The centaur shakes his head. "You've been in the woods too long. Scarvinious is at his camp in the Fangwood. I'm no good to you in there. I'm running a message to the front lines, but I'm sure Scabvistin will pay handsomely back at Phaendar. I'd love to take half of that reward, but not if it means my hide on the bugbear's tent for failing in my duty."
"Fine. It's too far to drag him to the camp, he might get away. I'll just take his head. Can you hold him still?"
He steps out towards the centaur, holding out one end of the rope for the centaur to take.
Benedict will drop the rope and hand the sword to Grum as soon as Grum is close enough to strike.
Being surprised, Grum is able to strike past the centaur's defenses and deal a nasty wound.
The centaur reacts quickly to his injury, a look of fright across his broad face. He rears up, twists his body and retreats away from the ambush.
William yells out, "Stop him! as he fires two quick arrows at the retreating centaur.
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Grum took off running after the centaur, throwing caution to the wind to get in front of it and cut it off.
Benedict draws his bow and fires.
William's first arrow sinks deep into the flank of the fleeing centaur. His other arrow and Benedict's go whistling by. Grum races by, cutting off his escape route.
Seeing his chances of escape evaporate, the centaur holds up his hands. "I surrender! Please," he shouts.
Amkarang frowns slightly and grumbles, "Hmph, didn't even get in the action."
"Now's your chance, Amkarang. Go interrogate him, get the messages, and I'll catch up."
Benedict will change out his weapons before catching up to Grum and Amkarang, and end his Alter Self SLA well out of sight. He doesn't want the centaur to know what he can do, so he'll pretend to be another survivor entirely.
Amkarang quickly makes his way to the centaur as he motions for Grum to back him up. He holds his meteor hammer, though not swinging it in readiness to attack. He says, "Now, I'll give you three choices. First, you join us, work against the hobgoblins. Second, you give us the information you have and don't come back. Third, we start the fight again."
Benedict will swap out his weapons, put away the buckler, dirty his armor, and change his posture before catching up.
The centaur weighs the ultimatum that Amkarang lays upon him. He looks visibly in pain from the arrow strike and sword blow, and clearly has eliminated the third choice.
"I-- I think I'll just give you my message and go, if it's all the same to you."
He passes a tightly wrapped bundle to Amkarang.
"As we said, don't come back - ride far from here. There is nothing the Ironfang Legion can give you that is worth your life."
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The centaur nods in agreement, and once the package is passed over, he turns and gallops away towards the northeast.
Unraveling the packet, there is a note along with an ornate amulet with the Ironfang symbol emblazoned upon it.
The note is written in the common tongue. It says:
Salutations People of the Distant Swamps,
My emissary approaches you as a sign of respect, but by now you have seen my soldiers move unchecked across this green and fertile land. The Ironfang Legion means to make all of Nirmathas a home to those the humans would hunt, and turn those same humans into our servants and prey. You would be wise to join our alliance. There is no room for neutral parties when war is all around you, and only one side in this conflict will offer you strength and shelter.
As a sign of the protection the Legion offers, kindly accept this token of my generosity. Take your time in making your decision, but I trust you will come to the conclusion that provides your small and vulnerable tribe a future.
Kindest regards,
General Azaersi.
"People of the swamps... small tribe... the troglodytes? Or something else?"
Benedict asks Rhyna and the other adepts if they can identify the necklace. And if it's not magic, he'll ask Kining if it's worth anything.
You are aware of a small tribe of Boggards located in some swamps lying to the south. The swamps are not considered part of the Fangwood, and are at least twenty miles to the southeast.
The adapts identify the necklace as an amulet of natural armor +2.
"Or, the note could have been for the tribe of Boggards. That's quite a ways away. Grum, Amkarang, this amulet might be useful for one of you."
"And you're right, Grum. It's possible the centaur or the crow could tell the hobgoblins about us. If Scarvinious, the one who has the bounty on us, is in the camp in the Fangwood, we may be able to take the fight to him before he can come after us. I have a few ideas. We should scout out that camp to learn the layout and routines. But first we should see about this witch."
”I’d take it. I agree, let’s get to that witch, see what her deal is.”
