Idris aims her strike at the disgusting slimy frog-beast in front of her, taking a moment to make sure she hits a vital spot.
Pulling her slime-covered sword back, she steps to where she dropped her magic sword, and looks back over her shoulder at Bara. "You got this last one, Bar?"
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Bara grins savagely. "Get up, scum!" she yells at the boggard, who is shaking off Seraphina's spell. She kicks it viciously, sending it sprawling backwards. The boggard croaks in rage, grabbing its spear and trying to swipe Bara off her feet as it rises from the ground. The assassin nimbly leaps over the spear haft and drives her sword once, twice into the chest of the frog-man, who crashes back down to the ground dead with a soggy thump.
Kesten advances cautiously into the fog cloud, which is starting to thin at the edges and drift with the westerly breeze. With his shield held in a ready position, the nobleman advances slowly, scanning for the priest.
[ooc]Initiative: Maja, Idris, Allies, Enemies, Pretty, Seraphina, Kivan, Jegred
Pretty moves at half speed deeper inside the mist, and if she finds an enemy and still have the time, she strikes!
!
Kivan waits for something to appear out of the mist.
Seraphina moves toward the fog bank, watching Kesten enter into the mist with invisible eyes. She casts Bull's Strength on herself, preparing to pounce into combat.
Idris grins at Bara and turns towards the rest of the team as she hustles closer to the supernatural bank of fog.
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As you grope fruitlessly through the wispy cloud of mist, you hear the boggard priest's wet, rubbery voice rise to a hoarse shout as he bellows prayers and invocations in his strange tongue. You still can't see the priest, but his rantings give you a pretty good idea of where he is.
The heat from the hot springs suddenly ramps up sharply. With a low rumble the sulfurous waters roil and start to bubble. Clouds of steam rise from the pools and river. Some of the steam drifts aimlessly towards the sky, blowing on the wind - but some coalesces into vaguely humanoid forms, with dark, glittering pits where eyes should be. Soundlessly, they scan the battlefield and take note of their foes, then start gliding across the rocky ground towards you!
At the same time, you hear Bara call out. "More frog-men from the cave! I will hold them off!" The assassin vaults back over the fallen tree and stands in the gap between the hillside and boulder, daring the boggards to advance. They wave spears at her and croak menacingly, but they seem to need a few moments to work up the courage to attack the fearsome half-orc.
Kesten pushes through the dissipating fog cloud to confront your new foes. He blunders into the water at one point - you hear a splash and a low curse as the mercenary hastily scrambles out of the painfully hot river.
Pretty moves towards the source of the voice, and if she meets the shaman she unleashes a swing!
!
Seraphina surveyed the field of battle, trying to guess at what the water creatures were. She decided to change direction, although she did not like to see enemies surrounding Kesten, she felt sure he had enough support close by... so she turned back toward Bara to help even the odds against the boggards. She cast her Corrosive Touch spell and moved into position behind the assassin, her claws sizzling with arcane power.
Idris charges the nearest steam-monster, hoping her magic blade's enhanced steel will damage this thing.
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Seraphina recalls her education in the shady forests of the Medvyed holdings. Alongside her courtly instruction came a goodly measure of practical knowledge, especially about the beings of power one might encounter in the forest realm. These coalesced mists beings resemble elementals - pure manifestations of the elements of the world. However, they neither match the description of water nor air elementals, and are not composed of fire despite the heat of their creation. The boggard priest's magic seems to have forced water elementals into an altered state, one about which they are not too happy. As you share this information with the group, Kivan concurs. "You are correct. These are water elementals afflicted with some heat-based curse." Without missing a beat, he coolly turns to the incoming boggards and blasts one with yet another magic missile.
Maja whirls to face the new threats and looses a blazing arrow at the nearest elemental. Her aim is true, and the fiery arrow sizzles and extinguishes itself passing through the misty being, punching a gap in the creature's "body".
Idris stumbles slightly on loose rocks and her swing barely connects with the hazy form of the elemental. Had it been moving with the flow of combat, it would probably have dodged that. You can feel the heat from the water in front of you - probably best not to fall in that. The elemental hisses in response to your cruel blade, its dark lack of eyes somehow threatening.
Pretty picks her way through the mist towards the sound of the boggard priest's voice. He's partially submerged in the river, unaffected by the heat. You perch on the riverbank and stab him in his stupid, warty back, changing his hoarse rantings into a croak of pain.
