With breakfast in their bellies, the party packs up camp and sets out to the south. The sheep follow them, while the wolves slink off into the woods with their tails between their legs.
The stroll through the woods is peaceful, for the most part--no other threats seem inclined to make themselves known, but the odd silence that follows the party seems to grow by the hour. No birds can be heard tweeting & flitting about, no bugs buzzing around, not even the sounds of running water.
But, as the sun rises high in the sky, the party emerges from the treeline at the shores of a wide, calm lake reflecting the clear blue skies above. The trail continues onward to the south, but a dark form lies near the lake's shore...
Squinting at the dark form, Khalaban attempts to identify it, or at least make out more details.
Khalaban can see the dark form very clearly--it's the decayed corpse of a human male, its rotted leathers rent in several places by what looks to have been the fangs of some great beast. Its skin is bloated & green, and its face is twisted into an expression of great pain. The body appears untouched by scavengers--the man's short sword (still resting in his hand) is a masterwork, and there's a leather pouch hanging from his belt.
Alarmed by the sight - if not the man himself, then whatever killed him was likely going to be an issue - Khalaban murmured, "A dead man, by his looks. Hopefully not undead in the bargain." The Kinetic Knight approached cautiously, not wishing to be caught off guard by either the dead man or his attacker.
The dead man does not stir.
Bertrand examines the body closely, being careful not to touch it. ”Might be best to avoid contact... If it’s venom, it may spread.”
”Acrid odor....definitely snake venom. Unsure what species we’re dealing with...something big. I don’t suppose any of you have experience in the, ah, herpetological arts?”
"Hey, just because I have scales doesn't make me an expert on all things scaly, okay?" Max offers with a bit of a snort as they focus on the dead body to determine if there's any lingering necromantic energies about it.
They also pull out a piece of cloth in case they have another sneezing fit.
Well, however the man had died, it hadn't been good. Khalaban knelt, looking over the corpse for anything that might be of use or identifiers to send his personal items to his family. No point in leaving them in the ground with the man.
There doesn't appear to be anything that identifies this man anyone specific, aside from the short sword & money pouch. Opening the pouch reveals 87 recently minted gold pieces.
"Well, good news, there's no hint of magic around the body. Bad news... there's no hint of magic around the body." the little dragon finally offers then squints when the coins are revealed.
"Well, I can tell you that those aren't from Druma. They'd be much gaudier if they were."
“Indeed...I believe this man hails from Tamran.”
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”I th-think my m-mom might have m-made these!” Vixie chimes in, helpfully. She picks up a coin and starts trying to unwrap it for chocolate.
Alas, the coin Vixie picks up does not contain chocolate. It's entirely gold.
Vixie tried to bite into it and seems quite displeased. ”I w-wanted chocolate b-but all it is is g-gold...” she whimpers.
Adriana who been lost in thought...worrying about those poor wolves scans the area for enemies laying in ambush.
"There is a campsite over there." She says pointing and start walking over cautiously.
Vixie tosses the coin back into the pouch, losing interest in it, and follows Adriana at a trot, looking every bit like an obedient halfling puppy.
The campsite Adriana looks like it's been abandoned for a long time. A pair of ragged lean-tos sit on opposite sides of what was once a campfire, its grey ashes standing out against the bright green grass.
Passing Vixie some chocolate to soothe her sadness at gold, Khalaban followed along with the others. As they came across the camp site he paused, then began to search.
Taking a deep breath, Khalaban snorted. "No one has been here for some time. Perhaps the man we found earlier?"
"Probably..."
Adriana looks around...
"I don't see anything around here.
"So, not to rush things, but we've acquired everything of value is there anything we need to do for human body disposal rituals? I wouldn't eat that, if I were you. It definitely doesn't look sanitary." Max offers with a bit of a smirk.
"The longer we stay here, the greater chance we'll run into whatever did that."
Vixie munches her chocolate, wandering through the camp and occasionally turning things over with her trident to get a better look. She frowns, however, when Maxilla points out the possible danger. "I th-think Mister M-Maxilla is r-right," she stammers, "w-we should do w-what we can and k-keep moving."
Khalaban nodded, returning to the corpse, and began to tap his foot. Clods of earth and stone lifted up and moved to the side in a neat pile as the Kinetic Knight used his command of the Earth to follow out a grave in a few minutes. Once the grave was deep enough, Khalaban lifted the corpse as gently as he could into the grave, hoping not to get too much...gunk...on himself as he did, and then reversed the process.
Once the corpse was buried with at least some dignity, Khalaban bowed his head. "May whichever God you worshipped have taken you to there side, and you know the rewards that your life shall bring." As a worshipper of the Lucky Drunk, Khalaban expected an eternity of partying with occasional destruction of evil.
...or his current life with slightly sifferent ratios.
Leaving the lake behind, the party returns to their southward trek, disappearing back into the treeline.
