(Open to New Players) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

[ToxicShock]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

After having spent the morning training heavily, Kiera sought out her usual manner of resting, seated in a chair along the wall of the tavern, staring out the window over the village from under the edge of her hood. Although she had already finished her physical regimen, she often took this time to keep her senses sharp, watching the denizens go about their routines.

Today though, routine was broken, as she saw a small child running into town, crying his woes. Her hand ran up to brush back the hair normally hiding her pointed ear, cupping behind to listen in more intently as he described his situation to the dogbold and the bard. As more women approached, she relaxed more back into her seat, finishing off her drink.

Only the appearance of the sage made her shoot back to attention. Hearing of the danger that her mother warned her of and spent great time training her for had Kiera reach down to her belt and adjust her row of daggers more comfortably before standing up, flitting the hair back over her ear and adjusting her cloak back over her eyes. Prepared, she set off to silently join the heroes on their way to the farm, merely nodding to any of them that looked her way. Her elven mother had warned her every day of her life about the danger she would have to face to prepare her for it. She only imagined that the others went through something similar, and that they all understood this was business, and needed to be taken care of. That left her little time for socializing.

With her keen hearing, conversation usually interrupted her concentration anyway. Doing what she could to ignore such fight-happy comments, she looked around the floor in and out of the farm and surveyed the carnage for what weapons they might have carried, and to see what else they might have been going for, other than crops and the people. Although the barbarian was right, the crops prove curious, because for a raiding party to leave such things undestroyed might suggest they wish to continue to make use of it in the future. In that case, staging an ambush for a return party might prove fruitful, depending how much time it'd take and just how soon and undisturbed that boy wants his parents back, which surely wasn't at zero already.


(Investigation: 20 + 3 proficiency = 23)

 

[Zilrax]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

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"Oh, wow, this is gonna be a great story!," grins Laya as she quickly jotted down the sage's words and appearances and the fact she showed up at all. "Exploring the farm isn't a problem for the story, it's working towards it so a detours fine."

Once they arrived, Laya blinked as everyone went to work, and their silent fifth made an appearance. The implications Kat had found were dire indeed. And Laya only spent a moment musing over a dog girl named Kat because of it.

"Oh wow, this reminds me of the tale of Desiree Star, the ranger hero who hunted a rampaging beast assaulting farmsteads in the northern part of the kingdom, only to find out it was actually not one beast but a pack of goblins in a bear rug that kobolds had built a frame under to create a sort of bear suit! Hmm, I wonder if I can find anything relevant on them in the stories..."

Laya pulled a book out and flipped through it to see if she could find any relevant historical information on the little menaces or the nearby woods while she was at it.

(8+2 History check. So 10)

 

[Fmokou]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

Weiss acknowledged Kiera’s presence with a simple nod, letting her do her own thing. ''L-let’s take them in groups, if w-we can. E-even if they’re just goblins and kobolds, i-it would be bad if they overwhelm us.'' Weiss said in response to Kat’s comment. ''W-While you guys are searching the place, I-I will stand guard, in case they come back. When I see something, please don’t rush off on your own, i-it would be bad if they managed to split us up.'' Weiss said mainly to Kat.

While they continued their search, Weiss looked for a higher place she could stand on. Even if she failed to find a place like that, she started to look out for kobolds and goblins. It would be very unlikely for the goblins and kobolds to send another raiding party so soon, but perhaps there was a goblin or kobold watching the area.

(Perception 9 + 3 = 12)

 

[cross_grave]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

Talia surveyed the scene of destruction in silence. The place bore many signs of a typical raiding mob, but some things were off. The crops were the biggest elephant in the room. Why did they leave them be? It seemed like they just performed a harvest rather than resort to looting and burning as it was usual. The building itself was standing too, it would not be too difficult to repair it. Curious. This indicated that they were likely to return and make use of this place, she guessed, but why? What was happening here?

Shaking her head, the sorceress moved to make her own investigations. She tuned out the bard's babbling, she somehow doubted her stories would help here. Instead, her mind focused on finding signs related to her area of expertise. With such a large group involved in the raid, did they have any magic user in their midst? Had there been any sort of spellcraft utilized here? She sought for residual auras, blast marks or scattered components that would suggest any sort of dark magic being utilized here, or just some sort of magic at all.

Arcana:

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[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

Laya and Weiss wracked their brains to discover more, but drew blanks. Meanwhile, Kiera did some investigation work. She discovered that, based on what the monsters did before they left, Kat was correct in that they wanted to come back. In fact, their efforts seemed very organized for such vermin, attributing to Thia's warning. This place no doubt held value to them.

