Nitina is characteristically quiet and reserved upon waking. She spends some considerable time in silent prayer, and then listens to the group discussing the possibilities for finding a cure, though she offers no suggestions of her own.
Spellcraft checkers KING ME:
Perception K:
Perception N:
The next morning, you are supprised to see what must be Nysro with a head on his shoulders. The previously fleshy human face is now covered with scales. In addition, his features appear much more reptilian, but still somewhat human.
Klinn's growing comfort with riding his horse is made clear that morning as they set off (whenever and wherever they happen to do so).
Nysro speaks to the group that morning over breakfast. "Yessssss, thessse tracksss. They come from the eassst, and look to be from the werebeassst." Klinn moves over to check out the tracks. K(nature)
Now, onto the game :P
Perception
Karina looks a bit impatient. "So, is anyone going to come with me? It's fine if you don't, but I want to see if there's anything I can do about my bite." She pauses and sighs. "Who knows, maybe you should follow those tracks, it might lead back to his den."
What do you do?
"Maybe we should check out the tracks first. For all we know the witch'll make us do crazy things, or maybe she hates... our kind."
In a pack setting, natural lycanthropes almost always dominate the afflicted ones. The exceptions are even more dangerous, whereby an afflicted werewolf might by smarter or more powerful than the natural ones who infected it.
Regardless of society, werewolves like to travel light. They leave their spoils in hidden caches within or near their lairs. The nature of these lairs varies from werewolf to werewolf. Some use isolated cottages to maintain the illusion of normalcy, others live in caves in the mountains. Still others might use subterranean dens.
K(Nature)
"Maybe she does, maybe she doesn't. I doubt we will find any cure in a werewolf's den. We might be able to find this one's stash by following his tracks, but it is possible that there are more werewolves who use the same stash. Half of us have been bitten. If we split up, chances are we won't survive an attack like that one. If we don't, we can't pursue both wealth and health."
Klinn looks to Karina nervously. "Sis, I don't want to leave you, but I'm also scared. What if you go wolfy and get violent? Who knows if you will change tonight or not? And if the three of you turn on us? We wouldn't stand a chance. What are we going to do, sis?!"
Karina frowns. "I'm scared too! I don't know what to do! I don't even know if that witch can do anything about the bite. But I don't think we'll find any kind of cure in a werewolf den. And I don't think there's much time to spare before all I can do is cross my fingers and hope that I fought it off on my own." She sighs. "Maybe you should keep your distance from me."
K(Nature) For the item above:
Perception:
K[Nature) For what to do about werewolf bites:
K(Nature): What do I know about lycanthropy and bites:
"Well frak that!" Vlad says standing up from where he had been crouching examining the tracks. "We will not" Vlad says lingering on each word now "Give in to fear"
"I don't know about you all but I am going to the witch. I believe she is the best bet to find a cure. I will ride as fast as I can, and I will get those damn mites and I will get an answer for how to undo the cursed werewolf bites. I don't know what you all think is the best way to find the cure, but that is what I am going to do. With that Vlad jumps on top of his horse, draws his bow, and casts Dancing Lights to light his way. "Who's coming?"
"I guess I am."
"Well I'm in of course."
EDIT:
"I think I can fix the tents, bedrolls, bows, and leather armor that got burned up in the cart. As for the rest, well, there's nothing we can do about it."
"All right, let's try that approach," Arastine says, hopping atop her horse and preparing to ride southeast.
You travel southeast through the rolling, rocky hills for about five hours. You encounter no unusual creatures or terrains, and it is, all in all, a fairly boring trek. You soon reach an ancient, massive, 100-foot tall sycamore standing atop a hill . A few dead mites and kobolds can be found on the grounds surrounding the tree.
Perception:
"What a gigantic tree!" After marveling over the gigantic tree, Karina scans the area and points to a nearby ravine. "Looks to me like a buncha things come through over there often. See those tracks? And look, mites. I'm sure we'll be able to find some live ones around here to take back to the witch."
