KHAZUUL

Index > Game Forums > Khazuul: A Cairn 2e Hexcrawl

Be sure to read and follow the community guidelines.

<< First < 27 28 29 30 31 > Last >>

load previous

Len Inactive for 1 months

Apr 9, 2024 3:20 pm

Apr 9, 2024 3:20 pm

Cutwell pushes through the barrier. His lips reach the mouthpiece and he exhales.

No audible noise comes from the flute, but to say the flute plays no sound is not accurate. A strange vibration emanates from the reed, and a kind of quiescent void descends upon your surroundings that neutralizes sound creation all around you.

Through experimentation, you are able to discover the following properties of the veil: it is a circular area, 15’ radius, and anchored to the flute. Within the area, nothing can create sound. However, sound created outside the area can be heard by those within it.

Through the barrier that Cutwell pushed through, he can sense the power of this void slowly fading. You estimate it will be gone in around two hours. However, you can end it with a thought, but releasing your connection to the ineffable force that is beyond the barrier.

KCC Inactive for 1 months

Apr 10, 2024 12:37 am

Apr 10, 2024 12:37 am

Cutwell takes his lips from the flute, and probes the inside of his mouth with his tongue. It was as if there was a bad taste, or a numbing agent causing him an odd sensation after blowing on the instrument.

"We could have used that the other night, couldn’t we?" the man asks, holding up the flute for the others to see!

"When we saw them beastmen!" he reminds the others.

Len Inactive for 1 months

Apr 10, 2024 3:09 pm

Apr 10, 2024 3:09 pm

As the watch presses on, the Company doggedly pursue of the abandoned Black Skull base. The sun, relentless in its gaze, pierces through the clouds like a vengeful deity, transforming Khazuul into a blistering sauna. One cannot discern what saturates them more profoundly - the deluge of rain during the tempests, or the torrents of sweat cascading from their bodies. Nevertheless, it becomes abundantly clear that they must discard their ponchos lest they succumb to the merciless grip of overheating.

OOC:

Wilderness clothes now must be stored and take up 1 slot, or abandoned.

The company treads cautiously along the fringes of the mist-laden marsh, their steps deliberate upon the solidity of the forest floor. Before long, they stumble upon a swath of devastation cutting through the woodland, vanishing into the murky depths of the swamp only to emerge once more a short distance away. The colossal, clawed imprints etched into the earth offer no doubt - this trail is the work of Grimmjaws, slayer of Thorn and Samir. Saffron rests her hand on one of the tracks, and utters remarks in the Kantic tongue that sound like a cold, murderous threat. It stretches onward, leading further into the southeasterly expanse. You make note of the location in case you want to follow up on this lead later.

OOC:

work in progress...

Rolls

Wilderness Event - (1d6)

Len Inactive for 1 months

Apr 12, 2024 1:30 am

Apr 12, 2024 1:30 am

OOC:

... and we're back!

After several hours of arduous, sweaty trekking, the Company spies the lost Black Skull base through the trees. You approach the structure under the cover of the forest, to better get a sense of its condition.

The base is right at the edge of the jungle and juts out into the swamp. It is about a third the size of the Black Skull's main base, has a square configuration. The perimeter is surrounded by a deep, 10' wide trench full of wooden stakes, and behind that rises a tall palisade wall of weathered timbers. Watch towers rise above the wall at all four corners, with no sign of occupants. Vines have begun to cover the structure, and mushrooms sprout haphazardly from the walls, but the lost base still gives the appearance of sturdiness.

The main gate, which faces south, is shut, and the bridge that spanned the trench at the entrance has been destroyed.

OOC:

It is the beginning of watch 2! What do you want to do?

Chalrytharendir

Apr 12, 2024 1:56 pm

Apr 12, 2024 1:56 pm

Wandering through the hot steamy jungle of Khazuul is strange enough, but with the added magical silence it is even more eerie. As it fades, Freki feels a bit relieved to be able to hear the wildlife again, although when they come across the Grimjaw tracks he wonders if the silence had saved them from any nasty encounters.

Finally discovering the Black Skull camp, he breaths out a big sigh, happy to have a break from trudging through the dense swampy jungle in this part of Khazuul.