As they march, the sky overhead becomes overcast with grey clouds, and a small breeze rustles through the trees. A few drops of rain fall from the heavens, and those few drops eventually become a soft, but steady downpour.
The trail leads ever deeper into the Fangwood, through a twisting maze of trees and confusing ravines. As it tops a small rise, a broad valley spreads out before it, the opposite side of which looks like a writhing serpent. Yet between the two lies a steep hill sloping down into the valley. The cold falling rain makes the ground slick and treacherous beneath your feet--a fact that even the sheep seem to notice.
According to your map, your destination lies at the bottom of this valley... it's just a question of how to reach it.
Glancing over the edge, and knowing his own sad lack of flexibility, Khalaban looked at the others. "May I suggest we take it slow and steady, with short breaks?" He glanced around for something he could moor his rope to, which was not a simple matter. He was not a small man.
As he looked, he remembered the sheep. "Madam Vixie, would you prefer to leave your fluffy friends tied up here or free to roam?" There was no way they were getting the flock down the cliff unless someone could magic them into goats.
"I'm okay with taking our time getting down though this wet is kind of making me sad. I don't know why. I'll go in front and keep an eye out." Maxilla offers, but not getting ahead of the party because that'd be foolish in a wild area. Especially with the danger of big snakes.
Vixie thinks a bit, which seems to take her some effort. She frowns once she reaches the crux of the matter: "I'm n-not sure what w-would be safest," she admits. "...M-maybe I should s-stay up here and protect them?" She knows the answer will be "no," but finds it worth asking.
"But Vixie who would protect me than?"
She gives Vixie her best puppy eyes.
After a few minutes of searching, Khalaban is able to find an oak tree that's sturdy enough to hold his weight.
Tying the rope around the oak and giving it a firm yank, Khalaban nods to himself in time and looks over in time for the puppy dog eyes. He paused, ready to head when Vixie was convinced, and unwilling to leave until then.
Vixie is very conflicted. ”I... I-I’ll let them roam, a-and w-we can l-lead them back w-when we’re f-finished,” trying to think of if there was any way to protect them. It was probably safest to let them fend for themselves instead of making it so they couldn’t run... right?
She spends a few minutes whispering sweet things to the sheep and changing out of her armor (now featuring her dayclothes beneath, stained apron and all). Finally, she is ready.
Adriana will begin her descent...using the rope.
Bertrand takes hold of the rope, biting his lip. "Well, here goes... not nothing. A great deal of effort, actually." He lowers himself down slowly.
Khalaban took a hold of the rope and really hoped this ended well.
The party manages to make their way carefully down without incident... for the most part. Khalaban's foot slips!
Grunting in surprise, Khalaban attempted to regain his footing and not, you know, plummet down a cliff.
Unfortunately, Khalaban's foot doesn't find any solid enough ground to stand on, and he starts sliding down the hill. He crashes through some bushes and stops on some rocks sticking out of the side of the hill.
His face is lacerated from the bushes and he has several aches & pains in his backside from the slide. After that little fiasco, he's able to make it to the bottom without further incident.
Unleashing a sulphurous curse, Khalaban wiped the blood from his eyes and made sure his footing was solid. "I'm fine," he called down. "Let us continue." Once he made it the bottom he rubbed his own, muttering about vegenace on shrubbery.
Adriana looks over Khalaban with concern.
"Are you sure you are okay? I can heal you with the divine grace of Calistria."
Khalaban shook his head, after a moment's consideration. "A scalp cut that refuses to stop bleeding and a bruised behind are not worth the magic. Not when we might need it more shortly," he added with a nod towards the temple. "I have had worse nights that were entirely my own idea. Although if there is a spell going spare when we rest, I shall likely take you up on the offer." Sleeping like this would be awkward.
"As you wish. Shall we continue? Or do you need a little time?"
Shaking his head, Khalaban hefted his shield and nodded to the temple. "Onwards, to glory. And whatever else awaits." He began to move, with a slight limp.
When they paused at the entrance to allow Vixie to don her armor again, she couldn’t help but cast a few worried glances at Khalaban. She made a note to do her best to protect him, along with the rest of the group.
”I-in we go, th-then?” She also didn’t particularly want to leave the sheep on their own for much longer than necessary, and found herself walking alongside the porcine Kineticist.
At the bottom of the hill there is another copse of trees to trek through, but it's only after a few minutes of walking that the party comes across a new sight. Set into the side of a small hill is an archway of stone, much of it overgrown with moss. One stone stands above the archway, free of overgrowth, bearing a carved image of a glowing flame with a stylized rune in the centre. Beyond the archway is a pair of massive wooden doors, one of which is slightly ajar.
Unfortunately, the smell of blood hangs in the air around the entrance--a pair of horses & a trio of ponies lie slaughtered next to the archway, each corpse still tied to a post set in the ground nearby. A swarm of flies hangs lazily in the air above them.