Cool beans...what's that glittering stuff? Anything living in there? Isn't it rare to find a cave in the wild that isn't home to some animal or monster?"
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"Anyone else feel like they've got little spiders crawlin' all over 'em still? F~+# I hate spiders." Wendell stops for a moment, considers. "Do eat mosquitos though."
When the others notice the cave, the dwarf stops still.
"Aw, hell... Another spider?" He draws his bow and notches an arrow in paranoid preparation.
"Huh? You say somethin', Chett?"
Alfentinius pulls out his wand of magic-missile.
I hope it's not another spider. They definitely give me the willies.
With some hesitant investigation the small cave is revealed to be empty. There is no evidence of any large animals using it as a den, nor any sign of Bandits using it as shelter.
"This could make a good hideout/meeting place? A fallback position in case Oleg's is overrun or if we get separated?"
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Curiosity gets the better of the dwarf and he approaches the cave. "Tha's a good thought, Aleksara. Secure, hidden enough... Ought to have a look around first, though."
Wendell enters the cave cautiously, watching for traps and trap doors with big spiders inside.
"Hey! You gotta see this!" Even in the darkness, Wendell's dwarven eyes glimmer with greed as they gaze on the gold vein. His mind starts roaring down a track faster than his tongue can keep up.
"A gold mine... This right here could fund our empire.. Just think of all the gold that could be down 'n the ground beneath our feet. All that money just waitin' to be dug up outta the ground." Wendell's mouth is spilling words without his knowing. Suddenly he stops, turns to the others.
"Say, uh, why do we hafta kill the bandits again? I was thinkin' maybe they could have some worth, y' know? What's sayin' we give 'em a chance to work off their debts? Hells, I dunno. I just get this feelin' like this mine could be the start of somethin' great. Maybe it's the dwarf in me... My pa always said our kin was greedy, but we're just standin' on piles 'o money, if y' ask me."
The hereditary love for gems and fine minerals leads Wendell true in his deduction. As the rest of the group enters the cave and spends time thoroughly studying it, they come to the same conclusion as the dwarf.
Once the cave is discovered to be harmless on inspection Arim leaves and leans against a rock outside. Keeping an eye out.
Gold is all very well and good, but I'm not here to get rich, it's a means to an end.
"Gold huh? we can always use more of that! However, that's all well and good, but I've heard that such things are hard to dig out and smelt into usable metal. I can do the smelting of course...but the digging? There are some spells that might work... Think Oleg would take gold ore in exchange for payment? Or we could just sell the rights of this location to a miner or prospector: Earn quick cash and less worry that way. Any idea how much may actually be here? How far the vein will go Wendell?"
"What about the kobolds? They dig whole mazes underground, don't they?" Jerrik stood there looking around in awe. A gold mine. Its value could be worth ten kingdoms, or none. Who really knew how deep the riches went. Still, the possibilities where almost endless.
You're able to mark the location accurately on the map and obscure the entrance if you wish. Also if you wish and a hammer is available, you are able to chip away a sample of the ore for further study. Continuing on the rest of this swatch of land holds little interest.
The next day you venture forth in the last direction and find yourselves in a familiar woods, the location of the radish patch and the thylacine pair. Over the course of the day you are able to fully search and charter the area surrounding the radish patch. The zombold corpses are still as you left them and the clearing appears unchanged. Time has seemed to have moved on without a care to the plights of mortals, such is the natural world.
Camping at the third and final location you rise the next day and charter more prairie land, now the stretch to the North of Oleg's. The day was long and the heat continues to maintain without a cloud in the sky. Luckily now you are much closer to the forest and spend about a quarter of your day in the shade of great oaks that slowly drive the treeline deeper into grassland territory.
On the second morning heading out from this third campsite you spend most of the day venturing deeper into the Narlmarches as the forest begins to sporadically sink into small swamps. At times the brush is too dense and you must dismount and lead the horses through by the reigns. During one of these stretches Alfentinius, Arim, and William notice something odd but before they can speak..
"What in the blazing HELLS..."
Alfentinius stops and stares at a trap a few feet from him. He is immediately mindful of the fact that the closing blade would most likely take one of his legs off above the knee.
Um guys... what do we do?
The gnome looks between Jerrik and Wendell looking for direction.
immediately halting his horse, Arim grabs his huge sword and begins to probe the area around him. Once he can find a stout enough stick he uses that instead. He makes his way slowly over to where Jerrik is trapped.
On his way to Jerrik, steel jaws lurch from beneath the foliage and cleave the bottom foot off of Arim's stick, leaving a little over three feet left. He makes it safely to the Ulfen man however.
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Wendell trudges through the swamp unaware of any traps until one snaps shut on Aleksara's horse and it screams, then another snaps shut on Jerrik. For a moment Wendell is frozen. He does not want to take another step for fear of finding a bear trap with his leg, or worse, his horse's.
