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Brady is grateful for the rest. Though he didn't seem to feel as worn out as the others, it just hadn't turned into a good day. His mind turned to a fateful trek through jungle swamps; he's only able to take cold comfort from the fact that they survived that trip--they'd only barely survived, and appeared to be getting off to little better start here than back then.
"Hey Tad; be sure to ask for your Lady's favor in the morning. We need some kind of break here."
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"Break? From what?" Dale adds in, sitting semi comfortably on a rock, using the last bit of light to eyeball some interesting rock formations as he gnaws on room temperature steak.
"Today wasn't so bad. We got to explore, learn new things, build some cool, one of a kind stuff. We're all in one piece and we've got this nice view. Just wait till sunrise!" Dale the ever optimist seems to be ignoring the almost being eaten part for one reason or another.
"So Monty, explain to me again how you learned to fly?" He mumbles as he drifts off to sleep..
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Faliana is glad to set down her pack after that long climb up, and the many missteps, wrong directions and backtrackings. She gets slightly pissed to find that some ants had burrowed their way into the bag and their meat. After a moment to stretch, she closes her eyes and runs through some simple mental gymnastics that Mariel taught her. She opens them a moment later and focuses on her clothes, cleaning them bit by bit and then turns her attention to the pack and cleans the bugs off the meat and out of the bag, not able to save the already spoiled stuff, but preventing them from getting any further.
After a second to start cutting the steaks apart, she has a flash of inspiration! Her spell might be able to help in this case! "Wait, hold on we might not need a flame. I might be able to heat the meat enough that it's not raw. But I can certainly flavor it to taste like anything you want!"
She focuses on the first pound of food trying to heat it up enough to stop the bleeding if nothing else, before turning to Monty and asking, "What do you want to eat tonight? I can't change the texture, but I can give you any flavor you want." She goes around asking everyone what they'd like for dinner and tries to reporduce it as best she can, before taking her portion and giving it the nice and heady taste of a nut and mushroon topped rump steak.
After finishing up everyone's dinner, she grabs her fur fuzzy warm fur blanket of a man (monkey?) and quickly curls up into a ball, fast asleep.
The night goes relatively uneventfully, and most of you welcome the opportunity to rest after the long day, the day before. You wake up rested, but a little sore from the hard ground, ready to continue.
Tad is already up, praying on a ledge overlooking the M'neri plains, the full glory of his goddess on display.
You quickly gather what few things you have, and are happy to note Tad is able to restore the spoiled meat to an edible state, so you're good for at least two more days, food-wise... though you should probably try to cook the remainder as soon as you can find some fuel.
Before long, you are continuing your trip down the mountain in the full morning light of the sun. Apparently you almost made it yesterday. In fact, if not for the unexpected delays, you might have managed to get all the way to the edge of the Laughing Jungle.
Still, you think you can manage it this morning, unless more surprises are in store.
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"Magic flavor packets? Sign me up for coconut curry with a side of carrots. Something about carrots are just great!"
Dale, normally one to sleep in after a late night of work, slowly cracks one eye open, allowing the blaring hot sun to sear into the back of his eye. "Yowie! Tad, turn down the sun for another 10 minutes would you?" Next time I'm finding a shadier spot.
After a morning snack of freshly dewormed meat and newly conjured water, Dale stretches and checks on his strange wads of... stuff. He put together yesterday. "Ahh, the material set up more or less. Hopefully I won't have to use them!"
From their perch high up in the mountains they can really lay out a route ahead. "I've got a feeling we should move through the plains as fast as possible. Things love to hunt there and its best we weren't the ones being hunted!"
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Monty stretches as he wakes and gives Fali a kiss on her forehead as he shuffles out from her arms.
Rise and shine sweetheart, Tad's boss says it's time to get up! Hohoho!
With a bound over to the little frog, Monty picks him up and holds him up at the top of cliff towards the sun.
Come on little buddy, get all that sweet goddess love ya can! We're gonna need all the help we can get!
He does strike a rather dramatic pose.
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After spying off into the distance Dale judges the terrain ahead and makes some suggestions on which route to travel. "You see that small stream valley there? We take that down the mountain and across that pain super quick. The faster we cross the faster we're safe in the confines of the jungle. And we KNOW the jungle!" He again itches some old healed poc marks from a previous, sickly jungle trip...
