Ditto
marius we must stay calm we will discover the truth
Marius draws a simple map before heading out. Rough version here.
Scale is approximately 1/2 mile per square. Marius is careful to differentiate between the forest (in paler green) and the deep forest (which is wilder and far more dangerous). The young druid also maps out several points of interest on the map, including a meeting place of his circle - Old Oak Henge. Others are marked as possible hiding places for Kane, or as points of interest for exploration.
The light will begin to wane soon; and the forest is not somewhere one should wander in the dark. If we set out now, we may be able to get to the Maiden's Grove before dark - or maybe not. It is a sight to behold, though - a giant wooden effigy of the Lady of Rangers, surrounded by a ring of animals - all carved into the living wood. I would wish to linger there a bit, and pray by the stream, as all this death has left me feeling out of sorts.
I would be honored to see such a sight. Let's move!
Hezar will set the pace to get there before dark.
Nijena, after having made arrangements to be kept "in the loop" as to the childrens' eventual fate, was ready to move out with the others.
"Let us be on our way," she said, "while I will not promise vengeance, I have promised justice. And neither can be served from here."
Matthias smiled faintly at Rylind, though his eyes were serious. He very much wanted to believe the best of her, and he chose to believe she was being sincere. "I had a lot of siblings, older and younger, and I knew a lot of children, growing up. The Black Days were hard on them, too." He didn't spell out the obvious, that many children had lost their families during that time as well.
He was curious about the sadness she showed, but tactfully left it up to her to speak her mind, or not. Being a half-orc had probably left her with plenty to be sad about, all on its own - he knew most people didn't care for them. In his own way, he knew how that felt. There might be a time for questions, but it didn't seem appropriate here. "Come on, let's let them take what comfort they can from each other. We can check up on them with Osuki once our business is concluded; at least they'll have the knowledge that the killers didn't get away." He took the excuse to put a hand on her back to guide her out with him.
You return to the gate, and all confiscated weapons are returned; the Captain wishes you well in your hunt as you mount your horses. You swing around the vineyards to the east and head north to the forests' edge. The sheer vastness of the vineyards is hard to believe - no wonder it challenges all of the Purple Hills to the south as Tethyr's main producer of wine.
It takes nearly two hours to finally reach the forests' edge - by now it is roughly two hours until dusk. The Maiden's Grove is about four, five miles into the forest - if we're lucky, we might make it by nightfall. We could camp here, at the forests' edge. If we run into difficulty, and find ourselves in the woods at night, things could go bad very quickly. How shall we proceed? Marius says this while looking deep into the woods, his home for many years.
"Knowing what could be out there, I think I'd rather stay out of the woods at night."
Matthias looked into the woods as if Beyha might appear at any moment. "I'd hate to leave Beyha in there alone, if she's run into trouble," he said with concern, "but if you don't think we're likely to make it to Maiden's Grove before dark, I guess we wouldn't do any good anyway."
Kevkas looked over at Hezar. "What do you think? You're our expert. I'd much rather go on than lose a couple of hours here for nothing, but if you don't think we can make 5 miles in the woods before dusk, I can live with that."
Take 10 on survival +2 for favored terrainand geography to confirm this
I think we can make it if we push. There is risk of being attacked but the forrst...all forests are my home. I am confident I can get is there. We will have to be quick about setting up camp but I say we move. Besides you are so big and burly what would dare mess with us?.
Dm let me know if my checks tell me that we won't make it
Nijena looked into the woodline, then shrugged. "Unless the wood spirits have cause against us, why should we fear?" She smiled. "If it is the matter of light for setting up camp, I can assist."
"Aye, we've spoiled ourselves on warm hearth and food enough lately. Time t'earn our keep and make some distance. Kane and our mystery madmen're countin' on us bein' lazy t'give em extra space anyhow."
Survival
Percep
Hezar leads the party quickly on the trail.
Kevkas followed Hezar into the forest, wary of ambushes from animals of both the two and four legged variety.
Hezar's woodcraft is impressive - the young ranger quickly finds a route through the trees, in the waning daylight. The forest is strangely quiet; Marius remarks upon it several times, and seems uneasy with the atmosphere of the woods. Tethys, his black panther, stays close to the ground and appears frightened by the surroundings.
