"Even so," Jemini grins, "if I pretended to be Kressle then Verik's deviant mind would be entirely derailed with all the promiscuous allusions." She looks around, "Hey Verik! What is distracting you? What's that you looking at?"
'I do not precisely fit in myself, but perhaps a good disguise would conceal my species,' Tandlara runs one hand along her long ears, her large eyes, entirely green with no whites are lost in thought.
'Or perhaps I could hide inside a barrel of spirits. I'm light enough that it shouldn't be too obvious. And gives us an ace in the hole as such if I can put several of the gaurds to sleep with magic.'
Zander looks at Tandlara slightly taken aback, having completely forgotten that she is any different from the rest of the party. "Well, we could also just pick up another one of those scrolls Verik had Taisper use to enchant my headband. If we can get a hold of one, they were pretty cheap if I recall."
"Heh. It would give us a good exchuse to empty one of the barrels anyway, he heh." Berrin smirks at Tandlara. "But I rekon Zander is right. A change of clothing should suffice, maybee some tattered cloaks and some hats? A shirt or two to cover our armor? Of course if I get my armor from Oleg before we head out I'll have to cover it with somthing... maybee furs? I could grow my beard and tousle my hair. Maybe get a horned helmet and pour some ale on my clothes? I sure I'd make a stapping wild-man."
From the back of the group, Taisper laughs. "Berrin that's a great idea! You should get a horn'd helm anyway, just on principle! I bet you'd intimidate the heck out of some folks. And furs sure would be nice for when we end up back in the mountains..."
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As the group ascend into the mountains Verik casts locate object and holding a forked twig scans for a scant few minutes searching for gold ore. Before he does this he explains what he is doing to the group and urges them to push their mounts to cover as much ground as possible for 3 minutes galloping where possible - because the spell will cover more ground that way.
The cleric also takes care to make a clear mark in the stone before he casts the spell, and another approximately 500 feet from the point where the spell ends.
He also has Zander note the area on his map, explaining that he intends to scan as much ground as possible and does not intend to cover the same ground twice.
Verik is quiet as the group talk of disguises, though he does blanch a bit at the thought of Jemini impersonating Kressle.
He is more concerned about what to say to the Boggard and how he might persuade the creature to let him touch it with his spell.
"I suppose we can offer them friendship and the opportunity to trade, there must be things they want and can use, and getting them to bring pelts and other valuables to exchange would be valuable. We can hopefully gain ourselves while making their lives better, and more civilized..."
"I imagine we'll hear a something unexpected or two from the boggards. Last time, at least, they were peaceable enough - let's hope that understanding them doesn't make them uncommonly hostile."
'It was only one boggard was it not? And his big slimy toad friends,' Tandlara pipes in, Riddleskin in her lap, not paying attention to their surroundings.
'So much has happened since, I almost can't remember. Things happen so fast among humans.'
"Unless their cracked in the head." Berrin adds to Verik's statement. "Have you forgotten Orlivanch already? Might be the boggard's buggered in the head."
Verik distractedly looks down at his forked twigs right before the spell runs out. With a bit of a twitch, it moves on its own accord to the right, pointing towards a outcropping a few hundred feet away. Verik leads Virtue towards it, getting off to take a look inside.
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Veriks twig nearly jerks out of his hands, and he hurriedly dismount beaming - maybe it was not such a useless spell after all! "It has to be gold, I've got no idea how much there might be, or how much it might be worth, but even a little gold is valuable and it might prove even more useful in attracting people here! If we can set up an operation ourselves we could funnel all the profits into the settlement... We could certainly use them to enable us to start out with a solid inferstructure... Or I suppose we could sell it to experts, dwarves maybe? I'll have to look into how these things are usually handled, any ideas Jemini? Or anyone else for that matter?"
"It's good to see you focusing on virgin material and not some common ore, Verik. But, if your god shows you the way to gold," Jemini looks speculatively (and just a little enviously) at the mithril shirt Zander is carrying, "do you think it would work for that as well?"
"Oh yes, gold doesn't have much intrinsic material value in terms of construction - but it's invaluable as a bartering tool and for trade. I'm sure I can get my Fa-- that House Lebeda would be willing and able to form a suitable trade alliance. That said, although gold isn't so important for construction - I've been told that a lot of magical crafts and enchantments require gold or other valuables; perhaps there is some benefit to be found along that way? A magical foundry or crafting tower?"
