Silas carefully lines up a shot on the unfolded stag. When the bolt leaves his bow it seems to accelerate as it moves through the air.
Seeing Silas shoot for the weird creature Harbek also let's his bolt fly.
Harbek, your shot flies far wide of the creature and spashes into the river - you are obviously more disoriented than you thought.
For Silas, however, the bolt flies true, piercing the creature to the core. With an unearthly wail it shudders and collapses - you have downed the beast.
"...unghhh..."
"...unghhh...unnnnnghh..."
The beast down Silas reloads while he looks for other survivors. Seeing only Atterleigh he points the crossbow at him.
"That thing was controlling you, Atterleigh. You're infected. You damn nearly killed us all, and may have killed some of us anyway. You're a danger, Atterleigh. I can't leave you like this. Agree to sedation and restraint, or I'll have to treat you as compromised."
"Hurry up, you damn fool, I have to look anyone who might have survived your actions."
The world stops spinning around him and, about the time the ringing in his heads subsides, Caveth realizes he can see again. He rolls over and sits up, swiping with his sleeve at the blood that has trickled from his nose. His head pounds ferociously as he surveys the scene. Silas, Joseph and the Dwarf are upright and ambulatory but Kay and Moffrey are not. Forcing himself to his feet, Caveth totters his way over to the halfling.
"Can you hear me, little friend?" he asks, kneeling at her side to check for vital signs.
'Doctor Bishop, I... You have to know that I didn't mean...' Atterleigh looks up at Silas, his eyes only half focused, but he offers a bloodstained arm out towards the doctor as if waiting for an injection.
'... I know you're right. Do what you must, but please... apologize to Ms Towerweed for me. And to the others. I just... had to stop the sound.' He focuses on you, Silas, and smiles sadly. 'I wish there had been another way.'
Silas looks past Atterleigh, as if looking at someone else - which in a way he is.
"It's all right Atterleigh. Close your eyes. You'll feel a sting on your neck, then a lethargy. Don't fight it. This thing hasn't got you yet."
Skadi, clinging to the back of the doctor's coat, colours changed to match it perfectly, slowly climbs up.
Her sting hovers over Atterleigh's neck.
When Silas had first discovered her venom's properties he had been ecstatic... but it had taken some time to train her not to follow up as her instincts demanded. First the venom, for the paralysis. Then the ovipositor. Of course she hadn't had eggs then and he hadn't really understood what he was seeing. She should ache; this prey could support all of her eggs. She could empty herself into him, and they'd all be hatched by the time the paralysis wears off.
But her instincts make her feel... dirty. It comes across the link to Silas, though he won't understand why. She doesn't want to inject Atterleigh. Doesn't want to put her offspring in him. Atterleigh feels wrong. He feels claimed. There is already something inside Clarence Atterleigh, and Silent Skadi does not share.
Still, she stings him. Pumps in the venom. It takes a lot of venom for something this big. Normally she wouldn't try. She prefers smaller prey. Cats and Dogs.
She looks towards where the dog whimpers and a wave of something - love? - goes through the link to Silas. The dog is a good size. Silas will treat it. She'll get to paralyze it during the operation. Plenty of time to lay eggs then.
Finishing, she fastidiously wipes her sting on Atterleigh's coat, trying to clean herself.
Harbek picks up the wounded dog, gripping its mouth with a meaty hand if it tries to bite. He marches over to Silas on his short legs and looks up at the man waiting for him to finish with Atterleigh.
" You seem to know what's going on here? What was that thing that burst from the Stag? "
Atterleigh's coat seems to shift unnaturally in the breeze, though it may simply be the heat of the burning office... and he closes his eyes and murmurs to himself, slipping gently into unconsciousness as the paralysis takes him. There is a smile on his face as he lies there, the slight crinkle around the lips of a man unburdened.
And, as a curious sort of peace settles over the remains of the logging camp, the storm finally breaks. Fat droplets of water sizzle on the hot ground around the wreckage, and you each realise that as battered and burnt as you are, and as odd a course as this day has taken... you are alive.
That's the most important thing.
You are alive.
