Ike turned back as the others seemed to have the animal problem under control, before looking down at his failed charge and kneeling down. He didn't have any healing magic... that was... Arlen... wait! Perhaps the little fey could? It was worth a shot...
"Do either of you have any healing magic?! I don't have any, and he needs help!" he said, leaping over Arlen to the other side, hoping to put himself at least a little bit between the last thylacine and the elf... but... what if there were others! His eyes immediately scanned out to the darkness, picking out anything that might be looking back!
You don't see anything else, Ike.
"No heal! No heal! Perlivash either!"
Cool-hand Rai chucks a bomb at the last thylacine! His precise shot misses Sigurd and Brokk'r but hit the thylacine directly. It falls over, dead.
All seems to be quiet... Combat is over, for now.
Rai will attempt to aid anyone who is trying to heal Arlen.
Ike paused to breath for a moment, before turning around to kneel down and try to help Arlen regain his consciousness. "Uhm! O-okay! Lemme think... think think think... herbal remedies, how did it go? Ginseng, hard root, mix to paste, apply to wounds... or was it ingested? Come Ike, think!" Ike tried hard to recall how the old remedy his master used to mutter about, and apply it to poor Arlen.
+2 from Rai
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Diceros speaks out loud to an unconscious Arlen, as people do...
"Here, Arlen, let's drink this potion down. Got it from those bandits -- I can't think of it going to a better cause. We've got another two if needed, but hopefully this will get you started."
"I am still new to civilization. In my tribe, our singers, priests and shamans could heal through magic. Who here has the ability? I know I can meditate and get Nature to heal wounds when necessary, but I've always been more worried about stopping our enemies rather than healing our friends."
Seeing the potion have little effect, Diceros goes to the edge of the campsite and begins preparing healing spells.
Arlen comes to very shakily and looks around.
"Oh my. That was something else indeed. Diceros, may I have on of those berries? I'll see what I can do about this."
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"Arlen! Good to see you up again.
Now then, what's the story with these creatures? Did we do something to provoke them or are they just territorial? Now that they're dead, can we use any parts of 'em?" Diceros, you might know better than me.
And what about those fairy creatures? Are they still around?
good to have you awake and well Arlen. We need to come up with some better plan on how to protect you. In the mean time lets look around and see what spooked these creatures into us or made them attack
Arlen gobbles up the berry happily, feeling better still.
"Well I think I could help with that. I would have been better off moving away from the hostile creatures while keeping the fortune going instead of trying to add more good luck to Diceros as well."
Indeed, the two little fairies are still there in camp. With the threat gone, they settle back at their little table. The little grasshopper starts drinking the ale this time, and the two look content, but aren't getting close to you. The grasshopper looks over at the group and says,"Cheers! Glad your crazy old man is ok!" The fairie dragon flies more loop-de-loops, but this time in a happy fashion.
Arlen bows to the small ones.
My thanks, little friends, both for your good wishes and for the part you played by alerting us of the danger! Daring and worthwhile comrades you have shown yourselves. Might I ask if you know where we could find the great boar known as tuskgutter? Or where we should look? Certainly little folk like you are very useful as guides to the forest. You should start a business!"
He smiles enthusiastically but his old librarian teeth just look hideous.
The little grasshopper creature looks a little scared of the enthusastic old elf with the terrible teeth, and makes to flit away, but Sigurd prevents them from leaving with a handsomer smile and talk of alcohol.
"If there is one thing a grig likes, it is ale! We knew you guys were good folk when you left such a nice treat for us! And on a nice table! I'm Tyg-Titter-Tut, of course. And this be Perlivash. It was most funny when you fell down, big man with white hair. That was Perlivash. He great at sneaky-sneaky when invisible! Shoes tied be his speciality!" Perlivash the faerie dragon chitters happily and flies around, eventually landing on the tip of Pygmy's horn. Tyg-Titter-Tut jumps up to perch on Sigurd's shoulder.
After introductions are made around, the little grig chitters away.
