"Hmph. Well, if it's not too far off the track of our quarry, that might not be a bad idea..."
Sazu just starts walking in that direction.
Baolus nods to Sazu but is still in doubt. "I'm not sure they'd help us... usually druids are a bunch of weird folk... I've even heard that some of them venerate that same cursed beast..." He points to the altar. "... for its 'wrath and destruction' aspect. I'd like to try to follow these fresh tracks that I found prior to looking for druids..."
"Oh...of course."
Sazu promptly stops.
"I just like to keep moving, is all. Apologies"
You all start to follow the tracks and cut through a rather dense amount of underbrush.
When everyone has finally settled on a direction to leave in, I take up my usual place among them and head out. I have my large sword drawn, holding it point down so that I cannot stab anyone. My eyes are constantly darting to both sides of the trail.
Ihon follows the others quietly, not seemingly interested in where they are going.
All of you see a large badger charging through the forest toward you. It is currently 50 feet in front of you.
Ihon, you also notice that there is someone over 150 feet away and moving further away. They appear to be humanoid.
Ihon looks forward at the badger racing their way. A distraction. He nods and points his walking stick in the direction of the fleeing humanoid, all but ignoring the badger.
Unsure what to do about the badger, Phaedra looks in the direction of where Ihon is pointing.
"The what? Where?! Ahhh! BADGER!" Andre cries, gripping his quarterstaff in both hands.
Baolus draws his bow quickly and prepares himself to shot at the badger but seeing Ihon's gesture, the ranger changes his aim and sends an arrow at the far humanoid figure.
The badger charges at Baolus, the first of you in line.
Baolus steps back and fires an arrow at the retreating figure. It collides with a tree, sticking out as the figure continues to move away from your group.
"The badger, a species in which..."
Sazu begins an oratory bardic performance-Naturalist. He begins recounting everything he know's about badgers in hopes that something he spouts will become of use to his fellow party members.
Naturalist (Ex): An archivist who has identified a creature with a Knowledge check appropriate to its type can use performance to share strategies for defeating it with allies in combat. The archivist and any allies within 30 feet gain a +1 insight bonus to AC and on attack rolls and saving throws against exceptional*, supernatural, and spell-like abilities used by creatures of that specific kind of monster (e.g., frost giants, not all giants or all humanoids). This bonus increases by +1 at 5th level and every six levels thereafter. This language-dependent ability requires visual and audible components.
Sazu, you recall that this is a Dire Badger and that it is likely to fly into a rage once injured.
Seeing the rapidly approaching badger I get myself into a stable position, ready to receive an attack. When Ihon points else were and Baolus shoots in that direction, I head towards the badger and manage to stand in a position that grants me extra cover with my sword from its attacks. I then swing at it and then immediately fall back into my protected stance.
Unfortunately as I swing I step onto a tree root and slip slightly, causing my blade to thud into the earth beside the creature. Luckily I am able to quickly straighten myself again and get back into position.
"Dire Bader to be precise. Tendency to fly into rages when damaged, careful of its teeth,..."
Sazu keeps spouting out facts and tidbits.
Ihon waves his hand and speaks something sharply, conjuring a puddle of grease below the creature.
Ignore it, he says, as he walks around the creature and the puddle in the direction of their quarry.
Phaedra chooses to take Ihon's advice, ignoring the badger in favor of breaking into a run after their quarry.
"Running after the quarry? There are easier ways..." Andre says, slipping his staff into its sling and drawing his bow.
The badger bites and claws at Rona, seeming quite angry.
The figure in the distance keeps moving and is difficult to keep in sight. It seems to be trying to evade you and clearly is used to this terrain.
Sazu pulls out his violin and begins to play, adding a high speed melody to his oratory. There's no real affect to this except for maintaining the bardic performance.
The boar moves out of the Grease before making a single bite that still misses.
Andre steps wide around the badger and the area of grease, nocking an arrow as he goes. "You might know these woods, but Old Deadeye knows them better..." he mutters. Sighting between the trees and brush, he looses a shot at the fleeing figure.
"Quickly, Quickly!"
Sazu speeds up the tempo and also moves with the chaser's of their target.
"If you Run outright, you may catch him yet?"
Seeing the figure running away from us, I ignore the badger and follow suit by running run after it.
Andre curses as he sees his arrow go wide and prepares to take off after the others...though he has little hope of catching them.
The fleeing figure is now 370ft from your initial position.
Ihon continues to follow Rona.
Andre curses and breaks into a run, huffing and puffing but keeping up with the group.
Round 2, Initiative 12
Sazu, smaller than most, still attempts to keep stride with the rest of the party and runs after them.
You lose sight of the fleeing figure as the trees grow more dense and your vision distance lowers. However, previously unnoticed by any of you - distracted as you are by running - two humans in crude warpaint fire longbows into Rona as he is out ahead of the rest of you.
"Rona! Duck! Ambush!" Andre bellows, splitting off to one side and heading toward the archer on the left. As he approaches, he draws another arrow, nocks, and fires!
As Baolus sees his companions running after the quarry he curses. "Crap! This never ends well!" He sees himself in front with only the badger in front of him, he also bolts after them, cursing at each step.
At the sight of the new archers, Baolus grins and changes his target, moving towards them and attacking.
Ihon frowns as he runs forward and slows down to a trot and moves over to crouch behind Andre, touching him on the shoulder lightly.
Andre is able to strike one of the ambushers in the arm, wounding the figure, but not dropping it.
Figuring out that he would not be able to reach the attackers, Baolus positions himself in a way that he would be able to charge them in the next moments...
I am just getting ready to run when out of nowhere a couple of arrows stream passed by face, I quickly turn to see where they came from and hear Andre yelling about an ambush. Seeing him go towards one foe, I go for the other and get into a defensive stance before bringing my blade down upon the enemy.