The first post of scenario two will come in an hour or so- in the meantime, the discussion thread will be updated with some very character-critical information.
And finally, well done - I'm really enjoying being your GM.
The rain is both a blessing and curse, soothing your burnt skin but turning the already muddy ground of the clearing into a slurry. The office is still burning, and the thick plume of dirty smoke blocks out the slowly emerging stars. The sink hours are upon you, and in a few hours your world will slip into true night, and the forest surrounding you will come alive with the kind of things travelers do best to avoid.
Your party is in poor shape, to say the least. Kay lies moaning quietly on the ground, her blood mixing with the puddles of rainwater forming around her - Caveth is nearby, his skill with healing seemingly too meager to help. Silas kneels over Atterleigh's paralysed form, checking his pulse and seeming satisfied. The man had tried to kill them, or saved them by forcing their hand - it all depended on your perspective. Harbek stands close by, regarding the corpse of the stag's occupant warily despite its stillness. He has no idea what the creature is - he, like the rest of you, has never seen anything like it before.
Joseph is upright, watching over his comrades and noting the advancing hour - he alone spoke to Moffrey before the poor man's injuries, and his tales of the lesser-known forest creatures seem to take on a new potency when he catches sight of the opened stag and its unexpected controller. Moffrey himself is sitting with his legs splayed in the mud, gripping his head as he tries unsuccessfully to clear the ringing from his ears.
The dog does not struggle, gripped tightly by Harbek and whining quietly. It's injured, but not critically so - enough for it to be cowed and meek, despite its wolfish appearance and size.
After the noise and flame and motion of the short siege and ensuing explosion the clearing is almost silent - but not completely.
'She does not like the rain, but she watches nonetheless. I think... she wants to meet you.'
It's your prisoner, his face ruined and blood caking his features. He speaks softly, with none of the manic energy he had before, lying in the mud and staring up at the darkening sky.
"Who does?" Joseph asks the man, walking over to help him sit up. "More importantly, is there any shelter nearby? Sleeping under the stars would be a very bad idea in this weather."
Silas starts triage - discounting the wild man's rantings as trauma. He'd been trained in emergency medical care. And the first rule was to take charge.
"Mister , I believe you have some medical training? Excellent. Please assist me. Mister - it is Harbek - can you please restrain the dog? That" Silas points to the watchtower "Is probably the next best shelter we have. Whatever is coming, I'd prefer to have some defence. Kay managed to makeshift a ladder to climb up, but we'll need some sort of rope and pulley to ascend the injured. I trust you and Mister can accomplish this? Atterleigh, Moffrey, Towerweed and Mister Doe here will need to be brought up carefully. Once that is done we can salvage what we can of the cart."
and then with any luck an autopsy of the creature
Walking briskly to Ms Towerweed (ladies first) the doctor checks she is stable, then starts preparing to treat her wounds, using Caveth as an assistant if possible.
"Since no one is unconscious, perhaps we should move our patients before proceeding with treatment?" Caveth suggests to Silas as the doctor approaches. He continues talking as he leaves Kay under Silas' purview and moves to check on the driver, "Unfortunately, I still do not have any rope. Unless we can round some up, the watchtower may not be an option. The worker's lodgings are not as secure as the foreman's office but might be workable."
The half elf looks to the Dwarf and Joseph, then focuses on Moffrey in order to assess the extent of his wounds.
The cart, [occ]Joseph[/ooc], has definitely seen better days - it's currently lying in pieces - but would probably be worth searching for your personal effects. As for the wild worker he give no answer, seemingly content to gaze vacantly into the sky.
Moffrey is extensively bloodied, and looks to have taken the full brunt of the explosion - even with the effect negated somewhat by the strong office walls, he's in a bad way. Mobile but in serious pain, his vision and hearing slowly returning, he nonetheless manages a weak smile when he feel your reassuring touch on his shoulder.
'Bloody... Survived, didn't we?' is all he managed to say, his rustic accent thickened even more by the hearing loss.
