Havrin carefully examines the surrounding area in an effort to find the horse's tracks and possibly its trail to backtrack.
"Bea? Sabrina? Could you help me search for the horse's tracks?" Havrin asks.
There's no trail of blood around the horse, but its backtrail is clear enough to the ranger that he's able to figure out where it had come from. Incidentally, its tack includes a pair of saddlebags. One contains a waterskin and two days' field rations, and the other contains a couple of rabbit pelts, silver and copper coinage with a total value of 2 gp, and a tunic in what would be reasonable condition if not for a slash and extensive bloodstains.
The horse doesn't seem to have been moving in one direction, but wandering around aimlessly. Eventually Havrin finds the trail out of the immediate area, and thence to the scene of a pitched battle. There are four dead humans in leather armor, armed with shortswords and bows; there is a silver stag necklace that looks like it was torn off of someone's neck (the chain is broken) and left to lie on the ground. The bodies (or what's left of them after the predators and scavengers have been at work) seem to have been there for about a day.
Adam slips the rabbit pelts and coins into his own bags. "Whoever these belong to will want them back someday."
He shakes his head slowly in sorrow at the site of the grisly combat scene. "Poor souls." Then stoops to examine the silver stag necklace.
Adam, the necklace is identical to the ones you found on Happs and Kressle.
"Bandits again... that Stag Lord fellow no doubt. Or someone serving him."
Adam picks up the stag pendant and shows it to others.
1d20+7
Bea leans down to examine the bodies. "I wonder what happened to them. I don't reckon they ran into other bandits or mites or such - if they had their gear and money wouldn't still be here. You think some beast might have done this?"
Actually, Bea, given your profession and choice of weapons, you think you spot a couple of wounds that look like they were caused by a large chopping/slashing weapon--a polearm, greataxe, or greatsword.
Bea stops and looks back down as something catches her eye. "Now wait. These wounds here - they were made by a large blade - I don't know of any beast that would leave marks like that - but why would anyone kill them and just leave them like this? It doesn't make any sense!"
"Oh no. Who would do this?!" Sabrina yells as she runs up to the bodies to inspect them for signs of life, knowing her actions are futile. After spending a moment coming to terms with their seemingly since-less deaths, Sabrina decides to ask the horse what happened.
"How are you doing?"
"Is everything ok?"
"Do you know these men?"
"How did this happen?"
"Where are they from?"
"So what do you think happened here? A disagreement between two groups of bandits? Or assuming that these men were bandits, is there another group of people here in the Greenbelt seeking to put an end to the Stag Lord's depredations?" Havrin muses aloud.
Havrin searches the ground around the scene of battle, trying to discern the direction in which the victors rode away.
Havrin, you find a lot of confused tracks and a few arrows.
"They from home."
"It's hard to be sure because horses think differently than us..."
"But he says that this one is he friend," Sabrina explains pointing to the man the horse indicated.
"They were running away from a man, or a wolf, or both. Or running after it. The horse didn't say exactly. But they were scared so I'm guessing they were running away."
"Either way, he was killed and the horse ran away after that."
"Could it have been our friend the werewolf? I suppose he did us a favor, if it was. We'd better get these bodies buried, anyways - the carrion have had their way well enough as is." Bea pulls any useful equipment away from the corpses and then sets about digging. Wiping her forehead, she sighs, "Looks like it's gonna be a long night."
Havrin watches impassively for several moments as Bea works at digging graves for the fallen. "I suppose even bandits deserve a proper burial," he mutters under his breath before stepping over to help the paladin.
Adam helps Bea look for valuables.
There are a few silver and copper pieces among the fallen, totaling 10 gp. Each of the four bodies found is in studded leather (sometimes rather the worse for wear), and as noted above they carried shortswords and longbows. None of the arms or armor are masterwork. There are a couple of sacks of pelts, total worth 20 gp. Adam, as you're looking over things you notice that although three had their weapons drawn (at least, their shortswords were on the ground near them, instead of in their sheathes), there is no blood on any of the swords.
"Whatever killed them, killed them very quickly. I do not think they suffered too much."
Jacyn assists with the digging. "I wonder if these were men that our friends back at the Outpost knew? Perhaps we can show the leathers and weapons to them whenever we get back to see if they recognize any of it."
"Well, that's three of those stag pendants we've come across now. At least the Stag Lord is losing more of his valued people," Havrin comments.
"What?! How can you say that about followers of my father. The great stag is good to everyone!"
Beatrix can't help but laugh. The Stag Lord is the name of the chief of bandits, not the same as the Great Stag who both Havrin and I revere." She takes the pendant and shows it to Sabrina. "See this symbol? His followers wear it and it marks them as a bad sort of people." Tapping her own pendant, she continues. "This is the symbol of your father, Erastil. See the difference?" Now that I think about it, it's almost as if he took something good and pure and twisted it to evil...
Katya stays mounted on her horse as the others canvas the scene and begin digging graves. Knowing she can't help very much in the actual digging, and would probably get in the way, Katya keeps her eyes scanning over the horizon for awhile, making sure we aren't taken by surprise. After awhile she turns to speak up, seeing that Bea and the others are nearing the end of their work.
