Sorush advances and, after pausing a moment to consider his companions, seems to make up his mind. He waves his arms around in an incomprehensible arcane gesture, and a cone of multicolored lights lances forth from his hands and towards the boars.
Lily tries to repeat her bombing, hoping the splash will help some.
(+4 to hit -2 range)
Square hit, splash 3
Defense roll for each-
Taking a somewhat roundabout route, Maerra rides around to attack one of the boars. "Back off, yer walking ham!"
Aurica moves closer to the fight to bring the boars in range of her fate-bending magic, which requires the rest of her mental power to maintain.
When Maerra and her horse move out of the way, Zev moves up and tries to put an arrow into one of the boars...
Aurica moves closer to the fight to bring the boars in range of her fate-bending magic, which requires the rest of her mental power to maintain.
Sorush's magic seems to fizzle as the bright lights scatter and defract as if hitting a prism.
Zev takes aim and waits for just the right moment...
Maerra charges in with her new horse and cleaved at one of them with her axe, taking a gash out of it. This only seems to anger the beast as it attacks the legs of her horse with its tusks. As it does so, Zev's arrow flies, with Aurica's influence and embeds itself in its side. It squeals as its tusk tears at the horse's leg. The other two boars continue their vicious defense, hooves kicking up dirt, accompanied by another blast of debris by Lily's bomb.
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The horse tries to dance away but catches a tusk instead.
Maerra tries to make the horse attack but the injured beast is more concerned with its own hide. She is at least able to slash down effectively.
Again, Milah's blade is too slow to deflect the boar's attack, but her armor protects her once more. Her blade flashes as it leaps toward her attacker.
Lily's tired of wasting bombs to just throw dirt at them and steps forward to where one boar fell to try and attack with her mace
The boars tear into the party, taking a gash from the horse's leg. Maerra fights to keep it under control as her axe comes down. The boar below her is bleeding everywhere, it's starting to slow...
The one that Milah has been fighting is surprised to get a sharp poke in its flank, but continues to fight on, its instincts taking over..
Lily and Sorush's boar is still fighting strong as Lily's mace swings over its head.
Sorush screams in frustration as the light in his hands continues to sputter out. As it finally goes out, he looks up at the boar in front of him and screams again, as if blaming it for his failure.
Aurica throws a magical red card at the boar nearest her.
Lilyroot tries again with the mace, aiming lower this time!
"These animals are surprisingly wily!"
Sorush gets a tusk to his leg, causing him to stumble a bit, but his frustration keeps him fighting. His roar is almost as loud as the boar's grunting and it causes the boar to back off a bit, as if it could understand the half orc's anger..
That's when a red burst of light explodes in front of it, causing it to turn in circles and making Zev's arrow miss.
Lily can't seem to get a bead on the creatures either, as if they were covered in oil...
Milah's rapier parries the incoming attack, then moves to intercept the creature once, twice more...
With the boar hitting her beast again, Maerra edges it away as she jumps off. "Try a taste of dwarf instead now, bacon brain."
"One more try, they're just dumb animals!"
Aurica throws another magical red card at the nearest boar.
Milah's dance with her porcine partner continues as they spar with tusk and blade. Aurica's magical card connects with the one dancing around with Sorush, covering the beast in red sparkles.
Maerra's horse whinnies in pain as she leaps from it, cleaving the head from the boar that's been menacing it. Its body quivers for a moment and falls to the ground...
Round 4
Zev gently drops his bow to the ground advances to engage the closest boar, pulling his flail from his belt.
Lilyroot easily avoids the boar's tusks as Sorush screams at it again, causing it to start looking for a way out. Zev's flail and Lilyroot's mace both slam into the creature, eliciting a squeal and a raking tusk.
Again, Milah's rapier parries the incoming attack, and again, she thrusts her blade deep into the attacking creature.
Maerra steps over the steaming corpse of the pig she killed and takes a swing at the near-surrounded boar.
Round 5
Zev only just avoids getting gutted by the boar's vicious tusk rake, gathers himself and tries to slam it once again with his flail...
With some flair and daring and a lot of heavy swings, the last two boars go down in a whimper. Their bodies shudder as they slowly bleed out. The forest is still, as if in reverence to their passing. You are left alone for the moment and you notice in the fight, you lost the trail you had been following. Polly, Maerra's fine horse, does its best to trot over to the dwarf, but the gash in her leg will take some time or magic to heal...
As the dust settles and adrenaline subsides, Aurica collects her thoughts and remembers that she saw both Sorush and Polly receive wounds from these boars. She moves to Sorush first. "Here--hold still for a moment," she says as she lays a hand gently over the injury. A warm glow radiates for a moment as healing magic does its work.
