Hilde hears Iskender, and kicks one of the madmen in the groin, trying to knock him out from the pain.
- 1 vs Kit AC 15 & 2 vs Hilde AC 12
Dilwyn moves in to close range and lets loose an arc of lightning, wounding one of the men, who continues to mutter and drool. Iskender moves up and using his whip successfully disarms one of the farmers.. Kit meanwhile, continues his assault and even though he swung poorly, he still kills another of the attackers. Hilde swings with hit fist trying to hurt the farmer enough but completely misses, while Zaladrel continues to provide a bit of luck to everyone.
The foe who was disarmed ignores his sickle and swings at Kit and misses, while the other two swing their sickles at Hilde, and one connects.
When it comes to me, I will keep disarming our opponents:
Round 2
As more of them drop their weapons or drop dead, Dilwyn continues to move into the thick of the fray, using the distraction of his fellows to gain a tactical advantage before striking out with his walking stick.
+1 luck, +2 flanking
Hilde tries her kick in the groinagain.
Seeing how everyone else is trying to take prisoners, Kit decides to use the flat of his axe on the next crazed farmer.
Kit is not used to using his axe in this manner and his swing misses his opponent.
Zaladrel continues to maintain his effect but otherwise does not engage further.
vs Kit AC 15 & 2 vs Hilde AC 12
The disarmed men, one each on Kit and Hilde, connect further damaging them. The remaining farmer with his sickle misses Hilde.
Kit, feeling the wounds starting to take their toll and noticing Hilde doesn't look much better, says I think it is them or us!
Forgoing non-lethal, Kit swings with the sharp edge of the axe.
The blade easily cuts into the man toppling him over like a tree.
Round 3
Dilwyn continues to move around the far side of the enemies to maintain the tactical superiority of flanking position, if possible, before bringing his staff down with another hard thwack on another of the enemies.
When the unarmed enemy tries to attack her she quickly tries to punch him in the face.
Then she keeps kicking any remaining foes.
Kit will do a heal check on the one bleeding out.
Still angry over the wounds that he received, Kit doesn't put much effort in staunching the wounded man's wounds.
no luck
Seeing the Elf tending to the wounds of their comrades by laying on hands, and seeing the others trying to stabilize the sole unconscious assailant, Dilwyn moves to try assisting saving the crazed man from the brink of bleeding out.
"Do you need help with our injured?" he asks Zaladriel as he attempts to stop the bleeding. "I did not prepare any healing spells today, I didn't expect to need them in Kaer Maga, but I do have some scrolls built up from days I did prepare them but didn't use them. I can use those to help if you're tapped out."
Zal winces at the clear leak of effect of his spells or efforts and shakes his head at Dil , "last me exhaust that which replenish es before we exhaust more permanent resources..."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Hilde calms herself at seeing all the mad farmers down, and sits on the floor resting.
"I suppose the end of the world came for them at least. Were they mad?"
Kit looks at his mostly healed cuts. They were mad at something! he says with a laugh. Poor Bastards!
Meanwhile Zaladrel uses his spell power to provide some healing to both Kit and Hilde, and the two of them still have some cuts, it appears that most of the damage has been undone.
"I'm not sure the man was in much state to provide much insight even if he had survived," Dilwyn suggests. "At this point, any answers we find will probably be in the town across the water. Tracks by the boat suggest a bunch of people left over a week ago, so likely if anyone is left they'll be in much the same state as these were, but there may still be some physical clues remaining. Perhaps our best course of action is to further investigate this shack, here, and if it's clean use it as a shelter for the evening before venturing across in the morning. It will also give me a chance to prep some healing spells in case of more hostiles."
"The stories tend to agree that adventurers should never turn down a good night of rest when they can get it, but is it advisable to stay where these did? Whatever affected them might affect is if we do."
"We can hopefully determine that with an inspection of the place. The alternative is camping out in the open or in the woods. While I have no aversion to such a thing, it makes the position harder to defend. Still, we can't know for sure until we give it a good looking-over."
Dilwyn takes the winter blanket out of his backpack and folds it over many times before wrapping it around the lower part of his head like an impromptu scarf, though thick enough to cover his mouth and nose. If the shack did have something to do with their madness, hopefully it will be enough of a precaution.
Hilde waits outside, still catching her breath.
Kit yawns wide. A good night's sleep sounds good. To me, it doesn't matter if it under the stars or in the shack-as long as there is nothing in there to catch. I would hate to end up like these poor souls!
"Very well, then," Dilwyn says, muffled through the layers of blanket over his face. He cautiously heads into the shack, taking his time to thoroughly search the place to make sure there aren't any surprises or signs that whatever ravaged those farmers had come from inside. He, personally, suspects the origin of their condition will be found in the town of Holver's Ferry itself. He hopes that, if he's wrong, the blanket will keep him from breathing in whatever disease they seemed to have.
Exploring carefully, he finds an unlocked, wooden strongbox under the bunk in the tiny shack. It contains: 19 sp, 57 cp, and three potions. A short spear is mounted on one wall, and a loaded light crossbow with a quiver of nine crossbow bolts rests atop the bunk. Gathering up the strongbox, spear, crossbow and quiver, Dilwyn exits the shack, closing the door behind him.
Setting up a small camp for the night, you post watches and other than the normal sounds of the forest animals, you hear nothing and there are no visitors. When morning comes, you look at the skiff and the rope tied to posts on both sides of the river, and between Hilde and Kit you are all able to cross safely over to the town side of the river. Just as you leave the skiff, you come to a house and barn.
