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Ayita is enjoying the evening, not looking for problems. Ter is almost asleep but her eyes are open.
Ayita jumps, causing Ter to extend her wings and shriek. Ayita draws her rapier and faces the monster.
THING! Ter!!!
Ter is now more awake... if this is ok, I'll do a roll for her...
Ter thinks, I'm not an owl!
Hearing Frantino's warning, Nasir readies his shield, draws his sword, and moves to the front of the group to put himself between them and the creature.
"And I thought I was coming to a sleepy backwater village..."
SURPRISE ROUND!
When Frantino points out the creature ahead, it speaks in a guttural tongue.
"കോപത്തിന്റെ കുഞ്ഞേ, ഞങ്ങൾ നിന്നെ മണക്കുന്നു. നിങ്ങളുടെ കോപം നമുക്ക് ആസ്വദിക്കാം!"
Distract by its mutterings, nobody notices its fellow monster, rushing up from behind and striking at Roscoe!
When the thing bites Roscoe, he can feel the thread of belligerence that has possessed him all day begin to fade, almost as if the bite is leaching it from him! At the same time, the medallion hanging from his neck is hot, nearly burning his flesh.
Sorted Initiative ROUND ONE
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Roscoe
Nasir
Walf
Ayita
Doc
Frantino
Horrors
Nasir yells out a battle cry and engages the creature that just savagely bit Roscoe.
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"Ahhh!!!" Roscoe cries out as the thing sinks its teeth into his shoulder. "Getitoffme!"
He has little time to think of the burning medallion around his neck, or the diminished influence of the spirits infesting him, as he rips his shoulder away from the creature.
He swings his morningstar defensively, then steps back to nurse his wounds.
Frantino drew his sword during the surprise round, then moves to a flanking position and swings.
+2 with flank
ROUND ONE
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Roscoe -HIT!
Nasir - HIT!
Walf - MISS!
Ayita - DELAY
Doc - DELAY
Frantino - HIT!
Horrors - hit Nasir, miss Frantino
Hurt badly by Nasir and Roscoe, the thing bites at Nasir!
NO
Out of the darkness ahead the first monstrosity runs, full tilt, at Frantino!
ROUND TWO
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Roscoe -
Nasir -
Walf -
Ayita -
Doc -
Frantino -
Horrors -
Nasir continues to yell his battle cry and attempts to repay that savage strike with one of his own, swinging his sword more with power than precision.
Frantino continues swinging at the creature.
ROUND TWO
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Roscoe - MISS!
Nasir - MISS!
Walf - HIT!
Ayita - HIT!
Doc - DELAY
Frantino - HIT!
Horrors - DEAD!
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Roscoe loads his crossbow too quickly and the shot, not quite in the groove, is launched wonky, wobbling as it flies at the thing, it wiffs by the creature.
Nasir, confident now that he can hit this thing in the dark, yells his battle cry and... misses. Odd for a veteran solider of the Empire. Perhaps the rumor that the Empire's famed soldiers are magically lucky inside the Imperial heartland, but unlikely outside it, is true?
The weird thing slavers at Nasir, somehow angrier now than before, as if it had replenished its hatred and wrath.
"ബഹുമാനപ്പെട്ട സ്ത്രീയുടെ ക്രോധം വിദേശിയല്ല, നിങ്ങളോടല്ല."
Just as it finishes croaking at Nasir, Walf's earthbreaker falls upon its head. With a sickening <pop> brains and skull explode all over Nasir!
Before its compatriot can respond it the incredible blow that ended its fellow, Frantino turns, slashes and suddenly Ayita is there, too! Her rapier skewers the thing, nearly simultaneous with Frantino's blade.
Without a word or sound, the thing slumps to the ground.
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"What, was that?" Walf asks in exhaustion.
"I expected someone to try to rob us, but not monstrosities!"
Walf examines the bodies, looking for any clue about what just happened.
"We should warn the Port Captain. Do we need to pay some sort of fine for engaging in combat in town? Can we hire a clean-up crew?"
Nasir's battle cry awakens the nearby houses.
"My gods! What is happening out here?" yells a stout woman, quickly throwing on a leather cuirass. Blackberry stands behind her holding a sword clearly not hers, given the fumbly way she grips it. The stout woman, captain Julit Freson, grabs the sword and approaches the group.
"What the hells are you people doing? And who are you, soldier, to be killing people in my town in the middle of the night?" she says, suspiciously, her blade at the ready.
Shadows from a torch in Blackberry's hand dance across the group in the poorly lit night.
From the other nearby home comes an older man. He holds a lantern in one hand a cudgel in the other. He looks at the dead things at the group's feet.
"Well, Julit, its one a them things I dun told you 'bout! Now you gonna b'lieve, me? Heck, theres TWO uh them things!" he says, pointing with his cudgel.
