Part 1 - The Witchwood

[BowenSilverclaw]

DAY 1

The afternoon sun beats down on you; the air is hot and still. The sparsely settled lands of Elsir Vale are starting to grow monotonous, with a seemingly endless line of dusty flyspecks of towns. For all of civilization's progress, the continent of Khorvaire still had plenty of thinly populated areas. The town of Drellin's Ferry lies a few miles ahead of you. It's a settlement hard on the borders of the Witchwood, and the best place from which to begin exploring the nearby forest.

Elsir Vale

Map:
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]
Your current location is represented by the red dot on the road southwest of Drellin's Ferry.

[PhaedrusXY]

deleted

[BowenSilverclaw]

OOC:
[spoiler]Gentlemen, could you please give me a marching order and Spot checks?

By the way, does anyone have a mount? If so, are you currently mounted or walking alongside it?[/spoiler]

[bearsarebrown]

Saru

OOC[spoiler]Sitting on Goldflower's shoulder in birdy form.

SPOT; 1d20+19=29
[/spoiler]

[BowenSilverclaw]

Saru

OOC[spoiler]Sitting on Goldflower's shoulder in birdy form.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Spot check?[/spoiler]

[PhaedrusXY]

[spoiler]Kalal will take the lead, unless the Colonel wants it. If so, he'll take the rear instead. Spot 1d20+2=3 He has his tower shield equipped and is adjacent to Goldflower. Stance active and Shield Other pre-cast.[/spoiler]

[Nanshork]

[spoiler]
I'm somewhere in the middle.  I have cast mount, so I've got a mount, and I'm riding it along with a bird on my shoulder apparently.

I have a -5 modifier and my spot is still 11!
[/spoiler]

[VennDygrem]

Yamanu remains in the middle of the group, as the most tactically advantageous position. Relying on his acute sense of hearing as much as his sense of sight, if not more than, he attempts to maintain constant vigilance.

[spoiler]Spot: 1d20(6)+10=16

Please let me know if you ever need a Listen check. Remember, Yamanu can sense sounds as faint as a heartbeat within 30 ft. [/spoiler]

[Agita]

[spoiler]The Colonel insists on leading from the front. *barely makes save to resist putting corny innuendo here*

Spot (1d20-1=6)

That's what my spot mod will probably be. Not that it matters much, with that kind of roll.
However, she does have Scent from Hunter's Sense stance, so she'll probably smell the gobbos anyway.[/spoiler]

[BowenSilverclaw]

OOC:
[spoiler]Please head over to the Marauder Attack thread and roll for Initiative [/spoiler]

[PhaedrusXY]

"What in the nine hells was all that about? Are these guys really just bandits, as they claim?"

He dismounts and brings his axe down onto the fallen hound, to make sure it's dead.

[spoiler]Attack the hound, using Stone Power with a -3 penalty to attack to gain 6 temporary hit points to offset the 5 in his delayed damage pool.[/spoiler]

Then he continues:

"And who wants to use this belt to patch people up? If I take mine off, I'll lose the benefit from it for a day." He pulls a healing belt from his mule's pack. He also pulls out a wand of Lesser Vigor.

[VennDygrem]

Yamanu scours the 'battlefield' for his thrown daggers, returning them to their sheathes. He treats each one as a cherished friend. At the same time, he attempts to look over the bodies of their fallen foes for any resources or interesting items they may have among their possessions.

Returning to the group, he says, "Who is damaged most severely? I am wounded, but it is not dire. Patch up the others first."

The Jackal looks around at the remains of their combat.
"I'd like to commend you all on your performance. They had superior numbers, but we had superior tactics. Still, I would agree. These can not be simple highwaymen. They did mention something earlier, though, didn't they? Yes, yes, the dual-wielding warrior shouted something about being a member of... what was it, oh! Something about the 'Red Hand.' As well, they mentioned a Goddess of their's. I don't know much of Hobgoblin society, but do any of you know them to worship a Goddess? I've no clue, but it still seems odd."

