"Alright everyone, stay behind me!" Rok says when she hears the sound. She dismounts from Kasper but has him follow her toward the noise, providing something of a wall between it and her friends.
"If it's hostile, flank it, I'll shout out any openings if I see them."
Muninn flits up to a nearby tree branch while Freya reluctantly stops picking moon radishes and loads her crossbow.
She directs a simple one word command to Fenrir. "Defend"
Lisl moves casually to a spot next to Roks, calls down a blessing on the party, then casts shield of faith on Roks.
The brush parts to reveal the large form of an Owlbear, like all it's kind it immediately attacks you with mindless bloodthirst.
You have a round then it is on you. Take your actions.
Damnit, still out of range... Freya thinks, hoping for a quick end to the fight via her hex. With the owlbear still out of reach she moves to get a cleaner shot at the beast with her crossbow.
Fenrir for his part, heeds his previous command, keeping himself between Freya and the owlbear.
(bless)
Darian wills his magic out from himself and inspires everyone for combat.
Rok has Kasper move into a more advantageous position, then both of them ready an attack on the owlbear if/when it comes between them.
"What is that thing? Worse than the damned spiders!" Jory shifts position to clear a line of fire.
________
As it rears to look at it's prey Freya's bolt hits it solidly. It drops and charges forward in bloody rage.
Rok's blow skids off the thick pelt of it's shoulders, but Kasper rears and strikes true with both hooves.
Distracted from it's attempt to assault Freya the beast slashes back at Kasper
It's claws scoring a bloody line on the horse shoulders.
Only the one attack as it moved, so the party may now attack.
Darian moves between Rok and Kasper to thrusts his sword at the beast, but his foot gets tangled in moon radish vines causing his attack to be meager at best.
Seeing the immediate danger Rok, Darian, and Kasper are in, Freya commands Fenrir, "Attack!"
Fenrir rushes in and bites at the beast, latching onto the owlbear but an over-zealous attempt to bring the owlbear down, the wolf loses his own footing and falls to the ground.
(bless) - Potential Crit!
(bless)
(bless)
Freya then tries her best to fix her gaze upon the creature, hoping against likely-hood to end the skirmish quickly.
Lisl whispers quietly and reaches out and taps her silver key to Roks' warhammer.
Lurching about as Fenrir mauls it's hindquarters the beast catches Freya's eerie gaze and it's primitive mind is lost. It slumps to the ground asleep.
With Jory, Rok and Kasper to go it's finished. Combat ends with one dead Owlbear.
Moon radishes to gather, what next?
With a series of whistles, Rok gets Kasper to move opposite Fenrir for a more advantageous position but she stays in her spot next to the rest of the group and scores a lucky hit, her hammer crunching into the owlbears side.
"What the hell is this thing anyway?" She shouts as Kasper knocks two hooves into the beast as well.
With the owlbear dead Roksana smiles broadly at her friends and helps collect the rest of the moonradishes.
"That went real well, thing never had a chance! Good job everyone! Anyone ready to get back to Oleg, or are we still good for a little more ranging?" It's clear the Rok wants to keep going but she knows the whole party isn't exactly used to the wilderness or excitement like this.
"We were fortunate...there are no guarantees that we will be so again should we face another." Freya says, warning against overconfidence.
"As to what it was, it is called an owlbear...a simple descriptive name if nothing else. Rather nasty predator common to the area." she says before whistling to call her animal allies back to her side.
"We are fine with continuing to explore a while longer, in fact we might even prefer that idea."
”Yes, let’s finish our circle then head back.”
"Agreed," says Lisl. "Here, Roks, let me assist your steed."
"Always another hill to climb. We seem to have escaped in fighting trim - let us press on!"
You spend the next few days exploring the heavy woods, noting many varieties of trees and wildlife, and a large number of streams that keep the area the green it's named for.
Returning to Oleg's you find he has been very busy in your absence. Sending news of your work to his backers in Restov has increased the stock he carries, and his cash reserves are now much healthier.
You receive the promised reward from the Swordlords for your bandit eradication. 400gp.
Svetlana is overjoyed when you give her the Moon radishes and hands you a purse packed with coin as promised. 250gp.
Moon radish, as well as being noted for it's peppery flavor that adds greatly to any soup it's part of, is also rumored to have aphrodisiac properties.
Pleased with progress so far and honestly earned rewards. Freya sits back with a sly grin on her face wondering which facet of the moon radishes Oleg enjoys the most when Svetlana prepared them.
"Obviously we need to reprovision. How long do we intend to stay until we continue our exploration?"
Darian thanks Oleg and Shetland for their delivery of the reward. He then shows the man the excess goods they had acquired in their initial travels:
At Freya’s question, Darian says, ”Maybe rest a couple days, then head back out?” as he slips a hand onto Isabel’s leg just above her knee.
"Yeah, I'm with Freya, how long until we get back out there and explore more?" Rok says with a smile. "Not that I don't enjoy relaxing every now and then, but we've got orders after all."
She pockets her share of the gold and wonders what she'll do with it while planning their next move.
"Are we still pushing for the river, or should we just keep spiraling out from Oleg's here?" She points on the map to what she's considering and listens for any input. "Also, anyone want my old chain shirt? If not I'm giving it to Oleg to sell."
Darian looks across the table at the map as Roksana outlines her desire for the next leg. He nods and says, ”Looks good to me. That would give us a good lay of the land for the area closest to Oleg’s before we venture out further.”
|
Isabel can't help but giggle when Freya explains to her the properties of moon radishes. "If we hear strange noises tonight at least we know why then!"
