[Game Thread] --> Chapter 2: The Maw of Alutan <--

[Fil kearney]

Chapter 2: The Maw of Alutan

The crews are arranged in short order after the storm receded. Bright sunshine lit up the southern wall of Darguun. Rainbows cast from the eternal mist above danced down the yawning expanse of The Mourn far below.
Long shadows crawled westward towards the Tears of Woe.from the weathered outcroppings-- some large enough to conceal both the Dancing Breeze and the endentured Scorpion.. or at least that's what Meera was hoping as she skimmed the ship mere feet from the granite face.
She ordered low light and dropped sails to minimize their silhouette before the rising sun, looking sidelong at the captain s he puffed at his pipe in seeming disregard of her precautions.
Another small complaint, Ward could sense, that she was adding to her list of Things She Didn't Like under his lead.
The glint of reflection caught her attentions, softening her gaze and disposition,
"Ooh, look at that"
The air dampened considerably as they drifted close to the Demon's Maw-- a gaping cavern sinking directly into the stone wall underneath Tears of Woe... rivulets of water pouring downward some underground river fed from the waters someplace above-- the sound a dull sigh growing louder into a soft roar as millions of gallons of water poured freely into eternity.
Along the edges thick moss and flowering Broccolilies clung to every damp surface like a green and white foam of a rabid beast-- the stalagtites and stalagmites hundreds of feet in length caging the entrance to the cavern The dark recesses were inevitably opening up to the ships as they pressed forward undaunted.

 

OOC:
https://app.roll20.net/editor/
your approaching the eastern edge of the Maw. The map provided in Roll20 demonstrates the positioning of the facility as told to you by the informant you paid to put this plan in place.. but from here he didn't know guard routines, shipments, or anything less than 4 years old... back when Alutan frist scouted he location.
It would have taken considerably... darker... solutions to yield current information; an option deemed too severe at the time, but now that they were actually there.....

The rushing water and cascading rainbows swam thick in the senses as they drifted closer and closer..

[Admin Dirk]

Pick a spot, Ward, Rhoma said quietly. She pointed to the huge cavernous rock maw that opened repeatedly before them. I think it matters not where, so captain's choice.

She looked at the huge rock floating before them, the water cascading off into sheets of mist. Clouds formed, disappeared and reformed as the vagaries of weather impacted them. The witch craned her head to see better, but everything beyond the white veil was gone to her, appearing only in tantalizing glimpses as the vapor thinned.

"Remember", she said to the others, "we must work together, as a team. You go off too far on your own, and that's it... you are on your own. We're better together than we are separate." She coughed, tasting the blood in her mouth as she did. "We're none of us too smart or too good to not fall."

[Battlechaser]

"Beautiful." Brunner whispered as he took in The Maw. "Yet deadly." Even with his See the unseen, voidsense and detect magicenhanced senses he could not pierce the watery curtain. "Today, we'll get that son of a bitch." He promised himself.

Taking up a protective position next to Rhoma, Brunner agreed. "We fight together and no-one gets left behind." The monk turned over his shoulder and said. "Marius, are you coming?" And then he was gone from Walk unseensight.

[Grenadier]

Rather than surveying the Maw, Ward's gaze seemed to penetrate through the misty rainbows into the murky darkness beyond them. He was too busy considering Aer's warning about the slave girl they had taken aboard. It was obvious the the Marguul delved into the dark arts themselves, and the captain could not decided whether that fact skewed their perspective of good and evil or whether it lent validity to Aer's claim.

He was dragged from his thoughts by the sond of Rhoma's voice. Whatever she had said first, he missed it, though he caught the witch prattling on about safety. “Don't tempt me,” he remarked with a wry smile, “I did not my earn my reputation by shirking a challenge.”

Ward turned away from the bow of the ship and headed back to the helm, where he had left Meera to see to The Dancing Breeze. “Aribel, if you don't mind I'd like to speak with my quartermaster and my first mate, if you do not mind,” he asked as he requested as he walked by the paladin.

