Keth faces the water and readies his spear to attack anything coming close....
Woolf watches the openings behind the group sniffing the air...
At Srag's question Sron's eyes glow red.
"Kill," he said quietly.
"Put me down first!" Meila yells
Irizzle will move out of the water, and attempt to identify the creature.
The secrets of the arcane know not of this creature.
Gonna move to init here. Giving this thing a suprise round would be nasty.
Sgrack puts Meila down with a "Sorry." and then grows at the "thing".
Irizzle’s ear prick up in anticipation.
”Wibblesticks?”
Irizzle
Monster
Sron
Sgrack
Meila
Keth and Woolf
Up from the water stands a 4-foot tall frog-like humanoid with large, bulbous eyes that constantly emits bright yellow beams of light. Its skin is mottled yellow, growing darker across its back. Its feet are webbed as are its claws.
”Torch...frog...man?”
He will move to his 10 foot range and seek to shoot it.
Monster
Sron
Sgrack
Meila
Keth and Woolf
Irizzle bounds into action and takes aim. Pulling the trigger on his firearm making a boom that echos through the caves momentarily. The cartridge strikes the creature center mass. It lets out a pained grunt.
The creature opens a second set of eyelids increasing the light in the area to a blinding level. Afterwards it moves forward to attack Irrizle for shooting it.
Trying to be generous with this ability going to consider that people count as cover. So everyone except Sron, Keth and Woolf needs to make a DC12 fortitude save. Failure means you are blinded for 1-h. Success means you are immune for 24-hours. For those currently in cover if you move into it's direct los you will also need to save.
Sgrack closes his eyes and yells at the sudden flash of light. "Eye hurt! See nothing!"
He then tries to smash the thing with his hammer and then bite the thing with his oversized tusks.
Meila sneezes a bunch of fire dust onto the creature!
Keth frowned, the creature looked to be blinding the others with some weird sort of vision, and he seemed to be hard to hit. He thrust out with a spear while he thought of what to do. and felt it bite the mottled skin of the frog creature. he then shouted 'Ionsai'
Woolf darted past the Master and came in from the side snapping at the frog-like being.
trying to pull it off its feet if his teeth connected.
Irizzle blinks as the light hits him. He manages to shrug off the effects fairly quickly however.
Sron manages to shield his eyes from the light but his projectile just misses the creature(1 ac off :( ). Sgrack Blinded by the light Swings his hammer and bites at the air.
The creature tries to dodge the sudden falling fire but bumps into the blinded Sgrack.
Keth and Woolf move in for a pinsir attack. Keth sinks his spear into the creatures shoulder lowing him down before Woolf bites at its throat causing a arterial spray of dark blood before the creature sinks to the ground and its eyes fade from dazing light to cloudy gold.
Without the threat of the creature is it easy to see some other humanoid remains in the pool from which it emerged.
"Keth, you gotta stick. Poke the body, would you? I don't trust it."
Irizzle is unfazed, and finds the creature fascinating. He pulls out a sketchbook, draws up a quick sketch and makes some notes.
"Fascinating, yes, I simply must look further into this creature upon our return. That blinding light effect may be replicable?"
Keth looks at Meila and nods. Thrusting his spear into the frog-things body one more time...and with Woolf's help he pulls him into the beach to examine.
Woolf held tight to the froggie as it collapsed and tugged and pulled til it was ashore then he began smelling it to see if he could eat it.
With the threat eliminated, Sgrack drops his weapon and knees besides the water ans starts to wash his eyes. "Sgrack see nothing! Help friends!"
"It's okay Sgrack, it's okay." Meila says, trying to comfort him. "It'll stop soon, I'm sure." She looks over at Sron and tries to motion Right? It'll stop soon, right?
"I hope so," says Sron. "If not we will do everything we can to fix it,"
"I can like, guide you, if you want. Here." She heaves and groans to pick up the earth breaker, then hands it to him. "I'll keep you safe."
Irizzle is broken out of his reverie over the fallen creature by the discussion on Sgrack's blindness.
"Hmm, perhaps if friend Sgrack's predicament is more permanent, we may be able to make our way back to Joram for some helpful clericment? Is anyone proficient in the healing arts, that might be able to diagnose the duration of Sgrack's unvisionment?"
Keth left the body and moved to Sgraack's side bending over he looked at his eyes. .
The blindness may last for a while I cannot tell if his eyes were damaged or if its just the brightness of the sudden flash that lingers. Whichever, rest assured we will find a cure for you if thats the case. My suggestion lets pause fora short time here while we see if his vision clears and check out this creature and perhaps see if he had any treasure in the pool
Woolf moved about sniffing the body licking his lips. he thought it smelled yummy, but maybe the others wanted to eat first...he looked up expectantly licking his lips.
Sgrack grabs the hammer Meila had offered but remains in silence, probably worried about how this condition might affect his survivability.
”Well, perhaps now is a good time to stop for a bite to eat yes? Perhaps we could tell each other of how we came to be here? I myself am come from Absalom, the city at the centre of the earth”, he says the last sentence dripping with scorn. ”I was attending the most prestigious school of Alchemy, but to my great dread I found the place terribly boring! So stuffy and hidebound, set in their ways, hadn’t discovered anything new in years - no sense of adventure! Anyways, one day we were shown a ‘gun’ from Alkenstar. It was the most magnificent thing I have ever seen, and I knew I must have one just like it.”
