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Scratch pulls out his own set of cold weather gear and quickly gets dressed "Aye, this must be the part where we find that 4 armed giant in the frozen tunnel?" He pulls a few bits of long dead bear viscera from the fur trim of his white and tan hood.
"Nal I'll keep ya covered from here. Just don't get bahind any corners else I can't provide any cover fire." Scratch takes up residence along a frosty wall nearby and keeping quiet.
and
Nal and Scratch creep forward to see two ratfolk, dressed in warm clothes, and a strange animal - an animal with a body similar to that of a snow leopard, a bearlike snout, four eyes, and a pair of antlers.
The two ratfolk are conversing in a language you have never heard before. They do not seem to have spotted you.
The two ratfolk suddenly freeze, then their ears go back and they make angry sounding words while waving their hands around. The weird amalgam creature makes a hissing noise as its ear flatten against its skull.
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Elsha laughs nervously and follows the Professor out from the shadows. He waves the rest of the party forward in an attempt to not startle the ratfolk later on.
He turns to the ratfolk, and attempts to utter several plain words to them to see if they pick up any understanding. Peace? F-f-friend? and several more.
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Franzine steps forward with her hands in the air to show she means no harm. She gives a charming smile at the ratfolk as she slowly reaches into her coin purse on her belt.
"Maybe they understand that money talks."
She pulls out a silver coin and holds it towards the ratfolk.
"Here. Silver. Sil-ver. You like?"
She smiles back and forth at the coin and the ratfolk.
Noticing the strange glares from the ratfolk, she nervously bites her lip.
The ratfolk seem insulted by your actions and gestures and they shout and move to attack, along with their strange pet!
ROUND 1:
Scratch 32
Cogg 24
Fipp and Arabuk 23
Nal 17
Franzine 14
Azu 13
Elsha 11
Whitegourd 6
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Time to bring the hammer down! Scratch gives thanks to all mighty Torag, may his steel fly through and true.
In a blink of an eye Scratch has his rifle in hand, eye down the barrel and sights laid on the unknowing Ratfolk in the center of the group. A gentle press of the trigger is all it takes for the gunpowder to rage and Scratch's old ticker to kick into over drive.
One Shot, One Kill: ◇ Free Action: Trigger You roll Stealth for initiative.Your first shot is the deadliest. Interact to draw a firearm or crossbow. On your first turn, your first Strike with that weapon deals an additional 1d6 precision damage. This precision damage increases to 2d6 at 9th level and 3d6 at 15th level.
He ducks behind the edge of the wall and quickly jams another wad of gunpowder and ball of steel down into the chamber, popping his head out quickly for a follow up shot.
Scratch's shot hits the ratfolk in the side and darn near spins them around! His second shot goes wide as the ratfolk spins.
The first ratfolk (Cogg, in dress) strides forward, draws a sling and loads it from some dubious cover!
The second, holding their side, moves to the edge of the cavern and touches themself, using Heal for two actions, healing HP.
The Arabuk has no issues with snow and races toward Scratch, bellowing its anger! It strides twice then Pounces! for damage!
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Franzine moves towards the strange creature, raising her sword over her head. She targets the neck, hoping to cut deep and end its life swiftly.
She swings with a hacking motion again...
Your foe hesitates under the weight of sin as visions of redemption play in their mind’s eye. The foe must choose one of the following options:
•The ally is unharmed by the triggering damage.
•The ally gains resistance to all damage against the triggering damage equal to 2 + your level. After the damaging effect is applied, the enemy becomes enfeebled 2 until the end of its next turn.
Nal swings at the strange beast and connects, eliciting a cry of pain from the beast!
Franzine's first swing misses, but her second connects and beheads the strange beast, toppling it!
Elsha's bombs fly! The first bomb misses Cogg, splashing only, but the second one lands square!
Whitegourd's ray of frost freezes Cogg, coating her fur in a rime of ice! Her movement slows!
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"Thanks. Is all Scratch can respond as the menacing moose-beast is cut down by his allies. He ducks for cover while reloading. Leaning ahead he rests the barrel of his long gun in the crotch of the beast's antlers and fires off another long ranged shot at the most distant rodent. Then ducks behind the edge of the wall to reload once more.
Scratch's shot turns the rather confused ratfolk into a hazy red mist. The remaining ratfolk lets out a roar of anger!
Cogg, the last ratfolk standing, roars his fury and double moves to the nearest PC, Nal! He draws his club and clearly intends to beat Nal with it!
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Azu realizes that getting through to Cogg will prove near impossible given she just saw her mate and her companion killd.
"We do not have to kill her, but we do need to end this."
Azu moves up, calls Ako for support and then attacks with nonlethal damage
[spoiler=Support]Support Benefit Your raptor constantly darts into flanking position. Until the start of your next turn, it counts as being in its space or an empty space of your choice within 10 feet when determining whether you and your companion are flanking; you can choose a different space for each of your attacks.[/spoiler
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Professor Whitegourd looks at the Ysoki and back to their allies. "I don't think there's reasoning with somebody in a rage like that, we don't have to kill them though, but we still have to defend ourselves."
