Post by hubertbartels on Jul 6, 2019 14:12:45 GMT -5
Amelina Martinique was tired. She had traveled from Andor through the River Kingdoms, heading towards Torch in Numeria. She knew that Erasmus Cutler, her friend, was searching for his uncle, Barnaby Cutler. Barnaby, a famous artificer, had gone missing and the young bard had been tasked by his family to go looking for him.
Now she was in Iadenveigh, a little backwaters town of 2,300 people, stranded when the drover of the pack train she had been traveling with, decided to stop in the town for the winter. She decided to head to the High House – the closest thing this town had for an inn – to see if she could arrange travel on to Torch.
Opening the door to the High House, she was surprised to find Eramus already there. After the greetings and hugs, Eramus introduced her to the rest of his adventuring party.
Their reunion was interrupted by the arrival of Redfang and a short, stocky woman. Redfang introduced her as Theska Longeye, part-time cartographer and cheese-monger. Theska quietly told the party about the Scar of the Spider and the route that they would need to take to get there. It’s about 190-200 miles away as the raven flies and no one in Iadenveigh had clear knowledge of the area more than a days journey toward the Felldales. She warned the party about the orcs from the village of Kuratown and tells them of the Rose Wars. The Rose Wars happened about 30 years ago when a young girl in Iadenveigh suspected that her parents, sheep herders keeping sheep about a day’s journey from the town – had been replaced with unfeeling pod people. She tried to get people to believe her without success until she reached a ranger named Camber. Camber and a troop of other rangers traveled west. He did not survive but those that did told of killing a strange plant that took people and replaced them with pod people. The problem seemed to go away but rumors remain of plants acting strangely in the area.
The next morning, mounted, geared and well-stocked on supplies, the party set out. As they left the technological-phobic town behind, Astrovel pulled out a rocket launcher and a laser rifle and slung them on his back. Obin proudly bore his chain-sword again. Amelina’s reaction to the unveiling of technology by party members was to ask, “Can I take those apart and put them together again?”
They rode all day under cloudy skies, chilled by a constant wind from the north. That evening, Eramus once again tricks the others to care for his horse, as he had been doing all trip. The following day was very much the same, cold and cloudy. The terrain was broken by frequent ravines and canyons which had to be carefully traversed. Around them were scrub pines and yellowing grasses. It was warmer in the canyons where protected from the wind, some trees still bore the green leaves of the fall.
That evening, they stopped in a deeper canyon than most. A narrow brook ran past a green covered meadow, surrounded by flowering bushes and a few larger trees. It was decided that this would be a good place to camp. Only Grigoro noticed that the flowers had all turned to watch the party. When he mentioned this and started to search through the bushes, he found nothing and the flowers seemed normal.
Having picketed the horses, Astrovel cast Leomund’s Tiny Hut and Istovar summoned a Guardian of Faith to help keep watch. That night, the Guardian suddenly lit up in a burst of radiant energy as a tree-like being attempted to attack the Tiny Hut. Balked by the barrier, the creature turned to the horses. As the horses screamed and tried to get away, the party ran out of the Tiny Hut to attack. With the aid of Astrovel’s Hold Monster spell, the party had soon toppled the creature. With horrendous teeth behind a large flower and four seed pods, it was a bodythief, trying to drain the life essence from a party member and replace them with a pod person.
The next day, they made good time. The clouds were breaking up and the weather seemed warmer. Around mid-day, they came across small droplets of a blue-white glass-bead like substance. Amelina examined it and found them to be slightly warm. She collected a few samples.
Riding on, they came across more and more of the blue-white substance until it covered the entire ground. The air was now warmer. As they continued to ride, they could begin to make a vast structure in the distance. Huge, it resembled a storage tank, partially smashed with blue-white substance poured out of the gaps.
After a short discussion, the party decided to have a closer look. Turning their horses, they rode in the direction of the crushed tank. The heat from the blue-white substance continued to rise. Looking around, the party suddenly realized that there was nothing alive around the structure. Astrovel cast Detect Radiation and realized that the entire plain was radioactive with the levels increasing as they got closer to the structure. The party decided to beat a hasty retreat.
As they were about to leave the blue-white plain, they were attacked by glassy spiders that were able to use the blue-white substance and their glassy carapaces to temporarily become invisble. Obin smashed a few until Astrovel’s Evard Black Tentacles trapped the rest of them. Leaving the spiders behind, they urged their horse to ride quickly away. Amelina tossed her samples.
On the fifth day after leaving Iadenveigh, the party arrived at the Scar of the Spider. It was the right place because Theska told them that the creek running out of the canyon would be the largest one they would find after leaving town. Amelina and several other party members spotted a faint ribbon of oil flowing in the creek. Heading upstream, they sought for the leak’s source.