"Looks like it might be a bit tricky to get inside," he says looking at the spiked trench and high timber walls. "I wonder if they laid any traps before abandoning the base to discourage anyone else from taking the base until they were able to reclaim it. I think we should avoid the obvious main entrance. Flint and I have rope, so we can probably scale the wall. Although we'll need to find a way to cross that trench first."

Freki breaks off a large stick from a nearby tree to use as a make shift grappling hook, but waits for his companions' thoughts.

Windyridge Inactive for 1 months

Apr 12, 2024 2:59 pm

Apr 12, 2024 2:59 pm

"Looks like we have one advantage. There is definitely no one home."

Flint eyes the swamp distastefully, swats at a cloud of insects and assesses the camp.

"We could scale the wall, it's true. It's been a while since anyone was here so we have the luxury of time. But that trench. Maybe we could cut down a tree and make a bridge? One of us could scale the wall, another hand up the "bridge" and hoist it over the side?"

Last edited April 12, 2024 2:59 pm

KCC Inactive for 1 months

Apr 13, 2024 10:28 am

Apr 13, 2024 10:28 am

Cutwell wondered if this base also had an underground bunker, and what might be inside such a thing. The walls would hide their magical shack, which was a blessing too.

Feeling very much like being on the other side of those walls, he sets down his pack and puts his hands on his hips. His brow and back are slick with sweat.

"I’m not much of a climber!" he says, as if to avoid that duty. As he recalled, Sow had scaled a tree to avoid that Grimjaws beast they had encountered before and narrowly missed again today.

Chalrytharendir

Apr 13, 2024 6:49 pm

Apr 13, 2024 6:49 pm

"I have these boot spikes to help," Freki takes out the cleats he has bought in Raven's store before descending into the jungle.

"Together with the rope, I should be able to get up. There might be something up there I can lower down like a ladder. Otherwise I can tie the rope more securely from the top and drop the spikes down for the next person to climb."

Looking at Flint he suggests, "With a few dozen branches, we can even turn our two ropes into a makeshift ladder. But that would take a few hours to tie together."

Apr 13, 2024 7:32 pm

Apr 13, 2024 7:32 pm

When Cutwell makes his own magical discovery, Sow is delighted, and plays with the sound -- and lack of it -- to help the man determine just what was going on. She's less joyful when they find Grimjaws' tracks, and is quiet until they come across the old camp.

"Do we know why they abandoned it?" she asks hoarsely as the others work up plans to get inside. She also casts a glance around, looking for scalable trees tall enough to provide a view into the inside of the camp...

OOC:

If there's a tree, up she goes after dropping her shield, spear, and gear. Wet weather gear into a slot, she has one left.

Len Inactive for 1 months

Apr 14, 2024 12:40 am

Apr 14, 2024 12:40 am

Freki makes his way across the spike trench, taking his time to avoid impaling himself. Looking up at the wall from the bottom of the trench, if arrows were raining down upon him, he would stand no chance. Once across, he puts on his spikes and secures a rope at the top of the wall between the jagged row of sharpened timbers. Scaling the twenty foot wall isn't easy in this heat, but he manages it, drenched in sweat.

Fortunately, there is ledge on the opposite side of the wall, presumably where the previosuly imagined archers would perch. The ledge travels the entire length of the wall and continues on the other sides, meeting up at the corner watchtowers. From there, ladders lead into the courtyard. There are no signs of battle on these battlements - no splatters of blood, blade-chips in the timbers, or spent arrows. However, you were told this base was overrun by beastmen.

The courtyard below has been turned into a square patch of water-logged mud by the recent storms. It is choking with wind-swept debris torn from the jungle by the hurricanes, piled high in corners and strewn all over. A solitary, rustic structure - a long lodge made from logs and a thatched roof - still stands, its double-door entrance wide open.

Everything is deathly still down below.

Chalrytharendir

Apr 14, 2024 5:49 am

Apr 14, 2024 5:49 am

The eerie, still silence makes Freki suddenly realize how vulnerable he is here by himself. He doesn't see any evidence of life inside the fort, but he remembers the base was abandoned because of beastmen in the area and the long lodge in the middle, its doors gaping open give him a spooky feeling.