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Brady's mood is still sullen in the morning as he continues to stew over how he wasted such good materials yesterday. But Dale's enthusiasm quickly has him smiling over breakfast, and Monty's antics with Tad earn a hearty laugh.
He helps pack up camp in a much better mood, and once they're on the trail, Brady keeps his keen eyes up, still looking for a quicker way out of the mountains.
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Faliana keeps up her flavoring and chilling of the meat as people get up and start having breakfast, feeling a good deal better after having a night's rest. She gives a stretch and heads over to the nearest outlook, laughing at the antics of Monty and Tad. As she glances down she's glad to see they have only a little bit more to go with the mountains and then they might be able to plow right through the plains.
She tries plotting a few different paths through the last bit of the mountains and then any potential hazards they could encounter on the plains, mentally preparing for the footwork she'd likely need to try getting through either spot easily.
After a quick repast, you continue your way down the mountain towards the M'neri plains, hoping to get across them and reach the Laughing Jungle before the sun is directly overhead.
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The wash Dale pointed out proves to be exactly what he promised, a narrow path that probably defines a river in wetter seasons, but now proves a handy trail to lead you down the mountain quickly. Faliana is feeling much better now, with the plains in sight, and easily skips across the jagged rocks finding an easier path for folks to follow. Monty though, continues to ignore the fact he's a much better climber, and tries to follow her lead once again... and again comes up short... not coming in danger of falling off any cliffs this time, but also not finding a path that the others can follow easily.
Tad is obviously still feeling the strain from all the work he had to do the day before, and his arms finally start to feel the strain from all the clambering about. He is unable to repeat his success from the night before either. All the places he climbs prove unsuitable for the others to follow. Luckily, Brady's sharp eyes have better luck in the bright rays of the morning sun. He can see the terrain much better than in the fading light yesterday, and manages to suss out alternate routes when needed!
It only takes about an hour to finish descending the mountain, and you are working your way along one of the last rises, Monty and Faliana nimbly picking their way along, trying to find steadier ground while Tad climbs ahead. Dru, Brady, and Dale follow a short distance behind, the later still going on about the interesting rocks, or insects, or lichen that you pass along the way.
Still, it is perhaps for this very reason, that Dale is the only one to see the threat, on a slope above you, as his gaze wanders away from the path for the umpteenth time. Motion, up a slope to your right, and about twenty feet up, and a hushed voice whispering now. Unfortunately, he does not see it in time to do anything about it, as suddenly a small avalanche of rocks breaks free from the slope directly over the Faliana, Tad, and Monty, in the lead! You suddenly lose site of all three of them, in a shower of boulders and rocks!
A familiar female voice above you calls, "Drop them all!"
"What took you so long?" She adds with a menacing shout.
High above you, you see the familiar tricorn hat of the leader of the Trail Hounds, Cornella Yorke. You can see at least two others up above with her, though you can't quite make out which of the other Trail Hounds they are.
All three of them hurl missiles down at the Pathfinders in the back, as three blackened obsidian javelins come hurtling from above. One strikes Dru, sinking deeply into the back of her right shoulder . Another nearly skewers Dale to the ground, despite the fact he sees it coming, he can't dodge out of the way in time, as it goes almost completely through his left calf . You expect a third javelin as well, but only a few shards of black obsidian seem to shower down in front of Brady as Cornella curses above you.
It would appear the Trail Hounds are up to the same old strategies!
- Surprise Round ----
- Round 1 -------
The party is up!
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"Attack!!!!" Dale starts to holler as he sees the woman in the stupid hat before the sound of stone on stone drowns his voice out.
He reflexively grabs his little mud balls of explosives and tosses one at that woman. "Who'd you have to blow to keep that ugly hat ya ruthless tart?" A frost bomb flies in her direction, its a far shot but Dale thinks his can make it...
Frost bomb*: When the alchemist creates a bomb, he can choose to have it inflict cold damage. Creatures that take a direct hit from a frost bomb are staggered on their next turn unless they succeed on a Fortitude save.