After about an hour and a half, you come upon the clearing. The smell of burning wood greets your nostrils; from your position in the treeline, you can see that the six animal statues surrounding the shrine of Mielikki had been set alight. Four have been burned almost to the ground; two remain, though they are blackened and their original form is difficult to make out.
The statue of the Lady of Rangers still stands, though horribly disfigured. The head has been cut off and burned, and the body has been burned in parts, with profane symbols carved into the once-living wood.
The statue stands before a still pool of water - just at the waters' edge, you see a body, front quarter submerged, unmoving.
Map is here. You're at the southwestern corner, still within the treeline and, as far as you can tell, unobserved by anyone.
Kevkas spurs his horse forward toward the pool. "That could be Beyha." The big swordsman heads straight for the body, intending to stop beside the body and investigate.
Nijena sighed. "He's good at being the first mouse. I'll go with him. The rest of you, stay back to ambush any ambushers."
Edit:
Janiries draws her longbow, arrow ready to strike, and scans the treeline for any activity from ambushers.
The body by the pool is definitely Beyha - you can tell from her armour and clothes. As you turn her over, you see see that the flesh of her face has been cruelly cut away, and her body rent by many wounds. Her blood has stained the once-pristine pool an ugly, cloudy scarlet.
Belgrin dismounts and draws his weaponry, his stony expression laced with barely perceptible outrage as he growls his protest.
Goddess or no, ye don't just butcher good stonework and vandalize it for laughs. Someone'll bleed for this mockery, mark my words.
As a few of you move forward to investigate Beyha's body, two of the burned wooden statues - one of a great bear, the other of a large stag - rise up and begin to shamble forward, their eyes lit with a red light of menace!
Initiative time! Everyone needs to place themselves now, in the treeline or not.
Wooden foes:
Belgrin:
Osuki Nijena:
Janiries:
Kevkas:
Hezar:
Matthias:
Rylind:
Marius:
Belina:
Ogre:
Ambrose:
So, initiative tranches are:
1 - Janiries, Belina
2 - Wooden foes
3 - Osuki, Rylind
4 - Ambrose, Belgrin, Hezar
5 - Kevkas, Matthias, Marius, Ogre
Tranche #1 is up first - Janiries and Belina!
Belina moves into the clearing (move action to J19) and, raising her lovely clear voice for all to hear, begins to inspire courage (standard action) in her allies. Everyone gets a +2 morale bonus vs charm and fear, and a +2 competence bonus to attack and damage rolls.
Matthias, who had ignored Nijena's order and rushed forward in case there was anything he could do to save Beyha, looked up at the approaching menaces in fury. With Beyha's bloody head in his lap, he wasn't the first to react, only setting her down carefully as he rose to his feet.
Even as the wooden statues rise up, Janiries rapidly moves into action, sprinting up into critical range of the foe to the left, before letting fly with her readied arrow.
Janiries' arrow finds it's mark, landing in the torso of the bear statue with a solid *thunk* The creature is utterly unfazed by the attack, and continues its' approach!
Damage to Wooden bear = 16-5 DR = 11 total
Tranche #2 - the wooden foes - are up next!
Foe #1 (the Bear) moves with a speed that belies its size, quickly dashing to a position in front of Janiries. It then strikes with a large, clawed wooden paw!
25 foot move to G16 - move action
Attack:
Damage:
The creature hits hard, knocking the lovely elven rogue to her knees!
Foe #2 (the Stag) takes a 15 foot move to L14 and lashes out at Matthias with an oversized wooden hoof!
Attack: Crit confirm?
Damage:
The stag hits the young Helmite hard, though just inches from seriously hurting the handsome cleric.
Tranche #3 - Osuki and Rylind - are up next!
The air around her shimmering with a translucent, rainbow field, Nijena was ready for combat. She'd expected something, but she hadn't quite expected this.
She tried to dismount quickly, but a twisted stirrup slowed her. Still, on her feet at last, sword in hand, the exotic woman's jade eyes blazed with a bright green flame as she called upon the magic in her blood.
In seconds, quick arcs of blue-green lightning flashed downward from the sky, hammering into the wooden bear that had just attacked Janiries.
Osuki's spell strikes the lumbering wooden bear hard, igniting the old wood with blue flame:
Save vs. catching on fire DC 15:
Damage: as rolled by player -->4x1.5=6 hp damage
The spells other intended effects, however, simply do not seem to affect the creature - its vision remains unimpaired, and it shows no ill effects from the shock of the lightning.
