The search is on
Subject Turn
Sorry, I tride to make a map that I was happy with yesterday and nothing worthwhile came from it.
I will just do a description of the area in the turn I am going to write in the next hour.
From: Mark
Subject The search is on
With Mund's help the party quickly finds the driest place around to make camp. It is not saying much. The air itself is saturated with mist from the waterfall, and the moisture seems to cling to everything. What was invigorating in the late day sun becomes uncomfortable in the cooling night air. The evening meal is spent discussing who will be involved in the search and how the search will be run. It seems that Salix, Allistair and Ragnar will be the major players in the search with Kal and Harp supporting them. After the mention of a spell that might help them locate the portal, Allistair determines that he does not know enough about the portal for the spell to work. Setting a standard watch the party makes an early night of it.
The next morning is a dreary as the night before was. There is no sun to burn off the chill and the moisture seems to get into everything. It had been decided to spend this day in a visual overview of the area, so that they might have an idea if something changed once the portal shows up. Salix and Noctis are the central part of this plan. At mid-morning Salix brings out his companion and sets him on the ground in front of him. He studies the owl for a minute and then sits down next to him. He enters a state of meditation and suddenly there are two owls sitting on the ground. One of them turns to the other, squawks at him and they both take wing. Salix had informed the others that he would be gone for several hours so the rest continue on with their plan.
With their slower speed, Ragnar and Surin have been assigned the area closest to the camp. Harp, Kal, Ran and Mund each head in their respective directions. Allistair, having spent the morning memorizing only the flying spell, takes off from camp and goes to inspect the waterfall and the tunnel the water exits the mountain from. None of them expect to find anything today, since it is still a day before the portal is supposed to be there. However, they are all trying to get a sense of the surrounding area and places that a portal might show up and still be hidden just by the terrain. It is an exhausting day, but by the end, when all the reports have been made, the party has a sense of accomplishment. They are early, they have a good sense of the surrounding land and several party members whose skills and abilities should make finding the portal possible.
The next day dawns as Grey as the one before, but there is a sense of excitement in the party. They eat breakfast and move out on their search, each one wanting to be the person that finds the portal. Not that any of them know what the portal looks like, but they are all sure that they will know it when they see it. The search is fairly close to what they had done the day before with Salix and Noctis taking wing for about 5 hours each day, Allistair using his fly spell to get some height advantage. Kal, Ragnar and Harp all use what ever spells or prayers that they have to try and find the portal, using the detect magic cantrip and orison. Unfortunately nothing was found.
The second day followed much the same as the first: up early, quick to search, disappointment at days end. However on the third day, when Noctis and Salix wing back into camp, the druid quickly returns to his natural shape and is almost giddy with news. "We found it, or at least we think Noctis found it. It is on the plateau on top of this cliff, hidden in a copse of trees. We can show you when we get up there." Looking around at the rest of the party, Salix all of a sudden realizes how accustomed to flying he has become. "Oh, right, getting up there might be a small problem."
OODM: Ok, the portal has probably been found. Now what?
From: Kevin
Subject Turn
A whole day to work, and nothing to show for it. We are sitting around, with baited breath, waiting for a turn, and what do we get???
Complaining -- I am not happy with my map. What a crock. You were sitting around watching Sally Jesse or Judge Judy, or, heaven forbid, Oprah. Now get to work.
Oh, I can make the game Saturday.
From: Kevin
Subject The search is on
How high and how steep is the cliff separating us from the portal?
Would someone with some ranks in climb be able to climb up if there are not enough Fly spells available?
Derek, how many fly spells can you do in 1 day?
Anyone want to climb?
From: Jason
Subject The search is on
I'm fairly certain that he would not be able to cast enough fly spells to get us all up in one day, as there are 8 of us that need to get up. Obviously Salix will have no problem getting himself up. There are, however, other methods of flying available to the rest of us.
Celestial Hippogriff:
Carrying Capacity: A light load for a hippogriff is up to 300 pounds; a medium load, 301--600 pounds; and a heavy load, 601--900 pounds.
To ride one as a mount requires a trained hippogriff, but I would guess he could carry stuff without training? The real problem is, he sticks around for 5 rounds, and I don't know if that's enough to fly up to the top of the cliff. Ragnar could always summon a second one on the fourth round I suppose. We would need to know how high it is before we start guessing.
Other spells that would be useful include levitate, spider climb, reduce, and bull's strength if someone has to climb. Hopefully we can avoid that. Unfortunately, the only one of those available to Ragnar is bull's strength, the least useful.
From: Josh
Subject The search is on
Depending on how tall the thing is, Kal can probably set up some system with ropes and pullies to make it easier for some people to get up.
Kal can also cast bull's strength.
From: Derek
Subject The search is on
Allistair considers how he might help everyone get to the top of the mesa. "I am limited by how much I can magically fly and by what I can normally carry. Using some of my other magical abilities, I think I can stretch it out a bit more. I have the magical ability to both enlarge and reduce people. If I were to reduce in size several of us and then increase the size of the strongest of us, he should be able to carry us with ease. Then I would simply use a fly spell on the enlarged person, and he could fly us to the top. The only dangerous part is that we must be able to get to the top before the spells effects end."
From: Kevin
Subject plans
OOC: Derek, not a bad idea. Mund could probably climb himself if he is uncomfortable letting his brother shrink him. Harp is the strongest, so he could cast Bulls Strength on himself, we could shrink most of the others, Harp could fly up, drop them off. If iit takes a couple of trips, I think we can still work this out.
Lets see how everyone else responds (some of the character may not like the idea) and then we can work out how many of what spells/prayers we may need.
From: Mark
Subject plans
It is pretty much a shear face several hundred feet high and at least 1/2 mile across.\
Some one with climb, if they take 20, should be able to get up to the top of the cliff.
Actually I am watching the Firefly TV series before I go out to see Serentiy with the Hatrack crew coming to town this weekend.
From: Kevin
Subject Questions
OOC: Mark, my questions
1) fly spell - book indicates 60 flying, 40 with load. 1/2 speed when rising. So, loaded going up 20' per round. 10 rounds in a turn (minute). So. 200' up in a minute when loaded. Right???
2) Enlarge Person and Bulls Strenght - Enlarge adds +2 to strength, Bulls add +4 - different spells, will the bonus stack?
3) Reduce Person - spells states that it will reduce whatever you are carrying. If you are sitting on your horse, is he reduced as well?
From: Derek
Subject Questions
OOC: Only if you are carrying your horse!
From: Kevin
Subject Questions
Allistair might not be able to, but Harp probably could at least lift his light riding horse, especially if he had Bulls Strength going.
From: Jason
Subject Questions
If you can fly up 200 feet per minute for 5 minutes, you probably shouldn't have a problem getting up a cliff "several hundred feet high".
While Ragnar doesn't really share the traditional dwarven mistrust of arcane magic, he certainly will understand if Mund and others want to get up under their own power. If Kal has mentioned his pulleys and skill with ropes, he will suggest that maybe Kal could be flown to the top to set up his ropes to help the rest of the party climb. Will we need our horses? Would reduce even work on our horses? If so it might be worth it to fly them up, but if the portal isn't too far away, Ragnar certainly won't complain about leaving them behind for awhile. Of course, he can carry a medium load without slowing down :)
At any rate, as spiritual advisor Ragnar doesn't have much to say, but if we need some people to climb the cliff he will volunteer. And he'll pray for stone shape just for fun while he's at it.
"Ragnar was here"
From: Mark
Subject Questions
1: right
2: No the horse is a seperate creature. They are talking gear.
The horses will be a problem.