You continue the next day into the woods and find the edge of the forest where it meets the plains. Circling back to explore the area you come across a clearing where someone has dug a significant pit, 10' across and 20' deep. You can hear angry yips and barks coming from the pit.
Cassandra holds up a hand for the party to stop. She puts a finger to her lips for them to be silent while she focuses on the noises ahead. She listens intently, calling upon the primal part of her brain to try and decipher the meaning of the barking.
Cassandra cautiously approaches the edge and peers in, barking a few Heys! in response to warn the creature of her approach.
Cassandra starts barking like a madwoman and slowly hunkers her way toward the edge of the pit.
Some of the dirt close to the edge - not right at the edge, but some distance out - crumbles away. Cass scrambles back before she slides down into the pit. It looks like the dirt was deliberately turned and then shoveled back in to place to make the sides weak.
Cass straightens back up and can see down below some sort of striped, furry quadruped. It has a face somewhere between a cat and a dog and a thin tail almost reminiscent of a rat's (but furred). With the collapse of the edge of the pit it is now looking up, tongue lolling out, narrow teeth on display.
"Uh..." Cassandra knew not to judge other by their appearance but in nature you could. This thing was a carnivore. And depending on how long it was in there, it could be a very hungry one and thus desperate enough to attack.
"Uh. We got a striped, dog-like creature, but with some feline features and a rat-like tail," she says to the others. Then she turns back to the creature, speaking in its language as best she can. "No hurt. I help?"
Alexei dismounts and steps forward towards the pit, with his hand on the hilt of his longsword. "What's going on, Cass?" he asks, "Is the creature communicating with you?"
Jenya dismounts and crouches close to the pit, examining it instead of the poor animals trapped within.
Well someone dug the pit and set the trap... Don't know if they wanted to catch those things or what but it might be good to know who the trapper is
She sees if she can trace back where the person who set the trap might have gone.
Vallen stops as the group does, a look of concern crossing his face when the intense yipping reaches his ears. While Cassandra goes to check on what's in the pit, the dwarf starts to slowly and carefully load his pistol.
The loading intensifies when Cassandra starts yipping back at the creature. Torag help me, what have I gotten myself into?
Dismounting his horse, the priest warily approaches with loaded pistol in hand. Due to his short height he would have to get near the edge of the pit to see inside, but after witnessing Cassandra's near tumble he calls upon the wisdom of his ancestors (wh would have survived long enough to bear offspring, obviously) and decides it's safer behind the humans.
"So, uh... What exactly is the trap? The pit? The dog? The whole thing? Are they trying to lure people in to get mauled and collect the valuables, or did this dog fall in?"
"Yes, and its more like a hyena but in temperate climates. He's also an animal and can't tell me all that," she says to the others while pulling some rope out. "But he's stuck and hungry. I think this was some kind of trap. Anyway, we don't have a lot to spare so if I can get him out, just stick together and look intimidating. I don't think he's that desperate." She ties one end of the rope in several knots to make a sort of rope ball and looks over the edge again. "Not actually sure if this will work. You guys got a spell or something to move earth?" she says looking at Korrine and Vallen.
If not, she shows the Thylacine the end of the rope and mimes biting it saying, "Bit and hold. Not food. Help out," in its language. She then drops it into the pit and waits for him to bite down on it. If he does, she starts pulling him out, walking him up the collapsed section."No pull. Climb."
Vallen seems rather nervous about the whole situation. "No... No way to fill in the pit. Look, I think we should help the beast if it's suffering, but shouldn't we feed it first? So it doesn't get any ideas about us or our horses?"
He maintains a deep frown as the rope is cast down into the pit, and the hammer on his pistol clicks as it is locked into firing position. "It would be easier to push dirt into the pit until it can climb up." He gruffly advises without any indication he's going to do it himself.
