Pt. 2: "The Journey to Biggs Ranch"

navyik wrote:Pretty sure o failed the attack roll after dropping the shotgun... letting go of rope. Intentionally falling on the side withe the most snake on it...and/or its head...

JP voluntarily falls with the snake coiled around him. It's a 20' drop onto cacti, with 50% chance to land on fallen guy.

Result of the throw of dice "1d100" : 77! You miss him.
(and I would have let you subtract your dex mod x10 to offset, in case you wanted to actively avoid the guy)

Jp suffers 6 pts wound damage for falling, but he REF resisted, so only 1/2, so 3 damage to him. Also, 4 pts of damage (vitality), from the cacti spines.

The snake suffered 5 points of wound damage from falling and is now dead.


"Whoah, that was close," says the fallen guy. "My name's Lou. You got any water?"

navyik wrote:how do i add a picture? tried from smartphone and computer, but the normal methods do not seem to work, (nor does the insert image button above).

Right above the text box in the forum is an icon called Image. Click on that, and you should be able to paste in whatever image html code you've copied.

Jp limps over to the fallen man, dusting himself off and dazzedly scoping around for other dangers. Once satisfied of safety he will offer the man an antitoxin and a small amount of water. "Aaah ahm jaque-pierre dechivalier. Heh heh.. ah know what ah ahm deueeng clahmbing dahwn to getd yeu," handing the anti-toxin to him, "butd whaa duz yeu coming dahwn heer, eh?"

Offering water, "jezd ah zecond," then hollering up to the marshal and billy, "hey bootz! Ah seenk yeu eez ahf de huke, no? Ah seenk ah make de zeutcaise ouda diz snak!"j

Lou swallows some anti-toxin. "Thank you, kindly," he gasps. He isn't able to hold the canteen on his own, (he is paralyzed from snake venom), but he gulps the water heartily. When he's quenched his thirst, he explains, "How'd I get to be in this predicament? Heh, I was riding home, from a pretty bizarre day in town, actually, when I pulled off along the side of the road, to take a leak. Well, a darned rattler came up and bit me in the thigh. I shot the bastich. The poison must have took effect quickly, cause then I got dizzy and fell off the ledge. That's how I broke my leg."

JP can see that his right leg is twisted at an unnatural angle. The bone is sticking out in two places. The man appears to have lost a lot of blood, and the leg wound stinks.

"Aye boots, noda gahnnah be abiel tu haul heem abp lahk dees. Heez leg eez ah boochered. Maybie gotda caht eet ahf..." then to lou again: "we trai nahtd tu caht eet ahf ahv caours..."

"Hey Lou, if you will let me, I can heal you up enough to travel. But I do need to talk to you about what happened in town. Fair enough?"

Marshall Sparks will take off his helm, sheathe his sword and get ready to climb down the rope.

Chris wrote:"Hey Lou, if you will let me, I can heal you up enough to travel. But I do need to talk to you about what happened in town. Fair enough?"

Marshall Sparks will take off his helm, sheathe his sword and get ready to climb down the rope.

Give me an athletics check when Sparks climbs down.


Lou hears Auren's voice and a new fear comes into his eyes. He pleads with JP, "D-Don't let him take me! He killed my buddies. With his sorcery, he turned ol' Frank into some foul black and slimy unspeakable thing."

Jp will visually check to see if this guy has any weapons at the ready. If he is tangled up in the marshals business jp.doesnt want to be in the crossfire. "Eef he trah any hocus pocus, ah weel maek heem eentoo ah pair ahf boota, no? Ah seenk yeur bahddees, zeyza ahlrraydee da black zliaemee seengs, ahnd he egsbosed zee deezguahz. Jaque-pierre seez, eh... maynee strang seengs.

Marshall Sparks kneels down by the cliff edge and says in a calm voice, "Lou, I didn't turn Frank into a monster, I swear to Paledine. But I think that is why he and Zeke were acting so strange. I gave you boys a verbal command to stand down and more than 1 chance to avoid the fight. I didn't want to kill your 4 buddies, but assault on a peace officer and attempted murder will not be tolerated by me."

