As Ike and Diceros pick themselves off the ground, they are overcome with naseau and nearly pass out again. At the same time, Sigurd swoons and nearly passes out. All of them begin to fight the nasty poison in their systems.
All three fight through the poison quickly, but remain a little weak, a little slow on your feet, having been affected by the bite.
Rai peers around the area during all of this. He doesn't see a lair. It is likely the centipedes live out in the grass.
Bokken watches Arlen's very strange care of the poisoned party members with a bit of fascination.
"Spells and laughing to care for poison? Wow! Whatta woman!"
Wanting to put his best foot forward with Arlen, ummm..., I mean the entire party, Bokken steps forward and opens up one side of his coat. Vials are sewn into the lining. He hands them out to everyone who is wounded.
"You younguns, and you pretty lady, are lucky to have wandered so near to my hut. Inta the arms of a master potion maker, don't ya know. Here, each take a slug of this stuff. Of my own making!"
Sigurd, Ike, Diceros, and Brokk'r are all offered what he tells you is a cure light wounds potion, and can drink it next time they post, if they would like to.
"I find myself mighty curious what you are all doin' out here. Why don't you come back to my hut for a spell and get some rest? I can't offer a place to sleep, but it is a place away from centipedes."
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Sigurd's head begins to clear a bit after Arlen's healing. He still feels a bit slow. There must have been something in that beast's bite that's staying with me.
As the strange old man approaches the group, Sigurd finds it hard to concentrate on what he's saying. All of a sudden, Sigurd finds himself holding a strange potion in his hand. The old man says that it's a cure potion, but Sigurd is a bit skeptical. How smart is it to drink something a crazy fellow took out of his jacket? Probably not very.
Sigurd sings softly to himself, trying to figure out if this guy's telling the truth or not.
Sigurd looks at the potion. Seems legit.
Sigurd heals for 2 damage.
Seeing that, the others each drink their potions, which are indeed cure light wounds potions.
Dicey:
Ike:
Brokk'r:
"Hmmmm.... looks like a had a couple of duds in that batch. Tell you what, you younguns help me with a job, and I will be able to get you some more. Come, come, my home is this way."
Do you go with him?
Say there Bokke, my name is Rai. Couldn't help noticing all those potions. You a wizard or alchemist perhaps?
Arlen nods, smiling in a brotherly manner at the old fellow, completely oblivious to any other possibilities. "Thank you, kind sir! That would be quite helpful! And thank you for helping out our wounded friends. What could we help you with?"
She nods at Rai's question as well. "Yes. I'm also curious where you developed these talents."
"Hee hee hee! An alchemist I am, a master of potion brewing! A centipede's legs, eyes of toad, all go into the pot. Are you a student of the magical art as well, young elf?"
He leads you--not very far-- to exactly what you would have imagined a crazy potion maker to live in. It is a simple, one room hut, completely cluttered with every sort of alchemical ingredient you could expect, chemical and natural. A barrel of live toads in one corner, dead hawks hanging from a wire in another. Pots bubble on the primitive wood stove and vials are scattered about every flat surface.
"You can see, I make the potions! All are my own recipes, but just as good! Just as good as you can buy from a town! All for sale, all for sale. My speciality is wizarding potions, but I can make a healing potion or two or three. The ones earlier, that was just to keep you alive long enough to turn you into new customers. Free samples."
Bokken nods his head at Arlen's question. "Yes, yes. I did ask for help. I need fangberries. You lot seem to be... randomly walking around dangerous lands for no clear purpose. Find me fangberries, and I will give you potion discounts...25% off for a month! 35% off for you, and the promise of a good time, pretty lady."
Bokken winks at Arlen.
"Why thank you, my good fellow. We shall be sure to keep this in mind and look out for fangberries! What do these berries look like? And how did you lose your finger, if you don't mind me inquiring. These lands are certainly dangerous."
"Heh heh. You saw the ol missing pinky, eh? Yeah, that. Used ta live with ma in south Rostland. She was a potion maker too, dontcha know. Ma and me and me brother, Desna curse him. Bastard cut that offa me the last time he hit my mother. But he took off right after to live way south in the Greenbelt rather than face the guards, so I guess it all worked out well enough. Ol ma died soon after. I decided to move to the Greenbelt, too, an' live a quiet life here. Still close to Oleg's though, so I can buy what I need."
"Oh! The berries. They grow in these really nasty thickets, covered in thorns. Sharp enough to reach out and bite ya! Not really though."
yes Bokken, I am also an alchemist. Perhaps we might extange extract books and trade some recipes as well. You are obviously more advanced then myself in the craft. Rai says and then will try to remember more about fangberries.
