Obliging the Gnome, Thorryn moves into a flanking position and attacks the undead beast.
Thick, wet hacking sounds fill the plaza as the zombie dire bear is slashed into from three of the heroes. Quanah adjusts her aim and strikes the creature just behind the neck. Rotting flesh falls away exposing a large section of spine. Despite the lack of physical integrity, the undead keeps it's assault on Jerrik going with another bite attempt.
Tenzi slashes at the bear's leg attempting to cripple it.
"Jerrick! Back off! We don't want to lose you to this travesty of nature!"
She then swings again!
Possible Crit?
Somehow Quanah manages another perfect shot!
As Tenze and Aleksara cut the undead with a tiny dagger and a large sword, Quanah focuses her magic on the same spot she struck before. Her efforts are rewarded as the positive energy slices through the creature's decaying spine into it's brain pan. The zombie opens it's mouth one final time before what is left of it's brain is liquefied and it collapses to the ground with a dull thud.
Almost immediately the smell of rot and death begins to celar away as a fresh breeze blows through the ruined Temple's plaza, a gift from Erastil.
"Thank the gods. I don't think I could have taken much more" Jerrik said as he again moved his hand over his wounds.
"Let's take a look around. This place seems somewhat defensible, let's see how much damage it's suffered over the years. And stay alert, who knows what else may lurk here."
Cleaning her blade ceremoniously, Aleksara nods while trying to hide her worry of Jerrik's wounds.
"Undead bears aside, this is a victory we can all savor. Maybe now we know why there were so many bear traps."
The Gnome immediately begins to scurry about.
"This place definitely has potential."
"Hey 'Q'. You seem to know about the history of the area. Any thing on old temples?"
Quanah fluffs her wings briefly before she stills. She peers down at the little gnome and it suddenly strikes any onlookers of being like an owl looking at a mouse.
"This land has always been wild, in spite of the attempts by the Taldan Empire - and others - to tame it," she says. "Shrines to Erastil are common along such rural borderlands. An undead bear implies that something went amiss here, because Erastil would usually not tolerate such a cursed state for the wild animals of the forest in his domain. We've done this place a service."
Gradually, normal forest noises begin filling the air. Tenze spots a large buck standing at the edge of the trail. It stands still for a moment then it springs into the dense forest. There seems to be very little else here beyond the ancient ruined shrine Itself. It would take some rehab to bring this place back into line.
"I wonder if that Stag Lord had anything to do with it? If so, well that's another charge to add to the growing list." Says the Gnome as he examines the carcass.
"Hmm. I suppose that's a possibility. As much as I'd like to stay here and rest up, we really need to start making our way towards this Stag Lord. What do you guys think?"
"I'm always up for hunting bandits..."
She then smiles and points at the retreating buck.
"...and good food. Anybody wanna help me get our dinner?"
Aleksara quickly loses track of her initial prey, which seems to have disappeared mid-run judging by the tracks, but soon finds a fat deer grazing just off a game trail. She carefully moves into position and gets ready to strike when she hears what sounds like a tiny, soft giggle. A cloud of pink and purple sparkling dust envelops her head from behind. The sickly sweet smell of the cloud brings strange feelings of comfort and a general sense of well-being, but also causes her head to spin slightly.
The strange dust causes her to sneeze most of it away from her face...
"What the...? HEY! Who did that! I will KILL whomever thinks they can sneak up on me..."
Aleksara knows that there is a small type of dragon capable of producing a euphoric cloud with it's breath, but without seeing anything, she cannot be sure that is what is happening. The deer fades away as though it never existed and she hears more giggling, as well as a sort of barking laugh from a second concealed individual behind her.
"Oh, you can't take a joke? Maybe your friends have a better sense of humor!" a small shrill voice calls out from the trees behind her. The voice and laughter fade softly as the invisible perpetrators wander away.
Aleksara curses in the language of the lizardmen she grew up with, kicking a fist-sized rock in the general direction of her invisible perpetrators...
"**Drago-Izmatyvat!"
Tenzi appears on trail behind and begins making breathy whistling sounds punctuated with babbling brook noises.
"Don't worry 'A' it means they like you. Or at least don't dislike you.
Walking over to the Half-Elf he says."Come on 'A' you won't find any game around here for a while. We'll have to make do with rations."
Sighing at the gnome's sudden appearance, she stares daggers at him.
"Tenzi, Why do you call me 'A'? My friends just call me Alek."
The Gnome's eyes brighten and he says.
"Okay Alek...This means we're friends. Yeah! Alright lets get our story straight."
He holds his right hand high over his head and jumps up.
"We'll tell the others the deer that got away was 'this' tall. He says smiling.
Eyes twinkling with a smile, she replies easily.
"Yes. Yes it was Tenzi...a ferocious one. Don't forget it's ferocity."