"Tuskgutter? Tuskgutter? The big old boar? Yeah, he lives in these woods. He could be anywhere. The bigginses live in these woods too, though they don't move too much. Are you hear to kick out the bigginses? We be very happy to show you where the bigginses are." She flops back down to the ground and gives you a rough outline of what she claims is the Narlmarches, and points at a section of it. "Bigginses."
Arlen looks down at the map and tries to get an idea of what he's looking at.
"Might as well give myself the best possible chance to follow what she's saying..."
Arlen seems to be a little woozy from his encounters, though.
"Who are the biggenses, by the by?"
"Bigginses, like you, but mean and nasty. They made a camp here!" She points at a section of her rough map, and laughs. "But you say it wrong. They are called Bigginses, not Biggenses.Hee hee hee! Hear that, Perlivash?" Perlivash chuckles from atop Pygmy's horn.
Arlen can you give me some guidance
(Take 10 seven times with guidance for survival is 17)
Rai with a bit of friendly pointers skins all the creatures they just killed.
"Ah! These Biggunses might be more o' them bandits we're supposed to be takin' care of," Brokk'r says. "Either way, we ought ta check it out while we look fer signs o' Tuskgutter."
Brokk'r doesn't see any signs of Tuskgutter while talking to the little fairies.
With a small spell by Sigurd, the map comes into focus for Arlen!
Arlen nods agreeably, pointing out to the others where they should look for the "Biggenses." He smiles amiably at the fey creature's amusement at his expense. He casts guidance on any attempts to skin the marsupials.
"I think the plan is a good one but, if I might make a small request my friends, Could we please rest here for the night? I feel a bit... spent."
Arlen smiles weakly with his 3 hit points.
"Aye, in the mornin'. I imagine some of us are needin' more sleep."
Brokk'r heads back to his tent.
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Sigurd likes these little creatures and wouldn't mind if they stuck around. Not as pets, though (he doesn't think Diceros would appreciate an animal being kept as a pet), but as friends. Maybe they'd even be able to render aid from time to time.
So, before lying down for the night, Sigurd pours out a bit more of his beer into the tiny cups and beings to sing one of the lullabies he knew as a child.
and/or
As Sigurd sings, the two immediately come right next to him and listen attentively while drinking beer. Before long, they are drunk enough to sing along, which makes Sigurd laugh as the whole thing seems so close to Arlen's and Oleg's performance from a couple of nights ago.
Eventually, everyone passes out or falls asleep, after setting another watch, of course. In the morning, the little fey are gone, but who knows? They seemed to like you, Sigurd especially. Perhaps you will see them again.
Pharast 14, 4710
The party continues their search of the wood, eventually, over the course of two more full days, finishing up their mapping job and not having any more adventures of any particular note. You estimate your current map will be worth 248 gold.
Pharast 16! The days are going by fast. (All of you have basically recovered 3 nights of HP now). As your study your maps, the party decides on a new area to search out. Where do you go?
Finally getting back into his normal groove after the fight, though not entirely recovered from the moon radishes, Arlen is feeling somewhat adventurous.
"What do we say to checking out the 'Biggenses'? I could help a bit with whoever wants to be sneaky and see what they can see."
Rai gives the furs a try but really does not do the best of jobs, however, he will make some jerky and breakfast from the meat.
Before the fairies leave and his time in his kobold form runs out, Ike takes a bit of time to study the little creatures. He doubts he can cram himself into a form so small... but they are fascinating nonetheless! A cricket body... why didn't he think of that before!? "Oh! Before you leave, do you know where we can find some kobolds? Little lizard people who look like me? I'd like to talk to them, if I can!"
***********
As morning comes, Ike slinks out of his pouch and joins the group, still slightly lethargic from his moon radish experience, but not totally out of it like he was! The mention of visiting the "bigginses" and booting them out does sound good! And he till had that treasure from their first encounter! After a moment of pooling together, Ike swirled together and formed into a human again... though this time, he opted for dressing like one of the bandits that attacked Oleg's earlier! It wasn't a clean copy... but it was human, and he certainly could manifest the garb they wore quite well!
