Vanessa gives a small frown, itching for a battle, the fiend within snapping at the back of her head. "Yes good work, though what could he have meant when he was referring to The Mother?" She poses her question to whoever is listening and then she continues, "Will does that man look like anyone you've ever dealt with? The deer horns make me feel he may be one of those blight druids."
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The dwarf who led you here sighs, "Well, Lest whatever it was left..."
He strokes his beard and looks to you all. Look, Best he getting back before it comes back to enact revenge on the ratling." the dwarf says.
"I don't care who or what the mother is, I just care that my men are safe, and you ain't making that any more likely."
"No. This claws do not belong to anything I have happened to come across..."
Looking at the faces of his comrades William states "Well, I think we have a rough impression. Do we head back? Or do you want to investigate after that... Thing..?"
Vanessa looks at the others, "We're here now, let's look around a bit more. Those... entrepreneurs earlier said that there were also monsters around these parts." She looks toward the dwarf foreman, "Though he's right, we seem to bring trouble with us. Let's evaluate our options outside of their gaze at the very least."
She double checks her spear, making sure that it is sharp and ready to go and nods to the others, "Sound good?"
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As the group moves away from the workers, it doesnt seem any if them are gonna bother the lot of you. An older looking ratfolk chuckles and moves over to Pat Srik on the back.
"That been the bravest thin' a rat been done fer years! Not seen nothing like you round here, and I say good on ya! If I was younger I'da jumped up and attacked the beast with ya, tell ya what. 'ere, this is yours, deserve it lot more than this old coot!" he says, handing Srik a necklace. The ratfolk says nothing else to Srik, walking away muttering about old bones.
The necklace is small, made of copper, silver, and turquoise. Engravings on the blue stone are written in Ratfolk, and the stones feel warm to Srik. Anyone else who decides to touch the necklace don't feel the warmth
From the books written of the Reach, Black Forest Druids have been written to be akin ti any druids, however your recent experience has shown otherwise.
What is know best is that they worship a Goddess known only as the black mother to anyone outside the circle.
"Sadly I have to admit, that I am not knowledgeable on the rituals and believes of the druids in these parts of the land..." , he shakes his head slowly looking down on the darkened soil.
"That sounds reasonable. Let's see if we can find some helpful leads on the outskirts of the oil fields."
William looks around for some foot prints or leads, that could be of use to their endeavor.
"Give me a moment, I need to think."
She turns away from the others before facing back, "I have heard a little actually, from the stories I've read." Vanessa shakes her head, "Not much sadly, they make them out to be normal druids but this experience has shown me otherwise." Fixing her gaze into the distance she continues, "As for the Mother, who knows."
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As you survey rhe area, None of the workers seem up to bother you... So long as you don't do anything threatening. Some even offer up information that the Dwarf from earlier hadn't, mentioning that the tower wasn't knocked over by plants, but rather a group of bears. The worker describes how the bears looked very hungry, almost starved, and when the men tried to shoo them off they didn't respond.
After they knocked the tower down, the resulting spill caused one to drown in oil, another ran off into the woods, while the last two stayed and fought any men trying to stop the leak. It took nearly an hour to get it stopped, luckily the dwarves who engineered it made a safety measure that prevented too much spillage.
They burned the bodies yesterday, away from the fields of course. but since then, oozes have been emerging from the pools of oil, which have added to the difficulty of cleaning it up.
The workers don't offer much other information, despite an obvious distaste for the woods. Several of the ratfolk don't talk to you, ignoreing any attempts to converse and avoiding you quite clearly.
As the sun reaches into the sky, the woods remain chill... And you all have a feeling of being watched.
"Do you feel that? Its a feeling I know all too well..." She turns around, "I wonder what it could be... I don't think it can be anything good though."
She looks to the other two, "It seems as if it was bears, starved and possibly feral ones. Whats most interesting are the bodies that they burned and the oozes coming from the oil. Do you think we can get a sample of this stuff, and could either of you help identify the underlying problem? Something doesn't feel quite right here."
She stares into the forest, "The runoff went there, perhaps that should be our next course of investigation."
" I have the same feeling... it's not a good thing..." , William looks wearily around.
