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Packet clocks the owlbear over the head with a river rock, while Knab remembers that the owlbear is a lumbering beast, much better at withstanding blows than dodging them
Badly wounded before it can even react, the red owlbear turns and runs, it's panic at the flames engulfing its feathers driving it to dive into the stream on the far side of the bend!
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Knab points out the obvious he warns his spellcaster friends.
With his increased speed, raising his clan dagger in protection, he wades into the water, his stoutness planting him firmly, careful to leave room for Toanthel, and tries to topple the beast!
◆) Parry
◆) Stride 30
◆) Trip
His nerves return to him, even as he struggles to obtain leverage over the rushing water.
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Toanthel steps forward, letting the spirits around them flow into him. His weapons begin to be wreathed in a dark energy as he strikes at the owlbear with his pick.
◈ Step
◈ Spirit Rage (+5 temp hp, -1 AC, weapons deal +3 negative damage)
◈ Strike - Pick (fatal d10)
plus 3 negative
Critical Damage: x 2 + plus 3 negative
The fear subsides from Toanthel.
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Knab shares what he knows, but is unable to trip the massive creature. Emdi takes advantage of the opening, though, to bury an arrow in the creature's shoulder. Fangor and Toanthel are not so successful though, both of their strikes sent wide by fear.
The owlbear, enraged at your intrusion, swipes at Knab as he is the first to wade into the water.
It screeches in frustration as the surprisingly nimble Knab dodges all three attacks!
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Ithuriel looks over at the first owlbear and sighs as his prey goes running off into the woods. With a whistle he sends Bear rumbling forward before settling his aim on the remaining beast.
Drawing back his bow he furrows his brows and mutters Fly true... and lets two arrows fly straight at the massive owlbear.
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Packet's rock goes wide this time, landing with a rustle in some bushes on the far side of the stream. Ithuriel, meanwhile, takes careful aim and buries an arrow deep in the creature's flank, while his bear latches on with its jaws.
The red owlbear, it's flames now extinguished and its bleeding clotted, continues its journey across the stream and as far away from you as possible (it has fled off the map).
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Knab wades out of the water, flanking the Owlbear with Fangor, smiling at him, and slashes at it with his clan dagger and gauntlet.
◆) Step or Stride or Balance
◆◆) Twin Feint
piercing
blunt
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While Emdi tries to scare the beast away, Knab moves into a flanking position , though he is unable to connect with his blows. He does provide a useful distraction, though, allowing Fangor to slay the beast with two mighty strokes of his rapier!
Once the dust has settled, you safely continue your exploration of the area, finding nothing else out of the ordinary.
Ruebella searches for physical evidence of Strange Rituals.
Knab tries to determine if the Owlbear's behavior fell within a "normal range" for creatures of it's kind - he imagines that wild animals would react strangely if their territory had current or past activity of Strange Rituals.
Forest Lore +9
Mountain Lore +9
Survival +9
Any Skill (Lore) +7
Arcana (**) +11
Crafting (*) +9
Lore: Engineering (*) +9
Lore: Pathfinder (*) +9
Lore: Underworld (*) +9
Medicine (**`) +12
Nature (**) +11
Occult (*) +9
Religion (**) +11 or 19 Assurance
Society (*) +9
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Knab grabs some salts and wraps and other medicinal tools from his personal effects, and looks down over his body, seeing no significant wounds (sometimes the adrenaline takes over and prevents one from knowing they've been hurt).
He circles to Ithuriel, then Fangor, then Emdi, then Packet, then Toanthel, inspecting each similarly.
Finally stowing his implements with a casual shrug.
□ Emdi
□ Fangor
□ Ithuriel
□ Knab
□ Packet
□ Toanthel
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You travel for another 6 days through the forest, without any more animal attacks. You don't find anything that seems connected to strange rituals, though you do at one point find a huge stone figure, at least twice as tall as any of you, nearly completely obscured by climbing vines. Time has worn away all but the vaguest features, and you are not able to discern any useful or interesting information about it, aside from a certainty that it is incredibly ancient.
On the morning of your 9th day of travel, the terrain around you begins to change. The forest thins and the terrain becomes rocky as you begin to gain elevation, rising into the hills.
Knab will definitely inspect the Statue. His vague question about it is something like "Why did whoever built this place it here?"
Any Skill (Lore) +7
Arcana (**) +11
Crafting (*) +9
Lore: Engineering (*) +9
Lore: Pathfinder (*) +9
Lore: Underworld (*) +9
Medicine (**`) +12
Nature (**) +11
Occult (*) +9
Religion (**) +11 or 19 Assurance
Society (*) +9
Coming into the Mountains, Ruebella will continue to lead, climbing smartly using her knowledge of Hills and Mountains to find less strenuous paths (she is not a particularly skilled climber), and has the following suggestion for the group.
"We have gathered a lot of supplies trekking the Iobarian Forest - but forageables are harder to obtain at higher elevations - why don't we cease for a few days and rely on our backstocks while we climb, and tentatively resume once we descend?"
Forest Lore +9
Mountain Lore +9
Survival +9
She looks around the group to see what others think.
Emdi @ +0 (Untrained)
Fangor @ +8 (Trained)
Ithuriel @ +7 (Trained)
Packet @ +7 (Trained)
Ruebella/Knab @ +9 (Expert)
Toanthel @ +7 (Trained)
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Ithuriel is also interested in the statue and will spend time scraping away the clinging vines to expose more of it in hopes it might reveal something more interesting. With a sigh he eventually gives up!
As they head up into the hills he nods to Ruebella. That might be wise, I am not as familiar with this terrain, Castrovel is jungle and forest as far as the eye can see.
