"Yeah, well I'll be covering you the whole way. I'm not in any hurry to have a pack of wolves going after you either." Vibenia answers with a smile.
Bernard stands up.
"Well, then let's see what lies up ahead."
Blade drawn, he begins to creep as quietly through the brush as he can toward the circling vultures, seeing if possible if they can approach from downwind.
Quietly mumbling, "Probably another in the long line of dumb ideas I have." Torn between getting to try her latest stupid idea, something she has never done before. And the concern of it going wrong and any of them getting hurt.
Having agreed on a plan, the party advances through the forest towards the circling buzzards. At first, the canopy's shade is a welcome relief from the sweltering hot weather without, but tensions run high as primal instincts rise to the fore: everyone is keenly aware they share these woods with a group of predators, and start jumping at every snap of a twig and rustle of the leaves. Soon, the soothing shadows themselves start to feel like enemies, hiding danger under their cloaks of sable. After a few hundred feet of trudging over the dense undergrowth, you can finally make out a clearing ahead.
With her friends lying in wait in the treeline, Nisany makes her way towards the cliff itself. Here, the forest opens up into a shrubby meadow, featuring a rather scenic view of a small pond that runs out of a cave at the base of the rock face. The natural beauty of the scene is somewhat marred by two humanoid corpses, which lie near the shore. Both bodies have been severely mutilated—little remains of them but their ruined gear, some scattered bones and a lot of blood. Lingering nearby is a group of three wolves: while two of them are veritable predators in their own right, the leader of the pack is a truly monstrous wolf the size of a small horse.
Having already finished with their gruesome meal, the wolves appear restless. The two smaller animals pace near the pond and yip, howl, and whine in fear, while the larger predator simply stares unmovingly towards the cave entrance, letting out a low growl. Whatever the source of their distress might be, it is not immediately obvious. The leader turns as Nisany appears in the clearing, baring its teeth at the gnome—but, having sated its hunger, does not attack immediately.
Glancing down at the corpses. That's not gonna work in my advantage. Continuing to move until there is a growl. Taking a steadying breath before casting a spell that will let her speak with the local predators. Should at least be more entertaining than cows or birds.
Keeping her bandaged hands outs in what she hopes is a peaceful way and speaking in that magical tongue, "I want to try and make peace so the villagers don't want to drive you from where their territory. They need those sheep for their pack. You have the whole forest to hunt in. The humans want blood for the loss of their caged prey and they sent sent me. I want peace and no more blood."
Only able to see Nisany and the wolves, Vibenia keeps her covered, a bolt locked and loaded, ready to let fly at the first sign of violence.
Bernard crouches just behind Vibenia, waiting.
The dire wolf growls, licking its bloodied teeth. It does not speak back, as such, but suddenly every single movement and smell, down to each twitch of its ears has meaning beyond what is usually perceivable by humanoids. All these disparate, wordless signals become as easy to read as human expressions, drawn all over the creature's being: "Blood is life. Caged prey is easy to catch. Humans are easy to kill. Why risk the pack by leaving?"
Meanwhile, the other two have started drifting to its left and right, not quite circling Nisany, but looking like they are ready to do so.
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Ignoring possibly circling wolves. Exhaling slowly, The humans pack is much larger than yours. They have magic to bring lightening down from the sky or balls of burning fire. The have sharpened sticks they can shoot from a far distance to pierce hearts. Humans make poor prey. Deer will continue running while you eat the one you catch but humans will return and burnout your nest. Their hunting will obsess with making sure every wolf in the area is dead. And they will dedicate all their seasons they have. Which tends to be longer than the seasons any of you will have." If I could get them to work together that Baroness would break and that would be funny.
Clinching her fists to focus her agitation, "I am not a hunter and I am wounded. But I do not want to see your pack slaughtered so I came to speak to you before the hunters come to kill you. I have seen it before but if you leave their caged prey, that they caged not you, alone and do not prey on the humans that aren't hunting you then there need not be the kind of blood. The blood of prey is meant to flow no the blood of predators."
There is something about Nisany's words that seems to be resonating with the large beast, though no doubt its understanding of her message is filtered through much different senses and sensibilities. Observing their leader's bewilderment, the smaller wolves pace back and forth restlessly.
"There is power in numbers," it seems to bristle in agreaance. "And there are more humans than wolves. They hurt from afar, and twist the earth and the trees into claws and teeth to kill us. This is true. I have felt their bite, and survived. No need to risk it again. We will hunt elsewhere."
With that, the dire wolf lets out a resounding howl, and sets out at a sprint towards the north. Its packmates follow suit, dashing off into the underbrush. All that is left of them are the grisly remains of their last meal, strewn across the shore. With the departure of the larger predators, the buzzards start descending on the carrion.
Beyond looms the mouth of the cave. For whatever reason, the yawning darkness of it sets Nisany—and anyone else who arrives to investigate—ill at ease.
Khardir watches the wolves leave, disbelieving. "Huh. I... guess I'm glad that worked." Then he turns his gaze to the cave mouth. "Well, all right, better check this out. I never met a cave I didn't like!"