Auren continues, "I was as surprised as you by what happened to Frank. The same thing happened with Zeke. Running away was the smartest thing you did all day. I will find out what those monsters are, but I could use any information you may know about Frank and Zeke. If you help me, I will make sure you get the lightest sentence possible. I know you were not leader of that group and you fled when things got weird, so I have a feeling you are not mixed up in whatever trouble they found."

Auren looks about at the cliff face, "Or... we could leave you there. Hopefully there aren't any more rattlers around....."

try diplomacy, I can always bully him later with intimidate if that fails

diplo difficulty 10 +x2lvl

Result of the throw of dice "1d20 +3" :

11 + 3 = 14

(hopefully he is only a 1 or a 2!)

Seeing the hopelessness of his situation, Lou replies. "Alright, you win marshal. I'll tell you what I know." Then, aside to JP, he says, "What choice have I got?"

Map updated...

[img][Only admins are allowed to see this link][/img]

I tried to put everyone where I thought they said they wanted to go? ... The cave behind the boulders is now revealed. JP is at the bottom of the cliff, along with Lou, who is paralyzed. Auren, I thought, was climbing down (after his successful diplo check). I need two successful Athletics check to climb the 35' feet... Tommy was holding the rope. The rope was also tied to the wagon, which had it's wheels chucked. Not shown: dead snake near JP.

[img][Only admins are allowed to see this link][/img]

navyik wrote:Jp will visually check to see if this guy has any weapons at the ready.

He has a pistol in his belt holster. Currently, he does not appear to be in a condition to take on any of you.

The Marshall descends

athletics checks

Result of the throw of dice "1d20 +12" :

16 + 12 = 28

Result of the throw of dice "1d20 +12" :

4 + 12 = 16

Auren successfully repels down the face of the cliff.

Jp will turn his patient over to the marshal, retrieve his shotgun, and verify its condition. He will then search the area. If i can take 10 i have a 26.

Detect Evil on Lou.

assuming not a fiend or undead (if he is, i will do something different), lay hands on Lou

Result of the throw of dice "1d8 +4" :

5 + 4 = 9 wound pts restored

"feeling better cowboy?" Auren asks

Chris wrote:"feeling better cowboy?" Auren asks

"Thank you sir, much obliged!"

Auren's Detect Evil reveals nothing.

navyik wrote:Jp will turn his patient over to the marshal, retrieve his shotgun, and verify its condition. He will then search the area. If i can take 10 i have a 26.

The shotgun still functions. After searching the site, JP finds the cave that Auren had spoken of, with the shiny object some 20' inside.

Nothing else, out-of-the-ordinary, in the area.

Shotgun at the ready, jp w ill toss a few pebbles into the cave and watch/listen...
nature check 17. Whose den might this be?

Since the rope is still secured to the wagon (I believe I secured one to Goliath as well) Tommy will rappel down to where his buddies are at (F-12) with pistols and rifle of course

Athletics check:
Roll(1d20)+3:
16,+3
Total:19

whit10 wrote:Since the rope is still secured to the wagon (I believe I secured one to Goliath as well) Tommy will rappel down to where his buddies are at (F-12) with pistols and rifle of course

Athletics check:
Roll(1d20)+3:
16,+3
Total:19

Cool... One more athletics check and Tommy will make it down without falling.

navyik wrote:Shotgun at the ready, jp w ill toss a few pebbles into the cave and watch/listen...
nature check 17. Whose den might this be?

At first, JP doesn't hear anything. Give me a perception check...

Nature check reveals: it could be a lair for quite a few things; snakes, coyotes, who knows? Probably not bear or anything too big... But there are more than snakes to be wary of in the Arizona wilderness.

Once Lou is settled and resting, Marshall Sparks will mosey on over to the cave with JP to take a look for that mithral\metal he spotted earlier.

*edit* just saw your JP post

perception check if needed

Result of the throw of dice "1d20 +9" :

5 + 9 = 14

Roll of 13+16=29

Tommy's second athletics check:

Roll(1d20)+3:
19,+3
Total:22

...the kid is hot! (hopefully I'm not wasting good rolls now)

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]


Our intrepid adventurers are standing outside and peering in. The cave is very dark, but Auren and JP can see that it is littered with human-sized bones. About 20' inside, and half-stuck in the mud and debris, there is small metal orb. It is shiny, like mithril, and a slow pulsing blue light emanates from it. You hear the sounds of scurrying creatures in the black distance.