Later, pouring over the map with Rok and the others, Isabel nods at Rok's suggestion. "I think that makes sense, it'll give us a good distance all around. If we're doing well by the time we get to here." (She gestures to '3' on the map) "Then we could swing west and loop around to cover this area too." (She indicates 1,2,7,8).
Later she goes to Oleg, flush with new cash, and discusses a possible order with him. "Oleg, do you think you could order me a small crossbow? I used to have one about *this* big that fired small quarrels - could I get one ordered? I can pay for it to be made specially if we need to."
Darian lets Isabel handle her business with Oleg before stepping up to her and saying quietly, ”Can we talk?”
He leads the way to the walkway around the wall, specifically to a quiet corner . She can tell something is bothering him.
”Bell...before I say anything, I want you to know that I am more than aware you are capable of fending for yourself. But,” he hangs his head, ”...seeing you so badly hurt by those frog-men...it was almost too much for me to bear. I thought I’d lost you.”
"Oleg, my good man. My needs are simple. I require a resupply of crossbow bolts. Anything suited to this." Jory slaps his light crossbow on the table.
__________
Oleg happily provides your Crossbow bolts, and any other basic items you may require, your unneeded items are bought from you without question. He is clearly happy to be providing the service the trading post was meant to do.
Any other purchases needed?
"I have a list..."
Lisl purchases a riding horse (so the group can move at a speed of 50' overland and explore faster), a riding saddle, saddlebags, a pair of blankets, a coffee pot, several pounds of kahve, a journal, an inkpen, a pot of ink, a compass, some soap, some cups, feed for her new horse, and a holy text of Abadar.
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”Bell...before I say anything, I want you to know that I am more than aware you are capable of fending for yourself. But,” he hangs his head, ”...seeing you so badly hurt by those frog-men...it was almost too much for me to bear. I thought I’d lost you.”
Isabel does her best to smile at her lover, but he can see that she isn't quite her normal self. She steps forward to wrap him in an embrace and speaks into his chest.
"I know... When that thing jumped me I thought I was going to die. It's only thanks to you and the others that it wasn't as bad as it could have been." She pauses, swallows, and then lets out a choked kind of laugh. "Silly isn't it? I was the one that said we should do this, and now I'm more useless than a debutante before her first ball... I'm good with people Darian, people I can talk to, persuade and convince to do what I want. All these creatures we've been meeting - maybe I'm just not cut out for exploring."
Darian stands and just holds Isabel a moment, running one hand across the back of her head. He looks down on the courtyard of Oleg’s, and says, ”Well, we can’t run from this. We are bound to our task. Even if it weren’t for agreeing to the charter,” he nods his head toward the others of their group, ”we couldn’t abandon them. We can’t leave them short handed. No, we are going to have to try and see this through. Just...” he brushes her golden tresses behind her ear, ”Promise me you’ll let me stand in front of you the next time you want to try and sweet talk someone, alright?” he adds with a smirk.
|
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"Next time they might try and club me certainly!" Isabel smirks back at him. "If it's someone pretty I don't want you to block my view!" She takes his hand as the two walk down from the wall. "You're right Darian we can't just leave them now - we'll get better, I'll get better. Since when did you become so wise?"
”Since I found someone who gives me the best advice,” he replies as they return to the group. ”And what do you mean, someone pretty? Ready to toss me aside already?”
Rok lets the couple wander off and handle their business while looking at the rest and considering Isabel's addition to her plan for the next scouting operation.
"I'm with Isabel, if by the time we reach this point , we're still alright and don't need to stop at Olegs, then looping around here makes sense. So we should pack and prepare as though we're going to be gone that long if we can, but we can turn back for home at any point, let's remember not to push ourselves too hard. We've got a lot of land to cover, it's going to take some time to get through."
She begins packing Kasper and makes sure she's got her bearings right for starting their next loop.
Darian returns to hear Rok’s comment. ”Think we will be okay carrying the supplies on horseback, or should we consider bringing the wagon along? If we make a find, we could use it to haul it back. Or, if possible, we could always hide it and come back for t I suppose...”
After a good rest you wave goodbye to the crew at the trading post, Svetlana looks to be a little sleepy this morning, though still has her familiar smile.
You cross familiar ground on your first day and encounter no troubles. The second day you move into unexplored territory, more rolling plains, low hills, small copses of trees and the many streams of the Stolen lands.
Late in the day you come to a distinctive landmark. An old lightning-struck oak tree stands atop a low hill at this spot—the only tree in a 2-mile radius, in fact. Approached from the north, the tree looks eerily like a claw reaching for the clouds.
Both Freya & Rok notice signs that something has been buried at the base of the tree when you move up the hill to scan the area.
What are you doing now?
Taking notice of the disturbance at the bottom of the tree, Freya asks, "What do we have here?" before beginning to dig to see what exactly has been buried.
With a quick whistle toward Fenrir she adds, "Give us a paw, will ya."
Darian stands watch as the druidess digs where she claimed to see something.
Seeing Freya react faster to the mystery object, Rok waits nearby wondering what she's going to dig up.
"I wonder who goes around burying goods under the trees. Seems like a weird way to hide your stuff."
”Maybe it’s an emergency stash for this Stag Lord’s organization...” Darian says as he watches the horizon.
"Or a grave."
Whatever is buried here was clearly hidden in a hurry, barely 10 minutes digging uncovers a heavy bundle wrapped in an old leather cloak.
As the bundle is pulled out of the hole Fenrir scents the wind and gives a low growl. Freya & Jory also straighten up and catch sight of a group of bandits attempting to sneak up on the party.
Surprise round. Jory, Freya & Fenrir may take an action.
"Fenrir, guard." Freya calmly says as she casts a spell to slow down the approaching bandits.