Could someone or something have taken refuge in there during yesterday's storm?

He turns back to his companions and signals for them to come join him but also to do so quietly. He secures the rope and drops his spikes for the next person to climb.

Apr 14, 2024 1:32 pm

Apr 14, 2024 1:32 pm

Sow goes next after carefully moving through that spiked trench, climbing up surprisingly quickly after affixing the climbing spikes to her boots. The girl is far from deft, but she's light and far stronger than she looks. There's a strength in her, and evidently it extends to her limbs.

At the top of the wall, she peers down into the camp, seeing what sense she can make of the tracks and prints inside -- how old they are, who or what made them, and so on. A bit puzzled by what she sees, she says to Freki, "Wasn't a big battle supposed to have been fought here?"

OOC:

Scratch the tree idea, this is the same thing. Also, are we hanging off the outside top of the wall, or have we slipped over top to stand on the inner ledge?

Chalrytharendir

Apr 14, 2024 2:07 pm

Apr 14, 2024 2:07 pm

OOC:

Yeah, I think we're on the inner ledge.

"I thought so too, or at least some sort of struggle that made the Black Skulls abandon this place. Maybe someone else took over and cleaned up since, but I don't see any recent activity down there," he whispers back to Sow.

"That central lodge looks suspicious though, I wonder if anything has taken shelter there or made a home for itself inside?" He adds as they wait for the others.

Windyridge Inactive for 1 months

Apr 14, 2024 3:22 pm

Apr 14, 2024 3:22 pm

Flint follows suite, struggling more than he cared to admit with the heat and slippery hands coated with sweat. Once on the ledge, he too begins to feel uneasy.

"Doesn't make much sense that there are no signs at all of a battle, a struggle, anything really. It's too quiet and too clean. I don't like it. How vulnerable are we going to be if something is indeed in the lodge as we descend from this ledge?"

KCC Inactive for 1 months

Apr 15, 2024 1:34 am

Apr 15, 2024 1:34 am

They’d been in the jungle days now, and it only now occurred to Cutwell that the group was sorely lacking an archer. A bowman would even the odds, and remove the taint of fear that was creeping over the group, now that they had scaled the wall.

He makes a huge exhibition of going to remove his arm once again.

"I can check it, can’t I?" he says, and waits to see if the group wants him to send forth his odd, mechanical contraption.

Chalrytharendir

Apr 16, 2024 6:08 am

Apr 16, 2024 6:08 am

Freki looks at Cutwell with a bit of a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean? Are you going to feel what's inside? Or are you expecting to flush out anything that's in there? If so, I'd prefer to find some cover before you do that."

"Maybe we can hide inside one of the watchtowers while your arm goes to investigate?"

KCC Inactive for 1 months

Apr 17, 2024 3:10 am

Apr 17, 2024 3:10 am

Cutwell thumps his fist against the wooden palisade three times in quick succession, as if to illustrate the point.

"See who’s home!" he adds, as explanation. "If they’re friendly, well, case closed, ain’t it? If they ain’t, then we can get at them from up here!"

Apr 17, 2024 5:25 am

Apr 17, 2024 5:25 am

While all the chatter is going on, Sow gets out her sling and a stone, spinning the thing a couple of times to properly seat the sling bullet...

Windyridge Inactive for 1 months

Apr 17, 2024 1:06 pm

Apr 17, 2024 1:06 pm

With a raised eyebrow Flint smirks at Cutwell. "That certainly announced our presence to anyone within five miles." Flint listens for any hints of others in the area.

Chalrytharendir

Apr 17, 2024 4:27 pm

Apr 17, 2024 4:27 pm

"I wish we had some cover up here, but better than being right outside the door when whatever emerges," he nods to Cutwell and readies a dart.

Last edited April 17, 2024 4:28 pm

load next

Index > Game Forums > Khazuul: A Cairn 2e Hexcrawl

<< First < 27 28 29 30 31 > Last >>

You do not have permission to post in this thread.

Game Details

Characters
- Chalrytharendir
  
  Freki
- Harrigan
  
  Sow
- Len
  
  Warden
  
  Khazuul Info
- Windyridge
  
  Thorn
  
  Flint