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"Aw, we're sorry, we didn't mean to cause a ruckus," Corona offers, trying to help smooth things over on the Pathfinder end of things. "We're just very protective of each other and sometimes some of us get a little too protective! It just sounds like Leshy Rain had a lot of bad luck starting out and I'm sure you didn't have anything to do with it."
She smiles and pats the innkeeper on the arm. "Thank you for your help and the tea! It's delicious."
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Whether used to sleeping rough or perhaps just used to really firm bedding, Corona seems her usual self after overnighting at the hostel.
"Wow, what a great night of sleep, New Friends. Almost as nice as sleeping on the Mimosa," she smiles the next morning. "New Friend Pines said we should ask around town a little more before we go out to the swamp and maybe that's not a bad idea. The swamp is very big and one leshy is very small. It'd help if we at least knew his starting point going into the swamp."
Operating under the assumption that there likely won't be much, if any, breakfast to be had at the hostel, Corona digs into her pack and pulls out a number of small items carefully wrapped in parchment and twine. "New Friends, do you like cornbread? I made it before we met up for our briefing but it's been wrapped up all this time so it shouldn't be stale."
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Bended Rawiri takes a bit of bread and eats it. "It is good to begin a day with a solid breakfast. This is far from it but still way better than going without eating anything. Thank you lass for speaking up in the tavern yesterday. I come from lands where the innkeeper is responsible for animals left in stables. Yet again different laws and customs met me to cause confusion. Damn my back is killing me..."
"Thank you for the compliment," the halfling woman smiles. "I knew you Pathfinders were good folk. I understand, back when our children were still around, I used to hover around them all the time. 'Don't forget to wear your coat,' and 'be sure to brush your teeth' and such. But you can't constantly protect them, you know? Now, finish your tea and go find your friend. I'm sure he needs your help."
You ask around for a bit, but no one has any recollection of Rain. You do get general directions to the swamp, so that's the direction you head into. The outer edges of Cassomir are already kind of swampy, but as soon as you leave Cassomir proper, you immediately sink to your ankles into the mud, and it looks like it'll only get worse from here on out.
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"Mud puddles! I used to love splashing around in mud puddles when I was small," Corona remarks as the group makes their way into the sticky, muddy swamp. Though the going is rather tough, the young woman tries to keep her eyes peeled for any signs of Leshy Rain's passage...or anything else that might seem amiss.
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As soon as the teams starts heading out of town, the leshy tells the others “We might need help, so let me get some.”
Smell of the Pines gets to a patch of earth then picks one of the small pine cone that seems to grow in some of the branches that makes his body, the one mixed with roots, and put it in the floor. It concentrates on it, and a human sized pine grows in a matter of seconds. The pine starts looking a bit more humanoid shaped, with reddish pine cones for eyes. The plant creature takes his roots out of the earth and is able to walk and waves one of its branch to the other Pathfinders while saying in a Sylvan accented Taldane “He…llo”.
Smell of the Pines wants to try to track the Rain in Cloudy Day, but it does not seems like there is a trail to start with. If he can’t track, he just looks out, using his nature knowledge to recall whatever he can about the swamps.
While they move, Resinosa is looking out for danger.
As you trudge through the swamp, slowed down by mud, overgrown plants, and swarms of annoying insects. Soon enough Merian finds tiny tracks that could match a fungus leshy's footsteps. They've almost disappeared into the swamp, Merian reckons that a day or two later and they would've disappeared altogether.
After an hour of following these tracks, Smell of the Pines steps on a bit of ground that suddenly is much deeper than they expected, and the ground sucks them to the waist into the mud. Smell of the Pines is suddenly stuck, and Smell is slowly being sucked down further!
Smell of the Pines
Rawiri
Quicksand
Corona
Ghul
Merian
Bold may act!
