Kevros will still bring up the rear if the other wardens go inside.
Angeus in and chuckles along with pleasantries.
Tristan nods.
"Greetings again. How have you been these past weeks."
Angeus led the group into the gnome's house with Quince, Tristan, and Kevros at the end. Katrina stayed outside to watch the horses since it appears no one else was brought along.
The gnome laughs with Angeus after embracing her, he then says to her, "Simply wonderful, wonderful."
"How have I been? Humph! There have been so many tall folk running around it has been terrible on my work, simply terrible!" He responds to Tristan as his mood changes quickly to upset and sour.
Quince nods as he listens along. When the gnome turns on Tristan Quince use it as an opportunity in the conversation away from small talk and toward their goal. "Have folk bothered you? That is unfortunate. If you have been in any way been treated unjustly we look into the matter. It is our hope that the growth and prosperity of this region is enjoyed by all its residents. More people near and around maybe unavoidable but I can see cleaver folk turn that to advantage and in your case a good deal of profit." He smiles, "Even if your work is your true passion, profit can be leveraged into security and seclusion."
Seeing that the Gnome's smile had lesson when he follow Angeus in with the others and Katrina is the only one guarding the horses, Kevros slips out the door to reduce the stress on the Gnome and give them more room for diplomacy after excusing himself, "Greetings Kind Sir, I see it is becoming a little too comfortable in here. I will step outside and assist Katrina with the horses."
Tristan remains quiet letting Quince handle the situation.
The gnome gives Quince a straight face and responds simply, "Yes... ugh... wait, you mean to mine my gold?!? Stop with all your fancy wordplay what is it you want?"
Quince straightens and answers frankly, "Its your gold. It does you little good in the ground. We want to see a proper mine opened and the possibility for free folk to earn an honest living. They do the work as owner of the land you get a cut everyone wins."
After Kev exit's the Gnome's home, he walks over to Katrina and smiles, "The Gnome didn't like too many guests in his house so I decided to help you with the horses my love." He continues, "If I hear any battle or anything going south in the home, I will run in. Until then, I am out here with you." At which time, he then winks.
But may be too distracted to detect anything on the outside?
"But I like the gold where it is and how it lays, I can bring light to it and it all dazzles. Let alone I don't want people all over my land." The gnome says with passion.
Outside Katrina smiles as Kev approaches her, "Oh yeah, and what shall we do with this free time that we have?"
Tristan waits still allowing the King and Queen to come to a diplomatic solution here.
Kev comes in for a passionate kiss on Katrina, then stops, smiles, and winks at her, "Although other things come to mind, we should watch the horses and make sure nothing uninvited isn't fooled by the Gnome's illusion."
"But I like the gold where it is and how it lays, I can bring light to it and it all dazzles. Let alone I don't want people all over my land." The gnome says with passion.
Angeus looks up from where she'd been looking at one of the gnome's many books strewn across a nearby desk, "That sounds really pretty! Can you show us? "
Quince listens politely trying to not show his disappointment with the progress. He brightens at Angeus' suggestion. "Yes that would be very nice."
"Oh... are you sure about that?" She asks as she tugs on her dress a bit, revealing more of her breast and sucking lightly on her other hand's forefinger.
The gnome takes the distraction and leads the trio out the door and into the mine. There he casts a spell which produces several lights that play about and illuminate the gold veins. He sings a little ditty as the lights move around.
Quince looks about enjoying the music and lights. "Beautiful. Truly." He looks to Angeus smiles. "You honor us with such a performance. Thank you."
Angeus claps her hands with delight at the gnome's creative display, dancing among the colored lights, raising her hands and adding her own to the mix...
...she shares the look with Quince, smiling back, then turns to the Gnome, smiling "That's really beautiful. " then frowns , obviously thinking.
She paces back and forth for a moment before stopping and asking, "Do you do this with just this gold that's visible in your tunnel?" she asks.
