Playing in the Sandbox

"Well, I don't think banditry exactly has high standards, Cyrta-san. The good news is that the different bandit groups probably aren't collaborating or anything, so we don't have to worry about them learning our strategies and strengths. Hopefully you can just rest in one of the wagons with Sonala-chan until you're fully healed."

Skaimos looked out into the desert. He wondered if banditry had been an option for the REAL Elkas, his grandfather. He could have been just a destitute, desperate human like that crossbowman, attacking caravans, not knowing if he would live to see tomorrow. Of course, he had eventually come back with a fortune, but Skaimos was fairly sure that had less to do with banditry and more to do with...whoever his grandmother was.

In response to Tordek's comment Uhiya and Thag look at each other and shake their heads.

A thought crossed Skaimos' mind. "Just for the sake of thoroughness, are there any real threats to us in the desert other than bandits? Pits of sand opening beneath us? Aggressive fauna? Particularly entrancing mirages?"

A general, almost aggressively loud simultaneous yes or other affirmative statements issues forth from all of the NPCs (yes even Mykaila) and probably Alma as well (though I'll let Bronymous RP that one).

"Thank you, I suppose it's not a real fight if you don't get a few scrapes is it?" She debated trying to give a friendly smile but decided against it with the way Alma had been reacting to her and how her teeth might make the smile look. Instead she watched the conversation going on around her, but at mention that there might be things more dangerous than bandits in the desert, she wasn't able to keep from making a happy little sound, as if she were a small child being given a gift. "And what kind of things should we expect?"

---

((just curious to get an official response but, what's the result of Tethe's heal check with Alma assisting? Is she fully healed?))

Tethe heal 4 (out of 5) damage and it will take her 8 hours to heal up the other point. I want to let the other PCs respond before I have any NPCs react to that question.

"The desert is a dangerous thing. Not so much a place, but an entity whose sole purpose is to expand and swallow everything around it, and in it. The simplest threats, mistakes of the careless and inexperienced, are the most deadly. Lack of preparedness, dehydration, starvation. The intense heat during the day, and the freezing cold at night. Even traveling in a straight line can be impossible- one step slightly offtrack turns into miles before you realize you're lost." Alma completes her healing method, and turns back toward the group. "Seasoned caravaneers, and those who have spent enough time, recognize these threats, and do not take them likely. But beyond them, yes, vicious beasts, bands of marauders, and the pitfalls of a Nature not to be tempted, nor reasoned with. The best defense is action- keep moving, do not stay in one place for long, and follow the rivers, as they always lead somewhere."

"Not to mention all the 'orrible effin' monsters." Thag adds.

"I thought monsters were covered under 'vicious beasts,'" offered up Tordek.

The Pixie comments from her place on the ground. "There are about three or four types of monsters.... One: The basic beasts of the wilds... Two: The abnormal monsters who's origins are a mystery or at least involve something that's extreamlly abnormal, and finding out more about those types might lead to more worry then the fact of said monster's meeting with you... Three: Basic People out there that wish you harm for some type of internal logic... Four: Something I've not thought up yet..." ((Ignore this madness... I don't know what I was thinking when I made it.))

Skaimos almost felt a bit foolish for asking, given the response. Still, it was better to seem foolish for asking than be caught unprepared, or dead. While the heat, lack of resources, and simply getting lost were some of the ways even HE knew could kill someone in the desert, he was a bit ignorant regarding the desert's "full arsenal" of tricks and threats.

He was concerned when he heard Thag's comment. "Monsters? Could you be more specific?"

Hmmm, the NPCs aren't walking enyclopedias so, the way I'd like to work this is we'll have two checks. One for History or Streetwise and one for Arcana and the rest of the party can do aid rolls. One roll per person so, if someone makes a History check, that's all they're contributing, similarly if someone is aiding, they have to pick which check, not both.

Skaimos tried to think back on his studies for any particular desert-related monster or magical phenomena.

---

Rolling for Arcana...2 (1d20) + 14 = 16...Grr.

Cyrta thinks back to her magical training and knowalge as well...

assist roll:

Tordek tries to think, using natural dwarven savviness to determine what kind of beasties stalk the desert.

---

You have no idea how hard it was to type "natural dwarven savviness" and not make a crack at it. Besides, it's not much.

Streetwise Check:

Tethe tilted her head back, looking at the sky to see if she remembers any stories from the various taverns she'd visited about the desert.

---

((17+6=23 to assist a history roll.))

Alma smiled a small smile, as the rest tried to answer their own questions better than she had. True, maybe her answer was a bit vague, and maybe she hadn't seen everything or unraveled every mystery the desert had, but she felt confident that what she had said should be enough. It didn't matter entirely what kind of monster there was, or how numerous the enemies were; the journey was underway, the caravan could not become any more prepared. If they crossed paths, either with a hungry monster or a troupe of marauders, they would either triumph and survive, or be destroyed. Such thoughts might have been disturbing to others, but Alma takes comfort in the knowledge that this was the way of the desert, and worrying over it helped no one. Sh was at ease here.

