The air grows heavy and sticks to skin and cloth as the five goblin-hunters make their way down the path and into Brinestump. Mist and thick foliage turn the space between trees into a murky soup filled with the scent of decaying plants and the sounds of birds and the occasional hiss. The soggy ground sucks at the soles of boots, shoes, and feet, slowing progress and tiring legs. Sweat begins to soak through clothing as you cross a rickety looking bridge nearly twenty minutes after turning onto the trail. The bridge, as it turns out, is safe enough, if slick with moisture and moss.
A few minutes after crossing the bridge, the somewhat sinister and muted bird calls are cut off by a loud, otherworldly roar.
"Heading to Mr. Proudstump's first sounds like a good idea to me," Soli agrees before turning to Vigny with an expectant look. "It seems like you really know your way around in the outdoors Vigny - maybe you should lead? I'd probably get us lost if we ever wandered off the trail..."
Vigny's eyes widen with surprise and her cheeks go a little pink.
"Well... actually I'm from Riddleport and don't know much of anything about the wilderness. I just followed a trail that was pointed out to me by Jerukhand and made a couple of good guesses. But, if you still want me to go first, I will..."
After the roar, Vigny lowers herself and gestures with her hands for everyone to get down out of sight.
She tries to figure out what direction the roar came from, and possibly it's distance.
"That's no goblin I'll bet" she hisses to the others. "We should try to stay out of its way, avoid it if we can.
Jerukh keeps pace at the front of the group. his outdoors skills best used there. Besides it meant he did not have to speak to anyone...
"I will go first."
When the roar breaks out, the tall alchemist also halts, attempting to discern its nature if possible...
De stele! What was that?
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... and the direction it came from;
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Reiko, having slathered her exposed skin with mud on entering the swamp, looks and smells terrible. But she seems strangely at ease mucking around in the bog. She adopts an odd high-stepping gait to extract her legs from the clinging mud. At the strange howl, she freezes in place and listens carefully while scanning the mud flats.
"Vhat vas that?" Emi asks quietly as she grabs her bladed scarf and prepares to attack anything she doesn't recognize that comes into reach...
There doesn't appear to be any goblins pretending to be birds yet.
Sandpoint's goblin hunters freeze and duck low as the roar echoes off the trees and cliffs. The last reverberations fading into an oppressive silence as everything in the swamp goes quiet.
All the companions can determine is that it is, thankfully, not close, and that it is wholly unnatural. Rumors of the Soggy River Monster seem to whisper through the murky gloom of the swamp. Goblins it appears, may be the least of the companions worries. Marching on, it feels less like going to hunt goblins. The feeling of walking into the lair of something dark and dangerous is hard to avoid.
"Yeah, we should get moving and make quick time to the halfling's house. I really don't think we want to spend the night out here!"
Jerukh keeps his eyes and ears keen.
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He hisses a whisper as both Soliana and Vigny muse on the nature of the roar;
"Silence could mean it is hunting... We should also remain muted yes?"
The tall alchemist follows Reiko's lead with stoic determination.
Emi nods at Jerukh's encouragement to be quiet. She follows along behind him doing her best to be quiet...
...sadly, for all her efforts she only seems to get louder.
Slowly, the sounds of the swamp return. The five companions try to quieten their passage along the trail, slowing their pace to a crawl. Over an hour passes as they make their way through the oppressive gloom. The sounds of bird calls become ever more ominous, almost taunting as they wade through the mud. The occasional hiss of an alligator can be heard through the trees, but the roar does not come again. After crossing a second bridge, the goblin-hunters come to a third, but something seems off about this one.
In the water under the bridge, you spot something lurking in the shadows. The dim shadow under the bridge and the relatively bright light allowed by the thinning of the canopy overhead makes it difficult to make out what it is however.
In a low voice Vigny asks the others "Do you see anything under the bridge? It looks like there's something in the water."
She walks down closer to the edge of the river and takes a long look, trying to estimate the distance from herself to what ever it is.
