Kaleb shakes his head "I got a bad feeling about this..."
Kaleb draws the silvered rapier and his 3rd favorite fork as he slips into the shadows, trying to avoid the notice of any evil spirits about.
Jasper holds his mace, still clearly uncomfortable with the weapon but wanting to put on a brave face for his cousin. He lets others take the lead, keeping his eyes open for danger.
Jasper keeps his eyes peeled as Cilik covers the magical spectra. Kaleb melts into the night as the party examines the ruins.
After an hour of detailed searching, nothing interesting at all comes up.
Hope this makes more sense than our last wild ghost chase...
After an hour of detailed searching, nothing interesting at all comes up.
Blodgett says nothing — just stares at Pennryn.
"I'm tiiired," Jasper complains. "Let's get some rest and continue our investigation with fresh eyes tomorrow."
The party heads back to the Feed Mill for some much needed rest. It's been an extremely busy two days. Despite not getting to the bottom of the murder, the actual hit man has been taken care of.
You return to a note from Tamli asking to get a complete rundown after breakfast tomorrow. Asking around, the general impression is that she was somewhat dejected when she left the note.
The night passes uneventfully.
The next morning brings more turnip.
When you step outside, the morning also brings a new face.
A woman shrouded in a heavy brown cloak trimmed with leaves marches up to you, pulling a simple wooden sledge behind her. As she approaches, she brings the sledge to one side and uncovers her cargo, a pile of wolf carcasses. She turns to you, and despite having her cloak’s hood pulled low, you can make out weathered lips and a slender chin. In a pointed tone, she asks, “Is this your work?”
"Wolves, but yes. That's what I think. Apologies, my name is Noala Kesrir, guardian of these parts. I'd like to actually talk to you in private. May we?"
"Oh of course. Let's just, uh, find a quiet place," Jasper acquiesces easily.
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After a fruitless, frustrating, even infuriating search, Penryn returns to the Feed Mill with his companions. Maybe if we go back to Etran's Hill in daylight, search more carefully, set up a grid pattern and walk every inch of the place...
His annoyance only builds when he sees Tamli's note and he mutters, "We don't work for her, who is she to insist we give her a rundown on anything? I - we - just need a little more time to sort things out, then it'll be worth giving an update on where we are."
Penny is only slightly less annoyed the following morning when someone accosts them about killing the wolves that attacked them. His attention is piqued, however, when she asks for a private discussion. He nods at his cousin's reply and studies Noala a bit.
"Come then. There's a clearing near the woods. I'd like to show you something, and I think you're the only ones who can help."
Despite the really suspicious introduction, you get the feeling she's on the up and up and she really does want your help. She comes off as frustrated, like she shouldn't NEED to ask for help or has tried to get it in the past but failed.
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Blodgett follows behind, muttering. Hope this makes more sense than our last, and our next to last, wild ghost chase...
The mysterious woman leads you to a clearing in the woods, not far from the town itself, where a small fire is already burning in a carefully kept fire pit. She tosses back her hood to reveal long, elven ears and deep, emerald eyes. With one hand, she begins to drag the wolf corpses to the flame. She avoids the use of her right hand, which is entirely covered in an oddly shaped leather gauntlet.
“These wolves aren’t the first, and I am afraid they won’t be the last. Worse still,” she grunts, as she begins to drag the body of the caustic wolf to the fire, “the forest itself is turning sour. Plants and trees are withering, bearing bitter fruit that sickens and kills those who eat it. If you’ve been out to the old orchard, you’ve seen it. The blight is growing, and I need your help to stop it.”
"Oh dear. A blight you say? I hadn't realized. Why yes, we will help. As a servant to Old Deadeye, he would have it no other way. This is the home of good people, and they deserve to be safe and well fed. How can we help?"
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How in Golarion did I manage to end up in this situation? I travel all the way to Elidir to fail to recover a debt for Haigen, get stuck in this town trying to figure out whether a vanished witch killed a corpse blood smuggler, and now I'm trying to keep fruit from getting bitter?
At Jasper's reply, Penryn's eyes roll so far back they almost come around again - but he can't help but be a little interested in the situation. Maybe this blight has something to do with Vilree and the corpse blood! I'll play along with ol' Jasper's eagerness to help.
"Oh, yes!" Penny responds, doing his best to sound enthusiastic, and coming within an arm's length of succeeding. "We must keep the fruit sweet! What do we do?"
Kaleb looks as Penryn's eyes rolls back. Can't he see the connections between the corpse blood and the fruits... If we don't do something, the turnips could be next.
Jasper enthusiastically claps his cousin on the back. "And you've got the best investigator on the case now!"
His surly cousin's attitude remains in the cleric's social blind spot.
Cilik concludes that it's not outside the realm of possibility. It's certainly plausible that the corpse blood and blight could be linked.
Indeed, Cilik isn't the only one who feels that way.
You can't put your finger on it, but something about this causes horripilation.
Noala seems visibly relieved at the offer of help. She explains a bit more now that the party seems willing. Apparently she has been serving these woods for many years, having retired here after fighting in the Goblinblood wars. The townsfolk keep her at arm's length, but Delma apparently trusts her the way Noala explains it. "For the past several years, there has been an ever-growing blight in the region. What started a few years ago with a single group of sickly trees has become a series of seemingly unconnected pockets of dead and dying plants. Worse still, some of the animals living near these areas have strange mutations and have turned hostile to travelers and locals alike. You've seen this yourselves. There is no obvious cause. The only common element is that in each afflicted area, the blight seems to start in a grove of very large, old trees."
