"Oh, my dear, my love," she says apologetically, "I don't know what came over me..."
For no reason, Ophiuchus suddenly changes direction to walk into a puddle before joining the rest of the group on the main path once more.
The road is long and winding. You have been traveling for nearly two hours when...
The narrow path winds through the raking claws of the trees, now bereft of their leaves, which crunch loudly underfoot. Up ahead, a fallen tree trunk blocks the path. Suddenly a trio of snarling humanoids leaps up from behind the log, all greenish skin and fearsome tusks, bellowing vulgar challenges.
Most of the pathfinders recognize these creatures as orcs. They pound their broad chests and rush headlong at the stunned travellers.
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Trask moves into range with the orc, drawing his bardiche, and attacks (with power attack, which is his default). .
With a cold efficiency, Trask cuts the orc down, practically cutting him in half with his swing.
"Voit yhtä hyvin antautua nyt, sian kasvot. Ei häiritse minua millään tappaa teidät kaikki, mutta se saattaa vaivata sinua."
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The strong brute dismisses the thing's request, as he knew no songs, except songs of sorrow and hardship. He did not care to sing those, anymore.
The huge man grows enraged as the beasts charge at them. He grabs his unwieldy weapon, striding toward the closest orc. He swings at it with the long curved blade of the scythe he had used so much on the farm.
Hamilton's blade strikes the orc in the middle of its neck. The flesh, spine and connective tissue parts amazingly easily. Hot, green blood sprays Hamilton as the orc's head flies into the scrub some twenty feet away and the headless orc's body flops to the forest floor.
Strong Brute steps forwards to meet the charging orc, and disembowels the creature with a single sweep of his scythe. It falls to the ground clutching at its insides. The orc's jaw moves in wordless agony before the creature mercifully passes out, bleeding to death seconds later.
Ophiuchus stoves in the skull of the orc he is facing off against with his flail. The creature hits the ground with a thud.
The dust settles on the field of battle. The orcs were no match for the brave heroes, who stand victorious over their lifeless bodies. Birds can be heard tweeting haplessly away in the forest, almost as though nothing of interest were happening nearby at all.
With foes defeated, the path ahead beckons.
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"Finally! A chance to show I am not useless with all these giants around..."
Jaender moves his position to clearly see the trio of orcs as they ambush the group. He takes a big breath, and... The trio is cut down before he can even finish his breath.
"Wow... Effective indeed! What kind of orc is stupid enough to ambush when they are outnumbered 2 to 1? Oh wait... Orcs. Never mind." He says with a content smile.
"Shall we continue on? According to this map, it looks like we still have a ways to go. Guessing from the tents they gave us, I would expect we will be spending the night in the wilderness tonight, the further we can make it today, the better I would think.
The stars will be out in force tonight! Desna keep the clouds away!
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Ignoring the nagaji, again, Trask is a little concerned about the orcs. He doesn't bother to wipe off his blade, knowing that the "blood" was illusory. He pokes at the "body", and then checks the other ones, to see if they are the same.
He also will check for tracks, just in case.
He turns to the party, who are undoubtedly confused by his post-combat actions. "The tuskers weren't real. You didn't cause any pain, Poochie. Someone set this up, but I ain't no magicking type,", he spits, "so them that are should start figgering this s%$@ out."
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The large man kicks at the fallen orc in front of him. As the dead beast flops around, he looks at Hamilton, confused and a bit irritated. What the hell had the man been talking about. His brow furrows and he crosses his arms. He knew nothing of magic, either, but it was clear that these orcs were real.
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... We've been told there are traps where we're going, and I don't want to die because someone,"[/b] he looks directly at Roudantaimi, "was playing around with the daisies or something. Adventuring is dangerous work, so you all better get more dangerous."
"And what is wrong with daisies now? Very tender, beautiful flower, and important to our ecosystem too. Ah, there's one by the side of the road, let me pick that up and show you... What!? Orcs, where? Oh! Ah! Wow!
I have to say I am quite impressed, gentlemen! And, uh.. lady-lizardfolks."
Roudantaimi stands few yards off the trail, daisy in hand, witnessing the brutal, but very short-lived battle. He looks around, to be sure there's no more enemies, and then proceeds back to the group, giving a gentle kick at the orc corpse as he walks by. "Anyway, as I was saying, a daisy, as you can see here, is a very important plant..."
"Voit yhtä hyvin antautua nyt, sian kasvot. Ei häiritse minua millään tappaa teidät kaikki, mutta se saattaa vaivata sinua."
"Oh, that sounded very rude, what you said. I do consider myself rather fortunate I don't understand a word of it!"
