"Lost it," says Celebeth with a tone of frustration. Her uncle moves up defensively to stand guard near her.
Terri fires off a shot but fails to hit her target.
"Nope! Wait! Got it!"
Celebeth just barely manages to wing another arrow downrange toward the dirt-mound-hodag.
Re-evaluating her shot, Celebeth takes aim and fires off an arrow. As the arrow sinks into the churning earth, a final roar is heard from the hodag as it dies.
"Hope someone brought a shovel."
As the echoes of the creature's death cry fade amid the glade, Rhiannon stows her bow, picking up and resheathing her sword after cleaning the bloody point of her blade.
At Celebeth's comment, the powerfully built woman produces what at first seems to be nothing but a 12-inch iron bar lined with small plates and spikes. Turning, twisting, and folding it to form a forest shovel, which she then sets to work, at unearthing their quarry.
"Did we only bring one shovel," Terri asks as she looks around at the others.
"Sorry, no shovel. But I could turn into a large, potentially angry badger." The elf grins after his offer.
"Did we only bring one shovel," Terri asks as she looks around at the others.
"I forgot to pack one. Sorry."
"If the badger thing helps, I have no objections." Rhiannon replies with a hint of amusement as she continues to dig.
Kalaman, still large, "I think I might be able to help with the digging as well, although no shovel, sorry"
Turcáno makes a slow circuit to make sure there aren't any other hodags lurking about.
Between the efforts of Rhiannon and her shovel, a rather large tiefling, and a potentially angry badger, members of the party manage to unearth the body of the hodag. Prominently stuck in the creature's back is an ornate spear with a darkwood haft.
Nothing else of use in on the corpse, might there be something else in the creature's lair? At least you assume that is what it bolted out of to attack you.
After the body of the hodag has been retrieved, Tove makes her way back toward the creature’s lair, gripping her bow tight, an arrow at the ready should any more beasts be lurking in the dark there.
Stowing her weapon, Tove retrieves a candle from her pack and lights it, investigating further to see what she can find.
Climbing down into the lair, Tove looks around to see what may be found.
Within the hodag’s filthy lair are three handaxes, a greataxe, and a suit of studded leather armor that is in suspiciously good condition.
Celebeth cleans off her sword and stows it while her uncle continues to keep watch.
"So, I guess we wrap all this stuff up and bring it back with us, eh?"
Terri starts to follow Tove, but then something about the spear catches her eye and she focuses on it as a soft, sing-song chant fills the clearing.
"Hey! This thing is magic," she says after a moment.
"Well that's useful, all of it is, actually!" Rhiannon remarks. "Should we take it's head or it's hide or something? Make a statement of handling threats to our community?"
Does my roll aid her if she's able to describe said auras?
Celebeth unlimbers her bag and says, "We can just clean all of this stuff off and shove it in the bag for now. Plenty of time to examine it on the morrow."
"So shall we head back to the fort to let the word spread that the threat has been handled, or is there anything else in the area that needs to be addressed or explored first?" Rhiannon asks.
“I think it would be wise to share this victory with the people. They’ve been anxious these past weeks, some good news will do well to raise the community’s morale.”
Having decided a return trip home is best for the time being, the party gathers up the items found on the hodag and in its lair and begins the journey home.
After stopping back off at the lumber camp to rest for the night mid-journey, the party finds themselves just outside of Elkmark. Townsfolk are busily going about their given chores and trade and all seems peaceful for the moment.
"Shouldn't we, uh, mount the head on a wall or something to commemorate the hunt? And as proof that we actually dealt with an actual hodag, instead of just telling everyone that we did."
"I agree. Mounting its head would send a powerful message of our ability to protect the people" Rhiannon adds.
"Too bad it doesn't have anything distinctive on its skin. We could make something special out of it that might be good for people who do something great in the service of the community," Terri says. "And we most definitely should mount the head. Right above the hearth in the tavern!"