The remains of the office are still aflame, but as the rain gets heavier the fires begin to die down. The chances of anything from the office being salvageable are minimal, but you can search tentatively if you wish. Some of the objects lying in the ruins are presumably from the upper floor of the building, s your search may reap surprising rewards.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Having determined that all members of the group are conscious and stable, the priority shifts to re-establishing shelter in a defensible position so Caveth begins searching through remains of the blasted out ruin to see what might be scavenged.
He discovers some technical drawings that he gives a cursory glance and then jams into his backpack to be examined more closely later on. Nearby, there is an intact novel which he thumbs through briefly on the off chance it contains any helpful information. He also gives it a quick shake in case anything useful is trapped within the pages. And finally, sifting through some rubble, he happens across the sword that had previously resided above the mantle. It seems to have withstood the explosion remarkably well.
Caveth tests the weight and balance of the weapon, swinging it in a short chopping motion that ends with a small flourish punctuated by a quick stab.
, ,
Joseph first checks the wagon, hoping to find his backpack intact. Fortunately, there was nothing fragile inside, so when he finds it still in one piece, he sighs with relief and heads over to the burning wreckage of the office to see what can be salvaged. He finds a damaged painting of a stag, which he tosses to one side in favour of the (miraculously) unexploded box of bullets and powder.
"If any among us is able to use a firearm, they might find this useful," he says, offering it to anyone who might use it.
the (miraculously) unexploded box of bullets and powder.
"If any among us is able to use a firearm, they might find this useful," he says, offering it to anyone who might use it.
" I've got some rope in my pack, if you want to get into that watchtower. "
With no forth coming answers about what's going on Harbek has a look through the wreckage as well. Finding a handaxe that he tucks into his belt and an intact blasting cap that he puts in his pack trying to make sure Atterleigh doesn't see it...
"Hey, can anyone see my pack? Especially the Healer's Kit?"
" Where did you leave it? In the office? "
"Yeah, near the table, not that that means much now."
Harbek digs through the smoking rubble near the table. Finding a silver pendant from one of the smashed draws.
Harbek holds up the shredded and charred remains of a small backpack looking grim but his face brightens slightly as he looks about the area. He starts stacking things next to Kay, a mess kit, two waterskins, a slightly charred book and amongst other things the healers kit.
" The bag is ruined but it looks like many of your possessions were protected by it "
"Thank you, thank you, my dear Mr Toruun. That book details much of the flora and fauna, and includes a basic map of the area, that I have written over a couple of years. And the Healer's Kit will be quite helpful to us all. I'm sure I will feel better in a minute and get up to help out in a minute - just give me a minute or ten."
After a deep breath Kay springs to her feet with a grin.
"I'm suddenly feeling much b..." she has to pause, staring at the ground with her left arm extended in balance. She pales a little. "Just got up too quickly, that's all. Don't worry about me. I'm fine now, really."
Lightning flashes overhead, thunder rumbling past you a mere second later. You are near to the nexus of the storm, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. The raindrops sizzle when they hit the heated iron bars exposed in the office's opened walls, and the collared hound whimpers at the noise, nuzzling up to the injured halfling in base animal sympathy.
, you try not to feel guilty but the feeling creeps up on you...
'She wants you to know... she's not angry. She's not angry with you and she knows that you're scared, and lost, and alone. It's why you're weaker than us, and why you turned her away. Such an insult. But still, she's not angry.'
'But you'll need to join her soon. We all will. All you have to do is open yourself up - with fear, or joy, or the sheer wonder of her beauty, and she'll do the rest for you. She'll let you join her, and then you'll be able to hear again, and to see - not just shadows, or echoes, but reality. That's what she's given me, and I can't even begin to tell you how beautiful that is. How glorious. Give yourself up to her, and she'll let you unfold... and when it happens, your only regret will be that you didn't give in sooner.'
"Well, we need to take cover now, Ms Towerweed. Mr Harbek, if you could start to help us get up to the Watchtower I think that might be for the best."
"We have evidence that it stood an assault, it gives us an elevated position, it already has partial barricades. I think the only drawback is that I am undure whether it has a stove inside it with which to light a fire."
"Ms Towerweed - did you happen to see?"
