"They will all be posionus most likely my friends. Best be careful."
He sighs mumbling. "This would have been much easier when I was younger and more powerful."
He grabs something small and slipper from his component pouch while speaking quietly and then gestures at the Etterap causing a pool of grease to appear under the creature.
Olivia will step to the side drawing her battleaxe and striking the closest spider. "Guess this means the hobgoblins haven't been here?"
Solace mutters: "Giants, spider and quicksand. Just lovely...."
She will fire an arrow at the Ettercap.
:: Rova 24 - Sunset - Approaching the Ranger Outpost::
As the ambush is sprung, the group moves into action. Daniil, Alezandu, and Solace let fly their arrows. Daniil's flies wide, but both Solaces, and Alezandu's find their mark. The spider is severely wounded and the Ettercap is grazed.
Amid the chaos, Falcon struggles free of the web and moves to confront the spiders. Olivia moves in as well, felling the spider Alezandu shot with a swift blow of her battleaxe.
In the background, Claustipher sets up and casts grease. The ettercap slips a little, but regains its footing.
Ian pulls out his crossbow and takes a shot at the ettercap. The arrow barely flies wide of the creature. Hearing the noises above him, Ian moves back from the tree.
Alone on the right flank, the spider attacks Falcon. Falcon feels the spiders fangs stab at his and he stretch to avoid them and feels something in side give a little.
Alezandu suddenly feels small objects, maybe rain drops hitting his head. Just one at first, then a second, then a deluge. Looking up and around him he realizes the 'rain drops' were small spiders dropping from the tree above him. Alezandu and feel the small bits of the spiders all over him, now that he realizes whats happening .
As he looked up while the swarm was dropping on him, Alezandu noticed another giant spider creeping down the tree toward him.
Falcon flurries against the spider in front of him.
Ian circles around the battlefield, fleeing away from the spider swarm. As he does so, he re-loads his crossbow, ratcheting a second bolt into place and yanking the line back with the built-in crank.
Solace will fire again upon the ettercap, hoping the spiders might flee without its guidance.
Alezandu looks up in surprise and begins to reflexively swat at the spiders crawling over him, then gets ahold of himself with a visible mental effort. He steps out the swarm and shouts "More spiders! I could use some help over here!"
Trying to ignore the arachnids still clinging to his clothes, Alezandu hurriedly pulls a flask of alchemist's fire from his belt and hurls it into the far side of the swarm.
Elyas moves to help Alezandu.
but he is distracted by the spider swarm and fails to do anything...
"Blast it, I had hoped that would work better."
Claustipher takes a step further north, staying in the treeline, and fires a little shard of ice at the blue spider.
vs Touch
Daniil launched another arrow at the still standing Ettercap.
Olivia moves toward the next spider and swings her axe once again.
:: Rova 24 - Sunset - Approaching the Ranger Outpost::
Elyas moves strikes at the spider near Alexandu, missing it due to the odd angle.
Struggling, the ettercap gets out of the grease and cautiously moves towards Elyas.
Daniil draws his bow, aiming at the ettercap. As he goes to release, it moves behind the tree blocking his view of it. He snaps his aim onto the spider above Elyas and fires an arrow into it instead, creating a gaping wound.
Not messing around, Falcon swings and turns the spider before him into mush.
Solace's arrow finds its mark, scoring another hit on the ettercap. Claustipher's bolt of ice misses its mark however.
trying to stem the swarm, Alezandu pulls out an alchemist fire. Unfortunately he fumbles the throw towards the water. Some of the alchemist fire does splash onto the swarm though.
With the spider dead, Olivia turns to help with the ettercap, and deals a massive blow to it, carving a wound from its shoulder to waist. The ettercap falls dead in front of her.
As the ettercap dies, the swarm disperses, the many spiders scattering in all directions.
The remaining giant spider takes a bite at Elyas, and when it is fended off it retreats back up the tree.
With the ordeal behind you, all that is left is to determine what to do next.
Seeing the spider retreat Claustipher gestures to the elemental and the move out of the treeline.
"Well, this does not bode will for the outpost now does it."
Struck by a completely unrelated thought he looks at the elemental and addresses him in undercommon.