Quicksand rules:
On its initiative, the quicksand pulls down each creature within it. A creature that was submerged up to its waist becomes submerged up to its neck, and a creature that was submerged up to its neck is pulled under and has to hold its breath to avoid suffocation (Core Rulebook 478). A creature in the quicksand can attempt an Athletics check to Swim to either raise itself by one step if it’s submerged to its neck or worse, or to move 5 feet if it’s submerged only up to its waist. On a critical failure, the creature is pulled down one step. A creature that Swims out of the quicksand escapes the hazard and is prone in a space adjacent to the quicksand patch. Other creatures can Aid the creature, typically by using a rope or similar aid, or attempt to pull the creature out with their own Athletics check, with the same results as if the creature attempted the check.
TL;DR: Smell of the Pines is stuck. They need to make Athletics checks to get free. You can Aid Another to get them free with Athletics checks of your own. On its turn, the quicksand will pull Smell of the Pines in deeper.
The adventure doesn't say so explicitly, but I assume that if Smell of the Pines moves 5 feet, they're out of the quicksand.
The patch of quicksand is disturbed, and now its edges are clearly visible.
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The plant creatures replies “I am Groot Resinosa”. Leshy are usually small and this is not the case for the creature. There’s also a rune made up of branches that matches the same rune on Smell of the Pines’ forehead.
The leshy minds calls for help before his mouth has the time to formulate the words I need help Resinosa.
The plant creature moves closer to the leshy.
The leshy tries to unstuck itself.
While the plant creature tries to pull him out, grabbing one of the leshy’s hand.
Unstuck, the leshy tries to move away.
With unnatural speed and precision, Resinosa jumps to Smell of the Pines's aid and pulls them out before the quicksand sucks them in further.
Combat over!
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While they walk, Ghul tries to move in such a way that he is always 15 feet from each other party member - all five of them now - at all times.
And there is a strange sensation when he is able to complete his objective: Working against the natural aversion blood-bound creatures have to his kind, a faint shimmer, barely tangible, reaches into the soul of those within the close vicinity. A thinnest thread of aligned goodness, pure, free from even the slightest tinges of cosmic law or chaos, barely washes over, like a faint sprinkle on an overcast day, not quite developed into rain drops...
"I am Ghul" in response "That glyph on your forehead tells me that you will protect Smell of the Pines - that makes two of us"
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"Oh! Hello New Friend!" Corona waves cheerfully at the creature that Pines conjures...or creates...or whatever it was they just did. "I'm Corona and it's nice to meet you. Are you a leshy too?"
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Before Corona can even really register that there's a problem, it's taken care of as Resinosa handily pulls Pines out of the dangerous muck.
"Wow, what quick reflexes! Good job, New Friend!"
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"Argh!" Yells Rawiri seeing a new creature. "Are you a family fo Smell of the Pines? Is he coming from your cone or something? Let me shake your han branch..."
When the quicksand start to pull the leshy Rawiri asks
"Have you decided to grow roots here or is something happening?" When he realizes that those are quicksand it is already to late and his friend is already free.
"Good, good. Don't let the flame of yours be drowned in those swamps..."
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The bigger plant replies “Like ”, he pauses trying to remember the name the leshy picked for himself recently, “Smell of the Pines, I am a natural spirit. Unlike a leshy, I have no permanent body, instead it can create one for me as I am linked to him.” The leshy smoothly continues Resinosa story, hinting at an extraordinary level of coordination. “A ritual was done to create plenty of leshies, but corrupted by the abyss. The corruption was cleanse by members of the Society, and I continued feeling affected by it for some time. I’ve soon realized I was hearing voices in my head. At first, I thought it was a demon. The master of spells helped me, and we realized it was another spirit of nature. She thinks it was tied to my own, before the ritual, by the ritual, or it is a splinter of my own spirit. Anyway, I am now able to summon a body for Resinosa.”
Once out of quicksand, the leshy does not bother cleaning himself and tells the others “[b]We should go on, Rain in a Cloudy Rain might be in trouble. I’m fine, thanks to all of you for your assistance.”
