THE GILDED THRONE: IC Thread

flare22 · Post by **flare22** » Wed Sep 11, 2013 2:17 am

First yellow examins the skull nott sure what the relevent skill is for anthropology but yellow will try a heal check to determin the cause of death and mabe its age or sex and if he's lucky its species but that's more likely a knowlege check.

Then yellow uses craft alchemy to determine what the black cakes are and what if anything is specail about the arrows

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Wed Sep 11, 2013 3:00 am

The skull looks both old and inhuman. Yellow is unsure of the cause of death, but he notes that his fingers feel a little numb after handling it.

The black cakes are refined pesh, a potent drug. Though these may have lost some of their effectiveness with age.

Whatever · Post by **Whatever** » Wed Sep 11, 2013 6:55 am

"Well, that doesn't tell us much. Our mysterious cartographers also sold drugs, but around here I'm not sure if that's even a crime. Well, whatever we don't take, we should re-bury. Starting with that skull. Best case scenario is that it's harmless. But I wouldn't bet on that." Reve says.

flare22 · Post by **flare22** » Wed Sep 11, 2013 8:11 am

While the rest of the party picks over the loot yellow climbs a tree to see if he cam spots signs of the lizard folk village as well as the direction the air ship is heading

"Yeah I agree so does anyone want any of this? If felf could still use a crossbow then nows the time as for me I don't see anything I want still ill take the pesh if no one else wants it I've got an idea how we might use it later."

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Wed Sep 11, 2013 4:24 pm

From his vantage point, Yellow can see smoke streaming into the sky from fires near the lake.

The airship has taken a wide turn back toward Artume.

Whatever · Post by **Whatever** » Wed Sep 11, 2013 10:59 pm

"If you want the drugs, they're yours. I just hope your plan doesn't involve using the stuff." Reve says, taking the crossbow, bolts, and feather token. She inspects the token more carefully, trying to determine what sort of object it transforms into.

Felf takes the iron rations. "Hey, dinner! That'll save us from hunting anything that's not tall, dark, and scaly tonight."

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Wed Sep 11, 2013 11:17 pm

After some inspection, Reve figures out that it's a Feather Token (Boat).

EDIT: Reve also recalls a story she heard once about a branch of Daggermark's poisoner's guild who sold professionally envenomed arrows wax-sealed for freshness and safety. Maybe these crossbow bolts are poisoned? Probably wise to be careful when uncapping them.

flare22 · Post by **flare22** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 1:35 am

Yellow climbs down and checks on the eggs and the hatchling

"I saw fire near the lake so were definatly in the right place"

Whatever · Post by **Whatever** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 4:22 am

"Well, it's inhabited. We should still make sure it's the right group of lizardfolk, before you charge in, guns blazing. If they're coming back here to harvest more lumber, this would be an excellent place to confront a small group of them, and maybe get some answers. If we camp nearby, we can be ready for them in the morning." Reve suggests.

flare22 · Post by **flare22** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 7:15 am

"Yeah sure let's camp here reve you want to use our usualy stratagy and cast that keep watch spell while I set up somthing for the eggs?"

Yellow does his best to see that the eggs safe and healthy over night and also grabs some the freshest meat they have and combos it with some grass to feed the baby hippogriff before making himself somthing to eat

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 5:09 pm

If the party makes camp, where do they do so?

In the clearing? In the trees? If inside the woods, how far in?

Whatever · Post by **Whatever** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 5:21 pm

"Well, not right here." Reve says. "It's too open, and we don't know what time the lizardfolk are planning to show up. It wouldn't be ideal for them to catch us still breaking camp. Let's check around, try to find a good camp site close by."

Reve and Felf sneak off into the woods, to check for nearby campsites, but they stay within earshot of the clearing.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 6:10 pm

There's a decent spot around a hundred feet in. The surrounding trees completely block out the clearing without being dense enough to impede movement.

Whatever · Post by **Whatever** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:37 pm

Reve and Felf lead the others to that spot and set up camp. Reve prepares Keep Watch and casts it on herself and one other. If no one else wants to stay up, it'll be her and Felf.

(last post for me until Sunday)

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 11:58 pm

The night passes without significant direct interruption. Insects chirp, owls hoot, and getting a decent night's sleep proves a little challenging as the party attempts to adjust from the relative quiet of night in town and "noble estates" to the sound of the living forest around them.

Thankfully, there is no rain and the temperature never dips down quite far enough to make breaking out tents worth the hassle.