---

(but have a history assist: 13+12= 25)

Putting your heads together with Thag (ow), Uhiya, John, and Mykaila you basically come up with the following information. Normal creatures like dogs, camels, horses, lizards, and even tyrant lizards are animals. Sometimes you will find a dire version of the animal, which is tougher and more aggressive but, still just an animal. Sometimes there are other things that seem to be naturally occurring that are still classified as monsters anyway, though you're not entirely sure why, like animate oozes or stalagmites. (Thanks Alma!) Then you have your other kinds of monsters that are strange versions of animals, like hellfire bats, or stranger things like mimics. These don't seem to be natural and are results of magic or other forces of some sort, depending. Probably. Oh, and let's not forget constructs, like Golems or the legendary Guardians (OOC: Warforged). You've got stuff from the Feywild, where Pixies, Eladrin, Elves, Drow, and Gnomes originate from, though Cyrta doesn't know of any specific examples aside from probably man eating plants. Then you've got Undead and stuff from the Shadowfell, though Tethe can only pull evil killer shadows off the top of her head. You've got stuff from the Astral Sea, where Githzerai are from, like Angels (which Aasimar are descended from) and Devils (which Tieflings are descended from). Then you've got stuff from the Elemental Chaos like, well, Elementals and Demons which come from the Abyss part of it. Lastly, as far as any of you guys really know, there's the Aberrations from the Far Realm. Here Skaimos goes into a bit of detail about how the Far Realm is supposedly a place outside the universe and according to some legends psionic magic is a result of the gods or perhaps the world itself trying to fight the Aberrations' unnatural intrusion. This theory, as far as Skaimos knows anyway, is because of the fact that Aberrations tend to cause madness or are just crazy crazy things and psionic magic is a magic that requires strength of mind.

By the time you guys are finished chatting, the wagons are pretty much all patched up and Mykaila is less focused on the sight of blood and death all around. Thag and Uhiya then turn and walk off back to the corpses they dealt with and begin (the ceremonial) looting.

Skaimos patted Mykaila's head. "Do you think you could keep an eye on Cyrta-san while she rides in the wagon with you? She's relatively stable now, but she needs to stay still and rest until she heals. Besides, I think she would appreciate someone to talk to." Mykaila had been fairly brave throughout all this, but he didn't know exactly how she handling the blood and death. No child should have to see that. He could try looking directly in her mind, but if he was detected, well, that wouldn't help things. He had learned from one of his tutors that there is a large difference between you knowing someone's thoughts and someone choosing to tell you their thoughts. So, for the moment, all he could think to do was give her a little responsibility and a non-threatening potential audience. If she wanted to say something, she would do it in her own time.

As he stood up, he pondered the different threats they had discussed. While the list was fairly comprehensive (lizards and shadows and oozes, oh my!), there was no telling what they would actually run into. He decided that since they had no real way to control what they met or really plan for it, he wouldn't worry too much about it. He would hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

"Let's see if we can get something valuable off of the guys we fought before we head forward," he said, starting to walk back to the "battlefield". He doubted there would be much to find, but that dragonborn's maul might be worth something.

---

Rolling for Perception...4 (1d20) + 7 = 11.

Aaaaand I just realized that my character doesn't have Detect Thoughts. Oh well, hopefully we'll level up soon.

Mykaila nodded and went over to where Cyrta was.

---

You don't have to actually make any rolls for looting. That perception check does give you the reminder information that two of the crossbowmen are just unconscious though. (I think it was the halfling and the shifter.)

If you want to concentrate on looting though, just say and I'll give the results.

Skaimos remembered the two crossbowmen who had been struck unconscious, as opposed to dying horribly like the others. He wasn't exactly sure what to do; they probably wouldn't go on to be productive members of society if they lived, but he wasn't exactly looking forward to killing them in cold blood. On the other hand, one of them could prove useful.

"Smithe-san, I got two live ones over here. You think it's worth it to interrogate them? I can guarantee...say, three honest answers out of one of them." Psionics was very useful in some cases, particularly if you didn't care about being subtle.

John shrugs and says, "Normally caravan guards do whatever they feel like but, almost always this involves leaving guys like these without their weapons or valuables even when they are left with their lives. And honestly, I can't say there's anything wrong with that. Sure we could drag them to the nearest city and get them enslaved or executed but, it's not really worth the effort, risk, and resources keeping them alive for the whole journey and it's certainly not worth turning back."

Tordek, having basically just been given the okay to loot as he saw fit, proceeds to loot as he sees fit.

The thugs and crossbowmen weren't even wearing armor. The barbarian wasn't really wearing much, he had a plate of shoulder armor that in theory could probably be attached on top of just about anything. The thugs all together had 3 short swords. The crossbowmen had five crossbows but one got exploded by lightning and another got burned beyond usability. They also had five four quivers of bolts. The barbarian had a maul. Rooting around in their pockets (or under their loincloth in one case) you come up with a total of 36 gold, 20 actual gold pieces on the barbarian, and 20 silver (equivalent to 2 gold) on each of the others. You also find three days worth of rations on all of them except for the barbarian.

Skaimos decided to leave the two unconscious crossbowmen where they lay. Without weapons, they weren't liable to hurt anyone anyway.

Meeting back with the others, he took a look over the spoils that he and Tordek had looted. "Alright, the money we can split between the five of us (with Cyrta-san getting the extra gold due to her taking the most hits). Tethe-san, you can see if the armor works for you, and Tordek-san can decide if he prefers the maul or his original one. Smithe-san and his men might appreciate more bolts (if being stingy with the bolts means we get outflanked by bandits when the humans run out of ammo, I'd prefer being generous). For the swords, the crossbows, and whatever else we decide we aren't going to use ourselves, we can sell them when we get to Hanko. Any objections?"