"I don't think that vas a true story, vas it?" Emi asks with an uncomfortable chuckle, "besides, in the story doesn't the sun turn it to stone?"
Looking around at their remote location, and thinking about the missing goblin hunters, with all their armor and weapons, she somewhat sheepishly adds, "Maybe ve should cross quickly vhile ve still hafe the sun light... Just to be safe?"
Jerukh eyes the water warily.
"Something in the water. Could be many things... not everything is a myth or legend."
The alchemist reaches for his sling;
"Perhaps we cross one at a time. The others cover their crossing?"
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"Hm, there's something I want to try out before we start across."
Vigny searches around and finds a stick with enough heft for a good throw. With a word and a quick gesture she places a Light on it. "I'm going to throw this across into the water on the upstream side of the bridge. As it floats under, see if you can get a better look alright?"
Vigny walks to the up the bank just a little bit and throws the stick into the water at about the same estimated distance as the whatsit under the bridge.
After her throw, Vigny runs back down to the others hoping to see for herself as well.
Reiko draws her katana and waits on the near side of the bridge – watching Vigny's light float beneath the bridge.
Emi stares at the area under the bridge trying to make good on Vigny's plan.
An eerie snarl comes from whatever it is as the light illuminates it. It's ambush now thwarted, the monster, whose pale skin and terrifying maw flanked by three-fingered hands can just be made out before it dives under the murky water, swims away and disappears around the bend downstream. Another roar silences the swamp a minute later, a roar that undoubtedly came from whatever monster it was that tried to lay an ambush for the goblin-hunters.
In the murky gloom of Brinestump, the chilling realization that the Soggy River Monster is no myth slowly sinks in.
Jerukh's brow furrows in concern as he watches the pale creature slide off into the murk;
What in the name of the Stars was that?!
When the creature roars he listens intently, then nods toward the path ahead;
"Let us hope it is alone. Shall we press on?"
Vigny lays her sword across her shoulders and loops her arms up over the ends. She stretches out her shoulders and back and cheerfully remarks "That worked out way better than I'd hoped! We know a lot about the thing now.
We know it's the thing we heard roaring, and that it knows we're here.
We know it's smart enough to anticipate our movements and plan for them.
We know we're being hunted.
BUT! We also know it doesn't like the idea of a straight up fight with all of us. It will try to get one of us alone, or try to pick someone off by ambush. We just need to keep together, stay alert, and move fast. I don't think stealth will help us very much anymore, if it ever did. If Walthus Proudstump is still alive in here there must be a reason for it. So now it's a race to get to his place before dark."
"Let's go then..." Emi says as she waves her scarves forward in a shooing motion.
Jerukh casts a baleful look at the nearest puddle at Vigny's cheerful chatter;
Ah Mamă I truly hope she fights as well as she talks!
At Emi's urging onward, the tall alchemist merely nods curtly and presses forward.
The afternoon is fast becoming evening when you find Walthus Proudstump's house at the end of the New Fish Trail. The rest of the trip is, thankfully, uneventful, but it is clear that it will be dark long before you are able to make it back to Sandpoint.
The house is a modest two stories, with an enclosed courtyard off to the side. It is fairly well kept, though the signs of the ever encroaching swamp are clear to see in the vines that are beginning to creep up the sides of the house. Inside is dark and quiet. Knocking on the door does not bring anyone to it.
Reiko looks at the house speculatively, then slowly circles it looking for any signs of occupancy, odd tracks, or signs of violence.
Jerukh nods, then joins Reiko in eyeing the surrounding terrain - seeking anything of note;
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Reiko and Jerukh can find no signs of a struggle on the outside of the house. There are a myriad of tracks, however, mostly those of a smaller humanoid. All the windows are dark, and it is difficult to see inside.
Using your darkvision, you can make out the insides of the rooms. They are somewhat messy, but that points to Walthus' housekeeping than any signs of violence.
Knocking on the door again causes a voice to call out.
"I'm sorry, I'm not accepting visitors," comes the fatigued voice of a halfling.