"I have an idea!" He exclaimed, before the medallion he'd taken from the bandit leader emerged from his chest, looping itself around his neck as he stood back and held out his arms, as if presenting himself. "Now I work for the Stag Lord! I bet if I came like this, they'd believe I was a bandit too! Then, I could get in and cause some trouble, and make it easier for us to break up the camp! Watch! I can sound like one too!" He hummed and sighed a bit, steadily lowering his voice a bit before smirking and putting his fists on his hips.
"Har har har! I work for the Stag Lord! I beat people up and take their things! ...I'll get better at that, honest..."
Rai's knife slips more often then it doesn't, marking up most of the pelts and leaving them worthless. He does manage to get one pelt worth 70 gold.
EXPLORATION PHASE
Terrain: Forest ; max PC speed: 20 ; days to explore: 3
Rain: Muddy footing prevents melee attackers from properly attacking (20% miss chance in melee)
It's a rainy spring day as you head south-west and start mapping another reach of the Narlmarches Forest. You pass from dense forest stand to prarie clearing, from wetland swamps to forested hills. The land is beautiful, raw, untouched.
As you proceed, you come across a river- about 50 feet wide, several feet deep at the most. It is not an issue to cross it, but you do wonder how big it might get as it travels downstream, and if the spring rainy season could potentially cause any flooding that would slow up your mapping..
Ike pauses as the group comes across the river, slinking slowly towards it and dipping a tendril into the water. Agh! Cold... and really wet! The rain was bad enough... what possessed him to test the waters is a mystery.
Still, crossing this water would not be pleasant... any sort of bridge or walkway across would be preferable to this! His "head" swiveled both ways, trying to see if there was some sort of natural way to cross this expanse without getting soaked...
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Diceros finds the thylacine's hideous enough that he lets Rai attempt the skinning, and doesn't care much that they didn't work very well.
"Honestly, I do sometimes wonder what Nature is thinking..."
"On the other hand, our little fae friends seem delightful, especially when making Arlen trip. Maybe I can get Sigurd to teach them that on command."
"Does anyone else think that these Biggenses are our bandits in their hideout? I am willing but nervous to send Ike in there alone. But I'll guess we'll see what happens."
Later, Diceros and Pygmy find the river crossing a delight, enjoying the chance for a swim. Pygmy seems to enjoy the bath, but then rolls around in the mud as soon as he gets out, leaving the companions questioning the strange behavior of rhinoceri.
But most of all, Diceros loves the change in scenery, away from deep forest to the variety of the wilderness all around him. Each night, he entertains his friends at the campfire with traditional M'skuma dances based on the land they explored. He can be found often these days singing about Nature as he walks, and flitting from plant to plant as they go.
In the evening, Diceros creates some new Goodberries before switching a few spells around.
[ooc]+WIS +Nature Sense +Class skil +rank
Brokk'r grumbles as the rain seeps into his boots and soaks his clothes. As he tries to ride her across the river, Gefun bucks and the dwarf falls on his arse. "Stupid mule won't even cross a shallow river," he mutters under his breath, grabbing her reigns and leading her across the river
Arlen thinks long and hard about the stories of a place like this, where the fey bleeds into the mundane. Would that encourage or dissuade new settlers? How do people think about such legends?
He hears Ike's plan with interest. "That could be quite useful indeed! I have an assortment of things that might help cause problems for those ruffians! Should we attempt to deal with them now or retrieve some more resources from Oleg's first? Hopefully Ike can safely assay their strength for us."
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Sigurd doesn't mind the rain. After all, in his frozen homeland, this would be snow. A little rain doesn't bother him.
"I agree that these Biggenses are probably a group of bandits. I'm not so convinced that it's the actual Stag Lord, however. We're still relatively close to Oleg's. I would expect the Stag Lord's base of operations is much further in. It would be worth capturing one of these bandits to see what we could learn though."
As they ride on, Sigurd contemplates bandits, focusing on their tactics and nature, really anything that could help them in this confrontation.
After washing the soreness out of his muscles in the river, Sigurd decides to follow behind Diceros, practicing his wilderness skills and hoping to pick up some tips from watching the druid.