After his first shot looks good he draws out another and launches that one at the same woman before she can even respond! "HA! Slow poke!" He then moves behind Brady for some cover and draws his short spear.
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"What in Garund's jungles?!? We knew you were up to no good!" Brady begins climbing up the slope, grabbing exposed roots and doing his best to keep his feet under him as he scrambles up as quick as he can.
"Just means that I've got justification to do what I'm about to do to you! You better start running!!!"
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Faliana gives a small startled yelp of surprise as the tumble of the rocks sounds above her.
Though the sounds do give her enough time to duck behind a larger rock out cropping and avoid getting hit with the worst of the rocks. She glaces up the cliff at the voices after the rocks settle. "Oh, I don't know, maybe we were 'so slow' cause we stopped and tried making things like we're supposed to! I'm surprised cheaters like you don't have crossbows while you're at it!"
She stands there, feeling indignant, and reflexively reaches for her crossbow before remembering it's not here. The b~*%! was able to keep her g%!++&ned hat that doesn't even suit her! That's way larger than any of my relics! Argh! I hate her! With a grump, she raises her hand and points her finger and annoyed glare at the woman in the hat. With some magically charged words she suggests "Are you sure you're safe with your companions? They are probably going to betray you!"
She then takes a second to look at the tatics the group has taken and decides that that one lesson that Monty tried to teach her on deflecting things being shot or thrown at her would be really useful right now. The left arm went like this and the right out in front, wasn't it?
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As the only one to see it happening, Dale manages to react quickly to the ambush! He grabs some of the alchemical items he'd been gathering the night before, folds a small piece of clay around them, and tosses them up the slope towards the offending hat! The unusual supplies and untried delivery system prove a bit much though, as the weight is all wrong, and it hits the slope in front of her instead.
And of course, it doesn't immediately explode, instead the small clay ball starts bouncing back down the slope, right towards him! He can't stop himself from shying away as it crashes to the rocky ground at his feet. Fortunately, it doesn't explode then either. Thinking perhaps the crystals he used have too long a reaction time, he quickly adjusts, and tosses a second package up the slope. This time, he has the range right... and it quickly becomes apparent he has the fuse figured out now too, as the ball hits Cornella right in the chest, and almost immediately breaks open, sending some sort of endothermic reaction across Yorke, the surrounding rocks, and the man beside her! The later manages to jump aside as the ground freezes, but Cornella takes the full brunt of it, screaming in pain!
Dale then moves over to hide behind Brady... but the half-orc decides to take a move from Dale's repertoire, and immediately takes off, leaving the alchemist standing out in the open anyway. Dru quickly follows, and both of them start scrabbling up the slope... though Brady seems to be having some problems, as loose shale and rocks pull away as he tries to find a hand hold, and Dru passes him by.
Once the dust settles from the rockslide, the rest can see that it completely missed Tad, and Faliana managed to dodge the worst of it. Monty took the worst of it, the vanaran knocked around and knocked down by the force. With angry words, he hauls himself back to his feet, and races up the slope a speed that sends a startled shout from the Trail Hound on the right.
Tad, covered in a layer of dust, but unharmed, says a prayer to Sarenrae, and a ghostly scimitar suddenly appears beside Cornella, slashing at her as she recovers from Dale's bomb. She just manages to dodge the blow, cursing once again, though the words are garbled slightly by chattering teeth from the cold.
Faliana starts to get mad, though quickly brings it under control, down to a heavily irritated, and then dips into a well rarely utilized. With a thought, a few quick motions, and her words, she pulls on the emotional strings in Cornella's head, drawing on deep rooted paranoia and mistrust.
"You can't have it!" She screams, as she pulls out an obsidian dagger and tries to run her teammate through. Fortunately for him, he is wearing some sort of thick hide armor, and the blade skips off of it.
"What in the nine hells, Captain?!" He cries, "Drum, the captain's trying to gut me!"
The second man, you'd guess Drummond, glances back, then starts pointing down the slope towards Faliana, yelling in response. "It was her! She did something! I saws it! She ensorcelled her!"
