Exhausted and miserable, Almalik collapses, the hard day's work being something the wizard is totally unused to. However, he knows the importance of morale and knows he can spend the next few days figuring out the puzzle of matching stones in the road - a better task for his magnificent intellect.
At the urging of the workers, Almalik shows some minor displays of power, using mage hand to flick away small stones from their work, dancing lights to set some atmosphere at their camp fire, and prestidigitation to add small flourishes to his behaviour.
Being absolutely unused to the labour, Almalik mutters something about last watch and collapses.
"I'll take middle-in-the-night watch!" Ama declares happily. "I like watching the stars and moon!"
Everyone goes to sleep sooner or later and the night passes uneventful. Early in the morning after a quick breakfast to workers start their jobs again. Ama joins the stone collecting group and keeps showing off her great powers in front of them, letting them haul the stones. Nagbur empties his bag and also helps with carrying the stones, though the easier way. One of the men hauling stones soon decides to join the shovelling group to even out the work force. The man still working on moving the stones talks up after about an hour of work.
"Nagbur was it right? Are you able to throw your bag? It ways next to nothing right, even filled? If we can throw the bag back and forth we could to this a lot faster!"
The shovelling men look a bit expectantly at Almalik, waiting to see if he is going to use his all powerful magic to make their job easier.
Halfway through the morning Fish, still on watch, sees a glint of metal and something brown move a little further up the mountain.
His watch also reveals that the road up ahead stops at a medium sized stream. The heavy rainfall from the last couple of days caused the stream to swallow the path.
In the morning Almalik looks at the fitting of the first part of the road, puzzling out the method as to how it works. He then quickly takes over that part and sets out a few 'sample' stones for Ama.
"Cut the stones according to the numbered sample stones. So if I ask for a '1', that means that triangle-shaped one right there. Got it?"
With his system laid out, Almalik produces a quill and parchment and begins drawing out how the stones will fit in the road, instructing Ama to cut stones like so or like so.
"Ama, I need a two and a four - a slightly smaller four if you can. And as for my magic, any spells of power are finite. I have prepared spells which may be of use, but I would prefer to save them until we encounter a problem we can't easily fix without major delays. The stream may be such a situation."
He looks over to Fish. "What do you see?"
Fish comes down from his hiding spot. "Maybe bandit", he says gesturing up the mountain. "Stream ahead very full. Fish think Bandits try trap us against stream."
Ama chops up the rocks that Almalik requests, in addition to many other rocks that she chops up in advance.
"Chop, chop, chooop! I like to chop, chop, chooop!"
She looks up from her work when Fish shows up. "Maybe you could sneak up and check?"
Inspecting the mountainside again reveals nothing, you might have to get close to see where the person went. The expected attack never comes during the day and everything progresses smoothly.
"Nagbur was it right? Are you able to throw your bag? It ways next to nothing right, even filled? If we can throw the bag back and forth we could to this a lot faster!"
" 'Nagbur' be right," he confirms. Then he hefts the backpack. "Bag no weigh nothing but when empty. Now be about five pounds, could hurt who be catching, then Nagbur have to fix hurt. Fix hurt. And this be new bag, got good deal but still muchly money. Nagbur not want it torn up throwing on rocks and ground."
"Be good idea otherwise though!" he finishes with a cheery smile as he returns to loading it with stones.
The day goes on as it started and work progresses really well. Fish is unable to spot the person he saw earlier and resumes his watch.
Maybe a little bit more nervous because of the bandits you settle down for the night again, by a spot found by Nagbur. The morale of the workers is still high and the nervousness is soon gone as more tales are told beside the campfire.
Eventually everyone settles down to sleep, with watches set. In the morning you discover that some of your provisions and all weapons supplied for the workers have been stolen. The workers start cursing.
"See! I said this was dangerous! Got guards who don't even spot thieves grabbing our stuff!"
The roadworking was fairly easy the day before, giving you a headstart on the third day. Before you is the last part of the gravel road followed by the stream. The stream needs a bridge of sorts. You have planks supplied by the mayor but you will need to find some sturdy trees to create the base of the bridge.
Day 1: behind on schedule
Day 2: ahead of schedule, 1/4 of the third day done
Fish goes to post watch again, finding a good hiding spot first.
Almalik does a great deal to keep his considerable temper under control.
You fool! An alarm spell would have been inexpensive and useful, but instead you're stuck here trying to convince these troglodytes that you're somehow competent at your job.
Taking a breath, he looks over the pissed-off miners.
