Jin pokes her head out, glancing into the nearest window.
As Jin peeks around the window frame, she sees a with bare walls, and a grotesque humanoid shape with out a face. The thing shrieks in rage and howls in fury.
"Mines! 'Tis mines! I takenses it from the nasty hobbitses!"
Archibald hustles up to Jin and takes cover from the window. What is it? He whispers.
The last command Awd heard was 'defend', so she watches dutifully for anything she needs to defend what was pointed at from.
Jin quickly unsheathes her short sword and looks to the halfling. "I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it saw me."
Her sword still in her hand, shield in the other, Shelby advances towards Jin, flattening herself against the house as she looks to her friend. From the look on the woman's face, what she saw inside wasn't pretty. The warpriestess says a quick prayer to Iomedae, again lamenting her lack of armor in this hostile environment.
The fortuneteller heard the inhuman screech from the house and realized that their fair-skinned troublemaker might run into difficulty. Instantly a card was in his hand and he rushed over to the door. The card nearly was humming in his hand, seeking to do justice. "If there's a monster in that house, we'd best get it out."
Liera gasps at the screech, hair slipping from the violent movement as her head whips toward the house. She darts forward with surprising grace, cursing her long skirts - though necessary for the ruse, they didn't make such things easier.
She eventually comes to a halt behind Tshilaba, not entirely sure why she followed him.
As the thing continues to scream, the party races to join up with Jin at the door. Seeing more of you through the window, it hisses and opens the door leading to another room before slamin git shut again.
Not really knowing where the thing might be going, or coming from, Shelby moves to the other side of her foster-sister, planting herself there at the corner should anything try to come up from the direction, longsword held in the air, poised to strike.
As the thing darts away, Datura points to himself, them hooks his finger to represent around the north corner of the building. He points to his eyes, then to one of the windows. Without another word... or A word for that matter, he sneaks away.
As he makes his way around, he peers in windows as he passes.
Awd, with no other guidance, follows him. Oblivious, and one could almost say, looking happy about it.
Jin tries the front door quietly with one hand, her shortsword white-knuckled in the other.
"We don't want to fight, friend. We just want to talk." she calls out.
Archibald is right behind Jin, ready to lend aid at a, moment's notice. No need to run.
Liera stays in place as if frozen, uncertain what to do.
Tshilaba tries the door, to see if it opens and steps in cautiously. The card in his hand flares to life, becoming vivid and even animated. The rabbit in the picture on the card pulls his broken sword and is ready for battle, if not a little jittery.
[spoiler=GM Screen]
Datura rounds the corner of the shack and peers into the shack to see the ugly disgusting monster as he crouches by the door.
Unfortunately, it sees him too, and it hears the less cautious members of the party walk into the house and try to talk to it.
"It's MINES! I takenses it fairs 'n' squares! I takenses it from nasty hobbitses and tricksy snakesies! I... I KILLS YOU! I KILLS YOU ALL!" The monster screams and flings open the door before charging Jin.
"DIES! DIES LIKE HOBBITSES TRICKSY HUMANSES!" It bellows in a gurgling voice as it slams two fists, balled up so they look like mottled blobs of clay, into the rogue's belly.
"Jin!" Shelby hears the thing ranting about hobbitses and snakes and then hears a thud and an exclamation from the smaller woman. Shelby rushes into the house, seeing the abomination as it sets upon her friend. Her dark eyes burn as she swings at the creature.
Tshilaba flung himself into the room, knowing he'd be kicking himself for opening the door like that. He did a quick roll and flung his card into the monster's flesh, the rabbit on the card as it spun pointed it's sword into the entry wound as it sunk in deep.
"You gave me an opening you'll soon forget." He quipped.
With a gurgle the mosnter collapses as Selbrina and Tshilaba shred its throat.
The shack is silent for a small eternity, then a timid voice, cracking with fear calls out from up the stairs.
"H-hello? W-w-who's there?"
As the duo bury their respective weapons into the monstrosity, and it falls to the ground, Shelby turns and a beaming smile lights up her face as she starts to offer praise to the one who granted assistance to Jin against the beast. Her fair features freeze for a moment as she sees who stands beside her, her mouth beginning to open, before she turns her head to the side awkwardly, the look quickly leaving.
Instead, she pats Jin on the shoulder. "You ok?" For the moment, she leaves the upstairs voice to the others, concerned with her companion.
Stepping into the room with a hex on her lips, Liera gasps in astonishment as she sees the creature fall, gurgling, with a card embedded in its flesh. She turns wide eyes to Shelby, then to Tshilaba, shrinking back into a corner, even as she stares at the creature.
The fortune teller notes Shelby's joy and realization. He gives her a smile right back, but without the reservations. As she checks on Jin, Tshilaba starts looking about the room. He did feel a little guilty for opening that door, but Jin was the one who stepped through. Besides, he had no healing power to help even if he wanted to. When he hears the voice from upstairs, he replies in kind.
