Glyndon looks at the paladin, how do you mean wrongness? Do you mean they are infected or posessed? He continues on, now looking at the God touched, as a healer, do you agree with this assessment?
He then looks back at the paladin or are you meaning there moral outlook is different than yours and therefore they must be wrong, if that is the case Glyndon lets the last bit hang there for a moment before moving toward Porter.
let us go check out this building up here he says pointing to the shack, he then points to the big building, the one he climbed up earlier and continues we can then move to the large house
Glyndon looks at the paladin, how do you mean wrongness? Do you mean they are infected or posessed? He continues on, now looking at the God touched, as a healer, do you agree with this assessment?
He then looks back at the paladin or are you meaning there moral outlook is different than yours and therefore they must be wrong, if that is the case Glyndon lets the last bit hang there for a moment before moving toward Porter.
let us go check out this building up here he says pointing to the shack, he then points to the big building, the one he climbed up earlier and continues we can then move to the large house
"I meant, that they give off a sense of Evil." Replies the paladin. "It's like... a bad smell. I don't know if they are infected or possessed, but those claws don't look too natural now, do they?"
"One isn't 'wrong' just because they have a different moral outlook from another - that's being intolerant." Baltazar says, "Intolerance might be evil though... I think." He shrugs. It was really complicated and he had other things to worry about right now. Nodding at Tribin, he says, "Let's check out the nearest one. And takes the lead to enter the house, sword still drawn and at the ready.
"I do not think they are possessed its more like an infection, some thing has changed them, not taken them over, I would know if it had. But I have never seen the like, they do not seem to be magic, so that rules out a spell as such. They seem to have been transformed its more necromantic any they thing but they are not undead, I am at a loss. Its as if they have been tainted by a deeper older power, it could be Chaotic? "
She looks once more that the gnome.
Baltazar, Porter, Glyndon, and Triblin... the shack that you enter seems to be a woodcutting shack. In it are many saws and handaxes. Nothing of importance seems to be in here.
"There is magic but its, odd, some thing I have just never come across before"
she says before the others head off
Glyndon shakes his head as the Paladin walks off to the other building and then looks to Porter, you got my back he asks of the musket master, as he peers into the room beyond while standing to one side of the door?
Perception
"Nothing here," Says the paladin. "Let's check out another one." He tells Triblin.
Glyndon shakes his head as the Paladin walks off to the other building and then looks to Porter, you got my back he asks of the musket master, as he peers into the room beyond while standing to one side of the door?
"Sure thing" - Porter whispers with conviction, and just barely enough for Glyndon to pick on his voice.
Peering over half-orcs broad shoulders, Porter tries hard to make sure that they did not leave anything important unchecked.
These gnomes attacked first. And we defended ourselves. They lost.
Zaharin stays outside, keeping watch on the tied gnomes.
Glyndon, assuming he sees nothing, steps in and begins searching the shack for anything of importance or that might help discern what happened here.
Lady Rosa stays with the stern Zaharin.
Going into the clearing more so she can take flight if needed to, she cast light one on more arrow ready to shoot it should it be needed.
The only thing odd that you find in the shack is the fact that the hatchets seem to have not been used in a while.
The paladin stares at the unused hatchets for a while. "Wait a minute," he says. "Wasn't there a pile of wood just outside? If these hatchets weren't used, then...."
He goes out of the shack to search the woodpile.
The woodpile, seems to be old. It looks like no work has been done on it in quite a while.
Shrugging, Baltazar proceeds towards the large house with the rest.
Since Baltazaar did not actually get any results when he looked at the house and just assumed nothing was over there. Glyndon heads that way hey, you in the armor, did you actually look inside or just pass by the door and pretend to look? Glyndon then looks at Porter, lets move in and check for ourselves
Then, without really waiting for answer from the paladin, Glyndon moves into the house and searches it one room at a time for anything of use or that might help us determine what might have happened.
Perception
Not really understanding what are they looking for, Porter was still moving few steps behind Glyndon, providing him with necessary cover in case something appears, and simply being another set of eyes who were looking for anything. Anything out of the ordinary, anything which could give them some clues as to what affected the gnomes in such a way.
So he kept his musket trained upwards, and moved several paces behind and right from half-orc, studying their surrounding intently.
The light from Rosa arrows glows weakly in the darkness as she strains to see what the others are doing, Shadows and moment her Porter walking slow good ready, there Glyndon? or was it a shadow, Now Baltazar looking around a wood pile. What could they be doing, she knows to stay back, they are used to this kind of thing and look like they know what they are about. She looks at the trees and shudders.
"what hellish magic has happened her, what corruption of nature, do not like this one bit."
She looks at the implacable elf by her, his face as hard as the ice under foot, eyes every where and always seeking whats in the dark. She feels safer knowing he is close. But still a feeling of Dread in this land of cold.
The house that you enter has 3 rooms. The first room looks like a meeting area, in here are tables and chairs. In the second room is the gnomes sleeping quarters. In here is a small cabinet and 3 beds. The main thing that you notice about these 2 rooms is that they seem un-used. The beds and tables have collected a layer of dust everywhere. The third room is a kitchen and food storage area, or was. The only reason you can deduce its old use is that cabinets and silverware are in the room. All the food seems to have vanished from the kitchen. In its place the walls of the kitchen have been covered in old blood. It looks as though someone has taken gallons of blood and covered the walls in it.
