Natalya wakes the next morning, looking...different. You're not sure exactly what has changed, but her near death experience with the Owlbear appears to have left its mark. She appears eager to move on in the search for medicinal fruit.
After the events of the day, Gareth spends the evening pouring over his spellbook and occasionally muttering excitedly to himself. Anyone observing him would have noticed him absently gesturing with his hands while smiling broadly out of a sense of satisfaction. When the light dimmed too much for reading he put away his book and practiced his swordplay with anyone willing to while away the last hours before full darkness.
In the morning he breakfasts with the others and readies his horse. His grin disappears when he realizes that he still has not named the mare. "Chestnut? No. What kind of adventuring man rides a horse named "Chestnut"? Valkus would laugh himself sore if he heard that.
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The nextday you head southeast in to the hills of the Kamelands. You spend the day exploring the area when near midday you discover a long, thin valley between two low hills. Much of the thorny thicket is draped in
the white gossamer silk of spider webs. The best of the berries lie at the heart of the thicket.
Lorald doubts the horses would do well in there, so he dismounts. Also readies his crossbow for anything that could be hiding among the bushes or some beast that claims the area as it's own.
"Can anyone make it to the berries without falling prey to the webs? I can cover anyone who goes from here."
"I once heard a story of a group of dwarves that got trapped in the woods by spiders...(they were rescued by a halfling friend of theirs)"
"Perhaps we can lure the spiders out of their webs and take away their advantage there. If we just set the webs alight then the fire would destroy the berries and possibly spread through the forest. I have no idea how we could do it, though."
Rather than rush into melee with venomous foes, Gareth readies his crossbow and looks for any possible cover.
The last spider I met didn't fare too well Natalya smiles and pats her greatclub, remembering the crack of the trapdoor-spider's shell breaking under her blow.
For lack of other suggestion I'll go scout it out
Drawing her sword she edges forward, as quietly as she can, to see if she can reach the bushes and gather some berries.
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Getting to the bushes is no problem. In fact you can walk, or creep if you prefer, right up to the edge of the bushes and start plucking handfuls of berries. It's just that these berries are small, kind of stunted. They're a bit on the yellow side. You look deeper into the thicket and see beautiful, juicy, mouth-wateringly brilliant red berries. Those are the money berries. Sadly they are out of reach.
Heading into the thicket is a process best done slowly, you can tell from the sharpness of the thorns and the thickness of the brambles that anyone making more than a move-equivalent actions while inside the thicket is going to be losing some blood.
Natalya likes blood, she also very much likes her own blood (or what passes for it) remaining in her body. She frowns at the berries for being so entrenched in the brambles.
She sidles in, quiet-like, and begins loading a sack with the yummy berries, paying attention around her for any rustling that might indicate a predator lurking.
Gareth draws close to Natalya but waits outside the thorns in a covering position. He stays alert in order to be able to warn her of threats and to react to them himself.
Perception
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By moving slowly Natalya is able to work her way into the thicket without getting hurt. As the bushes begin to rustle from her passage spiders, the size of a man't thumb with serrated chelicerae, begin to swarm over the bushes.
The whole thing looks something like this.
I realize the spiders are not super visible on this map. I'll see if i can find some more colourful ones.
Feel free to place yourselves as appropriate.
Initiative
Group A: Everyone but Natalya
Spider swarm
Natalya.
"Natalya, look out!" Gareth yells despite the obvious fact that she probably saw them before he did. Without losing a moment, he grabs into the pouch at his belt and when he removes his hand, his fingers shine with some fatty covering that reflect the sunlight as he gestures. He speaks strongly but in a monotone voice to accompany the movement of his hands. In response, the briars glisten between Natalya and the army of spiders.
Grease spell. Between Natalya and the swarm.
Lorald having been prepared, fires his crossbow at the collecting spiders. He doubted his bolts would do much to so many tiny vermin but perhaps it would disperse them before they swarmed.
Marlani will watch the action this turn.
Upon seeing the little arachnids crawl from their hideyholes and assemble in to a Natalya-munching shape, she swears under her breath.
She glances at her sword then back to the swarm and the swearing redoubles in volume and vehemence.
परमेश्वरको, आफ्नो क्रलिंग खुट्टा र घृणित पोस्तीन शरीर आफ्नो भयानक साना आँखा ले!
Gods take your horrid little eyes, your crawling legs and disgusting furry bodies!
That doesn't look good! Thinking fast, Valkus casts the only spell he can think of that might help. A ring of fire springs up around Natalya, red and orange flames lapping at the bushes and the ground.
Seeing no easy option, retreating from the spiders being fraught with navigating the thorny brush, and missles seemingly useless, Natalya drops her sword and draws her trusty club, assuming a defensive posture so the moment the swarm nears her she can smash it.
She trusts to her armor to stop the thorns if they end up trying to impede her actions.
He had to remember to invest into some special bolts after this. It seemed his weapon was useless, which meant he could do nothing more at this point.
"My attacks don't have any effect. We are here for the berries not to fight vermin. Take a whole bush from the roots if you have to and retreat."
He cursed at being without, he should have prepared for something like this. A few flask of acid and fire, or even those costly alchemist bolts he saw back in the specialized weapons store in Brevoy. Yet here he was with nothing.
Seeing the flames flicker in to existence right in front of her,Natalya instinctively backs away without realizing there is no heat.
Nicely done Valkus, I didn't know you had it in you! Hopefully that will scare them off before too many bushes are burned
The flames caught Gareth by surprise as well. "Yes indeed, Valkus. Good work! There are no end to your tricks."
