Cleo and Aggah notice they are not looked at when Kemras looks at his stronger companions, which makes complete sense, so they look to Furnok as well.
I was thinking Wabbit would inspect the double doors from inside the wall while Kemras inspected the outside.
Looking to see if Wabbit could remove(unlikely) the wooden beam used to bar the doors
Unfortunately, the doors are locked. Either the noise of combat, or the fleeing Goblins have alerted the Fort against another assault.
Wabbit is inspecting the double doors from the inside. Can he open it or does that require too much height, strength?
HEY Furnok! Can you bash the door down? I'm not sure if Kemras can open it.
Wabbit will maintain his position at the top of the tower for now until the keep door gets picked/bashed in
Furnok unfortunately cannot hear.
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Furnok refuses and returns to the "secret" tunnel, fervently prioritizing his health and safety rather than progressing into yet more combat. If the rest of the party wishes for Furnok's aid, they will need to help alleviate his fears, likely with the promise of healing, protection from goblin soul bombs, and a long nap.
Furnok reels from the disappointment of the fox god
Furnok reels from the disappointment of the fox god
Wabbit yells down to the group
Wabbit will maintain his birdseye position for now until/if the group starts back towards Furnok
"Did anyone see where the goblin fell from?" she yells as she rushes to help Kemras, touching his back and willing his wounds to heal.[dice=cure critical wounds]8d8+16
Furnok is full of shame and cries out NOOOOOOO!!! at all the death that has happened. The Flail Snails give him a low score due to melodrama.
Cleo and Aggah use their shoulders on the door, straining with their tiny might, but no effect. So they do as Wabbit suggests and go see Furnok. "What's wrong?" Cleo asks with compassion, knowing the mess outside is bad, but they have seen much worse so far.
The snails are disappointed with me.
Cleo looks at the snails, for a moment, trying to understand, then back at one of her closest friends "Why?" she asks with empathy and confusion, in equal parts.
That I ran off. You can see it on their faces.
A snail wiggles in what must be agreement.
Kemras shifts slightly, not sure what to make of his companions' discussion as he follows Cleo and Furnok. "Getting into the place won't be easy, unless anyone knows how to fly." He scratches his head, before shaking it. "Or we could do it the common sense way. Does Wabbit have rope that we could use? If not, I do, and that should be much easier to climb."
Wabbit hustles in and sees Furnok out of sorts...Ok big guy. What do you wanna do from here?
Well, we have taken a beating. If we rest, we better get the heck away from here since evil spirits are after us.
Cleo gives him a quick hug, and then agrees "To the woods? Can you obscure our passage so they can't track us as well?"
Sure thing. We best head back to the unicorn to rest.
"We should take their bodies." Kemras says softly, waving at the Black Arrows. "They shouldn't be left here to rise as undead." After a moment, he looks to the others. "While my own spells remain mostly intact, are the rest of you struggling?"
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The group make a tactical retreat into the woodlands in order to rest and recuperate. It is only a few minutes before they hear the sound of hooves and a gentle musical effect, similar to chimes blowing in the wind. A white horse gracefully slows down and stops a few feet from the group, with a silky white mane and a pointy white horn. The unicorn nods respectfully, then turns around to escort the party further into the woods. It leaves no hoofprints as it walks.
Furnok and Wabbit try to obscure their tracks, and while they get rid of the most obvious ones, they're aware that a particularly skilled tracker could probably find them.
The unicorn leads the group a long ways into the woods. Sounds of wildlife are abundant, as the creatures seem to show no fear of the humanoids around the unicorn. Deer walk right past the group, squirrels bicker in the trees, and a hedgehog searches for food nearby.
The unicorn leads the group to a small hill rising from the forest floor. Through the slight mist surrounding it, the group sees that standing upon the hill is the trunk of a large oak tree, which was cut or broken about 10 feet up. The tree itself is dead, but vines and flowers grow around and on top of it in abundance. One side of the tree has vines draping over an entryway, which is flanked by two giant roots. A small collection of skulls rest nearby, with topsoil scrapped off.