"I don't expect you to do this merely out of a sense of goodness. I don't have much, but I am good at what I do. I can train you in the ways of the Ranger once we're done."
Kaleb pops another turnip in his mouth before exclamation "There's definitely something wrong with these 'ere parts... Let's go check it out and maybe the pieces will fall in together."
"I may take you up on that offer for training. I'd like Petunia, as brave as she is, to understand me better. Especially in times of danger. Petunia is a pony."
"Yes. I can. It'll take about 3 hours to get there. I will lead you to the nearby blight, which you will enter and explore. I will roam around the site, setting up snares on common trails and ensuring that any stray creatures flushed out of the area are contained. Once the area is cleared, we can investigate it fully to see if there is anything to be learned."
The first sign that you're approaching the blight is that the plants in the area are a sickly shade of green with spots of brown. Soon, the forest smells of sweet rot, and the trees look entirely unhealthy, their bark peeling off in sticky black strips. The presence of rot increases with every step you take, and Noala slows to a stop, turns to look at you, saying, “This is where those wolves came from, I am sure of it. Somewhere ahead is their den, but I will leave that for you to explore. If you need my help, you will find me out here. I am going to set up snares and make sure nothing gets out of this rotten copse.”
Kaleb nods "Well, shall we get 'exploring.' I'd hate to take so long that we'd have to make the walk home on the dark."
Kaleb unsheathes the silver rapier as well as one of his lesser preferred forks.
Kaleb looks to his companions for them to prepare themselves as well.
Blodgett shoulders his axe and takes a look at the tracks in the area.
Stop steppin' on the tracks! he growls at Jasper. We're not followin' a halfling, you know!
Penryn gets a hunch that he won't find the cause here, but more symptoms are likely...
(E)
(E)
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there appears to be a wolf carcass on the ground between the bushes, and the plants have wrapped their tendrils around the corpse.
"Me, step on the tracks? But you just stepped all over-" Jasper stops short on his admonishing Blodgett when he sees something. "Wait, do you see the dead wolf between those bushes? The plants have wrapped around it! How terrible!"
"I'm not sure. I suppose I can take a look..."
The curious halfling wanders over to the corpse to study it.
Jasper approaches to examine the corpses. Once close, the three bushes begin to shake and quiver. Before Jasper can do anything about it, a singular long tendril rises up like a snake ready to strike!
()
Perception (T)
Avoid Notice (T)
Cover Tracks (T)
Sense Direction (T)
Round 1:
Cilik: Go
Elvanthain: Go
Penryn: Go
Jasper: Go
Kaleb: Go
Plants: TBD
Blodgett: TBD
Penryn studies the surroundings and situation. It's a bloodlash bush! That tentacle can spin about, cutting targets open and leaving them to bleed to death!
Unfortunately, the arrow is way off target.
Round 1:
Cilik: Go
Elvanthain: Go
Penryn: Columbo
Jasper: Go
Kaleb: Go
Plants: TBD
Blodgett: TBD
Kaleb moves up and runs his fork along his rapier, sending out sparks at the rear plants.
Kaleb tries to zap two of the bushes before they can do any harm. One of them pulls the extra long tendril out of the way in the nick of time!
Round 1:
Cilik: Go
Elvanthain: Go
Penryn: Columbo
Jasper: Go
Kaleb: Zipzap
Plants: TBD
Blodgett: TBD
Black: 5
Green: 2
Elvanthain tries to see if he knows anything about these things.
He then pulls out his crossbow and shoots one
"Oh my!" Jasper exclaims, moving a few steps back. "These must not be good. Let's see if Erastil's divine power will send them back!"
He says a brief prayer before gesturing and sending forth a beam of divine energy at the foremost plant creature.
The party spreads the damage. Cilik sends a trip of powerful missiles into the center plant.
Jasper's aim is a bit off with his one magical assault.
Elvanthain doesn't remember anything new about the plant creatures, but his bolt is on target! The tip strikes a few leaves, but it seems to be less than effectual.
Round 1:
Blodgett: Go
Round 2:
Cilik: Go
Elvanthain: Go
Penryn: Go
Jasper: Go
Kaleb: Go
Plants: TBD
Blodgett: TBD
Black: 5
Green: 2
Brown: 15
Two of the plants send forth their dangerous vines. They wrap around Kaleb's legs and begin to siphon out his blood.
Round 1:
Blodgett: Go
Round 2:
Cilik: Go
Elvanthain: Go
Penryn: Go
Jasper: Go
Kaleb: Go
Plants: TBD
Blodgett: TBD
Black: 5
Green: 2
Brown: 15
Action 1+2: Divine Lance
Action 3: Shield
Seeing the three magical missiles slam into the foremost plant creature, Jasper continues his prayers and sends another beam of divine goodness.
Seeing the magic continue to sail wide, the cleric asks for protection. His prayer is answered by a temporary magical shield.
Blodgett doesn't hesitate a moment, feeling the rage well up in him and springing forth, his face bursting into a wicked, toothy grin and salivating acid upon his axe!