"Well kill the b%$$$!" The first man yells back, as he backs away from Cornella. "Cap'n, shake it off! We ain't turnin' on you! It's that one down there! Cap'n?" He pulls out another javelin, and slowly loads it into some sort of stick-like contraption, then uses that to hurl the javelin down the slope towards Faliana, while at the same time trying to fend off Cornella. Despite the distraction, his toss proves very effective, and Faliana can't quite get out of the way in time, as it sinks deeply into her shoulder.
"But the monkey-man..." The other one yells back, clearly more worried about Monty's unusually fast progress up the slope.
"Screw the monkey, get the sorceror! Maybe it'll break the spell on the Cap'n."
With a curse, the second man also uses a launcher to fling a javelin at Faliana, and without the immediate danger of his boss trying to stab him, his shot proves even more painful than the first. Again, Faliana finds herself impaled.
"Get outta her head, b#+~+!" He yells, then starts reaching for another weapon to fend of both Dru and Monty, closing in fast!
- Round 2 ---------
The party is up!
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Dale sees Faliana cast a spell and is intrigued. She doesn't often cast spells in combat...
Dale snickers and gives her a thumbs up, pulling out another 'jungle bomb' and tossing it up the slope yet again, this time at fancy hat's yellow helper... He gets a slight running start towards the slope and hurls it "Fire in the hole! Or should I say frosty hole?" The bomb flies true.
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Monty reaches the top of the slopes just as he hears Fali's pain as the spears are launched into her. Suddenly, he's not joking anymore.
You guys.... just ROYALLY messed up.
Unarmed Strike (Stunning Fist, DC 16)
He kicks out at the woman, almost not paying attention to her as he turns his fury to her companions.
Ignore the monkey man? Well, your about to learn why that is a BAD idea.
He slams his fist together, making it very clear what his intention is.
Snake Style - AC vs first attack in round =
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Fali crys out in pain as the two weapons pierce her body, but as soon as her vision clears, she recognizes what Monty is doing! She hollers up after him, "Monty, leave her alone! She's just going to attack whomever is closest! Take care of the other two who are in their right minds, and actually threw the javilins!"
Grunting slightly, she pulls the two weapons out tenderly, before thinking of something she could possible do from here. She immediately remembers that one session of training Monty gave her on how to deflect things with your bare hands. She didn't quite understand what he'd been doing at the time, bet she'd been practicing at getting better at punching since then, maybe she could do it now? If I stand with my feet just over a shoulder width apart, and bring up the left arm just in front of me, I should have enough time to react to another javilin.
She then realizes this does not actually help anyone but her... and maybe Tad cause she's not dying. After a second she remembers the short spear noone claimed so she just strapped it on her pack. She pulls the item out and starts taking aim at the follower with the yellow hair!
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Ducking as javelins pass over his head, and dodging the detritus from Dru and Monty's climbs above him, Brady continues to pick his way up the hillside.
He takes a deep breath, and focuses on not rushing; he tests each handhold--a rock here, a craggy root there--and actually makes decent progress up the slope.
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Dale hurls yet another makeshift bomb up the slope, this time aiming for one of the men... now that you've got a better look at them, you think its the one named Neville. Again, the small package bursts open, and the chemicals therein draw the heat from the nearby vicinity, freezing Neville, and splashing onto Drummond beside him as well! Neither of them manage to avoid the effects!
Monty finally clambers up the last of the slope, furious that they would target Faliana, and kicks Cornella square in the solar plexus as he comes up over the ridge. She gasps from the force of the blow and a pair of obsidian daggers fall from her suddenly numb hands, clattering to the ground at her feet, as she gasps for breath unable to do anything at all. Next to her, Tad's spiritual scimitar continues its assault, cutting a long gash along her back.
Brady and Dru continue scrabbling up the slope, though this time Brady's slow and careful technique seems to be paying off, as he passes Dru by, as she seems to be having some troubles finding good foot holds in her rush.
Down on the path, Tad quickly heals almost all of Faliana's wounds with one quick lick, the medium drawing on some of her martial training to be better prepared if they target her again.
But unfortunately, the two Trail Hounds suddenly seem more concerned with the Pathfinders who've reached their lofty perch.
