Flandrion shrugs. He says, "Given that it decided not to bother us, I think we should just let it go and get back to sleep. I'm sure that we will have plenty of combat before we are finished with our quest anyway."
"Oh well. Might as well get sleep when we can then. G'night. Again…"
With that, Draalûsh promptly goes back to sleep.
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Hailey then looks at Garrek.
"I'd like to learn orcish. You probably should too, Flandrion and Swift-Palm. That way we can use it like a code language so information can be passed freely amongst ourselves with little chance of outside interception.
"Besides, I hate being left out of things. We've already seen how useful language arts can be."
The rest of the night passes uneventfully. But about half an hour down the road you come across the site of something terrible. What was clearly a campsite, now looks like a slaughterhouse. A donkey's body is still tied to a tree its entrails ripped out by claws or teeth. There is a body inside a shredded tent that looks even worse than the tent, the slash marks on his body look to be from some kind of bladed weapon. A second human is leaning up against another tree with a bad bite mark on his shoulder.
Draalûsh says to Hailey: "I'm not exactly what I saw; it was just barely close enough for me to see it in the dark. It looked like a person (humanoid etc), but also looked bestial and was probably holding a rapier of some sort. Pretty quiet too, whatever it was."
"Strange the man in the tent and the donkey were torn apart. But not this fellow against the tree here.
It is clear that both men are dead, though your search revealed that the one leaning against the tree had a geometric symbol carved into his chest (similar but different from the one you have already seen). The wounds from that are still fresh as well and you don't see how it could have been done while he had his shirt on, it is also unclear if the bite or the symbol was done first.
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"Regarding the man, no doubt he was chosen. But chosen for what? Perhaps parts of his body.
"About the symbol, could have all sorts of meanings. My immediate guess is either he's stepping up his game or else there are differing clans."
Hailey curiously draws the original symbol we saw before on the ground, then draws the second symbol close to it, and watches.
If nothing happens, she will go ahead and use Detect Magic anyway.
"Regarding the man, no doubt he was chosen. But chosen for what? Perhaps parts of his body.
"About the symbol, could have all sorts of meanings. My immediate guess is either he's stepping up his game or else there are differing clans."Hailey curiously draws the original symbol we saw before on the ground, then draws the second symbol close to it, and watches.
If nothing happens, she will go ahead and use Detect Magic anyway.
Nothing happens but drawing them out clearly shows that they are similar and done in the same style.
[dice=Perception]1d20 + 5
Hailey studies the originals together, (not her own copies on the ground), wondering if the same hand made both or if it's two separate people. In short, hand-drawing analysis.
They don't seem to be done by the same person.
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"Sorry, boys, but we're looking at separate people. But the fact of separate symbols leaves us with two options. First is: Could we be dealing with a splinter sect. Second is: Do these all belong to the same cult and simply represent regional markers?"
Then a look that seems a mix of joy and horror crosses her face.
"Or differing species?"
"Well, there's blood, and grisly symbols. I wonder if there's any magical clues lying about?"
Draalûsh casts Detect Magic to scan the area for anything magical in the campsite.
Flandrion says, "I already know how to speak Orcish. While there is nothing wrong with everyone in the party learning to speak it, it might not serve that well as a secret language. The Necromancer made extensive use of orc mercenaries and there are likely to be a lot of people in the area who speak Orcish."
Flandrion says, "Our decision not to follow the creature last night made sense. But it did not turn out well for these poor people. Some things only the gods can foresee."
Flandrion searches the bodies and the camp site to see what he can learn of the victims.
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"Then I'll teach you all gnomish."
But then she realizes that she can't say mean and nasty things about people if she has to heal them if she does that, and sighs. She'll be reduced to merely thinking Oh Lord Nethys, lend me the power to aid this careless little fool, or I pray for healing for this nitwit who went looking for trouble and certainly found it, or Nethys please forgive and bless this person who clearly doesn't know the definition of 'leave it alone' . . .
