Thorek grins back at Aubrin and executes a sharp salute in the Kraggondan style, then listens intently to the preparations.
"Perfect, I've got my own horse whenever I need it!" Gaius says cheerfully. No more walking for me! On the topic of blighted Fey, he absentmindedly scratches at his chest. That explains what that ailment was. I was miserable for a week! Thought I was going to die. I wonder where it comes from... If we come across any blighted Fey, perhaps I can study them!
"I can prepare fire for trolls and can help us with camping, all through magic!" he offers, clearly pleased with himself for being able to help out.
________
Lily just beams at Galius remark. "Well. Let's not waste any time. Hopefully we can find more help ," she says in an optimistic tone.
"Lily, maybe you and I can whip up some alchemist's fire and/or acid to take with us in case of trolls," Bree adds.
"I believe there were some of those items looted from the Hobgoblin alchemist's tents--3 of each if I remember correctly," Undari says, adding, "and I will prepare a few fire spells to contribute as well."
Gaius takes several deep breaths and looks at the ground. I can do this. It is for the good of the camp. Everyone respects him and he makes good decisions. It is for the good of the camp. With a final deep breath, he pushes aside the tent's canvas flap and steps inside.
"Th-Thorek... If you have, um, if you have a moment? I think that Cedric has, you know, been doing, uh, a good job, but have you thought about doing it? You know being the, uh, the leader of the refugees?" he stammers. Ok, I got everything out, off to a good start here.
Thorek sighs, the turns to face Gaius squarely. "I already had this chat with Undari, lad. I'm a soldier, but I'm not much of a leader. These scars and my exile will attest to that. I have a head for tactics and I fight as well as anyone I've ever met, but
I'm no good at inspiring speeches or keeping people's chin up. 'Sides, you said yourself Cedric is doing a good job, and he's one of these folk. You and I, we're outsiders to them."
"I fear that Cedric is a mite distracted," Cyrioul adds. "Pardon me for eavesdropping and interjecting. However, I worry for him. The death of the shrine's caretaker, Noelan, and the capture of Rhyna have already been weighing heavily upon him. Now he has learned that the Riverwood Shrine has been put to the torch..."
Cyrioul pauses to shake his head sadly.
"Aubrin and I disagree on what to do. She does not want to intervene, believing he must find his own strength. I think it would be folly to leave him adrift. Then again, I myself have been shirking my duties. I have dedicated greater focus to trying to contact Elhona and let her know I am alive than overseeing the labors and crafts of our small community."
A brief look of remembrance crosses the elf's face.
"I practically forgot. When Cedric and I returned from the Ironfang camp, we were waylaid by an owlbear. They're great, feathery beasts of hunger and madness. Thankfully we did not have to fight the creature, and we conceived a novel if rather...uncouth way to evade it. Nevertheless, if such creatures frequent the Chernasardo, then they present one more hazard to be wary of when you travel to the ranger fort."
Gaius jumps a little when Cyrioul makes his presence known. Damn! He practically came out of nowhere! It is hard to focus on anything else when dealing with Thorek... "I mean, historically, uh, speaking, the soldiers are the, uh, the heroes! The person people rally to. Usually it, you know, um, starts with someone who can make decisions, so, like, in battle! You know what to do and people's lives are on the line, and then people respect that, um, that sort of thing," he continues to ramble.
His eyes light up for a moment. Contorting his face to reflect an imperial over-seriousness, grabbing an invisible lapel, and leaning on an equally nonexistent cane, he continues on in a deep voice. "Leadership is the selfless privilege of the elite, thrust upon him by his eager subjects!" The ease of which he transitioned into this persona suggests it is well practiced.
Moving over from his discussions with the scouts, Undari chimes in, "This leadership role you speak of, Gaius, he inspires loyalty in the troups and motivates them during the drills?"
(Assuming this is confirmed), Undari continues, "That sounds like a good role for you, Thorek, as far as I can tell."