Neville, despite the cold of Dale's bomb causing his hands to shiver, manages to get another missile loaded into his launcher, and hurls it at Brady as he comes up over the edge, striking him solidly in the arm! . He then steps away, his trembling hands trying to draw a different weapon, but failing. Drummond curses as more foes come up over the rise, and quickly launches an obsidian missile at Monty. The dart has the force of desperation behind it, and the vanaran is unable to knock it aside in time, before it sinks into his chest ! Drummond then backs away as well, stepping behind Neville and pulling out a primitive wooden sword-like weapon with sharp bits of obsidian embedded in it... a terbutje!
- Round 3 ---------
The party is up!
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Monty walks past the stunned woman, rubbing his fist together. As he's struck, he winces in pain and reaches up, snapping the spear in half to return his range of motion, but not chancing bleeding out by yanking it.
Ya know, I've done a lot in life. Been a lot of places... seen a lot of things...
The next part is a little quieter, as if it's only meant for him and the other two on the top of the cliff.
and one thing you should know? Just how badly things go when you mess with what's most important to someone.
With that his leg lashes out at the first one.
As he sweeps the man's leg out from under him, he turns and brings his other foot down on the still falling foe.
Unarmed Strike
He holds up his hand and flexes his fingers, giving him the universal sign to his opponent for "Come at me."
Snake Style - AC vs first attack in round =
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Dale watches Monty stun the woman and her silly hat, shaking his head and whispering to Faliana "You should really teach that monkey of yours about spells. It was a GREAT plan."
None-the-less, Dale is limited to just the one woman for a target so he draws out another pseudo frost bomb and hucks it up the hill at her. "Incoming!" He hollers, knowing full well his knack for aim sometimes... Then re-stows his shortspear, wondering if he should attempt the climb...
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Arriving at the top of the hill, Brady wastes no time. He barrels around Monty and the fallen Neville, bearing down on Drummond.
As he swings around Monty, different options quickly run through Brady's mind. Sunder the weapon? No, we might want that. Try to push him off the cliff? No, he'll get a swing on me, and that's too risky with no armor. Besides, where does that leave me if it doesn't work. Nope, just hit him, Brady.
Which is what he does.
Monty ignores Cornella, who finally manages to recover from the previous kick, only to realize she's dropped both her weapons in order to stop him! Instead Monty focusing his ire on the other two Trail Hounds. With practiced ease, he spins and sweeps the legs out from under Neville before the man can finish grabbing his weapon. He continues his spin, switching to the other leg and pivoting on it to add momentum, as he brings his heal down hard on Neville's chest with a satisfying crack!
Cornella manages to pull another obsidian dagger from her belt, deftly dodging Tad's spiritual weapon, only to have Dale lob up another improvised alchemical creation from down below. Again the endothermic chemical reaction fills the space, and ice crystals form along her skin. With an indignant gasp, she finally succumbs to her wounds, collapsing to the rocky ground, one arm dangling over the slope.
Brady quickly moves past, closing in on Drummond and, after a brief hesitation, wallops him hard in the solar plexus. The Trail Hound is not a light weight though, and takes the blow in stride, as he slashes at Brady with his self-made weapon. The obsidian shards rip through flesh with ease!
"Get him off!" Neville screams helplessly from the ground. He stops going for his weapon, instead holding his arms over his head protectively. "I yield! Just stop."
Tad, Dru, and Faliana all start up the slope, unable to see much from down below. Fal seems a natural at it, getting half way up, as Tad paces her to her left. Dru finally finds some solid hand holds as well, managing to reach the crest of the slope.
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- Round 4 ---------
The party is up!
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Monty moves over, looking like he's about to strike the downed man...
Before lashing out instead at the still standing Drummond, hooking his nimble feet behind his knees...
and kicking hard, knocking him from his feet, and stamping hard on his back as he falls to the ground.
He then looks at both enemies, ready to strike either if they try to stand.
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Dale watches hat-b%+@& crash to the ground with a satisfying thud, her hat rolling down the slope to the bottom. Hearing the calls of surrender from one and the thud of another, Dale grabs up the hat, stuffs it on the top of his head and starts scrambling up the hillside.
"Oh this isn't too bad. These sharp flakes would make really good spear tips and blades if we didn't already have a bunch.."