Two smooth-skinned, hairless humanoid that have penetrating eyes and skin that shifts and changes to mimic their surroundings emerge from behind the rocks that are dual wielding shortswords and daggers and throw their daggers at Garrosh.
Garrosh feels the daggers hit him in the ribs, and feels spots swimming in front of his eyes as his lifeblood drips on the ground.
Rayland recognizes them as skulks. They seem to be surprised to see Garrosh still standing after their dagger throws, but quickly recover their aplomb. "We warned you, did we not? Now we'll need to do it the hard way."The red skulk states nastily.
Seeing the threat these creatures clearly represent, Rayland begins casting a spell.
"W-we won't be robbed in.... b-broad daylight..!" Rayland says unconvincingly.
"Nothing more than cowardly bandits!" Piotr growls. The bread and butter of town watch is muggers, thieves, and drunk bandits. These just look different than the norm.
Not knowing how many there are, Piotr decides to charge before they get a chance to grab another dagger. "I'll get this one." he yells, obviously going after the one he is yelling about.
"Owww! That hurt!" The yellow skulk grunts in pain as Piotr lays a deep cut into his abdomen. "Következő B választottunk a rossz utazókra, hogy raboljunk?"
Urm B, did we pick on the wrong travellers to rob?
"Csukd be a C-t, tudod, hogy néhány dió nehezebb megtörni, mint mások." The red skulk rebuffs the yellow skulk.
Shut up, C, you know some nuts are harder to crack then others.
Seeing the firm resistance from the party, he red skulk tries to move into a flanking position with Piotr, and agily dodges out of the way of Piotr's clumsy swing.
Then he tries to stab Pitor in his back. Piotr feels a sharp pain near his kidney as the shortsword connects.
The other yellow skulk also tries to stab Piotr, but Piotr easily paries the blow.
Rayland completes his sleep spell, targeting yellow.
Yellow yawns, then falls to the ground fast asleep, his shortsword falling from his hand.
"Oi ty, co děláš spát v práci!" The red skulk vehemently chides him.
Oi you what are you doing sleeping on the job!
With a grunt, Garrosh shakes away the lethargy threatening to take hold, then wades in on the one remaining, flanking it with Piotr.
Then the half-orc simply falls down.
After getting clobbered by Garrosh and seeing his friend sleeping on the ground and the party outnumbering him 3 is to one, the red skulk drops his weapon on the ground pleading the party for mercy. "Im sorry we tried to rob you! I surrender! Please don't kill us!"
"T-tie them up...?" Rayland says, his hands shaking somewhat. "Yes.. yes, tie them up!" he repeats, this time more sure of himself.
"Can someone please see to Garrosh? I'm better at dissecting bodies than putting them back together I'm afraid."
"You say you tried to rob us, did anyone send you?"
"No. We just thought you looked like easy pickings since there's only 4 of you instead of 5."The red skulk replies. "Where are you going to take us? Could you just let us go? We promise we won't try to rob you again!"
Kilarra had been staring into space when the strange monsters attacked. She hustles over to Garrosh and puts her sword on the ground, ready to assess his wounds and just try to keep him breathing.
"Back to town, is where we are going to take you." Piotr swears, holding his sword to the one giving up while Kilarra works on Garrosh. "You can't go trying to rob people and expect just to be let go. But you did give up so you probably will just be given hard labor."
"B-but...nobody likes us. They say we're sneaky, backstabbing fiends! I think they'll burn us at stake!" The red skulk stammers, while shaking.
"You attacked us on the road, to ROB us!" Piotr shouts at the skulk "You ARE a Sneaky Backstabbing Fiend!" being stabbed and still bleeding seems to make Piotr irritable.
"Actually, if you had dropped all your belongings, we'd have left you alone."The red skulk corrects Piotr."It didn't have to come to blows, you know. Threatening people to take their stuff is more lucrative then actually picking fights with people." The red skulk explains without any remorse.
"Also we sneak into people's houses to steal their stuff too. I mean they're idiots if they don't safeguard their property, right?"