[spoiler]Search check to look over the bodies:
1d20(13)+3=16[/spoiler]

[BowenSilverclaw]

[spoiler]The loot Yamanu has found on the bodies (all of them):
-Masterwork Longsword x9
-Chain Shirt, Chahar-Aina & Dastana x9
-Heavy Steel Spiked Shield x9
-Composite Longbow (+4 Strength) x9)
-Masterwork Composite Greatbow (+2 Strength) x3
-Masterwork Studded Leather x3
-Masterwork Buckler x3
-Longsword x3
-Masterwork Short Sword x2
-Masterwork Composite Longbow (+2 Strength) x1
-Mithral Chain Shirt, Masterwork Chahar-Aina, Masterwork Dastana x1
-Masterwork Morningstar x1
-Masterwork Light Crossbow x1
-Masterwork Fullplate x1
-Buckler x1
-Chain Shirt Barding x2

-300 Arrows total
-20 Bolts total

-355 gp in coins

-2 Scrolls
-2 Potions

-Holy Symbol (unknown, Knowledge (religion) to identify)
[/spoiler]

[PhaedrusXY]

[spoiler]Dibs on the full plate.

Knowledge Religion and Nobility: 1d20+2=13, 1d20+2=9

Doubt that does much...
[/spoiler]Seeing Yamanu retrieving his daggers reminds Kalal of his own shield, which he goes and gets. He says "I don't know much about hobgoblin religion, nor society, myself. Let me take a look at that holy symbol though. It might job my memory.

They had some decent equipment, though, didn't they? Hmm... anyone else want the heavy armor? My mule could use a set of that barding, too."

[BowenSilverclaw]

Kalal:
[spoiler]You can't be certain, nor do you know anything specific, but it appears the symbol is somehow related to dragonkind.[/spoiler]

[VennDygrem]

"I'll be fine with my share of the gold. Their weapons and armor are too large and unwieldy for me to use reliably, and I prefer to travel light anyway.

Hmm, can any of you identify what's in these potion flasks?"

[PhaedrusXY]

Kalal:
[spoiler]You can't be certain, nor do you know anything specific, but it appears the symbol is somehow related to dragonkind.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]So it looks like a dragon head or something, but I still can't identify it?  [/spoiler]

[BowenSilverclaw]

Kalal:
[spoiler]You can't be certain, nor do you know anything specific, but it appears the symbol is somehow related to dragonkind.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]So it looks like a dragon head or something, but I still can't identify it?  [/spoiler]

[spoiler]You can't tie it to a certain religion, but it definitely has something to do with dragons

To be more precise, the symbol seems to depict a five-headed dragon of sorts.


The DC was 15, just be glad I gave you some info


 [/spoiler]

[Agita]

"And just plain superior power," The colonel comments in reply to Yamanu's assesment, pulling arrows out of her body. "But." Stepping up to the jackal-man, Harika glowers down at him like an officier at an insubordinate soldier. "Surprise quiz, soldier: What do we do when we encounter unknown forces and do not know if they're hostile? Tip: The answer is not 'throw knives'. This time it didn't matter as they were planning to ambush anyway, but keep it in mind, yes? As for healing," She continues, turning her head just enough to look at Kalal, "I could probably use some. Let's say I wear red for a reason."

Casting her gaze over the items as she cleans her sword with a piece of clothing from one of the deat bodies, she says, "Hmpf. Better outfitted than normal brigands, too. I've never heard of a 'Red Hand', though, and none of the hobbo mercenaries I've seen so far were very religious... These ones said something about not serving those who don't respect their race too, no? They might really be part of a larger force. In that case, they'll probably leave us alone out of fear or target us for revenge from now on." With a twitch of her hand, the sword disappears in her glove, and she grins. "I don't mind either way."

[spoiler]She wears red for a reason.

I also might as well take one of the +4 Str composite bows.[/spoiler]

[Nanshork]

[spoiler]
If somebody gives me the damn thing I'll identify it.  
[/spoiler]

Goldflower goes the the crab, stroking its shell and telling it what a good job it did.  She then snaps her fingers, dismissing it.  

Turning back towards the rest of the group she casts detect magic and scans the loot.