On this leg of the journey Ithuriel will drop to the rear of the group and help manage the horses. He begs off clambering about like a mountain goat due to a dodgy hip, he is after all an old man (and not trained in Athletics!).
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Traveling through the hills, the weather takes a nasty turn, raining for several days. On one particularly stormy day, you take temporary shelter in a large cave nearby. While you wait for the storm to pass, you notice that the interior of the cave is lined with worked stone and shattered mosaics reaching at least 10 feet off the floor. As with the statue, however, time has faded all details to the point that you are unable to learn much of interest.
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---
Totals for this leg:
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As you explore on the 23rd day of your journey, you find yourself once again in the midst of a storm. Rain pours down, the wind howls, and much of the terrain is washed away by flooding. Every few minutes, the swollen river seems to surge in a very unusual manner, the water suddenly rising and becoming more violent before retreating just as quickly.
The swollen river, overflowing its natural banks, rises several feet up an embankment. The swirling water rises and grows more violent with each surge before quickly subsiding. The source of this flooding is obvious, each pulse flowing out of a short monolith that rises from atop a stony plinth hewn from a large boulder. Wreathed in flames despite the driving rain and the water swirling around its base, glowing runes cover the monolith’s surface. Barely audible over the sounds of the surging river, you hear a voice. Though you can’t make out any words over the howl of the wind, it sounds like someone in distress! To make matters worse, you spot a large, slimey creature among the bushes on the far side of the river!
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Ruebella kicks backwards adding a little propulsion to Knab's dismount - she then urges their horse to move away from the scream "C'mon Russ" she says, the two of them having grown close these weeks on the road, his fish being a real treat on days when he is able to ply his trade.
Knab squints at the monolith (or worm!?) to see if he can get an immediate read on the situation.
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Packet moves forward, bravely rushing to render aid. As he approaches, the flames around the monolith flare with an unbearable light!
Failure Dazzled for one round.
Critical Failure Blind for one round, then dazzled for one round.
As packet approaches the top of the embankment, he can see a hand reaching up from the bushes below. Suddenly, that shoots up and tries to grab him!
Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, the sharp nails on the hand gouge into Packet as they wrap around, grabbing the detective and trying to pull him down into the water! Packet digs in his heels, though, and resists the pull!
A snarl erupts from the shrub, and you can now see that the hand is on the end of the tail of a large, quadrupedal creature that had been hiding in the bushes.
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Ithuriel draws his bow and takes careful aim, perfectly placing his first arrow in a narrow window. His second arrow flies wide, while Emdi strides forward, wracking his brain unsuccessfully to figure out what this creature is.
Knab gets a quick first reaction of the monolith. He recognizes some of the runes as cyclopean writing, and others have a distinctively abyssal feeling. He thinks it could be disabled by disrupting the runes , either magically , or physically . Knab thinks his knowledge of the Cyclops language would help him in disabling, as would knowledge of Abyssal . The flames wreathing the monolith look dangerous, and an incautious attempt may be painful .
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"I can do it"
By choice words, Knab indicates the Monolith, and activating his Handsome Dwarven Speed Bands (as he calls them), dashes across the shore line, careful to berth a 10-foot wide area around the large creature!
He recognizes some of the runes as cyclopean writing, and others have a distinctively abyssal feeling. He thinks it could be disabled by disrupting the runes (2 action activity), either magically (using Religion, Occultism, or Arcana), or physically (via a more difficult Thievery check). Knab thinks his knowledge of the Cyclops language would help him in disabling, as would knowledge of Abyssal (+1 circumstance bonus for one, +2 for both). The flames wreathing the monolith look dangerous, and an incautious attempt may be painful (damage on a failed check).
◇) Automatic Knowledge
◆) Activate Bracelet of Dashing
◆◆) Stride x2
Any Skill (Lore) +7
Arcana (**) +11
Crafting (*) +9
Lore: Engineering (*) +9
Lore: Pathfinder (*) +9
Lore: Underworld (*) +9
Medicine (**`) +12
Nature (**) +11
Occult (*) +9
Religion (**) +11 or 19 Assurance
Society (*) +9
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Trying to draw attention away from packet, Toanthel moves ahead, rushing down the embankment with his shield held before him, which he tries to slam into the creature.
◈◈ Sudden Charge
Strike - +1 Striking Shield Boss (attached to shield)
◈ Raise Shield
Automatic Knowledge 18 if Arcana applies to identify the creature.
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The creature is caught by surprise by Fangor's lightning, taking the full brunt of the spell .
Knab, meanwhile, moves to deal with the monolith.
Toanthel, meanwhile, slides nimbly down the embankment and attacks the creature, hoping to draw its attention before raising his shield, though his attack misses.
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The monolith flares, and the water surges from it heading up the northern branch of the river!
Success You are unaffected by the surge.
Failure You are pushed 10 feet away from the monolith.
Critical Failure You are pushed 15 feet away from the monolith and knocked prone.
The slimy creature, noticing Toanthel in the water, swims towards the barbarian!
Meanwhile, another creepy hand tail darts out of the bushes, revealing another of those creatures! It tries to grab the Knab, though the veteran agent recovers quickly from his surprise .
It grabs the dwarf and pulls him down into the water, where it slashes at him with a claw!
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"Whelp - there went that plan!" laments the dwarf as he is pulled down into the water by this "butt-limbed water-badger" of sorts...
...based on it's inability to outflank him, Knab reckons it won't be too difficult to recede into his "cavern of memory" to recall disparate pieces of information he has come across at some point in his long life - his "spelunker" tends to take it's time navigating the eidetic labyrinth...
...he looks over to see how thin these beasts are spreading his jolly company, and decides that he might as well be prepared to fight this critter by his lonesome...