As soon as the health poultice is poured on one of Ike's halves, it pushes the collection of slime together enough to start reforming and reshaping himself. The moment he's got enough of himself together, he reforms into a human visage, thanking the alchemist for putting him back together, and gladly following along.
***
Upon arriving at the house, Ike is taken in by the elder man's set up. Being a former town alchemist himself, he's always eager to get a good look at how other folks organize their places. But he seems particularly taken by any shelves that have possible bottles or concoctions on them! Maybe there were other slimes like him! Stuck on their master's shelves watching with learning eyes! He was positively giddy at the prospect of having a friend - a slimy friend - who really understood him!
In fact, the prospect excites him so much that he can't even be bothered to recall much info about what fangberries were or where to find them! "Helloooo? Anyone here? Shake if you can hear me... I'm a friend! I used to be stuck on a bottle shelf too!"
As Rai suggests trading extracts and recipes, Bokken's eye narrow. "What? That's crazy talk. Are you trying to put me out of business? Run me out of town? Why don't you just slit my throat and be done with it?" Bokken's eyes drift over to a cabinet where he has probably hidden his spellbook.
"I think our business is concluded, don't you? If you want, you can set up camp in my backyard."
Ike does his best, but it sadly seems like all the bottles are just bottles. Someday, somehow, maybe Ike will find a friend.
"Yes, yes, friends, friends, we are all friends. Maybe friends with benefits?" He says this last part to Arlen, of course, with a lewd grin on his face.
"Just so you know, I leave my door unlocked all night long. No reason for me to tell you that. No reason!"
He pushes you out and closes the door behind you.
Arlen, such matters completely outside her customary calculations, can't figure out for the life of her why Bokken keeps looking at her weird. She shrugs and heads out back to set up camp. She asks the group as they work "So we're heading back to Oleg's tomorrow, correct? I think my order for scrolls should be in and I believe we can get a reward for dealing with some more bandits!"
CAMPING PHASE
It is only early afternoon, but the party sets up camp near Bokken's hut and plans on taking it easy for the rest of the day. A small stream flows nearby, and the weather is pleasant. What would you like to do?
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That battle still weighs heavily with Sigurd. As he sets up camp, he thinks to himself: I almost fell. I'm glad I would have gone in battle with a song of praise to Gorum on my lips, but still. Death is only one strike away.
He is quieter than normal that evening. His thoughts are far to the west, in the Land of the Linnorm Kings and with his father.
Rai having grown tired of hunting for dinner will try fishing instead!
Rai manages to pull out a decent size rainbow trout from the stream! It isn't huge, but everyone is able to sample several bites each.
Arlen smacks her lips appreciatively. "Excellent work, Rai! Delicious! Where did you learn wilderness tricks like this?"
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Like Sigurd, Diceros is withdrawn. He spends a lot of the day looking out over the plains, feeling the sun warm him. Pygmy lies quietly by his side. This is the first time Diceros feels homesick since leaving the tribe. He knows he can never go back, as a half-elf and as a druid, he is an outcast. Mostly, he misses Mom, and hopes that nothing bad has happened to her on his account. The plan was to leave home so that the tribe elders left her alone, but how can he ever be sure that is what happened if he never goes back to find out?
These are the thoughts one gets when one spends some time unconscious from centipede poison while exploring the one area he felt at home in during this adventure.
Later, he does shift the focus of his spells a bit and reinstates his desire to look for Goodberries.
Survival Check -> Take 10 to gather berries. (+9 survival=auto success)
The rest of the night passes uneventfully. Bokken is sitting at the campfire when the party wakes up. Sigurd, who had the last watch, let him do so but kept one eye on him. But Bokken just sat there for a few hours. He is a strange duck.
All regain 2 HP plus Constitution modifier.
"So you are off, eh? Maybe I will run into you at Oleg's sometime. I like meeting new women... er... I mean, new people. Don't forget- Fangberries."
EXPLORATION PHASE
Pharast 30
The party breaks camp- sluggishly, packs up, and mounts up. The good thing about today is that you are plains territory and the horses move easily and quickly in it. The bad thing about today is that many of you are still recovering from poison, and this is the last thing you feel like doing. You are looking forward to a couple days of relaxing in Oleg's Trading Post.
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As Arlen rides along, she looks at her haggard companions. She can understand what they feel. Her own old bones are still racked by the spider's poison. She decides that they could all use to be cheered up by a song she read in a book of folklore long ago.