"Do you know why these supplies were stolen and the camp not raided?" He pauses for effect. "Fear. Whoever we are dealing with is obviously stealthy, but cannot afford to face us in open combat. We were told there were bandits in the area, and they have sent their quietest and quickest so steal from us. This will not happen more than once, and there will be hell to pay."
After his speech, regardless of the effect, Almalik will go to the most upset construction worker.
"I believe I must begin using my magic to regain lost time. Would you consent to an enchantment which will make you mightier than any man? It will not last long, so you must make use of the power while you have it."
The bandits look a bit doubtful at Almalik's explanation but seem to accept it for now. The most upset is the one who gave you troubles on the first day. He looks a bit more doubtful at first but concedes.
"Best be done with building the bridge. Shoveling gravel isn't that hard a job. Bridge will need some logs laid across the stream."
He says in a proud voice, coming up with the great idea.
Once at the stream the man makes good use of the spell and fells the trees with great ease. He also manages to get the largest across to the other side so the real building can start. You finish early again by almost two hours. When nailing the final plank of the bridge you suddenly hear grunting and growling from further up the path.
The grunting and growling grows louder as you get closer. Coming around a corner reveals a cave where two figures are fighting.
After a long and hot day walking you stumble across a cool and dry looking cave, perfect for setting up camp for the night. Once you enter the very inviting cave a big brown bear suddenly leaps at you from the shadows! The bear misses at the moment daylight hits its eyes and shortly blinds it.
Almalik produces his wand in an instant, casting mage armour on himself as he watches the bridge construction.
"Anyone else hear that?"
"Do you know why these supplies were stolen and the camp not raided?" He pauses for effect. "Fear. Whoever we are dealing with is obviously stealthy, but cannot afford to face us in open combat. We were told there were bandits in the area, and they have sent their quietest and quickest so steal from us. This will not happen more than once, and there will be hell to pay."
Nagbur prods Almalik in the leg and then says behind his hand (as if that would help), "Good job!"
***
"Anyone else hear that?"
Nagbur nods. "Sounds not good. Better go see." He looks over at fish. "Me and you?"
Without waiting for an answer, he slips into the underbrush and starts moving quietly forward.
Too busy 'singing' while chopping more stones for the road and wood for the bridge, Ama doesn't hear anything besides her own voice.
"La la la!
Chop chop chop!
Chop it all!
Whop whop whop!"
Fish follows Nagbur as his friend did not wait for an answer.
He also manages to be just as quiet too.
The day was cool and fresh, and Idris had been going through his excercises. That rock that had somehow made it under his bedroll had left a knot in his left shoulder. The cave ahead looked like as good a base of operations as any for now. The bear was unfortunate, but then caves had bears more often than not, didn't they?
Nagbur and Fish slowly creep forward until they are in front of the cave. The first thing they see is a man who punches a bear full on the snout. The big animal growls and rears, followed by an attack towards the man. The bear manages to hit the man and immediately grabs hold of him.
Nagbur looks at Fish. "What you think?" he asks quietly.
Almalik cautiously follows Fish and Nagbur at a safe distance so as not to interrupt their sneaking.
Fish shrugs, "Humans not favorite, but if bear eat human we still fight bear." the kobold reasons as he draws his sword. "Best fight bear while distracted."
"But maybe he be bandit," Nagbur counters. "Then Nagbur say let bear eat him. Bear get sleepy, we go right by later."
Then he taps his chin. "But if he do be bandit and we let bear eat him, we no find out where be our stuffs."
Having reasoned things out to his satisfaction, the vitalist nods confidently. "Okay, let's go."
The man in the animal's grasp is tall, heavily muscled, and covered in tattoos. As the bear grabbed hold of him, he yelled. "Oh ho! It's a grapple you want, eh? Never let it be said that Idris was one to back down from a challenge!" The man writhed in the bear's grasp for a moment, then sent a powerful blow rocketing for the bear's head. He reversed his strike and brought the fist back around with similar force.
HP 22/31. Current AC: 17/12/15
Active conditions: grappled
Active spell effects:
Idris, pinned on the ground, manages to punch the bear two more time full in the face. On the last hit he feels bone cracking, the sickening crunch is audible for everyone. The bear follows the attacks by opening its mighty jaws and biting Idris's face, dealing quite some damage.
Fish and Nagbur stand ready to interfere but are unsure if the fellow needs their help. They both stand about 20 feet from the fighting duo. Almalik stands another 20 feet behind Nagbur and Fish. Ama is still chopping wood, even though the bridge is already finished.