"I am not too well informed about slime creatures, how about you Pinkie?", after a short break of thinking he states; " Maybe I could find out what was wrong with the bears if we find their remains... although it was said, that they were burnt to ashes, not sure if there is much left that could serve as clues. That's why I think you are right, maybe I can pick up a trail for the run-offs. Either way we should get moving, this place is making me nervous."
"How far west do you think these tracks go? More importantly, what is west at the coast here? I'm not worried about surviving in the dark as long as we're smart about it, but do we have enough daylight to begin this trek?" She pauses for a moment, "With the trail fading though, time isn't on our side, what do you say?"
"I'd say we should see if we can follow them, while we are still able to. Soon nature will have swept away those tracks...", William states with an ominous voice, his gaze following the trails into the dark underbrush.
"I have never set foot into this dark forest, but fear not. Whatever horror it beholds the ever burning flame of my goddess will illuminate our path!"
"Lets move forward then. With your light and my spear we should be able to traverse whatever evil is thrown at us, and if it becomes too much we can always confirm what we see and leave the darkness behind for now."
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You begin to move into the forest, and a chill fills the air...
The trail leads into the forest deeper and deeper. An hour passes, you've come quite the distance from the fields, and the tracks have only gotten clearer. Its annother hour before it comes into view... A cave.
The beartracks lead to a cave. No knowing how deep they are, or even if the bear is inside...
Like all aspiring Vampire Hunter you have to start somewhere. And what better than finding the minor undead in this Forest.
You move along the same trail the last group did... Noticing the bandits quite a distance in advance, easily avoiding them. Seems they aren't expecting others along the road. From there you find your mark. Bear tracks, but that's not the most important thing... There is a faint hint of corruption in the air... The stink of undeath.
You begin to follow the tracks for an hour before noticing..... There are human tracks as well... Following them. Could be undead as well... Cohorts? Who knows... They are only about 20 minutes ahead of you... And your catching up fast
Thalrik looked up from the book he had been reading, clearly uninterested or unconcerned with what they needed to be doing. he slammed the book shut with the one hand holding it. "I possess some alchemical skill if thats going to be of any use with the corpses, though we would likely need to know what were looking for for burned ashes to be of any use."
He looked at William. "good man." he said, before producing lights of his own, four small orbs floating ahead in a 10 by 10 grid.
"Not sure what I can do to help, but for now I'll hold the front. Let's walk carefully here, I can't see as far as your eyes."
She takes the lead, pulls out her spear and cracks her neck a little uncharacteristically.
Cole follows the vampire hunter Drakken, easily keeping up.
"Now remember Drak: Whatever this thing is in the end, let me blast it first. Then when it reacts to my fire, it should probably charge me. THEN you quickly flank it once it comes after me. We call it the 'Burn and Switch' where I come from."
Drakken merely gives a cool glance towards Cole. He was always wary around others, his nature had forced him to be, at least Cole had proven useful, and at least somewhat trustworthy. And he had had someone vouch for him.
Drakken finally turns his cool glance away If there is only one, it would be better to take a 40ft spread, and force it to choose one of us to go after by attacking simultaneously, when it picks one of us, the other would then have free reign to rain down its destruction. However, these tracks seem more human in nature, so it may be best to spy and watch them for a bit once we find them to uncover their nature. His voice is cold, almost unfriendly.
Cole shrugs and smiles nonplussed by the man's frigid nature and attitude.
"Well my range with my magical fire is a bit shorter than 40 feet, but it could work. Spying works fine too. As long as nothing is sneaking up on us while we do it. I can't tell you how many stories we have back from the Green Tombs that emphasizes that."
Vanessa stops for a moment, not sure if whats she's hearing is in her head or something else. You best not be playing tricks on me fiend. Today is NOT the day.
She shrugs and continues onward, "How much deeper do these tracks go?"
Cole spits into the underbrush.
"So...should we be sneakin' or sumptin'?"
Drakken spies the larger group as he and Cole finally catch up.
mostly humans, likely to kill me as not... best try and stay low, see if I can listen in as they go.
Drakken gives cole another cool look before holding his finger to his lips, he then motions for him to take the left side of the group.
he whispers. As we discussed, 50ft distance, determine what they are doing, if necessary, bypass them, or remove them. If friendly, perhaps use them for our task.
