4th & Dragon : Dungeons and Dragons...and stuff

Mexil (at least that’s the name he has been going by for the last few towns), the grim and quite figure that seems as though he has been off daydreaming all of the sudden speaks up. “Food seems to be the thought on everyone’s mind for the trip. What about some form of aid for our injuries?* It sounds as though we might be in for a little more than just bumps and bruises. Other than that, I believe I am ready for a departure...I never feel quite right staying in one place for very long.”

OOC:
Mexil makes this statement more of a question pointed at those that seem they have deeper pockets than he, Beguiling Tongue prior to a diplomacy check totaling +15 in hopes of some more gear/coin that would help with the trip.

"This whole scenario is distasteful, but it doesn’t appear we have any other reasonable choice but to take up Wesley’s offer” Alexander says with some disdain. “Travel by earth node would make the most sense, as Laerath might be trying to retrace his steps.”

“Our seeming lack of options does not bode well.”

OOC: the node Grom Xyrr is located in underground caves so it will be dark there, be it day or night. If you look at the map, the tunnel is quite long, tens of miles of underground travel is needed. It will be dark, so lights are good to have. Zhuk’r node is the one closer to you, Faelar tells you it is in a small cave that is readily accessible from the surface, you could get there tonight easily.

More to follow in a couple of hours when I have time…

Wesley returns with the scrolls and some kind of bag.

Here you go. Ritual scrolls and components are here.
Faelar knows the way to the node, I’d rather not be left in the woods alone when you have gone.

Mexil asks for additional supplies from Wesley, clearly catching his full attention.

Wesley replies:
My master did give me some supplies for the mission, I suppose I don’t need them myself.
You can have these.

Wesley digs up some potions and other items from his belt and places them on the table.

OOC:

You get one scroll of “Walk Crossroads” including components.
You get a ritual book with “Linked Portal” and 2 sets of components for that.
Wesley gives you: 2 sunrods, 4 potions of healing (PHB), a potion of vigor (minor action to consume, gain 15 temp hp, AV189) and an elixir of speed (minor action to consume, get +2 to speed for 1h, AV187).

"Mexil, if you need anything else I have a fair bit of coin left as well.” Halgrath looks around, “I don’t know if there is anywhere here that would sell what you need, but I have some spare potions as well you are welcome to.  Plus I have a ratoin case that will always feed us each day.  It aint my moms cooking, but it will do.”
Halgrath looks at the elixir of speed, “and if no one objects I would like to take that.  Make sure I get to the big bad before they get to any of you.  But if someone else has a good use to it they can take it.”

Halgrath holds his cup up, “looks like we are leaving this place yet again, but this time not to leave friends, but to venture for them.  We have been through worse, and I’m sure we will be through much worse until the end of our days.  This is not something to fear, for our friends can not see use scared, we are their only hope to find the way home.” Halgrath drinks deeply, thuds his glass on the table and beams a smile at each of you.

OOC:  Talae, you can take what you want from me as long as you leave me 1 of each of my potions.

"Mexi, I believe I can provide the healing that we need for this journey.  If the situation becomes dire anyone is terribly injured I can whisk them away to the Astral Sea where they will heal at a rapid rate.  But I only possess enough strength to do that once a day, so do try to avoid that situation.  Other than that I have enough skill to heal our groups regular wounds received in battle.” Varis smiles big and pats Mexi on the back, “I have you covered my friend, no worries”

“Now that we have received our gift from Wesley’s master, let us be off.  I would prefer no waiting, but perhaps we could check in our immediate area for something else to bring along on our trip?  Perhaps someone might know somewhere we could go?  And fear not the dark my friends, Tempus has bestowed me with the ability to conjure a holy lantern with ease.  It has not much range, maybe 25 feet or so, but it lasts nearly half a day and does not require anyone to hold it.  Our hand will be free for..” Here Varis’ right hand glows a little “...Greeting those we meet in the caves.” He gets a large grin here, doing a fair job of amusing himself.

OOC:  Oh and when I say supplies I mean just anything, not just food.  Like the stuff that Wesley gave us maybe, some friend in town?