"It's just some heroes from Sandpoint. Not the heroes, mind you. But people out to do some good nonetheless. We killed this crazy monster down here. It's probably safe to come down."
Jin groans and nods, offering Shelby a weak smile. "Little bastard got the jump on me. I just need to walk this off."
She put a hand on her stomach and winced. There would be a lovely bruise there tomorrow.
The voice upstairs dissolves into a blubbering fit as whoever it belonged to tries to get a thank you around the sobs of relief. A few moments later, a battered, tired-looking halfling stumbles down the steps.
"Th-th-thank you. I owe you m-m-my life."
Archibald reacts immediately. He goes to his kin and wraps a blanket around him.
Shelby pats Jin's shoulder, giving her a quick smile before turning to the newcomer, supposedly Walthus in the flesh. Seeing the man's condition and obvious relief, she figures he's the real deal, so she steps outside and looks around, making sure the thing inside didn't have any friends about.
Lou was still outside having never gotten the chance to enter inside.
He has no idea about who is inside at the moment. but while outside Lou does prepare a small meal for the victors considering the meager rations the group has.
Datura circles the building the rest of the way, the fight looking and sounding as it has reached a quick conclusion. As he circles, he looks for any signs of passing, or tracks, that may belong to the creature itself, or others like it.
"A-are you alright?" Liera asks the halfling hesitantly. "That... that thing was making an awful racket..."
"Y-yes. That thing nearly killed me. Th-thank you for your help, is there anything I can do? I don't h-have money, but perhaps a roof over your heads and warm meals as long as your in the swamp?"
The halfling is pale, and you can see a small wound in his neck that looks very bruised.
Liera wrings her hands as she looks at the wound in the halfling's neck. "What did it do to you? Can I have a look at that?" she asks worriedly, gesturing to the wound.
Archibald keeps the blanket wrapped around him and sports him while he moves. Sometimes it's nice to just have your kin near, and all halflings are kin, even if they're dozens of times removed.
A roof and a safe fire would be most welcome. Thank you.
Coming back inside after ascertaining there are no imminent threats, Shelby sees the pale halfling being tended to by Liera and Archibald. The chap didn't seem in any imminent danger, so she sets to opening any remaining doors on this level, giving the small chamber beyond a quick glance to make sure nothing else has taken residence.
"I believe introductions are in order," Jin says. "I'm Jin, that's Shelby, Archie, Liera, Lou, and Tshilaba." She points at each of her companions in turn. "Our resident sullen elf is somewhere outside. He's called Datura."
"I think your hospitality is most welcome." Said the fortune teller who was distracted by Lou starting to cook outside. Doing a slight double-take at both the halfling who offered him food and the cook who was starting to work outside, he quickly moved outside to let Lou know the arrangement.
"Hey, the halfling's offering us food as reward instead of money. That okay with you?"
Shelby gives the Halfling a brief nod as she is introduced by Jin, sheathing her sword as it appears there are no more hostiles within the building. Her dark eyes follow the fortune teller as he goes to inform Lou of the arrangement, restraining herself from rolling her eyes at the man's words.
She turns back to the Halfling, "Your offer is fair and generous, sir, but we must be off soon." Her gaze roams around the room to all of her companions, but it seems it rests a sliver longer on the card-reader. "Do you know of the goblins who inhabit the swamp?"
Liera flinches slightly at the introduction, ducking her head and tucking a lock of hair behind a pale ear - a pale ear that tapers to a smooth point."We're looking for goblins," she mumbles, by way of explanation.
"P-please, after what happened, I r-r-really don't want to be alone right now. Besides, you wouldn't be able to reach the Licktoad village before nightfall. The easiest way to get to it is to head up to the road and come down the Old Fish Trail." Walthus' voice is almost pleading as he asks the party to stay.
Jin shrugs. "Fine by me. I'm tired of trudging around in the bog anyways." She gestures to her feet. "My boots are squelching when I lift them."
Shelby sighs in irritation, the fortune teller and cook already seeming ready to settle in, and now Jin joining the consensus. She resigns herself to inaction for this evening, going ahead and unslinging her pack and setting it down in a corner.
Looking down with distaste at the mud and muck generously splattered on the lower two-thirds of her pants legs, she does her best to clean it, not making much progress. She slides down the wall, sitting with her legs folded in front of her, covering her chest. She rests her head against the wall for the moment, closing her eyes.
Archibald settles in and starts conversing easily with their host on things only halflings are interested in. It mainly concerns extensive family trees, complicated recipes, common-to-them lore references, and a generally scathing critique of tall folk architectural tendencies.
Liera sets about treating the halfling's wound as best she can with what she has, secretly glad to be out of the swamp. Speckle hops around the floor, sniffing everyone's boots in turn.