"Kill them. They are a distraction and nothing to us. If we take them to town there would be a trial with our word against theirs. It woukd be lengthy and tedious and pointless and we have more important matters." Rayland says cold, his stutter disappearing.
"If we let them go, their next victims may not be so well prepared as us. Kilarra, would you mind?"
The wizard moves away and begins examining the etheric compasses, something worthy of his time and attention.
Kilarra stands up and picks up her sword. "With pleasure." She replies, with no actually pleasure present in her voice.
Garrosh's stab wounds seem to have congealed over and his pulse is steady, indicating he isn't any immediate danger. He doesn't look like he'll wake up any time soon, though.
"B-but...w-we s-surrendered!" The red skulk stammers as it tries to pull free of its bonds, and looks like it may be about to pull away when Kilarra runs it it through and it collapses in a bloody heap on the ground, its heart pierced by Kilarra's bastard sword.
Kilarra swings her bastard sword in a huge arc, beheading the sleeping skulk, sending a fountain of red blood arcing from the chopped jugular.
Rayland fiddles around with the etheric compasses, however, he is unable to decipher how it works. It still points in random directions.
"What?!?" Piotr barks at Rayland's command, moving toward the man to argue, missing the fact Kilarra was already in motion and the deed to done.
Through narrowed hard eyes, he looks at the mage and then at the tiefling.
They are right, brother. Ann whispers. But he shakes his head, "No. There are laws." he doesn't expand on his statement, or who he was really talking to.
Sheathing his sword and stowing his shield, Piotr moves to Garrosh. "I am taking him back to town, and will talk to the local constable about the skulks. If you wish to continue playing with your toys, I'm sure Kilarra here would be happy to follow." the anger is evident in his voice.
He'll hoist Garrosh up and head back to town (unless stopped of course).
Piotr hoists Garrosh's unconscious form over his shoulder, drawing a pained groan from Garrosh as he shifts Garrosh into a fireman's carry, then he heads back to town to find a constable. Thankfully Garrosh's stab wounds do not break open.
As he comes into Dunlob, the people around give shocked gasps as Garrosh's bloody form comes into view. "Eh, what happened to your friend there?" A stocky peasant with short-cropped brown hair points at the unconscious Garrosh. "He looks bad, Farmer Giles sets broken bones, but I'm not sure if he knows anything about stab wounds." A broad shouldered man with a mop of curly black hair remarks. "Do you need any help carrying him?" He offers.
"Or you might want to bring him to Granny Willow."A Female peasant with long wavy brown hair suggests. In her hand is a basket filled with eggs.
Kilarra waits silently as Piotr picks up Garrosh and heads into town. She's now covered in the blood of several enemies, which she seems pleased about. However, her breath is getting more ragged and her muscles tense. She's clearly worked up.
Kilarra takes a glance over the bodies.
Kilarra finds a short sword on each of the skulk bodies. She also picks up the two daggers thrown at Garrosh.
As she heads into town, the townsfolk stare at her bloodstained outfit uneasily, but decide not to comment lest they draw her ire.
"It was a pair of skulks who jumped us on the road. Wanting to rob us, but didn't count on resistance." he nods in gratitude to the mop of black hair man "Thank you. He's a bit heavy." panting more than a bit after setting him down so they both can lift him. Looking over at the woman with the eggs, "Granny Willow. She's the one taking care of the cemetery, yes? I didn't think she was a healer."
”I don’t know what skulks are, and if they did that to him, I think I’m better off not meeting any.” The peasant with short-cropped brown hair answers hastily. When Pitor accepts the offer for help and lays Garrosh gently onto the ground, the broad shouldered peasant takes a position near Garrosh’s head then lifts him up supporting his armpits, together when Pitor lifts up his knees. Garrosh gives a pained moan as Pitor lowers him to the ground and the pair lift him up, but otherwise makes no other sound.
”Well Granny Willow is a midwife, so she should know something about stitching people up.” The female peasant replies.