After not coming up with much (I think I need to work on this a little more. Hopefully the druid didn't see me mess up. That'd be embarrassing. Sigurd goes back to what he does best, and beings singing. Clearly the rain hasn't dampened his spirits too much.
The rain can't slacken us today
If it rains all day
If it rains all day
No, the rain can't slacken us today
If it rains all day in the Greenwood!
We'll chart this land, and map it
And map it all
And map it all
Yes, we'll chart this land and map it
And see all there is to see!
1. Ike
2. Arlen
3. Sigurd
4. Rai
5. Brokk'r
6. Diceros
As the party proceeds through a forest clearing, perhaps a bit distracted listening to Sigurd's song, or perhaps a bit distracted by the weather, Ike oozes right into a set bear trap! It really digs into his leg, and damages him for 14!
Just then Tyg-Titter-Tut bounds onto Sigurd's shoulder and squeaks. "It wasn't me, it wasn't me. It was those bigginses!"
The party glances around furtively, and realizes that they are in an entire field of set bear traps! Some are hidden under bits of grass, some are set in the open or around the base of trees. Can you get out of here alive?
SKILL CHALLENGE: A FOREST OF TRAPS
General rules of a skill challenge:
Roll initiative and players act in order. Each player must pick a relevant skill and describe how they use it to accomplish the goal. The GM provides a list of some relevant skills, and other skills are acceptable if the PC can come up with a way for it to be used.
Each player is only allowed one success with a particular skill. If they fail with a skill, they are allowed to try again.
Only players trained in Knowledge can use those skills, but anyone can attempt an untrained physical skill.
Players are told the win, loss, and mid-game punishment (if applicable), and all DCs needed. They are not told the final rewards or consequences.
Spells can be substituted for a skill. Once again, can only cast the same type of spell once. Instead of a skill roll, the caster must make a concentration check (d20+ caster level+ ability modifier) as if they are casting defensively (DC: 15+double spell level).
Player abilities can be substituted for a spell. Instead of a skill role, that players rolls a (20+character level+relevant ability modifier).
Scenario: Walking through the forest, a random player is told to make a reflex save DC 15. Success, they jump up as the trap snaps, missing their leg. Failure, attack rolls and damage per book. The party realizes that have an entered an area covered in bear traps and need to get out with their feet and legs intact.
GM listed skills: Perception, Acrobatics, Disable Device, Survival, Knowledge: Engineering. All DC 15
Win: 12 successful skill checks throughout party.
Mid-game Punishment: Every 3rd failed skill check results in the person who failed the 3rd check getting snapped by a trap (attack roll and damage)
Lose: 12 failures
Pygmy is excused from the challenge. He sits still til the party is clear.
ROUND 1
Arlen
Rai
Brokk'r
Diceros
Ike
Sigurd
Go!
Arlen looks around very carefully, attempting to recall everything he knows of the use of hunting traps.
Rai sees traps everywhere even if they are not so he will stand still and make an elixir of monkey fish giving him a climb speed and into the trees he goes using the trees to move out of the bear trap field and then using knotted rope to help to bring the group from tree to tree and also out of the trap field.
*SHUNK!* ... *SPLAT!*
Ike is suddenly shocked at the sensation that... he can't feel part of himself! And "face" first on the ground! Rolling along in his usual style, he failed to notice himself walk RIGHT into a trap, which snapped him almost clean in half, leaving little more than a pair of puddles on the ground!
That one... really hurt...
Slowly pulling himself together into one single mass again, Ike just started to slush his way along the ground, keeping as low as possible to the floor (almost entirely flat, in fact!) as he snakes tendrils out to try and feel his way through the field of traps...
Evidently, trying to actually touch the bear traps is a bad idea...
Arlen calls out carefully to his companions.
"I could increase the luck of a few of you but I fear that every time I do so, I will risk losing my concentration on avoiding traps. What do you think? Is it worth it? If so, how many of you should I risk giving some magical luck to? It seems Ike could use some help, as he is already in trouble."
Brokk'r attempts to leap over some of the traps, but it doesn't work out very well... that is to say at all.