Jegred pushes his way out of the fog. "I trust we're no longer needed here. Sicarius, to me!" With his trusty saurian at his side, the tiefling druid leaps over the steaming river and moves to engage the trio of elementals to the north.
Kesten circles around the central elemental to maintain a line of battle with Jegred and Sicarius. As he moves into position, he slices the middle elemental with a backhand blow.
The elementals hiss and spatter hot water about, slamming their foes with gaseous fists that somehow hit with significant force which belies their insubstantial nature. Fortunately, none of them land solid blows. Sicarius takes a jab, but it thumps off his sturdy barding.
Bara hears the telltale sounds of Seraphina's spellcasting. "Got something up your sleeve, Lady? I'll bring them closer!" Maintaining her guarded stance, the half-orc withdraws from the chokepoint to stand adjacent to Seraphina. Predictably, the boggards pile through after her. One manages to tag her side with its spear, but Bara returns the favor with a blow from her falchion.
The boggard that Kivan blasted hustles its way around the boulder, vengeful eyes set on the wizard.
Seraphina chuckled low, an ominous sound of foreboding as she stepped forward flashing back into visibility as she slashed at the boggard with both claws.
[dice=Claw Attack]1d20+4+2/[dice] [dice=Damage]1d4+4/[dice]
[dice=Claw Attack]1d20+4+2/[dice] [dice=Damage]1d4+4/[dice]
[dice=Corrosive Touch Damage]5d4+5/[dice]
Seraphina chuckled low, an ominous sound of foreboding as she stepped forward flashing back into visibility as she slashed at the boggard with both claws.
Idris uses the elemental's miss as an opening to try to strike back, but it dodges her counterattack.
Unaware of anything going on outside the mist, Pretty keeps trying to put the shaman down, although the mist makes it difficult for her to pick a vital spot.
!
!
Kivan will once again fire at boggard who dares to come towards him.
Idris feints and jumps forward to attack the swirling creature of steam...
...only to put a foot into the painfully hot water and the sudden heat and pain ruining her strike.
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Maja's barrage of flamming arrows hits with good effect on the elemental. It hisses loud and low as it dissapates on the breeze and dissolves.
Seraphina appears out of nowhere and rends a boggart to pieces with extreme prejudice. It screams horribly as acidic claws rake deeply through its skin to leave caustic, hungry wounds. Mercifully, it doesn't scream for very long before expiring.
The other boggards look at each other in horror. Another barrage of missiles from kivan and a backhanded slice to the ribs from Bara settles their minds. They break and flee straight east.
"You've got the knack for a dramatic entrance, lady," says Bara, approvongly. "Shall I hunt?"
The boggard priest is revealed once more as the fog cloud dissapates. Pretty stabs it again, and the amphibion takes a strong but wild attack that misses the rogue.
Jegred, sicarius, kesten, and the elementals trade ineffective bloes.
[/ooc] party up[/ooc]
Idris leaps across the stream and charges at the Boggard priest.
Distracted by Idris' precise blow, the boggard have no chance to avoid his death! Pretty takes a couple steps to get out of sight of the poor creature and tries to finish it with a knife to the throat!
!
Seraphina grinned and giggled girlishly at Bara's quip, a sound at odds with the sight of slimy gore dripping from her claws. "Never underestimate the value of a strong first impression."
As the boggards cut and run, she flung a claw toward their fleeing backs, slinging the acid-laced mess from her claws as she fired a small glob of acid. "Hmm, seems they no longer wish to continue this engagement. Let's show them how to finish what they've started." She gave Bara the nod to pursue or fire on the creatures at her pleasure.
She then moved south, taking cover behind the log and watching a boggard that appeared to be trying to slip up on Kivan.
Kivan fires at the priest if he is still standing.
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The boggard priest doesn't stand a chance. Idris leaps nimbly across the boiling river and rushes the frogman, knocking his staff aside and laying his ribs open with a nasty slash. He doesn't have time to react before Pretty drives her daggers into his back and twists them. The priest tries to croak out a healing spell, but Kivan's unerring missiles shut him up.
The boggard advancing on Kivan takes a look at Seraphina's fearsome form as she moves to block him and swallows hard. It thinks better of its plans and joins its comrades in flight. Bara pursues, her face grim but her eyes joyous.
Maja's arrow streaks through the leftmost elemental, staggering it and spoiling its attack on Jegred. "Thanks, Sister!" he hollers, driving his sword forward but finding it blocked by a surprisingly solid "arm".
Kesten and Sicarius flank and destroy the middle elemental with claw and sword. The rightmost elemental slams its fist into Kesten's pauldron, denting it and provoking a curse from the nobleman.