Pitor and the broad shouldered peasant then carry Garrosh to the Pharsama shrine.
The shrine is made out of stone, a small mausoleum like structure, overlooking a large graveyard. Entering the shrine, of which an altar of Pharasma stands at the back. ”Are you here to get help for Garrosh? If so, bring him in, so I can stitch him up before he loses too much blood.” Granny Willow says urgently.
"Thank you Mam." Piotr says to the woman making the suggestion as well as later to Granny Willow. "I'm all thumbs when it comes to this stuff, but I'll fetch anything you might need, if it helps." he looks worried and useless.
”Who or what even did this to him?” Granny Willow asks Piotr. ”Anyway, carry him in here.”
Granny Willow indicates to the door at the back and she opens it revealing a small room smelling of eucalyptus and pine coming from an incense burner on a writing desk, a pallet, a bookshelf filled with books on human anatomy, religious texts on Pharasma, and a few books on divination, a wardrobe. On one side of the fireplace there is a kettle on it. An open window with grey curtains provides light and ventilation to the room.
”Place him on the pallet,” Granny Willow indicates, then she reaches into the wardrobe pulling out a healer’s kit, and an assorted bundle of herbs, as well as a wooden mug. She boils some of the herbs over the fire then pours out a dark coloured grassy smelling tea.
”Feed this to Garrosh – I don’t want him waking up in the middle of me sewing him up.” She indicates to Piotr, before setting another batch of water to boil, splitting it into half, part of it to cool, while leaving the other half kettle on the fireplace.
Then she washes her hands with soap before moves up to examine wounds, gently removing the rough cloth strip bandages that Kilarra bound the stab wounds with. ” Looks like stab wounds – was the dagger or knife rusty?
[B]"Whoever who did this did a fairly decent job. Probably the reason why he’s still alive now. ” Granny Willow remarks while looking at Kilarra's handiwork.
”I need to sterilize my tools.” She says, then gets Piotr to wash a metal tray and tongs with soap and water, then takes puts her tweezers, holder, needle, thread and forceps into boiling water, before taking them out with the tongs and laying them out on a metal tray.
She then washes Garrosh’s stab wounds with the cooled boiled water and a washcloth that she pulled out from her healer’s kit which mild soap was added to, before rinsing it with water, then uses tweezers to remove a few stray bits of the rough cloth strip bandages that remain stuck to the wound, before neatly and professionally sewing the wounds up, then rubs pungent smelling yellow paste onto it, before bandaging it up with bandages from her healer’s kit.
”He should be fine now. The stabs missed his vital organs, thankfully. He will wake up in a couple of hours, after the effects of the tea wears off. Mind you, he should be getting bed rest, and eat more red meat and drink more water to replace the blood he lost.” Granny Willow advises Piotr on Garrosh’s care. ”Do you want to wait here until he wakes up?”
Piotr follows her old woman's every command as best as possible, trying to stay out of the way when he doesn't have anything to do. "Skulks, Mam. Or at least that is what Rayland called them. Hairless people with color shifting kin. Out to rob us. Got me in the side here, but it is much better than my friend here got."
"Rust. Sorry mam, didn't think to look. Just got him here as quick as I could."
"I'll wait... unless you have a constable I can talk to. I should let him know about the attack... and the results. But that could wait, til Garrosh here is at least conscious." Indecision is clear enough when babbled out.
"Skulks. Yes I've heard of those nasty hairless things. In fact generally when things go missing, it's likely that a skulk took them."Granny Willow remarks. "If they've turned to highway robbery, we will need to request Thrushmoor to send their militia over to clear them out. We don't have any town guard or whatsoever."
"And that's the problem with you adventuring types. Sure it's easy to cut people up but it's not so easy to put them back together. Wounds caused by rusty objects can develop into lockjaw which in the worst case, causes the victim to be unable to breathe and die of suffocation."Granny Willow states.
"Do you want me to look into you stab wound as well? I mean if you manages to walk all the way back to town carrying him, you're probably in no immediate danger of falling over." Granny Willow replies.