The Phaendaran heroes set out again, this time seeking the witch that the crow had spoke of. They move relatively swiftly through sections of the Fangwood that they've already explored, until the directions of the crow tell them to make a different turn.
This new path takes them along the side of a hill facing the south. A large field of sunflowers turn the entire face of the hill a vibrant green and yellow.
As you pass through them, you're aware that some of the sunflowers are mature enough to yield edible seeds.
You see three of the sunflowers turn their heads toward you, almost as if they could see you. There's something here among the field of flowers!
William looks around and looks at all the pretty flowers.
Benedict looks at the sunflowers but says, "Let's not pick food from a witch's property without permission..."
The group moves through the field of sunflowers without incident. They're pretty sure they're getting closer to the hermit's abode based on their directions, when they hear a large crash through the undergrowth. Two hulking figures are in the distant shadows, grumbling to each other.
"Elfie came through here. Bit of blood. Ooh, he's gonna taste sweet!"
The large brutes spot the party roughly 60 feet away. Ogres!
Everyone may act before the ogres! I doubt we'll need a map for this. Opponents start 60 feet apart save for Aerel, who will be ×10 feet away from the ogres in a slightly different direction.
William says "It looks like they are tracking someone they plan on eating." He then looses two arrows in quick succession at them.
The terrain is dense woodland with a lot of undergrowth. No charge lanes, lots of small trees for cover if desired.
William's pair of arrows sail at one of the ogres. His first whistles by, and his second bounces off the ogre's thick hide.
Benedict draws his bow and takes a shot, but has no more luck than William.
He'll be next to William, planning to step in front of the archer once the ogres get closer.
Fleeing the ogres, Aeral sees the open area ahead of him, and tries to fade right out of the ogres’ path. Hearing the ogres arguing again, he’s hopeful he’s lost them, but he dares not peek - they’ve already spotted him twice when he risked a peek. At least he’s not leaving a blood trail now, but he knows he can’t get into a fight with the injuries he’s already sustained.
Debating whether he can sneak away, he hears the unmistakable whistle of arrows. They weren’t close... someone firing at the ogres? And someone speaking Common!
The elf crouches, readying to run. Anyone speaking Common is better than the ogres and better than another hobgoblin squad. Finding them was fortuitous - almost distracted the bruisers enough to escape outright.
Not seeing his potential saviors yet, Aerel waits for the situation to clarify, arrow readied for a quick shot if the ogres find him.
Aerel can't see through the undergrowth whoever was talking in Common, but he hears the unmistakable twang of bowstrings. The ogres' laughter was less heartening, though.
"More of dem!"
"Lots more! Elfie may be gone, but we eat good!"
The ogres begin to crash through the undergrowth towards the archers and getting a more comfortable distance away from Aerel.
You think something that big would be easier to hit. "Let's try this again." William says as he looses two more arrows.
Benedict drops his bow, draws his warhammer, and readies to take a 5' step in front of William and attack as soon as an ogre is 10' away. (Presuming they'll want to attack from 10' away with their reach, so he's readying to 5' step inside their reach and attack).
Much as he’d like to escape and lick his wounds, Aerel can’t leave someone else to the fate he’s been running from.
Moving parallel to the ogre’s path, he keeps the trees between himself and them as much as possible before releasing a shot, at 30’ range.
Amkarang continues swinging his hammer, ready for the ogre's advance.
This time, both of William's arrows sink into the flesh of one of the advancing ogres. Aerel also moves up and sends a shaft that grazes the same ogre.
Benedict moves up and his leg gets caught in a tangle of weeds, giving the wounded ogre a free shot.
Unfortunately for the ogre, he steps into a small hole in the terrain during his wind-up, which throws off his attack completely.
Benedict succeeds in delivering a massive blow to the ogre, causing a vicious wound and taking most of the fight out of it. The foul giant drops to one knee, his injuries almost too much for him to bear.
Amkarang and Grum ready themselves for the other ogre's advance. Amkarang's swing falls short. Grum has to push his way through the thick underbrush which gives the ogre an opportunity.
That opportunity passes the ogre by. Grum swings and barely connects with his falchion, yet manages to deal a grievous wound.
William fires two more arrows in rapid succession.
Aerel sets his feet and lets two quick arrows fly at the ogre that just ate the falchion.