I’ll try that Streetwise check (+8) if anyone else feels we should look for some extra supplies

And a Diplomacy check (+15 ) to anyone I can try to convince to help us find somewhere to look (which may or may not help provide a bonus to any streetwise checks for food?  Your call Rothe)

Genova stand up after shes done eating and say:“Ok i take my bath real fast, you finish the details. I will do this quick.” She grab her cloak and sword and walk to the counter and ask the innkeeper something then head to the bath area.

When shes done she will go see Halben and told him that shes happy to see him alive and to stay here we really need to learn more about Wesley master and his motive and it will be his job, because we need to go rescue our friend and we cant keep an eye on him, she then give him a kiss on his forehead. She then go out the inn and wait everyone at the front of the inn her cloak hood back on over her head and her sword strapped on her back.

OOC: since you have the basket of endless rations, there is not much to worry about. I assume you will have a weeks worth of food with you if someone gets separated from the group and needs to eat rations.
So, I don’t think this is a big concern now.

For other items, I will let you buy things retroactively until you arrive in the caves.
Name an item and a streetwise check will be done to see if you can find it in time.

You have a few standard adventurer’s kits among you, so stuff like rope and such is already handled.

"Wesley, thank you for your assistance. I am sure that these items will come in handy at some point.” Mexil steps away from the conversation and rummages through things and hands the Elixir of Speed to Halgrath. “Thank you for the offer, but for now I think I will fair fine with what I have. I may take you up on th… (turning to Varis) MEXI?!?!? That is not my name. I am Mexil and do not appreciate cutsie nicknames. I understand your confidence for taking care of others, but do you have a plan for if YOU are the one that needs the healing?”

“Weasley, where are the permanent portals for the Linked Portal scrolls? Knowledge of at least a few would be nice.”

OOC: Put the newly acquired items in backpack and give Halgrath the Elixir of Speed (unless there is objection).

"Ok, ok.  I’ll drop the name, just thought you might like the change,” Varis says with a large wink directed at his friend.  “And don’t worry, I can take care of myself.  I have some prayers for just that situation, and if I really get in a bind I do have ten of these..” He quickly slips his arm into a pouch at his side, too far for the size of it, and pulls out a healing potion “… to aid me.”

“But enough of this banter.  If someone needs anything speak now, otherwise let us be ready and off once our companion’s bath is done.”

OOC: Varis is ready to go, but his offer of helping with the Diplomacy check to help someone get a bonus to their streetwise is still good.

Once we get outside in the dark, I will conjure Holy-Lantern and have it float in the middle of the party’s formation.  If no real formation then just have it at my left side (just trying to be detailed unless something comes up).  And I will re-conjure it every ten hours as the time limit expires to continually keep us lit.  If someone thinks of a better spot/location for my lantern please speak up and I can move it easily.

By the way, what are everyone’s vision and languages?  I didn’t see it on many of the character sheets (I had to upgrade my standard one for forums once I realized it was lacking a little) and those might come into play if we have to try and communicate with any creatures in the caves or get in some low-light situation.  Because I do not think that everyone has Low-Light vision.

"I would like to take a look at that ritual book, I don’t believe I’ve run across it previously. I can also help with the lighting issue, I have a new ritual I’ve been itching to try out in the field. I just wish the circumstances were more jovial” Alexander states somewhat downtrodden. “Otherwise, I am ready to depart.”

Alexander begins heading towards the door, hoping to spur on the rest of his companions.

OOC: I have most languages covered, short of some of the FR regional dialects. I can also assist with the lighting, the dark light globe gives us some stealth abilities as it is unnoticeable outside of the globe. But as mentioned in the OOC, it’s only a 6 square radius.

You all get ready to go and assemble outside of the inn.
Outside it is a bit chilly as the summer is now at its end.

You wait a moment for Genova and say your goodbyes to Halben and Wesley, and then get going.

Faelar is leading the way towards the earthnode, which is on the other side of the river Ashaba, about 20 miles from where you are now. He has a sturdy staff and a backpack, and he put on some leather armor for the trip, a floating globe of blue light is following him around.

