DM Wellards Hook Mountain Massacre
Game Master Wellard

Murchorak can tell this 'man' is Ogrekin..and Ali...he reeks of evil

Murchorak can tell this 'man' is Ogrekin..and Ali...he reeks of evil

Ah..oops! Well, in That case...

Suddenly the wind shifts and the assumption the innocent wild druidess had made alters dramatically. As the unmistakable wrongness and decay that Ali associates with evil wafts over her she knows she was very , very wrong about this particular hunter.

In a voice now bereft of any mercy whatsoever, she calls out once more "No! Ali wrong! He bad bad bad! Kill 'em dead, dead! Now!"

See Wellard, these are the kind of things you have to be telling Ali's nose before her player makes these kinds of mistakes

In that case Naria's action goes from just being a ready action to just straight blasting.

Yeah, with updated info, mace-bonkage replaces dog-healage. Luckily, I posted both options. :)

Esteriande 22
Romon 21..
Naria 17++..
Muchorak/Ursas 17+
Bear 14
'Voice'11+
Ali/Lunas 11
Inakai 10
Marak 6

As Esteriande movs to block the hunters retreat and Romon continues to lurk in the bushes the hunter comes under concentrated attack.Naria rains bolts of Magical force at him, Muchorak subjects him to a hail off blows that seem to cut deeper than they should, Ursas and the rescued bear chomp at him with strong jaws.

Other bear moves to 08.04 and attacks 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Yet although he appears to be on his last legs the brutish man does not surrender he steps to 08.02 and with a feral yell stabs at the rescued bear which is the only target within reach..

1st strike 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (20) + 15 = 35 Crit.Confirmation 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (18) + 15 = 33 Damage 2d8 + 28 ⇒ (7, 8) + 28 = 43

The bear hits the ground on the first strike gushing bright arterial blood and the hunter utters a cry off triumph which cuts off in a bloody gurgle as Maraks Morningstar smashes his jaw and lays him low

The bear is on -6 HP

Marak calls upon his priestly training to unravel one of his prepared spells and re-weave it into a healing spell, delivering it to the fallen bear.

spontaneously convert invisibility purge into a cure serious wounds 3d8 + 7 ⇒ (1, 5, 7) + 7 = 20

"Should I stabilize any hounds that have not perished, or are they as beyond hope as their master?"

"What manner of creature is zis?" Esteriande sheaths her sword and approaches the fallen man. Kneeling she checks his vital signs.

Heal: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17 Is he alive, and if so can I stabilise him?

She also examines him carefully and whispers a prayer to her goddess for enlightenment. Uses detect evil and casts know the enemy, for +10 to a knowledge check: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12 on whatever is appropriate.

"Well I'm no expert but that." Points at the mutated hand "Aint right."

Inikai drops to one knee and pulls his tunic away from his chest while looking down to examine himself. The giant's spear did not pierce his mail shirt but the force of the blow was strong enough to rub it against him hard enough to cause deep bleeding abrasions. He runs his hand over his heart and sternum and is relieved not to feel broken ribs. Before standing again he takes a few deep breaths and spits thick saliva on the ground.

The sight of the eviscerated man brings discomfort to Inikai. He wonders if it was necessary to kill the hunter and his dogs. No one would slay a hunter for trapping a bear. Evil is as evil does but he did not sic his dogs on us, they acted out of instinct.

Muchorak sheath's his blades and moves to provide any assistance Marak may need with the freed bear. "It is Ogrekin; familiar to Ogre's."

Knowledge Nature (Ogre related)1d20 + 15 ⇒ (20) + 15 = 35

Esteriande

"Ogrekin? What manner of creature are zey, surely you cannot mean...?" Esteriande looks at the fallen creature with a mixture of horror and pity.

"Monstrous 'e may be, but 'e still lives, and 'e may tell us much of what may 'ave 'appened at ze fort. Muchorak, ze bear is tame, oui?"

Muchorak nods, "Indeed he has a friend I would assume nearby they may be in need of help."

Esteriande searches the fallen, stabilized man swiftly (taking ten for 22) and relieves him of any further weapons and anything that looks interesting. Glancing around, she smiles slightly, and grasping his arms drags him to the bear trap.