OUTSIDE
Kev turns bashful red as Katrina returns the tease with her seductive anime pose, he then embraces Katrina, passionately kisses her again, "You're bad, if only we were at home?", then gently releases her. We must guard the horses and the meeting. He then takes a spot to watch the premise and horses better but continues to flirt with Katrina.
She returns the kiss with equal passion then responds with a smile and a whisper, ”If only...” She tends to the horses and continues to eye Kev every few minutes continuing to flirt with him.
The gnome looks at Angeus with surprise in his face, ”You know you have a point there. With your labor and my cut I could have a entertaining hall lined with refined gold to let the lights shine and play even better. You have persuaded me. Now what we discuss now?” Getting back to his serious face as he finishes his statements.
"That makes us happy and will work out well for all of us. You will also have our protection if so needed."
Tristan smiles as the deal seems to be done.
With only a few minor details to remain after a few minutes the group heads out of the gnomes rooms. Soon back to your horses and to see what is next on the agenda.
As everyone begins to ready their horses, she offers up a choice, "I think it would be best if we go:
Into the woods due West to finish exploring the heart of the forest.
Or go East and survey the edge of our realm heading South?
My vote would be into the heart of the forest, though I have only prayed with Erastil, not attempted to gain his counsel through an Augury."
"I think heart of the forest make the most sense. To know what is closer."
Quince turns to Angeus, "You handled that well."
"Excuse me your majesty's but to keep stability amongst the kingdom and provide for its growing population we need to explore all the grasslands first so they can be made ready to farm. This won't take long then I fully support going and exploring the woods."
Transitioning from flirting with the hint of continuing to business, "So I take it the meeting of the Gnome went well? Guarding the horses went well too." Kevros winks to Katrina and then mounts his horse, I agree with Warden Warden or Grand Warden Tristan, nothing worse than hungry civilians. Let us secure more farmland then move back to exploring the woods as suggested by Katrina. Before that, how are we doing on providing enough water?
Quince shrugs,"Food is good." Quince chuckles at the happy couple. "Hope watching the horses wasn't too intense. You look flushed Kev."
Kev smiles, "It's surely the result of the radiant beauty from my love." Kev flirts with Katrina then looks at Quince, "You guys had a meal with our new business partner and didn't bring us any?" This time Kev chuckles.
"It's east then. We can check the plains out and circle back home to regroup and take care of business for next month."
She simply giggles as she looks at Kev shyly, then mounts up and ready to head out.
The group travels at a pretty good speed over the plains in order to get to the unexplored lands. Spreading out to get a more clear reading of the land you ride...
Once done with the Bargast they finish exploring 51 finding nothing of note.
Next day exploring 50:
tatzlwyrms
kobolds
Next day exploring 5:
pg 27-29, no extra encounters, bandits gone
Next day exploring 49:
nothing of note
Next day exploring 30:
F. The lonely Barrow (Mod 2)
Next day exploring 7:
E. On the Prowl (Mod 2)
Katrina doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary and continues 60 feet along on the plains.
Even through the riding and the occasional flirt with Katrina, Kevros' Elven heritage does not let him down and notices something amiss. He points his crossbow at the canine creature but does not fire, and shouts, "HOLD, contact with canine creature near Angeus! ... The creature is stating that Angeus is its friend?! ... ANGEUS?!" Kevros thinks that maybe the friend interaction is some sort of spell.
However, Angeus body position makes it hard for Kevros to detect a spell was cast of any sort.
Kevros no longer aims the crossbow at the creature but is still at the ready and will shoot if the creature makes an obvious physical or spell attack.
Angeus so beautiful . . . Is that a were . . .
Quince turns to Kevros then back to the creature and Angeus.
Tristan looks on seeing and hearing the beast. Not recognizing it and hearing it try and convince Angeous to be friends he assumes it's hostile.
"Anyone know what that is?"
Tristan uses the surprise round to ride forward drawing his sword.
"You can talk, I heard you. Are you friend or enemy?
