arms above her head langurously.

"Yeah, let's move on. Staying near an unsanctified grave-" here Mizashka mentally poked Jericho of his priestly past "- is not the safest thing to do. Having a source of water as we travel is not a bad idea."

[Inbred Chocobo]

"What? You act like I was just going to leave here without saying something." Jericho said. He closed his eyes, and muttered under his breath a quick prayer. For those that could understand Celestial, it was the same stuff you heard at the funeral. Good man, sorry for his lost, guide his soul in peace, yadayadayada. "Now, unless you want to spend some time burying him, shall we be on our way?"

[The Kneumatic Pnight]

Lex stretched a bit, eyes locked somewhat distantly on the swiftly rippling water.

"Yes... I do think it would be best to move on. I would be interested to find the keep as soon as possible. I would be interested in getting to the keep as quickly as possible."

[Sithdarth]

"Well then," Cliff finally chimed in, "let us continue our journey friends." Taking the lead Cliff followed the path as it wound along the river. Due to the recent spring thaw, the rivers are running faster, deeper and colder than usual. As you approach what appears to have once been a ford, you see that the river has overrun its banks, spreading out to a 30 foot width. The cold mountain water that passes before you is roughly four feet in depth. You can see the trail continue off the opposite bank.

Stopping just short of the near bank Cliff thought for a few minutes. "Well unless you guys want to risk being swept away I suggest we some how attach a rope to both banks and use it cross. Any ideas on how to best get it over there?"

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Mizashka stared at the rushing waters, and felt Arc give an empathic shudder.

"Rushing water... I hate rushing waters," she muttered under her breath as she adjusted her pack. Swinging the pack down to rest on the earth, she flipped open the large compartment and grabbed the silken rope nestling atop everything else, she tossed it at the others' feet.

"I've got the rope, but I don't have anything to tie it to, or how to bring it across the river. Arc would protest greatly if I asked him to go anywhere near this."

[Sithdarth]

"Wait, don't you have a spell that lets you walk on water Lex? You should be fine if you take you time and are careful as you cross. Once on the other side tie the other end of the rope to a tree branch a few feet off the ground." As he finished Cliff grabbed the other end of the rope and tied it to a tree a few feet of the ground as well.

"See this way we can shimmy accross upside down and we won't have to get wet. Just make sure you tie it tight."

[The Kneumatic Pnight]

"Damn, and here I was hoping we could through that cat over the river... or maybe Mizashka. But regardless..." Lex walked over and grabbed the free end of the rope before moving to the edge of the river. He opened his mouth, and made as if to speak and began to cough.

Holding up one finger, he began again. A sound came from within him... or from beyond him. It was like the rushing of wind more than words; a wind that flowed sonorous through feeling as much as sound. And from beneath this uncanny crescendo, a more subdued sound -- like a trickle of water over stone. The sounds stopped as abruptly as they began, and Lex opened his eyes once more. Stepping forward now, Lex moved with unearthly grace. Carefully, but smoothly and swiftly, he took gentle steps over the flowing stream until he reached the far, gravel strewn bank.

Finding a suitable tree, Lex tied the rope around it, testing the rope with a tug and retying until he felt it sturdy.

"It should be safe now," Lex finally called back to the others.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Mizashka chose to ignore Lex's snipe and grasped the rope. Then, uttering a low purr that had Arc leaping from the bushes and nestling tightly against her chest, Mizashka swung until she was completely upside down on the rope.

"Gkt..." the rope sagged slightly from her weight, but held her off the ground. Just.

Without further comments, Mizashka shimmied across, apparently with no visible strain or effort, before landing on the other side safely.

[Sithdarth]

After Mizashka was across Cliff hopped on the same way and shimmied across as well. Cliff was a bit more heavy than her and so his trip was a bit slower and required more effort. As he hopped off the other end he was breathing heavily.

After catching his breath he shouted back to Jericho, "If you don't mind getting wet why not tie that end of the rope to your waist. Then we can help pull you across."

[Inbred Chocobo]

"Yeah that was what I was thinking." Jericho shouted back as he went for the rope on his end. He tied it around him, looked to make sure the folks across the river had the rope in hand, and then doublechecked his knot. When everything seemed secure, he started wading across.

