Soren nods with Alexander.
I saw the same. Another, sleeping. It blocked the way with its body, which could mean there are more in there. Wild animals with young usually do that to keep them from escaping while the parent sleeps. We should be wary, take it out as quickly as possible, and be ready to put down the young if necessary.
Andrea nods in agreement.
"Lets move then." Thaliar takes out his bow and then waits for the others to start moving.
Alexander moves into place quietly and waves his hand.
Andrea gets her crossbow ready
Soren fires a shot from where he crouches using the woods as cover.
Soren smiles a little as he stays where he is, studying his target this time as it moves.
Andrea will shoot at the sleeping Owlbear before the melee types engage
Radomir rears Czernabog and charges the sleeping owlbear with full force
x2 because CHARGED!
Satisfied with his work, Radomir tosses his lance to the ground and draws his bardiche. Meanwhile, Czernabog rears and savages the owlbear with his hooves and teeth!
The knight guides Czernabog backwards a few feat with his knees and lashes at the owlbear with his giant polearm.
Eduard will draw his crossbow and aim at the Owlbear.
Eduard will attempt to strike the creature with a bolt from his crossbow.
Radomir easily guides Czernabog to the owlbear and swings at the beast with his bardiche, intending to end this battle quickly. Slaying this beast will go a long way towards pacifying the wilds of the Stolen Lands.
The knight guides Czernabog forwards a few feat with his knees and lashes at the owlbear with his giant polearm.
bite: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
bite damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8
hoof 1: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13
hoof 1 damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
hoof 2: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10
hoof 2 damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
bardiche: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
bardiche damage: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
Realising the odds of hitting the beast with his bow are rather small Thaliar instead takes his spear. He starts to close in with the beast, sure to stay as far as he can while still reaching with his spear.
When he stands close enough to the beast to strike that is precisely what Thaliar does. He jabs his spear into the beast's back and then pulls it out again, ready to strike should the beast try to get up. "It's a shame these things can't be reasoned with. We could have used it to attack the bandits."
Alexander briefly glances down at the spear in his hand as if he's surprised.
What did I think was going to happen. He shakes his head abruptly as if to clear it. Well, do something!
He springs forward circling out to the side slightly and steps into a throw at the flailing beast.
Owlbear is sleeping.
Eduard prepares his crossbow.
Thaliar draws his spear and moves up the creature.
Radomir attacks the Owlbear with his bardiche.
Soren and Andrea both miss the creature with their ranged attacks.
The owlbear awakens thanks to the bardiche in its side and it tries to stand up, but fails to succeed in doing so. The flailing, greasy, feathery Owlbear provokes attacks from Radomir for it's attempt and in return, the beast tries to bite the only thing it can while on the ground, Czernabog. , but misses.
Eduard fails to shoot the flailing Owlbear.
Thaliar spears the Owlbear through one of it's wings.
Radomire and Czernabog finish the Owlbear off.
The pelt of the creature is obviously not salvageable due to the damage inflicted upon it.
With the creature dead, you all may take your time in searching the den of the Owlbears.
Within the den you find, two Owlbear eggs in a rough nest of moss and a large pile of bones and leftover scraps of teeth, fur and bits of old armor.
From the pile, you are able to salvage:
a breastplate
a longsword
a halberd
a moldy pouch containing 20 gp 34 sp and 9 cp
Radomir points to the eggs. These could prove very useful, Lord Alexander. with enough time and training, they could be valuable assets to your cause. I recommend taking them and bringing them to maturity. They could be magnificent warbeasts, sold on the market for a profit. I would not recommend that, however. It would be foolish to sell dangerous tools to potential enemies.
Andrea uses Detect Magic on the armor and weapons
A skilled trainer will be needed, we need to weigh the benefits to what effort we will expend on raising them.
Alexander stands over the eggs, It will be difficult to find someone to train them out here, or even a buyer. Perhaps Oleg will know someone. He chuckles and turns to Eduard, Or perhaps you might have a use for them? With a shrug he turns away and looks about the lair.
They would be powerful if they could be controlled. I wonder what other such beasts this forest hides.
Just imagine the omelet they would make.
I can trade them, my Lord. I trained Czernabog
So we should head back to Oleg's if we are takign the eggs and secure them there before sending word for someone who can hatch them. Then shall we continue mapping the lands?
Thaliar looks over the eggs, inspecting them for any damage. "The eggs themselves should also fetch a pretty prize, if we know who to sell them to. I might have a contact in the Gronzi forest that's interested." That was far enough away that none of them should be troubled by the prospect of the beasts being used against them.
Let's get everything together and head back. It's been a long couple of days.
Alexander packs what they find on one of the extra horses and mounts his steed, ready to return to Oleg's.
Unless you make any more stops, Your group arrives back at Oleg's trading post in the late afternoon. Both gates to the post are currently open and the reason why appears to be Merryn. He appears to have hitched up one the horses to a log and is dragging it into the post and leaving it next to a couple other logs. You can't see Oleg right now, but you can hear hammering coming from one of the buildings.
As you enter the gate, Merryn greets you and call out to Oleg that you all are back. He comes out of the guest house, hammer in hand. "Well now, since you lot are back with quite a bit more stuff than you left with, shall we assume you found the bandit's camp and put an end to them?"
Alexander smiles as he dismounts, Sure did. It was a rather large camp. He indicates the gear with a thumb, There are more of them out there, but they won't be coming around here for a while. We've got some gear here that may need a buyer. His smile turns into a wry smirk, Know anyone that might be interested?
Alexander pats his horse as he leads it into the stables and his tone becomes slightly more serious, I understand you probably can't buy all of it from us, but we'd be happy to work out a storage rate. We'll need to find a place to keep all of this stuff, after all.
