Carric forces his attack against the creature.
Revjak continues to tear the creature apart!
Piety smashes into the creature once more.
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Piety lands a devastating blow on the creature, which visibly shakes it. It's flailing leafy limbs grow spasmodic now, and sap leaks from numerous places in its shifting bulk. Carric lunges forward with a two-handed blow, his blade singing through the air then cleaving deep into the thing.
[spoiler=Carric]You feel your blade come into solid contact with something hard and unyielding within the creature's body, possibly something metal.[/ooc]
Reynwyn's dark blast narrowly avoids Revjak, but the northman doesn't even seem to notice, so focused is he on his enemy. In a mad flurry of swings, Revjak once more carves off sections of the creature, and with a mighty roar cleaves into the heart of the thing. Under his attacks, the vegetative monster rises up as if to deliver one last, fearsome attack, but before it can it flops to the ground, unmoving, sap still leaking gently onto the grassy floor of the woods.
Once the thing has collapsed, you all catch your breath, and the forest is strangely silent. The gentle breeze causes the leaves rustle softly overhead, but there is no sound of bird nor beast, just your panting and the sound of weapons being sheathed. The mid-afternoon sun is clear and bright, but gives little warmth, particularly as you are mostly shielded by the leafy canopy.
Again, runes flare to life near Piety's wound, and it begins to close.
Revjak begins to calm, and winces at his many wounds.
Then he grins.
"Carric, you are meant to eat plants not be eaten by them!", he guffaws.
He finds a healing potion and pours it down Arthur's throat, and then proceeds to begin hacking what is left of the plant apart.
"Let us see if it swallowed anything of worth!"
Right, let us see what this think is made of. I thought I felt something metal on my last blow.
Carric joins Revjak in the vivisectioning ot the creature.
Carric and Revjak set to digging into the creature's leafy bulk, and after a short time they find the skeletal remains of a humanoid, probably an elf, within it. Apart from the creature's bones, all that remains are a pair of still-gleaming platinum bracers around its forearms, and a well-worn but still intact leather satchel of strange design.
Arthur takes his time investigating the leather satchel.
Carric pulls off and examines the Bracers.
Revjak wipes the sap and ichor from Azuredge before sitting down to rest near Arthur.
"Too close for a damned plant!"
Carric pulls off...
The party takes some time to recuperate under the shade of the forest, and while you do Arthur and Reynwyn examine the satchel, while Carric pores over the bracers.
The satchel, made of fine dark leather and inscribed with ancient runes, gives up its secrets easily. As Reynwyn watches, Arthur opens it up, to find that it is impossibly large on the inside. The half-elf is able to get his arms, head, and shoulders inside the small receptacle. In addition, he finds a substantial amount of coins and more items within the carry bag.
Carric sits with the platinum bracers, and notes the strange sigil on the back of them. Piety looks over, and recognises the mark.
There is a glint in Carric's eyes after examining the bracers.
If there are no objections, I would like to keep these bracers, as they are related to archery and will enhance the effects of my arrows.
Carric puts on the bracers and looks at the ground, trying to pick up the trail.
Reynwyn sends Jareth into the skies to circle overhead and report back immediately if he spots anything approaching the group as they take a short breather to recover their strength. He and Arthur examine the bag and find the contents within, his eyes widening in surprise at the sheer amount of coin inside. "This is a veritable horde! There must be close to 3700gp worth of coin in here!"
He nods to Carric. "Of course, Carric, I have no objections here! They are much better suited to your usage than my own. I wonder who this person was and how long they have been dead?"
Revjak's eyes widen at the sight.
"A fortune! And an elf can rest easier, now their bones are not a plant's supper! And aye, Carric, that makes good sense. Piety, want ye that potion?"
"Interesting. I wonder what a Phaerimm hunter was doing here."
By the time Carric finds the trail once more the sun is beginning to dip to the horizon, and the cold northerly that is the harbinger of winter begins to blow. The mix of setting sun and not-quite-rain clouds gives rise to a palette of colours in the sky, from grey-blues to magenta, and peach to deep yellow. The sun has dropped beneath the treeline by the time the ground begins to fall lower before your feet and you begin to approach what must be Phylund Lodge, nestled in a lightly wooded valley.
You stop at a good distance from the man-made buildings, taking care not to expose yourselves to possible watching eyes. Carric moves forward another hundred yards or so to get a better look.
When he returns, his report is troubling. The lodge is a two-storey building, with an outhouse or shed behind it. The place was once ringed with a wooden palisade and other wooden structures, but these are now in tatters, with most of the sections knocked down or burnt away. What remains is now just a pile of wooden trash.
Carric also notes some movement within the area, humanoids and some quadrupedal beasts, probably gnolls and hyenas, but he struggles to make out any details, and it appears the creatures may be attempting to lie low. The place looks quiet, eerie, and possibly on high alert.
"How about we test their defences with this Deck of Illussion, if it's something threatening they might flee and we can attack them while disordered... if any get away having them believe some dread beast of legend now hunts them will damage their morale. If it's something they'd see more as victims it might lure them into the come out and attack at it. Or should we send a scout forward to get a better idea of how many are inside?"