Wandering around looking for clues as Trask requested, Jaender notices the faint smell of a very familiar, very special pipe weed near a copse of trees. Try as they might, the companions cannot locate Ophiuchus and Jaender'd mentor. They do remember the crafty old man entertaining the family with complex illusions from time to time, however.
As the illusions fade away, Trask locates some tracks near the fragrant trees, but they disappear suddenly, as though the human who made them simply flew away. No more can be discovered about what went on here.
The rest of the journey towards the crypt is uneventful. The companions find themselves just over half way by the end of the day, and decide to make camp. Vox manages to find them a clearing that meets with Trask's approval. It looks decidedly similar to the area where the illusory orcs ambushed the party. Certain they are not traveling in circles, everyone agrees to set up camp here.
A rotating watch is posted, and everyone else settles in for a quiet night's sleep.
Vox and Einhardt, and therefore everyone else, are taken completely unawares as a group of howling wolves appears at the edge of the firelight. Vox is quicker to react than his companion however, and springs into action when the wolves attack .
Two wolves rush in to attack the man-meat, and one attacks his kin-who-smells-like-man-and-is-not-of-this-pack.
One wolf wraps its sharp teeth around Vox's ankle and pulls the poor man to the ground. Vox's animal companion suffers similarly at the mouth of the wolf who charged him, but is not knocked to the ground.
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Hearing more than one wolf growl, Ophiuchus gets up to play with them. He quickly realizes his friend's wolf is being attacked in a not-playing way. He reaches down to grab his flail, and instead grabs the extra torch. Silently cursing, he continues to rummage through his items.
"Merian dear, please help me. The wolf is getting hurt; I need to help it.". Close to the tears, he continues to look for his flail.
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The man is startled awake by the sounds of growling and snapping teeth. Vox's cry of pain brings him to his senses. He springs up from his bedroll, reaching down and picking up the scythe he placed there. He bellows a challenge to the...wolves? His face looks lost in confusion. Well, wolves likely wouldn't respond to a challenge, but maybe they would be startled or something and quit chewing on his companion.
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Vox is stunned when the wolves appear, and dissapointed the next moment knowing that he has let everyone down by failing to detect the creatures. A moment later the young man is on his back and blood streaming from the bit marks on his body. To his side, Einhardt howls in pain, and Vox grits his teeth together while cursing himself internally with a steady stream of four-letter words.
From his back, Vox uses the anger brewing within him to swing his mighty lucerne hammer at the wolf standing before Einhardt, knowing he cannot strike the beasts standing beside himself. Vox knows these wild wolves may kill him in just a moment, but he hopes to save his wolf if he can.
The bleary-eyed companions slowly rouse themselves from slumber, coming to alert wakefulness as the situation becomes apparent. Each reaches for their weapon of choice, eager to join the fray and save the imperiled Vox.
Not bothering to stand, the heavily wounded Vox manages to swing his hammer around in a dangerous arc. The large head of the weapon connects forcefully with the wolf's flank, and Vox can hear several canine ribs snapping just before the wolf howls in pain.
The wolves are ravenous. Normally they wouldn't attack so large a group, but hunger has driven them to it.
"Ophichius, my dear, stop looking for the flail," scolds Merian, pulling at the weapon, "It's one thing to fight daddy's illusions, it is a whole other thing to battle fierce wild beasts. Now, leave it be!"
Ophichius eventually locates his weapon and the two wrestle with the flail for a while until Ophichius finally comes out on top.
Ophichius searches his pack frantically. Eventually, he pulls out a flail before shoving it back in and shaking it around. He eventually manages to pull it out again, a look of victory on his face.
Roundantaimi considers firing his weapon, but instead stands up and moves further to the flank of the wolves, bringing his pistol out and drawing a bead on the wolves attacking Vox.
With half of the companions standing up, the wolves gnawing at Vox's foot decide to take their meal elsewhere.
Vox is having none of that, however, and kicks his feet free of the wolves' snapping jaws just in time.
Einhardt easily sidesteps the wolf's clumsy bite, and the attacking creature growls in frustration.
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Having collected himself, the brute is pleased to see the man has kicked free of the wild dogs, and that his friendly dog is holding his own. Predators normally didn't taste as good as prey animals, but these beasts had coats that the large man was sure would make a nice set of furs.
He quickly strides up to one of the wolves attempting to chew on Vox, his demeanor grim as the scythe goes up, then sweep down and right.