At the midpoint of your trek you come to the bridge crossing without seeing anyone on the road. The bridge is guarded by two members of the Shadowdale guard, both are middle aged men in a merry mood, you suspect they have had a few drinks tonight but at least they are awake on the job. They greet you happily, but they areamazed at seeing such a party traveling out of the town area on this festive night.

Faelar leads you off the road along a small, almost hidden path, to a clearing in the woods. (this is around 10 miles from the river).

A small hill faces you on the other side of the clearing, with a cliff face in the middle. A cave leads under the cliff. The stony walls around the cave wall are moss covered for the most part but there are some druidic runes inscribed on them naming the node and warding away evil creatures.

Some information about the immediate surroundings:
Arcana: there is not a spell of any kind remaining here after the spellplague, just text sculpted and scratched on the walls near the entrance.
History: there used to be a druidic circle not far from here, but you are not aware of it being active.
Perception/Nature: There are tracks leading to and from the cave, but they must be the ones that your friends have made or just animal tracks. Nothing out of place here.
Religion: Based on the symbols, the druidic circle here worshipped Mielikki, a benevolent nature deity.

You decide to camp here for the night, since the caves will surely be a more dangerous place for that and you are already tired from your earlier trip to Shadowdale, from wherever you all came from.

You decide to cut the rest short, just 6 hours. Faelar agrees to keep guard, and you all know he will not fall asleep and he will keep alert. (He is a moon elf after all)

Before you fall asleep, Faelar shows you the cave interior that leads to a crevice that leads into the hill. Some runes make a kind of a circle around the corridor walls, covering it from the floor to the ceiling some ways inside the cave.

Faelar points at the runes and says:
That is the place where you can open the portal. It will open a doorway to the other node and you are able to step through. It is a bit exhausting to take the trip, not many steps, but you can surely feel that those are *LONG* steps.

OOC: This will require an endurance check, failure means you lose one or two healing surges.

Then he continues to the campsite and prepares to stand guard while you sleep.
The rest of you make your preparations to go to sleep.

OOC: If you want to keep guard along with Faelar, it will take extra time because 6 hours is needed for an extended rest. Moon elves (=Eladrin) can take stay awake during their rest and it does not penalize their perception.

If you wanted something from the town, you can still tell me. I will inform if you got what you were looking for. No freebies though at this time of day.

OOC: a bit delayed response to Mexil’s question about the linked portals.

Wesley said:
These portals are valuable for travel and most of them are either so obscure you cannot tell where they go, or under guard. Some are part of a network that you can use and some are just linked to one or two other portals. Shadowdale does not have any others, besides the node, that I know of. I am no great wizard so I don’t know too much about these things.

Arcana/History: There probably is a portal in every city and some big towns, but they are often warded with spells and require advance warning to use either way. Most wizard’s guilds will have one that is connected to other guilds around Toril - these are not free of charge to use, unless you are a prominent member.

I will assume that you cast the ritual in the morning if nobody objects soon. Inform if you want to take precautions when stepping through, such as boosting your endurance skill with some power or something like that. The travel will likely take 0-3 surges depending on how well you succeed in endurance.

"Let us rest and camp.  We can proceed in the morning and see more about this portal in the morning.  We have had a long trip to get here and we could all use some sleep, at least most of us (Here Varis winks a Faelar).  How about a few preparations before sleep?” (He mutters a prayer to Tempus under his breath, dispelling his current lantern and conjuring another) “Here is a little light, where would you like it Faelar?  And wake me if you need it shone somewhere else, wouldn’t want us to get caught off guard here in the wild.”

After putting the lantern where Faelar wants it, Varis pulls out his bedroll from his bag of holding and gets ready for sleep.  “Goodnight all and rest well.  We have a fun day ahead tomorrow!” He says with a large grin.

OOC:  Ok, put the lantern wherever Faelar would find it best.  If he doesn’t even want the lamp cause he can see (is LL vision good at night now?  Are there stars and moons and such to light enough for that to see?) then Varis dismisses it.  And sorry if I am a broken record, just don’t want you to have to look it up, but the lantern lasts ten hours so it will stay the whole extended rest.