The adventure assumes that our adventurers recently arrived or have spent some time in Hillcross. The place is a permanent tent city nestled in the heart of the Tusk Mountains in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. Hillcross serves as a meeting ground and haven for the nomadic Kellids and other travelers who dare to brave the icy reaches of the Tusk Mountains, which teem with giants and megafauna.
The tent city is damp, and the air thick from a heavy rain that occurred the night before, but is still bustling with activity as folk of all kinds pass through. As the adventurers make their way, a tumultuous tapping grabs their attention. A woodpecker is quick at work, affixing a note to a wooden advertisement board. This note is a hastily scribbled message in Common, calling for help in rounding up stegosaurus nestlings just outside the city.
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Young stegosauruses loose! Help me return them to the wild! Make haste to the outskirts of town, due west, then south between the two large boulders. Payment of gold is provided in exchange for a successful roundup. —Xila of the Green Faith
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As they read the note, the woodpecker hovers nearby. It attempts to gently lead them in the direction of Xila and her clutch of dinosaurs. Asking around Hillcross for assistance, passersby point them in the direction described.
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As the drizzle fell, the stegosaurs went silent, moving away like the parting of the red sea. A small empty space formed at the center, then a flash of lighting, woodpecker saw the silhouette of a strong man in light armor. The man walk softly like a breeze to woodpecker and removed his headgear.
Puts his fist on his chest and said, Pugay! I am Bakunawan, a warrior from the kingdom of Liusung, of the house of Malakas, conquer of the city of Seludong, slayer of the sea dragon that ate six moons. Would you like some Pu-erh tea?
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A very respectable looking man of middling years, looking right out of place glances around the tent-village. With a sigh he spies the woodpecker and approaches the sign.
He is well dressed, and endeavors to keep his respectable clothes free of mud as he glances around. Spotting the elf and lightly armoured man he approaches them. "Fellow fish out of water?" he asks sadly.
Then, remembering his manners offers a short bow. "Jeeves. Percival Jeeves. At your service." With a glance back to the signpost he adds "Or, apparently at the service of Xila of the Green Faith."
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A dark-skinned half-elf arrives from the north, heavily clad in hide. A blue robe marked with gold trimmings covers some of his armor. He bears a steel shield on his back, and a very sharp looking scimitar hangs on his belt. Javelins poke from his backpack. He looks ready to go anywhere.
As he peruses the advertising board, he reads the woodpecker's note. He looks around and sees the group of three now huddled together.
"Behold! Sarenrae watches over you through me. I am Orion. Whatever our foe ahead, you can count on me to watch your back. Let us go, and follow the woodpecker. It is clearly someone's animal messenger."
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As the others arrives a funny gnome with a red head is also reading the bounty. He is accompanied by a shadow figure staying behind him. Once he's finished with the reading task he looks around advising the other interested characters. Hello, I'm Benkost and this is Mr Zarbost. Does he say pointing the shadow figure. He's not nasty, don't fear him. We will go to help the dinos. I think this woodpecker would like we follow him.
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A short stocky man joins the group. Reading the board, he scratches his chin thoughtfully, as if weighing whether it's worth his time or not. Dropping a hand to his coin purse, he realizes that he doesn't have a choice if he wants to eat. His eyes grow distant as he remembers the delicious fried fish and beet juice he used to eat at his master's school. Turning to the rest of the gathered Pathfinders, he bows and introduces himself.
"Salutations! I am Zhan Phil. I used to train at Master Tortal's school but since he has passed on, I am forced to hire my blade out. So does anyone know anything about these dinosaurs we need to help?"
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Greetings Zhan Phil, and takes a look at his weapons. I see your blades are as big as mine. And I have heard of your master, actually, I admire Master Tortal skill and his unorthodox methods of training. I also heard of his courage and heroism, like to taking out four Nipon armored warriors single hand. Or threaten a lawyer with a sword on the neck and yet no lawsuit. Guess you have a lot to live up to. Would you like some Pu-erh tea?
A small world indeed that Bakunawan and Zhan Phil has someone in common. Nevertheless, the woodpecker above them seems impatient but senses that she will be followed.
