Magnar is unnerved by the sight of the field of skeletons. Still, whatever foul beast lurks here, it is one that needs dealing with if this region is to be settled.
He ties up his horse to something well away from the nearest skeleton, and starts investigating the field, looking for the killer.
As Magnar steps among the sun bleached bones a giant spider springs from under a trap door to his right!
Twice the spider pops out of the trap it has made and bites at Magnar, its mandibles sinking into his flesh once. Then the large beast returns partially hidden in its lair.
"Argh!" Magnar lets out a decidedly startled shout as he's attacked by the giant spider. He feels his hands go weak.
Magnar offers a short prayer to Torag, and summons a protective disk of force into being in front of him with a spell.
He also hefts his warhammer.
You can hear the spider scuttling some under the trap door, then it decides to attack once more possibly suspecting you have weakened from the poison.
As it'll mandibles are repelled by the force field it let's out a minor insect squeal as it returns to peering out from it's trap.
Magnar channels spellpower through his hammer, then holding it, ready to throw when the spider reveals itself again.
,
The spider waits for some time, eventually it believes you to be subdued. As it exits its trap lair Magnar's hammer flies through the air! Crashing into the many eyes of the hulking arachnid!
It cries and several of it's legs flail, then after regaining its composure for a brief second the creature charges as Magnars' hammer magically returns!
Landing right before Magnar could raise his weapon in defense, the spider injects another slurry of venom into its prey.
Magnar shouts the words of a spell as he rapidly swings his hammer. He feels a warm glow course through him, mending his wounds.
,
,
His efforts are largely in vain, however; he's still reeling from the spider's bite.
The large spider hisses and strikes again, barely missing your flesh.
Something cracks under his boots as he's driven back across the hunting grounds.
His hammer hums with power as he tries to fend off the beast's fangs.
,
,
Magnar's hammer breaks through the spider's exoskeleton with a sickening crack and the beast slumps to the dirt. A couple of its legs twitch as it dies.
With a quick glance around you are able to see that there are no other threats.
"Har." Magnar decides to take a look at the thing's lair. There might be a mate, or something.
As you creep up to the lair, nothing else jumps out at you. Lifting open the trap door you see that it is a 5-foot-diameter, 25-foot-deep shaft. The walls are covered in thick webbing and appear to be an easy climb because of it. A few bodies are stuffed down into the bottom of the shaft.
Magnar decides to drag the bodies to the surface and bury them, holding a short sermon in the name of Torag.
If he has to spend the rest of the day working, he will.
You find the climb moderately challenging with the poison only just starting to show signs of fading away. Nevertheless, you are able to travel up and down the shaft without incident.
Of the three bodies you drag up, two appear to have been simple travellers while one was clearly a bandit. The bandit is still dressed in their leather armor and carries a short sword and 10 gp. Around his neck is another silver Stag amulet.
The burials take hours, leaving roughly 4 hours of daylight left by your estimate.
Magnar decides that he'll spend some time in the darkness, in order to get completely familiar with the land. He hopes the horse will be okay with their partial night ride.
He pockets the gold and the amulet, and stows the bandit's gear on the back of his horse.
That done, he's ready to ride out.
The rest of the evening is quite as you finish your charting. You only end up needing to ride for a little over an hour in the actual night and are able to set up a minimal camp without difficulty.
In the morning, he'll ride east, and survey the lands there.
As the sun rises, Magnar is back on his horse for another hard day of riding and surveying. Quite early into the morning you notice odd movement in the tall grass in the distance.
As you approach you notice that it is of an odd man, rooting around in the vegetation, popping his head up periodically and tossing items into his satchel. He pays no attention to you as he is quite oblivious.
Magnar rides closer. "Good day!" He exclaims, when they're close enough to comfortably converse.
"Gah! F!&!! Ahem, yes! Welcome to the day indeed! You startled me there. Who, er, what are you, sir?" The man is nervous as a bird or a jittery child.
He then shakes he head as if you took too long to answer. "No time for dallying, you wish to purchase, yes? What'll it be?"
"Ah, my apologies, I did not mean to startle you, friend! I have not neccesarily come to make a purchase," he says, dismounting. "I'm Magnar, priest of Torag. What are you selling?"
He looks at you confused. "We, er, haven't met then I assume. Bokken, Herbalist and Alchemist. If you have ever found yourself with a potion from Oleg's then you are familiar with my work."
He then starts to dig through a sack hanging from his shoulder. "Hmm, I have two potions of cure light wounds, two potions of endure elements, and a potion of cure moderate wounds on me but can brew up most anything on request." he eyes you like a piece of food.
"I shall have to find me some more coin before I can make patronage, I fear. But it's good to know you're here. I can find you through Oleg, I trust?"
He looks you over oddly, "Hmm very well. Yes, you know Oleg, eh? He's a better man than my bastard of a brother." Bokken then holds up his right hand, indicating to his missing pinky finger. "Evil man, cut that offa me the last time he hit my mother, Desna rest her soul. But he took off right after to live in a hollow tree down south rather than face the guards, so I guess it all worked out well enough. I flirted with the idea of hunting him down, but.. no." He then clears his throat and starts to forage again. "But, if you do come back, I need more Fangberries. Bring some with you and I'll give you a discount. There's a patch Southwest of Oleg's, some 55 miles."