Before arriving at the Gray Lake, Brandark points out the edible berries and plants that might be trailing off that had flourished this fall. But, he also points out the fresh buddings of what will become the winter berries.
Looking over the remains, you get that he has been dead for a few months. Also, with the way the body has been breaking down there seems to have been something that has helped accelerate that process. There are many things that could do that, poisons and venoms found in nature are one of them.
Looking at the bites of this creature and proximity to the water, you might think that whatever did this is a snake/serpent like creature that could have attacked out of territorial protection vs hunger.
As you approach the body and examine the short sword and the belt pouch, you discover two things. The short sword is of a very fine craftsmanship. Those who spent time around him would know that if this blade would have come from Kassen that the only forge it could have come from is the likes of Braggar Ironhame. This is a Masterworked Short Sword.
As you pick up the belt pouch, you hear a familiar metallic clink that could only be coins. You open it up and it is filled with gold coins. In your lifetime you have never seen so many coins in one location. Maybe when the traveling merchants come to town or when the lumber guild makes their deals with those in Kassen. There are 87 gold pieces inside. The unique thing about these coins is that they look new. They don’t have the scratches and nicks that coins that have traveled across Golarion.
Picking up a coin you see a familiar image. It is the national banner image of Nirmathas. A great tree with a sword through it. You have seen images of it and know that it is typically on a field of green. Flipping the coin over reveals an image of a man.
Looking over the coins you see the image on one side is the banner symbol of the Nirmathas. But the image on the opposite is of Forest Marshal Weslen Gavirk, ruler of Tamran, Nirmathas’ capital.
Those are snakebites, so lets sit back from the water.
As for the coins, with no id, it looks like we will be richer by a bit.
He taps the sword
Anyone want this blade, its good quality
"I figure you or Joras would be better off with that blade than the rest of us. I mean, Conrad or I could use it, but neither of us prefer something that size." He looks warily at the water, and tries to stay as far away from it as he can without going back up hill . . ..
Miron's eyes widen when he sees the gold. "I wonder who they were." he wonders aloud. He shakes his head when offered the sword, but continues to tenatively poke the body with his spear shaft, awkwardly check for anything in pockets. At Brandark's warning, we takes a step back and keeps sure not to turn his back to the waters.
"Should we do something with the body?" he asks.
To notice something.
The coins.
Joras says, "I don't think that sword is sized for me. Tough to use." Joras looks over the items.
He continues, "The attack doesn't look like it wanted to eat, more to defend its territory. We should bury the body at least. Roya can do the rites I guess."
Fiddling with the coins he says, "The new coins are our currency, with the Forest Captain on it, maybe a mercenary hired to help our foresters? Maybe we should ask them later, see that his heirs get what they deserve?"
Joras stays as far from water as he can and still do all the above.
I can use it. but preferred choice is this. He taps the side of his urgosh.
But i guess i will carry it and use if needed
when the talk turns to burial
we have any shovels, as i dont, and i dont feel like digging 6 feet with my hands
"Shovels? I don't. We could use a shield, or the pot, to dig a shallow pit, and cover him with stones. It isn't perfect, but it is better than leaving him there."
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Conrad's eyes widen at the sight of the coins. There's enough in the dead man's pouch to buy Isaac the new books he's promised Father Prasst to purchase, a new dress to replace his mother's torn one, and still have enough money to feed the whole family for weeks.
"Do we-" he clears his throat. "Do we have to bury him with his stuff? I-I mean, it could be someone who lived nearby, right? Maybe we should look for, I-I don't know, next of kin o-or something? I-if they need what he h-has on him."
"We should make sure the body is safe, and tell someone when we get back, maybe? Someone back in the village might know who he is."
In that case a cairn to bury him
Brandark grabs the body to drag away from the lake to a spot where they can bury it
"He's been dead for months...if someone was missing, we would know. It's nobody from the village. Also, I'm not sure about the cairn. Most venom would just...stop being venom, after a while. That animals still haven't touched the body after all this time? It must be very potent. I think a Pyre may be safer. And be careful when handling it, Bran...", Roya muses, while her eyes are glued to the money Joras and Perri were counting. After a while, she adds:"...that is a LOT of money..."
