"Yup. That's where the camp is," says the first Roadkeeper.
Nasir considers what these bandits have spilled, but is not sure how much he can trust what he has heard. He sheathes his sword and starts picking up the weapons that the bandits have. He motions to the others.
"Anyone want any of these weapons before I start throwing them into the river?"
Then he turns to the bandits.
"Do either of you have anything else useful to share?"
Once they respond, Nasir then throws all of the remaining weapons into the river.
"Since you guys are keeping the roads safe around here, you should have no problem going about your business without any weapons.
We'll keep the gold to cover the Doc's expenses for treatment. You might have both died out here if it wasn't for him.
Now get out of my sight and if I see you again, I'll ask the Doc to be too busy to help you."
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Looking through the items not mentioned as loot but probably there, Ayita will want to give the 2 back their things like bedrolls, waterskins, food, personal momentos etc. She will do so unless another party member debates her on this.
Items:
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Potion of cure light wounds, two vials of acid, a smokestick, a tanglefoot bag, masterwork studded leather, a lot of daggers (5), a short sword, 2 sets of thieves’ tools, 25 gold, a bag of caltrops, padded armor, four darts, a sap, a disguise kit
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Ayita says to her group (not the bandits), "I would like the sap, the MW studded leather, disguise kit, and a couple of daggers, unless someone else wants it?
Between us, I think we should also keep the potion of cure light wounds, acid vials, tanglefoot bag, caltrops, 25 gold, smokestick... anything else? We could get some gold for the other things too though the padded armor is heavy for its value."
Nasir nods in agreement.
"Please take what you want. These guys don't need it since the roads are very secure around here due to their vigilant watch. Let them keep that padded armor. form the looks of these guys, it's probably flea infested."
Roscoe looks through the valuables. "It looks like we have turned the tables. Earning instead of paying!" he says, his eyes glittering with greed, particularly upon seeing the small stack of gold.
He takes one of the sets of thieves' tools. "I could probably make use of this--sometimes," he says.
"I'll grab an acid flask if no one minds, it'll supplement the fire vial I have. I hate the thought of throwing perfectly good weapons into the river, though! Just doesn't seem right."
Frantino is ready to press on, not wanting to give Lullaby too much of a head start.
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Frantino is ready to press on, not wanting to give Lullaby too much of a head start.
Ayita agrees, gathers up the items she'd like and makes sure all the others are distributed.
Shall we let these two go? They'd do better to head elsewhere, not toward the Stone House, I'm thinking.
"Social Control" is still not quite clean enough, she's still working on it.
"But, but, how are we supposed to get across the river? You took all of our money?" asks Keg.
"If we stay on this side of the river, the gobbos will get us. 'N we ain't got any weapons to protect ourselves!" cries Jug.
Nasir stops himself before throwing all of the remaining weapons into the river.
"I suppose you are right, Frantino. We can hang on to these weapons for safe keeping."
Nasir addresses the bandits.
"Now that you guys are all patched up, you should head out. We wouldn't want you wandering the forest too late. People might rob you of everything that you have. We wouldn't want that to happen, would we?
Hopefully, we won't see you again. That would be a shame..."
Leaving the Roadkeeper thugs behind, the party moves out, following the trail from the river bank up to the forest edge. The trail widens and becomes the Lost Coast Road, well traveled and easy to find. An hour later, the party comes to a side trail branching left off the Road. It heads into the trees.
Roscoe trudges along with the others, mentally reviewing the gold they had found and wondering how they could acquire more.
A lot more.
As the trail widens, Gregory distracts him for a moment with all the talk of juleps.
Julep gumbo...spicy julep...popcorn julep...coconut julep...
It's just by chance that his eyes are following the wagon tracks as they turn off into the woods on a side trail.
"Wait--whoever this was--took a turn here!" he exclaims.
Nasir stops to examine the side trail. He spots some familiar tracks.
Tracking in these wet lands is much easier than tracking through the desert's shifting sands.
"Looks like that Wanderer that we noticed earlier may have gone down this side path. Ayita, you seem intent on contacting them. Should we go this way?"
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Ayita sees the tracks...
Yes, I'd very much appreciate making sure my cousins are ok! I don't know why they came so far down this way... don't want them to run into more bandits like our friends there!
She is thinking about blackberry brandy. Ter is thinking about blackberry muffins with mice. Yazhi wants FOOD and food FOOD.
Nasir looks at the rest of the party.