Professor Whitegourd summons forth a giant skunk
that sprays the Ysoki.
Nal readies her attack!
Franzine points out the obvious.
Azu cracks the ysoki over the head, knocking them unconscious!
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Scratch shoulders his long gun and gets to work treating his light wound with some herbal remedies.
"Anyone else need a bandage?" He avoids looking towards the very dead ratfolk Not that guy.
"Maybe you can find some clues on 'em about what they may have been doing here. Sorry for takin' that one down but they started the fracus. If try talkin' too long in the wilds somethin's gonna put its teeth through your throat."
Scratch looks through the bodies for clues.
[ooc[FRanzine has NO idea what the heck that creature is, other than a curious mishmash of strange parts.[/ooc]
On the unconscious Ysoki, you find: Club, sling (10 bullets), studded leather armor. On the corpse of the Ysokie, you find: flail, manifesto (functions as religious text), pouch of rocks, robes. The manifesto is in a strange tongue none of you recognize.
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"Guess we should take the book? Maybe one of those scholarly types in here can get something from it." Scratch takes nothing else from the bodies, only a smidge of pride in the shot he made.
"Well, we still gotta find out what's interfering with that thing.. you know?" He tries to put it into words but mostly just mimes some random object.
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Nal is silent. Now that the combat is over, she's second guessing herself. A lot. This is no time for reverie, however, so to keep herself focused she helps search the two strange people's clothes, surreptitiously arranging their limbs to make them more comfortable/show respect for the dead in the process. I won't say anything about tying her up.
That task finished, she cleans off her sword and nods to Scratch to indicate her readiness to move on.
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Franzine picks up the religious book.
"Huh. What's this?”
She flips through the book, unable to read the text.
"This is interesting. It looks like a religious pamphlet. I wonder if there's a symbol of their deity in here?"
She then turns to her companions.
"These must be guards for whatever's up ahead. There sure are a lot of passages leading out of this cavern. Maybe they were guarding something up on that ledge?”
She points her sword towards the large ledge to the southwest.
"What should we do with the ratfolk that's still alive? I don't want to leave her here all tied up only to starve to death. Should we take her back to where we started and hand her over to the Society captains or bring her with us?"
After Elsha's suggestion you return the unconscious Ysoki to the Pathfinder camp where they can get treatment and maybe communication magics. Seeing the way clear, you head onwwards.
Eando Kline, leader of the Vigilant Seal faction, paces with worry. “We dispatched scouts to the east, but we haven’t heard from them yet. Go check it out. See if they need help!”
The tunnels open up into some sort of ruined residential complex. There's a smell of faint blood and something else, something rotten, in the air from the east. There's airflow here, but the air still feels stale.
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"Mister Eando, sir?"
Franz steps forward.
"Can you give us a good description of the scouts? How many are there?"
She asks, hoping to gather as much information about the scouts as possible so she won't be duped by imposters like she had been on one of her first missions. She explains this fact to the group.
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With shield hoisted in front of her, Franzine grips her sword tightly as she moves slow and low, following behind Azu.
"Might be best to diplomacize with blade rather than words this time. It seems we only anger those we encounter when we try to talk to them."
She whispers as they slink forward.
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Scratch nods with respect towards his faction's leader "You betcha. We'll get 'em back here one way or another. Just make sure we've got some backup in case we roll in hot as a forge!" He sticks a slab of jerky between his lips and heads off with the others.
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"Always keep the trigger in reach but never under finger. Smells like death down here so be ready for head shots." He canvases the immediate area, looking for signs of whatever the local wildlife could be down here.
Survey Wildlife: Feat 1: General/Skill: Prerequisites trained in Survival
You can study details in the wilderness to determine the presence of nearby creatures. You can spend 10 minutes assessing the area around you to find out what creatures are nearby, based on nests, scat, and marks on vegetation. Attempt a Survival check against a DC determined by the GM based on how obvious the signs are. On a success, you can attempt a Recall Knowledge check with a –2 penalty to learn more about the creatures just from these signs. If you’re a master in Survival, you don’t take the penalty.
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When Professor Whitegourd offers her the flower, Nal's face melts. She accepts it gratefully, and sticks it into her collar, where the petals can tickle her skin to remind her of his kindness. Sofly, she murmurs: "Thank you, Professor. You're so kind."
Nal nods in agreement as she creeps forward, scanning for traps and ambushes. The smell of death is never a good sign.
Kline nods. "Two scouts: Mariva and Loskk. Mariva's a human woman, with brown hair, tanned dark skin, brown eyes; and Loskk is a Iruxi male. Mottled green scales, red crest. Left about two hours ago, supposed to check in on the hour. No word since."