Turning serious Gareth announces loudly for the group to hear "I don't think I have any means to hurt the mass of spiders, unless we want to lure them out onto the grass and beat them with lit torches."
"Perhaps we can smoke them out." Turning to Aran he asks "Are there plants in this area that smoke a great deal and give off an unpleasant smell when they are burned? If so, we can gather some and light them just to where they smolder but not enough to ignite the bushes. They we can hold them out before us and gather berries from the bushes."
Natalya frowns, staring at her blade lying in the bushes some 20 feet away and eyeing the last known location of the spiders suspiciously. At Gareth's words she smiles.
Now there's a good idea! Now I remember someone mentioning a plant like that to me, now what did it look like?...
Possibly something like those yellow budded shrubs over there might work, I don't remember them being mentioned as spider-repelling exactly, but I think I recall the plant being used as unguent in part of a ceremony designed to deter rodents and other pests from entering a dwelling...it *might* be worth a try...
She'll move over to the plant in question, cut some leaves and wrap them around one side of a torch, before lighting it and wafting it in the general direction of the bushes. After a minute she'll venture in to retrieve her sword, and all being well will move slightly deeper towards the motherlode of berries, sack in hand.
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You locate some suitable flora, anything still green will function. You set up a bonfire and begin to fan the smoke into the thicket. As a result you are able to wade into the thorns and slowly and carefully harvest a substantial amount of bladeberries.
You now have more than enough to take back to Bokken.
You spend the rest of the day exploring the hex and subsequently camp without issue. Which direction to go in the next day?
Well these berries will keep for a while, no need to rush straight back to Bokken. Let's head deeper in to the forest and keep mapping!
Natalya confidently leads the group westwards.
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Heading west, into the forest, as you explore you hear a series of quick, yipping barks come from an open pit in a clearing. As you approach you find a pit, once covered by a layer of branches, which has claimed an odd creature.
Without getting too close you see that the animal, which is the size of a dog but the slender build of a cat, heavy whiskers, and dark stripes down its back, is pacing the floor of the 10-foot-square pit while its
long tail flips about, smacking the ground as it looks up towards you. It
yips and bays in a complex pattern, offering warning to anything that may get close to the 20-foot-deep pit.
"I have never seen such a creature. Do any of you know what it is?"
"Obviously someone or something has been hunting here, something intelligent enough to set traps."
Lorald dismounts and readies his crossbow at the creature.
"I think a more pressing concern is our actions. Do we leave it or kill it? I would not recommend attempting to let it out."
Natalya's interest is very definitely piqued by the animal, never having seen its like before. She quietly speaks a prayer to the great outdoors, then opens her mouth and to your astonishment utters forth a stream of yips and growls.
من نمی دانم اگر شما مرا درک است، اما اگر شما انجام دهید، من می تواند به شما کمک کند. آیا شما می خواهید کمک کند؟
Marlani will consider the creature:
"We can always wait to see what comes to check the trap."
"Perhaps not. I can't help but remember the last time we waited all day for something to show up."
Valkus, too, considers the strange creature.
"Besides, whatever it is, it doesn't look terribly friendly."
Well whatever it is, it doesn't speak wolf muses Natalya nor does it seem particularly interested in parlay. This leaves Lorald's suggestions as the viable choices. I'd venture to say leaving it is killing it, only slower through thirst or starvation. We may as well put it out of its misery. I'll do it if no one else has any other suggestions.
She begins nocking an arrow to her bow and walking towards the pit to take aim, but will stop if someone else either moves to do the same or has an alternate solution.
Marlani will use Detect Magic on the animal.
She will also try addressing it: "Can you understand me? Sit down if you know what I am saying."
"Natalya; it hasn't done anything wrong, I think we should try and free it."
Is there a branch of something around we can stick into the hole to let the animal climb out?
"If it gets out it will likely attack us. One animal dying is not of significance in the wild."
To Natalya and Aran he asks "Can either of you find the tracks of whoever dug this trap?"
"I'm not comfortable killing a poor creature in a hole; I think if everyone stands back and we let it go on it's way it should be fine."
Marlani will throw some food down to the animal.
Her handle animal is untrained, but she'll try and be nice to it regardless;
"Wolves hunt in packs, so it is not a true wolf, unless it is sick or injured and unable to run with its pack. I am more curious about who or what dug this pit and if there are others for us to be wary of."
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There are tree branches everywhere, you are in a forest hex. Finding a suitable one is merely an issue of taking a few minutes to look.
Provided you throw meat down the creature stops and sniffs it for a moment before resuming it's threatening posturing. It certainly doesn't give up, it refuses to acknowledge you guys have the upper hand on it.
Alright Marlani, I will defer to your more humane sentiments she smiles slightly.
She jogs off in to the surrounding woods to find something suitable, and comes back a few minutes later. Giving the branch to Marlani, she takes up her bow and lays a hand on the arrows in their quiver. Noticing Marlani watching she notes
I respect your wishes, but I remain defensive of my friends with an unknown animal, I hope you understand. The arrows won't fly from my quiver if the animal's claws remain in its paws
Without saying anything more, Gareth nocks a bolt into his crossbow and holds it ready in case the beast turns on them.
Just before Marlani puts the branch into the pit he asks "What if this pit is being watched by the trapper? Has anyone scouted the area around us?" As he speaks he looks intently all about the pit and the surrounding area.
Perception