Savien welcomes the others, in his own way. The rest of the crew make their way to his shack within the first couple of hours of dawn. After exchanging a few words, the group gets a move on.
Oakhurst lies in mostly wooded country pressed between the Eastern Verduran forest and the foothills of the World's Edge Mountains.
The New Road cuts a line more or less straight northeast from Oakhurst to Maheto. You of course, are on the Old Road though. The Old Road parts ways with the new Road north of town and then runs almost due east. This is where you find yourself. After the dawn thunderstorm, the day is mostly clear with comfortable temperatures. Despite being generally out of use, the road is walkable, albeit overgrown and with patches that would be difficult for wagon traffic to follow. Despite that though, there are some signs that wagons have passed this way.
Today however, the road is mostly bereft of traffic. The only traveler you come across this day is a rather taciturn dwarf trapper. He doesn't offer his name and after exchanging a few words with the group, is on his way. Sometime around midday, the trees suddenly stop in a unnaturally straight line. Past them is only grasslands.
The road follows along the edge of the grasslands for the rest of the day. The treeline remains a generally straight line. Towards nightfall, you find a traveler's way station and decide to camp for the evening.
You setup a watch schedule and bed down. The skies are totally clear and there is not a hint of a breeze.
At some point during Vak's watch, he begins to hear the sounds of wind whistling through the branches of the trees to the east. The thing is, though, he does not feel any breeze.
On the road, Savien is relatively talkative. He knows a lot of useless information about this area picked up from his father and he doesn't mind sharing. A lot of it is very old and seems suspect. Perhaps his father told him stories that were less than true. Even though he's somewhat friendly, he still comes off as jaded and cynical, and he definitely pays no mind to being polite to anyone.
When the party comes across the wagon tracks, Savien will frown at them. "Shouldn't be any wagons up this way... weird."
When the party reaches the plain, he'll share its name, The Ashen Plain, and that it has something to do with a dragon. Probably another one of his tall tales, though.
At some point, Savien tries to join Akula when he goes to hunt.
When watches are set and Savien beds down, he snores loudly. He does have the presence of mind to set up his bedroll off to the side. Perhaps he's run into issues sleeping amidst others before.
On the road Julio follows along at the rear of the group. He seems comfortable with the long walk, as if he has been on the road for a long time. At each rest stop he takes the time to dust off he clothing, armor, and gear. He checks his hair to make sure that the thong is not coming loose. He does not talk often but when he does it is to ask about the flora or fauna that he sees. He clearly was raised in a city and has not spent much time in the wild.
When they bed down for the night he make his bed close to the fire and peers into the dark at every sound that he hears. He arranges his gear for easy access and follows Savien's lead about sleeping in his armor.
Kazh! Глядзіце! he whispers with force, gesturing to toward the woods.
Once camp was made, Akula walked into the woods without a word. He said nothing when Savien joined him, but adjusted his hunting tactics immediately, using hand signs to direct Savien's eye to tracks, hazards and prey.
They came back with two large turkeys.
Kazh perks up at hearing the command, and peers toward the trees, his nose testing the air.
Vak and Kazh peer across the campfire into the distance. In a moment, they begin to make out a form in the darkness moving toward the group. It appears to be no more than waste high to the half-orc...and looks like a bush or a small tree.
Pre-Round 1 (Pink, Red, Green)
Three shambling masses of leafless branches appear inside of the fire light, moving inexorably closer to the sleeping bodies. They are vaguely humanoid in shape and body parts - just seem to be made of intertwining branches. They make almost no noise as they move forward, nor do they seem to be in much of a hurry. Despite that, their slow march has them right on top of you by the time the group begins to awake.
Round 1 - Good Guys
What is this? The very trees come to fight us? I should have stayed in the mountains! Too late for that now.
Vak'rogh roars at the top of his lungs: His voice returns to a normal register as he directs Kazh to the fray, Атака!, thrusting his hand at the shrub-beast looming over Julio .
In a few quick steps, he moves to engage both of the creatures menacing Julio and Savien, unlimbering his greataxe as he goes. Firewood it is, then!
Kazh leaps forward, his paws close to trampling on Julio's head, and tries to snap at a twiggy "leg" of the not-right-bush.
Jolted awake, Savien reacts before he thinks, rolling to his feat before really getting his eyes open. Before he gets that far, to his surprise, he's greeted by...
Ow! Branches? What?
The guardsman takes a step back and blinks.
Savien? You know that bad feeling you had, well... constantly? You were right.
Savien scowls and takes a wild swing at the thing looming over the elf's bedroll.
Vak’s axe meets very little resistance as it passes through the twiggy mass. It crumples to the ground and stops moving. Kazh runs over its lifeless branches and attacks the next creature, shying away at the last possible moment, his jaws snapping shut on an empty space.
Meanwhile, Savin rolls out of his blanket, leaping to his feet just in time for two sets of claws to lash out at him.