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"I'm planning to try to cover as much ground as possible searching for various substances. I don't really know much about mithril saving that it is rare. I imagine it would be found in rocky terrain again though... But it will take a long time before I can cover any significant ground, sadly the spells duration is only a matter of minutes... As for a magical crafting tower, well I'm not sure its practical - I seem to be our only crafter at present, and I don't see why I would need a special edifice for it. It would certainly be nice to have other magical craftsmen at hand, but I think they would need more than just gold to lure them here..." Verik replies his brow wrinkling.
"There will always be seekers of opportunity, free spirits, unsavories, and the like - what lures them here could be any number of things. I think it'll be in part our struggle to encourage desirable folk to join our fledgling nation."
Berrin gives a long whistle as he peeks into the cave. "Who knows how deep this runs, eh? What a find!"
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"Right well, for now we need to mark this on the map, but there isn't a great deal we can do about it now otherwise." Verik says looking pleased as he remounts virtue. "Come on you malodorous mare menacing man bag. Who is a flea ridden fart factory? Yes you are!" He says fondly ruffling Virtue behind the ears.
Marking the location of the gold vein on his map, Zander looks to the horizon, "Agreed. We'll definitely have to come back here later, but for now we'd best continue moving."
With the gold mine found and tracked down, the expedition continues to map out the mountainous region while excitedly making plans for what to do with the vein of gold ore. The consensus is that it will come in handy, as either a source of funds or occasional raw building material, in the creation of their fledgling nation. The craggy mountain is difficult to traverse, but the expedition of five humans, an elf, a rat, six horses, and a tame thylacine seems to be doing a good job of mapping it out.
As the hours pass, the expedition slowly finishes mapping for the day and sets up camp in a defensible area. As they set up bedrolls under the stars, munching on their trail rations, the expedition is still in good spirits from their earlier find. Zander settles into their normal watch pattern, keeping his bow at the ready for anything.
Zander's eagle eyes spot several figures moving towards them from the west, possibly attracted by their small campfire. They are surprisingly difficult to spot despite being fairly large, using the natural rocky terrain and the darkness of dusk to their advantage. Zander spots at least six of them, and possibly more. Trying to get a better look, he inadvertently steps directly in front of the campfire's light, silhouetting himself and revealing his position.
As Zander patrols the watch, the other members of the expedition hear a distant shouting. The sudden noise gets their attention, causing them to grab weapons in remembrance of their last trip at night. The cause of the noise is still a few hundred feet off, and very difficult to spot.
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Grabbing his shield and hefting his borrowed morningstar Verik moves forward trying to use any available cover attempting to spot the uninvited guests.
Ducking behind a rock near Zander and motioning for the archer to find cover with a pointed nod at the fire directly behind him the cleric attempts to see if these interlopers are men or something else entirely.
Moving behind a rock for cover, Zander nocks an arrow and draws back his bowstring, waiting to see what comes out of the darknesss. Looking back at Verik and the others, he quietly fills the others in on what he's seen. "Six of them. Maybe more. They're big."
Turning back to the advancing figures, he squints his eyes to try to make out more details of who or what is coming to meet them.
Turning his back to the fire Berrin squints into the night, "I can't see a bloody thing." he states as he moves forward, hunkering down behind his shield.
The shadowy figures begin to rush towards the group, holding weapons above their heads and screaming at the top of their lungs. As they get a bit closer, the expedition can make out a few details: they are large, physically larger than bandits would be, and hold morningstars above their heads. They are surprisingly quick for their size, and they seem to number six in all. One of them seems even larger than the others, likely standing seven and a half feet tall and probably weighing 500 pounds of pure muscle. It wields a dangerous-looking flail, and bellows as the entire group charges headlong towards the expedition.
Zander lets an arrow fly, launching it at the charging figures. He is rewarded by a shout of infuriated pain from one of them.
Jemini reacts fast, swiftly narrowing down the gap between outcroppings of rock with her presence and steadying her shield against whatever approaches in the darkness. She brings up her sword. "To arms!"
Tandlara moves to R9 and casts mage armor on herself.
Drawing another arrow, Zander turns to Verik and grins, "Looks like you'll get a chance to try out that new morningstar of yours." Standing up from the cover, Zander takes aim on the injured monster and fires off another two shots.
His efforts are rewarded with another shout from the already wounded monster as he ducks back down behind the rocky cover.
Watching the enemy approach, Taisper mutters "Is one of them bigger than the others or am I seeing things?"
Jemini moves forward to come shoulder-to-shoulder with Berrin, her gaze carries a fierce fire as she looks to the mass of dark silhouettes that rapidly close in on them. "Berrin and Taisper! Let's try to protect this line to keep them from overrunning our fragiles!"
