Expedition: White Plume Mountain

Oct 26, 2015 4:55 pm
White plume mountain stands alone in a vast area of dismal moors and tangled thickets. It is an almost perfect cone of lava about 1000 yards in diameter at the base and rising about 800 feet above the surrounding land. The white plume that gives the mountain its name issues from the very summit of the mountain another 300 feet into the air, trailing off to the east under the prevailing winds like a great white feather.

It has marked a determinedly fixed point on the horizon since you set out towards it from Greyhawk. It has been impossible to lose sight of the monstrous mountain and the great plume of white steam pouring forth from the mountain's mouth. It now looms high overhead, still an hour or so from where you are, you feel dwarfed by the mountain's massiveness. The map you were provided by your benefactors, a trio of wealthy artifact collectors who promised you 'anything within their power to provide' should you successfully return with their stolen items, did not give you a false impression of the mountain's dominance of the surrounding land.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mfk4m-gfI1I/TwCbP08LhSI/AAAAAAAAA5k/7Zu0IiEHoh4/s1600/white%2Bplume%2Bmountain.gif
Oct 31, 2015 10:13 pm
Satisfied that the straps on her pack were adjusted correctly, Ohica shouldered the pack again and turned to face the Mountain again. The group had been hiking for some days on this trip, and now they were nearing their goal at last. She looked fondly at her companions: anyplace else, such a collection of strange warriors, priests and casters of different races would be alarming, but to her, she knows that this is the perfect group to retrieve the stolen goods.
Oct 31, 2015 11:07 pm
Boide half-hums, half-mutters a song of prayer, marching along to the rhythm with the rest of the party. At times he uses the knob of his greataxe as a cane, and shifts the weight of his pack.

Recovery of stolen property is a noble cause, and may have opportunities to prove himself in the eyes of his patron deity.
Nov 2, 2015 2:22 pm
After another hour of wandering you arrive at your destination, a cave mouth on the southern slope of the great mountain. A large cloud of steam periodically bursts from the cave mouth, and then fades away before another cloud bursts forth. It appears as though the cave is exhaling and inhaling on a cold winters day. Perhaps this is why it is called 'The Wizard's Mouth'. As you approach you hear a whistling noise that corresponds with the steam cycles. The whistling is loud as you get near. Were it not for the pitched roaring of the white plume, you would've heard the whistling long before you saw the cave.
Nov 2, 2015 2:52 pm
Valinar looks on in wonder at the billowing steam, speaking softly to himself, "How odd, it looks like a mouth!" He is quickly distracted by something and turns around, "Hmm, there it goes again," he says quietly, "always slipping away when I'm not watching it!"

Valinar is a handsome half-elf, standing a few inches over five feet tall, with odd green hair and very strange yellow eyes, almost like a cat's eyes. He is easily distracted, and often staring off into space as though he can see something that no one else can.
Nov 2, 2015 3:32 pm
Ohica unites her pack and sets it down, opens it, and removes her ceremonial vestments, each bearing the ruby-hearted mountain symbol of Ulaa. She chants to herself as she proceeds to set up candles in the formal blessing ceremony for "Journeys Inside Mountains Over Five Thousand Feet Tall." The order and arrangement of the candles is very important to her; she has a bit of difficulty with one candle, which keeps tipping over. When she has it set up at last, has lit the candles and donned the gear, she gives a short homily on the majesty of mountains on the virtue of smiting those who would despoil them as part of their evil deeds. She then ritually blows out the candles and puts everything away with great pomp.

She bows to Boide. "Thank you, brother, for letting me go first."

(OoC: what is the period of the steam "exhalations?")
Last edited November 2, 2015 3:33 pm
Nov 2, 2015 4:10 pm
Boide smiles at his kin, and nods. He grasps his own holy symbol, a stone talisman engraved with crossed battleaxes, hung by a chain around his neck. Boide mumbles a quiet prayer to himself, touches the symbol to his lips, and lets it rest before clasping his hands together upon his greataxe.
Nov 2, 2015 6:11 pm
Eithne creeps along, sticking to the treeline, seeming to melt in and out of thr underbrush. She keeps a sharp eye on her "companions" as they call each other, including her.

When this strange pack of two-legs stumbled across her patch of wilderness several days ago she had almost attacked them. Instead, some instinct had urged her to help them instead. With gestures and halting Elvish, Eithne had offered them food and a safe place to rest. She had smelled no fear in them. She was made to understand that this pack was travelling to the Mountain (the two-legs called it White Plume Mountain). When they resumed their journey she followed them, at times led them across some of the more difficult terrain. Oddly, the two-legs got the idea into their heads that she wished to be adopted into their pack, and they accepted her gladly. Nothing could be farther from the truth: Eithne only wished to be sure they weren't up to any mischief. She had encountered packs of two-legs before, burning and killing for sport, despoiling her home. They had been dealt with. With this pack she wasn't so sure. She smelled no malice in them. Also odd: she discerned no pack leader. How can a pack have no leader? Could they possibly want to be her pack?