With that brief diversion out of the way, you continue on. Apart from the swamp slowing you down, you make good progress. After four more hours of trudging through the sludge, a fallen tree blocks the way. As you make ready to either climb over it or go around it, two pairs of eyes pop up from the mud, followed by a loud Two five-feet tall frogs leer hungrily at you from the mud, and make ready to attack.
Smell of the Pines
Rawiri
Green Frog
Orange Frog
Ghul
Merian
Corona
Bold may act!
The green areas of the map are bogs and count as difficult terrain for Medium creatures, while any creature with a size of Small or smaller must Swim in them.
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Rawiri looks at the frogs and stops for a moment, then he begins to clap trying to catch the attention of the frogs. He makes the first turn...
and slips almost falling into the mud.
He grabs his clan dagger and a dart and waits for the enemies. He holds the dagger in front of himself while the dart is behind his back.
"Be cool, those frogs seem to set a trap for us..."
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The leshy shouts “the frogs want to eat us!”, his potato body probably looking delicious to the giant frogs.
Smell of the Pines looks at the frog closest to him and with a very demonic look of hunger tells it “Tonight’s dinner: frog legs!”. At the same time Resinosa gets in range.
The leshy concentrates and with a magic word, Resinosa seems to be more colorful, his rune casting light a bit.
Then the pine tree creature extends one of his long branch, full of very long and hard needles.
Rawiri tries to entrance one of the frogs, but it's too hungry to be mesmerised. Similarly, it also isn't very impressed by Smell of the Pines's threat to eat it. Resinosa decides to just whack it, which is definitely more successful.
Orange Frog hops a little closer to Resinosa through the mud, then takes a big chomp out of him. However, it only gets a mouth full of pine sap and needles, so it searches for other prey. It spots Smell of the Pines, and tries to stick its tongue at it. That isn't much effective, either.
Green Frog leers at Ghul, and experimentally lashes its tongue out at him as well. It sticks to Ghul's armour, and Ghul now can't escape!
Smell of the Pines
Rawiri
Green Frog
Orange Frog
Ghul
Merian
Corona
Bold may act!
The green areas of the map are bogs and count as difficult terrain for Medium creatures, while any creature with a size of Small or smaller must Swim in them.
Ghul: You're grabbed, but not immobilised. You can still move, but not further out of the frog's reach (15 feet). You can move closer towards the frog without problem. You'd need a slashing weapon to cut yourself loose.
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Rawiri with his weapons in hand again begins to dance, trying to grab the attention of the frog. He classes his dagger into the dart and tries to step louder splashing the mud around him, he takes one turn, hiding behind Ghul, then during the second one he tosses the dart with his right hand.
Then he slashes with his dagger to release Ghul.
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Wrapped in a heartily delicious tongue, Ghul is sad to see if severed by Rawiri - with his party threatened by the blood-amphibian, he indulges himself to violence.
◇) Release Evertorch
◆) Everstand Stance
◆) Raise Shield (to AC 21)
◆) Stride
↺) Glimpse of Redemption (Redeem or Resist 3 + Enfeeble 2)
↺) Shield Block (Hardness 7 in stance, BT 10)
Dropping the torch and bracing himself with both hands upon, he pushes forth towards his next meal.
Rawiri distracts Green, then tosses his dart at it. It misses, but it scrapes some skin off the frog, drawing blood. He then hits the tongue with his dagger, but only manages to draw a drop of blood. The frog hisses in pain, but the tongue remains attached to Ghul. Merian steps closer and jabs at Orange, but he lazily hops out of the way. Ghul readies himself and steps closer towards Green. Resinosa thwacks Orange some more, but Orange does not seem likely to give up yet. Smell of the Pines then follows that up with an Electric Arc. Green doesn't dodge out of the way at all, possibly because he's focusing on Ghul, while Orange tries to dodge, but the mud conducts the electricity too well to escape from the spell.
Smell of the Pines
Rawiri
Green Frog
Orange Frog
Ghul
Merian
Corona
Corona still to act!
