Razaniel dismounts as Koldur hails the cottage owner, and grabs his bow, maintaining watch on their surroundings.
Xara also dismounts, smooths her clothing, tightens her hair, and steps up next to Koldur, ready to add her voice to the others.
Oscar will approach the cottage his aim is to politely knock on the door
Hello there neighbors, is anyone home? he ask politely
There is no response to your calls or your knocking at the door. Though as Oscar knocks he can see the door is not locked and wiggles with the knock.
Do you wish to open the door?
I am coming in don't be Alarmed Oscar will open the door his left hand holding his weapon is against the wall so that it isn't seen from the inside
Koldur follows Oscar in, axes in hand.
Brother Henric continues making his way round the cabin bow in hand, but no arrow nocked. hearing his fellows let out there calls he likewise calls out. Hello, we are travelers come for a bit of trade or parlay.
Oscar and Koldur as you go into the cottage you can see the place is jam packed with things. The smell of drying and dried herbs assaults your noses immensely. Fort DC 5 to not sneeze. There is an alchemy lab set up near a small fire with a cauldron over the fire. The glass instruments are bubbling with liquids as the cauldron is as well. You don't think you see anyone in the cottage but there are many signs someone has been here recently.
well no one is home, but is we need potion and herbal stuff this is the place. he says walking out
Koldur looks at what seems to be a herbalist home.
Looking around, the person must still be around.
"Strange that there be noone home, perhaps this person, a herbalist by the looks of it, could be out gathering or something."
"Should we wait for his or her return?" - Razaniel comments peering into the cottage from the outside - "Maybe we can gather information regarding the area?"
"There are tracks around here. Maybe several days old. Do we look for this owner? It could be aid is needed and since we are the closest, aid is what we can give. Should there not be a need, at least we would have made ourselves known to this occupant and gained ourselves a possible ally."
Looking around somemore, he stands and waits for the others to respond outside.
Brother Henric circles the cabin obviously finding nothing of note. Let us see what we can learn old friend. You are right we may make a friend out of this person, and if not know what troubles may lie in this region. Henric looks over to Koldur have you got their trail?
Works for me Koldur
Koldur nods, turns and tries his best to look for tracks. Squinting as he attempts to look for this supposed herbalist.
Oscar is right behind him assiting in the search.
"Agreed Master Koldur" - Razaniel pipes in - "Let us search the surrounding areas, and make our presence known"
Xara keeps Reafan near the ground and with the group, rather than alarm this person when they find him/her with a fly-over.
Survival:
She adds her meagre tracking skills to aid the group effort.
The group move out like a pack. Searching for the owner of the cottage and also continuing their exploring.
In a hour or so you come upon a strange looking old man. He has a plain brown woolen robe with simple clothes on underneath. He is collecting herbs and such in a briar patch. The barbs don't seem to catch on his skin or clothes. He stops and stands up once you get within 50 feet. He has a big grin on his face and with his free hand waves. The other hand is full with herbs as is his satchel.
"He looks friendly"
Koldur muses aloud. Stowing his axes in his belt, he strides forward with an open wave and smile on his face.
"Hail and well met, I am Koldur of the Axe and these are my companions. May I have the honor of your name."
Xara is Koldur's silent ghost, dismounting and following the dwarf with all dignity and grace.
Compared to Xara's Grace, Koldur is a bumbling barrel of laughs as his gait is awkward and jerks as he moves. In fact Koldur's walk is similar to a sailor out of water and onto land.
"Greetings I am Perin, master brewer and remedy maker. What brings you out into the stolenlands?" He asks with curiosity. He leaves the briar to give them a proper welcome offering his hands. Once close you can tell that Perin is blind.
Diplomacy:
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Perin. My name is Xara, and we have been chartered by the Swordlords of Restov to explore these lands and reclaim them from banditry and other malicious creatures. We mean no harm to your and yours, and would like to be friends, if you'll have us. Is that your cottage we saw about an hour's walk from here?"