"We should probably search for a trail of some kind. With so much blood lost there's bound to be some, or else footprints. We can't let this mystery go unresolved. I just have to see what we're dealing with . . . and protect the innocent citizens."
She gets a forlorn frown on her face.
"Yes, that's it. We have to keep the public safe."
She looks at the party, wondering if they believe her that she cares about these muggles.
As the search continues it becomes apparent that there are two patterns, one of bestial destruction and the other of cold, calculated actions, but one set of prints for two legs that look like they belong to some kind of beast. From the lack of tracks leading to and from the attacker must have used the road.
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"I'm only guessing here, but I'm increasingly thinking werewolf," Hailey remarks. "Much as I'd love to just plain confront the cabal of necromancers up north, those abusers of the sacred art, we're not ready. I propose that we follow this thing. It's the only way to be sure. And to build up our strength."
Flandrion says to Garekk, "If you're ready then? We'll work point as a team. You do most of the tracking, I'll watch out for ambushes and such."
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Garekk keeps his eyes on the footprints and follows them around, trying to reconstruct everything. Part of his attention is caught, however, by the musings of the little gnome and the conversations regarding secret languages. "It makes no nevermind to me if we speak to each other in code or in whatever language. In fact, it may help, but beware that locals we pass may not take to such tactics, so we had better keep this in the field."
As Flandrion makes his suggestion, Garekk nods. "That seems a good way of doing it. I agree with Hailey to a point.. we need to take this monster out. I do not think that we should do so at the expense of our main mission, though. If we do not get to the fortress in time, we may not get another chance to take them all out at once. We can track the beast for a little while though."
With these words, Garekk takes up where he left off with the footprints, and follows them out of the camp.
"Would werewolves bother with stealth? I always thought cunning was beyond them. Much like the Orcs of Belkzen?"
"Well, anyway, I guess we should find it. Whatever it is."
Draalûsh will follow Garekk, crossbow in hand.
Flandrion will ready a throwing dart as he accompanies Garekk.
After much searching you manage to find a trail despite the creature using the road. It headed east for about an hour, then turned off the road and headed north. About a mile north of the road, you lose the trail crossing a creek.
Flandrion says, "Looks like it's back to going after the necromancers then."
Draalûsh will attempt to see if he can pick up the beast's trail
Draalûsh will attempt to see if he can pick up the beast's trail
[dice=survival (untrained)]1d20-1
The sorceror stumbles onto the tracks allowing pursuit to continue, the trail ends on a rocky patch just before a cave entrance.
Flandrion says, "Going in would seem to be necessary. The only problem is that most of us will need light, which will alert the beast as we approach. Still, I guess there's no other real choice ..."
Flandrion gets his everburning torch out of his backpack, and readies his longsword in a one handed grip. He looks the cave entrance over and assuming he finds nothing untoward says, "Shall we proceed?"
"I think I'm ready" … says Draalûsh as he readies his crossbow
Flandrion lets Garekk proceed alone.
The cavern is deep, after advancing about 100ft you find the cavern in the updated spreadsheet linked above. Inside there are 4 skeletal wolves. It is very, very dark. The wolves have not noticed you yet.
Seeing the undead wolves in the dark, Draalûsh will cast a Shield spell on himself, trying to be quiet about it.
Seeing the undead wolves in the dark, Draalûsh will cast a Shield spell on himself, trying to be quiet about it.
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"Finally, I get to practice what I literally preach, and hex someone, sort of," she coos.
She reassigns a hex to channel the energy needed to use Command Undead, as soon as she gets to within 30 feet of them. This should seize control of two of them (assuming they don't make their saves) if I understand it all correctly.
Whispering to Garekk and Hailey: "I think I'm as ready as I can be!"
On hearing that there are undead skeletons in the area Flandrion puts up longsword and readies his morningstar. He whispers to Garekk, "Let me know when you want me to shine the light."
Draalûsh follows Garekk carefully