"If eet could 'old a bear down," she shrugs, and takes a set of manacles from her pack to manacle the unconscious man to the bear trap. If he doesn't have enough wrist on his one-fingered hand, she manacles him from wrist to ankle instead.

"Zere, 'e should be relatively safe 'ere until our return. Let us see where 'zis bear's friend is; 'e may be one of ze Black Arrows, or know of zem. But for zese 'ogrekin' to be so close to Turtleback Ferry, zat is not reassuring."

All you find are the spear..a well crafted belt and a ratty flea ridden blanket covered in metallic representations of a black arrow.There are more than a dozen off them.

Muchorak stays at Maraks side with the bear gently petting the animal providing reassurance that he will be ok, "His wounds are great."

When the bear becomes conscious the Ranger will attempt to get a sense of direction from the bear for it's companion...

Handle Animal1d20 + 13 ⇒ (5) + 13 = 18 and/or Wild Empathy 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19

"Naria, mon amis, are any of zese magical?" she offers up the three items. "I am guessing zat the cloak is not...eet looks a lot like trophies," she adds darkly.

Marak stabilizes whatever hounds are not already dead, in absence of reply.

Spend a couple rounds using the stabilize cantrip to heal dogs that havne't already died from their wounds.

Romon frowns. No decent loot. Randi's tending to Spike. Marak's healing the rabid dogs. And Spike's got a load of Magnimar military medallions.

I guess we're assuming "metallic representations of a black arrow" means division badges or medals, Wellard? How big did Fat Mayor Grobaras say the garrison was? If he didn't say: know(local) 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25

"Lets see." Detect magic on the items

Romon..The Black Arrows vary in numbers from year to year but average 60-70 men and women in their ranks,you would assume there would also be an unknown number of non-combatants.

Naria..The Spear and Belt detect as Magical. Longspear +1, Belt of Strength +2

Romon whistles. "Hey, Spike! Did you kill all them Black arrows or just loot the corpses? That could be a fifth of the garrison."

Spike is still out off it..he was stabilised but not healed in any way.

Romon prods the sleeping ogrekin with a toe. "Spike! Wake up, man!"

"Spear is magical so is the belt." Naria then explains what each does

Ali moves over with Big Bear and, seeing what he is trying to do, helps him in communicating with the new bear. Stroking the wounded ursine gently, in Animal Tongue she says "Hi brother bear! I be Ali and this be Lunas, my den brother. This two-legs here be Big Bear, he good good two legs and pack leader, and that be Little Bear and these other two-legs be good good friends and part of Pack. You be safe now,yes yes, so you no worry no more. What be your name? And where be your two-legs friend?"

Ali

"Hey, Spike! Did you kill all them Black arrows or just loot the corpses? That could be a fifth of the garrison."

"Zis is zeir emblem?" Esteriande nods grimly. "Zen we 'ave found one of zeir enemies, and if zey are 'ere, eet is not good news for ze fort. We must find zis bear's friend at once. Romon, mon amor, leave zat one. Our task is too urgent, and 'e is no threat to us now. Later we can see to justice's demands."

She listens to Naria's description of the items.

"Muchorak, 'zese are yours by right of conquest, and you 'ave no belt of strength," she offers the belt to the warrior. "Zis would be a great 'elp to you, non? Does anyone desire zis spear? If not it will serve as a lance."

Noted Muchorak doesn't have a strength booster, so the belt would be pretty good for him.

Hell yeah the belt would be great for him! Especially with being a melee combatant.

Muchorak relaxes more as he watches Wolfspirit come over and communicate with the bear. He stands and moves as Esteriande speaks, "If none feel otherly I will wear the belt with honor."

Assuming no one disagrees; he'll take the belt and put it on.

Muchorak will then move around to where 'Spike' came into the small clearing and will look about for tracks; the possibility of following the Ogrekins tracks back to his home...

Survival (Tracking)1d20 + 20 ⇒ (14) + 20 = 34
Assuming I can use my FE (Ogre) and Forest adds.