He looks around to see what interest the rest of you show in this moment, his face full of glee.
“So I stole it! And set out on a wonderful adventure! Haha! Of course, I can never go back now, but I find I much prefer it out here anyway. The Kellie’s don’t look to put on airs and look down their noses at you, and I find the desert air quite bracing. Plus, just look at all of the things we have already discovered just this day! So much knowledge to be uncovered?”[/b]
Meila happily sits down and munches on some rations. She ooos at the description of the 'centre of the earth', imagining deep caves going lower than dwarf citadels. But she nods understandingly when Irizzle talks about it being stuffy. Of course. She laughs when he declares he stole the gun.
"Right? There's so much to do here. The people here are really nice if you're nice to them first. And like, there's so many mysteries. I wanna be the first person to find aliens, and live to tell about it. Everyone else has died or gone crazy, or just didn't have enough 'proof' to satisfy all the unbelievers. But I know they're out there, waiting for us."
"I grew up here in Torch. I live with my mom and big sis. We don't get along great. My sis is trying to become the warden here, and mom runs an old clothes."
Keth nodded and sat down, pulling rations out to eat spartanly...as he nodded at Woolf to go ahead and enjoy the frog leg.
He looked at the gnome and said Gun? what is that. Is that what bade the loud noise and belched flame? is it some sort of magical wand?
Woolf gave a doggie smile to keth and began tearing through the leather hide of the creatures leg to get to the white succulent meat beneath . So yummy. he glanced up with happy eyes once, slime and frog parts dripping from his muzzle, before burying his head back in the upper thigh with a relish.
"No, it is not magic," said Sron softly. "But is is just as destructive, if not more so...,"
Irizzle’s eyes light up when he hears Keith’s question, and he launches into an explanation, heedless of Sron’s more cautious tone.
”Yes, no magic, just the wonders of alchemy!” he fishes out his powder horn, and uses it to load his gun while he explains.
”This astounding substance, gunpowder, possesses a magnificent amount of explosivity in such a tiny package! So we load it in here, and by containing the pressure within this tube when it ignites, we can force an object out the other end at great speed - faster than the greatest bow or crossbow could hope to achieve! Bullets! I’ve even been able to miniaturise some of my alchemical bombs to be carried as a payload within a bullet, though I’m still getting the hang of that part, it only tends to work a few times a day?”
Sgrack listens to the others talking and decides to also tell his tale. "Sgrack live in orc town. Live big hole in ground with crap and trash. Eat stink food, rat and bald big bird." He then decides to explain why. "Sgrack different. White, sick, not good orc." And then he continues. "Very big scorpion robot attack orc town and Sgrack escape... Live in wild. Hide. Survive. Find big river. Sgrack not swim."
"Sgrack find big town. People hunt Sgrack, want kill Sgrack. Sgrack flee, follow river and find Torch. People hurt Sgrack, but not kill. Torch people nice. Wild not safe, wild kill. Torch safe, people not kill." He then smiles slightly. "Khonnir help Sgrack. Val good girl. Sgrack eat food. Sgrack not in wind and rain. Life good."
Sron says the only thing he can:
"I do not know where I am from. Nor do I know who I am,"
Keth listens to all of this and first says to Irizzle This substance ...Gunpowder...is it natural? I have never heard of it. What makes this 'gun' better than just a crossbow or a bow? it seems to be too .....intricate...to be of much value? and way too noisy.
then he says to Sgraack Friend. youre right. The Wild is unsafe and it can kill. But it can also provide if one knows where to look. I have lived all my life in the wild only coming to Torch when needed. My father was a Half-orc. An adventurer going from town to town, or so my adopted father ...a simple woodsman told me. My mother died birthing me. Jebediah...tried his best to teach me...raise me...but it must have been hard to raise another mans child who had an illicit relationship with your wife...anyway....I learned about the wild though from my Mentor Joseph Varan. Learned the wild is not a place you can ever elt your guard down.
Then to Sron...You know nothing of your past? that must be very difficult
Woolf lay on his stomach, chewing on a bone hed pulled from the frog man gnawing it and grinding his teeth on it. He was perfectly happy laying in the sand chewing away.
Irizzle replies to Keth. Gunpowder does not occur naturally no, though the components with which to make it all are, so I suppose you could say it is a manufactured substance made from natural ingredients? Hmm, I could probably make a good living selling that in Taldor?”
Hearing Srons statement, he exclaims ”A mystery! How excellent. We shall discover this friend Sron. You seem to have some knowledge though, perhaps if we catalogue that during out travels, it might help us bepuzzlement your origins yes?”
"Difficult?" says Sron. "I suppose it is. I have observed that most beings require a narrative...," he glances at Sgrack. "...a story about themselves to know who they are. A place and date of birth, a genealogy of their ancestors or even a history of their people,"
Sron remembers back to his earliest memories of walking through the plains of Numeria before meeting Khonnir and Val. Naked, lost and alone.
"I have none of these things: no origin, no lineage and no story,"
When Irizle offers to help, Sron nods. Has he said too much? People were difficult to predict. The same disclosure may seem reticent to one but excessive to another. Val was usually good for explaining these things to him.
In a strange moment of wisdom, Sgrack offers some words. "Past not change. Think future. Live now."
"I agree. Now is good." Meila says as she pats Sgrack's shoulder.