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Sekhmet closes to within 30' of the remaining wolf, and seems to talk to herself, saying, "Emuishere, put this beast to sleep." (She uses the Slumber hex, which forces the wolf to make a DC 13 Will save or be put to Sleep (as per the spell) for one round.
As she does, she more carefully examines the wolves to determine what might be wrong with them.
Alek skewers the remaining wolf and combat is over.
The wolf zombie corpses begin to expand upon death and explode ...
The bodies Death Burst and wound Alek. The others manage to avoid any burst damage.
After combat is over a few lumberjacks come out of hiding and armed with well worn wood axes stand defiantly against you. The lumberjacks show signs of sickness.
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Vailis approaches the camp, only slowly, trying to avoid being scary. "Are you ok Alek? That thing burst over you!"
Then looking to the lumberjacks "Stay calm, we came here to help, or at least try helping." looking at the diseased wolf corpses "What was that? Do you know what is this affliction you and the wolfs are suffering?"
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Emuishere, seeing that her companion has been wounded, closes to within touch range. She seems to talk to herself, saying, "Emuishere, heal this noble companion, wounded by these foul creatures." (Healing Hex, as cure light wounds, range touch, 1/creature/day.) .
She then tends to any wounded lumberjacks, applying the healing hex to each of those that could be saved. "The filth in these beasts has contaminated these workers." (Heal check to determine their conditions:
Vailis' calm words seem to defuse the tense state. One survivor steps forward, "I am Vanick Inor. I work here. We were attacked by fey earlier. We sent out patrols to get revenge and to dissuade them from attacking us again. It did not go well. These creatures have succumbed to some illness. These flowers in them can be found in a grove not too far from here. We discovered this grove while searching for the horn and hooved fey attackers. When we went to the grove we were attacked by some crazy druids, or former druids, and we fled. These crazy wood-folk used to be found in Falcon's Hollow's town square. Most of us are sick. Thank you for killing these creatures or we would have been slain."
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"Thanks for your collaboration Vanick. We are here to research the source of the affliction and put and end to it. What is that horn your where looking for, and what the druids did to you?"
Vailis continues talking as Sekhmet takes care of the party wounds and the other lumberjacks.
"Perhaps we can start looking at that grove they point us. What do you think?" and looking again at Vanick "Could you point us where the grove is?"
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Alek lets out a cheer as he fells the last of the wolves, however, his joy is short lived when the wolf behind him suddenly explodes and showers him in bone fragments and gore. His eyes widen when he remembers the wolves appeared to have been infected with some sort of illness. The young ulfen quickly removes one of the vials of antiplague he had purchased in Almas and downed the bitter tasting contents, praying he was not too late!
Alek suddenly became aware of the lumberjacks and the conversation going on around him. He whistles for his wolf, who obediently trots over towards him. He takes a moment to look more closely at the flowers in the wolves...
Vanick says to the party "If you promise to take me to Falcon's Hallow to see Laurel I will guide you to the grove."
Vanick tells you what he knows about the ones he calls druids; the lumberjacks call them druids cause they seem to know a lot about flora and fauna but are not warrior mettle like rangers. They could even be gardeners. As for the flowers, they know they are flowers and something to do with the disease, but they have no clue.
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Sekhmet chimes in, "Vailis, I agree with your plan to accompany the lumberjack to Falcon's Hallow. It seems like the best course of action at this point."
She turns to the warriors in the party and, reluctantly, acknowledges their contributions, "Good work; you dispatched those vermin handily. Maybe travelling with you lot will not be so bad as I had originally feared. Maybe."
The party searches the tents and surrounding area with some weak verbal resistance from the tired (and in some cases injured) lumberjacks. The four southern tents each hold two cots and unlocked chests containing the lumberjacks’ personal effects—clothing, tools, and mementos of their families. The northeastern tent holds only a single cot, on which Fulch, the camp overseer as told by Vanick, lies. His cold pus-covered body fills the tent with a sick stink. The northwestern tent appears to be used as an office and contains spare provisions, tools, and a desk covered in papers and cheaply-bound books.
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"Well it was worth trying the search anyway, good catch Welsey." looking at their guide the half-elf continues "I think we are ready now to proceed for the grove. Is there any danger you know on the way on?"
Vailis asks some questions as they walk "Have you been for long time here? What do you get from the forest, only wood or other things too? How the creatures of the forest took their new neighbours, that is you?"
As the party moves, he looks around for dangers, crossbow loaded and ready.
Vanick recounts how Fulch lost a part of his ear to brownies earlier in his time in the forest and spent many conversations hating on the fey, all fey. When some fey showed up in the forest near the camp Fulch chased them off. Then this plague started. Everyone is blaming the fey for it. The lumberjacks saw a satyr recently and tried to track him down to force the fey to stop the plague. They were not successful and then the wolf zombies attacked.
