Flandrion says, "I see no need to chase them. We may as well continue on to buy the horses we want before we head back to town."
"Agreed!"
You find Horseshoe House fairly easily where they are selling heavy horses for 220 gold and light horses for 85 gold.
The ranch house is surrounded by a palisade that is about 20ft high, and each corner has a tower another 15ft above the wall. Even now before dark, each of the towers has a guard with a crossbow in it.
"It does seem rather heavily fortified for a horse stable."
"Hail!" Garekk calls out to those within. "We were directed here to buy some horses. Would someone be available to treat with us?"
As an aside to his companions, Garekk mutters "Be on your toes. I understand caution, but this fortress they have seems a bit much in my mind."
An older man just inside the gates comes over, "I am Kortan, what kind of horses are you interested in."
"The kind that will get us where we want to go and get us back again without undue hardships."
"Indeed, what I meant was do you need a charger, or a lighter horse; about how many hands tall?"
Flandrion says, "We would like to get 3 light horses and a pony. We want them for traveling and do not intend to get into combat while mounted."
Flandrion says, "We would like to get 3 light horses and a pony. We want them for traveling and do not intend to get into combat while mounted."
"Of course, if you come this way I can show you our stock. Most of our ponies sell for 40 gold, light horses for 85 gold, but if you buy today I can probably sell you all 4 for 300 gold."
Flandrion replies, "That's quite a deal. Only 5 gold more than buying them all separately. Why don't we take a look at them before we buy them one at a time."
While no magic is detected, Garekk gets a feeling that Kortan was hoping to make some extra money off ignorant foreigners. He and the other works here all seem slightly on edge.
"Come this way then, I am sure we can come to a mutually agreeable price."
Flandrion follows Garekk in and looks around.
Draalûsh follows the others in to have a look at horses.
"Everything looks fine to me. What's all the fuss?"
The horses look like they are in good or even great condition. But all the people in the area seem on edge.
Draalûsh will keep his eyes open to see if can figure out why everyone's on edge.
"Nice horses, these!"
350 gold for the 4 animals and all their saddles and other accoutrements.
"Would anyone happen to be in need of a priestess?" Hailey asks.
"one of the herders is quite ill, an infected animal wound I think. I believe he could use your services."
Flandrion will accompany Hailey.
Suspecting that this is no animal, Hailey looks at the men in her party with a glance of warning.
"Take me to him."
You are taken inside one of the longhouses that the hands stay in. There you find a man with his torso and left arm covered in crude bandages, he is covered in sweat and clearly has a high fever.
Draalûsh will follow Hailey and Flandrion. Even though his nursing skills are uninspiring.
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Garekk nods at the mans proposal. "That seems a bit steep, my friend.. but this is our only option. We will pay 350 gold for the 4 horses, saddles, and all accouterments."
With these words, Garekk picks 4 of the best that he was offered, and then inspects all of the tack and saddles for proper care and maintenance. Once he is assured that the horses are in good shape and the leather goods are well oiled and cared for, he counts out the money and hands it over.
"I appreciate your honesty. I think that you are a hard man, but decent, and you have my respect."
Flandrion will look the injured man over to see if he can notice anything.
Hailey will take the lead, expecting to find that he's been bitten by ghouls again.
"Sir? Can you speak? Does anyone know of the circumstances of how he was injured?"
She will take 10 on the check, which, with her +3 wisdom bonus, results in a 13.
His wounds look very different, you can feel the heat from the infection around a bite on his left arm, and the claw wounds on his chest and arm are quite deep. The bite looks too big to be from a ghoul.
"He was found in the fields yesterday morning beside two dead horses, they looked like something ripped them apart."
Flandrion will look the injured man over to see if he can notice anything.
[Dice=Perception check] 1d20+8
You are fairly sure most of these wounds were caused when the man was on his back, not standing on his feet.
Garekk nods at the mans proposal. "That seems a bit steep, my friend.. but this is our only option. We will pay 350 gold for the 4 horses, saddles, and all accouterments."