Jerukh scowls as he surveys the interior through a darkened, dusty window, before whispering to the others as the voice calls out;
"Appears that housekeeping is not his forte. Perhaps we should leave him be?"
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Reiko leans in to Jerukh and drily replies in a whisper, "It seems his manners match his housekeeping." She plants her hands on her hips briefly, as if sizing up a problem. The mud-covered ronin moves in front of the door hiding the halfling. She scrapes the worst of the mud from her arms, legs, and everywhere else in an attempt to make herself presentable. She responds to their reluctant host, "That is good news, Master Proudstump, as we aren't visitors. We are weary travelers seeking your guidance and wisdom. We've already fought goblins and been stalked by a monster... so we seek some shelter for the dark hours."
She glances at the more personable and attractive members of the party and tilts her head toward to the door as if to say, Please sweet-talk this door open before I kick it in.
Emi smiles and gives a quick nod to Reiko.
"Indeed, Master Proudstump, Shallelu and Sherrif Hemlock both spoke fery highly of you vhen they sent us to see you on our vay deeper into the svamp."
"Oh, uh, I guess th-that will be fine," the voice says again. A moment later, the door opens to reveal a very haggard looking halfling.
"Sorry, I don't get many visitors," the halfling says before leading all of you inside.
"I-I can make you a cup of tea, I guess, but I don't have anything for supper fixed."
Jerukh scowls as they others insist on imposing upon the halfling;
Some folk just like their own company... I can understand this...
He enters reluctantly, trying to avoid his heavy pack clipping the doorframe and any of Proudstump's furnishings.
"Mulțumesc Master Proudstump. Tea is fine."
The actions, coupled with the clipped thanks, just make him seem even more awkward that usual.
"I haven't been," Walthus says in answer to Soliana's question as he makes the tea, "I've been feeling ah, an illness coming on. I'm sure I'll be fine, but I would hate it if you caught it."
Something about his hesitation rings hollow to you. It's almost as if he was caught off guard and had to make something up on the spot.
Reiko stays on the edge of the conversation - quietly agreeable - but watchful for the moment.
Vigny is rummaging in her backpack for one of the bottles of mead she carries. With it in hand, she catches something off about the way Walthus responds to Soliana. There are few places where the truth is abused more wantonly than in taverns, and she's good at picking up on, um, distortions when she hears them.
Either he's sicker than he's admitting, or he is up to something he doesn't want us around for.
Vigny hands the bottle over to Walthus with a smile. "Thank you for your hospitality Mr. Proudstump. Please take this mead as a gift from a grateful visitor."
She watches him closely she she does this, and continues to do so after she steps back. I'm leaning toward sicker...
"You know Mr. Proudstump, Soliana here is a very gifted healer. If you're getting sick I'm sure she could help you. It's the least we can do in return for staying here tonight."
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Jerukh eyes the halfling with concern, momentarily scowling at Vigny's proclamation that Soliana is a gifted healer.
She is? What I am then.. the dumb orc porter?
The alchemist tries to flash a sympathetic, if toothy, smile in at their hosts malaise - but again just looks awkward.
He gruffly adds;
"I know some remedies too..."
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Not sure what the Prof Cook check is for but Jerukh also gets a +2 racial bonus to Perception checks to determine if food is spoiled?
Sensing her old friend's hurt feelings in his gruff declaration, Emi smiles and rubs his shoulder. "Yes," she agrees, "Jerukh can cook up all manner of poltices and tinctures to help vith just about anything."
"What brings you all out this way? The goblins have been getting really antsy lately," Walthus asks in a tired, but cheery voice. There is the clang of pots and pans as he goes about making the tea. "It is mighty dangerous here at night, I would head back to town if I were you. I wouldn't want you to get hurt in my house."
At the mention of healing, he stops and turns to the goblin-hunters.
"You would do that for me? Oh, but I can't possibly ask that of you," he says before returning to his tea making.
That is not how you make tea.
There's something about Walthus that's off. He seems to be too friendly for someone that isn't really wanting visitors.