Missing Caravan

[Nacesh]

The sorcerer barely starts to phrase a compliment of the improved demeanor of Mardak when he ruins that single positive figure of speech with the good old fashioned garbage talk of his.

"It's incredible how you can negate the slightest good you make in a blink of an eye. It's quite unfortunate that I have to talk to you though. About that wyvern you were so eager to get eaten by. Apparently you have your experience with them. They don't leave mummified corpses behind, do they?"

Looking at Betimi and Selina,
"More like a netherworld creature; a demon or undead maybe?"

Religion untrained [1d20+2] = 10+2 = 12
Planes untrained [1d20+2] = 12+2 = 14

[Selina Parcellus]

Heal: [1d20+8] = 5+8 = 13, knowledge: religion [1d20+2] = 13+2 = 15

Selina has long since given up on Mardak changing his ways, she simply deals with it for now as she takes a look around at master Nacesh's concern.  She also takes some time to are address the party's health.

[Jonath]

Jonath nods his thanks to Selena and breathes a small sigh of relief as her magics ease his pains. With a clearer view into the room beyond, he hesitates, and is about to suggest they not enter when Mardak beats him by doing just that. Still, Jonath holds back. Whatever happened in this room, the other more magically-inclined members of his party would be much more qualified to figure out than he, and with his recent luck, he didn't want to take the chance of moving into a potentially dangerous area. Mardak seemed to be more than willing to be the proverbial canary in a coal mine, and Jonath was more than willing to let him at the moment.

[OOC: Selena, how many HP did that heal restore?]

[Selina Parcellus]

[[OOC: Just two. Channeled her last two level 0 spells to Cure Minor Wounds. I think she has just the domain Prot from Evil left. EDIT: Yes, and a strong Heal skill.]]

[GM Marvel]

Both Nacesh and Selina look over the macabre scene and to them it looks neither divine nor profane.  True there are many gods who reside over death and the dead but what happened here doesn't stand out as any religious ceremony.  Nacesh further notes the lack of any extra-planar signs that would indicate some kind of lower planar creature.  Though if creature from the lower planes were to cast a spell it's likely he would need Arcane Knowledge rather than planar.

[OoC: Selina, which spell did you cast?  

Your Heal skill did not roll high enough to immediately return any hit points.  Unless it's poison or disease, you need to roll at least a DC15 to have any effect for first aid or long term care.  And my house rule requires at least a DC20 to immediately heal a small amount of hit points.

FYI: Normally when a player is poisoned they have to roll two fortitude saves.  One for immediate damage and another for secondary damage that occurs 1 minute later.  I only rolled once because the type of poison was Bloodroot.  The initial damage for Bloodroot is 0 and 1 minute later a failed save would have inflicted 1d4 Con + 1d3 Wis damage.  So only one Fortitude save was needed.  I didn't want you guys to think I was skipping die rolls or cheating or something.     ]

[GM Marvel]

[OoC: Selina, you beat me to it.  So Jonath gets 2 hit points back from her two orisons.]

[Mardak Trannyth]

"Dragons don't munnify anything.  They leave death and destruction in their wake.  Body parts and charred remains, pulping masses of flesh, bloody stains on the ground.  A whole lotta fucked up and everywhere...Gettin' mah drift?" 

He shifts his stance a little by placing his hands on his waste as he surveys the life-drained carnage.  He gives a whistle, never seeing such devastation ever since many moons ago.

"There was one dragon that showed an entire fearless race the meaning of the word fear.  And that assholes name was Malstryx.  Big Ass Red Dragon.  My wife was one such afflicted.  Now my dearly departed wife and daughter are in the skies with who the hell knows."  Mardak stops and goes looking for some kids and other families, then switches his tone to seriousness. 

"We were supposed to be looking for a caravan.  We found that and their belongings.  Okay, now we have to find them, the families, but just by lookin' around this place...The odds of them being alive is preposterous.  I ain't given up.  Y'all might...But I ain't!!" 

(taking 20 on Search, And he has some skill in Arcana too.  Helping with demonic knowledge and such)

[Betimi]

"For once you make sense about dragons. And if we doubted your knowledge of the carnage they inflict, well, you demonstrated that to us quite thoroughly yester-eve."

She takes a few minutes to delve into her knowledge of arcane knowledge and planar beings to see if she recognizes any such rite as was performed here.

[OoC  taking 20 on Knowledge Arcana = 20+5, and taking 20 on Knowledge the Planes = 20+6]

[Mardak Trannyth]

"Yeah, Yeah.  I made a big mistake the other night.  Almost cost me my life.  Just need to get stronger an I will make that flying bag of dicks mah bitch."  He looks at Betimi and tries to discern what she is doing, then tries to help her. 

"Are you still mad at me?"  Mardak asks Betimi

[GM Marvel]

[OoC: @Betimi you cannot take 20 on knowledge checks.  Reasons?  First, knowledge skill says it takes no action.  You either know the answer or you don't. Second, knowledge skills do not let you retry (see first reason).  Which is what taking 20 is all about.  You keep retrying until you succeed.  Also, at what point would you realize you have the right answer?  Taking 20 on open locks would eventually allow you to unlock the lock. Success! Does a light bulb appear above your head when you finally have the correct answer?   However, if you had access to a well stocked library then I might consider a player to take 20 for knowledge checks.]