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Jaender snaps awake at the sound of the attacking wolves, and jumps to his feet. Thankfully, its not that far of a distance. Eschewing weapons for his true power, he takes a deep breath and leans into his exhale, pointing at the wolf attacking Einhardt. A gout of flames shoots from his mouth in a small ball shape and rockets towards the starving wolf.
for
The ball of flame zips over both wolves heads and dissipates into the dark night sky harmlessly.
"I was having such a nice dream too!" Jaender says with frustration in his voice. "Surely there is other food around here that these beasts don't need to come after us!"
The strong brute's scythe passes through one side of the wolf and out the other, skewering the poor beast. The big man rips it free again, trailing blood. Whimpering softly, the wolf slumps to the forest floor, eyes closed and a pool of blood growing rapidly beneath it.
Jaender manages to provide some a little entertainment for the gathered combatants. Other than causing the wolves to become a little skittish, however, his spell has no effect. Kicking the ground in frustration, Jaender says:
"Surely there is other food around here that these beasts don't need to come after us!"
... just before noticing the jerked aurochs that had fallen out of Ophiuchus' pack during his struggle with the flail. He looks to the hungry wolves, then back to the dried meat and back to the hungry wolves again.
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"Hooooowl! Growl! Bark! Bark-bark! Bark! Growl!"
"Evening, o noble hunters! How come you prey upon us? We are not easy pray, and your hunt will likely end in your deaths. If it hunger that drives you to such desperate deeds, I am sure we can arrange you some meat, and resolve this without additional bloodshed."
The wolves' ears perk up at the strange gnome.
"Awoooooooo!! Grrrr, snarl, woof woof woof!!! Graow, rrrrrr WOOF!*"
"Strange not-wolf, you still only prey we find. No trick wolf-pack with empty promises.*"
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Following the spurting spray of blood which pelts Vox after his towering companion skewers the snarling beast trying to drag him away, a brief instant of courage falls upon the young man. Without thinking twice, Vox again swings his lengthy hammer at the wolf attacking Einhardt, his courage bolstered by the help of his friends.
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Trask sees what is going on, and groans. "We're going to have to set better watches, aren't we, if this is going to happen." He notes to himself that there are no good options here, especially when he's not wearing armor. So, he stands up, grabs his bardiche . He will move up, tumbling by the wolf on the left , and that's about it.
Einhardt dodges the wolf's attacks and attempts to snap back at the beast.
The rending bite already suffered by Einhardt causes a wince of pain, and her snapping jaws miss the wolf she is trying to bite.
Hamilton manages to slip past the wolf to flank the creature along with the suddenly silent and inactive Ophiuchus. The wounded wolf seems confused by all this aggressive action, Wroh, roh, roh roh roh.*
Merian starts kicking dust up in the wolf's face. However, since the wolf is used to such things, the only effect it produces is to agitate Ophiuchus' sensitive reptilian eyes.
A small cloud of dust appears around the wolf attacking Einhardt. While it is no more tricky to see than it was before in the dim firelight, Ophiuchus squints and has to uncomfortably blink the dust out of his eyes.
Perhaps emboldened by some unseen force, Ophiuchus' flail strikes true, pounding the now dusty wolf into unconsciousness.
[dice=Wolf 2 "morale"* check, Will save DC 10]1d20+1[/dice]
Seeing its pack mates fall the wolf snarls and glances around. Aaaaooooouuuurrrrrooooo!* it thinks.
Two fallen pack mates. One wolf-who-smells-like-man-and-is-not-of-this-pack. Five not-wolves-with-things-that-make-pain and one not-wolf-who-makes-the-light-that-burns. One me.
Whether from fear or from the pain of doing math, the last remaining active wolf turns, places its tail firmly between its legs (to avoid having it cut off) and runs as far and fast as it can. Alas for the wolf, it does not understand the significance of a reach weapon.
The ranger's heart was not in it, however, and he waves his hammer more to chase the wolf away than anything else. It works, too, and at the speed the wolf is traveling, only Einhardt would have any hope of catching it.
The dust settles (literally) on the field of battle, and the companions find themselves huffing, panting, tired and with two unconscious wolves to deal with.
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"So, now, gentleman," Trask says in his gravelly voice. "We need to plan a little better... set up better watches and all. Setting a fire might also be a good idea.
"Looks like we're in need of a little healing, and we ain't got a cleric. I have this 'happy stick', as they called it up in Mendev, that we can use. I am guessing that Poochie can use it, and maybe Banner. Or maybe Poochie can just use some of his twiddly-fingering to heal up Banner and the pup.
"I assume at least one other of you punks has a wand of curing? I say we pool 'em, so that mine has something left after you kids all get your legs chewed on."