With these words, Garekk picks 4 of the best that he was offered, and then inspects all of the tack and saddles for proper care and maintenance. Once he is assured that the horses are in good shape and the leather goods are well oiled and cared for, he counts out the money and hands it over."I appreciate your honesty. I think that you are a hard man, but decent, and you have my respect."
"Excellent, you and your friends should hurry though if you want to make it back to town before dark."
"Has anything like this attack happened before?"
Flandrion comments, "It looks like whatever attacked him knocked him down first."
Hailey will then draw on her vast knowledge of religion to see if any undead creature on record can do this.
Taking 10 for a result of 17.
It is not caused by undead as far as you can tell.
"Has anything like this attack happened before?"
"animal attacks happen on occasion but they normally aren't this violent."
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"If they're not normally this violent then it was provoked, or bewitched."
Hailey will turn to Alice, and use her power to speak with animals.
"Alice, you know the animals of this area better than I do. Any ideas what could be responsible here?"
Alice will go up to the injured man and sniff him, using her power of scent.
She will also use perception, though she perceives things as cats do, in a world of predator (dogs, wolves, non-domesticated animals of considerable size, other cats) and prey (mice, fish, birds, snakes).
Hailey, though expecting nothing, will use Detect Magic on the man. If this doesn't work, she'll do this the easy way and use her scrolls of Cure Lt. to restore him. Then we can ask him the questions we need to know.
"If they're not normally this violent then it was provoked, or bewitched."
Hailey will turn to Alice, and use her power to speak with animals.
"Alice, you know the animals of this area better than I do. Any ideas what could be responsible here?"
Alice will go up to the injured man and sniff him, using her power of scent.
She will also use perception, though she perceives things as cats do, in a world of predator (dogs, wolves, non-domesticated animals of considerable size, other cats) and prey (mice, fish, birds, snakes).
[dice=Perception]1d20 + 5
Hailey, though expecting nothing, will use Detect Magic on the man. If this doesn't work, she'll do this the easy way and use her scrolls of Cure Lt. to restore him. Then we can ask him the questions we need to know.
Alice thinks it might be a big quadruped.
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"Thanks, Alice," Hailey states. "Big quadruped, you know, a four-legged animal."
With that, Hailey will cast her prepared Cure Lt. Wounds spell. If that proves insufficient, she will turn to her scrolls. She still whispers mean and nasty things about how careless this man is to be injured so easily and what a waste of energy it is to heal him, though she prudently does this in Gnomish.
"Thanks, Alice," Hailey states. "Big quadruped, you know, a four-legged animal."
With that, Hailey will cast her prepared Cure Lt. Wounds spell. If that proves insufficient, she will turn to her scrolls. She still whispers mean and nasty things about how careless this man is to be injured so easily and what a waste of energy it is to heal him, though she prudently does this in Gnomish.
[dice=Cure Lt. Wounds]1d8 + 1
The claw wounds on chest and arm heal, the infection in the bite remains.
Hailey will then attempt to heal the infection, or at least find a way to do so.
But since healing is not her forte, hexing is, this calls for a role rather than a taking of ten.
[dice=Heal]1d20 + 3
You are unsure what is causing his infection, but it doesn't appear to be natural.
"Sounds like a magic beast of some sort might be behind this attack."
Draalûsh scratches his head and tries to recall if he's ever heard of a beast with claws whose bite marks can't heal normally.
"Sounds like a magic beast of some sort might be behind this attack."
Draalûsh scratches his head and tries to recall if he's ever heard of a beast with claws whose bite marks can't heal normally.
[dice=knowledge (arcana) *]1d20+6
You are unaware of any magical beast that could cause this.
"This is beyond my current knowledge, though I am woe to say it. He needs someone greater than me. Where was he attacked? And do you happen to have a library? Maybe I can do some research."
"The field he was attacked in is about a 10 minute walk, though it probably isn't safe this time of day, if there is a savage beast out there. One of the hands can show you in the morning. Our library is probably little help, perhaps the village has books that may be of assistance."