In addition, when Kiera checked inside for further clues, she learned what each family member of the farm looked like based on the pictures inside. She saw no signs of magic, so the enemies here used brute force alone. There were also strange instances of scars on the household that didn't belong to the tiny and pathetic weaponry that the two vermin held. They were bigger, as if something slightly larger was fighting here too with the intent to destroy. All valuables were taken as well, or so it seemed.

Clearly, they wished to come back for this place.

It also seemed like every window was broken on purpose, and the location of the tracks and their blatant line they drew was almost as if the vermin were telling Kiera and company to go in that direction. As if they WANTED them to be followed...

 

[cross_grave]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

"It doesn't look like the enemy had a spellcaster in their midst." Talia announced the results of her search to the rest of the group. "It seems like force of arms is all they had utilized here, not that they lacked that. A cautious approach is called for here." She looked around, noting Kiera seemed to be making some headway in her investigations, quite a bit judging by how busy she was. "Found something?" She asked the rogue. "So far I only managed to confirm what we likely won't have to expect."

 

[Ranger9000]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

"But caution is booooring. Still, now we need to figure out how to draw out some groups on there own." Kat commented with a sigh. "Maybe use someone as bait? Or hold out here and see if any come back?"

Then she heard Talia's comment to Kiera, adding. "Yeah, if you found anything then spit it out, don't keep us waiting."

 

[Zilrax]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

Laya grunts as she looked through her book. "I've got nothing. Guess there's no historical precedence for this. That or I need more and better stories."

She shrugged and went to writing descriptions of the scene while waiting to hear what had been discovered next.

 

[Fmokou]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

Weiss came down from her vantage point, sadly or perhaps luckily she didn’t see anything in the distance. ''I-I didn’t see anything in the distance. I-I guess, none of them stuck around to watch over this place, or got left behind.'' Weiss notifies them. ''Y-Yea.. I-I agree with Talia. W-We should be careful, I-I don’t want to know what would happen to us if we got ambushed by an army of kobolds and goblins.'' Weiss said concerned.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

The painting had the mother, the father, two young daughters and two young sons, one of which they saw crying into the town. This gave good reference to what they looked like.

 

[ToxicShock]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

Her lip curled when the bard referenced stories of old with delight. Bastard versions of history, torted uselessly for entertainment's sake. What's important is history, and only such that warns of history not to be repeated.

As her fellow company turned their attention to her, Kiera remained almost as still as she was when she was investigating, with only the fingertips inside her cloak moving, drumming rapidly on the pommel of her shortsword. Speaking aloud, something she'd have to look back in her memories to recall the last time she'd had to do so, her voice started only slightly higher than a whisper before she corrected her volume. "Well what.. what bothers me are two potential threats, the strength and the brain. The damage done to some of these structures is beyond that of what kobolds and goblins are capable of. But more worrisome than a brute is their cunning. I fear something is commanding them, with purpose.. and a plan. Not only might they come back to this place again, but burning it down might have hid their tracks. Though stupid and shortsighted, it's pragmatic to smash your way in, take what you need, and leave, and though these creatures certainly are simple, there's far too much unnecessary damage and clues left behind.. like a child trying to play a trick."

Kiera stood from her spot and turned to the tiefling, "If you are sure there was no magic used, that's good news to us for now, but we'll still need to be wary. I fear a trap lays ahead of us."

 

[cross_grave]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

"I am certain no magic had been used here. Whether this means there are no mages involved, or that they're waiting in the forest or simply saw no need to employ their power here remains to be determined." Talia confirmed. "And I agree with your assessment. Someone or something must have been commanding those creatures with a plan in mind. And if you claim that this damage was meant to draw our attention, then we can certainly expect an ambush." The sorceress concluded, frowning.

"We need to find a way to track these creatures without falling for any tricks they may have prepared. At the very least, something must be done about their numbers. We can't face this many at once." She shook her head. "Ideally we'd want to disable their leaders as well, but I fear that won't be possible without going through their minions first. Our priority is saving the captured people anyway." The girl sighed.

"Any ideas how we can move into the forest without walking straight into a trap? I am all ears for propositions..." Talia glanced at the barbarian and the bard. "And I'd like to hear useful ideas. Honestly, it'd be very helpful if we had someone who knows the forest enough to determine where the mob could have gone ahead of time, so we could employ an alternate route and perhaps suprise them by approaching from an alternate angle. Does any one of you have such knowledge, or knows someone who does?"

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

The girls would gather that there was nothing more to gain, and indeed, such a thought of persuing the kidnappers was a productive one. After all, who knows what might happen at a later time?