Rylind leaps out from the trees, scimitars drawn. (Move action to position E15). Not wishing to provoke an attack, she watches and waits for an opening. (Unable to take 5 foot step due to previous movement.)
Tranche #4 - Belgrin, Hezar and Ambrose - up next!
Seeing the creatures spring to life and move on his party, Belgrin wastes no time marching over to the wooden bear and laying into it with the sharp side of his maulaxe.
Belgrin's stout blow just glaces off the wooden monstrosity, inflicting no damage save a few splinters.
DMPC -->Hezar advances into the clearing (to K19) and takes a shot at the Stag-shaped living statue at L14.
Attack:
Damage:
The sharp-eyed ranger lands a shaft directly into the centre of the wooden beast, but the strike appears to slow it down not at all!
Cackling to some joke that only he heard, Ambrose advances into the clearing (square E16) and casts burning hands at the wooden bear creature:
Damage:
Save for half damage (DC 15):
Ambrose's spell hits hard, though the Bear shows remarkable agility in avoiding part of the blast. It is still left smoking, however!
Tranche #5 is up next - Kevkas, Matthias, Marius, and Ogre!
Sucking air after having the wind knocked out of him, Matthias took a few steps back and drew his mace, calling on Helm to aid his allies from the wooden woodland creatures. "Mighty Helm, help us to defeat this devilry and avenge your loyal servant!" he gasped.
As soon as the giant wooden creatures moved to attack, Kevkas grinned and started mumbling something under his breath. The big half-orc barely flinched as one struck Matthias, right next to him. Instead, he stopped muttering and shouted out a word in orcish. "Pick on someone your own size," he growled.
@ Janiries - Ambrose (which is to say, I) was careful enough to ensure you weren't in the line of fire, so to speak. His 15' cone would look like the following:
x
xx
Ambrose:xxx
See? Safe :-)
@ Osuki: It was. Ambrose hit the critter for 17 points, which was halved by a successful reflex saving throw. The result was then multiplied by 1.5.
As the final wooden construct falls, the air of malice which permeated the clearing seems to lift. The blood in the pool, the desecration of the Goddesses' statue - both elicit feelings of sadness now, rather than imminent, lurking terror.
Your companions fared quite well - Marius escaped with a large gash on his forehead, and the lovely Belina's only injury is a large wooden splinter in her forearm. The wooden stag had shaken itself vigourously at one point - looking rather like a gigantic, wet dog - but the amusement was short lived when a storm of splinters filled the air around it, striking with the force of a crossbow bolt.
Ogre, covered in cuts and splinters, stands amidst the fallen enemies, looking victorious but also a little confused. Ambrose has moved to Beyha's body and seems to be whispering something to himself by the pool. Rylind, not surprisingly, managed to avoid any harm whilst striking out opportunistically at the two wooden brutes.
Still out of breath from the stag's whopping hard kick, Matthias gathered the wounded around him before asking Helm's blessing on them.
Then he knelt by Beyha, with a look of distaste for Ambrose, and covered her face with a scrap of cloth before examining her wounds to confirm that she had run afoul of their prey.
"We should take the time to bury her," he said quietly, looking down at her shrouded face. "We can't take her with us, and I won't leave her here like this. What was once a sacred grove is a good place to do so, I think."
After the healing, Janiries checks over the wooden constructs, seeing if anything valuable can salvaged from them, or for any signs of what brought them to life.
Her keen elven ears picking out Matthias' statement, the Sun Elf pipes up from over one of the wooden constructs.
"If we bury her, then that means we'll have to stay here tonight, and I'd imagine that Kane could easily find us here. If he wanted to strike, this night would be a great time for it."
Some things must be done. We bury her, we can set traps and be prepared to ambush him.
Hezar frowns at the death and loss.
Matthias gave Hezar a grateful look before turning to Janiries. "Do you think this was Kane's doing? It seems more like the work of those demon cultists - but you're right, we must remain vigilant lest whoever did this return. I agree that we should try to ambush them and finally get some answers. If they do return, at least they won't have a head start on us."
Kevkas looks over from where he was cleaning his sword and inspecting the weapon for chips after using it to hack into the wooden constructs. "Doesn't seem like bandit work to me, either."
Further, the great pool here was said to be one of healing and rejuvination - perhaps that is why Beyha, dying, tried to submerge herself? The pool must be spoiled and corrupt if it's healing abilities no longer function.