Drakken moves off to the right side of the clearing before blending into the shadows among the trees.
Cole nods and smiles at his temporary partner, and throws a whiff of smoke into the air.
"Use 'em? I like that idea. More the merrier. OK, let's see what is what."
Moving left, Cole attempts basic stealth.
Vanessa hears the crunch of some leaves and draws her spear, piling it in the ground beside her; the champion itching for a fight.
"I hear you. Might as well show yourself now. We have bigger prey to hunt down, I can't spend time fending off every bandit I see today and chasing them through the trees."
She shakes her head, screams at the internal voice and continues, "... I mean, we won't hurt you." She exhales and crosses her arms.
from the treeline, a voice replies, though its owner does not emerge from the shadow of the trees.
Are you not bandits yourselves? What are doing hanging about a cave?
Vanessa thinks a moment and responds, "Hunting fiends. A possibly corrupted bear that was rampaging earlier." She cautiously continues, "Does The Mother watch you?".
She knows full well that no druid would mistake her for one, but the possibility is worth the minor risk. Perhaps we'll learn something about our stalkers.
Cole steps out into the open, sauntering easily hands open and empty.
"They're here for the same thing we are! Come on out Drak."
Internally, Cole is ready to run or blast anyone who goes for a weapon or spell.
Drakken curses under his breath. Lets hope so now... He doesn't stow his firearm but does lower it towards the ground and slowly enters the (moon?) light. The small amount of grey pale skin showing between his scarf and hat, and his gleaming yellowish eyes betraying his heritage.
You should cover your tracks better, they were too easy to follow. Though the forest here leaves ample evidence of passing.
His piercing eyes never move from Vanessa.
She gives a hearty laugh, the champion taking a small bit of influence, "Why? There would be much less excitement if we did." She looks at the two strange fellows, squinting to gather as much of the darkness as possible. "What brings you out here? This isn't much of a place for travelers without purpose... But if you hunt the same prey that we do, we could use the extra hands truth be told."
She extends a hand out, "Vanessa Asergale."
Cole shrugs and takes the woman's hand if Drak doesn't, his greenish skin a contrast to hers. Strangely it feels overly warm, as if the half-orc was running a fever.
"Sorry. Drak here isn't much for...warmth you could say? Me? I'm always ready to heat things up. We're hunters of a sort. This thing we are all looking for sounds like it might be in our wheelhouse of things that we like to get rid of."
Thalrik had finish eyeing up the new arrivals, giving Drakken a last head to toe before speaking. "Well, while id personally prefer not adding any outside individuals to the proceedings, it certainly has to be better than our different plans interfering with one another." He looked around at everyone, his mouth a thin line, his otherwise friendly eyes trying, and slightly failing to be intimidating or mean looking.
He turned to Cole. "Yes, uhm, wheelhouse." he said sounding like he was tasting the expression. "Certainly sounds disgusting enough for me to dedicate my time. Im ready to keep moving as soon as pleasantries are done with." With a lazy eyed look of realization he touched his hand to his heart, straightened his back and inclined in a slight bow. Certainly worthy of any elf. "Thalrik Korun."
Cole waves off a half-hearted two-finger salute with a smirk at Thalrik and a wink at Vanessa.
"Cole. Cole Burns. So...three half's and a human. We make a interesting group. Should we proceed?"
"Your hand... Are you trying to set me ablaze?" She seems unphased but continues, "You're like a hearth."
She returns the gesture with a smirk and seeing that Thalrik poked up from his book continues, "We aren't dead or in a ditch yet, though with our luck we may encounter something outside our depth." She uproots the spear, "Yes, I think its best we travel together for now. Whatever we're up against we've only heard of it, I'm fascinated by what it may be though. Though it must put up a great fight to move you two into action."
You can call me Drakken, can either of you two see in the dark? Light will likely prove a hindrance. At least until we actually battle the creature. And even then, I would not prefer bright light. Drakken doesn't offer his hand, keeping both on his musket.
Cole smiles his big toothy smile and wiggles his eyebrows.
"Don't worry 'Nessa. I often give that impression to people. It's my natural 'CAHrisssma'."