I dunno bout you all. But I think I'm gonna sleep VERY well here
Looking around feeling very safe. I hope you all have some beeswax handy
"What are the skulls from?" Cleo wonders softly.
Because Cleo is uniquely capable of communicating with the unicorn, the unicorn answers with a nervous whine and the stomping of their hooves. Cleo understands that the skulls are from the undead, and the unicorn is trying to bury them in holy earth, but hasn't managed to make a hole large enough yet. Cleo gets a short and hazy vision of skeleton archers in the woods.
Cleo chats with the unicorn as the others prepare to sleep, then starts to dig deep head shaped holes. Using spear and dagger to loosen and her pot to scoop.
Furnok sighs in relief. We thank you Unicorn, we have been thrashed mightily and lost good friends. We have to figure out how to deal with that blasted thing.
Cleo will tell her stories from home.
Helping bury the skulls seems to please the Unicorn, as does the stories from home, and Furnok's verbal thanks.
Inside the treetrunk, beautiful painted tiles line the floor. In the center is a pool of crystal clear water, with an old and worn fountain of a naked elf lady carrying a large bowl upon her head, balanced with one hand. The inside of the trunk is adorned with artistic branches made of gold, and natural vines creep along the inside. From above only a sliver of sunlight breaks through the leaves and moss, creating a faint, dim light. Resting near the pool of water is a collection of items, all made of wood. An unstrung bow, an unfinished wand, an unstrung lute, a spear haft with a glass head laying next to it, a small bowl, a bunch of wooden beads with holes in the center of them, and a plain signal horn. Cleo gets the sense that the Unicorn is offering one of these, to be enhanced by a few strands of its own mane.
Unstrung bow: Becomes either a composite shortbow or longbow depending on the user intended, with the appropriate strength rating. Gains the +1 enchantment, and the Holy enchantment. If the attacker only makes a single attack on their turn, the damage from Holy is automatically 12.
Unfinished wand: When held in the hand while casting a spell, the spell is automatically enhanced by the Blissful metamagic. Once per day, the wielder can add the Consecrate metamagic to their next spell cast as a free action. Both of these metamagics do not require the user to cast their spell at a higher spell slot level.
Unstrung lute: When this lute is used to cast a bard spell, the caster level is increased by 1, and any DC is increased by 1. Once per day, the wielder can spend 10 minutes playing a relaxing tune which requires a perform (strings) skill check, which heals all allies within 30 feet a number of hitpoints equal to 3d8+the skill check's result. During this time, any allies suffering from an ongoing fear effect can make a new saving throw with a +4 bonus. If the wielder has no ranks in perform (strings), they gain a +2 bonus and count as trained.
Spear haft with glass head: Becomes a longspear appropriate to the size of the creature intended to use it. Gains the +1 enchantment, and the Holy enchantment. If the attacker only makes a single attack on their turn, the damage from Holy is automatically 12.
Small bowl: Drinking water out of this bowl can cure poison, disease, and purge evil curses. The imbiber gains a new saving throw for any poison, disease, or curse they are currently suffering from, with a +4 bonus. If the imbiber succeeds on the saving throw, the negative effect is immediately fully cured. This does not cure illnesses that require at least a wish or miracle to cure. A creature suffering from permanent ability drain or negative levels can drink and recover 1d4 ability points, or remove 1 negative level. This can only occur during a full moon.
Wooden beads: When strung with unicorn hair, these beads become a bracelet of good fortune, giving the wearer a permanent protection from evil magical effects. Once per day, the wearer can grant themselves or another creature the effects of the Good Hope spell.
Signal horn: When the signal horn is blown, all allies within 30 feet have their weapons count as silver (in addition to whatever material it is usually made of), and gain a +20ft bonus to their movespeed. This effect lasts for one hour. The horn can only be blown once per day.
The bowl looks mighty useful. Curses and such seem to be plaguing us a bunch.