The lumber operations, while not pleasing to the fey, does not look particularly despoiling the woods.
You hear the lumberjacks say 24 hours after first being exposed one experiences the beginnings of pus boils. The the symptoms increase in severity.
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Sekhmet looks concerned as it becomes increasingly obvious that Billin might be infected. She inquires of the party members, "I have limited skill in healing such afflictions. Is there one among us who can offer Billin some assistance?"
If nobody steps up, then she approaches Billin and asks, "Though I know little of such things, having managed to avoid getting poisoned myself, perhaps I could offer some assistance with your condition."
If somebody does step up, then she will use the Aid Another action to help with a heal check on Billin.
Regardless, the heal check (DC 10 for Aid Another; DC 20 for Treat Disease, granting +4 competence bonus to the next saving throw) yields
With her skill in the healing arts Sehkment deduces the first sign of the infection is pus sores then it appears to affect a persons stamina until they whittle away if not treated properly.
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Vailis tries to assist Billin into healing himself.
Afterwards while following the man through the forests "Yes Orwynn, that's a very good question. What kind of feys have you seen around?"
Vailis readies himself, with the light crossbow in one hand, and the wand in the other. "Ok, so we need to be ready, those feys may or may not behind the disease, but it certainly seems to not be very nice with humanoids."
The half-elf follows the party to the grove.
Afflictions require a creature to make a saving throw after a period of time to avoid taking certain penalties. With most afflictions, if a number of saving throws are made consecutively, the affliction is removed and no further saves are necessary.
The party follows Vanick to the grove in about an hours time. He stops a few hundred meters from the actual site, too scared to go any further. He will wait for the party until their business at the grove is complete. Man-made rows of bright flowers paint this wide glade in hues of red, orange, and yellow. A warm breeze blows out of the field, and the pleasant odor of the countless blossoms fills the air and permeates the whole forest.
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Sekhmet, sensing that the area might be dangerous, stops to look about. She speaks, again apparently to herself, and says, "Emuishere, let's see what poisons might be at play in this grove, before these fools infect themselves further" followed by the casting of a spell.
Casting Detect Poison on a 5' cube 30' in front of her, where some of the brightest flowers are growing. .
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"Indeed this is quite unusual... let's be prepared." Vailis, crossbow ready advances behind Orwynn entering the grove.
Replicating Sekhmet, the half-elf casts detect magic and starts scanning the area for magic auras other than the party ones.
"Is someone there?"
Since it took the party an hour to arrive at the grove bruises begin to appear on Orwynns skin . There appears to be no one present at the grove.
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"In fact, I would not expect them to have a cure for the disease. We are here to found a solution for that I guess. looking to Sekhmet "What I don't get is who planted the flowers. Have I missed any information? And watch ahead, I detect a faint magical aura, perhaps a potion, in the middle of the groove."
Vailis waits for the melee to take the lead and then follow. If they feel shy, the half-elf walks 30 feet and tries to get a better look of the layout.
Wesley walks down the center of the path looking around. After about 30 feet of movement, two crazed and afflicted gardeners spring up from behind a row of flowers with sickles in their hands. They look half mad....
COMBAT
Wesley-is up
Gardeners-
Alek-
Sekhmet-
Orwynn-
Vailis-
Billin-
Wesley advances and the Gardeners charge at him.
...
...
both miss.
COMBAT
Wesley-advances
Gardeners-advanced vs Wesley/missed
Alek-is up
Sekhmet-
Orwynn-
Vailis-
Billin-
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Vailis moves 30 feet to the center of the groove and casts a summon monster I making a celestial dog to appear 30 feet ahead. The dog runs to battle looking for a flank, trying to bite the vile gardener with his smite evil.
"What those mad gardeners are?!" Vailis points at the enemy worried about what is going on with the disease.
Sekhmet and Vailis both move forward to confront the crazed Gardeners. A dog suddenly appears and trots to one of the gardeners flanking him. The attack misses though.
COMBAT
Wesley-advances
Gardeners-advanced vs Wesley/missed
Alek-is up
Sekhmet- moved
Orwynn-
Vailis- moved/summoned
Billin-
Orwynn charges the closest gardener, hits him squarely in the chest and kills him.
COMBAT
Wesley-advances
Gardeners-advanced vs Wesley/missed
Alek-is up
Sekhmet- moved
Orwynn- charged
Vailis- moved/summoned
Billin-
COMBAT
Wesley-advances
Gardeners-advanced vs Wesley/missed
Alek-moves forward with Cinder
Sekhmet- moved
Orwynn- charged
Vailis- moved/summoned
Billin-is up