Once or twice, torch-bearing patrols of lizardfolk pass down the trail that cuts through the clearing the party set down in. On the second occasion, the light seems to linger. Perhaps the lizardfolk have seen something? It's hard for whoever's on watch to make out the details from their campsite.

flare22 · Post by **flare22** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 6:41 am

after waking up yellow checks on the eggs and feeds the chick then makes breakfast for himself without using a fire then he scouts ahead to take a look at the lakes shore line while avoiding being seen

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 4:58 pm

{So you didn't check out the patrol? Okay.}

The young hippogriff squeaks and claws ineffectually, but gives in to hunger once it realizes that Yellow is giving it some of the party's water-moistened dried meat.

It is slow going through the trees, and the others quickly fall out of sight behind him. But eventually, he begins to hear a ringing sound echoing from the lakeshore. It sounds like... a smithy. Yeah, as if people are working on at least four different anvils at once. There's some sawing, too.

Whatever · Post by **Whatever** » Mon Sep 16, 2013 7:25 pm

After the long night, Reve and Felf break camp, packing up their things and tidying up the marks the group has left on the area. When Yellow heads out to the lake, Felf suggests, "If you get in trouble, just shoot your gun. We'll head for the noise. But so will everyone else, I bet."

Once they're ready to head back to the clearing for further investigation, or a possible confrontation, they settle down to wait for Yellow to return (unless Valdym and Nesha have other plans).

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Mon Sep 16, 2013 9:12 pm

(Nope, I'm well and truly caught up now, so will be more active, but for now I'm fine going with the flow.)

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 5:43 pm

Yellow returns with intriguing news. There's a whole lizardfolk village along the lakeshore, and their wooden huts, rafts, and defensive fences are all recently constructed.

Lizardfolk warriors are drilling with tridents, large wooden shields, and bone-studded leather armor, all of which are being churned out of a pair of forges. The metal in the tridents looked like decent-quality steel from what Yellow saw, which is a bit surprising.

Here and there, decorative totem poles are carved with images of waterfowl and swamp beasts. The top head is always a monstrous cross between human and snake.

Overall, Yellow estimates somewhere between 60 and 80 inhabitants, there were around 20 buildings but none of them were large enough to house many people and several looked dedicated to storage.

The wooden rafts are mostly moored to a dock, but a few are out on the lake as lizardfolk... fish or something? He wasn't sure.

flare22 · Post by **flare22** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 8:22 am

after reporting the results of his scouting yellow packs up and makes sure the
eggs and chick are warm before saying

"you guys ready to confront the lizards village if so I suggest we confront a small group when their out hunting or something because I don't think we want to fight the whole village if we can avoid it"

Whatever · Post by **Whatever** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 1:48 am

"That doesn't sound like a village. It sounds like an army. I'd rather not confront it at all. It seems someone wasn't kidding about Waike sending us off to get killed. Maybe we should have stayed in Brevoy after all." Reve says.

"But in any case, we should get more information, before we report all of this, to, well, whomever we're reporting back to. If we can find the lizard who led the raid, and if he doesn't have an army with him, and if there's no naga around, and, well, that's a lot of 'ifs'. No sense planning an attack when we know so little, still."

"If we do ambush a small group, what then? Won't be easy to hold them captive, and someone'll notice when they don't come back. But letting them go means we'll have an army after us. And they may not know much. It might be our best option, though, unless we want to head back empty handed. Which would be a better fallback plan than ending up dead, so let's keep it in mind."

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 2:11 am

Valdym says "We should play it safe, certainly, and simple reconnaissance may prove worth the regent's time if we can uncover something juicy enough."

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 3:33 am

"Infiltrators, eh. Creeping, sneaking, cutthroat scalawags, sniffing for information to bring back to their masters. So you're the ones who've got the duckies in a muddle. I like it!"

A low giggle echoes from behind one of the trees that surrounds the party's campsite, and a shriveled old man barely 3 feet in height sidles into view. He wears thick iron boots, filth-caked leathers, and a long pointed cap that drips red onto the forest floor.

"I think I've heard of you! Egg breakers, sprite cookers, spreaders of pain and sorrow. I tip my cap to you, big'uns!"

Indeed, the creature sketches a vague salute, but its gaze never drops. He smiles tightly as he grasps a battle axe ludicrously oversized for him in both hands.

"Duckies were always waiting for somebody to boss 'em around. But I don't like this latest direction, nosirree. My buddies don't, either. They got iron, hsssss. Not happy where they were anymore. The old Lady's dead, ya know. Big snake offed her, said the duckies belonged to it now. Somebody needs hurt em bad, so they give up this foolishness. Gonna be you?"

Though the strange gnome seems to be rambling, most of the party gets the feeling that quite a bit could hinge on their answer to his question.

flare22 · Post by **flare22** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 5:19 am

"that depends if were tough enough to take out this naga alone Id love to kill it and get these lizards off artumes back but im not going fight something out of my league my names Yellow by the way are you deathless woe?"