"We don't have a lot to spare. Barely enough to finish scouting and head back. And it would be too dangerous to push dirt. Someone might fall in and I can't guarantee he won't attack a single person. If we stand together though, its a lot less likely."
Either way's good with me, but I'm sure we can scavenge some food between us on our way back if we run short after feeding it Jenya says.
Jayna checks around the pit but mostly finds scuffle marks from animals that have wandered by. Whoever dug the pit hasn't been here in a while. She does notice some fragments of sticks and, combined with the presence of a large number of leafy branches down in the pit with the beast, concludes that the pit must've had a soft cover of tree branches to help disguise it. The thylacine must've fallen in. But as to who dug it here, or why... that remains a mystery.
Cassandra tosses the rope down and tries to get the thylacine to bite down on the knotted ball at the end.
The thylacine seems hesitant to engage in the strange behavior that Cassie espouses, but the fact that she can speak meaningfully with it seems to help it understand what she wants it to do (though it can't really figure out why)... it takes some tedious work to hoist the rope with the creature out of the pit without falling down the edge, and once it's atop the ground above it releases the rope and paces back and forth a few times before it suddenly breaks and runs off in the direction of the plains to the east (likely terrain that it is more familiar with).
Well it's an old trap. Covered over by tree branches to disguise it. Don't think we'll be finding out who the hunter is. Jenya shrugs Ah well, let's get a move on.
"I have no doubt it been marked on the map " Alexei says with a smile and a nod to their resident cartographer, "but should we try to leave some kind of marker here to prevent anyone, or anything from falling in in the future? I know it's exposed now but Cass almost fell in and if the light was bad?"
"That's true," says Hatch. He picks out some tree branches and stakes them into the ground around the pit, strips off the leaves and carves off the ends at an angle. "There, that should be pretty obvious."
Vallen lets out an audible sigh of relief as the predator runs off to the east. "Glad that's over." He murmurs, carefully uncocking his pistol.
You head east-northeast and continue to explore the forest, still green and verdant. You find a thick area of foliage where a fallen pine tree has formed a sort of natural den, and from a distance of about 60' you spot a pair of eyes shining at you from out of the darkness of the den. (The shape and size is not right to be a tatzlwyrm.)
Leave one threat and another pops up. But that was the forests for you. This time it came in the form of a pair of eyes staring back from the shadow of a fallen tree. With normal vision, Cassandra couldn't make it out. But she had better than normal vision if she wanted. Cassandra gains some feline qualities once again and peers into the darkness with a cat's dark vision.
"Bones?" she says, in fear and disgust. Boars weren't carnivores. This thing was...different.
Jenya takes Misfire out Is it a dangerous critter? Jenya asks Cassandra.
"Oh yeah. I think that's Tuskgutter. He's on one of the wanted posters. Real mean. The one offering the reward lost a leg to it. It's only a matter of time before this thing kills someone. I think we should handle this like we did the tatzylwyrm. Anyone got a spear? They tend to charge the closest thing."
Vallen balks- he can see the huge creature inside its den, staring at them with the eyes of a killer. "I get the feeling this won't be as simple as the tatzylwyrm. That thing is HUGE, and boars are not fragile creatures." He sighs, rubbing the polished butt of his pistol.
"If we spread out properly, we can create a cone of ranged fire for it to charge into. Maybe we can kill it before it gets to us. Otherwise, we could create a fortification of sharpened sticks or something in front of us. If any of you have holy water I can make a spear from it."
"It looks pretty bulky... probably not very agile..." Alexei comments, "I have a trick we could try, but there's no guarantee it'll work... if we line up out here you can all start attacking it with guns and bows to draw it out. I know a spell I can have at the ready that will make the ground as slick as grease. When it charges I'll cast the spell in it's path and, with a little luck, it'll fall and we can finish it while it struggles to stand?"
Sounds good to me Jenya says to Alexei, getting her gun ready Arrows first, guns later, and grease right in its path
Not much could break Cassandra's concentration when she was focused on a prey. "Holy Water?" she asks, turning to the side. "How?"