[ooc]Also, I am at 12/19 HP, which could turn out to be alright, but if Pete's willing to part with a spell slot today, it might be worth it to get me closer to full.
"Looks like whatever made those tracks came through sometime last night. Maybe they travel through here every night?"
As Nysro prowles around, he says "Look here! The creaturessss have a tunnel here, buy the tree. It looks sssssmall, but I could ssssssqueezsse through, I think.
(medium creatures are considered to be squeezing and take a -4 penalty to attack rolls and AC. Additionally, all movement through the tunnel counts as difficult terrain. You do not need to roll escape artist to maneuver through the tunnel. Large creatures cannot enter).
"Well, those sure are mite tracks. So I'm sure those tunnels are swarming with those things. I don't like the idea of squeezing through those tunnels, much less ones made by those gross things. But I'd rather do that than wait around till the next full moon to see if I'll try to kill the rest of you."
"We probably want a replenishing supply of mites in case we need more answers, correct? Let's try to just grab a few and not wipe out or drive off the entire colony. So we either need to lure them out and ambush a few of them, or go in, quietly, and grab a couple."
"I like the idea of luring them out, but I just don't know how we might do that. Should we just stand here and wait for them?"
"Well, my guess is that they'll be normally too scared of us to come out of their hidey holes. They may already know we're here. And we have to keep in mind that these things may be weak, but they're in close with bigger things. You know, like giant spiders, centipedes, and cave fishers. But I might have a few ideas to trap them. Let me think for a second."
K(Nature)
Do I know anything about the architecture/dimensions/tunnel system patterns of their lair? Like, are we dealing with a lot of single file corridors, or do they open up into antechambers or what? In addition, how do they typically defend these corridors?
tl;dr Tell me about their dwellings and what we might expect to find :)
Vlad begins to smile, "Have any of you ever wondered where the phrase "smoked them out" comes from? Hunting. More specifically, situations exactly like this one. I suggest that we pour some of the fuel from our lanterns on the roots on the side of the tree on the opposite side from the burrow. Then we light it on fire. The fire and the smoke forces all of the little buggers to come out of their hidey holes and we capture as many as we can as they come out (I suggest that Karina uses her sleep spell to help us with this) and we kill the rest. Let's try to get at least 3. It is the fastest way to do it."
Vlad smiles "If that doesn't work I can just use ghost sound to make their little nest filled with as loud a noise as I can possibly make. I am thinking the sound of bombs going off in their little lair. And if that isn't enough to convince them, I can use silent image to make it look like they have a scary visitor..."
Vlad thinks for a second, "Better yet. Let's do all of that at once."
Vlad looks down the hole. "Whatever we do, let's do it fast, we need to get these little buggers to the witch, if we don't get there in time, then the rest of it doesn't matter. And we need to leave time to get to the cure. For these reasons I say we smoke the little --------- out."
Vlad uses ghost sound. Everyone begins to hear The Final Countdown by Europe. Hahahaha! Oh that would be funny.
Karina nods at Vlad when he mentions silent image, "That was my idea. I was thinking I could create the illusion that a particular tunnel was collapsing, and then we could trap them. Unfortunately, I'm out of sleep scrolls, and I'm not familiar enough with the incantation that I know it off the top of my head. We sneak in, find a group of them, and if they run away from us in a nearby tunnel, then we fake a cave in. They think they're trapped, and we can snatch them up." She makes a grasping motion in the air triumphantly.
She continues, "Of course, if the illusion doesn't work, then we'll have to go in deeper. Which could spell trouble. I've heard stories about how mites love using guerilla tactics, with poison darts and daggers and the sort. Even worse, they may try to lead us to their bigger vermin friends. And I don't think we want to try to start a long fight in single file corridors that we're squeezing in."
She addresses Vlad again, "I don't... think we should resort to smoking them out just yet. Like Arastine said, we may need a source of mites later on. Plus, who knows who we might piss off in the process."
we'll have to go in deeper.
