Zombington III tries to subdue Glittereye with its teeth.
Jek and Zombington temporarily squish Glittereye and he goes tumbling around the branch, unconscious.
I guess I attack all nonlethal like (the blue one)
Cr’gir cuts one of the ratatosks on the head and it passes out from pain and blood loss. But the squirrel-folk’s resolve does not waver. ”Drive the evil out!” they screech.
Rinika glances over at the ratatosks doing very little and casts detect magic towards the mysterious corrupted spot.
Zombington III, much better in a brawl than an archery range, lets go of Glittereye with his mouth before handily swatting the next nearest ratatoskr in the solar plexus with his free hand.
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Nik pulls out a club and tries to knock out the final squirrel.
However, he isn't used to the weight of the stick on its first time out, and he misses badly.
Working his way between his two huge companions, Conor stomps forward and swings his hammer to squash the last squirrel ... gently.
Conor wallops the ratatosk making it see stars. Rinika senses magical auras!
Jek moves in toward the last Ratatosk and knees him lightly.
The final ratatosk collapses as Jek kindly knees his face.
As Rinika focuses on the magic of the warpwood its full power is made apparent. She is overwhelmed and must look away.
Cr'gir finds no tracks.
"Okay, these guys weren't acting squirrelly- you know what I mean. They were fine before we got here. Let's drag 'em away from this spot when we leave, yeah?"
He then turns towards the cloud of darkness into which Rinika disappeared.
"Hey, where is our cat-lady?" He adds, finally noticing that Rinika isn't around.
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Finally, you arrive at a spot where Yggdrasil takes on a very different look. The wood in this area is rippled in a huge circular pattern, as if something large and heavy had been dropped on the branch and the bark had reacted like water, moving outward in tiny waves. You can’t tell if the bark’s now at rest or if it’s still rippling just beyond the range of your perceptions. But the most disturbing thing about this strange warping is the intense blackness that makes up its center.
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The group hears a surprised "Mrow! and then a *THUNK* from over near the corrupted bark. A few seconds later there's a brief scrabbling noise, then Rinika pops into view and says, "Not sure what happened here. There's some big magic going on, it's uh...it's stronger than I know how to guage. I did find some hoofprints though. Like in the bark. Also it.. She scratches at her arm. "It kinda itches."
[Ooc]derp![/oocp
"Itches? Okay..." Nik nods.
"Um- maybe I should see if there are any portals before we bug out? Too bad we can't ask the spider-box about it. He seemed to know stuff he shouldn't..."
Nik casts Warp Sense and, starting with the black spot, spends the next 6 minutes looking around for nearby portals (and examining any he finds).
before this post
Supernatural Abilities
. 7/7 Power Over Undead (30' burst; DC 16 will)
. (1 at a time) Corpse Companion
Spell-like Abilities
. 5/7 Bolster (Undead) (+2 profane on attacks and saves; 1 temp hp/HD; +2 turn resistance; 2 round duration)
. 1/1 Pyrotechnics (DC 14)
Spells Prepared:
. 3rd (2+1/day) Animate Dead (S), Fireball (DC 17), Haste
. 2nd (3+1/day) Command Undead (DC 16) (S), Flaming Sphere (DC 17; +1 CL), Glitterdust (DC 16), Levitate
. 1st (4+1/day) Ray of Enfeeblement (DC 16) (S), Infernal Healing [x3]>[x2], Warp Sense (+1 CL)
. cantrips (at will) Acid Splash, Detect Magic (+1 CL), Message, Prestidigitation
No portals, but a lot of planar energy Nik can't makes sense of.
"Well, no gateways, but plenty of warped... something..." Nik says at last.
"I wonder if there's a reward for telling someone about this."
Then Nik takes Zombington's bow and orders it to carry a couple of the collapsed squrrels.
"Anyone else have any ideas before we head back?"
Did anyone find the blacksmith's tongs? Its the reason he wanted us, or me at least, to investigate.
Also, anyone good at climbing, we really should get Glittereye.
Rinika points out the hoof tracks in the tree. "Can anyone track these?"
You don't find the tongs.
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Jek looks for the tongs and tries to identify the prints... do they look like his own?
He spends several minutes looking at the bottom of his hoof and comes to the horrifying conclusion that he left the tracks. There weren't any other hooves in the area after all. Realizing that he must also be responsible for the big evil thing he nonchalantly puts his hoof down and backs away...
while whistling, wringing his hands, and trying to look innocent.