"We should warn the Port Captain. Do we need to pay some sort of fine for engaging in combat in town? Can we hire a clean-up crew?"
"Yes, you should warn the Captain. The GUARD Captain. ME," says Freson. "I ain't gonna charge you for defending yourselves, but this one... dunno him. Not happy with for'ners killing in our streets in the dark. Smack of Riddleport, it does."
She points at Nasir.
In the poor light, in the night, Walf can see that the things are malformed. Legs misshapen, barely legs like any the aphorite has seen, whether on Axis or here in the slightly less ordered world of Golarion.
In fact, their chaotic, poorly designed nature strikes the aphorite as deeply wrong, as if they were forged by a child to reflect his nightmares.
"Yes, you should warn the Captain. The GUARD Captain. ME," says Freson. "I ain't gonna charge you for defending yourselves, but this one... dunno him. Not happy with for'ners killing in our streets in the dark. Smack of Riddleport, it does."
She points at Nasir.
Frantino moves forward into the light.
"Guard Captain Freson, it's Frantino Kaddren. I have worked for you over the last few years on occasion, when you have called for help. We were merely walking the street together when these two things attacked us without warning."
"I'd like to introduce you to Nasir al-Rafik Kamal, former First Captain from Qadira. However, like me, he is now a scholar of Thassilon and has studied at length in Magnimar before coming here. I have not known him long but I have found him to be an honorable warrior with an equally capable mind. Honestly, in many ways he reminds me of you," he adds, in an attempt to throw a compliment her way.
Nasir quickly cleans the little bit of blood and gore from his blade and sheathes it.
"Thank you for the introduction and complement, Frantino Kaddren. That was quite a blow you struck to that thing."
Nasir turns to the guard captain to address her accusation/concern.
"I wish I could say that I managed to kill one of these...um...things, but this was all the work of your townsfolk. I know that there is no military service requirement in Varisia, but do you regularly train your townsfolk, guard captain? They are quite capable with very little help from me."
Nasir turns his attention toward the old man with the lantern and makes a slight bow toward him.
"Jid, I apologize for waking you from your rest. I was afraid for the townsfolk's safety, so I tried to raise the alarm in case my friends and I were unable to contain the danger. Luckily, we managed to quickly dispatch these things and only Roscoe and myself have been injured. You are safe now.
You say that you have seen these creatures before? When, where, and how long ago?"
Nasir looks down at all of the gore on his armor and shrugs.
"Proprietrix Knodston will be very upset with me for returning to Creekside covered in this..."
"I'd like to introduce you to Nasir al-Rafik Kamal, former First Captain from Qadira. However, like me, he is now a scholar of Thassilon and has studied at length in Magnimar before coming here. I have not known him long but I have found him to be an honorable warrior with an equally capable mind. Honestly, in many ways he reminds me of you," he adds, in an attempt to throw a compliment her way.
"Well, Frantino. If you vouch for him... I guess this can wait until tomorrow. Morley, can we stash these... things in your backhouse until tomorrow? I'd like to take a look at them more closely then," Freson asks the old man.
"Yer at Creekside, are ya? Garleena will be upset by the gore. But then, not muh problem. That's yers," she says with a grin, addressing Nasir. "And ya can stow the butter-me-ups, soldier. Don't work after midnight."
The old man comes back with several large blankets of burlap and throws them down near the monsters, gesturing at the heroes.
"Well'n, don't just stand there. I ain't touchin' 'em," he says grumpily at Frantino and Walf. "Yer twenty years younger 'n me. An its midnight. My bones get tired after midnight."
His silence is noted. She's kept an eye on him, ever since he ran into trouble when he was a younger halfling. Seems to be shipshape nowadays, but... she knows better than most that not everybody cleans up their act the first time they try.
Upon casting detect magic in the morning, Walf is able to sense a faint aura of transmutation beneath the soles of the slippers, radiating into whatever is held beneath the slippers. Anybody wearing them will be able to traverse even the most difficult of terrain, as if walking on an easy and level surface. Perhaps Sir Roderic's wife used them to walk through the mud and rain from her home to the Cove for market day in inclement weather?
When Walf turns his eyes upon the wooden rod, he senses nothing. It is only a wooden curtain rod from the closet of the lower hall of Sir Roderic's home.
Fireday, 15th of Gozran, 4720 AR
You all assemble that morning at Creekside to have a quick breakfast of game hen, eggs, bacon and morning ale.
Garleena watches all of you with a suspicious eye. "You're not going to get blood and gore on my benches, are you?" she asks, partially serious. "The town rumor mill is in full swing. Did you kill anything this morning yet?"
"But truly, what are your plans for today?" she asks. "I am cleaning for the Starday and Sunday rush, so the common room will be closed, as will your room, Nasir."