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Jaender replays the last few moments in his mind...
Lets see. I was sleeping. Soundly. Snapped awake, stood up, spit fire, wolves are gone.
"Am I still sleeping? It doesn't even feel possible to be awake everything is happening so fast..."
I guess I'll go back to bed... I wonder when the trees turn into celery stalks and I eat them...
"This is the weirdest.... **YAWN** dream ever...."
Within moments, Jaender is fast asleep again, visions of constellations dancing in his head.
Perhaps out of sheer spite, Hamilton Trask swings Excecutioner in a broad arc, striking the back of the wolf's head as it flees. The wolf falls to the ground, taking up a mouthful of grass as it slides headfirst into the ground.
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When he sees Jaender and Strong Brute, he walks over to each of them, giving them (what he sees) as a gentle nudge in the ribs.
"Ok, from now on, we divide into three shifts for watches. We'll rotate who gets middle watch, 'cause that's the one that sucks the most. Jaender, you are with me. Vox, you and the wolf are with Rudi. Poochie will be with Strong Brute. Really, that's the name you are going with? Somebodies children, I tell you..
"Any problems with that? Vox, you and Rudi can wake us up again in a coupl of hours, and then get your beauty sleep. Any questions, ladies?"
While the adventurers' sleep was interrupted, the interruption was thankfully both brief and relatively early on in the night. The new watch regimen laid out by the harsh Hamilton Trask at least helps everyone sleep a little safer. However, one may get the impression that Hamilton won't be invited back for the next mission...
Refreshed, the companions set of for another day's hike. According to the map, they should be able to reach the crypt before nightfall.
It is only mid-morning by the time they find themselves on the western shore of the Grey Lake.
The trees begin to thin, revealing a field of short, green grass that leads to the shores of a wide, calm lake reflecting the overcast sky above. A dense fog hangs over the center of the lake, obscuring the far side. Near the shore of the lake, a dark form lies next to the water.
Getting closer, you discover that the dark form is actually the decayed body of a man. He is dressed like a woodsman or a bandit, and his corpse is quite badly decomposed. There are bite marks all over him, but they seem to be the cause of death - no flesh has been taken with the bites. The creatures of the forest seem to have avoided eating the body.
Everyone but Jaender notices that the beautifully made shortsword lying in the muck next to the man , a coin purse at his belt has also spilled half its contents . The coins appear relatively newly minted and are from Tamran (bearing the likeness of Forest Marshal Gavirk, nominal leader of Nirmathas).
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The large lad eyes the man who nudged him, eyeing him without malice, but without humor, either. "This one has done fine without a name until now. Wake me when it is my turn."
The strong brute's face screws up as he approaches the corpse. This man had been here quite some time, but was still in good shape for such a time. This was very odd. The land should have claimed this one weeks before.
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Jaender begins to offer a protest to the guard, but then quickly realizes his name might have been the only one the stern military man pronounced correctly.
Huh, maybe this won't be so bad. Maybe I will get a chance to show I'm not a half pint of uselessness... Probably tough to impress a macho demon slayer when I am only 20 pounds of fire and shadow... Always up for a challenge!
After several hours of conversation, most of it coming from Jaender, the little wayang isn't really sure what kind of connections he might have made with the hardened warrior. He is, however, happy with his effort. Even if nothing sticks for now, perhaps sometime down this troubled man's path in life, some of their conversation this evening will have a positive effect.
After another long trek through the woods Jaender is relieved to see a clearing open up, with the lake in front of them. He moves to inspect, to see how cool and refreshing it might be, but stops short upon seeing the decaying body.
"What... ahh.... what... did this? That looks like a big mouth..." He slowly backs away from the water.
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"Careful, men!" Trask looks at Ophiuchus, looks like he's about to say something, but just shakes his head. "That there corpse ain't rotted enough for its age. He's been here for darn near three months, by my guess, and it ain't natural that no varmint ain't ate him yet. Either that corpse is possessed by something we'd rather not deal with, or that what bit him is a bit unusual. Or both. I reckon its both."
"You, Jaender... get yourself away from there!" Overly cautious, as his time near the Worldwound has taught him, he pulls out his bow, nocks an arrow, and takes careful aim at the corpse.
"If it don't get itself up after this, I reckon it's safe."
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Ophiuchus approaches Vox and his wolf. "I can heal you. Thank you for protecting us so bravely. You are like a strong peacock protecting it's young."
"לרפא"
"Large man, I am so excited to be on watch with you. You can sing me songs of strongness and I can tell you all about my journeys with Merian. This is going to be the best night watch ever!"