"F*#%! NOBODY MOVE! Jerrik, hang in there buddy. I'm comin' to you."
Now aware of their presence, Wendell scans the area again for more bear traps. Once he has located a clear path, he drops off his horse and slings the bridle around a small bush.
That gods-damned sonofab#%$* rat bastard, I'll have Jerrik take his ugly f%!&in' head off for this." He curses his way over to his friend, where he finds the bear trap snapped around Jerrik's leg, the metal teeth biting down to the broken bone.
Wendell grabs the jaws of the trap and tries to pry them open, but the metal is slick with mud and he slips off, causing Jerrik more pain. He inspects the trap for a moment to come up with a plan.
"Arim, I need help over here! There's no traps t' your left. Make your way to me... Everyone, these bear traps have a pressure plate in the center that makes the trap bite down when pressed. Use whatever you can: torches, sticks, rocks to activate the traps. Toss somethin' onto the pressure plate, don't poke it - they'll pull your arm out o' their socket when they bite."
Looking to Aleksara and her horse while he speaks, Wendell realizes the horse's lower leg is badly broken in the bear trap. "F$%~ me... Aleksara, pry that trap off if you can, but be careful.. That horse's like to bite or kick you in this state. Take off the leg just below the knee if you have to. Animals are better off with three legs than with a broken leg."
Grimacing at possible having to remove the horses leg, Aleksara tries an idea percolating in her head. Keeping a eye out for more traps, she points point blank at the main spring of the trap, away from the horse's leg and target's it with her acid-splash cantrip. Firing and firing at it till it begins to eat away the spring and frees the horse gently....hopefully!
Aleksara is able to efficiently degrade the spring over a minute of acid wash. It clanks as it falls apart and the energy is released. The horse stumbles and lays down, luckily not onto another trap.
"Wendell! He's free, but I don't know abut his leg..."
Making sure the horse is resting but immobile, Aleksara immediately starts gathering and throwing rocks at any traps, or suspected traps she can see!
"Wendell! He's free, but I don't know abut his leg..."
Making sure the horse is resting but immobile, Aleksara immediately starts gathering and throwing rocks at any traps, or suspected traps she can see!
Arim's world fades to tones of grey as he's sets his strength against the trap, calling the rage of his blood as he does so.
Aleksara moves carefully to help Wendell and Arim with Jerrick.
Aleksara's flurry of rock tossing does trigger a random trap off beyond some trees, but for the most part comes up unsuccessful.
As Arim strains against the spring Aleksara is able to weaken it enough that the device falls apart in the Bloodrager's hands.
"ROOOOAAAARRRR!!!!!'
Jerrik unleashed a guttural, almost feral roar as the trap clamps down on his leg, practically snapping the bone in two and tearing tendons. It takes all of his strength to remain standing in place. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, he tries to remain as still as possible yet he can't stop his body from trembling. Each second seems like an eternity. He can't feel the blood running down his leg over the pain reverberating through his body. He does not notice anything beyond the pain. He is not aware of those around him rushing to his aid. All he knows that he must not allow his body to move, not even an inch.
His attention turns inward and to a different time in his life. The pain slowly begins to ebb as the scene in front of him begins to fade from view. He suddenly finds himself standing atop a castle crenelation, looking down into the courtyard. He stands next to his father and watches as his mother walks along with one of his half-sisters. Men work in the stables, shoeing horses and brushing their coats while women walk along carrying baskets with various fruits and breads to the kitchens. Jerrik raised his hand and waved down to his mother. His mouth opened to call out to her, but before any sound could emanate from his throat, he was shunted back to reality as the trap around his leg released its grip and he collapsed to the ground.
Panting as colour returns to his world Arim looks down at Jerrik
"Wendell, you recognize the hand that set these? You think we can find them? now."
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Wendell puts his hand on Jerrik's shoulder. "That trap f**%ed you up good. Here, let me fix it."
The dwarf casts Create Water on Jerrik's leg, and once it's clean he casts Cure Light Wounds.
Once his friend is healed, Wendell trains his eye on the ground and looks for tracks.
"Hells, I don't even know where to start. Not with all our tracks messin' up the place. Wetlands have a way of eatin' the past."
He scans around, angered by all the traps that will surely snare and waste many animals if left alone. A good trapper respects the animals he hunts, and this is far from respect.
"I can't just leave these traps lyin' about. There's right ways to trap, an' then there's this. Anything gets trapped up here is goin' t' spoil an' rot before they're harvested. It ain't right. We ought to disable 'em, take with us what we can an' wreck the rest. We'll find the Sonofab#+~~ that did this, but if we don't take care of 'em now it'll just happen to someone else."