"Jek, are you pretending that you did things you didn't? Again? We got here after the black ripples in the wood, remember?"
Nik sighs, shakes his head, and tries to take a look at the tracks.
Untrained though he is, he looks combs the area for evidence that might help his friend see the error of his assumptions.
Nik finds the indents and scraping of the cloven hoofed being that caused the warpwood. They start at the center as if whatever it was jumped from another branch, they walk the direction you came and then Nik looses the trail, clearly not skilled enough to follow much longer.
"Huh, they start at the center. You didn't jump into the middle of that black spot, right Jek?"
After a quick flash of smug "I-told-you-so" all over his visage directed at Jek, Nik starts to look spaced out and worried.
Wait. The wood is permanently-ish rippling from something stomping hard? What in the nine hells?
Nik can't think of any devils that can leap all the way from hell to Yggdrasil, so he looks up at the other nearby branches instead.
Nik sees several branches that could have been the origin point, none show the same corruption effect as he sees on the Warpwood.
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"I'm rather certain that this wasn't the fault of anyone here, we've all been together since we got...." She narrows her eyes towards Cr'gir and tries to surreptitiously check out his feet.
Oblivious, Nik replies to Rinika's half-finished sentence.
"That reminds me, we really should go back for Akrynn. I don't think he'd mind losing a few pounds..."
Jek looks a little sheepish.
"Think it'll lead back to Crux?"
The party puts their brains together and determines the tracks were made by something bipedal, of huge size, and made well over a month ago. It would be impossible to follow the trail.
"See it couldn't be Jek, unless he can walk on two legs. And I have wiggly toes, if u really want I'll show you (Rinika) but my feet are probably stinky."
"Umm...."
Jek rears up onto his hind legs and walks a little then jumps to just walking with his forelegs.
"Every kid figures this out... Nik ruled me out though."
He proceeds to walk awkwardly on one foreleg and the opposite hind leg.
"I'll take your word for it, I don't even see the tracks. Something does seem awfully wrong about this place." Conor adds u helpfully, sheathing his hammer and putting his shield away.
"What do we do with these squirrels?" he wonders aloud as he looks over their knocked out furry antagonists.
Rinika shakes her head vigorously with a look of horror at Cr'gir's suggestion. "No that won't be necessary thank you."
Then at Conor's question about the squirrels, she looks at them and gives a long hard stare at the smallest one. Then a thoughtful look at her own pack, gauging its maximum size. Then back at the squirrel, as she creeps closer to it. Then back at her pack...
Noticing the catgirls looks and her pack, Conor snaps a finger, "got an unoccupied barrel Jek? We could stuff them in that for the time being, assuming we are all out dead lizardmen in there."
"I think there's one left." Jek tilts the barrel back and forth so that corpse thwacks into each end. "Yep. It's really gross in there, but it seals up tight. It'd probably kill the squirrels."
Jek stares at the squirrels for a bit.
"Tie em up and throw em over my back? I think we should show them to whats-her-face who's one with the tree in Crux."
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Rinika picks up the smallest one and tries carrying it around for a while. "This one is mine." it quickly becomes obvious that the weight and bulk is slowing her down, though, so she pouts and lays the squirrel across Jek's back.
"Well, I suppose we can come back tomorrow and see if the creature left traces somewhere, but otherwise I don't think we can do anything about this except warn someone powerful..."
Nik tries to think of someone who cares about the world-tree not being corrupted by evil outsiders.
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As Conor watches Rinika pick up the squirrel he is certain that the poor beast was going to show up, dead, on the porch of the inn by morning.
Thankfully, for the squirrel, she gives it up to Jek.
Too bad there wasn't a bounty on the things."
Just as you're reaching the edge of Crux, you notice that smoke is rising from one of the buildings. You quickly realize that the noxious fumes are pouring out of a window in the Woodworkers' Guild, cries of surprise and pain can be heard within.
Conor sighs at the sight of the fire and the cries of pain from within.
"I suppose you all are going to want to help with... that. And not even agree on a price first." he growls, voice trailing off at the end.
Sneak up and peer in the window!
"Yeah, I'm beginning to think-" Nik turns as he suddenly notices the fire.
"That they've got to give us something good for that!"
Nik rushes forward to where he can get a good look at the fire.
Zombington III shamblers after Nik, falling behind very far very quickly.
Conor sighs at the sight of the fire and the cries of pain from within.
"I suppose you all are going to want to help with... that. And not even agree on a price first." he growls, voice trailing off at the end.
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