"Weeeellllllll it was a bad day in the morning hey! It was a bad day in the morning. The hen pecked me, the roof it leaked, it was a bad day in the morning."
"Weeeellllllll it was a bad day in the noon time hey! It was a bad day in the noon time. The bread burned bad, the barn it stank, it was a bad day in the noon time."
"Weeeellllllll it was a bad day in the evening hey! It was a bad day in the evening. The children fought, the babe he cried, it was a bad day in the evening."
"So I went to bed, the heather was soft, my love was there, his touch was kind, it was a good day in the night time."
Despite the fact that she had only ever read the lyrics in a different language, not heard them sung, Arlen manages to make it sound alright.
Rai looks for fangberries on the way.
No fangberries are in sight as you search and map this region. The day passes quickly thanks to Arlen's song, and what started out as a tough one ends on a high note. The mapping job is done (60 gold), and you end it not far from Oleg's Trading Post.
The post is welcome sight indeed as you gallop up to it.
From the walls, a familiar figure waves and shouts.
"They are back! I told you all! Everyone thought you were dead. Oleg, you owe me 10 gold! Yippee! That's so wizard!"
Arlen nods and waves back at James, totally forgetting that people in the fort might not recognize him/her.
"Let's see if Oleg has our deliveries!"
Rai says with excitement yes I very much am looking forward to my alchemist kit to be sure!
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Sigurd unloads his horse and sets down his traveling gear, glad to be back in the relative safety of Oleg's Trading Post. As the rest of the group sets up the things to sell off, Sigurd goes in search of Oleg, himself.
"Oleg! We're back. We've got a few things you might be interested in. Care to follow me back to the group and see? By the way, do you think you could order me up a brewers kit? My own stores are getting kind of low and I'd like to make more."
"The kid is right, we all thought you were dead. You lot were gone for.... twenty days? No one has ever gone that long. Looks like you lost the old man and picked up an old woman in his place. Couldn't you find a young warrior instead? Heh heh. Anyway, here is all the stuff you ordered. I was about to send it back to Restov."
Arlen: a scroll of peacebond, reduce person, forced quiet, ray of enfeeblement, and summon monster I. Total should be 125 gp, which I deducted from my gold in the spreadsheet. (Arlen is paid up)
Brokk'r : two cure light wounds potions (100 gp, I don't know if you paid, please go back and check...)
Ike: studded leather for pygmy (don't know if you paid)
Rai: alchemist kit (don't know if you paid)
Kesten Garess approaches Sigurd. Tall and handsome and strong, Sigurd gives off the appearance of the party's leader.
"Sir. Bandit activity has been significantly reduced as of late. What did you do out there? The Swordlords of Restov have taken note, and have sent this with a messenger, and their regards."
He hands over a large sack with 400 gold. (Reduce bandit activity Quest fulfilled!)
"Sir, however, there have been developments. "The Stag Lord" name has been spread about in recent weeks. Although from my post here at Oleg's it seems that the Stag Lord is confined to the southern part of the Greenbelt, the Swordlords do not take kindly to a bandit styling himself a "Lord". They want him removed and their own authority returned to this whole region. I have been authorized to tell you that the Swordlords want the Stag Lord, captured, or simply dead. Either one. In return, they will give you significant financial award and produce a charter that will allow you lot..." ...gesturing at the whole party... "....to colonize the Greenbelt with their authority. This is quite an honor, sir. If you do end the Stag Lord, I hope you don't forget those of us here who have assisted you."
Rai pays up for the kit and then will ask if he could have a place to set the alchemist lab up in the fort.
Oleg looks around uncertainly. He certainly doesn't want you blowing up one of his few buildings.
"Just make yourself a table from some scrap lumber and set it up over there in the corner. Don't even think about using my house for that."
There is a new face at the post. A handsome man, about fifty years of age, sits at one of the dining tables talking to Svetlana. He is wearing a pendant of what looks like a little bow and arrow.
Rai will set up shop and take a few days to make some things while the group rests.
Arlen smiles warmly at Kesten. "Indeed! Thank you for your assistance and be assured we will remember it. I do hope we are able to deal with this stag lord fellow."
Arlen wanders over to the strange new man and bows as gracefully as she can. "Hello there, sir. Might I inquire as to whether or not you are a cleric of Erastil? And if so, what might a servant of the God of hunting and farming be doing in these fine lands? There are certainly a number of possible attractions."
She also greets Svetlana "Greetings, Mrs. Leveton. It is I, Arlen. I seem to have undergone a magical transformation of late but I am none the worse for wear. This wouldn't, by any chance, be your lost ring, would it?"