Rounding a bend in the canyon walls, the party found a column of smoke rising in the air. It came from a shattered annihilator robot, blown apart and fallen in the creek’s waters. Originally standing 30’ high, the annihilator robot was a fierce fighting machine, armed with a scorpion-like tail energy weapon and twin chain guns.
As the others explored the remains and the surrounding area, Amelina studied the smoke and noises coming from the hulk of the annihilator robot’s carcass. She suddenly realized that they were in great danger and climbed up on to the wreck. While Istovar cast Guidance, Amelina carefully disarmed the sparking power core. With a blast echoing off the canyon walls, the energy vented from the power core in a stream rising into the sky.
Eramus had been looking around the ground nearby. He found a smashed iron cage with the bodies of six Kellid tribesmen. The tops of their heads had been removed, their brains carefully harvested. Istovar and Obin had found more footprints – learning that this wasn’t the only annihilator robot in the canyon. A second annihilator robot had been damaged by the blast and walked into the creek waters, headed upstream. Astrovel determined that the thing that destroyed the first robot and damaged the other was a plasma and concussion blast – a limpet mine or a land mine? Eramus and Istovar find footprints of a strange nature nearby which they recognize as coming from a kasatha. An alien species brought to Golarian by the space ship many thousands of years ago.
Further examination of the blown off parts of the annihilator robot reveals that some people had come and torn pieces off the legs and tails, salvaging parts but not caring if the parts were complete or not. Their footprints headed upstream as well.
The party’s investigation of the scene was interrupted by the appearance of a strange old man. He was dressed in rags, bore an artificial leg made of high tech metal and claimed to live in the area. He invited everyone back to his garden while raving and mumbling about the Butchers. The old man – who was only 40 years of age – told how he was working to bring nature back to the canyon, undoing the work that the Butchers had done. The Butchers even had captured him and experimented on him before letting him go. He gave his name as Paeytr. He blamed the Butchers for everything including the fact that he could no longer cast spells as a druid.
Istovar suddenly realized that Paetyr had had his wisdom drained. The priest of Erastil cast Greater Restoration on him. Paeytr, overcome by awareness, stood and wept. The former druid repeated his invitation to his garden where the party could rest and stable their horses.
Paeytr’s garden was in a box canyon, off the main canyon wall. As the former druid led them, they came across another cave opening, covered in red hangings. A close examination showed that the hangings and the cave inside were covered in red mold, mutant form of yellow mold. Astrovel’s fireball and Obin’s dwarvish resistance made short work of the mold – as well as the 3 huge spiders that had survived the red mold. In the back, Obin found a dead android with his gear.
Climbing the rest of the rocky steps, the party entered the box canyon containing Paeytr’s garden and home.
Now she was in Iadenveigh, a little backwaters town of 2,300 people, stranded when the drover of the pack train she had been traveling with, decided to stop in the town for the winter. She decided to head to the High House – the closest thing this town had for an inn – to see if she could arrange travel on to Torch.
Opening the door to the High House, she was surprised to find Eramus already there. After the greetings and hugs, Eramus introduced her to the rest of his adventuring party.
Their reunion was interrupted by the arrival of Redfang and a short, stocky woman. Redfang introduced her as Theska Longeye, part-time cartographer and cheese-monger. Theska quietly told the party about the Scar of the Spider and the route that they would need to take to get there. It’s about 190-200 miles away as the raven flies and no one in Iadenveigh had clear knowledge of the area more than a days journey toward the Felldales. She warned the party about the orcs from the village of Kuratown and tells them of the Rose Wars. The Rose Wars happened about 30 years ago when a young girl in Iadenveigh suspected that her parents, sheep herders keeping sheep about a day’s journey from the town – had been replaced with unfeeling pod people. She tried to get people to believe her without success until she reached a ranger named Camber. Camber and a troop of other rangers traveled west. He did not survive but those that did told of killing a strange plant that took people and replaced them with pod people. The problem seemed to go away but rumors remain of plants acting strangely in the area.
The next morning, mounted, geared and well-stocked on supplies, the party set out. As they left the technological-phobic town behind, Astrovel pulled out a rocket launcher and a laser rifle and slung them on his back. Obin proudly bore his chain-sword again. Amelina’s reaction to the unveiling of technology by party members was to ask, “Can I take those apart and put them together again?”
They rode all day under cloudy skies, chilled by a constant wind from the north. That evening, Eramus once again tricks the others to care for his horse, as he had been doing all trip. The following day was very much the same, cold and cloudy. The terrain was broken by frequent ravines and canyons which had to be carefully traversed. Around them were scrub pines and yellowing grasses. It was warmer in the canyons where protected from the wind, some trees still bore the green leaves of the fall.
That evening, they stopped in a deeper canyon than most. A narrow brook ran past a green covered meadow, surrounded by flowering bushes and a few larger trees. It was decided that this would be a good place to camp. Only Grigoro noticed that the flowers had all turned to watch the party. When he mentioned this and started to search through the bushes, he found nothing and the flowers seemed normal.