"Staying out in this rain is hardly conducive to our good health. Now if you'll excuse me, while I have my surgical kit I'm rather hoping we might be able to find the map."
Silas walks into the ruins, and within moments appears to have found some scrip, some food and a chest. He struggles a little with the chest.
Surveying the compromised equipment, Caveth suddenly straightens up as if struck by an epiphany. He moves away from the group, near the lean-to that is the saw house, and settles into a position of genuflection. Anyone observing the half elf notes that it appears as if he is having a conversation although there is no indication of with whom.
After a minute or so passes, Caveth picks himself up off the ground. He fetches the ladder from near the watchtower and returns to his companions.
"I have a way to repair this damaged gear but I do not want to alarm anyone," he announces, "Sometimes it is possible for my goddess to restore things that are broken. Now I wouldn't trouble her to repair something that is not important but we are stranded here for at least one night and can be easily threatened so we need every bit of gear that we can salvage.'
Caveth places all the bits of ladder near each other into some semblance of the unbroken item and then regards the others, dusting his hands off.
"Please bring anything that is of modest size and in need of restoration over here. Given time, Milani will return them to useful condition. I'll show you now." he says and mumbles in the manner that prefaces the appearance of the ghostly figment, the goddess Milani, at his side. "Remember, there is nothing to fear from my mistress."
When he finishes speaking, the apparition appears, her posture mimicking his, her ghostly hands touching what he touches. They fuss over the broken ladder as one. Where it is handled, the rungs miraculously restitch themselves and the slashed bindings weave themselves together until it is impossible to tell that the ladder was damaged beyond utility just a moment ago.
Caveth beams with satisfaction at the repair and moves on to the next piece that requires attention.
Silas steers clear of Caveth's strange magics
"Oh my. Well, that's quite unnatural," Kay says of Milani, "but I suppose one could get used to it. I am quite grateful that you warn us, Mr Itxaro, because it is quite unnatural indeed."
"Okay, now," Kay tries to clear her head by shaking it, "As Mr Bishop says, let's get into that watchtower. I don't recall seeing a stove up there, and perhaps not having any type of fire is a good idea for tonight. I don't think we want to draw attention to ourselves."
When Caveth has the ladder ready Kay makes her way up and down taking up the things the group needs. The sight of a 2'8" tall person taking up Silas' chest is... interesting, and perhaps breaking a law of physics or two.
When everyone and everything is up in the watchtower, Kay is ready to aid others in the mundane healing.
'I think... I've had enough fire... for today...'
It's Moffrey - still bleeding, and swaying slightly as he walks, but upright. He manages to make it as far as your little group around the ladder before half-sitting, half-falling to the ground once more. He is soaked through by the rain, but manages a weak smile.
'There are some blankets... stashed under the driver's bench of the wagon. Or what's left of it.' He is finally seeming to catch his breath, his speech becoming more natural. 'Lanterns, too, though I don't know if they survived that... thing. The stag.'
A thought seems to strike him, and the smile flees his face.
'Did we... did we lose anybody?'
Caveth pays the injured worker's ramblings little mind, rather focusing on helping Moffrey up the ladder. Once the driver is up, Caveth assists Kay in getting the prisoner up into the watchtower as well. Fetching the blankets and lanterns that Moffrey mentioned, he passes them to her. He marvels at the halfling's power and agility as she lugs awkward and heavy items up the ladder, including a chest that Silas discovered in the ruined remains of the foreman's office.
Silas runs around, then stops as the glass shards still embedded in his chest warn him that the anesthetic effect of adrenaline is not to be confused with actually being well. Somehow Mr Itxaro's magic has left him alive, closed his wounds, but he is far from well.
He retrieves a few items to the bottom of the watchtower and attempts to climb up
"Well, the ammunition here will provide some help if there's no dry tinder for lighting fire," Joseph suggests, since nobody claims it. "I hear the powder is pretty flammable at least."
"Here Joseph, take this revolver. I don't want it, and it would be a better use for that ammunition."
"I've no idea how to use one," Joseph says, shaking his head.
"Anyone?