As the group looks through the remains of the man, it appears that there is nothing else of use on him. The armor and clothing he wears has been destroyed by the massive bites he received. Conversation turns to what to do with the body. Building a cairn to bury him is a good option. Looking around the group sees that there are plenty of stones around the lake shore that could be used to cover the body. It would add another hour of delay in arriving at Kessan’s tomb.
Roya mentions a pyre. It is late fall and there are plenty of fallen branches and leaves that could be used to burn the remains. Those who have spent any time in the woods would know that you would need to keep extra care from having the fire spread into the woods. Then you would have a much large issue on your hands.
As Brandark grabs the body to pull it away from the lake, the group hears growling and snarling coming from the tree line. It is three wolves, each looks hungrier than the next.
Two of the wolves charge in. The first one strikes out at Brandark as he is the closest. The wolf bites and gets a firm grip on his leg and pulls Brandark to the ground. Though you are not sure how it felt when the Orcs attacked yesterday, this bite and your fall feels real to you.
The second wolve that moved up moves in to attack Roya, but she is nimble enough to move out of the creatures bite.
The wolf that attacked Brandark looks to be the one that stumbled into the firelight the previous night.
Initiative: Round 1
W3
W1
Perri
Miron
Roya
Joras
Conrad
Brandark
W2
Initiative
.
Knowing there's little to gain by trying to trip the wolves, and trusting Brandark to handle himself in combat better than Roya, Perri moves up and attempts to disembowel the wolf attacking Roya.
Miron concentrates and frost briefly blooms over his exposed skin again as he readies for battle.
He rushes over to the wolf standing over Brandark and points his spear at it threateningly. "I remember you." he says to the wolf.
Perri moves forward to help guard and protect Roya with his Bill. His swings with an attack that would have devastated the animal, but he sings just wide trying to miss the young girl. Miron’s skin takes on a look of icy mail links that looks as if it will provide a protective barrio.
Roya takes a quick hops away from the wolf that tried to make a snack out of her , draws her bow , then fires an arrow from her quiver. But the arrow shoots wide with the tension of the unfolding scene.
Initiative: Round 1
W3
W1
Perri
Miron
Roya
Joras
Conrad
Brandark
W2
Joras is about to add his two cents when the wolves charge in, catching him off guard for a bit. Snapping out of his being startled, he looks about and decides who to aid. He moves swiftly to a flanking position around with Perri in as protective of Roya as possible, drawing his shortsword as his standard action. May need acrobatics to do so safely, if so:
If needed, combines with move action.
Brandark, rolls a bit to drive his spear end of his urgosh at the wolf.
Str, BAB, prone
only to miss as the wolf darts sideways
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The wolves' sudden attack startles Conrad, and before he knows it, the beasts are already snarling at Roya and trying to sink their teeth into Bandark's thigh.
It takes a while for him to snap out of his stupor.
Then he sees absolute red.
Without even bothering to take out his flail, he rushes to Roya's side, and attempts to deliver a mean blow to the wolf's head.
Joras move around the wolf, positioning himself in a flanking position with Perri. Rolling around on the ground Brandark swings unsuccessfully with his Urgosh at the wolf that tripped him. Conrad rushes to attack the wolf that tried to bite Roya. He lands a devastating attack as the punches the wolf square in the head.
The third wolf in the background rushes forward to bite out at the closest standing potential meal, Marion. The wolf bites out at the sorcerer’s arm to pull him to the ground. The animal is unsuccessful in pulling him down, but it does leave a nasty wound on his arm.
The wolf that attacked and pulled down Brandark continues to try and feed on its potential kill. With a bite that would have normally missed, Brandark’s prone positioning doesn’t grant him as much defense as he would normally have standing on his own two feet.
Turning its attention away from Roya, the wolf that is now surrounded turns its attention to Conrad. Snapping back at his arm, the wolf misses its attack.