,,,It weighed at least as much as a horse. Tenzi hops upon a stump and paces his hands on his head fingers pointing up."With a huge rack of antlers. Ten. No 14 points if there was one."Jumping to the ground and cupping his hands around his eyes."But it was the eyes that got ya. Terrible ferocity in em. I say we was lucky it ran off."
The Gnome gives Alek and wink and a nod.
Nodding somberly and ducking her chin to hide her smile, Aleksara agrees aloud.
"Absolutely. If it hadn't been for Tenzi showing up, it might have gored me dead on the spot. That's the stone's truth."
Following the regaling the group finds a fairly clean and safe spot to make camp. At one point a sound like tinkling bells and distant giggling is heard from just beyond the firelight. A small voice calls out in Sylvan.
Quanah's head turns, owl-like, and tries to focus on the sound of the strange voices in the woods. The impression is that she might just launch into the night air and go prowling silently through the sky for tiny morsels if the opportunity presents itself... but the mood subsides.
"That sounds like quite the fearsome opponent. Good thing you made it back safely" Jerrik said with a smile.
The thick forest makes for somewhat slow going, and the canopy is thick enough that Quanah has trouble seeing the groundlings. Shortly after lunch the group first notices signs of a vicious animal in the area: the gored remains of a medium sized deer with it's hind-section completely torn off. Smashed underbrush and flattened grass form an obvious trail leading off to the south east where a massive hole has been dug out of a mound of mud and dirt. Some remains of small and medium sized animals can be scattered about the outside, along with droppings that could have practically come from a horse.
"Uhm, I'm pretty sure this is Bad." Says the Gnome as he looks about.
"I wonder what could have done this?"
"What is that noise?"
"What did the locals say about this?"
Reading his crossbow and stepping back, he looks at the group and says.
"lets get a couple of those bear traps set."
In a harsh whisper, Aleksara draws her blade and casts her magical armor spell.
"Is it a bear Tenzi? I can't hear anything. I'm really learning to hate anything Bear-related!"
She holds her action out of direct view of the hole in the ground, ready to swing her sword or cast a spell as needed on anything coming out.
"Boar! Not bear. And a really big mean one. From the looks of things this could be Tuskgutter. I saw a reward poster back at Oleg's"
He sets two bear traps on the ground and kneels to set them.
"Quick help me ready them."
Moving to put herself slowly between the gnome's work and the hole, she comments quietly over her shoulder with her sword in a guard position.
"You need strength to set those traps. Jerrik? Thorryn? Help Tenzi! I will cover you until you get it done. Quanah, get up in the air if you can or perch on a branch above to keep safe. No need to get your bones broken while we play with the boar."
Jerrik grabs a bear trap and tries to set it.
It takes him a minute, but he finally hears a click of the jaws locking in place.
"Be ready. If the beast hadn't heard that, he'll likely hear this."
Jerrik prepared to drive the spike into the ground using the hammer end of his bec de corbin.
Seeing the size of the discarded bodes, Thorryn realizes that the stories of Tuskgutter are true and not exaggerated. Hearing the motion within, Thorryn takes out the large club and cast Shillelagh upon it.
Turning to Nasze, Thorryn gives quick whislte followed by a simple hand gusture, giving her the command to do what she do best.
Nasze quickly but silently finds her a nice hiding spot in which to ambush her new prey from.
Quanah whispers, "Do you all want me to lure it, or stay back and use magic? I can probably fly faster than it... probably."
Having no success in setting his trap, the Gnome pauses.
"This is taking too long."
Looking over at Quanah. "The canopy is pretty low Here. I'm with Alek, get somewhere safe and hit it."
Abandoning the trap he retreats and readies a hex. "Watch out, I think it's coming."
As Tenzi and Jerrik fiddle with the traps, a low growl and a series of loud snorts precedes a charge from a boar the size of a draft horse!
Stepping aside and casting a quick spell, Aleksara uses her Magus Arcana to convert it into a ranged blast!
As a blue electrical arc surges away from Alek and impacts the dire boar. The smell of cooked ham fills the forest. Tuskgutter quickly shakes off the bolt of electricity that courses through his body and charges at the first for it sees!
Thorryn gets into position and takes aim with his large club.
Nasze circles about trying to gain flank upon the beast.
Having only time for a single "Yelp." before the impact of the 3 quarter ton boar sends the 40 pound Gnome flying into the air. He lands 10 yards away in some underbrush and does not move, His hat lands on it's side nearby and rolls in a slow arch.
Figuring that her sleep spell is probably not powerful enough for this beast, Quanah instead hurls another javelin into the fray.
Seeing Tenzekil fly through the air disheartened Jerrik. That and the sheer size of the boar. As much as he wanted to attend to his friend, he needed to help dispatch the boar before more fell before it.
Tenzekil? Do you live?" he called out.
Closing in to be able to strike from reach, Jerrik brought the head of his bec de corbin down towards the boar's head.
Charging to flank the beast, Aleksara screams.
"Tenzi! Someone grab Tenzi! I don't know if we can handle this thing!"
Crit?