Luckily Ondir catches up with the caravan before its gotten far from the rendezvous point. Kazrin quickly catches him up.
Camon looks up when the curious grippli approaches allowing Gbagbe to see that there's halfling man sporting extensive facial tattoos under all those layers.
"This isn't a desert", he says in confusion. "And I prefer people not see me until I get to Andoran. We're still much to close to Ostenso for my liking. I'm not going back there. Ever."
The caravan travels for several hours without incident. Eventually, the thud and crash of boulders launched from Logas can no longer be heard. Even the sun struggles to penetrate through the canopy at times, leaving dark pools of shadow stretched across the path. It's approaching time to pull off the road and camp for the night when the road gives way to a small clearing.
There is evidence of the war everywhere here — discarded and rusted armor and weaponry, numerous displaced trebuchet - hurled boulders, and occasionally the remains of a hunter’s trap, only recently triggered by an unfortunate forest animal. Even in the light of day, the blackened trunks of the Chitterwood trees, still bearing the scars of the great fire that marked the end of the Goblinblood Wars, loom menacingly over the narrow forest path.
Anka, the wagon's lone horse, whinnies in distress as several skeletons shamble into view.
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Kelumur without hesitation immediately drops his traveling gear and flanks around the side to the far skeleton.. As he does so, he draws two of his daggers and throws one at the skeleton when within range, trying to aim for a weak spot, likely the bone holding the head up. As he loses one of his daggers, he quickly moves to draw another one.
Kelumur's dagger sails harmlessly between the skeleton's ribs. Xiao has a bit more luck smashing a clavicle with a well-placed webbed foot.
The skeletons shamble forward and lunge at Kelumur and Xiao with bony claws.
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”Oh, wow, this isn’t good,” Gbagbe says absently as the skeletons appear and begin attacking his companions. He takes a quick step closer to the fray and raises one webbed hand before him, swinging his arm back and forth. On one of the swings, a fist-sized rock flies up from the forest floor and at a skeleton! With his other hand, Gbagbe pulls a wand from where it’s tucked into his colorful scarf.
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"Oh my! Yurei, we must get to work!"Senketsu exclaims as the Skeletons start to move towards them. Spurring Yurei into a run and then into a punishing charge, the Wayang darts past the Skeletons engaging Xiao and catches him with a strong blow from their lance before moving on to threaten the green tinged bone man.
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Gbagbe's rock sails over the head of the undead its aimed at but Senketsu and Yurei strike a powerful blow against the damaged skeleton smashing it to bits!
Two of the skeletons resist Ashara's pulse of positive energy but the other two smolder as the necromantic magics holding them together begins to burn away.
The rest of the skeletons shamble forward to attack the caravan's guardians. These seem better equipped and wield deadly longswords.
With Kelumur and Xiao withdrawn, the skeletons close on the hateful beacon of burning light.
Ashara's burst of positive energy is just as effective as her last. Two of the skeletons crumble to pieces.
Gbagbe's colorful bolts of force break off pieces of bone but its not enough to drop the more durable armored skeleton. Senketsu's thundering charge proves more effective as they smash the red-clothed undead to bits.
After an initial startling, Jandri and Camon make room when the little frogman scrambles up onto the seat.
The remaining skeletons close on Ashara, desperate to end her channeling.
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Xiao gracefully leaps from the trees to deliver a chop to one of the skeletons (green).
Xiao has the jumper racial ability so he makes all leaps as though he had a running start.
Xiao has the glider racial ability which allows him to treat a fall as if it were half has high and can move horizontally half the total distance fallen.
Since Xiao has a +11 Acrobatics, he can automatically jump at least 12 feet and he can glide 10 more feet, so can reach the square he ended up at without rolling.
So he should get bonuses to hit for charge, flank, and higher ground and will deal an additional 1d6 damage from Branch Pounce, due to the effective "fall" distance.
