Chapter One - Kassen Town Square

[TheTick]

Sandy slips once but narrowly avoids slamming into a tree, and ends up at the bottom breathing heavy but unharmed.

[Nighthawk]

"This should be easy..." Dariel things to himself as he descends with the others.

Acrobatics 1d20+2 : 6 + 2, total 8

[Lotofsnow]

As her companions make their way down the hill, Maura shakes her head as they refuse her help. She shrugs off her armor and straps it to her back. Attaching a rope to her mule, she keeps one hand on the lead on her other on the rope tied to the tree.

This dice roll has been tampered with!
Climb 1d20+4 : 19 + 4, total 23
Rolled 1d20+4 : 16 + 4, total 20
Rolled 1d20+4 : 5 + 4, total 9

[Scott R]

"Woohoo!" Sandy shouts, laughing and clapping as Dariel begins his descent, and Maura follows.  "It's easy, right?"

[TheTick]

Sandy, Maura, Kirdo and Dariel manage the steep, muddy descent without much trouble.  Checking the map, you see that you've reached the Serpent Gorge, and the Crypt of the Everflame is just ahead.

[Scott R]

Sandy flicks the rain out of his eyes, and says over the noise of the rain, "Not much farther, right?  I'll scout ahead."

He moves off, keeping Mara in sight.

Rolled 1d20+7 : 11 + 7, total 18

Rolled 1d20+9 : 5 + 9, total 14

[Scott R]

Sorry— forgot how to do the rolls— that first one is stealth, the second is perception.

[Lotofsnow]

Mara seems to relax, but she is alert and ready for action. This "quick, uneventful journey" has been anything but, and she doesn't intend for it to fail now

[TheTick]

The sparse trees at the bottom of the valley quickly give way, and you see your destination.

An archway of stone is set into the side of a small hill at the bottom of the valley.  Moss has overgrown many of the details, but one is still quite clear.  The keystone of the arch is carved with a flame symbol with a stylized rune in the middle.  Beyond the archway is a darkened tunnel that leads to a pair of massive wooden doors, one of which is slightly ajar.

A pair of horses and a trio of ponies lie slaughtered next to the archway, each corpse still tied to a post set into the ground
nearby. A swarm of flies hangs lazily in the air above them.

[Scott R]

Assuming that since Sandy is scouting ahead, he's the first one to see it...

He smells the slaughter before he sees it.  Blood and sour meat.  Sandy crouches behind a rock and pants as quietly as he can to keep from vomiting.  This was so much worse than the wolves.  How long since the horses has been slaughtered?  His mind races.  Flies had gathered.  The bodies stank.  Maybe hours? 

Sandy covers his nose and mouth and studies the scene from behind the rock. 

Can he tell anything else from here?  He would get just close enough to see/smell the bodies.  No closer than 30 feet, I guess.

Perception +9 1d20+9 : 13 + 9, total 22

[TheTick]

Sandy notices some bones underneath one of the horses, but would need to approach closer to see more than that.  Nothing else is moving that you can see.

[Scott R]

Not seeing anything overtly dangerous, Sandy signals to the others to approach.  He catches Mara as she gets near.  "There's some bones underneath that horse's carcass.  There."

[Lotofsnow]

Mara approaches quickly, eager for to sight their destination. When she comes upon the grizzly scene, she stops short.

"Iomedae's light, what transpired here?"

Trusting the others to watch her back, she approaches the horse indicated by Sandy. Before moving the horse to get to the bones, she inspects the carcass, attempting to determine how long it has been since it was felled.

Heal

Heal 1d20+6 : 1 + 6, total 7

[Scott R]

Sandy stays back a bit, but readies his crossbow and keeps an eye on the area.

Perception +9 1d20+9 : 19 + 9, total 28

[TheTick]

Perhaps it's all the mud and muck, but Mara is unable to make a specific determination on time of death.  Recent, since they do still look like horses and ponies.