Kneeling down and rubbing his shin, Jerrik spoke up. "We're not leaving them, not one. We take them all, broken or intact. Perhaps we can use them in defense of Oleg's. How's your horse?" Jerrik turned to ask Aleksara.
Aleksra grimaces.
"Lame and in pain, but quiet. 'Lucky' is a tough old bird. I won't cut off his leg unless we have no other choice."
At that Aleksara grabs her sword's hilt in frustration. Obviously she wishes she could hit something in her frustration.
Arim is not happy to leave the traps overnight but differs to Wendel as the expert.
"I'd sooner take the risk and get them all. Now."
Alfentinius watches his friends deal with the calamity of the traps, feeling like he would be little gel in this. I'm just glad none of them got Billy. Kind of scary huh?
"Indeed my friend. I can't remember the last time I felt that much pain. I'm glad you did not have to experience that either."
Jerrik limped over to Lucky and slowly began patting the horse. His own leg was fully healed thanks to Wendell's magic but mentally the scar remained. It was almost a subconscious effect of the pain. He continued to pet the horse as he prayed quietly for the horse's pain to ease.
The horse's leg heals though it does not trust it and limbs everywhere. Magic is quite confounding to animals, the creature will need to take it's time and become comfortable again, slowly testing the leg. Spending the rest of the day searching for and triggering bear traps safely with a rock or stick, you head back to the campsite for well deserved rest.
The next day is spent much the same, in the morning you cover the remaining ground in this section of the charter and clean out the last few signs of poaching as you head back. In total you have scrounged up two broken traps and 23 functional ones worth 2gp each.
There is one last section circled on your map, planned out over a week ago when you started this Grand Tour of the Stolen Lands immediate to Oleg's Trading Post. Throughout the day you trudge through the Narlmarshes and survey the forest, which itself is uneventful and boring. Though at some point during the day, in no particular order, each of you notice or experience something...
"What the..."
Aleksara, tries to think of any bit of history or lore that might explain what happened.
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Wendell shakes his head, frustrated by Chett's single-mindedness.
"It's always about the ladies for you, ain't it Chett? Whaddya think I'm keepin' tiger hussies in my back pocket? And what, y' don't think I'd like to find some nice single miss for me out here in the nothin'? Y'know damn well there ain't many tigers left in these parts, but trust me old friend, when I find one I won't keep 'er for myself."
A few moments later something strikes Wendell as odd. He's always talking with Chett, but for some reason his voice sounded different back there. And did his mouth move when he spoke?
"Hmph..." He stares suspiciously at his truest friend.
You readily remember stories of harmless mischief in the Stolen Lands. The Lizardfolk had many different opinions on the matter; some said it was demons, some spirits, some fey creatures, and still some insisted on other forms of magic. Regardless you found one common detail throughout these tales as you listened while growing up, the people who were kind fared better than those who lost their temper.
Later that evening, Aleksara talks to the group after dinner is done. Her hands rests nervously on her sword's hilt.
"Hey guys...That..? Well you know how it got weird back there? In the marsh and trees? I may have something...I don't know. Rumors? Lore? Fairy tales?"
Wiping her forehead with the back of her hand, Aleksara scrunches up her face before she goes on:
"The Lizardfolk I lived with used to say..things..about this area. Spirits of Mischief or something. Some even called them 'Demons.' In the end, whatever it...they?...are, the kinder you were to the pranks, the less they bothered you. Or some such. I don't know if it is relevant or not. What do you all think?"
Arim keeps to himself what he has seen until the group are together once more.
Little guy has to have his entertainment on the road I guess
"Slow day eh Alfentinius, nice show by the way."
When Aleksara speaks up Arim looks to Alf.
or maybe not
At lunch Alfentinius seems to be annoyed by nothing in particular and spends the rest of the days staring off into the woods as if looking for something.
When Arim address the gnome he looks confusedly at the taller man. What show? What did you see Arim?
In response to Aleksara's comments Alfentinius repeats her words thoughtfully to himself ... Spirits of Mischief?
"Did uh...did someone write on my horse? Jasper? You okay boy?" Jerrik was obviously confused by what was happening. Pranks were not something he was used to even among his extended family. As the questions and stories began to swirl, Jerrik stood silent, listening and watching. Clearly flustered by the lack of an obvious aggressor, Jerrik finally spoke up again.
"So what do we do if we can't see...whatever it is?"
Scrunching up her face Aleksara acts like the words are souring her words.
"Fey? Nothing for now. That was annoying, but not dangerous really. For now, let's mark the area as a Fey home on the maps and finish up our sweep of the area. If we want to try and contact these fey in the future, we can surely try. We really should get back to Oleg's soon and check in. We also need to decide what we want to do with the 'mine' we found too."