Once they had gathered at the helm, Ward counseled them as follows: “I'm not one to be trusting of swine, but perhaps it would be prudent if we exercised some caution regarding our passenger. Aribel, search her soul for the evil that Aer spoke of, and Meera, see to it that she is locked away below deck until we return. Keep the men away from her as well. These lads have strong backs but weak minds, and now is no time to leave variables out of our formula.”

As he spoke to the two women, Ward's gaze was out over the Maw, almost as if he was hardly present at the very counsel that he was holding. “We'll need to pass over the old Marguul ruins first,” Ward strategized. Words was that they were empty, but Ward doubted that. If Alutan's made had truly left the place vacant, then it was like as not that something had taken up residence there. Perhaps, something more powerful and sinister the Alutan. “If we have Aer strike here to the south, then that may provide enough of a distraction to allow us pass along the other side relatively unnoticed. The Breeze can spring at attack from here once the landing party has crossed over.”

 

Map does not have a compass, so I assume the following based of the text: east is up, north is left, and south is right. Planning to have the Scorpion strike first below the center tower while the Breeze strikes above it. I figure our goal is to assault the main structure with the landing party.

Obviously, things may change once we can gauge resistance, but this sort of indicates the planned trajectory into the Maw.

Manifesting Escape Detection (38/43 PP)

[Sir Alex]

Aribel nodded briskly as the others voiced their thoughts. "Ay, stick together and all that. I'll admit that's a good idea, sure, but I wasn't going to let that shaman chuck a slave off the side if I could stop it." She shrugged. "Might let 'em fall next time. For the sake of the team. Don't like it but I'll keep it in mind."

The paladin spread her fingers at the sides of their provisional map, whistling through her teeth as she looked it over. A lock of pale hair fell out from under her hat. Its strands shimmered with highlights of forest green in the waxing sunlight. "I like your notion, Ward. Diversion down the middle and we fly in from the side, quick as a snake. The best laid plans change once a battle begins, of course, but its a good starting point. Movement'll be our friend. We keep movin' and we can stay ahead of any massed troops they try to muster. Hopefully."

A grin spread across her face. "Let's do it. Meantime I'll check on the damsel and see if she's all black on the inside." Aribel strode over to where the girl was being held. She summoned the holy senses that let her peel back the layers of a creature's soul. It was a curious sensation, like tasting with her spirit, or smelling with her heart instead of her nose.

"What's your name, girl?" said the paladin. "What's your sorry tale in all of this?"

 

Detecting evil on slave girl. Also sensing motive for anything she says...

Dice Sense motive:

1d20+3

(3)+3

Total = 6

[Admin Dirk]

"Every decision impacts all that follow," Rhoma said to the group as Aribel spoke. "When you abandon your allies to save a stranger, the price may not be paid by you." Her eyes, a speck of black peering out of the shadows of her hood, shone wetly. Before Aribel, or the others, could chide her for speaking her mind, she tsked, and continued.

"What's done is done, and I blame no one for their decisions. They worked out, no one was the worse. I just caution us to think first, and not let our baser emotions do the thinking for us." To Rhoma, the sin was not in the decision made, but in letting emotions rule over the decision process.

[spikehed]

Daergel squinted in the encroaching morning sunlight. A hand gave his eyes a shadow to relieve some of the discomfort. "If you require it, I can scout the landing platform and return back to better formulate an attack... or we can simply prepare for battle as a group and launch in headlong. Either way, we must not hesitate now, every second we are not gaining ground is one they have to discover us."

As he spoke, Daergel adjusted the device on his hand. When he was finished speaking, he twitched a finger and a long razor slung out from it's hiding place in the device, long enough to skewer a man. Another twitch caused the blade to slide home again with only a whisper of metal on metal. He gave a nod of satisfaction and moved to stand where the assault party would debark the Breeze.