Once she gets an answers she turns back to the matter at hand. "Sounds like a plan. I'll draw it out." Cassandra kneels on the soft earth and knocks an arrow. One enchanted for creatures like this. She looks left and right to make sure everyone is fanned out as they want and nods to them for confirmation.
Once everyone is in position Alexei begins telling a rousing tale of a group of young adventurers hunting the Tickwood boar outside Sandpoint in Varisia.
As they raise their bows and guns he draws the grease spell into his mind and prepares to release it when the boar comes...
Vallen smiles at Cassandra, spreading his hands in front of him. "Ah, well, I misspoke. Torag makes the weapons out of holy water. They're made of holy ice and highly effective against undead."
With a sigh the dwarf shuffles about, muttering and putting blessings on their weapons. He finally gets into position, laying his loaded pistol across the notch in his shield and readying to fire.
Jenya nods at Vallen and then gets ready to fire in concert with the dwarf. She takes a deep breath and aims getting ready to exhale slowly when the time comes to fire at the charging animal.
Everyone waits for Cassandra to start, and she launches an arrow into the boar's little cave. It just barely manages to skate under the fallen log and into the darkness. The boar lets out an enraged squeal and accelerates out of the cave. It rushes with incredible force and anger toward the small hillock where you are situated.
The boar takes Jenya's bullet with a blossom of blood from its shoulder and then charges headlong into Alexei's release of grease all over the ground while it comes.
The boar squeals ignominiously as it sprawls in the greasy grass, and scrambles to get to its feet.
Korinne blasts the boar with magic missiles as Jenya shoots it as well. Somehow the boar seems to be furiously squealing and trying to stand in spite of its bloody injuries.
Alexei approaches the flailing boar while continuing his tale. When he reaches it he brings his longsword arcing down on it...
,
Round 2
A cloud of grey smoke shrouds Vallen after his gun fires, and the priest is seen frantically reaching into his belt pouch for a small, cylindrical paper object.
He opens his mouth and brings the pouch towards it, quickly biting and tearing into the paper. Granules of black powder spill into his immaculate beard from the gutted pouch, and he swings it over to fill the pan of his pistol. The rest of the pouch is unceremoniously shoved into the barrel of the gun and rapidly forced down with a short rod kept on the underside of the barrel.
In just a few seconds Vallen has the weapon reloaded and back on the crook of his shield, white teeth clearly visible in a grimace of adrenaline-fueled concentration.
Another thunderous roar shakes his bones as the pistol belches hit lead towards the boar, guided towards its mark with the Blessing of Torag.
Pig don't have enough sense to go down Jenya says, reloading Misfire with powder and shot and aiming at the flailing boar. The bullet flying at the monster with another loud crack.
As the beast charged, Cassandra stands her ground. She is getting ready to dodge at the last second when the boar hits Alexei's grease and hits the ground hard. More attacks hit the beast and Cassandra adds her own to the mix.
Tuskgutter struggles to stand up...
The immense boar somehow gets to its feet, even as bullets and magical missiles blow holes in its hide. Blood pours profusely from it and its bloodshot, angry eyes seem prepared to mark each of you for death.
The boar staggers forward when Cassandra manages to hit it squarely with the beast bane arrow earned before. While the arrow is tiny in comparison to the massive boar, the strike still spins it around and causes it to pause. The boar lets out a massive groaning squeal and then struggles forward yet again! Its bristly fur stands straight up and the arrow seems to pulse in place and the boar groans once more, then simply lies down. It pants heavily for a short time, then closes its eyes and in a moment of unexpected gentleness its breathing ceases.
"Good work, all," Alexei says as he passes out congratulatory handshakes and pats on the back. "That really went just about as smoothly as we could have hoped for. Now, how do we get this back to collect the reward, preferably without spoiling the meat?"