The first claw comes from his left and bounces off his leather armor. It throws him off balance just enough to allow the second creature to rake his claw along the right side of Savien’s neck. The scratch isn’t too deep but immediately begins to burn.
At the sound of commotion, Blitz snaps awake. He retrieves his scizore and starts strapping it on
Akula lunged to his feet, his body moving before his mind was fully awake. He stepped back away from the threat and retrieved his axe.
Savien reaches his hand to his neck where he is scratched and it comes away sticky with sap. He immediately feels a burning sensation on his fingers.
Blitz finds his weapon and gets it in place.
Sureliah snaps awake in time to find a bundle of branches with a barely recognized face looming over her. She immediately prepares herself to get out of the way of any potential attacks.
Akula gets to his feet, ready to fight.
Julio awaken to mayhem raging over him. He quickly rolls away from it and then stands up.
Julio rolls away from the invaders, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
Round 1 Bad Guys
Three more of the things enter into the firelight. Emboldened by the smell of blood, two of the creatures charge at Kazh.
The first misses but the second is able to dig deep into the wolf's fur. The final new creature also charges but around the group's right flank at Blitz.
Meanwhile, the two remaining of the original attackers continue to press the attack. One goes after Vak, swinging both arms at him...
...and doing little more than scratching the waste of his leather armor.
The final creature bears down on Sureliah, taking two swings at her as well.
Fortunately for the mage, only one claw made contact, slicing her arm. Very quickly she feels a burning sensation where the skin was broken.
Round 2, Good Guys!
"Damned trees are attacking us? I knew this was a bad idea."
Savien scowls at the thing attacking Sureliah and takes a swing of his own.
Wake up, Savien.
"Elf! Get behind us! Move! I'll cover you!"
Savien steps over next to Blitz and readies his polearm, watching the bramble-creature intently.
Must finish teaching Kazh to flank properly . . . .
Having gotten to his feet as he retrieved his scizore, he finishes strapping it on. And since the tree creature was so kind as to move to adjacent to him, he attacks.
"I love it when they deliver!"
Kazh dances north to engage the outlier of the strange strike force, actually accomplishing what his friend wanted, if too late.
Julio draws his rapier and wonders what he can do against such creatures.
I bet they don't like fire.
He examines the campfire looking for a buring stick to use as a weapon against creatures made of wood.
Akula moved in next to Blitz and brought his axe down like a lumberjack.
Savien's swing goes high as he continues to adjust the grip on his hammer to the smallish size of these creatures.
Vak jukes out of the way as he tries to get in a flanking position. He then takes a mighty swing and sees his axe blade absolutely destroy the monster.
Blitz gets to his feet, drawing an attack from the looming enemy...
...it misses him, opening itself up to an attack from the Sylph which also misses.
Kazh stumbles as he leaps to attack, missing and nearly losing his footing entirely.
Julio manages to find a chunky piece of wood that is cool enough to handle but still burning on the far end.
Akula enters the fight and completely separates the left half from the right half of the creature in front of him.
As Sureliah begins casting her spell, one of the monsters takes a swing at her...
...hitting her and forcing her to grit through the pain to finish her incantation.
She gets her spell off but is unable to see the thing clearly enough through the pain of its scratch to hit it. Rolling slightly, she gets to her feet.
Round 2, Bad Guys
The northernmost creature swings both claws at Vakh as it shambles past him.
Another leafless monster swings at Vak...
Leaving a deep, burning scratch on his forearm.
The final creature looks up at Sureliah as she stands up and dives at her with both claws.
It completely misses with the first strike and is unable to penetrate her armor with the second.
Round 3, Good Guys...You're halfway there!
Savien frowns at the elf. She has a lot to learn if she plans to survive this...
Glancing across the camp, the guardsman sees Vak and his wolf alone against two and moves to attack the one Vak is engaged with, hoping to free Vak up to aid his wolf. As he changes position, Savien glances back toward Akula and Blitz. If she's not gonna listen to me, they'll have to save her...
Savien takes a mighty swing.
Julio moves up to swing his burning stick at the one of the creatures.
Sparks fly as he swings the stick and manages to get most of the smoke in his eyes. This causes him to miss his target by a wide margin.
Julio moves up to swing his burning stick at the one of the creatures.
Eat Fire Monster: 1d20 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (4) + 2 - 4 = 2
Sparks fly as he swings the stick and manages to get most of the smoke in his eyes. This causes him to miss his target by a wide margin.
In his first ever real combat situation, things are moving a bit too fast for Blitz to comprehend totally. He is enough aware, though, to assess the current melee action and react. Blitz moves up around Surliah to avoid any reactionary attacks from the woody fiends and swings.
Akula barreled past the fire and brought his axe down again.
As Akula severs another of the strange creatures, Vak takes another swing at the one trapped between himself and Kazh.
But after missing once more, the frustrated orc again tries to maneuver into a better position to set up his . . . allies' -- Could they truly be? -- efforts.
