Treshiell uses her wand to draw a circle around herself in the soil then takes a deep breath, before rising to her feet. "The berries are free", she says and steps out of her circle towards her horse.
It takes about 10 minutes, but you manage to gather about one day -- or one potion's worth -- of berries, Orin. Treshiell, you don't think they should require any special preservation. They can last for a long time before they lose their efficacy.
Kereek remains well away from the berries, and Treshiell, for the remainder of their stay here...
"I think it goes without saying that Taerine should never see Treshiell do what she just did. Still, a fine idea."
"I think it goes without saying that Taerine should never see Treshiell do what she just did. Still, a fine idea."
"She dislikes spiders?" Treshiell inquires softly.
"In ones and twos, probably not so much. A swarm of them roiling up out of your belly might set her to scrubbing you clean on the inside as well as the out," Agnar says with a grin.
From over near the wagon, Kereek calls out in a loud voice, "Kereek has fire mighty magic make spiders in stomach go away!" To be helpful he conjures a small puff of flame to illustrate his point.
Jon plucks a second batch of berries. Noticing how eager Prazil is to help, Jon makes the task easier on himself by handing the berries off to the kobold as they are picked.
"In ones and twos, probably not so much. A swarm of them roiling up out of your belly might set her to scrubbing you clean on the inside as well as the out," Agnar says with a grin.
"Then perhaps it is best she does not her about this", Treshiell replies before turning her attention towards Kereek. She watches the kobold for a while before speaking up. "You are upset. Why is that?"
Kereek gulps, his mouth going suddenly dry. "You. You made spiders in your gut! Spiders is vile! Creepy crawly, too many legs! In your gut!"
Treshiell looks at the kobold with with a searching expression, not comprehending his concern with the spiders. "You do not care for spiders? Would you prefer something else?"
Meanwhile, at the fangberry bushes, Prazil continues to help Jon with his picking. At one point, Prazil gingerly picks up the motionless corpse of a rather lanky spider. He sniffs at it, then after a moment of it seeming like Prazil might swallow the thing, he sticks his tongue out in disgust and tosses it away.
By some twist of fate, a light breeze catches the dead spider as it arcs out of Prazil's clawed hand, carries it a short distance, and then drops it lightly atop Kereek's snout.
Kereek opens his mouth to explain his irrational fear of spiders, only to suddenly see an undead monstrosity floating on the breeze toward his snout. Frozen, unable to move, he watches as it lands on his nose.
"ARARARRARARRARARRARAR!" Kereek begins dancing about and shrieks as the spider flies from his nose onto the ground. Kereek screams a wordless scream of hate-anger-fear and begins systematically incinerating the spider corpse with his burning hands, until the spider is a pile of ash, and the pile of ash is a glowing pile of embers.
"KEREEK HATE SPIDERS!"
Over the course of the next week, you explore the rest of the chartered areas, the hills to the west of the Thorn River, then south of the Shrike River.
The days and nights are mostly peaceful though you do see several trolls off in the far distance one early morning.
Eventually, you find yourselves at Nettles' Crossing -- a sign on this side also charging 5 coppers for crossing, saying to ring the bell for service. You can try to cross here to quickly get back to the kobolds' caverns or north to Bokken's hut, or will have to circle back around to the river crossing at the intersection of the Shrike and Thorn.
"Is is safe to cross?" Treshiell asks suddenly awakened from her strawman which she's spent the last few hours creating out of straw and twigs.
Orin will approach the river's edge and examine the current to see if it's safe to cross here with the horses or not.
Knowledge (nature):
or
Knowledge (geography):
Kereek watches the concern with which the big heroes examine the water. Seeing no obvious reason not to, he wanders over and rings the bell.
Orin, you don't see any way for the horses to cross unless you can repair the bridge, which would likely take a good deal of time and effort.
However, several moments after Kereek rings the bell, a disgusting rotting body -- the one-time man's flesh putrescent and a dripping ranseur clutched in his hands -- climbs from the rubble downstream and makes its inexorable way across the river’s surface, walking toward you.
He calls out in an eerie, soggy voice: "You are not my tormentors. Throw the Stag Lord’s body into the river that I may look upon his death, or join me instead."
Kereek shudders when the rotting man walks out. He lets the big people talk, but he examines the bell closely. In a low voice he says, "A bell summons dead people? Powerful magic bell!"
"By the Horns!" Agnar steps forward with his holy symbol prominently displayed. "Hold spirit! No one joins you this day. Who are you, and why do you seek the Stag Lord's death?"
"I was once Davik Nettles, until the Stag Lord killed me. Now I shall not rest until I have seen vengeance."
Treshiell rides up next to Agnar with a gleam in her eyes. "We don't have the Stag Lord's dead body with us. Where does that leave us?"
Without waiting for anyones approval Jon jumps off his wagon and draws his blade. "There is but one merciful solution. I will send him to his final rest," Jon proclaims as he smites the creature.
Jon's blade slams into the figure, which staggers back with a howl of rage. "You are not the Stag Lord, but you shall not stop my vengeance," he growls, suddenly pulling a wicked-looking ranseur out of the water. At the same time, a foul stench suddenly start to emanate from him, causing your stomach to roil.
Initiatives
Davik: 17 hp
"Hoboy..." Kereek groans as Jon attacks the dead man. For a brief moment, he wonders if ringing the bell again would summon another dead man or make the first one go away...
Will: (or +1 if it's an enchantment effect)
Kereek manages to avoid Davik's eyes, not wanting to see if the dead man has spiders in them...
Instead he slings a burst of acid at the dead man, trying to avoid hitting Jon.
Acid Splash: melee penalty already taken into account
Damage:
A slight unease draws over Treshiell as she lock eyes with the undead.
