"Aughhhhh! Ew! Ew! Ew!" Surma cries out before instinctively striking at the creature talking to her.
The sudden attack on Surma by the spider=like...things was a surprise. The fact that they spoke was more than a bit creepy and Eilyne decided such abominations must die. With a swirl of her hand a seed flew up and then she slammed power into it sending it at the nearest of the freaky things. Unfortunately her haste made it seem that she would miss her target badly.
Mia snarls as her arrow goes wide.
Eilyne hurls a blast at the nearest spider, but it flies past her target.
Surma chops at the purple monstrosity, slicing deep into its belly with her axe. Blood and entrails spill out from the wound, and the monster screeches in pain and rage!
Mia moves to get a clear shot and shoots an arrow, but her attack goes wide.
Griffo sends Minto in to flank the monster with Surma. The halfling casts a healing spell then moves forward to touch the wounded sword devil.
The spiders continue to bite at Surma.
The purple monster attacks Surma with teeth and claws before stepping out of the flank.
"Augh! Stop. With. The Biting!" Surma calls out as she steps with the purple creature to swing again, unwilling to let it retreat.
Seeing that the nearest spider is unengaged at the moment Eilyne sent another large thorn flying out, this time aiming at it abdomen. The chunk of spike like plant material lanced out to slam into the creature, though not with the kind of force she wanted.
Minto moves forward to stay in the fight with the purple monstrosity.
Griffo shifts his attention to the lagging spider next to the ettercap. He loads and fires a bullet with his sling.
"Open wide!" Mia calls out in a singsong voice as she takes aim and then sends an arrow streaking for the ugly monster's head.
Eilyne hurls a thorn blast at the nearest spider, wounding it badly.
Surma slashes the purple monster again, but it turns away in time to avoid a devastating blow, instead only suffering a light injury.
Mia manages a good hit this time, her arrow sinking into its flabby chest. The creature gurgles and falls to the ground.
Minto and Griffo turn to the spiders, but neither one manages a good hit.
Without the purple thing directing them, the spiders mindlessly bite at Minto, but neither one hits.
Surma cackles as Mia's arrow drops the creature before turning her attention onto the spiders.
With her target injured badly Eilyne pulled together the energy for yet another thorn and sent it flying out. This one lanced out straight at the spider's head and seemed like it would impale the creature and kill it.
Minto is no fan of the excessively hairy crunchiness of spiders, but he does his best to defend himself.
"I'll come help you, Minto," Griffo calls out, drawing his scimitar as he steps in behind the spider.
Mia quickly turns her attention to the spiders.
Eilyne blasts the wounded spider again, driving a thorn into its head. It falls to the ground, legs twitching feebly.
Surma swings at the remaining spider but is unable to hit. Mia manages to strike it with a well-placed arrow. Minto snaps at it but it dodges away, so Griffo moves to flank it, slicing it with his scimitar.
The spider turns to smaller prey as it turns and bites Griffo.
"Die, damnit!"
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"Youch!" Griffo cries out as the spider bites him. The relative superficialness of the wound, however, leaves him in the fight as he lashes back, a little weaker, with his blade.
Minto, manifestation of Griffo's connections to the spirits of nature, fights on to protect his druid.
Surma and Griffo miss the spider, but Minto manages to sink his teeth into its leg. The wolf worries the wound and tears the leg clean off. Ichor sprays from the severed limb as the spider thrashes on the ground, eventually curling up on its back as it dies.
The spiders' nests are about fifteen feet up in the trees. You'll have to climb up if you want to search them.
Moving slowly and carefully, Surma clambers up into the spiders' nests. The remains of the arachnids' previous victims are bundled up in webbing sacs. Most of the remains are of squirrels, rabbits, and birds, but there are also two humanoid corpses equipped with gear. Several gemstones are scattered about the nests as well.
An "Ooooooohhh," can be heard from the tree, as the skinwalkwer's eyes spot all the shinies before being followed by a long sigh. "I think I found some of the rangers." Stuffing the items into her packs she'll make her way down before heading back up to retrieve the bodies.
Being a pretty good healer, Griffo gets the healer kit out of the handy haversack and starts drawing out and cleaning off the venom.
"I think I've arrested the venom, but I do feel a bit weak in the knees."
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Minto licks Griffo's face to make him feel better.
"Oh, thanks, Minto. But your breath smells like spider. We'd best see what's happening here. I don't like the looks of it." Griffo says as he gets out the wand of cure light wounds.
"Thanks." Surma tells Griffo as he prods her with the wand after she delivers the bodies to the ground. "Yeah, time to check the redoubt, be on guard. But first let's go through all this, found some useful stuff up there. There's scrolls so some of it might be magical." she says as she starts to produce the equipment she recovered from the tree.
After sorting through the loot, you climb up into the redoubt to find the building has been abandoned. Based on the amount of dust and the lack of tracks, you determine that nobody has been in this place for at least two weeks. A search of the redoubt turns up a half-burned letter in a fireplace, an order recalling all Chernasardo Rangers to a place called Fort Trevalay. Unfortunately, you have no idea what or where Fort Trevalay might be.
