Vosil grimly squelches up the castle stairs from the streets below, where he has - along with the others - been directing the flood clear-up efforts. It is entirely possible that his boots will never be the same again. He privately vows to put a vote on paving the roads at their next session. And by all the gods, a sewer or two wouldn't go amiss, either.
Reaching the Council chambers, he takes down a map from one wall and spreads it across the table. "Here is where we left off our exploration last year." His finger stabs down at the edge of the map . "After that, Edric is right: we should return to Concord-" his finger traces a line across the map "- and explore the land around the city." "We do not want to be caught off-guard by anything that might be lurking nearby."
"After that, we continue our exploration of the western line."
Talia nods and smiles. "An excellent plan! I'll send for a stableboy to get the horses ready."
Riding out of town, Talia marvels at the streets, still thick with mud even after the waters had receded. The townsfolk had rallied quickly; in truth it could have been much worse. She felt a little bad leaving Concord in such a state of duress, but things seemed to be well in hand. One thing was for sure; the town may need a levee, surrounded by as much water as they were.
Asha returns from planting week, just in time for the floods. "Ah well," she says to Naralesh and Dregan, knowing their farming background, "the mud is good for the soil anyway." Then she heads out help with the flood control.
26 Pharast 4708
After three days of hard work to get the work moving from the flood, you set out, leaving the rest to your able Councillors. Its been a while since you've explored the Greenbelt, but soon you fall into your old patterns: surveying, mapping, and recording all you see. Only this time, you aren't doing it for any foreign lord, but for the good of Fairhaven.
As much as Gavriil hated the idea of roughing it in the woods again, he had to admit that it was better than having to slog through the mud in town any longer. The whole flood thing was really a big inconvenience. He had to spend the last three days holed up in an unused room in the castle with nothing to do but drink just to avoid having to do any work with the cleanup crews! And he couldn't even play his lute for fear of being discovered!
Now that fear is lifted. As they slowing cross the country side, mapping it out like old times, Gavriil strums his lute and sings a few lines here and there. Yes, things were just like old times!
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Edric joins in with Gavriil's singing. The paladin has been obviously chafing in Fairhaven over the past weeks and seems delighted to be back in open countryside.
"You know Gav, I didn't see you around much after the floods. Was there some diplomatic business I didn't know about?" He asks, a gleam in his eye.
28 Pharast 4708
You travel south and east of the Tuskwater Lake, following along the eastern shore. The directions from an old fisherman guide you to a hidden opening in the nettles here.
A 3-mile stretch of the Tuskwater shoreline rises up above the water below here, presenting a swath of 40-foot- high cliffs and limiting access to the water below. The opening leads through the nettles and down a cliffside trail to a secluded pool, 50 feet in diameter, at the Tuskwater’s edge.
"Beautiful," Talia says, dismounting her horse and tying Apple to a nearby tree. "Shall we check the pool? Perhaps one day it could be used as the route of a canal..."
Taking her scorpion whip in hand, the Countess begins making her way cautiously down the trail. "Dregan, any idea what made this trail? Is it a game trail, or made by people?"
"People don't normally make passage like this, elves might i guess but my money is on an animal. t might be long dead or moved on and the local people might maintain it. It won't be old Arven's turtle, it would come and go through the stream. Let me have a look around for any recent animal movement."
Vosil looks out at the placid pool, shimmering in the Spring sunshine. "Beautiful place for a quiet bit of fishing..." Or just to get away from the hustle of life.
"I wonder what the locals have to say about this spot?"
Talia clutches her whip tighter, her face growing a bit paler as a terrifying thought occurs to her. "Say... you don't suppose this is Arven the fisherman's secret fishing hole, do you? I'm pretty bad with geography, but this could be the place, right? Be alert..."
"yeah it is, I've been following old Arven's directions for over an hour now, sorry I thought I had said. I'm surprised we found the place, Look here a very large shell has been dragged here, and here is a large round foot. Arven's turtle is a tortoise and a huge one.
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Dregan shugs "I might well be able to sneak up on it, but unlikely to do much good. I suspect our only hope of getting through its shell will be that hammer of yours. Lead on general."
Vosil allows Edric to take the lead, keeping close enough behind that he can bring his whip into play if the beast whose nature is in question attacks.
The path through the nettles drops steeply towards the lake's edge. It curves slightly to the right, and the curvature blocks the path from view above. 20' feet before the small mud spit at the water's edge, the path straightens out. The going is slick, and with the nettles so close, there is nothing grab on to.
The soft earth gives way under Edric's armored feet, and he begins to slide down toward the water. In a cloud of dust and nettles, the paladin manages to arrest his slide just in the pool. Up to his knees in the cold water of the lake, Edric turns back sheepishly.
Vosil adroitly keeps his footing, and looks around to see who else has managed to do the same.
Naralesh makes sure his defensive magics are in place before climbing down carefully with the others.
Just as Vosil turns, he sees Talia's cloak snag on the long nettles. She twists to her left, trying to free herself, but the action takes her feet out from under her! She falls o her rear and begins sliding down the path. Dregan reacts too late, as intent as he is on the pool, and he is taken down by his Countess. The two of them slide in the mud and nettles, crashing into Naralesh! Lightning quick, Vosil leaps over the flailing trio just as they crash into the water with a splash!
Sitting up in the shallow water on the edge of the pool, it's a soggy bunch of leadership looking up at Vosil and Edric. It would be funny, except at that moment, a huge form bursts out of the water behind Edric!