Cleo smiles and nods in agreement to Furnok. She always leans toward things that help instead of hurt. But she waits to decide until the others can weigh in. Aggah wants nothing to do with the magic horse of course of course, so just GAWS loudly if anyone asks her.
Agreed on the bowl. Witches, Hags and curses can make for some really bad days
Kemras hesitates at his companions' excitement for the bowl, but finally nods slightly. "I've been hit with enough curses to know that they're deeply unpleasant. Personally, I'd prefer the wand, but the bowl has enough uses that I can't disagree with your choice."
Furnok will get the area ready for napping since he is exhausted.
ZNORRREEEEEEEE!
Bacon gnaws on Arrgghh
Aggah, who was happily plotting the horned horses every death, screams in surprise and starts chasing the Bacon with a stick.
What I wrote is still a little hazy, so I want to clear it up.
Small Bowl: Once per day, a living creature can drink water out of the wooden bowl to cure poison, disease, and purge evil curses. The imbiber makes a new saving throw for each and any poison, disease, and evil curse they are currently suffering from, with a +4 bonus to each. If the imbiber succeeds on the saving throw, the condition is immediately fully cured. This does not cure illnesses that require at least a wish or miracle to cure. This bowl can be used by multiple people, but only once per creature per day. In addition, a creature suffering from permanent ability drain or negative levels can drink and recover 1d4 ability points, or remove 1 negative level (even if permanent). This special ability must be done during the full moon, and can only be attempted once per full moon, though multiple creatures may attempt during that night.
How does that sound? Still good?
The group spend the night within the unicorn's secret shelter, which Kemras figures out was once the ruins of some ancient Elven structure, held together through all the magic radiating throughout the structure. Between his understanding of Elven architecture and trying to date magical decay, he places this structure thousands of years old, perhaps even ten thousand. He's able to find a bit of faded old Elvish writing carved into the stone. It says "We are Gaeleath and Imramarthree. We await the end of this world."
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As the party begins their return to the Fort, they come across several Ogre bodies lying in a clearing. Sitting in the middle of them are three large humanoids, about the size of Ogres. Their skin is dark green with brown lines haphazardly sliced upon their bodies, and they are fairly plump. Their limbs nearly reach the ground, with massive hands that could squish a skull. The three are clearly female, as is evident by their bust, and wear dresses made of thick, rough grey and green wool. They are laden with food and supplies, but no armour. Each one has a longspear that looks like the shaft still has bark, and the tip looks to be iron.
One of these creatures speaks in the Giant tongue to the group "Peace. I am Blagorodna. Te Ogres and Hags killed our home, our kids, and our husband. We have promised Urxehl with Ogre blood and Hag blood. You smallfolk have been killing them. Let us join, and slaughter them all."
Cleo has seen enough death and sorrow since leaving home that one more drop in the bucket should not rend her heart, but it does. "Peave returned, dead Blagorodna. I am Cleo, and with me are..." she introduces her companions, then says. "We welcome your help." she might have added that their goal is not to slaughter everyone, but to just stop them from killing, well, everyone around them in horrible ways, but alternatives are slim.
Noting their lack of armor, Cleo remembers "We have a couple of suits of hide armor, that is way big for us." Aggah did wear a glove as a hat for a few hours "It is from the enemy so I understand the desire to have nothing to do with any of their things, but surviving the fight is most important."
This... this must be from before Earthfall! The names are probably those who remained here... probably even from the time of Thassilon! They probably died not long after writing this, though. He brushes the lettering before cursing under his breath. If I had any paper to spare, I could take a rubbing. Note to self, buy paper once we get back to civilization.
Trolls? And their demon god. Alarming. He speaks in a low voice to his companions. These may be the trolls that we heard about at the dam. They could prove useful, but... just beware."
He tugs his kapenia scarf tighter, but offers the trolls a friendly, if not wholly honest smile. "We, too, seek their end." He says in Giant.
Wabbit does not bother to conceal his eyes as they turn liquid gold (detect evil) as he asks Did you help them conquer the fort before they betrayed you?