"It certainly smells of something, but I didn't really study alchemy. We should look into this later, lets see if we can still do any good here.."
"Hmm, it's nothing I've ever used in farming, must have belonged to the raiders." Taroo replies to Sera.
"If it's alright with you I'd like to check on the Renons' farm first? It's this way... We can check the Tralio farm afterwards and the Alyin's farm is nearby too."
Taroo leads the way up the stairs and along a trail through a strip of dense woods when you emerge from the trees you all can see a stout wooden farmhouse as well as a number of outbuildings, a barn, a chicken coop, a well and Taroo's farmhands cottage.
The door and windows of the farmhouse are smashed in as are the barn doors and the door to Taroo's cottage.
The paladin looks at Balyzar, Something to consider. Rakish, are your people known to use poison?
--
At the farmhouse, Rav looks around, first for survivors, then second for tracks leading away.
The seed of the buckeye or the crushed bulb of the soaproot brings death to fish when dropped in the waters, making fishing easier. It brings no affect to reptile or mammal when consumed. This is poison.
But I do not believe that my kind did this. The Pink One - Sera - found the markings of a boat. My kind have no need of boats. We swim.
If it were the local tribes, you would see the markings if our feet coming out of the waters. Instead, we see the markings of boats.
Rav looks troubled, Then we need to find these interlopers. Do you think the lizardfolk are working with someone?
"I think that's a reasonable assumption. Assuming the lizardfolk are even involved at all. Could be someone using them as a convenient scapegoat."
The Farmhouse
The farmhouse is a well-built, low 20 ft. x 40 ft. sturdy wooden structure with walls stained dark green. The roof is wood shingles. There are front and back doors, and a pair of small rippled glass windows into each room. It has wood floors and a six-foot high ceiling. Inside the front door is a large living space with a fireplace. A narrow hallway leads past a small bedroom to the kitchen in the back. There are no interior doors. A large fireplace dominates the kitchen, and it is clear that food preparation occurs both inside and at tables behind the house.
There has been a struggle here, damaged furniture, dried blood spots and splatters up the wall, though not an extensive amount and a bloody woodsmans axe with a broken handle is stuck in the wall next to the broken in door! A crude and broken club lies on the kitchen floor and there are claw marks all over the wooden floors.
The Chicken Coop
This area seems undisturbed, chooks scratch around in the dirt and there are none of the claw marked tracks around it.
Taroo's Cottage
Taroo's rough wooden cottage is a single 10 ft. x 10 ft. room with a small window next to the front door. The door is smashed in, but its worn table and chairs are undisturbed. The bed is overturned, as though someone looked under it. Nothing is missing.
Barn
The barn is a story and a half tall stout wood structure. Access is through the main doors on the west side, with two additional doors on the north and east sides. The north door leads to the pig sty, and the east doors open into the pasture.
All of the doors are smashed in, showing clear impacts from clubs. Taroo realizes several large pigs are missing. Smaller pigs remain inside the north side of the barn. The two cows and the ox are gone. Clawed footprints cover the dirt floor.
North Field
The north field has the first green shoots of the spring grain planting. An ox-drawn plow sits at the south edge of the field, near the barn.
South Field
The south field shows the first shoots of a variety of vegetables. Three clear sets of clawed footprints lead from the compound through the field and towards the Alyin's farm to the south.
Well
The well is shallow and stone lined. A dozen battered wood buckets are stacked around the well next to a ragged rope.
Clawed tracks bring evidence that people were taken back to the river. The lizardfolk were responsible for the kidnappings.
Rakish finds the loose floorboard and takes out the chest. But as he's uninterested in coin, he leaves it behind.
Well then, we'd best try to catch up to them, so that we do not have to fight an entire tribe...
Krissina takes a look around the farmhouse first...
Glenda checks out the farmhouse, wondering what's in the kitchen.