"We should be able to follow his steps back to their origin."

Muchorak relaxes more as he watches Wolfspirit come over and communicate with the bear. He stands and moves as Esteriande speaks, "If none feel otherly I will wear the belt with honor."

"Otherly"? Is that a word? Inikai thinks the belt it too gaudy for his taste.

As my character talks like an extra off 'Allo 'Allo! I will decline to comment.

It cpould be worse..you could have done Officer Crabtree

Muchorak easily picks up the brutes trail..there's no care here the trees and bushes have been trampled and smashed apart.

Ogre-kin, Sin-spawn, snake-women, what next? Inikai wonders to himself as they trace the brute's path back.

Please, with her intelligence she would be Murdock.

Esteriand lashes the longspear to Greyfog and follows Muchorak's lead, alert for foes or ambush.

As soon as the party are away from the clearing she channels energy to heal all those who are injured (Muchorak, Marak, Inikai, and Lunas, I believe, and maybe our friendly bear could do with some more).

Channel Energy (Healing): 3d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 6) = 12

Esteriende's magic causes Inikai's blood to rush and brings and him a momentanry euphoria. The touch of Shelyn is obvious in her efforts. This is so different from Marak's healing power that Inikai is not initially aware of what he is experiencing. But when the pleasant sensation passes he becomes conscious of the fact that the pain in his chest and arm have subsided.

"Thank you for the healing grace of Shelyn, comtess" he says with deep sincerity.

To Kibb Ali responds quietly but sincerely "You no worry 'Finds Salmon by Moonlight', we go now, fast fast, to go help your two legs"

The first thing Ali does after listening to Kibb's reply is to move quickly to stop Marak from his attempts to heal the dogs, saying "No no healy friend Marak. These four legs be no good ones. It best they stay sleep for always." And she will proceed to snap all the necks of those still alive, ending their lives, an expression of sadness on her face despite her seemingly merciless actions.

She then addresses the rest of her pack. With her hand on the new bear's fur she says "This be Kibb, in words of two legs talk. He say his two legs be in den...in home of him" as she points to the Ogre-kin "and be there for long long time now. Ali think we need hurry, for maybe Kibb's two legs do need help, yes yes. Also, why he still no dead? What we do with him now?" as she points to the big hunter oncer again.

Really, eveyone seems to have up and left the clearing. Were we just leaving the big guy tied up behind us or what?

Once Muchorak has pointed out the direction, Ali flows to hawk form and flies ahead, looking out for the house of the hunter. Before she leaves though, she instructs Lunas to stay near to and keep a close, protective eye on Kibb.

Sorry to tired to type and just noticed that; my wife always says i'm creating my own words. :D

Muchorak never left the clearing, I just wanted to establish how easy it would be to find the Ogre's tracks to back-track it.

Muchorak breaths a sigh of relief as the healing energies wash over him healing his remaining wounds. He looks back as Wolfspirit asks about the Ogrekin, "If he were in my peoples land he would be slain. But we are not in my homeland." He looks to his companions, "If you think information can be gained from the brute it might be wise to question him if not we can return him to the town. I'm sure he has commited some form of offense against their laws."

"If he lives by the point of a weapon..." This is a Shoanti expression but it does not lose anything when Inikai says it in Taldane.

Inikai then looks to Esteriende, Marak and Naria. Ali surely would not care about the laws of civilization and Romon has already looted the body.

"I say if the townsfolk are just going to kill him then we may as well do it now and save them the trouble."

"He will not escape from 'ere, and I will not kill an 'elpless foe wizzout due process," as she speaks with passion, a shadow of grief seems to fall on Esteriande's demeanour.

"'E is severely injured, and manacled," she point sout. "Even should 'e manage to free 'imself, what can 'e do? WE well be in 'is path to 'is 'ome, and if 'e goes elsewhere, 'ow will 'e escape Lunas' nose?" She shakes her head. "I will not let such evil propagate, but to kill every evil thing but feeds ze ranks of ze Abyss and ze Nine Hells. We will return 'im to the town later, and justice will be served zen. Our concern now must be the captives: for zeir sakes, we cannot delay."

