Xutal gives a light slap on Ri's arm. Once he has his attention he jabs a thumb over his shoulder while nudging his head in the direction of the rest of the party. Clearly wanting to return to the others, a hard look on his face.
Ri crouched at the edge of the clearing and stared around slowly. He whispered a curse quietly to himself. "私の目は燃えます を虐殺します 私たちがする必要があります"
Ri turned to Xutal and gestures back the way they have come, nodding in agreement. 'Yes... He is right. We need to get back!' .
It howls loudly as it strikes at Ryouichi
You hear a loud howl coming from the direction of where Xutal and Ryouichi sneaked off to to scout. The howl seeps horror into your bones.
Zaira spins the horse towards the sound of the howl, gauging whether she can charge that way.
Kirsteen's head snaps up at the sound and she then begins to cautiously make her way in their direction.
Xutal does not even flinch, dropping his crossbow, his elbow comes directly into the side of the things head. While his fist from the same arm snaps out for another strike.
Ryouichi growled sharply and leaped back, out of reach of the creature. "I don't know what you are beastie, but Erastil help you you chose the wrong people to jump!"
Leveling his bow on the creature he drew fletching to cheek, held for a moment before releasing, sending the arrow flying towards its chest.
Lou has been quiet the whole time. it is apperent that the cook is not quite accostomed to adventureing. but still there is something about him that indicates he may not have always been a cook.
at the sound of a howl lou's hand falls to his blade hilt. ready for the draw.
and he slips into the marsh toward the sound.
"Wasn't us," Opi muttered as she heeled Khashim into moving. Scanning around, she nudged Khashim into moving into a lope, hoping to catch whatever was happening of guard and have a moment assess the situation.
Besides, despite her size, she wasn't that great at sneaking.
Zaira steers her horse in that direction as best she can too.
One of the punches and the arrow both connect, the beast howls in pain and frustration. With its previous prey stepping back, it focuses on its new target, Xutal. It swipes at him and attempts to bite him
Not satisified, it slashes at him with its claws
But both swipes go wide, not landing a blow.
From the side of the bush, another figure bursts into the clearing. A loud battle cry radiates through the entire area as Bjorn jumps on top of the creature, his large sword in one hand.
The creature falls to the blow, almost nearly being hacked in half. However it remains breathing. Bjorn stops his battle cry. "Needed some help, little brothers? What devil of creature is it?"
You hear continued roaring coming from the forest, some of pain, some of frustration, finally you hear a long battle cry followed by crashing through the forest. You suddenly realize that Bjorn went barreling through the forest as a clear trail through the growth has been left behind.
Opi steered to follow it, picking up the pace as she went. If someone was going to be kind enough to give her a path, she was going to follow it so long as it took her towards the battle. Someone might be hurt. More importantly, some of them might be goblins.
Xutal's will attempts to block the attack as he effortlessly avoids the claw attacks. At Bjorn he bows slightly then grabs the beast ready to finish it.
"Any objections?"
If none come he breaks its neck with a smooth motion.
Kirsteen picks up her pace as she follows the trail blazed by Bjorn. Men are so impatient.
Ri slides the arrow back in to his quiver and crouches down, studying the beast. "Nice timing Bjorn. Xutal end it. We will get no words from this beast!" Nodding softly, Ri stands and begins to circle the clearing.
"Where did he come from? There may be more!"
realizing the battle ended and there were no injuries Lou is relieved his sword was not needed.
Lou takes a bearing of his location and the best way to continue to the hermit's hut.
As Kirsteen is following the trail Lou is heading back toward the main road. We should get moving to the Hermit's hut he says as he passes.
Zaira gets her horse partway there before the fight is over - and seems surprised to see what they were fighting.
"What is that thing?"
You all arrive at the clearing to see the monster and the surrounding area of gore. Xutal looks a little banged up and Bjorn is covered in blood from what you assume is the monster.
Just kidding, Zaira knows nothing!
Opi looked around. "That thing does not look pretty," she pointed out in a reasonable tone, and then glanced over at Xutal, "And neither do you." She rode over, rubbing her hands together, and murmured, "Let us see what we can do...
Opi's hand glows for a moment as she taps Xutal. "There. You should feel a bit better now." She grinned. "You certainly look better - although not as good as me."
"Nice work dealing with that creature. Hopefully there aren't anymore around here though. Now, let's resume our trek to Walthus's place and our hunt for goblins."
I agree with Kirsteen on that
assuming we are all ok of course first.
Lou for some reaon glances around at the plants in the marsh. I have heard some exotic spices grow here wonder if I'll find any
Ri shook his head softly. "Not yet. Come on I think I can track to its lair!" He nodded softly and began to follow the trail slowly, making sure to keep with the group in case of another attack.