"Why did they not go for the chicken coop? Am sure lizard folk would prefer that to humans. Especially if you had some garlic and pepper and maybe a little salt.. and a well built over... um... not that I've ever tasted humans cooked with anything," Glenda says.
She points to the club.
"Well, this probably came from the swamp. Easy way to throw the blame on the lizard folk. Something isn't right..."
Inspecting the club, pointed out by Glenda, Ravvek calls Rakish over, Is this club made by the lizard-folk?
This club brings the essence of wood from a tree that grows in river and swamp. Very common in these lands. The lizardfolk usually carve their clubs from bone, but wood is sometimes seen.
Ravvek nods, Are we done here? Every second we dally, the farther we must travel.
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Sera follows the others as they begin spreading out and scanning the area. She notices the drag marks in the rear of the house moments after Rakish makes his announcement. So caught up in him one upping her, she fails to let the others know of the seemingly loose floorboard until after the lizardman does the same. Not being a petty crook, she doesn't bother to remove the gold and gems found there, hoping to return the owners to their home, and it wouldn't do for their saviors to have plundered their residence.
At Glenda's comment, Sera crouches low to look at Rakishes feet, and compares the tracks he is making with those of the interlopers. Do you think the lizardfolk are being set up? That a band of petty crooks are concealing their nefarious actions under the guise of rampaging lizardmen? I wonder how hard it would be to fit claw bits on the underside of a boot? Maybe they took the bigger farm animals because they would be easier to sell to a butcher? Fascinating!
"Or maybe they prefer beef! No more tarrying! Let's follow the tracks!" she says.
Hung also looks all over the farm, poking and prodding into the various buildings and such.
Investigate:
Survival:
Perception:
He discovers nothing new in his examination of the area.
Krissina takes a look around the farmhouse first...
[dice=Perception]1d20+0
It's a separate check so you can have a crack at it if you want to.
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There was a fair amount of evidence pointing to the Lizardfolk around the farm, but some things didn't add up. Why were they using a boat on their raids
Some of the tracks led back to the river, and some went off towards the other nearby farms.
A quick search of the two neighbouring farms turned up similar evidence. At the Alyin farm the small farmhouse has been broken into and the young couple (as Taroo describes them) are missing. Their Barn doors are wide open and their Ox is missing, tracks leading back towards the river.
The Tralio's are missing too, with signs of a struggle in their farmhouse, but in their pastures their are several cows still grazing and in a separate paddock a large Bull watches as you walk past... the fence of his paddock is broken.
Glenda takes a look at the barn.
"Looks like the cows were led out of the barn by the clawed creatures, and led back down to the river. Guess we should head that way?" she informs the rest.
"The large meat beast..cow..with the horns has blood on it. A trail seems to also lead down to the river...interesting. Cows are dangerous!" he says in a deep baritone.
The birdman give the cattle a wary look as he follows the others down towards the river.
Rakish chuckles. This bull brought a fight to one of the attackers. The blood trail will lead us to them.
Rakish follows the trail.
Ravvek nods, Let us begin the hunt...
With nothing more to add, Krissina follows the trail with the others.
Sera tries to make a stern warface when "the hunt" begins, though her diminutive size and inability to maintain one emotion for longer than a minute causes her to give up on that, and begin focusing on trying to touch the tip of her nose with her tongue.
Ravvek stifles a smile when he catches Seraphyna slowly shift from serious to trying to touch her nose with her tongue!
The tracks all lead back to the river, where the raft or barge had been beached on the gravel bar, most of the clues point towards the Lizardfolk but the only way to know for sure seemed to be to head down river into the marsh!
With only a few hours of light left today the choice had to be made if you would head into the marsh, knowing it would be dark when you arrived. Camp at the farm overnight or even head back to the Inn and set out again in the morning...
"I'll be no help going into the Marsh..." Taroo says, "But your welcome to take the boat, I'll tend to the animals and do my best to lock up the buildings here, then head back to the Crossing inn."