"Always strahng seengs for jaque-pierre, no?"

Detect Evil into the cave opening.

"anybody got a lantern?"

"Ah gotd wahn een zee wahgon..." with a hint if despair at the idea of climbing back up. "Whatd yeu saiy we zmoge zem ote, eh?" Brandishing a smoke bomb.

"fire it up!"

Jp puts in his gas mask and lights the smoke, waiting til its ready to go before tossing it in. Aiming to put it behind the glowing orb by 10' or so. Roll of 18+6= 24

Rifle at the ready

Chris wrote:Detect Evil into the cave opening.

No undead, no fiends

navyik wrote:Jp puts in his gas mask and lights the smoke, waiting til its ready to go before tossing it in. Aiming to put it behind the glowing orb by 10' or so. Roll of 18+6= 24

JP lobs the smoke bomb and it fills up the darkened cave with smoke. Some comes billowing out of the entrance. In a moment, you no longer hear any sounds from the cave.

Eizer zey gotd ah bohk waiy ote, orr maibee zey dead... or amboosch...

Marshall says to JP, "since you are the only one with a gas mask, maybe you should go in and check it out - what do you think Tommy?"

"Oui" Tommy says with a smirk

"Oui..." in knowing disgust. (I knew i should have bought two of these). If there is still smoke, jp will creep in low to get a look at the orb, keeping another smoke bomb at the ready. If it is dissapating quickly he will wait.

Did anyone bring a torch or lantern?

JP is standing over the shiny orb. It continues to slowly pulsate, emanating a blue light. No more sounds can be heard in the cave. The smoke starts to clear, and in the dim blue light, JP can see many bones scattered on the ground. Amongst them, there is a complete skeleton laying next to the orb, with it's arm outstretched towards it.

If he knew better jp might wonder how many rads he is getting, but he does not. Still, his slightly better than "average" wisdom tells him something is amiss. Did the skelleton appear to die in battle or of wounds, still looking up now and then for the mysterious creatures. Absent further data he may pick up a femur bone and gentl
y prod th orb and then casually golf it out if the cave.

I can get more torches from up in my saddle bags but do I really need to waste time with more athletics checks?

whit10 wrote:I can get more torches from up in my saddle bags but do I really need to waste time with more athletics checks?

Oh yes. Let 'em roll!

navyik wrote:If he knew better jp might wonder how many rads he is getting, but he does not. Still, his slightly better than "average" wisdom tells him something is amiss. Did the skelleton appear to die in battle or of wounds, still looking up now and then for the mysterious creatures. Absent further data he may pick up a femur bone and gentl
y prod th orb and then casually golf it out if the cave.

If there was more light, JP might be able to discern more... (like how the skeleton died, etc). Yet, he's been looking around the cave a couple more seconds and can make out, in the dim blue light, a few more details. Mixed into the debris on the floor are some tattered pieces of cloth, bits of old rope, and a couple rusty guns.

JP "golfs" the orb out of the cave, without further incident. The sphere continues to pulsate, and in the sunshine, the metalic exterior is even more brilliant.

Marshall Sparks will take his Red Bandana off his neck and use it to pick up the orb. Auren will examine it to the best of his abilities.

Jp will exit, remove his mask and maintain vigilant watch over the cave mouth. Shotgun again in hand.

"Watd deu seenk eez eet?"

Give me an Appraise check... -5 penalty for observation without touch contact

Marshall Sparks stares deeply into the orb..... "I recognize this from Drak legend. This is the golden sphere of Mambrino! Thou Golden Sphere of Mambrino, With so illustrious a past, Too long hast thou been lost to glory, Th'art rediscovered now at last! "

Result of the throw of dice "1d20 -5" :

1 - 5 = -4

"So maybie zey geev ahs ah hondrade dahlaerz faer zees mambrino seengie?" Jp asks with incertain ignorance, shooting in the dark.

"We ged sahm teorches ahnd luke alround een zehr. Maht bee zahm geud stahf..."

(sigh)
athletic check 1
Roll(1d20)+3:
13,+3
Total:16

ath. check 2

Roll(1d20)+3:
16,+3
Total:19

we have more torches