Pretty holds the body of the boggard priest and prevents it from sinking, removing it from the water right after that.
In another display of gravity-defying leaps, Idris vaults the steaming stream and charges into the fray with the other elementals.
Not wanting to let too many of the boggards team up on Bara, Sera followed and cast Daze on the fleeing frog-man, hoping to slow his escape.
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The situation with the elementals is indeed in hand. A few moments after the death of the boggard priest, the magical force he unleashed to animate the twisted elementals runs out and they collapse back into water that splatters on the rocks and mist that floats off with the breeze. The water dribbling from the pools into the river's headwaters ceases boiling, returning to its normal pleasantly hot temperature.
The situation with the boggards is also in hand. One by one, Bara runs down the fleeing frog-men and puts an end to their marauding. The one that Seraphina targets staggers and stumbles under the mind-fuddling influence of her spell. Bara laughs in appreciation as she catches up to the fallen amphibian and breaks its neck with a stomp of her booted foot.
Jegred smiles quietly to himself at the removal of the foul priest and his nature-twisting ways. "Be at peace, spirits of the world. All is now as it should be."
Kesten shares the group's good mood. "A fine bit of sport, that. Can't say I've gone up against the like out soldering!"
The battle over, you investigate the area and the fallen. None of the boggards or frogs had much worthwhile on them. Their armor is patchwork and of quality, not to mention soaked with slime, and their spears and clubs are primitive.
Investigating the cave interior reveals that this was some sort of outpost, not center of population. You are spared the necessity of slaughtering noncombatants, thankfully. One end of the shallow cave was a sort of barracks, where boggards wallowed in a communal slime pit. The other end of the cave is dominated by an altar made of intricately scrimshawed ivory and polished volcanic rock. The ivory is probably worth something to a collector - Pretty figures its value as 400 gold or so. Religious rants about some elemental god of fire and water are scrawled onto leather scrolls with a blood-red ink. The deity's name seems to be "Huurarrarraaannk", which doesn't ring any bells. It seems the primitive frogmen were worshiping the hot springs themselves.
Bara again takes it upon herself to clean up the battlefield. She pitches the dead frogkin into the river, where their bodies bob gently as the current takes them away. The periodic spatters of water and steam from the hot springs has soon cleared away the slime and blood and other unpleasant fluids, leaving the scene fairly fresh.
Pretty puts a poker face, and moves along the pools of hit water, checking for any tunnels that might lead to a hideout or to mines. She removes her heavy equipment, keeping only armor and clothes, and dives in to have some refreshment at the delicious water. She uses the moment to check for underwater passages.
"Is this the same river in which we found indicators of the presence of gold upstream?"
"Yes! Victory!" Idris cheers as she joins Bara in trying to run down the escaping frogmen, and then dragging their bodies to the river.
Idris looks up at the sky, gauging the time. "Seems like we've got time to take a soak in the hot springs to wash off the sweat and blood of battle, then have a luncheon, and continue on our way, unless we find something worth exploring here. Could you take a moment to close this spear wound I took, though, Maja?"
"Which Boggards?" She looks uncertain now. "Are there more of them?"
Seraphina cast detect poison on Idris' spear wound just to be sure. She then looked each of her companions over til satisfied that no one else was hurt, her eyes lingering a moment on a fresh dent in Kesten's armor.
"Of course, Idris! With the way you leapt over the streams, I had no idea you'd been hurt!"
"I'm definitely worried these boggards will cause more problems. The boggard priest had nothing but nasty things to say about us."
"Well, I suppose they don't like unwelcome guests, hard to argue with their logic based on the result. But then we simply can't abide neighbors who meet all travelers with the point of a spear."
The heat of the water was tempting, but with Lord Garess within view she decided against bathing this time, cleaning herself and her clothes with magic instead. She cast detect magic and scanned around, double checking that there was nothing more interesting hiding about.
Having been rather bored with the trail food as of late, she remembered reading a passage in the Dragonomicon...
'The dragon senfe of tafte is highly difcriminating. Dragons can note the slighteft variations in the tafte of water or food, and most dragons develop some peculiar culinary preferenfes as a refult. Copper dragons are known to eat almoft anything, including metal ores. However, they prize monstrous scorpions and other poifonous creatures. (They say the venom sharpens their wit and their digeftive systems can handle the venom safely, although injected venoms affect them normally.)'
"Bara, do you suppose anything like scorpions or snakes might nest in this rocky place? I feel like hunting something a bit less mundane for lunch."