Green's prey has kindly come closer, so Green will take the opportunity to chomp on Ghul.
Green Frog only believes in prey and doesn't care for redemption. The bite does 5 damage instead, and you see the frog growing weaker.
Green Frog has Ghul now in its mouth, Ghul now has the regular Grabbed condition. Green Frog bites down once more.
Green Frog crits! 4 whole damage to Ghul!
Meanwhile, Orange Frog is surrounded by Merian and Resinosa. Merian hasn't proven to be much of a threat yet, while Resinosa hurts a lot.
Once again, with Orange finding purchase in its mouth, it chomps down and now Resinosa is also grabbed.
With a pine arm in its mouth, Orange chomps down once more.
Smell of the Pines
Resinosa
Rawiri
Green Frog
Orange Frog
Ghul
Merian
Corona
Everyone may act!
Rawiri claps some more and this time, he seems to catch the attention of Green Frog. He then stabs green hard.
On the other side of the battlefield, Merian gets in flanking position and stabs Orange. Orange's movements slow as the cold-blooded animal's temperature drops, but there's still fight in him.
Smell of the Pines
Resinosa
Rawiri
Green Frog
Orange Frog
Ghul
Merian
Corona
Orange looks like he'll keel over at any moment now. Green is now bloodied.
Green Frog fails its save again, taking more electricity damage. Orange manages to evade some of it, but still catches enough lightning to fall unconscious. Now that there's no strength behind the tongue, it easily detaches from Resinosa.
Smell of the Pines
Resinosa
Rawiri
Green Frog
Ghul
Merian
Corona
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"Oh!"
Corona suddenly snaps out of the reverie she'd fallen into and realizes that the group is under attack and she should probably do something to help. Seeing Ghul grabbed in the sickly embrace of an oversized frog, Corona moves a little closer to the action and then conjures a ward to protect the dhampir from the frog's sharp teeth.
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Ghul bashes Green Frog, hitting only once. Corona places a protective ward on Ghul.
Green Frog, still feeling weak and nearly beaten to death, decides to find easier prey. He releases Ghul from his mouth and slinks away in the mud.
Combat over!
While you're recovering from the fight, four iruxi appear from the bushes. They eye you carefully, but then a red iruxi (picture in the slides) seems to take the lead. "You're Pathfinders, yes?" There's clear hesitation in his voice, until his eyes fall on Smell of the Pines. "You. You look like friend Rain. He is back at the camp. You should follow us, and meet with Chief Thakik."
You follow the group, and after two more hours of walking, you come to an iruxi enclave, an assemblage of huts and semi-permanent structures built on several pieces of elevated land in the swamplands. The red iruxi leads you to the biggest hut of the village, where an iruxi in bone armour (also in the slides) rests. As she sees you approach, she gets up to greet you.
“Greetings, you must be more Pathfinders. It is an honor to meet you. I am Chief Thakik of the Tskikha Enclave, and I am responsible for all who dwell here, including your lost friend, Rain in Cloudy Day.”
Before she has a chance to say anymore, shouts of panic come from the village. Chief Thakik sighs and turns back to you. "More and more creatures have been appearing from the nearby ruins, and they are overwhelming our defenses. If you could help us defend our village, we'd be very grateful."
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Rawriri fishes out his dart and checks on his allies
"Are you all fine? Ghul do you want one of those potions?"
As they approach the iruxi settlement, Rawiri gladly takes a sit and begins to clean his boots from mud using one of the daggers (not the clan dagger!).
He looks at Chief Thakik
"So we just came by and you ask us to defend the village? Care to share what is swarming it?"
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Balking at the potion, Ghul takes out his sewing kit, and starts stitching the frog wounds back together.
He smiles as the work is completed - which unfortunately then unhinge and spill open again, a fresh gout of black blood streaming anew over his pale and frigid body...