Or, we could just untie him, let him wake up, and when he tries to attack us, then kill him, which should appease everyone's sensibilities. Not picking on ya Dabbs, I know them silly Paladins are hard to play sometimes ; )

Or leave Lunas to 'guard' him, with strict order to kill him if he tries to escape? I mean Esteriande cannot speak Animal ;)

Romon watches Randi and Naria loot the helpless ogrekin, watches Ali make the rounds of the fallen dogs, watches everyone make ready to depart.

He shakes his head at Randi. I can't believe she's just leaving Spike here. Old Todd used to roll marks and leave 'em tied up naked in an alley. One of Ironbriar's few deserving victims. What are we becoming. He smiles grimly.

"It's a seesaw kind of day," he observes to Marak as he walks by. "Shame you wasted the magic on those dogs."

He drifts over to Muchorak. "Sorry about the fuss with the bear. I always thought dogs were man's best friend. SAY, what do you think Spike's chances are? Will starvation, thirst, or some animal kill him? "

He collars his horse and mounts up. "Come on. Spike's kin just might ugly that poor Black Arrow to death."

I'd just like to point out that Randi and Naria had Spike looted before Romon could even get close. Not that he wanted to. Spike did not look profitable.

Just goes to show ya can't judge an ogre by his speak shaft eh? Ugly bugger had, what, some 3,000+ worth of stuff on 'im. And nope! No way Ali would be leaving Lunas behind like that, nevermind that Lunas would likely never stand for it either. He didn't come all this way to look after his den sister just to let her get so far out of his sight.

Marak stops stabilizing the dogs at Alisebett's direction, and as she begins killing them, he steps in to assist.

Life, death. Two sides of the same coin. he thinks impassively, steeling himself against a brief surge of squeamishness.

As Esteriande's healing energies wash over him, he feels the wounds he drew away from Muchorak wash away and feeling cleansed. The scent of some unidentifiable flower fills his nostrils and the sound of the blood rushing in his ear sounds like music, before the moment fades. He is struck by how very different her channeled energy feels that the hot and sometimes-frightening rush of energy favored by his own divine patron.

He then assures Roman, "No magic was wasted on the hounds, friend. The only waste of magic is to not free it to be used."

He drops to one knee over the fallen hunter and calls upon the gifts of Nethys to learn what he can of its nature.

Lore Keeper learn about creature touched as if Marak made an appropriate knowledge roll with a DC of 28.

BTW I'm assuming Shalelu was left to watch the horses..you couldn't maneuvre in the forest with them

The trail leads you deeper into the woods which seem to close in around you like some deep darkness.There is little life in these parts only an ocassional bird song.

Marak

BTW I'm assuming Shalelu was left to watch the horses..you couldn't maneuvre in the forest with them

If she is amenable she can guard our prisoner too, which solves that problem.

Esteriande smiles at the reactions of her comrades to her channelling of Shelyn's love; while she regrets the dissonance with her friends from leaving the ogrekin alive, she also understands that all things can have a chance of redemption.

All the same, she keeps her senses alert for the ogrekin.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19

After a mile and ahalf or so you find yourselves on the edge of a fairly expansive clearing. A cry sounds out and a fiure lumbers towards you..another OgreKin you would presume.Thius one has a curiously lopsided look to his head caused by a massive tumour-like growth jutting from one side off it.

"THESE HERE 'R GRAUL WOODS YOU GONNA DIE " bellows the fresh monstrosity.

Esteriande 25
Ali 23
Naria 21
Muchorak 20+
Marak 20-
Inakai 17
Ogrekin..12
Romon 6

"Au contraire," Esteriande replies coolly. She whispers a word and charges to meet the attack head-on, slipping easily within reach of the attacker to smite him.

Attacking with a charge, Combat Expertise, Power Attack, and smite evil. Using grace to close without provoking AoO's. AC to 27 if he is evil.

Attack: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (10) + 15 = 25 Damage: 1d10 + 19 ⇒ (4) + 19 = 23 (including +3 to hit, +7 damage from smite)

Naria begins to cast an extended mage armour on herself