"Seems to me we'd be as well waiting here. While the dark doesn't bother me I don't beleive you all see in the dark as well as I do. Perhaps if we put on some lights and sing a few songs they may even decide to attack us and save us the bother of hunting them down."
"Um... okay. I suppose we could camp here. Maybe we can try catching some fish and I'll try to cook something up," Glenda says, looking around, wondering what a squadron of lizard folk would be like.
Do we think waiting would be best? The longer we wait, the more often the lizardfolk who took the people will get hungry... not sure I want to tell the town we lost someone because we were afraid of the dark... says Sera quizzically. Though I will go by what the team wishes.
Hung gingerly steps into the boat and sits down.
"We should go and save people, yes? Lizard-friend can direct us and I see in dark."
Though I will need light, to be sure, I am of a mind with Won and Sera, we should go. Perhaps if they see us chasing, some of them will break off to stop us, leaving us to face smaller groups, Rav says with a determined look on his face.
"Very well, I'm loathe to leave someone in danger anyway."
Rakish tallies up the vote and concludes,
We will travel by night.
Everyone piles into the boat and shoving off from the gravel bar, and beginning the trip downstream. The current of the river speeds you along as the sun dips towards the horizon. Clouds roll in and about an hour and a half the rain starts pouring down and the drums start, Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Badadadadadadadada Boom, boom boom boom, badadadadadadadada boom...
Never ceasing for more than a moment they seem to come from all directions as they echo around, Rakish can tell that there is meaning in them but the patterns are unfamiliar to him.
Half an hour later, the river widens and slows as you reach the edge of the marsh and twilight has suddenly turned into the deepest night due to the cloud cover and rain...
You hear the slightest splash of water and your eyes are draw to some movement off in the darkness! You spot the eyes of a Lizardfolk scout gleaming as they watch you from the water.
"Mm.. sounds like they're getting ready for a feast. I hope we're not on the menu," Glenda says.
Glenda points out a trail of flattened reeds. "Maybe they pulled their barges this way..."
Survival:
Hung also sees the path, and in Glenda's voice points it out.
"Indeed there is a path over there. Lets head towards it and see what we might find!"
Perception:
Per. (disadv):
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Sera spends her time looking for fishes in the water, oblivious of whatever was going on with the reeds people were commenting on. Hey guys, do we mind if we're spotted, cuz there's a scout right THERE! she says, making a giant pink arrow marking the lizardfolk with her Prestidigitation.
At Seraphyna's pink arrow, Rav snatches up his longbow and draws a bead!
"Perhaps Rakish could try speaking with them?"
Upon seeing the lizardman, Glenda waves her hands frantically. Fynn whips about, ready for a battle. "Wait! Wait! You don't want to be fighting a bunch of lizardmen! Rakish tell him our eager young man thought he was a crocodile flesheater!" Glenda says, hoping that the arrow won't ruin their chances at diplomacy.
Rakish, more prone to action than talking, also draws his bow, but he holds his fire to see what the scout does in light of everyone else wanting to talk.
Running will loose the arrows, he says to the scout. Swim to us, speak the truth, and live.
The rain continues to pour down obscuring almost everything 30ft out from the boat...
The scout flinches as Ravvek's arrow splashes into the river, he starts to swim away, but stops as Rakish speaks up. He turns about in the water and swims a couple of feet closer to the boat, but stays out of the bright light, hos shield raised and ready, cautious and wary. He replies to Rakish
Draconic: "Why do you travel with armed softskins? Have they imprisoned you, or have you made a falsehood to trick them to Velvet's feast?"
Rakish, who does not lie, responds:
Draconic: What is Velvets Feast, and is that where the rest of the soft-skins have been taken? How do we get there from here?
Glenda wonders what is transpiring between the two lizardmen. At least they're not fighting... She tries her best to keep quiet.
Rav watches, a second arrow nocked, just in case...