Thorek looks down at his hands for a long moment, then up at Cyrioul. "Is Cedric okay with this?" At the elf's nod, the warpriest's scarred face becomes solemn, and he executes another salute.
"Then for the good of the many I accept this responsibility, and the role of Commander of the Hemlock Harriers." The dwarf snaps a mock glower at the others and barks "Now let's go find those damned Rangers!"
Gaius' relief is fleeting as he flinches in response to Thorek's bark. Gods know the refugees will listen to him!
Business concluded, he slips out of the tent and finds something, anything else to do than hang around.
________
"I think Cedric longs for something simpler, more down to earth," Cyrioul explains. "I think it will come as a relief to him if he can provide spiritual guidance instead of martial."
.....
You spend the rest of the day packing for a long trek, and on the morrow you set out for Fort Nunder. You trust that Hidden Hope is in safe hands, under the care of Aubrin, Caladra, Cedric, and Cyrioul. The recent rain leaves the ground soft and the forest fragrant. The greenery reverberates with the calls of birds and the waning song of cicadas.
Undari moves easily through the undergrowth, leaving no trail behind, casting Nature's Path to optimize their travel path.
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"I'll be honest, I was a little bit dreading trying to move through forest, but this is easy! I think I'm getting the hang of this woodcraft thing!"
"A little magic goes a long way," Gaius says mostly to himself, comfortably mounted upon a beautiful white mare. "Doesn't it?" he coos to the horse, rubbing her mane.
________
Lily is still rather fascinated by her new compatriots choosing to spend more time asking them questions rather than paying attention to any dangers.
Bree's magic expedites the party's journey, rising up out of the shallow forest valley that cradles Hidden Hope. However, she and Gaius abruptly halt your progress as they hear something worrying. A cacophony of animalistic grunts wafts from somewhere nearby, occasionally punctuated by a shrill growl. Some sort of large beast is afoot.
"We should approach cautiously, but it is concerning there is a large beast so close to the camp," Undari says quietly to Bree.
Bree tries to sneakily approach the sounds to see what made them.
After alerting the group, Gaius dismounts his steed and crouches low. While not particularly skilled or talented, it is clearly a practiced motion. ”Are we going to try to put it down or sneak onwards?” he asks the group before looking to Thorek for leadership.
"Let's just wait until we find out. Who knows what it could be. It could just be a harmless deer. I'll follow Bree too," Lily says quietly.
Undari will join as well, a bit further behind. Maybe he will be able to calm this creature.
"I'm not too interested in fighting every beast that we wander across. Let's wait for Bree and Lily to report back, and draw it off or loop around it unless it poses some greater danger."
As the trio prepare to investigate, the sounds grow louder and more violent. The crash of splintering wood is punctuated by nearly human screams, which Undari recognize as coming from terrified rabbits. What kind of predator could be preying upon them, however, he cannot yet say.
The pair of beasts look like bears at first, but this is betrayed by the coat of feathers that complement their ratty fur. With avian beaks and ursine claws, they tear apart the ground in order to unearth a rabbit warren within the adjacent hillside. Bree easily identifies the creatures as a mated pair of owlbears, frightfully bloodthirsty and aggressive predators that are the bane of all those who brave the forest, whether man or beast.
One of them raises its broad, feathered head from its work ripping apart the rabbit warren. It seems to sniff the air, sensing larger prey, though not yet fully detecting your presence several yards behind it.
"Cute in a rip you limb from limb sort of way," she whispers in awe of the owlbears.
Undari backs away slowly, whispering once they have pulled back, "The are too near the camp, and will likely attack once they find it. We need to get the rest of our group and eliminate this threat."
Sounds serious out there... I know the sound of a rabbit screaming, but damn that is too close to home with those three out there! Gaius is a little pale, waiting in the woods while something horrific is going on nearby, but waits for the scouts to return.
Bree nods in agreement to Undari. "It's a shame, but I think you're right. Unless you have some way of taming them?" she asks hopefully.
"Tame the giant cranky deadly weird magical hybrid animals. Yeah sure if Undari has any ideas. As I said earlier they are kind of cute."