"But the problem is I only have one pallet here and he's lying on it. I can't exactly stitch you up while you're standing you know. If you twitch while I'm doing it it'll just make matters worse."Granny Willow says.
"We don't have constables here. Town's too small. Any complaints, go raise it up with Mariscella and that big son of hers."Granny Willow tells Pitor. "Usually Matthew and his friends are sufficient to get people to sort out their disputes."
Garrosh groans.
The first thing you are aware off is the soreness in your ribs, though much improved from previously. You feel something warm and heavy on you and smell the scent of eucalyptus and pine, as well as something spicy. You open your eyes as a plain stone ceiling swims into focus. You’re still feeling weak, tired and very thirsty, but feel slightly better then before you passed out. You find yourself lying on a pallet, tucked under a thick grey blanket. While you were unconscious, someone has stitched your wounds and bandaged them. From the light coming in from the open window, it looks to be evening.
Looking around the room, you see that there’s a writing desk, a book shelf, and a fire place with a stewpot on, with Granny Willow boiling some stew. Piotr is sitting at the writing desk waiting for you to wake up.
Hearing Garrosh groan, Granny Willow turns around. "Hey, how are you feeling now? You were stabbed rather badly by two skulks, your friend says." She gestures at Piotr.
"Damn them" - Garrosh growls without moving - "Never even had a chance to react" - then he turns his head to look at them both - "Aching all over, but I am better. Thank you. Is everyone else ok Piotr?"
”Here, since you’re up, you’ll want to drink some fluids to replenish the blood you lost. “ Granny Willow says as pours Garrosh a greenish cup of tea that smells slightly grassy, then helps him sit up, sending faint stabs of pain from his ribs, and holds the cup to his mouth so he can drink from it.
It has a herbaceous rich taste that seems almost like an earth sweet version of seaweed.
"You were pretty lucky - those stabs missed your major organs so you must've passed out from the blood loss."Granny Willow pronounces.
"Yes... I felt about to pass out, but still managed to swing one last time - that probably did it" - Garrosh grimaces and takes a sip from the tea - "Thank you for this" - he motions to his bandages and pallet - "And for the tea - it tastes different from the usual ones. At least those I've had before"
"Nettle tea. Its good for bleeding and pain." Grandmother Willow claims proudly."And it's pretty much a weed that grows around here so all you need is a hedge trimmer and a pair of thick gloves."
"Do you feel up to some food yet?" Granny Willow asks Garrosh.
"Bleeding and pain - sounds about right" - the half-orc manages a pained chuckle - "Nettle Tea - I won't forget about it. Just in case..." - he adds - "And I will repay you for your kindness..."
Piotr thanks her for the offer to stich him up, but seems to be fine enough at the moment, and the twitchy statement she made has him a tad worried.
"Everyone else is fine. And you last attack ended their struggle, and... we put them down instead of bringing them back here." the hard bitterness in his voice can be interpreted as Granny and Garrosh wish.
"The others might have grabbed the weapons, I'll go check on the rust question." he'll say thank you again to Granny Willow, and head out he assumes to the inn to find Rayland and Kilara.
At the inn, Rayland is sat in as secluded corner as he kind find, huddled over the etheric compasses like some rare and wonderful treasure. Which is exactly how he views them.
He knows that the Count's genius will have their secrets unlocked in moments, but he wishes he could do the same if only to impress Lowls with his own ingenuity and capability.
"Thank you for putting those vermin down, Kilara. They were a nuisance and a distraction, the others didn't see but you did and acted without hesitation. Lowls will like that, he will reward that kind of initiative."
"No repayment required, I mean,you did donate earlier, right?" Granny Willow replies.
Then she pauses for a while, "But again there might be something you might be able to help me with once you've recovered. I've been getting visions of a monolith in the Kellid ruins. Maybe Pharasma is trying to tell me something."