.
Taking another roll, he tries to drive the wolf away again.
You bloody, misbegotten cur, let me alone.
BAB, STR, Prone
Perri takes advantage of the distraction provided by Conrad, and attempts to slice through the wolf now trying to eat his friend.
HP:8/8 AC:16
Conditions:
Joras thinks for a second and
remembers the other halfings in the militia telling him that if he's caught in melee, defend yourself and if a warrior is near flank with him and
Defensive attack -4 to hit, +2 do to flank.
On hit
On first roll of 19-20 roll to confirm critical
On successful critical hit.
tries to be a bit of a threat.
Miron cries out as the third wolf grabs him from behind. Wrenching his arm free from its jaws, he staggers into a position behind the wolf attacking Brandark. With little room to cast a spell, he tries to adopt a more defensive stance, trying to hold off the third wolf with the butt of his spear as he focuses power into the weapon. When he sees an opening, he jabs the front of his spear into the second wolf.
Brandark slashes out with his Urgosh, but just misses. Perri sees the wolf attacking out at Conrad and slashes down with his Bill. The weapon cuts deep and drops the wolf. Conrad, Roya, and Perri’s wolf is down. Only two wolves remain. One hovering over a prone Brandark and the second besides them battling Miron.
Seeing the first wolf fall and one on Miron, Joras moves into flanking position with Miron to try to finish off another one. Unfortunately, even while it is focused on Miron, the halflings shortsword misses the mark. Miron takes advantage and trikes out with his spear, landing a solid blow to the wolf.
Roya sidesteps around her companions to give herself a little bit of a clearer shot, while still staying withing 30-feet of the wolf. She loosens an arrow towards the wolf Miron just attacked. Her arrow strikes true and the animal falls to the ground.
The final wolf is still attacking out towards your dwarven friend, who looks to be in trouble. That wolf looks as if it has taken no damage.
Initiative: Round 2
W3
W1
Perri
Miron
Roya
Joras
Conrad
Brandark
W2
Brandark quickly regains his feet behind Conrad, and regrips his Urgosh to ensure he will get a good strike in with the axe part.
Come at us you beastie
BAB, STR
Cursing slightly under his breath, Brandark rolls slightly and drives the axehead towards the wolf.
BAB, STR, Prone
Conrad moves to protect his prone dwarven friend. Grabbing ahold of the wolf opens himself up to a bite from the creature. The bite lands but doesn’t appear to be a bad wound. Holding the wolf by the scruff of its neck, the human barbarian swings it around 10 feet away from the dwarf.
The wolf moves to strike at the man who just moved him. This time the bite leaves a more significant mark.
Brandark stands and grips his Urgosh ready for the animal to strick back at him.
Initiative: Round 3
W3
Perri
Miron
Roya
Joras
Conrad
Brandark
HP:8/8 AC:16
Conditions:
Bardic Performance:7/7
Joras looks as the group gathers around to confront the last wolf. Knowing that his martial skills are lacking, he does what he does best. Sing! His voice pipes up with an otherworldly tone added.
HP:8/8 AC:16
Conditions:
Bardic Performance:6/7
Inspire Courage:+1 morale bonus against charm/fear +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls.
Perri circles around the wolf into a flanking position if possible, but will attempt to gut the beast regardless.
With the two massive attacks from Conrad and Perri, the group puts an end to the three wolves that attacked the party. As the dust settles there are three of you that look to be in rough shape. Blood seeps through your clothing from the bites of the wolves.
Well, that was exciting. now shall we return to what we were doing but with the added side affect of figuring out how to bandage these bites
He shakes his head sadly as he walks towards the body.
People can hear him mumble to himself, and you can see him making violent moves with his hands and palms.
Joras looks around with a questioning look on his face, when Brandark speaks, he replies, "Roya's good with bandages and healing. I'm very limited with that." He continues, "This doesn't seem like illusion; it's going on long, the scene is complex, but the wolves, even hungry, have to have had something besides us to eat. Brandark didn't you say that the hunting would be bad here? I'm not sure what's going on here; first a prank on us, then follow with a real attack? That would be quite cruel to throw us off guard then put us into mortal danger, just doesn't seem like any leader would do that - well maybe Captain Wisslo." Joras is uncharacteristicly uncertain.