"Aye. Hold the line. Watch the flanks." Berrin intones as he stares into the darkness at the approching enemies, steeling himself for the fight.
The hulking figures continue their charge across the rocky ground, now shouting and driving themselves into a terrible frenzy. In the moonlight, they are recognizable as bugbears, a very large type of goblin. They are sure to be extremely dangerous, and they will be on Jemini and Berrin in just a few seconds. Their leader points to Jemini and shouts to the other in a guttural voice and broken Common. "I feed on that one first!"
Feeling Verik's glare on her back she adds with a quick grin at him, "- and our unmentionables!"
Tandlara raises her hands and begins to mutter and incantation, runes appear around her wrists and begin to swirl and orbit in strange geometric paths, glowing softly in the dark.
Brandishing her sword towards the leader, "I see spirits, and they foretell your death. Come! NOW!"
Loosing another arrow at the wounded bugbear, Zander's smile widens as the bolt takes the beast in the neck, spraying blood into the air and dropping the creature to the rocky ground. Shifting his aim to the left, he lands another shot square in the chest of another advancing enemy with a satisfying thwack.
"Come on uglies! Come feel the pain!" Berrin shouts at the bugbears, banging his sword and shield together. Brandishing his shield before him he draws his sword up to his shoulder, ready to strike the first bugbear to approach.
Taisper ignores the verbal back-and-forth between the enemies and his companions, focusing instead on what is available to help him, and the status of the terrain. These creatures were evil, he could see their brutal and bloody auras seething about them. There would be no quarter for them, as he was sure they would give none.
Noticing the harsh terrain to his right, he moves closer to it to gain a bit of protection for his right flank and give himself a little more room to maneuver around his companions. Raising his shield and morningstar in preparation, he watches the bugbear on his right, the far edge of the group. That one will be first. A gold mist colors his vision of this creature, a manifestation of the Lawgiver's divine wrath at these chaotic beasts.
He notices with satisfaction that one has already fallen -- an early victim of Zander's marksmanship.
The leader of the hideous goblinoids charges towards Jemini, almost at a froth at the thought of feasting on her flesh. His heavy flail swings menacingly at the end of its chain, promising terrible pain if it connects. Jemini and Berrin swing their swords in unison, with Jemini hitting high and Berrin striking low. Both slash the fearsome leader, causing him to bellow in pain and rage. His attack on Jemini goes far wide, smashing a huge hole in the ground when it connects.
With Berrin's attention on the leader, one of the others charges headlong into him, driving a morningstar into his stomach. Berrin's armor absorbs the worst of it, keeping him from a fatal injury, but the sharp points of the morningstar's head punctures partially through into his abdomen. Blood pours out from under the armor as Berrin doubles over.
Jemini dodges the morningstar of the other bugbear, as if she knew where it would end before the bugbear attacked. The ugly hulling beast growls angrily at her.
With Berrin still gasping for breath, he barely has enough time to bring up his shield when another bugbear leaps onto him. The vicious strike of the bugbear's morningstar slams into the shield, sending shockwaves through his arm. Berrin surely can't take much more punishment.
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Verik rushes forward and calls in a voice ringing with righteous fervor and a power far beyond the young cleric's own, "Down on your belly transgressor!" As he gazes glowers at the bugbear leader.
As the bugbear fights against his command Verik calls back, in his normal tones, "Tandlara get the ones by Berrin if you can!"
Wincing at Berrin's injury, Zander does his best to focus fire on the enemies closest to the Fighter. Carefully aiming through the raging melee, his first arrow lands next to his last, directly in the chest of the wounded Bugbear, sending it to the ground with a howl. His second arrow catches the other Bugbear on Berrin's side of the battlefield in the ribs, drawing forth torrents of blood from the deep wound.
Trying to recover from the blow Berrin falls into a defencive stance. Seeing an opening he trusts at the bugbear to his left but misses.
Grimacing as she sees the murderous blow connect against Berrin, Jemini for a moment fights an instinct to heal the wounds on the warrior. Iomedae! Please stand by the side of my companions as we face this wicked horde. Give them the strength to stand firm and resolute! She trusts that Berrin will pull back if he needs to; and Zander already is drawing a bead on the foes to the left.
Even when prone his imposing figuring reaches to her waist. With a strength she only rarely shows a divine certainty raises her longsword and strikes at the bugbear leader before her. The blade cutting into his flesh with a hissing burn.