"Sizodinga igama lakho umngane wami. Unakho okuthandayo?"
"We are going to need a name for you my friend. Do you have a preference?"
Huh. well I guess that's the end of them. Doesn't seem likely that we're going to find anyone alive in the outpost now are we? Best check it out and see if there is anything of use to us there.
and maybe we can hole up here for the night... looks like we could use a good night's rest
"I don't think a few spiders would be the end of them, hopefully I won't be wrong...", Olivia says, heading towards the outpost.
"We should still head out to them and check out the situation. Regardless of what may have happened to the Station, we need to know what's going on around us."
"Might have been a trap left here by the Rangers for the hobgoblins," Daniil shared. He approached the outpost trying to find a way in.
:: Rova 24 - Nightfall - The Ranger Outpost::
The elemental seems to mull over what Claustipher says before replying in its broken common, "Me... is ... Ngithembekile!"
A quick look around for more foes shows the location of two spiders nests, about 20 feet up the trees. One of them has an arm dangling through the webbing, the other has a protruding leg.
Some quick work with a long stick creates an opening in both nests, and the corpses fall free, along with the desiccated remains of many small animals. Both the corpses seem to be human, and are definitely many years old. They are not likely the rangers from the outpost. While most of the clothing and possessions on the corpses are as rotted as they are, one wears a finely maid chain shirt that has no signs of wear on it. The other has a quiver with sixteen perfectly fletched arrows, one of which has odd runes on it, and an unmarred scroll case. At a quick glance, Claustipher deciphers all of the scrolls in the case and notes that the arrows and chain short are magical.
The group also notices gemstones scattered on the ground around the two corpses pockets.
With the spider host problem resolved, the group crosses the bridge and goes to the base of the tree holding the outpost. There is an old, decrepit looking ladder. One at a time the group climbs it, finding its appearance to be deceiving, it is extremely sturdy.
As you appear inside the out post, you look around. The first thing you notice is that two of the four chairs are laying on the floor on their sides. Next is the scent of stale air and a layer of dust covering everything. Given the circumstances, you'd guess that no one has been here for about two to three weeks.
One other thing the group notices, is that in the fire place is a partially burned piece of parchment. It looks to have been laid on the fire, but the top and bottom portions separated as the flames at at it and drifted away so they did not burn completely.
The top portion of the letter reads, You are immediately recalled under dire circumstances....
The bottom portion reads, ...to go to Fort Trevelay and assist as required.
"Fort Travelay?" murmurs Ian... "Does anyone know where that is?"
”Aubrin may know,” Falcon ruminates.
”We need to rest now. We should set watches, but we need to sleep and head back in the morning.”
"I wonder what exactly what dire circumstances lead the rangers to be recalled. Presumably it has something to do with the hobgoblins, but I would've thought we would've known if they had invaded somewhere else," Alezandu remarks. "In any case, I concur with Falcon. I'm willing to take first watch unless someone else wants to."
Assuming no one objects, he takes the runic arrow and five of the others, then climbs to the top of the treehouse. Perched on the roof, Alezandu keeps his bow at the ready and scans the surroundings for danger until someone relieves him.
Elyas checks on each of his companions looking to see if anyone needs any aid or healing before they bed down for the night. He will do what he can to heal up the group.
He will also take the Cure Light Wounds and Lesser Restoration scrolls.
"Ngithembekile! Wonderful, may have to shorten that."
After the exploration and poking about is complete.
"Fort Travelay? No, no. Oddly the name does not even strike a cord and I have been around a bit. Must be a ranger things. I did know a Bill Travelay but he was a notorious drunk in Magrimar so... hmm not sure why I am tell you all that bit, never-mind."
"These scrolls are nice though not something I can use. Some of you more outdoors-ie types might use them.
"Rest sounds quite good. A fire would be nice as well."
"I can take a watch, I'm not tired nor injured.", Olivia will assist Elyas in healing whoever is injured.
Solace carefully checks the fireplace for any other parchment pieces and then begins to start a fire to keep them warm for the night. She'll go back outside and gather up more wood if needed to keep the fire going through-out the night.
