After about an hour, the terrain starts to undulate and grow rockier and more overgrown, not nearly as flat or easily passable as closer to the river. Freyja navigates it without much effort, however, and you have little difficulty as long as you follow her lead.
You spend another few hours exploring this area and don't find much in the way of provisions; however, you do find a small outcropping that has a natural barrier of trees surrounding it. It is is only marginally better than your current camp -- the outcropping could provide nominal protection from the elements, but only for a small handful of people. Still, it is further from the river and the road, and that alone may make it worth the move.
Oona frowns at the outcropping. "It is not ideal, but I think we should move our camp to this location. It will dishearten some, what with the progress made building shelters, but we need to encamp further from the forest's edge. We are far too exposed." She sighs and turns south. "I fear there is little else to find here. Shall we move on?"
You move on to the southeast. It is definitely slower going in this more difficult terrain; you suspect you won't be able to cover nearly as much ground in the coming days, as you venture further from the river.
This area is much the same as the last; a bit hillier, a bit undergrowthier, but not too much else of note. Freyja notes that the western sky is starting to pick up some pink and orange hues; sunset is not far off. But then you see it: up ahead is a clearing and what looks to be an old structure. As you approach, it becomes clear that this is an old abandoned farm. All that is left of the farmhouse is a tumbledown chimney; inside you find a loose stone concealing a long-dead settler's wealth:
- 210 sp
- 75 gp
- Masterwork bolas
- Masterwork javelin
- Large citrine gem (50 gp)
Nearby is an overgrown apple orchard. This one looks similar to the one you found the other day, and you all begin hungrily approaching it. Too late, you hear the telltale buzzing: wasps! They are angry, and they are getting louder.
Oona (29/29 hp)
Mac (24/24 hp)
Freyja (31/31 hp)
Swarm (0 damage)
Katia (25/25 hp)
Bold may act.
"Wasps! Your weapons are useless against them!" Her voice is on the edge of panic and she is backing away, eyes wide.
Oona looks sharply at Mac, who appears agitated, his hackles up. "Stay!" she barks sharply.
Oona steps forward and pulls a flask from her belt, lobbing it at the swarm.
Mac whimpers, looks up at Oona like he wants to obey, but just can't bring himself to do it. He scampers off to hide behind Freyja.
The flask lands just to the northeast of the swarm. Some of the acid splashes on to the wasps and burns a few of them away, but it is barely noticeable.
The wasps fly onto Oona's square and begin stinging her . The stings seem to come from all directions at once and it is all Oona can do to keep from screaming.
The stings are becoming too much for Oona to handle. She feels a gorge in her throat as the wasps' poison courses through her veins .
Oona (23/29 hp, 1 dex damage, nauseated [1 round], poisoned)
Mac (24/24 hp)
Freyja (31/31 hp)
Swarm (1 damage)
Katia (25/25 hp)
Bold may act.
Katia's lob strikes true and it looks like about a quarter of the wasps burn away. Some of it splashes on to Oona's arm and burns the skin there, but she hardly seems to notice.
Oona (22/29 hp, 1 dex damage, nauseated [1 round], poisoned)
Mac (24/24 hp)
Freyja (31/31 hp)
Swarm (8 damage)
Katia (25/25 hp)
Bold may act.
Freyja sees Katia throw an alchemist's fire and suddenly remembers that the party has some more. She goes digging through the pack and finds one after a few seconds. She takes a deep breath and walks toward the swarm.
Oona stumbles out of the swarm, slapping at individual wasps as they cling to her, fighting off more the venom they're pumping into her veins and slapping a handful of smoking spots on her clothing.
You imagine the wasps utter a collective "aw..." as Oona flees, but it isn't long before they find a new foe to sting into oblivion .
Oona (22/29 hp, 1 dex damage)
Mac (24/24 hp)
Freyja (31/31 hp)
Swarm (8 damage)
Katia (23/25 hp, 1 dex damage, nauseated [1 round], poisoned)
Bold may act.