Then Aurica moves to Polly to do the same, as Maerra calms her.
"Those were surprisingly tough!"
"If the trail's mucked up, what else's close? Hold this for me, would y'?" She hands her armored coat to Lily and looks for a tall tree to climb up.
Moving to the base of the tree that the dwarf has climbed, Aurica looks up and calls to her, "What do you see, Maerra?"
Maerra takes a few moments to climb a tree. Though she can get to some of the higher branches, she feels if she goes too much higher, she won't be able to climb down as easily. Taking a glance around, she is happy to note that the Raven Roost Woods are not very large, only stretching a few hundred yards in each direction. To the West she sees Sandpoint and the Old Light, to the North she can see the shining waters of the Gulf of Varisia. Towards the East she can see the hills of Raven Roost and the trees of the the Tickwood Forest, which the Raven Roost Woods are a part of. On the South side, she sees the Turandurok River and a small valley that then rises up to become part of the Devil's Platter, a haunted place, if rumors are to be believed...
Maerra scrambles awkwardly down. Going up is always easier somehow. "North is seawater, and if they've gone sailing we'll never catch them. East there's hills and more forest - that's a maybe, if we can find the trail again. South though there's a river which can be a good place to find tracks. And some haunted lands beyond it. Where else to look for a necromancer? Unless anyone has a better idea?" she replies.
Milah shrugs, "I suppose we should give some thought to whether it's worthwhile for us to keep pursuing these goblins; if we head the wrong direction, we're not likely to realize it for some time..."
While Maerra climbs the tree for a look around, Zev pulls a skinning knife from his belt and begins to butcher the biggest of the hogs.
Other than the surrounding area, Maerra was unable to see anything out of the ordinary from her high perch. Zev spends his time preparing one of the dead boars.
While the rest of you are occupied with what Maerra sees and making a boar fit for consumption, Sorush notes that down the trail a bit there was something the boars were interested in before you interrupted them...
"Got a curiosity bump to scratch eh Sorush? Let's hope it's more than mud over there, not that it should take long to have a gander," she collects her coat again and shrugs it on as she walks over to poke the ground where the boars were with her axe.
About 30 yards away from where the boars charged you from, you come to a section of underbrush that has been heavily disturbed. The tracks here are a little obscured due to the interference from the porcine animals, but Maerra's expert eye spots several goblin tracks and a boot pattern like the one at the town wall. Thwre is also a drag mark that leads somewhat deeper into the forest. Following it with your eyes, you see just under some low shrubs a boot sticking out, attached to someone's body...
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Aurica perks up as Sorush and Maerra make note of something of interest, and she follows Maerra over to the spot in question. Upon seeing the boot, Aurica reflexively enters a crouch and whispers, "Look at that! There could be others around--let's move cautiously."
As she approaches the boot in the shrubs, Aurica looks and listens hard for signs of anyone else about.
If anyone else was here, which all signs point to, they are long gone now. You are left alone with what appears to be a random body, possibly from Sandpoint, barely hidden in the surrounding foliage.
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"Back in the boneyard they left the walking dead behind just to piss people off, far as I can tell. Stay alert a moment longer," Maerra moves the foliage aside with her axe to get a better look at the body as she speaks.
The body is a human male, probably middle aged, based on the flecks of gray in his thinning hair. He wears the clothing of the more common styles in the area, but if there was anything of actual worth, it is probably gone.
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Zev, finally finished with preparing the boar, stands and sees the others looking at something in the bushes.
Hefting the large ham over his shoulder, he approaches and looks down, "Why is that man lying in the bushes?" he asks.
Wandering over, Milah's brow arches. "I know that one. Raymond Fairwick. Local gossip says he's a rumormonger with criminal ties, but nothing the authorities can prove."
Lily ponders, "His actions caught up with him, or something worse...?"
"He's stone cold dead Zev" is the slightly exasperated reply. "His body doesn't tell me much, but maybe he has friends back in Sandpoint who'll talk. Any chance you might be able to find those criminal ties, Milah?"
Just in case there's something odd, Maerra checks the body for the cause of death anyway.
+1 from Greater Serendipity = 14
As Maerra looks for wounds, Aurica does a quick search of the dead man's pockets for any remaining possessions.
+1 from Greater Serendipity and +1 from Star aura = 21
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Finding no items on the man, Aurica is about to stand up when something catches her eye. She pulls up the short sleeve on the man's left arm, revealing his shoulder. She points to a seven-pointed star that is branded there. "Does anyone recognize this star? I'm not sure how fresh the brand is, I don't really have an eye for such things."
"Are there any more tracks leading away from here?"