[Eviltedzies]

The time between the battle and the arrival at their target seemed to pass like a hazy dream. Injured crewmen nursed their wounds and drank a meager ration of ale to calm their nerves. Even when his healing duties were completed, Marius found himself still restless.

After what seemed like hours later, Marius stood in sight of the droplets falling for eternity in the heavens seemed a beautiful sight at first for Marius. He savored the moment of natural beauty as light reflected off the beadlets in a rainbow like pattern. "Do the floating lands cry? If so, who do they cry for?" The thought sobered Marius up slightly as the crew began to prepare for the inevitable battle. This time he would not be unprepared.

Rhoma's words rang true in Marius' mind. "We diverged in the previous battle which could have cost us more lives than had we stuck together. I don't regret my actions, but I regret not having the common sense to realize the others would have tried as well." Marius listened in silence as the crew's voiced their thoughts on the matter. Once each had said their peace, Marius chimed in "I shall accompany the group that leads the assault. My healing talent's will be needed." As Ward mentioned questioning the girl Marius seemed a little shocked. "Surely the hobgoblin's superstitious nature has them overreacting, but I see Ward is not taking any chances." Marius slowly fell in line behind Aribel as she headed off to see the girl. "I'd like to see what this girl has to say as well. I find it strange for them to have but one human slave on their entire ship."

 

Prior to arrival, rested to refresh spells and then connected everyone in the party to his eldritch spellweave.

[Fil kearney]

Aribel could sense a darkness in the woman Aer warned them of, though it had no twinge of hostility-- more like seething resignation . The girl sat curled up on the provided bed staring at the wall she leaned on, still covered in the greasy paint of the ritual.
After a few atempts to start conversation, the GriffonRider turned her attention to the runes, wiping away the marks, searching for signs of abuse, but there were none. Rather, a healthy if pasty complexion came clear as Aribel sullied numerous wash rags.
Marius stopped in during his healings, and agreed she seemed uninjured, but obviously traumatized.
Another few attempts at initiating contact with the girl resulted in her continuing to focus on the wood grain of the lower deck; neither resisting nor aiding Aribel's efforts to clean her.
Odd, for sure... but hardly a threat in her current condition. the scuttling of feet above deck caused the two to abandon the endeavor, locking her in the unadorned cabin out of precaution but heading back topside to join the rest to be on with the objective at hand.

sliding quietly along the winds, The Dancing Breeze ducked low beneath the cavern maw. the mist of the waters above slickening the deck and forming rain droplets along the rigging of the ship The water had a saltiness to it that was unusual, leaving a bitter taste over time. Tears indeed.
Overhead, the scorpion held course above parallel to the craggy opening.
At this range, it was evident the massive stone columns were once seige fortresses-- the stone spiked hundreds of feet from floor and ceiling, pock-marked with house-sized indents that could easily have held any form of seige weaponry to harass unwanted visitors. Carved balconies and worn walkways winded around the structures that must have taken generations of battle and adaption to have set into the thorny entrance.
it all lay quiet now... though scouts could hide in a thousand nooks along the entrance, if they were being watched it was difficult to say...

 

OOC: perception checks from anyone caring to roll, and if you all have a specific path of travel you'd like to offer, I can start sculpting what the team will experience... visual communication can be used to communicate quietly between the ships, assuming a few of the sailors are aboard the scorpion for precisely that reason: you can further define team distribution if you wish.. I'm not pressuring you at this moment.

[Battlechaser]

I don't like this. Brunner felt a thousand eyes boring into his back. But where are they? He tried to

Dice Perception:

1d20+13

(14)+13

Total = 27

scan the recesses for anything alive- heck make that anything hostile. Concentrating the monk created transparant wings on his back and laid his left hand on Rhoma's thin shoulder. A soft whisper accompanied the gesture. "Get ready." Brunner looked back "Now where did Marius go to now?"

[Admin Dirk]

Rhoma felt the man's hand touch her shoulder, and she suppressed her reaction to jerk away. "Do not..." she started to snap, and then stopped. Peace. He means nothing, this Brunner. "Do not get far, let us stay close together," she corrected. Her dark black eyes shone with a wet light from deep inside her hood. "Is folly to disperse, when we know yet nothing."