Fortitude save:
Will save:
Round #: 1
Initiative: 12
Hit points: 33
AC: 18 ; T: 12 ; FF: 16
CMD: 18
Condition: Shaken, Sickened (-4 to hit, -2 damage, -4 on Saves, skills, and ability checks)
Orin backpedals from the riverside as the apparition appears from the flowing current. Looking pointedly at Kereek as he draws his bow he admonishes the curious kobold " ring anymore bells."
As the stench of decayed flesh overwhelms him Orin knocks an arrow and aims at the undead creature. As he locks eyes with his target a marrow chilling fear, such as the likes he has never felt before, causing him to nearly drop the arrow off it's rest,
Attack roll:
And as a result his shot goes far off target sailing off to who knows where.
Kereek glares at Orin. "It better walk in river with dead man? Not know dead man waits under water for you? You go swim, have fun! Kereek ring bells."
Agnar pales visibly at the approach of the angry dead man, also somewhat green around the edges due to the stench of his rotting corpse. Still, he steels himself as best he can, dismounting from his horse and waving his arm in a gesture of forbiddance at what remains of Davik Nettles.
"Erastil proclaims no vengeance for you, only eternal rest. Your hunt ends here. Begone!"
Round 1 or 2, Init 21
"Vengeance you may be due, but it will be delivered on your behalf by the living. Your only task now is to rest!" Jon declares as he sends out another blow.
Prazil: 24
Jon: 21
Orin: 12
Davik: 8
Treshiell: 5
Agnar: 5
Kereek: 4
Prazil shudders and clutches his nose. ""זה מסריח!" the kobold exclaims, shuddering as he refuses to go any closer.
"It stink!"
As Orin's shot goes wide, Davik -- whose massive wounds from Jon's blade seem to start to knit shut -- swings his ranseur, but misses the paladin.
The creature seems to shudder as a wave of energy from Agnar overcomes it, but it ignores Treshiell, not seeming to be affected by her hex.
As Kereek's ball of acid splashes into it, the creature turns to glare at him momentarily before turning back to Jon.
Prazil Fort:
Prazil Will:
Davik attack:
Davik Will:
Davik: 34
Round 2, Init 21
"Davik Nettles. In Abadar's name I put you rest!
The third swing from Jon's sword slams into the undead creature, splitting it in two, the pieces falling into the water where they seem to melt away.
"So when Jon kill people, they rest? So killing people good now? Kereek needs rules for good killing and bad killing..." Still a little disturbed by the look the dead man shot him, Kereek sits down heavily in the wagon and doesn't move.
"No Kereek, this man was already dead. It's was my duty to deliver upon him the mercy of rest." Jon says with a stern face that expresses his uncompromising position on the right of the undead to inhabit the world of the living.
"Okay, dead things okay to kill. Live things only if attack. Then they dead and okay to kill." Kereek nods slowly, still trying to wrap his mind around this particular philosophy. 'Clearly living amongst big heroes is a learning experience. So many rules..'
"Undead. Not the same. Dead things stay put. Undead get back up and make life unpleasant. Well struck, Jon." Agnar's gaze lingers on the wreckage in the river for a few moments. "Whatever else the Stag Lord's done, there needs to be an answer for this. What he inflicted on the ferryman must have been truly heinous if he lingered after death in hope of revenge."
"Dead things not okay to kill. Live things only if attack. Un-dead things dead-thing that get back up. Un-dead okay to kill." Kereek repeats like a litany, trying to remember all the rules associate with big hero life. "Who Stag Lord? He like Ee-Rast-Eeel?"
Orin will make his way over to where the undead creature disappeared and look for remnants of the body. Failing that he will cross the ropes tot he other side and begin searching the debris of the wrecked bridge where it first appeared for skeletal remains.
Climb check:
Perception check:
If he finds any remains he will drag them back to the group and bury them with Agnar saying some words over the grave. Once finished he will remount, saying "Shall we return to the Sootscales and see what Rupert may have found?"
The unease leaves Treshiell as soon as the remains of Davik Nettles fall into the river . She dismounts and walks up to the water's edge. "Will that keep him down?" she asks looking into the water. "We have heard of spirits who will only rest once the wrong that made them rise is righted."
An angry look crosses Agnar's face as Kereek likens the bandit lord to his god, but it passes quickly when he remembers who he's speaking with.
"No, this is just a man playing at being something he's not. He's a bandit--a robber and killer of folk--that's got it in his head to gather up all the other bandits and make himself their leader. If we let him keep on unchecked, he'll be killing more than just ferrymen. He's already had men attack Stevic's fort. If he found your tribe and decided they were a threat or had anything he wanted, they could be next."
At Treshiell's question, Agnar will think back to his training and see if Nettles matches any sort of undead he knows that would be likely to return, even after apparent destruction.
"I don't think he'll be coming back, Treshiell. May Erastil rest his soul."
Orin, you find no remains of Davik Nettles or his gear in the water. After shimmying across the rope and searching the other side, you still find nothing.
You begin making your way back toward the kobolds when, on the second day of your travels, you hear screaming, like a man in pain.
Jon makes haste toward the screaming. Jumping off his wagon as he draws close to it.
Perception
Kereek hears the scream and shudders. He first makes to ignore it, but seeing Jon leap into action he sighs and climbs down off the wagon, following behind the paladin and trying to look like he thinks it's a good idea...
Perception:
Orin will dismount and follow Jon.
Agnar's head snaps around in the direction of the screaming. He dismounts as well, pulling his bow and nocking an arrow. However, instead of heading directly after Orin, Kereek, and Jon, he circles so as to come at the sound from another direction.
Treshiell tilts her head towards the screams. "Pain", she says with unsetteling calmness and dismounts. The witch draws her wand and follows the rest.