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Nodding at the wolf and biting her tongue to keep from howling with him. Someday. Watching them run off with a smile. Letting out a loud sigh and giggling to herself.
Looking back toward the other, still giggling, "I didn't die!" And none of them were hurt too.
Spinning on her feet for a moment and noticing the mangled corpses nearby, "There's some dead guys over here. Don't get made and wanns chase the wolves. They will hunt elsewhere."
"You didn't! Woohoo!" Syksy lets out when the triumphant Gnome returns.
"Well done!" Bernard grins at Nisany. "I've never seen the like. Well done indeed!"
He then moves out into the open to inspect the corpses, face screwing up in distaste. "I wonder who they might have been?"
He then turns his attention to the cavern. "And what could lie in there...?"
"That was amazing Nisany!" Vibenia says as she walks out from their cover in the treeline. "Way to go!"
The ranger takes a moment to study the gruesome scene, inspecting the bodies.
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Grinning widely at the praise and bouncing on her feet. Good I still have use.
Going over the bodies, neither Bernard nor Vibenia recognises them as having been locals—or at least, they find nothing to identify them as such. Both of them appear to have been humans, one man and one woman. They seem to have been killed by the wolves, and eaten down to the bone. From what scraps remain of their clothes and gear, Vibenia is able to piece together that they were fairly well dressed—much like the household servants at Devy Manor—and had been carrying backpacks full of various food items. They do not seem to have been particularly well prepared for hiking, however.
The pond in front of the cave entrance never gets deeper than four feet at the centre, pooling at the base of the cliff before trickling southwards to form a small stream. As cool as it is clear, you deem the water drinkable. Khardir's dwarven eyes pierce the darkness, revealing a small chamber just beyond the cavemouth: the creek that covers the floor is one foot deep, leaving six feet of headroom above. There is an alcove to the west, from which bubbles the spring that feeds the pond outside. Opposite to the entrance, an increasingly shallow tunnel rises around the corner towards the northwest—possibly leading to a drier chamber beyond.
Although they seem to have been all around the clearing, the wolf tracks never go near the mouth of the cave. Indeed, they seem to have been avoiding it.
"Well, shall we take a look?" Bernard glances back at his companions, and unless someone strenuously suggests otherwise, he wades into the pool, the chill welcome after the day's heat, and follows the stream up toward the bubbling spring. There he stops and glances back at his companions.
"Perhaps someone a smidge sneakier than me should look around that corner?" he whispers.
"I'm a fair hand at stealth, but I don't see all that well in the dark." Vibenia says, moving forward.
"I can see, let me get a bit closer," says Khardir, huffing and hustling toward the front.
Getting past the pond is not overly hard, though Nisany does need some help paddling over the deepest part due to her injuries.
Once the group has gathered in the first chamber, Nisany and Vibenia can hear a strange skittering and a wet hissing sound echoing from some ways away from behind the corner to the northeast. They also catch a whiff of something rotten—a note of wrongness in the air beyond the earthy smell of mildew.
Khardir, wading his way towards the origin of the sound, does not appear to notice anything is amiss.
Bernard waits where he stands knee deep in the water, listening intently but mostly just waiting for Khardir to give them all the go-ahead.
"Khardir, there's something up ahead!" Vibenia whispers with a note of urgency."a strange skittering and a wet hissing sound. Someting smells.....wrong!"
Nodding with Vibenia's words, "Something is there."
Resting her bandaged hand on Bernard, as if to steady herself, but a strange tug happens. Similar to someone tugging on a rope that is tied around them.
"Eh?" says the dwarf quietly. He unlimbers his warhammer and shield and continues his advance slowly and steadily, watching for whatever it is that the others might've spotted.
Khardir carefully makes his way through the narrow tunnel, emerging at a corner. The shallow water at his feet ends at the entrance to a large cave ahead. For whatever reason, the air within appears to be uncomfortably warm, radiating heat all the way to where the dwarf is standing, carrying with it the stench of rotting flesh. The ceiling of the cavern, studded with stalactites, is ten feet high above the floor at the entrance.
Of course, hardly any of this registers before the inhabitant of the chamber lurches into view: a crab-like nightmare with a lamprey's mouth, twitching eyes on its legs, and several blisters along its back that appear to hold human brains—at least some of them, for many have been perforated, their glistening contents dripping down the creature's rotten flanks. And rotten it is, clearly missing chunks of its considerable bulk, at parts revealing inner workings wholly alien to anything seen on Golarion. The smell of decay is nearly overwhelming, mixing with a chemical stench which is wholly indescribable in its foulness.
Four iron chests sit at the eastern side of the cavern, piled up behind the reeking monstrosity.
Though you can hardly say what a normal specimen of the species might look like, there is definitely something wrong with this one, beyond its unnatural origins.
"I dunno what that is, but it's undead!" shouts Khardir. "Hit it hard!"
"Hit it hard!"
Khardir's shout echoes off the rocks, and Bernard takes off, blade by his side, ducking his head as he races up the shallow tunnel, around the corner, then squeezing by his dwarven friend and out into the cavern's entrance, where he slows, eyes going wide.
