"Well, we can just save the vials and figure out what they are later on. Since there doesn't seem to be anything else of note here, shall we move on and try to follow the tracks?"
Lorelei follows the tracks outside the wall and down a dirt road. The tracks become muddled at an intersection, making them harder to follow.
"Darn it. I'm having trouble sorting out all the tracks here, is anyone good at tracking?"
”... no.” Ebirah states glumly.
Bhookaaj tries to study the tracks as well.
"I'm not an expert, but I can look, I suppose."
Kela looks around, hoping to be at least slightly helpful in finding tracks.
Lorelei finds the tracks pick up again on the other side of the intersection, moving towards a house farther away from the others.
As Lorelei follows the tracks, a strange plantlike creature bursts from a nearby vegetable patch. It begins to lash out with razor sharp leaves,
Once the plant appears... and attacks, Ebirah charges it with machete they had procured earlier.
Bhookaaj also attacks the plant creature with his own machete, and gets oppiste it from Ebirah to flank the creature:
... but gets distracted by the surrounding vegetation
Once again, Elia opted to hit the enemy with her trusty quarterstaff, privately reflecting that whoever had been tending that vegetable patch had clearly let the weed situation get out of hand.
Ebirah and Bhookaaj hack at the creature, and Ebirah lands a hit.
Rhyfedd gets into melee with the creature. He hits the creature at the base hoping to throw it off balance.
Valdern gets closer and use the reach of his weapon to attack. While his thrust is true, the strength of it isn't enough to inflict a lot of damage.
Lorelei tries to fire a bolt at the weird plan thing while she tries to figure out what it is and how best to hurt it.
Lorelei recalls that plant creatures are typically immune to mind-affecting effects, as well as paralysis and most poisons.
The dwarves' attacks both strike the creature, and it lashes out wildly with its spearlike appendage. It catches Ebirah in the shoulder, and the wound begins to bleed profusely.
Ebby just gives a weakened grunt before swinging, the poison running through the blood he still had in him sapping all his energy. That and his lifeblood leaking out made him feel rather numb.
Kela lashes out with a tendril of solid water, hoping she can hit the creature through the large number of combatants. She gives a quick thought to wonder if she has seen a creature quite like this before.
Bhookaaj attacks the plant creature again with own machete, trying to maintain a flanking position:
Lorelei will fire at the plant thing again and hopes that this is the last of the unwelcome creatures that have invaded the colony area.
Now that he is in melee with the creature, Rhyfedd unleash a series of blows. The first one is a solid blow to the creature. The second one has a lot of strength in it, but it is hard to know if it connected where it needed to.
Valdern tries to be as accurate as Rhyfedd, but he just can't connect. "Bah! I'm better at making those then using them."
Rhyfedd's blow brings the creature down.
The tracks lead to a solitary house, with a well and vegetable patch nearby. A painted rock near the entrance marks this as the "Levin Farm".
Inside, the house is in a state of disarray much like other buildings. Much of the simple wooden furniture is damaged or flipped over, random scraps of cloth litter the floor, and produce like corn or melons lie about, half-eaten and rotting. A pair of barrels, both marked "Ale", are against a wall.
As you look around, a sudden and loud "Thud" noise comes from the other side of the house, as if something fell off the roof.
"One of the boards... it's warped." Ebirah says as he uses one of his daggers to inspect the board and possibly pry it loose, and then there was the thud.
Lorelei walks over to the barrels of marked "ale" and thumps them both, trying to figure out if anything is left in them or not.
She'll jump at the sound of the thud, and look around for a window or door on that side of the house. If none, she'll go back out the door and walk round to where it occurred.
Ebirah flooded something brightly glowing and the flint of metal, but can't really tell what is there.
There is a window, but it is currently shuttered.
One of the barrels is still sealed and sounds full, while the other sounds mostly empty.
When Lorelei opens the shutters, nothing is immediately obvious. That is, until a grey arm with a star-shaped hand reaches through and grasps for her throat, just barely missing.
The arm's owner comes into view, climbing on the side of the wall. It is about the size of a halfling.
In his poisoned maliase Ebirah doesn’t have much luck prying the board loose.
When he hears the ruckus behind him he turns and spotting the creature says ”Choker! Careful! They’re quick and stretchy and like to strangle people!”
Bhookaaj steps back and takes aim at the choker with his crossbow:
And misses
Kela lines up another shot and sends a jet of solid water flinging at the next strange new creature to suddenly appear.
"I think we know what happened to that ale," Kela says sardonically.
Ebirah tilts his head. ”It’s drunk?”
"Very," Kela replies. "I'm sure it's still dangerous, however."
Ebirah nods.
Lorelei eeps and steps back 5 feet. Then she lifts her crossbow and fires a bolt at the ugly little thing that wants to choke her.
Gorglumch points his crossbow and his bolt flies true, wounding the choker's rubbery arm.
The choker then turns toward the goblin, but is unable to strike the nimble goblin.
Bhookaaj tries shooting the choker again with his crossbow:
This time, sufficiently alarmed by the choker's potential to, well, choke people, Elia opted to use her newly acquired wand on it.
Valdern gets into range and try once more to hit with his Longspear. The tip of the spear way above the head of the creature, biting into the wall instead.
Rhyfedd doesn't hesitate a second and gets right up close to the creature. The attack has some power behind it, but probably not enough to knock it out in one shot.
The choker seems surprised, but otherwise unaffected by the burst of color.
Ebirah moves up to hack at the choker.
With everyone getting in melee with the choker, Lorelei is hesitant to fire at it again and instead draws her morningstar.
The party unleashes several attacks on the creature, but the creature manages to avoid most of them. Rhyfedd scores a solid blow, but the creature takes the hit easily.
Gorglumch steps back lands another hit with his crossbow, while Kela sends a blast of water over the head of the creature.
The creature lashes out at Rhyfedd, but is unable to affect the phantom. It starts to back away.
Kela lashes out again with another tendril of water even as it gets harder to see a clear opening to the creature.
Taking advantage of the choker's efforts to put some space between them, Elia blasted it with her wand again before the others could close in and get themselves caught in the spray of colour.
Lorelei will close in on the creature and swing her morningstar at it.
The choker suddenly freezes, arms midway to blocking its eyes.