With a small war cry Nagbur runs forward a few feet to add momentum, and launches his spear into the air. It arcs towards the pair...
... and confirms the blue's excellent aim.
"Longshanks!" he shouts, "Open mind, let Nagbur in!"
The little vitalist then closes his eyes and reaches out with his mind to form a mental link with the stranger.
-Posted with Wayfinder
As the bear's fangs tore his cheek open, Idris screamed. To those listening, it sounded less like a scream of pain than a war cry. The big man was about to respond when the spear arced in and sank into the bear's shoulder. He felt a presence in the back of his mind and turned to see the blue goblinoid shouting at him.
Let him in? What does he...? The mental intrusion shook him, and Idris clamped down on his will, trying to keep the mental touch at bay. No one was going to take over his mind, not when there was a fight to finish. Stilling his mind, Idris blocked out everything but the bear. Reaching across, he grabbed the haft of the spear and used it for leverage, slamming blow after blow down on the bear's already injured head.
HP 11/31. Current AC: 17/12/15
Active conditions: grappled
Active spell effects:
The spear, although no more than a pinprick to the bear, hits. Idris follows the attack by several mean punches after which the bear slumps, blood slowly seeping out of its eyes and nose. The large 700 pound bear remains dead on top of Idris.
Idris groaned at the weight of the bear and began struggling to get out from under the thing. HIs legs were quickly going numb from the great weight pressing on them, and his torn face felt like it was on fire. Turned his head at an awkward angle, he spotted the goblin staring at him in disbelief. "Don't just stand there gawping, man! Come help get this pile of sleeping furs and smoked meat off of me."
The silver scaled kobold points a bastard sword (greatsword to him) at the strange bear wrestling man. "Why we help human? Maybe you bandit, Fish here kill bandits." The kobold looks down at the humans face. "Nagbur, maybe you fix face so he see, leave bear though."
The vitalist snorts derisively as he walks up to the man. "Nagbur no 'gawping,' Nagbur saving longshanks butt from bear!"
He retrieves his spear and waggles the safer end at the man. "That be muchly good whacking with shaft, though. You almost fierce warrior as Nagbur."
He rubs his chin, contemplating the situation. "Maybe need help for to move bear. Fish, you muchly strong, what you think?"
While waiting for a response, Nagbur drops to his knees and studies the man's face, then clucks. "You muchly hurt, huh. Maybe this teach stupid longshanks no try dance with bear. That be circus thing only."
So saying, he pulls out a wand and jabs the man with it multiple times.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Almalik strides in, looking at the bear this strange man just killed with his bare hands. He is a striking young man of Keleshite extraction in a colourful robe with a neatly-trimmed beard and a clipped, precise way of speaking.
"Forgive my companions' rudeness. My goblin friend here likes to call everyone stupid even though he can't quite grasp prepositions; you grow a thick skin after a while. Although considering what you just did to that bear I imagine you have one of your own."
He stands behind Nagbur and Fish, looking over Idris curiously.
"That said we are on the watch for bandits and several of our supplies were stolen from us last night. Please do not consider this an accusation, but you can reasonably expect us to be cautious. Forgive me though - my name is... long, but Avistani folk call me Almalik."
"How many times me gots to tell you," the vitalist growls, "Nagbur no be goblin!"
"And mostly only longshanks be stupid," he adds. "And crazy."
-Posted with Wayfinder
The four workers slowly join everyone at the cave. They look worriedly from the new man to the dead bear on the ground. They keep their distance, not wanting to risk their lives. One of them whispers to the other, without takes his eyes off of you.
"We safe you think?"
As the not-goblin's healing wand mended the worst of the damage on his face, Idris sighed in relief. "My thanks to you, not-goblin. Nagbur, was it? Always nice to have a bit of healing after a good fight. The poor bear didn't want to give up his dry napping spot. Unfortunately for him, neither did I!"
"I am Idris, called Idris Elbow by many, for how my fights usually end." He mimed elbowing the bear in the face. "I roam from land to land, seeking out new challenges and new fighting styles. So tell me, which do you offer?"
Nagbur jerks a thumb at his kobold friend. "Fish be good for answer new style question. Or Ama, everything she do be new to her."
He cuts a grinning look at the team's arcanist. "Almalik, you want tell him about plenty challenges?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
Fish lowers his weapon slightly confused by a common word used. "Fish style is shiny things. Look good with Fish shiny scale. You want look good? Maybe try bear skin." The kobold offers.