Surma lets out a sigh of relief when they discover that the Rangers had been recalled instead of being killed. Then she tilts her head. "... what were they recalled for? Is the Legion or Molthune trying to sack all of Nirmanthas?"
"Dunno, but no sense in not taking advantage of what they left. We'll have to see who can fight and who's go experience," Mia says, thinking about what would need to be done to defend this place.
With the spiders dead Eilyne kept a look out for trouble while the others looked for loot. She would never admit it to herself but the woman found this empty place rather...disturbing. It wasn't the first time she'd ever come across an abandoned place in these woods and it always creeped her out when she did. Hearing that the Rangers had been given orders to withdraw she sighed and said, "Looks like we came here for nothing Rocky."
Rocky just looked at her and then the redoubt before focusing on her again. It was obvious the creature didn't really understand and Eilyn reached out to lay a hand on it's head and gently stroked it.
"Don't worry about it Rocky, maybe you'll understand us better someday and everything will make sense to you." She gave the elemental a smile, "If nothing else you are the most likely of all of us to survive this nightmare."
"Hey, you and him are gonna survive for a good long while, gonna go on naturey plant and earth adventures and stuff." Surma says to Eilyne.
The rest of the survivors catch up to you after a little while. They are understandably disappointed that the Rangers have left.
"This place looks sturdy enough for a few days," Aubrin says. "We should all stay here while you four venture to the troglodyte caves."
As you settle down to rest for the night, you reflect on your experiences in the woods thus far. You have faced many challenges, and you feel stronger and more confident in your abilities.
Aubrin heals your wounds before you turn in for the night. In the morning, you start to head northeast through the woods towards the troglodyte caves.
You travel for a few hours, and just before noon, you happen across a man with the sun-bronzed upper body of a seasoned warrior and the lower body of a sleek warhorse. The handsome young centaur waves as you approach.
"Greetings, fellow travelers! My name is Yorc. Would you care to rest with me a spell? I am happy to share my meal of barley and apples, and we can trade information about the potential hazards of these woods."
Surma blinks. ”Oh, hello.” she lets out before turning to her companions. ”What do you guys think?”
With another day done and a plan for the others to stay here at the old Ranger's encampment Eilyne felt relief that she got to rest for the night. When they headed out the next morning to make their way to the troglodyte cave Eilyne enjoyed a chance to eat something and spent some time stretching her limbs in preparation for the trek ahead. As they moved along Eilyn stayed off to one side in the underbrush moving parallel to the group and was startled to see the centaur, especially one who seemed friendly. She tapped her foot on the ground a few times in a prearranged signal for Rocky to stay underneath and near her in case of trouble.
Eilyne slipped out of the undergrowth cautiously as she said, "A man with manners, I like that." She gave the horseman a smile, "I'm called Eilyne and I think such a trade would be worth it." She approached him cautiously and gestured at the ground causing leaves and vines to form into a low chair which she sat upon, crossing her knees, and eyeing the larger creature with interest.
Recognizing the creature for what he was now, it took a bit of time as she hadn't known any were in this area and it had been a long time since she saw one, she asked, "What brings you into these woods Yorc? I haven't seen a centaur since I was a little girl in Mother's grove."
Yorc returns Eilyne's smile. "My people tend to stick to the plains to the north and west, but I am journeying to visit friends in another tribe on the far side of the Fangwood."
The centaur reaches into a satchel around his waist and pulls forth a few red delicious apples, offering one to each of you. "This forest is always treacherous, but it seems more so than usual now. What sort of dangers have you encountered here?"
Spiders. Hobgoblins. Undead. Nothing out of the ordinary." Surma replies nonchalantly as she moves up to Eilyne. "Name's Surma, thanks." she adds as she takes two of the apples and sits down, handing one of them to the kineticist while leaning in to whisper with a smirk "You know what they say about centaurs, eh?"
Turning the apple over in her hand and feeling it's pleasant smoothness she didn't bother to take a bite yet, if she decided to at all. She was never a big fan of fruits or greens. Well, she used to not be a big fan of eating her Greens.
A little surprised at Surma's reticence, Griffo answers, "It is much more treacherous, Yorc. There are hobgoblins about - lots of them. Traveling through the Fangwood alone may not be advisable at all."
"Hobgoblins, you say? We don't usually see many of their kind in these parts. I wonder what's got them riled up?" The centaur offers an apple to Griffo.
"Spiders are common, but undead certainly are not. Where did you run into those?"
"I mentioned the hobgoblins."
"Hobgoblins, you say? We don't usually see many of their kind in these parts. I wonder what's got them riled up?" The centaur offers an apple to Griffo.
"Good question. They're all Ironfang, so maybe Molthune is having them raid different towns in advance of an assault... kinda odd to attack over here though. They might be on their own."
Eilyne accepted the apple from Surma and frowned slightly before bringing it to her mouth to take a bite. The lovely woman's nostrils flared slightly as she took in the sight of the delectable fruit, enjoying it before doing anything further.