[Sithdarth]

On the other side of the ford the road forked. One fork heading west along the river and the other heading north. Only the path heading north was drawn on their crude map. Nothing suggested which path would be easier, however, the west path seemed better traveled but the majority of the tracks didn't quite seem human.

Cliff wound the rope back up and handed it back to Mizashka. "So which way do we go?"

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Carelessly stuffing the rope into her backpack, Mizashka looked at the tracks on the ground. She stamped her own, humanoid boot on the ground, then compared one of the tracks with her own print.

She made a face.

"I guess we're going to change plans. I don't know how long these tracks have been here, but I doubt we'll find something nice at the end of them. Let's fill our waterskins properly and take the north path."

[Inbred Chocobo]

"Yeah, it does look like we would find less people that would want to kill us if we take the north path based on these tracks." Jericho said, basically ignoring the fact that his was wet. He figured its water, it would dry. Jericho took a drink from his waterskin, then filled it up. "Nothing like mountain river water eh?" Jericho said after filling his skin.

[The Kneumatic Pnight]

Lex quietly knelt down to fill up his waterskin as well.

"Rivers always draw a number of beasts it's probably best not to meet, if it can be avoided. Besides, the northward path seems the shortest route anyway, and I'd like to see what this 'Artificer' business is all about as soon as possible," Lex said, after standing back up. With that, Lex spun his cane by the end once, and started down the northern path at a slow pace, to keep it easy for the others to catch up after they agreed with him.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Mizashka quietly nodded to herself as she herself refilled her waterskin before tossing it into her bag. Adjusting it across her shoulders, she trudged after the others.

[Sithdarth]

A recent rock slide has left a large swath of loose dirt and rubble along this steep incline. You realize that your footing across this area will be unstable at best.

(ooc: two DC 15 Reflex saves to get up the incline.)

[firedrake110]

In The Shadows of a Large boulder atop the rockslide, the grey-skinned humaniod could smell and hear the strangers coming and he began to think aloud... Another band of orcs? No. These ones lack the odd scent of sweat and iron that is so commonly found on those crude orcs. Curse them, invading MY territory! I'll flay every last one of them... But what about these new interlopers? Are they siding with the orcs, or will they just pass through my lands... Either way, I guess there is nothing to do but to speak, and possibly, to kill...

He steps out of the shadows and draws his battleaxe while strapping on his heavy, wicked-looking spiked shield and calling out to the climbing party: "HEY! You Four! How dare you pass through MY TERRITORY! Explain Yourselves, or you'll be facing my chopper here."

He puntuated the words "chopper here" by patting the large battle-axe in his hands that seemed to reflect the light with an odd, hard gleam.

OOC: Hey guys, I'm the new addition to your campaign. I rolled low charisma (a 9), and I had to add the race-penalty to it ( -4), so deal with how much of a jerk he might seem :D

[firedrake110]

With more than a slight edge of irritation in his voice, the not-quite-short, grey-skinned beast called out again to the four adventurers, this time less in curiosity and more in anger:

"HEY! You four! What in the abyss do you think you are doing, ignoring the (self-styled) master of this area! You're dangerously close to provoking my anger, and if you plan on continuing your little romp out here, you would be wise to stop what you are doing and answer my damn question! What are you doing here?!"

The whole time he was ranting, the beast was waving about with that dangerous-looking axe of his. More than once, it happened to catch the boulder behind him, easily leaving great notches in the hard bedrock. The unnatural gleam of the blade seemed to waver and shift in pitch, changing from a dark crimson to a fiery red as it's wielder grew angrier and angrier. There was no questioning the blade's magical nature, but it's material component was still unknown to the climbing party.


OOC: dudes it's been like 33 hours since I posted my intro... major bummer no one posted yet. I have to go down to Quebec to visit some soon-to-be-gone family members, but I'll be back on tuesday coming up (5 days from now). Feel free to play my char if anyone decides to respond to me, sithdarth. TTU soon guys. Can't wait to continue on in this adventure.

EDIT: I am back from Quebec. Let's play.