Nitina speaks for the first time in a while. Her voice is more uncertain than her usual calm demeanor. Whatever we do, we need to do it quickly, I feel. I'd rather smoke them out now and have to find a new source of mites later than wait until... Her voice trails off.
"We lost all our lamp oil in the fire." Klinn says. "But we could send Nysro down. He could give us an idea of the shape of the tunnel and I could recall him very quickly or he could lure them out by backing up. The combination of Nysro, ghost sounds and silent image should do the trick."
K(Nature): How many mites would usually live in a hive of this size?
K(Nature): What fearful things exist in their mythology?
K(Nature): What Natural Predators do they have?
Vlad thinks for a moment lighting a cigarette with the tip of his finger. "I like that option perhaps best of all. But before we begin let's search all around the tree for any and every other exit. If they all come pouring out from directions that we cannot control this could spiral out of control very quickly. So let's start by searching all around the roots of the tree and then send Nystro in."
Vlad looks at the people around him, takes a hard drag and then frowns "Well if no one else is going to do anything I am going to search the tree for all of the other exits""
Perception: 26 Vlad searches the tree for entrances.
After this Vlad takes his bedroll and begins to work with it and bullets to make a bundle that you are not quite sure what it is for.
Vlad then stores this bundle in his pack.
"That should make things much more interesting."
"By the way does anyone know what the mites fear? If I use silent image to scare them I want to know exactly what will be the best."
Vlad has just put together an improvised incendiary device by placing 8 rifle cartridges into the center of the bundle itself with the powder of 2 other cartridges poured into the area surrounding the bullets. Vlad then tossed the remaining parts of the bullets into the center explosive area as well. Please let me know if there are any tweaks or things that need to be explained about the method of construction.
You find no other entrances under or around the tree. It does, however, look like the tree might be at least partially hollow with sizable holes higher up on the trunk (the lowest is 30 feet up and could allow a medium creature through with ease) through which you might be able to gain entrance.
Karina walks with Vlad as he scouts for different potential entrances. As they walk, she jots her brain to see if she can think of things that mites are scared of typically:
K(Nature):
"I can't think of any particular being they're scared of. As far as I know, they try to avoid most living things. I still think we're best off having them run away from us, then using an illusion of a cave-in to make them think they're trapped. And I think I could make a damn convincing cave in. Say, you know how to cast Ghost Sound, right Vlad? We could work together and make it seem as real as possible." For once today, Karina seems to be legitimately excited, rather than concerned about herself.
Karina looks all the way up at the entrance 30 feet up, then shakes her head and giggles nervously, "All the way up there, huh? I am... not much of a climber. But we could make it up there." She fiddles with her hair. "As long as I don't look down of course."
Vlad looks up at the tree and the hole and decides he wants to look inside the hole. He jumps up and climbs up the tree.
Climb:
Climb:
He holds himself just outside of the hole and looks inside
Vlad climbs up the tree and looks in through the hole.
Initiative Order:
Nitina: 18+
Karina: 18-
Vlad: 16
Arastine: 9
DM: 7
Pete: 3
Klinn: 2
Arastine:
Karina:
Klinn:
Nitina:
Pete:
Vlad:
"Spiders! It just had to be spiders!" Vlad shouts.
Vlad, seeing no other options without setting things on fire, climbs away from the opening.
Climb:
Vlad shouts and lunges for a nonexistent handhold. He tumbles to the ground, bouncing off a root and landing prone in I12 .
A big, black spider appears through the hole, and it begins shoving its legs through the hole .
HP: 8/21
Arastine will draw her revolver, cast Mage Armor upon herself, and expend a spell slot to make her revolver a +1 weapon for the next minute.
K(Nature):
Karina, who is not on her mount currently, gasps when she sees Vlad miss his handhold and land a couple of feet away from her.
She takes a step back to K12, draws her whip, then casts Silent Image. As the spider makes its attempt to squeeze out of the hole, the passageway directly behind it is sealed with a sudden growth of bark.