This modest farmhouse and adjacent barn overlook several vegetable gardens and a large field of grain. In front of the farmhouse stands a wagon half-loaded with provisions and personal belongings. Two stout horses, hitched to the wagon, stamp their hooves impatiently, straining against its brake. As you approach, a man comes out from behind the wagon with a shovel in hand, and you see behind him a woman and a small child. "Keep your distance. I don't want to hurt you but I will protect my family" the man speaks at you.
Iskender appraises his travelling companions quickly and makes a snap decision. "I'll handle this," he apprises them.
He steps forward, empty hands upraised, "Rest assured that we have no interest in harming you, or your family. We have simply come here to witness, and I suppose if possible, to forestall, the end of the world. We did encounter some maddened farmers at the other end of the ferry crossing who had seemingly become crazed. I don't suppose you have seen any cataclysmic events recently?"
Dilwyn stands by in a non-threatening position, leaning on his staff, allowing Iskender to take the lead in the talking. He seems pretty good at it, if a little stuffy in his manner of speech.
Hilde stays away from the family, letting the others talk.
Kit watches as Iskender speaks to the farmer. Just the fact that the man was speaking to them boded well. The others never said a word as they went madly to their deaths. Kit stands with a relaxed grip on his axe. Not wanting to provoke the farmer, but ready for trouble at the same time.
When Iskender speaks to the farmer in a soothing voice, and the rest of the group hangs back, relaxed and non-threatening, the farmer backs down from his aggressive stance. He responds to Iskender,
"Thank you. I am Ambrin Redthistle. I own this farm. My family’s lived here for three generations, but with the problems here over the last few weeks, I will be glad to leave this hell-hole. A sickness hit town a few weeks ago. It weakened a lot of folks and clouded their minds. A bunch of them went mad. Some just shut down and babbled like idiots, but others were much worse. They either killed themselves or started killing each other. It was a bloodbath! I bet half the folk who lived here are dead now—most of them dragged from their homes or cut down in the streets. A few buildings burned, too, including House Formidable and the lumber mill."
His wife continues to load the wagon with some small household items, and she takes their child in hand. Ambrin looks and sees the skiff, "we will be using the skiff to get across the river and head upstream towards Kaer Maga. My wife has relatives there. Is there anything else you wish to know before we go?" and he stows the shovel in the wagon at this point and moves towards the front of the wagon to lead the horses as his wife and toddler son sit in the back.
"I very much appreciate the information you have provided, but if I might ask a few questions more? Has anything like this ever happened her before? Do you have any idea of which direction the sickness came from? Were there rumors of the illness earlier in some places? House Formidable, what and where is that? Where is the lumber mill? Have you seen any creatures about, other than just crazed farmers? Are you aware of any who recovered from this illness naturally? How about any who seemed immune, like yourselves for instance? Is there any assistance that you might need of us?" Iskender turns to his traveling companions, "Can any of you think of questions for this man?"
Kit listens as Iskender fires questions at the man and his family duly impressed with their thoroughness. When asked if he has any questions, Kit just shrugs. He feels guilty about possibly killing the man's friends and neighbors no matter how mad they were.
Dilwyn listens closely to the answers the farmer gives to Iskender's first questions, and then as he continues he thorough line of questioning. When Iskender asks if any of them have any questions they'd like to ask, he takes a step forward.
"When we arrived we found the skiff on the far side of the river. Do you know if there's a way to recall it from the far side? If not, would you be willing to let me ride across with you so I can bring it back to this side when you're done? I would rather not cut off the direction that we know is clear, and I'd also like to prevent others less prepared than us from wandering in behind us and becoming exposed to whatever this is."
Hilde scans the other riverbank, alert to any threats.
Zal quietly listens in without further comment...
The farmer responds, "no, nothing has happened like this before. I don’t know where the sickness came from! The priests never found its source. And that was before they ran away or boarded themselves up in their chapel. House Formidable is the Temple of Torag, he protects us." He points to the lumber mill, mostly in ruin now, and House Formidable. "If you wish to bring the skiff back, that is fine with me. If two of you come over with me, you can pull skiff back over. I just want to get my family safely out of here."
He continues on, providing as much information to you as he can. “Onessa Jerreth is our sheriff, but we haven’t seen her in a week. There was a group of village elders, too, but most of them are dead—except maybe Hagrim Foss and Rexel the Apothecary. Hagrim is the high priest at Silverstone Hall. He and his acolytes survived the violence, but I haven’t seen anybody leave their temple in days. Rexel is an eccentric old gnome. He sells medicinal powders, tonics, and cure-alls out of his treehouse northwest of town. It’s on the other side of Old Mill Pond.” The only inn is the Hapless Harpy. It’s located in the center of town, near the White Oak. Not sure if it’s still open for business, but it’s owned by Vessa Cormindi, and she let many of us take shelter there during the worst of the violence."
Torag didn't seem to do a very good job of protecting you, Dilwyn thinks, but doesn't say.
"Thank you for your assistance, Ambrin," he says, before turning to his fellows. "Even if the priests were unable to determine the source, they might have some more complete information. I think it's worth seeing if we can find somebody home at House Formidable or Silverstone Hall once we return with the skiff."
When the group is ready to cross, Hilde will put her backpack in the skiff, but she will cross swimming.