Andrea nods to the logs. Are you rebuilding a wall? Andrea will stable her horse. We did dispose of a camp of bandits who were agents of a 'Staglord'. We will need to locate their main base before we can put an end to them for good. We do plan on focusing on mapping the lands around here first.
Oleg nods at Andrea's question. "We're working on replacing some of the walls that have been damaged by neglect. I'm glad to hear you got that bandit camp wiped out. Maybe I'll start to see more trade if people don't have to worry about being robbed and possibly killed out here. Though do you have any idea if that Staglord fellow will come this way?"
Alexander nods with a frown, He'll come...eventually. Or his men will, at least. But we've put a rather large dent in their operation. I doubt they'll be able to come in force for quite some time.
Alexander's frown turns into a wry smile and he chuckles, We don't have any way of finding out more about him just yet. He shrugs, That's not really something we can fix now. Better to look ahead and keep our eyes out for more opportunities.
Thaliar looks around the outpost while Alexander talks. When he appears to be finished, at least for now, he buts in, "Oleg, do you have some place dry and relatively warm that we can use? We found some owlbear eggs in the woods and if we wish to sell them we have to keep them alive. I need a way to get a stable temperature for the hatchlings to grow inside them"
Oleg doesn't look to thrilled at the prospect of potentially hatching some viscous carnivores, but he gives the question some thought. "Well, if you want warm and dry, I think the best place would be the hayloft above the barn. You could block off a corner with some hay bales and then use some loose straw to make a nest of some sort."
"I understand having owlbears living in your home isn't what you'd consider ideal but they can fetch a pretty sum. I will be contacting some old friends way up north in the Gronzi Forest to gauge their interest. The beasts should not be here long." He offers the man a sincere smile. Thaliar had no idea what the intention of Alex and Radomir with the beasts was but he echoed the merchants sentiment.
Smiling as Thaliar speaks, Alexander interjects, I'll leave that to you and Radomir. He seems intent on raising them, though I'm not sure we have time to prepare a place to do so...safely...just yet. It may be best to sell these if we can get the gold. I'm sure there's no lack of exotic beasts in these forests. Almost certainly more of their kind.
He chuckles as he kicks the dust off his boots. In any case, I'm sure you and he can work it all out. And if your contact falls through, Oleg can find some people back in the city. Right, Oleg?
[b]"There is a trader of curiosities that wanders by from time to time. He may either be interested in buying them or will to act as a broker for someone else who would."
Eduard just muses idly as the conversation about the eggs continues.
"I do wonder how these bandits keep their supplies. I assume they steal what they can, but if this place is so heavily bandit controlled, it seems like unaffiliated traders would be unlikely to travel this way. I wonder if cutting off supply routes would be fruitful. Or bringing them under our banner for the future."
I wouldn't be surprised if bandits take any stolen goods to a larger city for sale.
Radomir nods and puts the eggs away while the others discuss their fate.
Soren stays quiet as everyone gets settled in, placing his traveling gear and his weapons in the place he slept last time, but keeps his bow and quiver. As the group discusses with Oleg the bandits, the Stag Lord, and the next step, he finally speaks up.
I believe we will find out much more about the Stag Lord, his forces, and his control over the roads as we map this area. No doubt we will constantly be running into camps like the one we ended today. Oh, yes, and we also recovered your wedding rings, as you asked.
Soren fishes them out from the stuff that was loaded into the cart, and then asks Oleg
Tell me friend, how many shipments of wares do you receive from the city? I'm in need of some specialized arrows and I'm afraid I won't have time to go and pick them up. There's a shop in the city I used to go to all the time "Dead-Eye's Arts", where hunting gear, bows, and the finest Elven arrows I've ever seen were sold. They carry about ten different types of arrows I like. Is it possible for you to procure some for me? I would be willing to pay you for the trouble.
Radomir nods and puts the eggs away while the others discuss their fate.
"That indeed brings me to another question Oleg. Do you have a way to communicate with the north? I haven't seen anything like carrier pigeons here or do you rely on a courier? Pigeons would be ideal, even he could only send them to New Steven. From there thy could easily send one for the Medvyed estate.
If they relied on couriers however it could take weeks if not months before they got an answer.
"If I have any messages that need sending, I just send a letter with whichever trader is heading in the direction I need it to go in. Over these forests are a good number of predators who think pigeons are a tasty treat, so they just aren't very reliable."
Oleg looks both relieved and grateful when Soren tells him about the wedding rings. "Thank you, it's hard to believe that you actually got them back for us. Svetlana will be so happy when I tell her."
Oleg gives a little shrug at the question of shipments. "I've been luck to get a couple visitors a month from the city, but I'm hoping that will increase now that you folk got rid of the bandits that were plaguing the only trade road between us. It would likely take a couple weeks at least to get anything from the city. At least until trade picks up, then maybe we can weekly traders and merchants heading this way to buy and sell goods."
So where shall we start exploring next? Andrea lays out whatever passes for a map and starts writing on parchment about features of what they have found.
Alexander leans over the map and folds his arms, I was thinking about that on our ride back. I'd like to start by mapping out the area directly around this post and then circle outward from there. If Oleg knows of anything in the immediate area, we can make sure to find these waypoints and use them to orient our maps. I have...some...experience with mapping, but it will take some time to put it all together.
He rubs his chin in thought, Though I suppose we do have plenty of time, if nothing else.
That sounds good, establish a solid foundation instead of wandering all over the place.. Once conversation wraps up, Andrea will head back to her sleeping spot for rest and then prayer.
Radomir appears and takes a position at the back of the group. Perhaps the prisoners may know more of the Stag Lord.