"Any objections? If there are none, let's go find Ayita's cousins and see if they can be of some help with the Roadkeepers."
"If there are any friendly faces in this forest we should check on them. I'm from Magnimar, you wouldn't find any of my family out here if they could help it! I look forward to meeting your cousins, Ayita."
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Well, Cousin Vina's family does make a really excellent demonpepper fiendish dire boar stew! Maybe they have some... I hope they are doing ok; not sure what mood they will be in.
"Some distant cousins sent a package of ice peppers from Aaminiut a little while back." Hatfield rummages through his bag. "Yep. Here they are. S'posed ta be good for exposure and hypothermia. Bet it'd be good with stew."
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"Some distant cousins sent a package of ice peppers from Aaminiut a little while back." Hatfield rummages through his bag. "Yep. Here they are. S'posed ta be good for exposure and hypothermia. Bet it'd be good with stew."
Ice peppers!!! Ayita leans over and peers at them.
I've never gotten to see any. The cousins would love to try those! They like those demonpeppers from up near the Worldwound that take special handling (I feel a little weird eating food that detects as chaotic evil, myself); I bet they have never had ice peppers though.
The small trail opens into a clearing suddenly. The borders of the clearing are unusual in that they are well-tended, clear of brush, and strewn with gravel to form a circular road of sorts.
A single dead oak tree looms at the center of the clearing, and something silver sparkles from one of the lower branches—what appears to be an amulet hangs there. The wagon's tracks cross the road and enter the clearing near the tree.
Just inside the circular gravel road is Ayita's cousins' wagon. The Varisian Wanderer, with its stars and moons, dangling pots and pans, and wind chimes, rests unmoving to the south of the tree. On the ground, on the tree-side of the wagon, rests a body. It is Ayita's cousin, Vano.
At the head of the wagon lies her cousin Ristreto's body, partially covered by the arrow-riddled body of the wagon's horse, Rosy.
Of Shirri, Ayita's cousin and friend, there is no sign.
Frantino moves forward, scanning the area for enemies and traps.
Upon reaching Vano's body, he tries to determine if Vano is alive and how he was injured or killed.
Frantino moves forward, scanning the area for enemies and traps.
Upon reaching Vano's body, he tries to determine if Vano is alive and how he was injured or killed.
He's dead. He's been clawed and bitten. Repeatedly. Bits of him are torn off. Lots of bits. In fact, his feat are... missing.
As Frantino examines Vano's body, he hears a weird moaning painful to his ears, coming from the tree. He looks back and sees arms reaching up from the roots of the dead oak tree, then a head comes out of the dirt, then it levers itself up until it is completely out of the dirt and roots. A dirty, rotting figure stands before Frantino. Filthy and pallid, it begins to lurch forward, as if it were not entirely in control of its twitching limbs. Caught in its teeth... a leather bootlace.
"Trav-ler," it mumbles through the dirt and rubble in its mouth. "Trav... ler."
ROUND ONE
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Roscoe
Doc Hatfield
Frantino -
Nasir
Ayita
Vindictive Traveller
BOLD MAY ACT
Shaken
A shaken character takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. Shaken is a less severe state of fear than frightened or panicked.
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Hatfield moves to a spot behind Frantino, drawing the wand of cure light wounds as he goes.
Eyeing the bootlace, he complains: "Aw, shucks! I'm an herbalist, not a cobbler," He does a poor job of masking the fear he feels.
"What is that thing? Is that a _____? Ain't never seen one of those up close and personal before."
Hatfield moves to a spot behind Frantino, drawing the wand of cure light wounds as he goes.
[dice=Will]1d20+6
"Aw, shucks! I'm an herbalist, not a cobbler," he complains. He probably does a poor job of masking the fear he feels.
[dice=Knowledge Religion]1d20+6
You are far enough away that you don't feel shaken by the sick, pain filled muttering it constantly emits. From where you stand, you think it may be a trailgaunt, a terrible form of undead that plagues regions where travelers have long trod the roads. Legends hold that trailgaunts rise from the remains of seasoned travelers who became lost and then perished from exposure or starvation, suffering great shame and humiliation to have come to such unexpected and lonely ends in addition to their physical torment.
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Ayita is very upset at seeing her cousins like this. Then she sees poor Rosy... that really gets her. She knows better than to say this to her Varisian Cousins (though most of her Shoanti kin understand), but she kinda prefers animals to some of them... She is too scared to think of Shirri right away, maybe Shirri is ok; Shirri and she are close.