Oona (22/29 hp, 1 dex damage)
Mac (24/24 hp)
Freyja (31/31 hp)
Swarm (8 damage)
Katia (23/25 hp, 2 dex damage, poisoned)
Bold may act.
Oona (22/29 hp, 1 dex damage)
Mac (24/24 hp)
Freyja (31/31 hp)
Swarm (12 damage)
Katia (23/25 hp, 2 dex damage, poisoned)
Bold may act.
Freyja tosses the alchemist's fire in the swarm's midst .
Wanting this fight to be over, Oona draws another alkali flask and throws it at the swarm.
Freyja's alchemist's fire lands true (but doesn't do much) and Oona's sails too far. The wasps move to attack Freyja this time .
Freyja grits her teeth and fights through the pain.
Oona (22/29 hp, 1 dex damage)
Mac (24/24 hp)
Freyja (28/31 hp)
Swarm (16 damage, pending AF damage [Freyja])
Katia (23/25 hp, 2 dex damage, poisoned)
Bold may act.
Oona (22/29 hp, 1 dex damage)
Mac (24/24 hp)
Freyja (28/31 hp)
Swarm (16 damage, pending AF damage [Freyja])
Katia (23/25 hp, 3 dex damage, poisoned)
Bold may act.
Freyja moves out of the swarm, batting wasps out of her hair and clothes. She pulls another alchemist's fire out of party storage.
Oona steps back, draws her last alkali flask, and lobs it at the wasps.
After Freyja moves out of the way, Katia's toss sails wide. But the lingering fire from Freyja's earlier hit flares up and burns away a huge portion of the remaining wasps.
Oona seizes the advantage and immolates the remaining wasps with a direct hit and an impressive fireball. The smell is horrific.
Oona frowns at Katia, surveying the damage.
She grimaces involuntarily. "Some serious damage to your joints from all that venom. We'd best get you back to the camp so you can rest. It will take a few days, but you should be fine eventually."
Freyja shudders. "Well that was absolutely terrible. We were completely unprepared for that. Well, I was. I'm going to carry this alchemist's fire on me from now on."
She moves to the overgrown apple orchard. "Let's see if it was worth it."
Oona helps Katia stand upright. "Orchard first. We still need as many supplies as we can get."
She leads the witch toward the apple orchard with Freyja to take a look.
The orchard is just as rewarding as the one you found on the first day of exploring; plenty of apples, free for the taking, and more will grow each week .
By the time you gather the apples, it is dark enough that Freyja needs to send her ioun torch spinning around her head. You are able to get back to camp without further difficulty.
Once there, Aubrin immediately recognizes Katia's condition. "Oh dear, come here and lay down. Let me help you." She spends a few minutes ensuring there is nothing else wrong besides the effects of the poison, and then says a quick prayer to Cayden Cailean.
Aubrin smiles. "He has seen fit to smile upon you, dear. You will be right as rain with a night's rest." She holds up a bottle. "Drink to celebrate? It's on me!"
|
Katia puts up quite a fuss, squirming under Aubrin's ministrations and yelling irritably about how "it's just a couple of damn bug bites," then scowls when the worst of the damage from the venom is lifted.
At Aubrin's offer, she crosses her arms and glares at the cleric. "Who's charging for the booze at a time like this?" However, the hint of a smile twitches at the corners of her mouth. "Alright fine. You can buy me a drink."
She feels a little better after carousing with Aubrin and some of the other survivors, but she can't stop the nagging voice at the back of her mind, reminding her constantly that she is less than useless out here. You need to find your place here. Right now, you do not have one.
She pushes it away as best she can and tries to enjoy herself. She even performs a few harrowings for those that ask for it (using her standard deck, of course, not her mother's). At one point, she draws The Fiend, bearing a horrid green tentacle monster devouring some poor soul. "What," she says with convincing severity, "is my ex-boyfriend doing in this deck?" She then laughs hysterically at her own joke, unable to continue the harrowing.
She goes to bed that night pleasantly buzzed.