Thorek sighs and begins measuring out coils of chain for his dorn-dergar. "So be it, can't leave them to attack our people. Fan out if you can, I'll draw it's attention and we'll take them from all sides. Focus on one at a time to bring each down quickly."
The dwarf waits for the others to slip away, slowly counting to ten in his head before bellowing at the top of his lungs in Dwarven, "Hei kjære! Jeg vil ikke drepe deg. Så løp bort nå, ellers blir jeg tvunget til å drepe deg. Starting to spin his dorn-dergar, he murmurs a prayer and golden flames slither across the dorn-dergar.
"Hey, beasts! I don't want to kill you, so run along or be struck down."
”There is a chance I could tame them, but it would truly have to be a blessing directly from Erastil. Still, I am willing to try, Undari replies to Lily’s question.
.....
Thorek's bellowing voice draws the owlbears' attention from the nearly breached rabbits' warren.
One turns about on all fours, while its mate rears upon its hind legs and issues a hooting roar. Both creatures possess bloodshot eyes, ever crazed and ever hungry. The promise of larger prey ensures that an attack is imminent.
Undari moves into melee on his turn, attempting to gain a flank or provide one.
Spinning up his dorn-dergar, Thorek murmurs a spell of protection and then strafes opposite Undari, trying to pincer on of the beasts between them.
Gaius holds his ground bravely near the back of the group, far away from the Owlbears. Plucking a spiderweb from a nearby tree, he tosses is towards the predators, while muttering an arcane incantation. Just as it hits the ground, the web bursts into a mountain of sticky strands!
________
With her bow in one hand, Bree will cast a grease spell underneath the non-webbed owlbear. (Ref DC14)
Lily tries to attack one of the closer owlbear and hesitates before she fires. "What's wrong with me. I actually think they are adorable," she says while her arrow goes wide.
Undari enters the fray first and delivers a strong blow across one of the owlbear's filthy, feathery hide, drawing a small font of blood. The creature's enraged mate shambles around and retaliates, but Undari's magically hardened skin shrugs off the sharp claws.
Thorek moves forward and flanks one of the beasts with Undari, but his dorn-dergar only grazes his target's feathers. Likewise, Lily's arrow fails to land. However, Boudra looses as crossbow bolt from atop the short hill, and her shot sinks deeply into her wounded target.
One of the creatures is caught up in Gaius' magical web, but the other one both resists the web's hold and also keeps upright as Bree's grease wells up from the dirt beneath its claws. Thus, the second owlbear unleashes its fury upon Undari, and although his ironskin protects him from its claws, its beak chomps down upon his arm - but thankfully, his magic keeps the wound from being truly dire.
Gaius pulls one of the feeble wands he collected back at camp from his haversack. I don't even know if this will work, I can barely feel the magic within it! More like a stick than a wand at this point. Raising it overhead, he swings it in the wounded Owlbear's direction and, fortunately, a bolt of force hurtles towards it.
Casting what is now a worthless piece of wood to the ground, he steps behind a nearby boulder.
________
Undari reels from the multiple impacts of the attacks from the savage attacks, silently thanking Erastil for the added protection from the spell. He slashed hard at the “orange” owl bear he is flanking with Thorek, then steps to the west to try and put some distance between himself and the other raging owlbear.
Sidestepping away from the owlbear, Thorek brings the blazing steel head of the dorn-dergar cracking down onto the owlbear's skull.
Bree raises her bow and fires at the second owlbear (Fred).
Undari's attack is hampered as he steps away from the one beast, but his magical protection continues to preserve him against beak and claws.
Thorek's steal and Gaius' magic both strike their targets true. Meanwhile, the other owlbear finds its taloned paws slipping out from beneath it as it navigates the magical grease, and it tumbles to the ground, its feathers becoming coated in the grease.
Bree and Lily both land arrows upon their targets.
Boudra steps forward, and as she draws back the string on her crossbow, she invokes a baneful spell upon the owlbears.