She peered into the hundreds of columns, searching for anything intending them harm. With a wave of her hand, she sent her shadow companion ahead, flitting from nook to nook, scurrying through the areas of brighter light to those of dimmer, seeming to almost appear and disappear as it flowed across the cavern.

"Choose your spot, Captain, "Rhoma said, "and everyone who believes that the Gods care, now is the time to pray to them." She steeled herself to action, ready to fight, or run, as the case needed.

 

rhoma perception

Dice Roll:

d20+9

(19)+9

Total = 28

shadow's perception

Dice Roll:

d20+8

(16)+8

Total = 24

[Sir Alex]

With one foot in the stirrup and the other on deck, Aribel watched the oncoming cliff. It was...beautiful. A vertical garden, draped in a veil of cascading rainbows. Something about the sight of it sang to her blood. Here was a wildness that no fortress or carved staircase could touch. The land would abide such parasites, for it knew that in the end it would endure for eons until all the works of men were dust.

And speaking of men. She squinted her eyes,

Dice Perception:

1d20+12

(20)+12

Total = 32

watching for movement in the rock faces. Any telltale signs would give away the game, whether glint of helmet, scrabbling tumble of rocks, or a shadow moving where there should've been stillness.

So, thought the paladin. All you Good Gods. We been friends awhile now. You love me and I love you and all that. It's been fun. Just wanted to tell you that I'm countin' on you today, so don't mess up your half of the deal. I need my sword sharp, my bird strong, and my gods chock full o' righteous. We square? She listened for a moment but heard nothing in reply. Aribel sniffed and then grinned. That was the gods for you. Quiet enough to let a mouse sleep most days, then banging the whole world like a drum if it took their fancy.

"Keep an eye peeled, folks," she said. "That girl wasn't talking. She's an odd one but she's not out problem today, so stick to the plan. Stay on course and let our scorpion eat the artillery."

[spikehed]

Daergel stood in a calm state despite all of the tense actions surrounding him. His eyes were nearly closed and he seemed to be mouthing some kind of mantra over and over again. "This will all be over soon."

The whisper gnome's words sounded hollow and offered little comfort to the men that fidgeted nervously around him, waiting to leap off the ship on to the platform as soon as it was near enough.

[Eviltedzies]

Marius strode onto the deck with a measure pace. His breathing hastened as the so called calm before the storm seemed to fall over the crew. "I am here Brunner and my magics are ever ready to aid. The less time this battle drags on the better." Marius found his position in the center of his comrades. It not only aided his supportive tactics, but also gave him an adequate vantage point on all of them. Strangely, Marius found himself slightly eager to join the fray. While he never considered himself a violent or combat hungry person, Marius could not deny that living amongst such advernturous sprits had had an impact on him. "I hope I have no need to draw my blade this day."

[Grenadier]

Ward was quiet as he kept a

Dice Perception:

1d20+10

(10)+10

Total = 20

vigil over The Breeze. It would have settled his ire better to bare down on these treacherous pirates mad with fire, but he could appreciate the advantages of misdirection well enough. Unfortunately, it was beyond his means to hide the ship, other than trying to direct Meera behind the natural cover provided by the rocky growths of the Maw.

Ward cast a glance at their Scorpion companion to make sure they were holding their position on the inside track and slightly ahead of The Breeze. It would due to have the metal behemoth take the brunt of the attack as they were swinging around to disembark in at a more advantageous point.

With things in order, Ward approached Aribel mounted on Princess. “I could use a lift, lass,” Ward said as he extend his arm in order to receive a helping hand, “It will do for these old bones to leave the ship without too much fuss.”

 

Lots of Perception checks out there already. Maybe apply Ward's check to Meera's sailor checks to stealth the check, as aid another. Your call.

I can't access Roll20 at this time, so I can't comment on a specific path.