- *
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When Walf turns his eyes upon the wooden rod, he senses nothing. It is only a wooden curtain rod from the closet of the lower hall
of Sir Roderic's home.
Walf tucks the rod under his cot, thinking its history might make it a good base for creating a magical rod later on.
Walf then prestidigitates the slippers to make them fresh and clean and returns them to Frantino at breakfast, explaining their powers. "You should wear them for now. They may be useful. If they are too feminine for you, we could offer them to Ayita, but I suspect they then also would not suit her as a Shoanti huntress. In that case, we could sell them with the other things or hold onto them until we can go to Riddleport or Magnimar."
Regarding where to go, Walf speaks up, "I think we should go seek the Port-Captain first. We can find out what he learned about the creatures, learn what he might know about the locket, and make sure we can sell the items we found in Sir Roderic's house without getting into trouble. Maybe he can also tell us about the Roadkeepers, the Horned Fangs, and what that old man reported to him before."
Regarding where to go, Walf speaks up, "I think we should go seek the Port-Captain first. We can find out what he learned about the creatures, learn what he might know about the locket, and make sure we can sell the items we found in Sir Roderic's house without getting into trouble. Maybe he can also tell us about the Roadkeepers, the Horned Fangs, and what that old man reported to him before."
Nasir nods his head at Walf's suggestion.
"If I were the Guard Captain, I would expect to see us first thing in the morning after last night's incident.
She obviously thinks that I am here to cause some kind of trouble, and I would say that yesterday's activities did me no favor on that front.
Hopefully, with everyone's help, I may be able to find a way for her to be at least be less suspicious of me and allow us to continue our search to find out what is threatening the town.
Ultimately, I am looking to set up business in this region, and I'm hoping this town would be a good place to do that. Bur if I can't get her to ease off a bit, that might be difficult to do.
I would also like to see if we can learn more from these bodies in the daylight.
After that, perhaps we can go to the town hall and look at the map with the addition of the missing piece that we have."
Frantino listens to Nasir's ideas.
"That seems like a logical start. I'm very interested in asking the Captain Freson about these Roadkeepers that are supposedly in the Churlwood, since we'll be headed there soon. After the town hall we should call on Audrahni at The Lady's Chapel, at the very least to thank her for the wand we used, as well as more information about the Fangs that were killed recently.
Roscoe and Nasir, are you still injured from the fight last night? Doc, can you help them?"
"Come on inta ma office, y'all."
Nasir nods at Frantino's comments and seeing no further discussion, feels that the course of the day is decided.
"It is settled then. Let us finish out our breakfast and seek out the guard captain. It should be an interesting conversation..."
Spirits
Heirophant - Chapel
Marshall - Cove Hall
Trickster - back alleys
"So, I was a'wonderin' when yuh'd get around to comin' to see me," says Julit Freson when you enter the Guardhouse. Shaking Frantino's hand, she continues, "But I see you and Roscoe made the wise idea to have breakfast first. Bravo."
She looks at Ayita and frowns in a kind way. "That rapier won't always work for you. If you want, swing by and Keela and I will work you out until you either die of exhaustion or learn to slash with the best of us!"
Though Roderic’s Cove doesn’t see much danger, the town has always maintained a town guard and a volunteer militia for larger emergencies whose members are ready to assist their fellow citizens should the need arise.
Most of the heroes, having lived in the Cove for a while, know Captain Julit Freson to be a gruff, no nonsense woman who runs the guardhouse and trains anyone in town who wants to volunteer for the guard or militia. She always dispenses good advice, whether people want to hear it or not, and always encourages people to do their best. The town children, especially, look up to her.
A few years ago, Freson recruited an unexpected second-in-command. After investigating reports of raids in the Churlwood, she captured Keela Macrosh and locked her up in the guardhouse’s jail cell. Keela seems to have repented her ways and turned her life around since then. Though skeptical at first, Captain Freson agreed to mentor the former bandit. Now she stands behind Freson, eyeing the heroes. What she thinks, who knows.
"So, those things. Morley said he'd seen something skulkin' around. But, you know him, lotsa talk. I looked at them things this morning after coffee and they're already decomposing. Like they were dishrags wrung out of all their dirty water. You seen 'em before?"
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"I do not believe any of us have, Captain. After we finish speaking to you, may we examine them? Where there are two, there are probably more."
Walf pauses a moment, then pulls out the locket. "Captain, at Audrahni's request, we went into Sir Roderick's house yesterday to try to determine what has disturbed his rest. We found this, among other things."
Walf holds out the locket for Captain Julit to examine.
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"It cannot be a coincidence that we were accosted after starting to look into this and searching Sir Roderick's house. These creatures must be linked to these strange events somehow. Perhaps they attacked the Horned Fangs?
When we get to The Lady's Chapel, we should inquire whether the Horned Fangs had bite marks like some of you received."