Rosy! No!!!
She starts moving up toward the poor horse, and the Cousins, but sidesteps when the ground erupts and stops 5 feet away from the thing. She draws Social Control and prepares to try to hit the thing next round (her BAB is still 0, cannot draw and move).
While scanning the surrounding area for attackers, he first hears and then sees the creature rise from the ground. He immediately recognizes the threat, draws his sword and shield. let's out an ululation, and heads directly toward the creature.
"Sarenraeu Akbar!"
Roscoe steps back a bit as the undead creature erupts from the dirt.
"Oh, no!" he exclaims as he realizes what has become of Ayita's family.
A small bolt of electricity arcs from his finger toward the creature as he casts a spell.
"What is this thing?"
Frantino draws his sword (although he likely already had it out) as he steps over between the creature and Vano and takes a swing at the creature!
,
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You are far enough away that you don't feel shaken by the sick, pain filled muttering it constantly emits. From where you stand, you think it may be a trailgaunt, a terrible form of undead that plagues regions where travelers have long trod the roads. Legends hold that trailgaunts rise from the remains of seasoned travelers who became lost and then perished from exposure or starvation, suffering great shame and humiliation to have come to such unexpected and lonely ends in addition to their physical torment.
Hatfield's eyes lose focus for the briefest of moments as he "sees" the history and cause of trailgaunts--perhap this one, perhaps others. Subconsciously, he can see the pain and travail that causes them to be. Consciously, he intuitively knows about their strongest defense and shares the information with his friends.
Hatfield's eyes lose focus for the briefest of moments as he "sees" the history and cause of trailgaunts--perhap this one, perhaps others. Subconsciously, he can see the pain and travail that causes them to be. Consciously, he intuitively knows about their strongest defense and shares the information with his friends.
Seeing that the thing is nearly bloodless, its innards hardened by necromantic energies, Doc guesses that it's unlikely to be hurt by bludgeoning or piercing damage as much as by slashing damage.
ROUND ONE - final
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Roscoe - casts Jolt. Misses.
Doc Hatfield - recalls knowledge
Frantino - attacks and HITS!
Nasir - double moves up
Ayita - double moves up, FAILS save. Shaken. -2 on nearly everything.
Vindictive Traveler - attacks!
When Roscoe's bolt of electricity strikes the oak tree behind it, it hardly notices, intent as it is on Frantino! This one hit it. This one. Aaaagh. It immediately attempts to bite and claw Frantino.
Fort DC15
Fort DC15
A creature damaged by a trailgaunt’s bite or claws must succeed at a DC 15 Fortitude save or become staggered by pain in its legs and feet for 1 round. Creatures in contact with the ground take a –1 penalty on this saving throw.
ROUND TWO
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Roscoe -
Doc Hatfield -
Frantino -
Nasir -
Ayita - Shaken. -2 on nearly everything.
Vindictive Traveler -
BOLD may act.
Free Action: Hatfield's eyes snap back into focus. "They're dry an' dusty inside. Best if ye cut 'em up!"
Standard Action: Ready to use clw wand (and 5-foot-step, if needed). Trigger: An ally gets injured.
OK, Frantinos already injured. He took 9pts.
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Ayita, hearing Hatfield's suggestion, drops Social Control and draws her klar, signaling to Yazhi to "flank".
She apologizes when Social Control almost hits Hatfield's toe.
Then she 5-foot-steps and attacks the Undead Thing with her klar:
(I rolled based upon Yazhi being able to get into the flank before Ayita attacks; this would need to be modified if she cannot.)
I think that Yazhi can do a bite? She did a single move.
p.s. Ayita's rolls should have been "-2"
Yazhi's save:[dice=will save]1d20+1
Also Yazhi's, perhaps
Grateful for the healing, Frantino swings again.
,
Still ululating, Nasir closes with the abomination and slashes it with his scimitar.
"Don't steal my kill!" Roscoe exclaims, greed evident on his expression. Another arc of electricity erupts from his finger with a zap!
Yazhi, Frantino, Nasir and Roscoe's attacks slash, tear and electrocute the trailgaunt to crackling, undead pieces! It collapses, destroyed.
Nasir shakes the undead ichor from his blade and observes the area.
"At least we found what killed Ayita's cousins and avenged them.
I'm sorry that your family went this way, Ayita. We should probably give them the peace of a good burial. Sarenrae guide their souls."