"Frankly, if you brought them back, it would be Mariscella who would decide their fate." Granny Willow answers Piotr. "And since we have no love for those thieves, and no gallows to lock them up, they'd end up hanging from the nearest tree."
"Perhaps you may say that we are harsh," Granny Willow says, almost introspectively. "But the land is unforgiving and we do not have resources to lose to these thieves."
Kilarra is sitting nearby to Rayland. She's cleaned most of the blood off her (at the request of the innkeep), and is killing time by sharpening her flamberge. She nods to Rayland, but doesn't really have anything to say. Perhaps that's something this scientist would prefer.
She did pick up the shortsword and the daggers. Kilarra plans on giving the daggers to Garrosh as a gift. She's not sure what to do with the sword.
"Everyone else is fine. And you last attack ended their struggle, and... we put them down instead of bringing them back here." the hard bitterness in his voice can be interpreted as Granny and Garrosh wish.
The half-orc raises an eyebrow, but leaves the questions for later - "Thanks for bringing me here Piotr" - he nods.
"The others might have grabbed the weapons, I'll go check on the rust question." he'll say thank you again to Granny Willow, and head out he assumes to the inn to find Rayland and Kilara.
"Ok, I won't be going anywhere for now I guess" - he looks back at Granny Willow.
"No repayment required, I mean,you did donate earlier, right?" Granny Willow replies.
Then she pauses for a while, "But again there might be something you might be able to help me with once you've recovered. I've been getting visions of a monolith in the Kellid ruins. Maybe Pharasma is trying to tell me something."
"You have yourself a deal - it is the least I can do after you saved my life" - he replies - "These Kellid ruins, are they far?"
The tavern's new set of patrons look at Kilarra nervously as she strides into the Inn, some of them feeling for their hidden weapons for assurance.
Barlow gestures for the serving girl to ask Kilarra for a private word at the bar, after she comes in covered in red and blue blood. Once she does approach, he tells her over the counter. "Look, you're freaking out the rest of the Inn," He gestures at the nervous patrons. "Could you please make good use of the bathing facilities above before you show up in the common room?"
"Hey," Cain gestures at Kilarra and Rayland to join him at the table. "OK - you look a lot better after you've cleaned up, else it was blue blood, red blood all over you."Cain inspects Kilarra with a critical eye. "At least you don't look like you've been through a battlefield."
"So what happened out there?Where's Garrosh and Piotr? Laelia came back to get her stuff and declared that she would have nothing more to do with the Count, then left.Was there a tiff? " Cain asks Kilarra and Rayland, while tucking in to his black bean stew with little bits of sausage in it. "And what are the plans for the next few days?"
"Yeah, you shouldn't be going anywhere for a week." Granny Willow replies.
"About the ruins... Hmm," Granny Willow takes out a book, labelled, "Geography of Dunlob" , then starts looking at the mal, pronouncing, "About half a day from Dunlob. But it's in the foothills and I'm an old woman. If anything untoward attacked me, I wouldn't stand a chance."
"But I don't think I should be dreaming of this same monolith repeatedly if there was no reason."
Piotr finds the others in the inn, giving a greeting to Barlow and Cain when he comes in. He'll tell everyone "Garrosh is okay. Willow stitched him up, but wants to see the weapon he was stabbed by. Checking it for rust and something about locking his jaw. Did you grab them?"
Rayland examines the compass - he suspects it is not working properly at the moment as it has nothing to track by. By trial and error when he put his hand on it and thinks of his belongings it does point its way upstairs, in the direction of his belongings. But when he thinks of other people's possessions, the arms just swing randomly around.
Now... If he could find the proper focus...
"Yeah they're here." Replies Kilarra as she retrieves the daggers. "Thought he might like something to remember them by."
"I've been through several battlefields. But no, not today. I don't think Laelia understood what she signed up for." Kilarra answers. "There were some monsters that had to be killed. We weren't in over our heads until we were heading back here. That's when we were jumped by two things skulking around. Put Garrosh to the ground before we even knew what happened. Garrosh didn't get his revenge, but I dealt with it in his stead."