Kazh lunges just as Vak moves behind his foe, seeking a hit.
Savien repositions himself and takes a swing at the creature between him and Vak, demolishing it.
Julio attempts to come to the aid of the damsel in distress but is foiled by his lack of experience wielding burning branches.
Blitz seems to still be trying too hard and his swing knicks off the creatures woody side.
Sureliah finally manages to grab the monster and dispense her acid justice. Steam pours out around her hand as she releases the magic. For the first time, the party hears the creature's keening wail as it's side is disintegrated.
Akula continues his axe onslaught, finishing off Sureliah's work.
The final beast begins to back away, only to be brought down by the party's combined tactics.
As the dust begins to settle, Savien pulls his polearm in close, examining the sap plastered all over the hammer head. "Ugh... blood would be easier to clean." The guardsman takes a seat near the fire and rubs a healthy amount of dirt into the sticky parts on the weapon before pulling out an iron dagger and beginning to meticulously scrape it away.
He seems rather stoic about the bleeding scratch on his neck, apparently more concerned with the immediate functionality of his weapon.
Definitely didn't expect that. But I don't think those things would've killed the group we're looking for. Which means there's worse... The guardsman seems unusually quiet and introspective. Maybe he's a bit sleep-addled. Or genuinely worried...
He looks over the party, giving a silent nod of respect to the two half-orcs. Savien glances dubiously over at Blitz and his unwieldy-looking weapon. "We need to get you a backup weapon, unless you can sleep with that thing strapped on. Anyone have a spare dagger?" His quiet speech carries in the dark night.
Savien doesn't even look at Sureliah.
"We're putting two to a watch. Can anyone besides the orcs see in the dark?"
The guardsman has a quiet focus about him.
We're definitely going to die...
Blitz shakes his head and mutters to himself, "It only gets better from here...I will get better!"
Blitz, already having considered finding something else for those times he would be so rudely awakened from a slumber, doesn't acknowledge Savien's comment-he's too engrossed at the moment of his poor showing in battle.
Somewhere down the line Blitz missed that Savien was the official leader of the group, other than the fact that he's local and knows the area well.
"Doesn't matter if he is or isn't...he thinks he is! Besides, you didn't come here to be a leader so he may as well be. Remember there are two types of people in this world you hold on to-those who you hold dear, and those who are simply useful. I doubt he would ever be one you hold dear...so hopefully he's useful. Just make sure you distribute potions fairly, and don't scratch your nose with your weapon in battle. I'm sure he'll tell you the rest as you go along."
Blitz finally nods at Savien smiling and shaking his scizore-if his hand wasn't covered he would see he is giving him the finger.
"You could be right, sir!"
"You could always find a Temple of Desna, convert, and take up the starknife! Hmm...."
Javelin.
Vak'rogh unclamps the weapon from its place on his pack and spins it to be offered to Blitz haft-first. Maybe not good at . . . 'twig-trolls', he growls as he gestures at one of the fallen, . . . but can use without . . . being slow. His use of the word shows no resentment, but is clearly a term the half-orc associates with vile things. He jerks his chin at the scizore. What is that? Why cover your hands?
These people are so strange! Unwieldy weapons. Expecting failure and death. And funny-man acting like he's in charge.
Kazh! Heel!
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Sureliah smiles, Ah... I am decended from Fey, and they have gifted me the power to see in the dark as well as to always tell if something is magical, she says, examining her wound... Realizing she may need to bandage it and possibly care for it, after all she didn't want to let such an injury mar her perfect skin.
So, I also can take shift at night with anyone who is also gifted.
Akula pulled out a massive knife with a serrated back edge and a handle made of the antler of some kind of large animal. He handed it to Blitz, and then handed him it's sheath.
"When ambushed, the best weapon is the one you can draw fastest." he rumbled.
When Akula hands Blitz the short sword, it hits him how he needs to accept criticism and help gracefully.
"Th-thanks..." is about all he can muster to say.
He takes the short sword.
Hm. Better I keep javelin, anyway.
Vak wanders over to the eastern edge of the camp, and settles down facing south -- keeping the treeline and the rest of the party in view. He pulls Kazh close, and begins inspecting the wolf's injury. Would that the spirits had given me power the same day they gave you to me, old friend. You've survived worse, but that poison I feel in my own cuts gives me pause. We'll see how we fare in the morning.
The evening's combat seems to raise tensions in the group as everybody is still trying to feel out each other. The twig monsters now appear as nothing more than interconnected piles of supple branches with bits of black sap on them.
Fortunately, the rest of the night passes uneventfully. The remainder of the group not on watch begins to stir as the sun is still fairly low to the horizon. Everybody is ready in short order to move on.
Not more than a few hundred feet past the rest stop, several of the party notice a new, barely visible trail cutting off to the east up a low hill. It appears that the wagon traffic noticed before follows this trail. It does not look like somebody is trying to conceal the trail - it is just so new that it is not very broken in yet.