"Why try to find its lair? It's dead. It also isn't what attacked the caravan and it doesn't have a bounty on its head either. If we waste too much time, one of the other groups may find the goblin camp before us."
As always, Kirsteen tries to be practical with their planning.
Xutal shows the lingering damage before it disappears from his body by the healing magic.
"That thing is far more dangerous then a few goblins. As it was able to sneak up on the two of us. I would imagine the reason it goes unnoticed is because no one is left alive. It's lair may hold the remains of its victims, if nothing else it will serve as a place to fall back to if needed. We do not know what else is in this marsh. The more safe sites we find the better."
"Fine, but let's be quick about it."
Not trusting the men to be quick about this, Kirsteen begins following the creatures track as well. Attempting to find it's lair as well.
I swear, if he wasn't Sandru's brother I would have just told him to shut up and keep hunting for the damn goblins.
Ri makes to speak but Xutal jumps in before him. He frowned for a moment, before nodding. "Besides there may be more. If there are more it is our duty to put them down now, before they spread. As Xutal said, if it could sneak up on us, it has to be dangerous!"
"Well, if we must." Opi looked at the battered corpse and shrugged. "Last thing we need is something else trying to eat the caravans and locals. The Goblins are a big enough hassle as it is."
Opi slipped the safety catch on the crossbow back on. "If we can trace it back its lair, of course. If it's that sneaky we might not be able to. Either way, let's not waste any time on this - there are other groups out there. I want as many ears as I can get. Wolf chow is expensive."
You follow the tracks back to a large heaped pile of vegetation that seems to have washed up on shore from the nearby river. You find a small narrow opening on the southern side. The entrances is cramped and dripping with moisture. As you make your way inside, you notice the walls are decorated with two dozen articles of shredded and bloodstained clothing.
You also find what appears to be a mound of what looks like a stack of nearly a dozen muddy spheres. As you looks closer you notice they are poorly preserved heads, mostly human, but a few smaller one. Only bone and scraps of hair remain.
You count eleven total skulls
Ri moves in to the hut and begins to search through the mess, looking for any sign that there was anything to identify the people. "Can somebody grab the heads? We should take them back to town with us so that we can give them at least a little bit of peace in this life!"
Kirsteen looks about for other tracks and signs of whether or not the creature lived alone or if there could be more living here.
Lou moves to gather some of the heads and examines the clothing as well. looking for any signs of familarity to them. perhaps someone he may know or reported as missing.
maybe signs of the old hermit we are going to see.
Zaira seems a bit sad to find skulls in the mud, but wordlessly helps extract them to take back.
Kirsteen, all the tracks appear to be the same size and shape, leading you to conclude that there was only one creature.
Ryouichi and Lou, some of the clothing does look familiar, mostly belong to young adults who "ran off" for a different life in another city. You begin to think they didn't run off at all, but ended up here.
"I don't think there's much here for us to do," Opi said sadly. "Let's get to the hut. Maybe he'll know more about who this lot are and why they're just bones in the mud now."
Ri stands up and nods sadly, pausing for a moment to bend his head in prayer. "Erastil guide these poor souls to their judgment!"
He unslung his bow once more and turned to the group. "Right. We should get moving again. We have the skulls so... that is something at least. We will see what Walthus has to tell us!" He nodded softly, before heading back the way they had come.
Xutal moves on with the others not saying a word.
"Well, I only see one set of tracks, so whatever it was lived in here alone. So at least there aren't anymore of those things around here to deal with."
Kirsteen begins making her way towards Walthus's house with the others.
Ri smiles shyly at Kirsteen and nods. "Thank you for checking on that. I... I had completely forgotten that was what we were doing!" He bowed slightly to the woman before turning back to the trail before them.
'Luckily someone remembered or we would have had to come back...'
Lou follows along, keeping quiet his thoughts losot on other things
Forgot? Its where I been trying to get to, whatever
You continue to follow the trail, finally coming again to the riverside. A squat house looks like it may flow away at any moment. You can see a small pen, full of snakes. However they seem to be cornered to one side.
A small halfling walks about, apparently limping. As you get closer, he spots you and slowly walks towards you. "Hello travelers, what brings you to my home?"
Ri waves to the Halfling, before speaking. "Walthus it is good to see you. We were wondering whether we could talk to you about the Goblins here abouts?" Ri stops and leans casually on his bow. "We are hunting!"
Kirsteen moves up beside Ri and adds: "A group of them razed a caravan not too far from here and we are searching for the ones responsible."
Ri nods and smiles. "We actually have one of the Guards with us who was with the caravan. They have declared open season on goblins in town. There will be a lot of unskilled people out here hunting. We hope to prevent any more harm befalling the village by getting their first. Can you help?"