Crouched on all fours underneath a briar patch Eithne watches the dwarves' rituals with interest. Afterwards, the feral druid cocks her ear at the strange whistling issuing from the cave mouth. She sniffs the air, alert to danger.

Eithne's passive perception is +7
Last edited November 2, 2015 6:28 pm
Nov 2, 2015 6:23 pm
The steam cloud emits from the cave twice a minute. The heat coming from it is quite minimal, and it should be easy to get into the cave mouth between bursts without much trouble.
Nov 2, 2015 10:34 pm
Eager to get inside the cave and into its darkness Tolvaj's patience is strained as Ohica goes about her ritual. "Fools and their gods" he thinks to himself shaking his head at his own former piety to Lolth.

"On with it then?"
Nov 2, 2015 11:47 pm
Ohica bows again, this time to Tolvaj. Thank you for your patience. If Boide is ready, then I think we can continue. Who has the best eyes to go in front?"

(OoC: Ohica's perception modifier is +2, so passive perception is 12.

How wide is the cave mouth? Will 2 or more fit abreast, or is it room for single-file only?)
Last edited November 3, 2015 12:52 am
Nov 2, 2015 11:57 pm
Boide rests his chin upon his greataxe. "I'm ready," he says. "But what about our human friend, here?" He indicates Xasu with a tip of his head.

OOC: Boide's passive perception is +0!
Last edited November 2, 2015 11:57 pm
Nov 3, 2015 1:02 am
"I see much better in the dark than I can out here. If we're ready I can lead and scout ahead a bit." Tolvaj offers as he gives Ohica a slight smirk at her bow.

The smirk isn't necessarily disrespectful - it isn't necessarily respectful though either.
Nov 3, 2015 1:05 am
"Drow are supposed to be very good in the dark, aren't they? I say that Tolvaj leads the way for us!" Valinar says suddenly, a very calm look on his face, a great departure than the blank look he normally wears. A few moments after his statement though his face slips back to normal, "It's quite pretty out here, isn't it?"
Nov 3, 2015 1:30 am
"It's beautiful. Mountain dells are the best." She reaches up and pats Valinar on the shoulder in what she thinks is a comradely fashion. Then she smiles at Tolvaj. "What a kind offer! Please lead and we will follow, Tolvaj!"

(OoC: Did Biscuitfiend end up making Xasu human, or half-orc? If he's half-orc, then we all have darkvision and no problem. But Xasu isn't in the character library, so I don't know...)
Nov 3, 2015 3:39 am
Without responding to the others Tolvaj will move to the mouth of the cave. If there's no obvious danger he'll move in far enough to let his eyes adjust to the dark, push the hood back from his hood, and look around.

Rolls

Stealth [+7] (Hiding in the darkness) - (1d20+7)

(6) + 7 = 13

Perception [+3] - (1d20+3)

(4) + 3 = 7

Nov 3, 2015 8:10 am
The cave is about eight feet in diameter and forty feet long. The ceiling and walls of the cave are slick with the condensed steam which runs down them. The floor is covered with several inches of fine muck. Airflows into the cave with a speed that causes torches to flicker madly, accompanied by a loud whistle. The rush of air slows down presently, and there is an ominous silence for a heartbeat or two. Then, almost without warning, a blast of steam flows against the cave ceiling and out the mouth. This flow, too, abates and the cycle is repeated.

The cave mouth is wide enough to fit in two by two.
Nov 3, 2015 8:32 am
Ohica gestures to Xasu and Boide to proceed if they want to go next, and then gestures to Eithne to join them from the shrubbery. Ohica will say, as an aside to Valinar: "Do you have a way to produce light, in case Xasu can't see in the dark?"
Nov 3, 2015 8:41 am
At Ohica's prompt, Boide uncoils from his rested position atop his greataxe. He looks at the spacing available inside the cave, and after a moment of consideration, slings his greataxe upon his back. He then hefts his smaller battleaxe and slides his left arm into his shield, and proceeds in after Tolvaj.

OOC: I totally forgot that Xasu was changed to be a half-orc in the Character Creation thread. I just based my RP on the character list in the game details.
Nov 3, 2015 12:23 pm
Valinar looks surprised that Ohica is speaking to him, "Light? Oh yes, I can produce the most wonderful lights!"
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