Oona sits with Mac near the outskirts of the camp, watching the others enjoy the festivities, and feeling somewhat out-of-place. She falls asleep using the wolf as a pillow, her night filled with fitful images of burning azaleas and the screams of the dying.
At breakfast the next morning, Aubrin approaches you. "People are wondering what you have decided about moving the camp. If I'm being honest, I'm wondering as well. We are vulnerable here, but we will be unable to build enough shelter in half a day once we get there." She looks to the sky, which is overcast and foreboding. "Weather's been lucky so far, but I think we have rain coming today." She shakes her head. "But every day we stay here is a day Ironfang patrols can easily find us. You've been out there, so this decision falls to you. Do we move today?"
Oona ponders the sky as she chews slowly on her breakfast. "We must move eventually," she says finally, "and sooner would be better than later. The skies are not going to cooperate with us, but the outcropping can hold a few. We can put the most vulnerable under the outcropping until we have enough shelters built, but there is no saying when we'll have clear skies again, and an Ironfang patrol could find us at any moment. Fate has blessed us thus far, but I do not wish to tempt Her any further."
|
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Katia shakes her head. "We can defend the camp against one or two patrols. We shouldn't try to rebuild shelters in the rain. We should at least give it another day and see what the weather is like tomorrow. Besides, we can send some more people out to hunt, and hopefully gather up some food and supplies to take with us."
"I think you are downplaying the danger of a patrol discovering us. I say we move now." She turns to Freyja. "You have not yet weighed in. What do you think?"
Freyja tries to throw Katia her best 'sorry' look, and then says, "Oona is right. I know hobs, and they aren't going to let us just get away. They will be coming as soon as they can get across that river. And that will be sooner than later. We need to get away and we needed to do it yesterday. That boar gave us a food surplus so there is no better time than now to go."
Aubrin nods. "That settles it then. I will prepare everyone to travel." She walks away and begins coordinating the breaking down of shelters and the packing up of supplies. There is some mild grumbling, but most people understand the risk and knew that this was coming.
Aubrin's weather forecast turns out to be correct, but the rain never advances beyond a light drizzle; most of the time, it is merely a cool fall mist. With Freyja, Oona, and Aubrin's wilderness skills, you are able to guide the group to the new campsite in time to have a late lunch. There were a handful of turned ankles and some poison ivy exposure, but nothing that Aubrin can't handle with mundane healing.
The group sets about with their assigned duties.
Freyja sets about building shelter for as many people as she can manage.
Oona spends the day building shelters.
Aubrin builds shelters too.
After a half day of travel, the Phaendar refugees were able to band together and nearly create enough shelter for everyone in the camp. The party, Aubrin, and the two half-elf hunters Taidel and Lirosa volunteered to sleep outside in the misty rain. It was an unpleasant night for those six people (and one wolf), but the satisfaction and peace of mind of getting these people to a safer location made the discomfort easier to bear.
It is still drizzling at dawn, but a quick glance to the west through the trees shows clear skies on the way. You are soaked through to the bone, but yesterday's mission was accomplished, and it shouldn't be a problem to get the remainder of the shelter up today.
Jet approaches you early in the morning to inform you of something you surely already know: it is very important to find ample food today.
Aubrin asks what the day's plan is.
Oona frowns. "There isn't much we can do besides send out as many as we can to hunt. Freyja and I can join the hunt. Katia, what will you--"
Freyja takes a young woman, Tiani, with her on her hunt.
Aubrin goes on her own to hunt.
Oona returns near dusk with a tall, lean elf named Denithil. He and Oona chat away cheerfully as they drag two deer--a buck and a doe--back on a makeshift hunting sled, already dressed and ready to be cooked and preserved.
She heads over to the others with their haul. "That went quite well! Katia, how did you--" She stops talking at the acid look the witch shoots at her, and she raises her hands defensively. "Alright then."
She takes her meal that evening with Denithil, learning more about how an elf from Kyonin managed to wind up in Phaendar, of all places. At sundown, she bids him goodnight and takes up residence in one of the numerous shelters. Mac curls up next to her, licks his chops, and the two are almost immediately asleep.