Ian furrows his brows. "You're just saying the same thing back and forth to each other. What are we going to do??? We need to decide!"
”Too tired to think. Decide in the morning.”
As exhausted as his body is, Ian hums with nervousness and excitement, so he stays up first with Alezandu. He climbs up on top of the building with the Ranger. He sits quietly for as long as he can, but he fidgets enough just to say "So...What's up?"
Alezandu glances up in surprise at Ian's arrival, but sits in pensive, vigilant silence until he speaks. When the boy does, he looks into the darkened sky and deadpans, "The stars, looks like. Unless we're under an invisible dragon."
After a second he snorts and turns to look at Ian with a small smile. "Sorry, kid. Old joke. If you mean what are we planning on doing, I imagine we'll head back to the rest of the refugees and decide on a place to set up more permanent camp. I have no idea what's going to happen long term, though. We just don't know enough about the scope and purpose of the hobgoblins/ attack. If it were up to me, I'd say we should try to fight a guerrilla campaign and hope there's an army somewhere that'll help us eventually."
Ian sighs. "Yeah..." he murmurs. "It's never gonna be normal again, huh?" he asks, looking at the older ranger. He hesitates. "You... Aren't you afraid that the hobs are gonna kill us all?"
Elyas slumps down on the floor of the outpost with his back to a wall. He is just too tired to go about his normal evening routine and prayers. it can just wait until morning. Finding the outpost empty has taken some of the wind from his sails.
We're all alone out here aren't we? he mutters to no one in particular. The rangers have left us, the towns are being overrun. we may be the only ones who can stop them. but what can the 8 of us do against an entire army?
Daniil eventually fell asleep despite Ian's hushed conversations. In the morning he recomendd, "Lets go back and talk this over with Father Shamus and the rest of the refugees."
"We don't know for sure that the Rangers have left us for good. They may have strategically retreated to an, as yet un-raided fort to gather their forces together. They may yet return to help rid the area of hobgoblins. Also, we may yet find more survivors able and willing to carry on the fight against our invaders. We can't go into this thinking that we have no chance, otherwise the morale will affect us."
”Of course I’m scared,” Alezandu replies to Ian. ”I’d be an idiot if I wasn’t. But worrying about what might happen won’t change anything. We should concentrate on the task at hand.” He pauses, then continues with a slight smile, ”And right now, that’s getting some sleep so you won’t still be tired when we have to set out again.”
:: Rova 24 - Night - The Ranger Outpost::
Night falls completely as watches are set and people begin to fall asleep. Part way through the second watch the starts slowly disappear, obscured by clouds moving in on the breeze.
.
:: Rova 25 - Morning - The Ranger Outpost::
The night passed peacefully for the eight of you. Morning dawns slowly, the sun being obscured by continued cloud cover. As everyone is preparing, packing and getting ready, Alezandu takes sometime to study the weather. Alezandu feels that today is likely to be about the same through out, over cast and a bit gloomy, but tomorrow should warm up slightly.
Do they have time to scout Shoren and retrieve the supplies they left?
"Retrieve the supplies and then go back to the camp tell the others what we found?", Olivia asks, humming cheerfully as she packs her things.
"Yes... I must agree. Getting the supplies back to the others should be the priority. When reinforcements show up they will know someone bloodied their nose, best not to be standing there."
"Alright, supplies first," Daniil concedes.
"Yes, I think that would be the most prudent course of action," Alezandu agrees.
Elyas agrees with the others on next steps.
He spends some time in the morning praying and when he is finished he feels refreshed and optimistic again, with a greater determination to do what he can to keep his people safe.
:: Rova 24 - Night - The Ranger Outpost::
Deciding to head back now instead of surveying Shoren, the group retraces their steps. The day goes well, the weather is fairly pleasant during the journey. When the group gets to the Little Chernasardo River bridge, the dead bodies of the hobgoblins remain untouched on the road where they were slain. The story is the same in the camp. Those who take the time to look are certain that no one has come through the area.
The group gets to the location where they stored the rest of the food and lowers it to the ground.
"Let's hide the bodies," suggests Ian. "Even if we just throw them in the river, it's better than leaving them here. It leaves some mystery about where they are when their buds come to find them."