"I do not believe any of us have, Captain. After we finish speaking to you, may we examine them? Where there are two, there are probably more."
Walf pauses a moment, then pulls out the locket. "Captain, at Audrahni's request, we went into Sir Roderick's house yesterday to try to determine what has disturbed his rest. We found this, among other things."
Walf holds out the locket for Captain Julit to examine.
"Gods, where did you find this?" gasps Captain Freson when she opens the locket. "This is my mother. My father once told me she had given him a locket when they first met. He always said, losing the locket, he was determined not to lose her, too. Thank you for returning it."
She slides it away in a pocket and turns to Keela. "Take these warriors to Morley's backhouse to examine the creature's bodies. But after that, burn them and toss their ashed into the Gulf. Do not let the ashes rest in Morley's fields."
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"Gods, where did you find this?" gasps Captain Freson when she opens the locket. "This is my mother. My father once told me she had given him a locket when they first met. He always said, losing the locket, he was determined not to lose her, too. Thank you for returning it."
She slides it away in a pocket and turns to Keela.
Walf gestures toward Nasir, "It was the esteemed Captain who noticed the likeness and thought it might belong to you.
We found it under the stairs leading to Sir Roderic's house. Can you think of any reason it might have been there? We are attempting to determine why his spirit is so unquiet."
Walf observes Captain Freson as she examines the amulet, as she speaks of it, and as she answers his question about it, to determine whether she might is being honest about the locket and how it was left at Sir Roderic's home. However, he has great difficulty reading reactions of the people of this plane.
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She looks at Ayita and frowns in a kind way. "That rapier won't always work for you. If you want, swing by and Keela and I will work you out until you either die of exhaustion or learn to slash with the best of us!"
Ayita grins, very glad of the offer to improve her skills... it sure was embarrassing to feel like she was using a sewing needle or something during some of those fights!
I would be very glad of the opportunity, Ladies! I will provide the blackberry muffins for post workout refreshments, if you would like!
I have been wondering if Ter and I might sometimes be able to help with guarding the village... could that help? she's got excellent eyes!
She gets out her Shoanti bola, and offers to bring it to practice too.
Ayita grins, very glad of the offer to improve her skills... it sure was embarrassing to feel like she was using a sewing needle or something during some of those fights!I would be very glad of the opportunity, Ladies! I will provide the blackberry muffins for post workout refreshments, if you would like!
I have been wondering if Ter and I might sometimes be able to help with guarding the village... could that help? she's got excellent eyes!
She gets out her Shoanti bola, and offers to bring it to practice too.
"Ha!" says Keela. "You had her at 'blackberry.' I'm sure Ter would be quite handy on guard duty, with her keen eyes."
Captain Freson looks at Keela, rolls her eyes, and then turns to Ayita. "You are welcome. We spar in the morning here for an hour each day, just before breakfast."
"We found it under the stairs leading to Sir Roderic's house. Can you think of any reason it might have been there? We are attempting to determine why his spirit is so unquiet."
Walf observes Captain Freson as she examines the amulet, as she speaks of it, and as she answers his question about it, to determine whether she might is being honest about the locket and how it was left at Sir Roderic's home. However, he has great difficulty reading reactions of the people of this plane.
[Dice=Sense Motive]1d20-2
"Hmmm. My father did say he had stayed a night in the house with his friends as a young man. One of those 'prove yourself' male rituals. He may have lost it then."
She shrugs. "He was cagey about his night in the house with his friends. But he always would tell me that he "didn't care to return." I imagine he didn't wish to admit his fear to his daughter, but I once overheard him tell my mother that there was no way in the Nine Hells he would ever go back."
She seems truthful to Walf's eyes.
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Roscoe is also intrigued by the mystery of how the locket, belonging to the guard captain, found its way into the dilapidated house of Sir Roderick.
"Was your father an explorer or something? Is he still alive? Any insight into how came to be at Sir Roderick's?" he asks pensively.
"Also--I need a place to perform a little ritual to--ah--get some help for today," he says.
Roscoe is also intrigued by the mystery of how the locket, belonging to the guard captain, found its way into the dilapidated house of Sir Roderick.
"Was your father an explorer or something? Is he still alive? Any insight into how came to be at Sir Roderick's?" he asks pensively.
"An explorer? Gods, no. A fisherman. Never owned his own boat, but had work all his life on his friends' boats. It's a pretty standard dare among the young men in the Cove to 'spend the night' in the Wreck. I recall when I was a child some boys nearly drowned out there. Though how you can drown in a house is beyond me," she rolls her eyes.
"The old guard captain and some of the parents went out after that with some nails and hammers. To board it up, I thought. I've never been inside. Didn't feel the need to measure my courage with stupidity. I try to discourage it, when I can."