Angeus freezes as she makes her mount come to a screaming halt. Quince and Katrina both continue on a trot, 60 feet forward rather unaware of the developing situation. Tristan turns his horse toward the beast while drawing his blade as Kevros stops and gets ready to shoot the thing.
Angeus is still the closest person to the thing and it charges forward and leaps up to grab her leg with its mouth.
Quince looks back having failed to discern the danger. He stops and turns at the sound of Tristan's greeting of someone on the road. He glances over to Katrina, "That seems less than friendly. I mean random stranger." He tenses up as realization strikes, [b]"A furry wolfin stranger trying to lure one of us out." He awkwardly turns Scram around.
As Quince finishes his turnabout his face blanches with concern. He makes a horse like sound and Scram surges forward in an intense rush. The thunder of hooves fails to cover a voice calling out in celestial each word growing harsher as the human blur grows into a foxlike blur.
Angeus fends off the canine-creature with a boot to the face, and then tries to dismount so she can move about easier. She has a bit of a problem getting a boot out of one of her stirrups, but finally slides off of Serria's rump, giving the horse a slap so she trots out of the action.
Now on the ground, her slim form assumes a classic fencing pose and Angeus's rapier whips through the air seeking a vulnerable spot on the creature's hide...
"Hold on Angeus, we are coming!"
Kevros looks left and right, then walks Hala forward to close the distance but needs to walk since he is not trained in Mounted Archery.
Round 1
Quince rides towards the fight as does Tristan and Katrina. Kevros gets off two shots, the first one literally cuts through the beast as the second one hits it when it blinks away. It seems to be blinking in and out of reality at random. The beast does tear a chunk out of Angeus's leg. The beast disappears as Angeus strikes at it missing it.
Kev miss chance, high to hit 50%
Kev miss chance, high to hit 50%
45-16=29
beast miss chance, high to hit 20%
Angeus miss chance, high to hit 50%
--Init--
canine beast 25
Katrina 17 -
Tristan 18
Angeus 15
Quince 11
Kevros 10
beast miss chance, high to hit 20%
beast miss chance, high to hit 20%
beast miss chance, high to hit 20%
Quince 20 ft. from Angeus
Katrina 30 ft. from Angeus
Tristan 40 ft. from Angeus
The beast mauls Angeus but she still stands but there is a lot of blood.
beast miss chance, high to hit 20% dice]1d100[/dice]
beast miss chance, high to hit 20% dice]1d100[/dice]
beast miss chance, high to hit 20% dice]1d100[/dice]
dice=bite]1d20+10[/dice] dice=damage]1d6+4[/dice]
dice=claw]1d20+10[/dice] dice=damage]1d4+4[/dice]
dice=claw]1d20+10[/dice] dice=damage]1d4+4[/dice]
dice=claw confirm crit]1d20+10[/dice] dice=damage]1d4+4[/dice]
Round 1
Katrina rushes her horse in having it run. Then is able to quickly dismount, , she pulls out her bow and takes a shot at the beast.
Round 2
She takes another shot yelling, "Withdraw Angeus we will get it!" As this shot hits the beast in the side.
ROUND 2
With one hand to control his mount while the other hand holds the crossbow, Kevros rushes his horse in to be on line with Katrina but 10' apart, and quickly dismounts ...
As he dismounts, he takes aim and fires ...
Round 2
Tristan should be able to charge it this round if he couldn't round 1. He would have used a move action in Round 1 to study the creature as well.
29-13=16-10=6
Tristan slams his longsword into the thick hide of the beast cleaving a massive wound into its side as blood sprays from the wound. Kevros' arrow whizzes through where the beast was as it blinks away. Though Katrina's arrow luckily strikes it mark before it can get away. Angeus stays in the fight and sticks the beast dropping it.
Round 3
The beast slumps to the ground and in its death throes howls. An invisible cone of despair causes great sadness in Tristan, Angeus, and Quince.
"Is everyone ok." Quince dismounts and looks over tha fallen creature.