Completed [Play-by-Post] Magic World/BRP: "In Search of the Sorcerer"

"Right you are." Marcán pushes Cormac with the heel of his boot to wake him up. "Let's go now, the sooner we face the horror the sooner we can go to bed."

 

"Gah! What is it? You want to look at that thing at this time of day? I hope we don't have any trouble." Cormac rubs his eyes, then puts his flask away.

 

"Describe the hilltop as best you can as we walk, Mage. Maybe we can determine the best approach."

 

Resolved to trudge up the mountain and gain the summit before the weird fog abates and the portal possibly closes, the troupe decamps ...

(How do you all wish to proceed? For instance: Take or leave the horses? Move with or without a light? Who leads the way, who takes up the rear? Etc.)

 

"Should I crawl up there silently?"

 

"I think we should proceed with caution, but I don't think crawling the whole way will be necessary. I can scout the way, but are any of you with arcane knowledge stealthy enough to join me?"

OOC (open) OOC (close)

I don't know about the horses. Someone(s) would need to stay with them and we may need everyone for the creeping doom we're walking into. But on that same note, I don't like taking the horses into said creeping doom. Thoughts?

Not much activity lately so tagging in case of notifications going all
Siveon Helly Llywelyn ap Gruffydd ERYFKRAD L'ennui

 

"I wasn't speaking of literal crawling. I can sneak up there and I have a good amount of arcane knowledge."

 

"Hehe. Then we will lead the way, and the others can back us up!"

 

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Someone else can mind the horses this time, it'd be hell having to chase them if when they run.

Let's just tether them here, or wherever they'd find grass to eat(if that's what horses do), I got the spikes for it.
In which case I'll tag right behind Grimgravy and Wayward Son.
Tanks in front and all that.

 

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Who has the best sneaking skills among us? Ker is 66 move 66 hide.

"I could come too, if you need me, but as the firebearer I do not mind being our main group's light and vanguard."

 

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Mab has 78 hide and 28 move(wait.....)

 

Horse Stuff (open) Horse Stuff (close)

It doesn't take any specialized knowledge to know that the horses aren't likely to roam far as long as they have fodder and water. There is a stream nearby and plenty of sedges, low scrub and grasses in the valley bottom. These highland ponies have long shaggy fur and seem unfazed by the chilly night air.

 

"Maybe we can stake out the horses closer the the other hill, so we don't need to cross the whole valley to retrieve them."

 

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Sorry for the inactivity, pretty hectic here over the holidays.

Urash has 45 Move Quietly and 25 Hide.

"I can take up the rear." says Urash, shivering from the cold.

 

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no problem. It's been predictably crazy at my end too.

 

"I'll stay close to the self-proclaimed 'firebearer', so he doesn't get killed."

 

"Ha! I was made firebearer before you even started spouting those rhymes of yours to charm the druidess apprentices!"

 

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Ah, right. 25 move and 25 hide.

"Yes, I seem to recall you fancied one such druidess. Sadly the path of the firebearer is a lonely one, so it was up to me to comfort her." Marcán laughs. "All joking aside I will actually stick to the back. I know the music arts, but I am not very light on my feet."

 

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Sorry for my extreme absence. This last week has been nuts.

The Plan? (open) The Plan? (close)

So my interpretation so far is that you are going to set up some kind of picket for the horses across the river at the base of the large hill you intend to climb. Rhenmyr is going to scout ahead once you get closer to the top with Mab and Borric close behind him and then everybody else bringing up the rear. So how far apart is the second group of people going to be from the lead group and how much space between Rhenmyr and Mab & Borric?

 

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Wayward Son may have wanted to swap with Helly given Mab's move quietly. Rhenmyr, Borric, and Mab/Ker in the scout group spread 10ft apart. The main group maybe 2 rounds back. What do you guys think?

 

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Sounds good.

 

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I'm in!

 

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Sounds swell. Let's do this!

 

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I'm okay with it.

 

Perhaps cautious men made of less stern stuff would have wrapped themselves tightly in their blankets and huddled around the meager fire and gone to sleep. Instead, in the dark of night, under the wan light of a quarter-full moon you cross the rushing stream, swollen with icy melt water and dismount at the foot of the steep-sided rocky hill. Some low gnarly bushes provide an adequate spot to string a rope and picket the horses. You tether them by their bridle and hope for the best before carefully picking your way over tumbled, moss-covered boulders strewn around the sloped ground below the mountain. It takes about twenty minutes to pick your way in the dark to a spot where you saw a goat-trail ascending the side of the hill before sunset. Rhemyr's familiarity with pathfinding proves invaluable and the troupe falls in behind him, trying to ascend as quickly and quietly as you can.

After an hour of steady hiking and occasionally walking on all fours you notice that the trail you've been following diminishes to nothing. The hill has steepened considerably yielding to a field of exposed granite. The fog at the top of the tor has thickened and blankets the ground above you, reducing visibility to no more than about a dozen yards ahead.

As you huddle in the cold of the damp, still night air, There is an unmistakable sound that fills your ears; a distant sound audible to everyone that sounds something like the tinkling of tiny bells and faint laughter from the summit which is perhaps a couple of hundred yards overhead.

The way forward will require very careful climbing in the dark and the fog over the dew-slicked rocks.