...shrugging, he heads over to examine Resinosa, and touches his hand to him "You two share... blood?" his curiosity is genuine, and he closes his eyes in prayer and thinks of the fastidious Flesheater, which, as he does so, has the effect of recycling discarded leaves onto the ground into patchwork bandages of sorts, repairing the damage harmed - and with wonder, he watches as Smells of the Pines too is restored a like amount - the connection between the two more than simply tenuous "Fascinating!" he exclaims!
Quietly in his tortured mind, he suppresses a fantasy of feeding upon both creatures simultaneously "for posterity", and instead presses his attention towards the newcomers "Chief Thakik of the Tskikha Enclave: I am the Wretch known as Ghul. Rain in Cloudy Day, too a Pathfinder whom we seek, not since a week ago perhaps, may have stopped by your village as well, in bearing not unlike our companion here" he indicates Pines "Have you seen one such as our friend?"
Chief Thakik answer Rawiri, "The very earth seems to rise up against us! Rocks enchanted by magic are rising from the swamp. They attack us mindlessly and without tiring, overwhelming our guards."
She then turns to Ghul. "Yes, Friend Rain wandered into our encampment a while ago. We thought he might be a smuggler, but he's too innocent for that. Though not ideally suited for our swamp, he's been helping out against these enemies tirelessly, though he's not a great warrior. He should be on the front lines as well. Make sure nothing happens to him, some of my tribemates have gotten quite fond of him."
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Merian will spend time soaking in her barrel and Refocusing after the battle.
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At the village, Merian sets down her barrel in the town and asks if they can watch it for her. "It's my bath," she explains, as if that doesn't create more questions.
"Hai hai! I'm Merian. We'll be happy to help Rain, and we'll be happy to help defend your village, and very excited that we can do both at the same time!"
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Smell of the Pines tells Ghul “We do not have blood. Nor flesh, we are both plant creatures. But yes we share our life force. I use my will and my life force to create Resinosa.”
The iruxi mentions Rain in a Cloudy Day and Smell of the Pines is eager to know “Is Rain in a Cloudy Day still alive?” He follows right away despite his injuries.
It’s only a bit later, on the way to their camp, that the leshy asks “We still feel bad, could anyone try to heal me or Resinosa?”
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Once at their camp, they listen to the chief with attention. When she indicates that the other Pathfinder might be in danger, they both asks “In which direction are those ruins?”
The red iruxi smiles and replies, "Yes, despite his best efforts. He got into trouble a few times, but he's learned his lesson now."
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At the camp, Chief Thakik replies, "In the direction the attackers are coming from. The two might be related," she says with a frown. "Though they've never bothered us in the past."
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"Rocks?" Ghul looks puzzled here - or would, if the muscles in his withered face conformed to natural and recognizable expression.
"We can provide aid in exchange for providing Rain in Cloudy Day with hospitality" he kneels now as if swearing fealty, and rises once again brandishing evertorch and shield, turning to his party "It looks as though our contact, housed and kept here a time, and allowed to make use of his studies, has meddled with elemental forces of some nature - let us set forth and put things back into balance"
He looks ready to move.
"Um, excuse me New Friend Chief Thakik," Corona calls out, raising her hand. "When did the earth start bothering you like this? Has anything strange happened in the swamp or around the ruins that you know of?"
"The swamp started up about a moon ago. But only the rocks started bothering us, nothing else. Perhaps the ruins have something to do with it. We'd investigate, but we're too tied up with defending our village to spare any more warriors."
As you rush to the battlefield, you see a fungus leshy all by himself. He takes one look at you and bounces with joy. "Pathfinders? Here? I don't know why, but your timing is impeccable! I'm about to help my friends here, but I'm not sure if I'm capable of fending them off myself! I'll support you from the back row, all right?"
Red Boulder
Smell of the Pines
Yellow Boulder
Rawiri
Rain in Cloudy Day
Merian
Corona
Ghul
Yellow Boulder looks somewhat smaller and weaker than its red cousin.
Red boulder wins initiative, and curls itself up into a ball and rolls towards the party. Despite that, it's not very fast, and stops just short of the party.
Smell of the Pines may act!