On a hit, Xiao will take no damage from the fall himself, but on a miss he'll take 1 non-lethal from the fall (Boots of the Cat).
This is my first time trying this tactic, so hopefully I've done it OK.
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Smarting from the lucky blow by the Skeleton, Senketsu forgets chiding themself for a moment as they see Ashara beset. Urging Yurei into another charge, the Wayang strikes at the skeletons attacking the Cleric. As they do so, the voices inside the Wayang's head begin to direct them to a weak spot.
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Xiao's incredible acrobatic manuever smashes one of the remaining skeletons into bony pieces and Gbagbe and Sanketsu quickly finish the other.
With the undead defeated and the caravan safe, the party is free to search the area carefully. Jandri gives a laconic "Well done" but otherwise remains in the wagon with the halfling passenger.
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Leading Yurei in a quick circle of the clearing to ensure nothing else stalks them for a moment, Senketsu offers Ashara their wand with a smile.
"Would Ashara be so kind as to help this one?" they say, indicating the cut sustained by the Skeleton. "Most kind"
Once they have recovered, the Wayang hops off Yurei and checks for tracks and the like.
Growling softly at the destroyed bones, Yurei sniffs the air and then the ground under Senketsu's direction, their keen sense heightened beyond a person.
It would seem that the forest was too full of smells that confused the Wolf's senses.
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With the undead no longer a threat, Gbagbe hops down to help as he sees Senketsu and the wolf checking the ground. He stops once or twice, looking around with a puzzled look as if he's forgotten what he's supposed to be doing, then sets to the task again when he sees Yurei sniffing. Unfortunately, Gbagbe just can't focus well enough on the task at hand and is unable to offer any useful information.
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Considering the options at hand, the half orc paces back to caravan."We should secure the caravan, then investigate the tracks." Kelumur starts to hustle the group along to the site, intending to make way back the tracks immediately. We need to make sure we understand our enemies. Always be prepared.
Once at site, Kelumur discreetly checks the hidden compartments when the crew is resting.
The caravan reaches the hidden campsite without further incident.
While the others are busy securing the site Kelumur sneaks a peak inside one of the hidden compartments. Inside he finds a collection of expensive and/or illegal goods including bolts of expensive cloth, several pounds of narcotics (including a few flasks of shiver and even a live dream spider), a collection of antique longswords, a dozen bottles of aged brandy, and numerous bags of spices.
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Senketsu nods happily with the suggestion to get the caravan secure and speaks with their new friend amidst the original guards. Once the Caravan is secure, the Wayang turns to the Caravan master and indicates the direction they think the Skeletons to have come from.
"This one and friends will investigate now, as this is our goal. Master and friends fare well whilst we travel." the Wayang states, ensuring Yurei is rested and fed before re-mounting.
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Gbagbe is eager to follow the tracks right away, powerfully curious to learn more about these skeletons and where they came from, but is reminded by the others that their instructions were to get camp set up before chasing off after bandits or anything else. Once the camp is secured, however, he appears to have completely forgotten about following the tracks.
"What are you talking about? Investigate what?" he asks Senketsu, scratching his wee froggy head. "We just got here!" He scratches some more, then slaps his forehead and says, "Oh, right! The tracks left by the ... things! I wonder what we'll find!"
He hops along with the wayang and the wolf, ready to follow the skeleton tracks.
Even though it's only a short delay, by the time the party gets back to following the tracks the sun has fully set and it begins to rapidly get dark.
The tracks lead the party through a few hundred feet of dense forest that eventually open up. This small forest clearing smells of recently tilled earth. Several crude grave markers dot the landscape, each currently marking the position of an empty pit.
A large wolf prowling the grounds turns to face the party snarling in anger. Its gaunt frame suggests the beast hasn't eaten much recently.
"I'm not a simple wolf, skinny hairless thing", the beast says in a slightly feminine growl.
"I am old, and though I have seen and done much, I do not wish to die today. You seem more than capable enough to deal with an old dog such as I.”