Noticing the approach of members of the ruling council, the townsfolk stop and look - whether that is in reverence, respect, or morbid curiosity to see if one of you is gravely wounded is up to interpterion.
Taking note of the large, fanged, scaly head you carry with you, the townsfolk's attitude is more clearly respect, as you hear grateful cheers and celebratory congratulations on your latest success.
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As the team returns and shows off the hodag head to the villagers, a woman with a pet raven perched on her shoulder squeezes through the crowd to approach Celebeth. The two have a brief conversation which starts with Celebeth looking skeptical, then surprised, then excited.
"Hey team! This is Meridian. She's an old friend of my sister's, they grew up together! I know, we're probably going to get a lot of weirdos coming out of the woodwork claiming to be distant relatives now that we're 'in charge' or whatnot, but she checks out."
The young woman bows her head and curtseys.
"She, uh, she says she got here while we were away, but she's been settling in, talking to folks, pitching in with little things here and there."
The woman speaks up in a soft voice and says, "Yes, I have some simple magical talents, and I know how to remove a splinter or bind a stubbed toe, so I've been helping with little local ailments."
Celebeth grins and says, "Our little experiment continues to grow!"
Kalaman has detected magic prepared now, and will take the spear and study it to learn its secrets,
And knows all of its deepest darkest secrets and closet skeletons,
"it appears we have a keen sword, enchanted to be sharper and deal more damage, easier" kalaman tells the party after inspecting the spear pulled from the hodag's back
"So the spear is actually an enchanted sword? Is its appearance part of the enchantment?" Rhiannon asks.
While Celebeth introduces her friend to the other rulers of Elkmark, a distraught woman approaches the group. "He's gone!" she cries, "My boy, Tig, is missing! Please help me, he's all I've got."
Also, among the crowd, you notice an old friend - Bokken the Alchemist. Bokken seems to be waiting to speak with you as well.
Hearing the sounds of distress, Tove quickly excuses herself from the conversation with Meridian and rushes to speak with the frantic woman, placing a hand gently on her shoulder in an effort to calm her.
“It’s okay, I hear you. We’ll help you find Tig. Please, how old is your boy? Where did you see him last?”
Tove has met the distressed woman before, she is Myra Tannersen. The Tannersen's were among the first folk to arrive from Brevoy, Myra's husband, Lars is one of the laborers in the village who help build the Smithy and has been enlisted to help on construction of the mill next.
"Tig is ten summers old. Normally he isn't any trouble, just spends his time along the bank of the river and the shores of the Tuskwater looking for little creepy crawlies to play with...that's where he was when I saw him last."
"Garethane, it seems that your skills are needed. Shall we go find this wayward colt before he finds some mischief," Terri asks before turning to Myra and Tove.
"We shall find your son and bring him back. In the meantime, it seems that you have someone eager to speak to you as well."
As Terri and Tove handle Myra, Celebeth waves Bokken over to hear what he has to say.
Ever alert, Rhiannon strides over to where Celbeth waves over the old man.
Bokken walks over when bade. "Ehhh...not sure who you might be, missy, but I was hopin' to speak with her." he says gesturing to Tove.
"Her and her friends brought me some fangberries a while back, and I was curious if they had found more...also lookin' for somethin' else too. You ever hear of shamblesap? Good for growin' many a thing."
Looking for tracks with Eyes of the Falcon:
Trying to make sense of what I find using Nose of the Wolf (scent):
Sharing what I know about... Shamblesap with Bokken?
As Gareth and Terri break off and start tracking down the lost childcare Tove looks to Bokken to make sure he’s okay. Seeing that Rhiannon is handling him, she’ll give him a simple nod of the head by way of a greeting then chase after the others on the more time critical mission.
While Celebeth and Rhiannon talk with Bokken, Garethane searches for any tracks made by the wayward boy, and after a brief search finds that the boy's tracks head off to the south, along the western banks of the Tuskwater.