"Yes friends are always welcome. I hope you the best with your mission, but do understand others have tried before you. Yes, my dwelling, what poor shape it is in, though it keeps me warm. Perhaps you would mind to fix a blind man's house a bit, I could offer you some potions to pay for services. Also the normal hunter who brings me meat has not showed up for over a week, I would like to know what happened to him and some meat would be great." He continues to blabber on as if he does not have someone to talk to much.
Oscar will look at Koldur I have no carpentry skills but we could spend a fours hours to help fix is house.
Yes Oscar, we should do what we can to assist Perin here. I believe we could rustle you up some game as well my good man. Henric says in a friendly manner. We would be interested in any news or tales of these lands you might have to share, and in trade pass on what we have of other goings on or perhaps stories to entertain that you may have not heard.
"And why not?" - Razaniel shrugs at the others with a smile on his face - "I could offer my bow to assist with the hunting, though I am not the best at tracking" - he ponders - "Else, I'll assist with the carpentry"
"Ahh, excellent. Give me a few minutes to finish getting some herbs." he states as he returns to the briar batch.
If you wait he is done in half an hour or so.
He accompanies the group back to his cottage, accepting any offer of riding with someone. On the trip back he tells of mites, kobolds, thugs, ogres, lizard folk, frog folk, and many other strange denizens in the stolenlands. He tells you these are stories from hunters.
Xara asks, "Have you ever heard of a lost temple of Erastil?"
"Yes I have heard of a few interesting sites. There is a temple that has a big grumpy bear protecting it. Though all I know is that it is in the woods somewhere." Perin says after thinking on it for a moment.
If we explore methodically we will eventually find it. says oscar rather confident in the skills of everyone
Koldur listens to what Perin has to say on the way back. Once back at the cottage, he'l slowly observe the cottage and see what repairs need to be made. Taking what tools he has available, Koldur with help will do repairs and strengthen the fences and anything else that needs it.
"Let us know what needs to be done and we shall endeavour to do as much as we can. Time permitting, We would like to send someone to do a complete check on your home and of course, purchasing your remedies would be helpful to your income. It is difficult to survive by yourself, at least let us aid you since we're already here."
"Also, there is a clan of dwarves who have taken over Oleg's trading post. They are keen to make friends and allies for themselves in this area, and have considerable skill in building and hunting. Perhaps they would be willing to negotiate some sort of exchange of services."
True, we are also trying to find an arcane magic user that likes to dabble in necromancy he adds
"Yes, he isn't looking to make friends."
As an aside, she adds, "Though depending on how literally you define 'make', perhaps he is."
"If you could arrange for services I would be more than helpful in return. No haven't had any visitors other than you for the past couple of weeks. Do see if you can find Theadore, mu hunter. Thank you for fixing up my house what kind of things ail you or are you looking for more immediate restorative potions?" Perin asks.
The repairs look like they will take at least a few days but you could do some patch work. Koldur it will be better is someone else searches for food, the fixing is going to take up your time.
The immediate stuff i would say
Oscar will use his time foraging for food for the party.
Koldur will spend his time doing repair work and allow the others to forage as the his dwarven sensitvities do not allow for shoddy work and soon he has the cottage reinforced and looking slightly more sturdy.
After foraging and fixing up the place, Perin has made a mighty stew to share with you all for all your hard work. He offers the floor but there is not much other than his little cot for beds. He does offer his cot to Xara.
The group likely makes a fire outside and makes camp around that fire for the night.
In the morning porridge and some meat has been cooked up from Oscar's foraging for breakfast. Perin is obviously very happy to have company and visitors but keeps busy with his brewing too.
Well that was yummy. Shall we head back to our exploration?
Koldur nods and works on saddling the horses and getting everything prepared though it's obvious he isn't particularly efficient.
"We should continue our pattern of semi-circular exploration, keeping Oleg's at our apex. "
She puts her finger on the map due west of Oleg's, tracing a semi-circle southeast, keeping her finger the same distance from Oleg's, until her finger reaches a spot level with Oleg's on the east side, then circles back to the west in a slightly larger semi-circle, etc.
Does the place seem like we got the worst of the repairs taken care of Henric would be loath to leave the old man in dire straights if another day or two would vastly improve his situation.
Most of the repairs were fairly simple. If it rains you don't know where the leaks are right now.
Following the semi circle pattern?