"What the...?"
Vibenia dashes around the bend, bringing her crossbow up but pressing herself against the cavern wall to allow Syksy to get past. It sounded like they would need their heavy hitters up front. "Gods! What is that thing?"
"Huh? What is it? What is it?!" Syksy lets out as she hustles to keep up with the others.
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As the group charges into the tunnel, the rotting thing moves to greet them: it makes an ungainly lurch towards Bernard, who is standing at the mouth of the cavern, but it looks barely able to move its prodigious bulk. Chitinous legs buckle and slip on the floor, giving the horrid monster's bearing a touch of the comical—if morbidly so. The creature's claws snap drunkenly at the air, fumbling for a morsel to stuff down its ravenous maw.
Needless to say, it does not smell any better up close.
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Quietly mumbling to herself, "Please let this go right."
Twitching at the glow that comes out of her fingers, "What the hell?"
Steeling himself, rippling his fingers once, twice, three times as he grasps his blade with both hands, Bernard takes a deep breath and then visibly forces himself to charge into the cavern, letting out a slightly panicked yell as he closes with the undead beast.
Vibenia lines up her shot, firing at the disturbing creature.
"I got your back Bernard! Let me know when you want to tap out." Syksy calls to the Fighter as she moves up behind him. "Everyone, keep an eye out, we don't know what we're dealing with here."
Bernard rushes in, cleaving his sword deep into the creature's putrescent bulk. More indescribable liquids gush out its rent flesh—which seems to have the porous consistency of a deep-sea sponge—spreading a distinctly chemical stench in the air. While it was a solid blow, the monster is obviously capable of withstanding many more. Vibenia's bolt whizzes by Bernard, embedding itself somewhere within its rotting innards. Unlike the guardsman's blade, the projectile appears to have minimal impact—there simply are no functioning organs for it to puncture.
With a living victim close at hand, the horrific abomination lifts one of its lobster-like claws and brings it down on Bernard: the thing seems incapable of operating the pincers properly, simply using the appendages as clumsy bludgeoning implements. The impact is significant, comparable to being hit by a slow-moving carriage.
Further back in the tunnel, Nisany suddenly feels like she has been punched hard in the diaphragm.
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"RRRAAAAH!"
Khardir lets out a cry as he swings his warhammer hard and makes a full 360-degree spin in place in the process.
Bernard wrinkles his face in disgust as the revolting fluids flow out all over him, forcing him to take a step back as the desire to retch becomes almost undeniable. With a deep breath, he shoulders aside the pain of the blow, and moves in once more going for another big swing, hoping to open up a great gash with which to destroy the creature.
"Oi! Don't forget me!" Syksy cries out before trying to follow Bernard's example of hacking into the beast.
With another swing of his sword, Bernard splays an assortment of alien organs across the cavern floor. None of these parts seem analogous to anything found in the nature of Golarion: even disregarding their obvious state of decomposition, determining their function would prove difficult. Yet, there is something about their arrangement which makes it appear shudderingly premeditated, with no hints of redundancy to be witnessed amidst the viscera. What is on display here brings to mind an artificial construct, built by an engineer far removed from any reasonable school of logic. Everything has been meticulously put together according to a blueprint which is both coldly efficient and all but incomprehensible to any mortal being—the twisted design of some maddeningly ingenious demiurge.
Syksy, in her eagerness to join the fray, gets the blade of her polearm caught on the chitinous carapace protecting the monster's eye-studded legs. She frees her weapon just as Vibenia lets fly another bolt, this time scoring a hit on a bulging ocular near one of the joints. Aside from a splattering of vitreum, the damage to the point of articulation causes it to stumble. Here, an immunity to pain proves to be a disadvantage: the monster does itself more damage than Vibenia could ever have caused on her own, slowly becoming more and more unstable as the bolt is levered to pry apart its exoskeleton, while the creature never feels a thing.
By now retaining its cohesion and motility only through a supernatural imperative, the creature lets out a strained groan, stubbornly refusing to cease its unnatural animation. With a resounding crack, its other claw drops on Bernard from above like the proverbial ton of bricks, pummeling him with more than enough force to crush ribs or dislocate a shoulder. Once again, he comes out of it with fewer broken bones than he might have thought from the apparent strength of the impact.
Meanwhile, Nisany continues to be struck by some invisible force, though by now it is obvious the pain coincides with the clobberings received by Bernard.
Bernard let's out a cry of pain and anger, and swings once more.
The pain makes him swing wide; he stumbles and nearly goes down.
Vibenia takes another deep breath before firing, her shot accurate, but not extremely effective.
Groaning at the new pain and trying to shake it off. Flexing her singed fingers and feeling a warm and rather pleasant warms. It feels like it wants to burst out of her fingers. Growling in agitation, "Move forward and I can help!"
Khardir rights himself, lets out another growl, and smashes his hammer into the undead monstrosity nearly as hard as he can!
Vibenia moves partway down the tunnel, making room for Nisany to get closer.