Joras looks again at the corpse, saying. "I wonder can we move this unfortunate man's body, if it's been here for months, would it fall apart if moved?" For once Joras doesn't seem to know what to do.
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Little by little, and as the wolves lie unconscious on the ground, Conrad's anger goes away. He shakes his wounded hand off-mindedly, like people do when they've just touched something hot, as if the pain would just fall off if you gave it a good shake.
Droplets of blood stain the grass red. The pain doesn't fall off.
It is too early in the day for him to be left genuinely tired by the fight, but as his emotions subside and he comes back to his senses, shame starts to build in low, in his gut. It's always a slower process than anger, but a steadier one, too. Anger flares up and goes away. Shame sticks to you, like clothes dipped in ice cold water.
"[smaller]I shouldn't have gone so angry,[/i]" he mutters to himself, almost too low for anyone else to hear. He shakes his head. The remnants of Joras and Brandark's conversation finally register. "I'll move him. If he falls apart- we'll just bury what's left. What do we do with the wolves?" He gestures at them. "If we leave them, they're going to die. But they were looking out for food."
Well, they look to be starving, so letting them live will not be doing them a service
Brandark grabs the feet while conrad grabs the head. in an attempt get the body further away from the lake to be buried under a Cairn.
As the wolves fall, Miron starts to relax, then winces when he notices the pain in the arm as the adrenaline fades.
He takes a moment to wipe his spear clean on the grass, then awkwardly struggles out of his thick coat to check the wound. He shivers as he frowns at the bloodstained tear in his coat then halfputs it on again, putting his uninjured arm through the sleeve and just putting it over the shoulder on the other side.
"One of the wolves was the one from last night." he says. "We should set up a fire while we recover. It scared one off before, if there are any more, it might help again. I want to try to clean my coat too. If it's safe to do that in the lake." he adds, remembering which lake they're near.
Before we stop for any lenghth of time, we should go on for a bit. However, you have until the cairn is built if you want to take that time to try and clean up
Brandark tries to figure out a way to carry his Urgosh other than in hand while he approaches the body again.
These wolves looked to be in rough shape as it is. They have wounds as if they were fighting, possibly with each other. They also look as if they are malnourished. Which lines up with the fewer and fewer sightings of natural game. This would also explain their boldness to openly attack a group of people this size.
Moving towards the body you see that the remains, or what is left of them, have been decomposing as they should over this stretch of time. The fact that scavengers haven’t messed with the corpse could have more to do with what killed this man than anything else.
The group finds a location that would be off the path enough that a cairn would not be in the way and Brandark and Conrad place the body there. It takes roughly an hour to find enough stones around the lake to build it up enough that the remains wouldn’t be bothered.
Brandark will put the wolves out of their suffering before going back to the cairn.
These animals attacked us, due to a lack of game. They were starving, and fighting amongst each other. I cannot let them suffer.
After finishing the cairn, Brandark removes his hat for any words to be spoken.
Well, someone wrap Miron up a little bit where that wolf bit him. and lets try to get some distance from here before we stop for the night.
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After dragging the body back to shore, Conrad washes his hands and cleans his wounds in the lake, watching as his mangled arm colours the water pink. He then helps Brandark find stones to build a cairn under which they bury the corpse.
All these deaths left him in a somber mood, and he stands by to let his more eloquent teammates say a few words.
Like everyone else, he had learned a few prayers as a child, but he has forgotten a lot of words and none of them feel right. He doesn't know whether Shelyn has a prayer for the departed or not.
"Hope you can find some rest," he says finally, quietly as to not to be heard and deemed ridiculous.
As soon as the wolves are put down, Roya gathers her allies around her, then closes her eyes while presenting her wooden holy symbol.
"Erastil, by your grace, use me as conduit for your powers and allow me to heal my allies."