"At least we have a vague idea of where our bandits might be. A fort to the south would be a good place for bandits to hole up in this wilderness. Though that does make any attempt to stop them quite a bit harder in the long run."
"Perhaps. While they should be easier to locate now, if they are continually returning to one central location, though it could be more difficult to root them out of their hole. Of course, if they are have been there long, they likely have some sort of routine set up for guard duty, which we may be able to find a way to exploit."
Adam nods and grins at the idea of finally beating the bandits.
"I can't wait for the day when we can melt these silly stag pendants down into something more useful."
Beatrix can't help but laugh. The Stag Lord is the name of the chief of bandits, not the same as the Great Stag who both Havrin and I revere." She takes the pendant and shows it to Sabrina. "See this symbol? His followers wear it and it marks them as a bad sort of people." Tapping her own pendant, she continues. "This is the symbol of your father, Erastil. See the difference?" Now that I think about it, it's almost as if he took something good and pure and twisted it to evil...
Sabrina clutches the blasphemous stag pendant in her hand, "I don't like it... I want to stop him!"
Bea smiles a little sadly. "We will - that's our job out here, to stop those kind of people." She turns and gives the halfling a wry smile, "And if Adam can make a profit, all the better."
You get the common grave dug and bury the bodies, then go back the way you came. The rest of the day is uneventful.
The night is likewise uneventful, although it's coming on towards the full moon and you occasionally hear howling in the distance.
The next morning dawns clear and pleasant, a nice contrast to the past few days of rain. You head northwest past the river crossing and into unknown territory (to all of you; Sabrina doesn't remember this area very well). Late in the morning, Havrin thinks he hears a shout up ahead, over a hill.
"Did you all hear that? A shout up ahead, over that hill," Havrin announces, drawing his bow and nocking an arrow to the string as he urges Stepper to quickly ascend the hill.
Adam strains his ears and listens.
Adam, you also hear the shouting (it sounds like a male human; angry, fearful, or both), and under it a sort of snuffling sound.
Jacyn brings his shield and lance up, ready for action as he rides off after Havrin.
As the various party members crest the hill, in a small dell below them they see an apparently-dead boar, a distressingly live one, and a man on horseback. His condition is a transient one, though, as the boar gores the horse and it goes over.
Round 1:
Initiative order:
Bea/Man
Havrin
Jacyn
Adam/Katya
Sabrina/Boar
Cursing, the man tries to crawl out from under the fallen horse.
Round 1, Init 4
Assuming it's still alive by the time Sabrina can act, she tries to calm the boar.
Calm Animals (Will DC 15), HD
Round One:
Guiding Stepper with his knees, Havrin signals for the horse to slow and then fires an arrow at the attacking boar.
Havrin's arrow flies true and hits the angry pig.
"Oh, Erastil's horns. Hold on!" Bea spurs her horse and rides full gallop at the melee.
Although he can do little other than hold on as Bea's horse whips into action, Adam grips harder and draws his rapier. He leaps off as they reach the scene of action.
to jump off the horse and tumble past the boar if possible.
Jacyn gives Smoke a light kick in the ribs to get the horse moving. The pair ride hard at the pig, Jacyn coming just close enough to gouge the thing with his lance.
"Leave him be, beast. Your fight is with me, now."
Jacyn's lance inflicts a deep wound, but the animal is still up and fighting.
The diminutive bard hits the ground in a tight roll and comes to his feet, able to take a stab at the boar at a -2 to hit.
Oh, I just wanted to move to flank the boar, not attack it, yet. (If I can).
You can flank it.
Following the party as we crest the hill, Katya looks at the man fending off the enraged boar and gives an exasperated click of her tongue against her teeth as she urges her horse forward to a supporting position behind the rest of the group and lifts her staff up into the air, enchanting words of magic from long studied memory.
"Arcaniss Nil'gnos!
And a ball of blue light leaps from her staff, impacting the boar unerringly.
Magic Missile
Round 1:
The multiple attacks take their toll on the beast, but its inherent toughness and rage keep it going long enough for it to try to gore Jacyn's horse. It misses...and then collapses to the ground as Sabrina's spell takes hold.
The man finishes extricating himself from the horse, a process complicated by his peg leg having broken in the fall. "Thanks for the timely rescue. Figure it might be time to hang up my bow; if I can't manage a pair of pigs, there's no chance I'll be able to take old Tuskgutter."
Bea hops down from her horse and reaches down to help the man up. "What brings you out here? Tuskgutter, you say? Can't say I've heard of him myself. Name's Beatrix, and this here's Adam and Jacyn. Yonder are Havrin, Katya, and Sabrina. You hurt at all?"
The man nods, brushing the dirt and grass out of his thinning grey hair. "Oleg and Svetlana told me about you. I'm Vekkel Benzen,--" He looks ruefully down at his broken prosthesis. "--newly retired hunter. Nothing but bruises, unless you've got a new leg hiding in your saddlebags. And Tuskgutter is the reason I'm missing the original. Damned great boar, the size of four of these little ones." He indicates the animals on the ground. "I was hoping to bring him down before I hung up my bow for good, but I don't think that's going to happen."