Time: 10:45 AM

Time will be an important factor at all times. Like currently, it was 10:00 when the session started, it took 15 minutes to go to the farm, and a complete investigation took 30 more minutes so every girl could each give the farm a once over. Currently, this means how long the farmer family will be in captivity. Later... It could mean not saving people in time, or yourselves.

 

[Zilrax]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

"Nope. If we don't know what the trap is, we can't know how not to fall in it.," says Laya with a shrug, "If they want to be pursued, we'd have to NOT pursue them to not fall in the trap. But then they have the family so... Not very useful. We could NOT follow the tracks and search blindly instead? No I think we've no choice but to just walk along and see what happens. Unless someone has a spell that can do something anyways."

"And nah, no idea. Everyone I knows in a book or you guys really. I mean, maybe the sage knows? Cus she's a sage? Bout all I got anyways."

 

[cross_grave]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

"Good luck dragging her from whatever work she decided to commit to now." Talia grimaced. "Hrm. How viable would it be to follow the trail without walking on it directly? Instead of that, we could try moving on a path parallel to the main trail and thus avoid any potential traps waiting on it. If there's an ambush waiting, we may actually suprise any assailants this way. What do you think?"

 

[Zilrax]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

"I'd say it depends on the terrain really. Might be that's what they want too. Problem with not knowing what the enemies doing. Shame you don't have an owl familiar like Yarralis the Wise, mighty wizard advisor to the king Jalicus the First. Yarralis had a wide breadth of knowledge but more than that, his owl familiar Boobo would watch over the plots of the court to help advise the king.," nods Laya, musing a bit.

She shrugged a little. "Well, either way we can't succeed at anything by standing still, so if nobody has ideas, let's get walking."

 

[Fmokou]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

Even though Weiss usually kept silent about matters like these, she felt like if she continued to hold her tongue and remain silent, they might decide to actually head straight into the ambush. Considering that they would’ve to deal with a small regiment of goblins and kobolds, and perhaps even the bigger creature Kiera mentioned, their chances would be extremely slim. Thus Weiss decided to timidly shuffled closer to the group, and give her opinion, even though the others might find part of it cruel.

''W-Wait before we move on, I-I think we should just a-abandon the idea of saving the family immediately, e-even if it sounds cruel. I-If we also get kidnapped by those monsters, t-the town would be completely defenseless, and we would accomplish nothing.'' Weiss said sadly, as she didn’t like the idea of abandoning the people that got kidnapped, but felt like it was their only option. ''I-Instead, we should e-either go back to town a-and form a regiment of our own, o-or perhaps we could lay an ambush in this place, m-maybe even both.'' Weiss suggested with a beat red face, as she felt uncomfortable speaking her mind like this.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

Talia listened to the idea before shaking her head. "The first problem is that we'd need capable fighters in order to form a large enough force - which the town doesn't have, as you pointed out - and it'd take time. Do you know that many fighters back home?" The sorceress asked. "The second relies on the idea that the creatures will come back here soon and without a force that could overwhelm us. In theory decent plans, but they suffer from critical flaws. And either way we'd be giving up the initiative. If this is merely the beginning of something bigger like the sage claimed, then this kidnapping likely served a purpose beyond merely drawing attention. We'll need to move soon, but I'd like to hear some plans on how to avoid traps."

At the mention of stories and familiars, the sorceress simply sighed. "Yes, well... I am not that skilled with my power yet, sadly, and it doesn't seem to be all that suited to conjuring or binding servants. Aside of minor trickery, I've mostly managed to learn how to evoke energy and force. At the very least that leaves me a capable combatant, which will be useful here." She declared. "I say we move parallel to the trail and keep an eye out for ambushes, try to avoid being seen. I'd rather to have the element of suprise on my side, if possible."

 

[Fmokou]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

''W-We don’t need to have c-capable fighters, w-we just need people to even the odds. T-The brunt of their force are going to be poorly equipped kobolds and goblins, i-if we have people deal with them, w-while we focus on killing the leaders, we might actually stand a chance.'' Weiss insisted. ''A-And we can even set up an ambush with the townsfolk, p-perhaps set up a trap or two, and make some makeshift fortifications. W-We just need to make sure that we don’t get overwhelmed, and I don’t see many options besides asking the town for help.'' Weiss suggested. She looked pretty serious about her idea, feeling it might be their only option.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: (Open) Dungeons and Depravity: Revenge of the Unchained

As the girls argued, they'd eventually hear the slightest sounds of chopping of many axes against wood, far in the distance. In the same direction was a pillar of smoke in the forest. Perhaps it was someone making a chimney fire?