A wave of healing energy washes over the group, followed by a second, smaller one.
As the man is put to rest, she does say a few words, about the circle of life, and how nature gives and takes. She had not known the man, and could not say anything about him. So the one thing to fill the void were "empty truths" - words that held truth and meaning, but were universal, not tailored to a specific persons life.
She performed the necessary rites and prayers to prevent the person from rising as Undead, but kept things as short as necessary.
The wolf attack had also put Roya into a sombre mood.
"If any of you bitten feel strange, do tell me right away. Bran managed to hunt some rabbits yesterday - yet these wolves seemed very hungry. Maybe they were just unlucky hunting, but it could be they were ill. Better not take any chances."
She knew full well that treating rabies, or worse, was beyond her abilities. But she could notice the signs and make sure that those affected would turn back in time.
The body is laid to rest. It is unknown who he was or what his purpose was here, but he was still someone to somebody. Roya channels her connection to Erastil as a pulse of white light moves out from her in arrows of light.
Leaving the Gray Lake behind, it is roughly a 3-hour journey until you reach Serpent’s Gorge. The trail leads ever deeper into the Fangwood, through a twisting maze of trees and confusing ravines. As it tops a small rise, a broad valley spreads out before it. The opposite side of which looks like a writing serpent. Yet between the two lies a steep hill sloping down into the valley. A cold rain starts to fall, making the groung slick and treacherous.
You know that Kassen’s final resting place is somewhere within the valley below.
Well, it is getting on in the day, and I for one, don't want to be wandering around a forest at night. Shall we set up camp in a good location, and try to get some sleep.
Brandark starts looking for a place to set up camp that is at least somewhat protected from the weather.
While we are at it, I suggest that we only set up 3 tents and double up in the tents. 2 per tent
Looking for a good campsite.
But he doesn't find anything that he thinks is worthwhile.
"Thanks" Miron says to Roya as the wound on his arm heals up. He decides against trying to clean his coat now, figuring that there wouldn't be enough time to dry it, and instead trying (and failing) to close up the tear. In the end, he walks with the arm pressed against his chest to stop the wind getting through.
--
He sighs as the rain starts, and pulls his hood further over his hood. Hopefully they'd reach somewhere drier before the it soaked through his clothes. As the ground becomes more muddy, he gives up on protecting the tear and concentrates more on keeping his balance, opting to use his spear as a makeshift walking stick.
"Can you see any good way down?" he asks, wiping the rain out his eyes. "Or at least a drier path? This rain is freezing."
Perri cleans his bill in silence before joining the others at Roya's request. "Thank you for the healing, Roya."
Perri remains quiet while they lay the stranger to rest, and stays that way as the group walks. Maybe the fighter's wondering about mortality. Maybe he's playing through the fight with the wolves and trying to understand what he could have done to reduce the damage his friends took. Maybe he's daydreaming. Probably not daydreaming, as his head is bent down while he walks.
"Thing is, the forest will provide better protection from the rain. We just have to take the slope SLOWLY, walking down the hill sideways to get the most resistance from our feet if we start to slip. We should also avoid going straight down, but walk our own switchback path."
Joras knows he has little to contribute to the building of the cairn so he keeps watch to make sure that nothing surprises them group. At the minimal ceremony he sings a quiet requiem for the soul of the departed.
The march to the gorge is much quieter, Joras limiting his play to somber but still hopeful instrumental pieces to keep the mood reflective and not sour.
At the gorge Joras looks over to see if there is a good path.
Path?
He seems to spot something and point it out to the others, saying, "Is that a pathway there?"
When the rain begins he quickly puts the mandolin in its case, and puts on his furs for protection.
He also looks for a possible campsite towards higher ground as to not be inconvenienced by the rain.
campsite?
Joras sighs not having a clue as to where to camp.
The group of you examine your surroundings. The thinning forest up to this point, and the slope of the gorge ahead. You do not see any paths or set trails that lead down. The rain that is falling will add difficulty to both options that the group faces, camping or trekking down the hillside.