Meanwhile, Idris can see a slender elven woman with gray skin hop up to him and the others. When she stops hopping, just behind the others, her long, straight hair shifts in front of her face. The elf brushes her mostly black, slightly purple, hair out of her face and stares at Idris with her wide, yellow eyes. Her eyes then move to the bear. Then back to Idris.
Slowly, the elf moves past the others and up to Idris. Now she's no longer behind the others, Idris can see that her skirt, shirt and boots are all as black as a starless night. The elf continues to moves closer to Idris, and stops when her face is barely an inch in front of his. Her head then moves to the side of Idris's head, her mouth up to his ear, and she whispers as she points a finger at the bear. "Are you going to eat that, or can I take it?"
"We're members of the Pathfinder Guild," says Almalik pleasantly as Ama walks up and stares hungrily at the bear. "Normally we're employed to do interesting things, recovering lost artifacts, removing threats to local community or commerce, that sort of thing. Currently we're building a road - or more particularly keeping the workers who are building the road alive."
He glances over his shoulder. [b]"Speaking of which we shouldn't leave them unattended. At any rate, I doubt you're a bandit or our supplies thief. I see no supplies and a long-term bandit camp would be well aware of where the local bears are. Interested in the work? If my companions are amenable I could cut you in. An extra set of eyes should be useful, and somebody who can punch a bear is an asset in most situations, physical or social."[b]
With a wary eye the group accepts the newcomer. They share the campfire for the evening, and their meals. Eventually, after sharing countless stories, everyone goes to sleep. The watches progress smoothly and nothing gets stolen.
In the morning the workers continue their work. After finishing the bridge yesterday you are ahead on schedule still and before you lies a fairly large bit of gravel road. After the road there is a steep rocky climb to where the path continues, providing difficulties for work. The workers ask you who is going to help whom today.
As Ama approached to a more than close distance, Idris smirked and said, "Look lady, the last time a woman got that close to me, she wasn't wearing any clothes, you know what I mean? I understand that not everyone feels the same way about personal space, but unless you plan on sharing sheets, those pockets are for my own personal use."
"As for the bear, I think the fur and meat could be put to good use, maybe round out those supplies you said were stolen. And sure, I've done caravan guard duty before. Not the most interesting of jobs, but this is like to be similar, with a little back-breaking effort thrown in." The man grinned, the tattoos on his face writhing as he did. "Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as my ma always said. Count me in."
Idris spent the evening putting his new companions and the workmen at ease, regaling them with stories about his travels, and some of the fights he had had. When they teamed him up with Fish for guard duty, he didn't mind. Trust had to be earned, after all.
The next day started with some of that back-breaking work, as Idris took shifts haul and place stones, and watching for bandits or menacing wildlife.
Fish takes his usual job of hiding and keeping an eye out for anything strange.
Once more, Almalik sets to work organizing the stones for the road and instructing Ama on how to cut them with her adamantine sword. As the crew hit the steep incline Almalik casts yet another spell, creating what he calls his 'invisible helper', which manages to drag the extremely heavy stones up the road tirelessly, speeding up the work and even affording the workers a break.
Ama blinks as Idris mentions a woman without clothes, and asks if Ama knows what he means. She slowly shakes her head. "Maybe she was cold...?"
Later that evening, when Idris shares some stories, Ama bugs him with a bunch of questions. For example, she doesn't really seem to get how someone can hurt another with just a fist or elbow. "Don't you need something sharp? Or magic stuff?"
The next day Ama continues to cut stones in the shapes Almalik requests.
The workers keep on as everyone joins them. They still seem a bit wary from Idris as he wasn't hired by the mayor. The workers seem to work slightly slower, watching Idris. Idris, still slightly full of adrenaline, adds a fair share of work. Nagbur, Almalik and Ama also seem a bit distracted by the newcomer and don't participate fully. Although work progresses slowly you still manage to be on schedule.
Fish, on higher ground, spots three moving figures higher up the mountain during the late afternoon.
Fish will go in for a closer look.
As Fish gets closer he sees three bandits, peering down at the group.They seem to be casually discussing the group and what to do and steal next. They don't notice him as he gets closer into hearing range.
"We've seen enough of them. Let's return to the boss."
They linger for a moment longer and start to head up the mountain.
Idris was working hard, but couldn't help but notice the distrustful looks that the workmen gave him. He joked, he chatted, and he even showed off some of his better wrestling moves, but still they seemed wary. Fair enough. They probably think I am one of the bandits hereabouts, trying to insert himself into their party for some mischief. Trust has to be earned.
As he stood and stretched, he noticed Fish moving up the hill. I wonder what he's up to?