Glyndon, you find a banknote on the cabinet in the bedroom. It is a 400 gold banknote (likely the woodcutters savings).
No
Glyndon tells Porter what he found, I will pass this on to the Gnome who commissioned us, this should go to their families and I get the feeling if we let one of the others hold onto it, the note will never find its way there. Most likely wind up go to the homeless children or something. He then puts the note in his pack,
Thanks for watching my back, I think Paladin is to busy looking out for quietly falling trees to be of much use.
2-3 in the afternoon
Baltazar steps into the house, a little while later. He takes a look around, and seeing the blood all over the kitchen, mutters a prayer under his breath.
"I wonder if there was some evil ritual that was performed here," He says aloud. "Perhaps Rosa should take a look here."
Hey Glyndon! Maybe we should do a quick sweep around the camp, check the forest, you know... make sure nothing escaped...Trbin says a bit ackwardly but then picks his tone back up, sounding like a solider at attention. The two of us are the best in the forest, we can get it cleared up quick. I don't want to miss anything. What do you say?
sounds like a plan, I am sure the good knight can fill the rest in about what happened here
Glyndon heads off with Tribin to begin a perimeter sweep of the camp.
Perception: to spot any tracks as we make are way around the camp
I figure a 30ft sweep should let us know if anything left
You see nothing
Baltazar spends a moment to focus on the kitchen, using his ability to sense evil to determine if there were residual traces of it on the blood.
Then, he walks out of the house to Rosa, and describes to her what he saw in the bloody kitchen.
"I think perhaps your expertise is needed, milady. He suggests. "There might be a clue as to what happened to the gnomes."
Rosa gos with him back to have a look to the blood splatter.
What is that a roll for?
As Glyndon returns to the rest of the group he states As disturbing as everything is here, I do not think that there is anything else we can find he then gestures towards the gnome we should collect the gnomes and head back to town and see if any more answers can be found there.
Nodding, Baltazar sheathes his sword. "I concur. Perhaps we can find them all a nice garden to sit in and recover."
I was thinking so place a little more protected Glyndon states, we should see if the town has some sort of sanitorium.
"yes says Rosa looking at the others, lets go back, this place feels like death."
How are we bringing them back? I wouldn't want to be carrying one when it wakes up...
we can find a large enough tree branch and tie them to it, then we just need two people to carry it
So you tie up the gnomes, and Rosa you don't notice anything new.
Glyndon will take point and one end of the pole the gnomes are tied to.
Survival to guide the group back:
Perception to locate anything
You take the group back by the same route. You didn't see anything interesting on your way back.
As you enter the inn (carrying the two gnome's bodies). Thessilin jumps out of her chair in the inn and hobbles toward the party. What happened, whats the news.
Glyndon guides the group towards the gnome and gently sets his end down, The are like know gnomes I have ever seen before. Possessed or quite possibly worse, I cannot say. The camp was empty, except for three like this, the third did not make it.
Glyndon digs into his pack and pulls out the note I also believe that this belongs to you all, I think it should go to the families of the gnomes whose lives, or souls, were claimed at that now cursed place
Baltazar enters the inn - he had been covering the rear (and also trying to wipe the blood off his armor as he went along), and so entered later than the rest. The heavy armor didn't help, but hey at least it was clean now.
Standing to the side as he procures a flask of water and places it on the table for the rest of his companions to partake, he adds, "Yes, Glyndon's account is quite accurate. They - I mean it, was horribly ugly. Claws and such." The knight shudders and mutters something about a manicure and maybe a haircut.
As Glyndon pulls out the note, the paladin purses his lips in silent thought. He hadn't seen that coming, sure didn't expect that coming from the half-orc. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. But his humor still needed work.
Suddenly, another thought strikes him, and he focuses his attentions on Thessilin, just in case.
Lady Rosa walks in , not a happy look on her face, the gnomes on the way back worried her.
"what could have dine this to them, gods help us if this contiguous"
Once they are close to the Inn she will say.
"I think would should keep them away from any one in doors for now. this could be contiguous, of course we could have it but lets not take the risk with them."
Contagious?! But uh... I don't want to turn into one of those... Tribin say with sudden alarm when a "contagion" is suggested. Although, Thessilin, is there anything or anywhere else we can check. We didn't find much at that camp.
Porter was unusually quiet all the way back. After they finished searching the huts, he has helped tie down the surviving gnomes, and then made sure to clean his weapon with utmost attention to the detail.
Returning back he did not speak almost at all, which was quite unusual for him. It was obvious that the encounter, and the state of these poor gnomes left a rather serious impression on Porter. When they met Thessilin again, Porter let the others do the talking, since he was not really knowledgeable on the subject. He was aching for a good, strong drink, but somehow it seemed inappropriate at the moment.
Thessilin looks very worried as you tell her the story of the combat with the gnomes. I don't know if its contagious.... I don't........ We need more information..... You just reminded me Triblin, we may have a person who can help us. Out in the forest there is an old gnome, went through the bleaching a long while ago and now lives with his hound out in the forest. He may be able to help, he has always kept an eye on the goings on around the forest. I tried sending a couple of the children to check on him, and I haven't heard from them. I sent them about a day ago, if you guys could check on the children that I sent out and perhaps talk with the gnome, we could get them back to their families safely and maybe get some more information on what is ailing the land. Also, just leave the woodcutters with me, I will see if our local wizard can do anything to help them.