Dungeons & Dragons - The Orb of Kendar

[Plainsfox]

Aelgeirr cleaned his spear off, sheathed it and gathered his errant handaxe while continuing with his thoughts. "I think we go as we are. If we hit whatever has the Orb hard with what we have on hand, we could put it down. If we rest for much longer, we could lose the Orb." Once he had his axe, he would move towards Mercy to see what help he could be.  

[Kowsauni]

Ambra Goldstar
Mage in Training

Ambra stumbles back over to the rest of the group, giving the horse monsters a wide birth. "Y-yes. The Orb must be near to warp these creatures as such. We should hurry after it." Ambra didn't realize it, but she was still trembling from the battle. This was all still quite new to her. Nonetheless, Ambra tries to focus in again on the latent magical energies of the nearby orb.

((18 arcana check to refocus in on the direction that the orb is in))  

[Plainsfox]

Aelgeirr would scuttle over besides Ambra s the little mage tried to refocus her energy. "Hey. Just wanted to let you know you're doing good. Things are gonna be OK. Just stay behind me or the Orc and things'll be fine. No pressure, K?" Aelgeirr tried to give the little tiefling the most non intimidating smile he could.  

[Rain Yupa]

((Guess who has two thumbs and can apparently post from work again!

THIS GUY!))

Ambra focuses once more, and since she had already keyed in on that particular thread of arcane power before, she was easily able to reorient herself easily. She would also feel that it she was closer to it, but not quite there yet; less than an hour's travel will probably get her to where it was.

Though it's hard to judge in this terrain, general hunger from it being lunchtime suggested that it was around mid-day, giving you about six hours (give or take) to get the orb and get it back to Clearwell.

Ambra can key in on the arcane magick of the orb pretty quickly, but it will be up to you four if you want to take a short rest or not.  

[Plainsfox]

If Ambra would communicate this to the party, Aelgeirr would first ask Thork "There's no way anyone can turn an hour's head start into something greater, is there? Like a ferry or a river or some such? If not, then we may as well take a rest."

If said rest is taken, Aelgeiir will use his healing skills on Mercy.

OOC:
Heal 1d20+6
Results: 14  

[Paidi tou Selini]

The Avenger could only sigh and shrug as the dark elf ran. It was for the best. He was clearly not suited for battle. Sehanine would protect him in the shadows, but this was no place for the gutless. At first she smiled to the offered assistance, but her eyes quickly narrowed as the Eladrin left her out of the list of people who would protect the mage girl. A confusing insult to be sure, but she supposed it just went to show that these extraplanar beings were not the elves she had come to love. It was a shame, but she had been warned as such by friends and "family" both. With an indignant huff she turned away from Aelgeirr and began tending to her own wounds, disinfecting and wrapping them up as best she could. "I'll only need a few minutes. They're just flesh wounds. We must get that orb back as fast as possible."

Extended Action: Mercy takes the shortest time she can to spend 2 healing surges, bringing her back up to 24hp.  

[Plainsfox]

The Eladrin was completely and utterly bewildered by the Sehanine worshipper's reaction. He was just about to start cleaning off Mercy's wound when she shirked away. He would then put his healing stuffs away and take a breather himself. "Ready when the rest of you are."

OOC:
Using healing surge to bring hp to max.  

[Kowsauni]

Ambra Goldstar
Mage in Training

Ambra would instinctively tense a bit as Aelgeirr approached but then relax. His words did bring her a bit of comfort. She looked up at him and then away, her face flushing a little red in embarrassment. She felt like her behavior during battle must have made her look like and absolute fool to them.

Ambra would explain to everyone the results of her Arcana check and sit in silence at everyone else tended to their wounds. Once again she felt a bit bad about running for cover as everyone else got hurt but she had to but that guilt aside for now. They had a job to finish. Once everyone had completed their sort rest she would nod to Aelgeirr. "Right, I will lead the way. According to my readings the Orb should be this way." Ambra would then take off in the direction where she sensed the most potent magic energy that she had come to understand as the Orb's signature.  

[Rain Yupa]

The rest of the journey Ambra leads everyone on passes without incident.

And by "passes without incident", I mean there were probably a dozen or so "almost incidents" that either running or keeping a low profile avoided unnecessary encounters.

But! But eventually, there would be a noticeable terrain shift. Through occasional breaks in the canopy, you seemed to be heading towards a small mountain large hill. It wouldn't be clear at first if that was your destination or not, but as Ambra felt she was truly closing in on its location, the density of trees would begin to thin, and the ground would begin to incline.

The hill you approached probably only reached a hundred feet or so in elevation compared to the forest ground; it was rocky with sparse, withered vegetation dotting it here and there. Though where you came out from the southeast didn't directly face it, there seemed to me a cavern entrance on the southern face.

Also, there seemed to be some sort of signage around the entrance, but from where you stood you were too far away and not at a good angle to read it clearly.

Things are otherwise quiet. Ambra, you're pretty sure the orb was taken in there.  

[Plainsfox]

Aelgeirr would keep one of his franciscas in his hand as he hurried along. He was awfully surprised that none of these "encounters" turned out to be major fights, which was for the best. If they spent themselves on any of these, it was unlikely they'd recover the orb.

When Aelgeirr saw the hill, however, he cursed. He cursed in languages elves had to borrow from to curse because elvish language tended to lack the sharpness needed to really express a bad sitiation. "Anyone want to read the sign, or shall we charge right in?"  

[Kowsauni]

Ambra Goldstar
Mage in Training

((Sorry, I missed this))

Ambra would pause a moment to catch her breath. The rest of the trip to this point had been no walk in the park and her time in the classroom did not really prepare her for all this forest walking. Still, if her readings were right this cave they now stood before contained what they were after. Ambra whispers to the rest of the group. "As far as my reading of the magic flow tells me, the orb lies in that cave. I believe we might as well all move up as group and investigate."  

[SCN_ Grey_fox]

"As team then." Thork spoke moving to the front and onward to the sign  

[Rain Yupa]

As the group would round toward the entrance of the cavern, they would be able to make out the signs.

And while it is (very messily) written using the Common script, the words themselves are unintelligible to you. And only one language other than standard Common uses that alphabet:

Goblin.

Also, it appears to be written in red paint! I wonder where they got the paint from.

Three of you speak Elven and one of you Giant, so what the sign says is lost on you.

There are some crude pointed wooden barricades in the way, counting as difficult terrain, but out of combat they are relatively easy to navigate between; they do their job of slowing anyone going right into the cavern, especially if they tried to charge right through them. THORK.

At the moment, still outside the barricades, you don't see anyone at all, especially since the cavern veers to the left just inside the entrance. Mercy, your passive perception allows you to hear distant voices. Your passive insight isn't bad either, so even without being able to make out what they say (language barrier aside), you would probably consider it 'idle chatter'.

How do all of you want to proceed?  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

Thork looked at the sharp spikes, which gave him pause. "Goblin take orb, people die; Thork say give fire"