A huge turtle, the size of a man, chomps onto Edric's leg! He feels the bones crack through his greaves as the turtle latches on.
A lifetime of adventuring has taught Vosil - often in lessons of blood - the necessity of staying on one's feet. Here, his past experiences of fighting gnoll raiders amid the sand dunes of Osirion stand him in good stead.
He barely blinks even as the huge beast surges to the surface and grabs Edric. Quick as thought, his whip lashes forwards, aiming for the thing's eyes.
"That looks to me as though it may well be a turtle, Dregan."
Gavriil lets out a laugh as the rest of the council besides Vosil goes tumbling down. So much for high nobility!
Once Gavriil sees the turtle fly out of the water and latch onto Edric, he rushes forward to within striking distance of the beast. As he sloshes through the water he shouts, "Get Edric up! He doesn't have a leg to stand on! Once he is next to the beast, he plunges his rapier towards its head, attempting to distract it enough to let go of Edric!
Dregan pulls himself out of the water and after a glance at Edric grabs his axe from his back.
The tumble was quick and mortifying, given that she took two of her friends with her, but it was quickly out of mind when Talia rose to see the true danger - a giant turtle with its maw wrapped around their general's leg. Cursing, the countess drew her scorpion whip back and hurled it at the beast, determined to add a large shell to her wolf's pelt. Dismayed, the playwright watched her whip bounce off the creature's carapace.
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Edric, now thoroughly distracted from the physical comedy by the much less amusing prospect of a giant carnivorous turtle eating his leg drops his earthbreaker head down into the water. One hand whips his warhammer out from his belt and brings it down in a shattering blow, the other channels Desna's light into his injured leg. Unbalanced by the turtle his blow misses.
Naralesh struggles to his feet, sloshing through the water to get back on shore. Once there, he begins casting a spell.
Old Crackjaw shakes his head, trying and clear his vision from where Vosil scratched his eyes. He tries, and fails, to drag Edric deeper into the water.
Noting his companions' failure to get through the armoured carapace, Vosil guesses that the thing's underside might be an easier target.
Bringing his whip arm back, he swings it in a complicated pattern, which ends with the whip curling around the turtle's body, aiming to flip it over in one elegant move.
Dregan wades out into the deeper water. Focusing he swings his axe at the turtle (certainly not a tortoise).
Vosil's plan immediately apparent to the Countess, Talia wraps her scorpion whip around Crackjaw's great maw and gives it a tug in the opposite direction of Vosil's maneuver, hoping that the beast will fight back by instinctively pulling away - and rolling right into the spymaster's flip.
Gavriil's attack skips harmlessly away from the beast, but that does not stop him from trying again. He rears back his rapier and stabs it forward again.
Gavriil's blade finds purchase in Old Crackjaw's flesh and it pierces deep.
Naralesh completes the final gestures of his magic, calling forth this time not a creature of stone or mud, but manifestation of the water itself. "Incarnatus vethrablim... Blubudlum!" A roiling surge of bubbles rises up behind the turtle, directly across from Edric. The surge of water slams into the turtle's shell with a loud SMACK, but no damage is visible on the enormous reptile.
[dice=Blubudlum's Slam (Power Attack)]1d20+7[/dice]
Blubudlum harries the turtle directly across from Gavriil, watery limbs beating a staccato on the turtle's hard shell but doing no more damage than the lapping waves.
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Bleeding from several wounds, Old Crackjaw continues tugging on Edric, jaws locked and trying drag Edric into deeper water, where he can drown the paladin and devour him away from the stinging gnats with him. His claws are locked down in the sand of the pool, straining to pull the man. Then two whips curl about the great turtle, one around his face, the other around his front left leg. Suddenly, the leg slips, and Old Crackjaw tumbles forward onto his face. The surprise of it causes him to loosen his hold on Edric, and the man falls backwards on his rear into the water, splashing those behind.
The beast surges forward in the water, trying bury Edric under its bulk and drive him into the sand.
Edric manages to roll to his right, narrowly avoiding being crushed. But now he is on his side, in water over his head in his prone state.
Now that the thing is belly-up, Vosil decides that a little more direct aggression is merited. Snapping his whip back, he slams it across the turtle's carapace with a menacing *crack*
Rearing back her whip arm, Talia sends the serrated edge of the whip across Old Crackjaw's shell-line, dragging it across the great turtle's (tortise's?) exposed flesh.
Dregan jumps back and thrushes out with his axe as the turtle hurtles past him.
The blade bounces off the turtle's armoured plates. With the turtle now between Gav and himself it seems thrush back and forward looking at one of them at a time. He waits until it is looking at Gav and brings his axe down hard.
[dice=Blubudlum Slam AoO (Including +4 for Prone)]1d20+7+4[/dice]
If the elemental's attacks seemed ineffective before, that impression was shattered by Blubudlum's next blow. With a roar like a crashing wave, the elemental's watery limbs slammed right into the turtle's rear leg, crushing flesh and bone with the force of a mighty tidal surge.
That shell will stop conventional strikes, but elemental magic would barely be impeded, Naralesh thinks, murmuring words to his snowball incantation. Spray from the thrashing water is pulled to his hand, forming a spherical ball of ice which launches moments later at the enormous reptile.
[dice=Snowball Ranged Touch Attack (Including -4 for Shooting into Melee)]1d20+5-4[/dice]
Naralesh commands the elemental to press the assault, but its strikes do little to harm the animal.
[dice=Blubudlum Slam]1d20+7[/dice]