"I say send in something resembling weak prey. Gnolls will hardly resist such."
"It's random so it could be a dragon or something else impressive potentially."
"I do not understand this sorcery, but I will be ready to take advantage of it."
"I think hopefully drawing a few of them out would be a good idea. Especially if we can get those hyenas out from the pallisade and into the treeline Carric and myself can attack at range from the trees without fear of the beasts getting to us."
Let the grand illusion begin, Arthur. Drawing them out will serve us much better than a siege on a defensible position.
Arthur throws the card out near the house and is amazed to see a creature appear... a dreaded medusa! Arthur thinks for a moment concentrating as it seems to slither towards the house trying not to laugh. "I think they'll either flee or quickly decide not to look out the windows!"
Arthur moves forward so that the illusion will be close enough to the lodge, and throws his random card out into cleared space. As it hits the ground, a figure springs from it, curled up in a crouch, then standing up proudly. The medusa illusion then begins to move forward, its beautiful but twisted features glowering as it advances, its snake hair twisting and coiling. Once it get close enough to the lodge to be heard, it cries out in a clear, inhuman voice for those within to submit, or suffer the fate of being turned to stone for the monster's pleasure.
A few moments after this proclamation, a volley of spears and arrows fly from the windows of the lodge at the medusa, some of them passing straight through the illusion, and four hyenas appear from the courtyard, charging towards the illusory figure.
"We should use the distraction to try and approach from a different angle, out of their line of sight."
Come, let us circle around to the flank.
Carric leads the party around through cover before approaching to get within longbow range.
Reynwyn nods his agreement with the warriors' assessment and quickly joins the others, sending Jareth to fly overhead and get a view of the situation from above!
Revjak grins, and enters an easy jog with the others, Azuredge at the ready.
"Yes I'll keep putting on a show to keep them distracted." Arthur grinned and was eager to set off with the others...
...meanwhile before the lodge the 'Medusa' called out. "Fools! Do you think I am stupid as you? Or we enough to be threatened by you? Your weapons can not harm me! Come forth and bend the knee. You shall have the pleasure of bearing those who do not to my lair!" The 'Medusa' extends her hands to the sides as if unconcerned by the mundane arrows and lets out a loud throaty laugh.
The party swings around to the northeast, using patches of trees for cover, and finds that angle of approach is well hidden by an old apple orchard that covers about 100 feet square. By swerving left as you approach you're able to get a good look at the eastern entrance (a path that wends its way through the remnants of wooden walls, gates, and guard houses till it reaches the main building). As Carric does he sees a pair of gnolls hiding within an underpass that cuts east-west between two sections of the ground floor and under the second storey, which covers it from above. They are peering to the south, where the hyenas are attempting to ravage the illusory medusa. They look at each other, confused, their backs to you all.
Arthur tries to slink forward while the gnolls are distracted.
Revjak moves along with Arthur.
Reynwyn looks at the others as they sneak forward and finds a good cluster of apple trees to hunker down as he whispers into his ring to the others. "I'll take position here and cover you from range. I wouldn't mind getting a shot in just before you all close range. Let me know when to take my first shot at them."
Carric moves behind the broken palisade to the East, draws his Longbow and fires at the back of one of the gnoll guards before ducking back to cover.
Reynwyn follows Carric and moves to a group of trees in direct line of sight with the gnolls. Once everyone is in position he targets the closer of the two with his hex as spectral ravens appear nearby and harry the gnoll as he sends out a blast of his shadowy energy!
Piety will hold position, not wanting to give away his allies positions.
Carric and Reynwyn take up position and take aim at the nearest gnoll, then simultaneously loose their missiles at him. Carric's arrow bounces off the painted stone wall of the lodge, but Reynwyn's bolt strikes it solidly in the back.
1: -12
2:
Carric Fires again from cover.
Revjak dashes along the side of the building, the fury held in check. Just.
From his same position, Reynwyn fires yet another bolt of the shadowy energy into the back of the same gnoll!
Piety stomps forward, crashing into one of the gnolls.
Carric fires again, striking the gnoll just wounded by Reynwyn, and it drops to the ground, not even having managed to turn around or react to your attacks.
Reywyn's second blast smashes into the back of the remaining gnoll, and can hear the sizzle of flesh and fur from behind the tree as he ducks back out of sight. Revjak joins Piety at the corner of the lodge.
The gnoll yelps in pain, turning and fumbling for its bow. It hurriedly fires off an arrow at Carric behind the waist-high wooden debris.
Grey gnoll: dead
Red gnoll: -12
The crudely fletched arrow zings over Carric's head, missing him by a good five feet. The gnoll then ducks behind the cover of the corner of the lodge.
Arthur: 20/25
Carric: 29/29
Piety: 28/31
Revjak: 23/34
Reynwyn: 21/21
Piety clambers over the barricade in an attempt to prevent the gnoll from escaping.