Having picketed the horses, Astrovel cast Leomund’s Tiny Hut and Istovar summoned a Guardian of Faith to help keep watch. That night, the Guardian suddenly lit up in a burst of radiant energy as a tree-like being attempted to attack the Tiny Hut. Balked by the barrier, the creature turned to the horses. As the horses screamed and tried to get away, the party ran out of the Tiny Hut to attack. With the aid of Astrovel’s Hold Monster spell, the party had soon toppled the creature. With horrendous teeth behind a large flower and four seed pods, it was a bodythief, trying to drain the life essence from a party member and replace them with a pod person.
The next day, they made good time. The clouds were breaking up and the weather seemed warmer. Around mid-day, they came across small droplets of a blue-white glass-bead like substance. Amelina examined it and found them to be slightly warm. She collected a few samples.
Riding on, they came across more and more of the blue-white substance until it covered the entire ground. The air was now warmer. As they continued to ride, they could begin to make a vast structure in the distance. Huge, it resembled a storage tank, partially smashed with blue-white substance poured out of the gaps.
After a short discussion, the party decided to have a closer look. Turning their horses, they rode in the direction of the crushed tank. The heat from the blue-white substance continued to rise. Looking around, the party suddenly realized that there was nothing alive around the structure. Astrovel cast Detect Radiation and realized that the entire plain was radioactive with the levels increasing as they got closer to the structure. The party decided to beat a hasty retreat.
As they were about to leave the blue-white plain, they were attacked by glassy spiders that were able to use the blue-white substance and their glassy carapaces to temporarily become invisble. Obin smashed a few until Astrovel’s Evard Black Tentacles trapped the rest of them. Leaving the spiders behind, they urged their horse to ride quickly away. Amelina tossed her samples.
On the fifth day after leaving Iadenveigh, the party arrived at the Scar of the Spider. It was the right place because Theska told them that the creek running out of the canyon would be the largest one they would find after leaving town. Amelina and several other party members spotted a faint ribbon of oil flowing in the creek. Heading upstream, they sought for the leak’s source.
Rounding a bend in the canyon walls, the party found a column of smoke rising in the air. It came from a shattered annihilator robot, blown apart and fallen in the creek’s waters. Originally standing 30’ high, the annihilator robot was a fierce fighting machine, armed with a scorpion-like tail energy weapon and twin chain guns.
As the others explored the remains and the surrounding area, Amelina studied the smoke and noises coming from the hulk of the annihilator robot’s carcass. She suddenly realized that they were in great danger and climbed up on to the wreck. While Istovar cast Guidance, Amelina carefully disarmed the sparking power core. With a blast echoing off the canyon walls, the energy vented from the power core in a stream rising into the sky.
Eramus had been looking around the ground nearby. He found a smashed iron cage with the bodies of six Kellid tribesmen. The tops of their heads had been removed, their brains carefully harvested. Istovar and Obin had found more footprints – learning that this wasn’t the only annihilator robot in the canyon. A second annihilator robot had been damaged by the blast and walked into the creek waters, headed upstream. Astrovel determined that the thing that destroyed the first robot and damaged the other was a plasma and concussion blast – a limpet mine or a land mine? Eramus and Istovar find footprints of a strange nature nearby which they recognize as coming from a kasatha. An alien species brought to Golarian by the space ship many thousands of years ago.
Further examination of the blown off parts of the annihilator robot reveals that some people had come and torn pieces off the legs and tails, salvaging parts but not caring if the parts were complete or not. Their footprints headed upstream as well.
The party’s investigation of the scene was interrupted by the appearance of a strange old man. He was dressed in rags, bore an artificial leg made of high tech metal and claimed to live in the area. He invited everyone back to his garden while raving and mumbling about the Butchers. The old man – who was only 40 years of age – told how he was working to bring nature back to the canyon, undoing the work that the Butchers had done. The Butchers even had captured him and experimented on him before letting him go. He gave his name as Paeytr. He blamed the Butchers for everything including the fact that he could no longer cast spells as a druid.
Istovar suddenly realized that Paetyr had had his wisdom drained. The priest of Erastil cast Greater Restoration on him. Paeytr, overcome by awareness, stood and wept. The former druid repeated his invitation to his garden where the party could rest and stable their horses.
Paeytr’s garden was in a box canyon, off the main canyon wall. As the former druid led them, they came across another cave opening, covered in red hangings. A close examination showed that the hangings and the cave inside were covered in red mold, mutant form of yellow mold. Astrovel’s fireball and Obin’s dwarvish resistance made short work of the mold – as well as the 3 huge spiders that had survived the red mold. In the back, Obin found a dead android with his gear.
Climbing the rest of the rocky steps, the party entered the box canyon containing Paeytr’s garden and home.