Kivan tries to recover the body of the boggard priest before it cam go too far downstream. Then he casts detect magic on it and harvests a pint of blood from it.
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Kesten is able to get at the priest's body without much difficulty at all.
Contrary to Seraphina's assumptions, Kesten rounds up Jegred with his eyes and heads out to the perimeter of the springs to stand watch when Idris mentions bathing.
The waters of the hot springs are soothing and invigorating. Although the air is rank with sulfur, the mists clear your heads and the mud feels fantastic. This seems an ideal place to recover from illness or injury. Fortunately, nobody has any poisoned wounds which would benefit.
After you've bathed and eaten, you press on to explore the rest of the area. At several points you find small flecks of gold shining bright from black, silty mud along the banks of the river or near a thermal vent. This does indeed look like a likely place for a gold strike, but the high water table and temperatures are certain to bedevil a mining operation.
You see no sign of further boggard activity. Seraphina is able to track down several venomous reptiles during the day's exploration - two copperhead snakes and a bearded lizard.
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Location: Hex P5 (Forest, Statue of Erastil)
Date: 6 Desnus, 4710 Absalom Reckoning
Temperature: 75° F
Weather conditions: Clear Skies, no wind.
Food: 21 days' supply
Leaving the hot springs behind, you press on with your exploration of your charter area. Fresh food doesn't seem so appealing with the scent of sulfur in the air, so breakfast is hardtack eaten on the move.
You spend an uneventful day combing the forest and mapping the terrain. It's unexciting, and the weather is getting somewhat warmer. The breeze drops off, leaving the air to hang still among the leaves and boughs of the forest.
You do come across an interesting find late in the day: A ten-foot high granite statue in the middle of the forest. It's of middling quality, but clearly depicts a man with an elk's head - clearly Erastil as he's commonly drawn. An inscription is scratched on the base of the statue:
"Here I lie in my final hour. I have failed. We have failed. The rest have died or fled, and I alone remain with none to bury me but the crows. Heed my warning, passer-by! This land will not be conquered. From the plains warriors of the west to the undying magi of the east, the very bones of this land shake off - "
Time and scavengers have long ago carried off the unfortunate soul who wrote these hopeless and incomplete words, but the corroded remains of a dagger lie at the base of the statue.
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Location: Hex P6 (Forest, River, Lair)
Date: 7 Desnus, 4710 Absalom Reckoning
Temperature: 76° F
Weather conditions: Clear Skies, no wind.
Food: 20 days' supply
You make camp for the night and set up the normal watch rotation. Nobody sees any activity through the night. That's actually kind of strange - there's usually the movement of nocturnal animals, deer, birds, and such, but you see no wildlife in the area. Regardless, nothing attacks you and you spend the night in peace. In the morning you continue your journey.
Your wanderings have again brought you into contact with the volcanic river. Noticeably cooler here than at the headwaters, it retains its black silt and unpleasant taste. It is at a ford of this river, easily marked by the tangles of deadsnags and driftwood that have grounded themselves where the river becomes only a foot deep or so.
In the middle of the debris you spot a single, leathery egg.
"I believe it to be a safe bet, Maja. He could have been starving, or bleeding from some wound, including the big boar."
Pretty approaches, but not very much, since she probably wouldn't know what's the egg from. "What do you think? A dragon perhaps?"
"This might be the last writings of that cursed priest we found in the cursed temple of Erastil."
Kivan moves closer for a better look at the egg.
Sera eschewed the use of any weapon while she hunted, preferring to pounce on her prey and snatch them up in her claws. She plunged a jade claw into the base of the skull on both the snakes severing the spine, but she found the bearded dragon to be such a cute little lizard that she carried him to show Idris and Jegred.
"I thought you might like to see this little fellow before I release him again. Doesn't he look like he's smiling?"
She very much enjoyed her meal of flame roasted copperhead snake, but she made sure Kesten wasn't watching when she crunched the head off in one bite, trying out the flavor.
........................................................................... .
Sera cast detect magic and scanned over the statue, corroded dagger and the inscription. She splashed acid over the incomplete inscription, trying to make out any more of the warning.
"How long do you think this has been here? Are there likely still plains warriors and undying magi around?"
........................................................................... .
Seraphina had a bad feeling ever since noticing the strange quietness of the area. She cast Mage Armor on herself and strained to see if the egg resembled that of a dragon.
If it does, she calls out in Draconic.
"Hello! I call to the guardians of this place. We wish to speak civilly, if you will hear us."