By following the directions on the notice board, or following the woodpecker flying above them, our adventurers find themselves in a large clearing in a wooded valley to the west of town. It is here they find a haggard Kellid woman in a patterned cloak of several colors. She ignores the sticks tangled in her hair and the dirt on her face as she chases a juvenile stegosaurus through the mud. All around her, nearly twenty young stegosauruses romp across the clearing, play in pools of mud, and trample the ropes and stakes of a ruined animal pen. For each stegosaurus the woman successfully herds toward the enclosure, another storms out, excited to roam and play. When they arrive, the woodpecker lands on the woman's shoulder, and she slumps away from the chaos to greet them.
"Oh, great. You have come! I am Xila, a follower of Green Faith. I believe you have read my bounty and are here to help me round up these dinosaurs. Am I right?" her desperate voice can tell that she is really having a hard rounding them up alone. She heaves a sigh and continues talking before the adventurers can even respond. You see, when I heard rumors circulating around Hillcross that this clutch was to be sold into captivity, I knew I needed to return them to the wild. As young as many of them are, I believed their herd must be in the nearby lowlands. I paid the trapper’s fee, which was quite a sum, but money is nothing in comparison to their quality of life. I have kept them here while I searched the valleys. I found a herd nearby, with many young missing — it might even be their family. I intended to reunite them today, but this morning I discovered them like this. They’re quite the handful.”
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"Hello Xila! I am Orion. How do you control the beasts to begin with? Anything we should know about these creatures?
Orion says a prayer to Sarenrae, asking her for guidance. He then examines a young stegasaurus. He walks around without touching, and goes as close as the animal would allow without making it uncomfortable. He tries to see if the animals have been wounded, look like they've rope marks, or were wounded by traps on the legs.
[ooc - casts Guidance]
Xila sighs a sense of relief, feeling that they are positive to help her. “Before I escort the young to their herd, I need to round them up and calm them down. There are far too many, and I’m exhausted. Please gather them up and bring them to me, without hurting them. While you’re at it, see if you can find out how they broke free—I don’t want to head into the wilderness only to be set upon by some dangerous creature.” she tells them. "These young stegosauruses aren’t especially intelligent, but they’re curious and intrigued by unfamiliar sounds or movements. Hopefully that might help you rounding them up." she then shares to Orion. And while the warpriest is at it, he finds nothing that shows sign from the young dinosaurs of being hurt or something. Xila notices him and tells something. "They are usually quite calm, but something might have spooked them. Apart from taking a moment to send for help, I haven’t had the opportunity to investigate.”
Everyone can begin Round 1 of rounding up!
Bakunawan -
Zhan Phil -
Orion -
Jeeves -
Dolmandir -
Benkost -
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Jeeves looks at the muddy dinosaurs, at his well brushed coat, and then back at the muddy field. "While wrestling with them maybe more effective.." he starts. "I suspect it maybe cleaner if we try to heard them.."
So saying he sneaks around the edge of the field, trying to avoid notice, until revealing himself in the hope of spooking them toward the pen.
Only to find on the "Big Reveal" that one of his boots his stuck in the mud... right after he was already moving forward.
Jeeves lands face first in the mud.
Percival is persistent, not giving up on the task at hand, sending two of the young dinosaurs to the pen by spooking them. Zhan challenges himself with the biggest among the herd and pulls them back to the broken tail by the tail. Benkost races with some of the young dinos that are trying to play, but too late to realize they are going in the direction of the pen. Dolmandir removes untangled rope from a young dino peacefully eating some grass. They then follow the hunter when he tries to lead them there. Orion makes some amplified whistling, catching the attention of the young dinos closest to him, and leading them back to the pen. Bakunawan, not to be outdone by Zhan, looks for another big young dino and intimidates them. His attempt is totally ignored and they might kick him away if he gets too irritating to them.
Bakunawan - (pending)
Zhan Phil - 1
Orion - 1
Jeeves - 1
Dolmandir - 1
Benkost - 1
TOTAL - 5 + pending from Bakunawan
Skill used from the previous round:
Bakunawan - Intimidation
Zhan Phil - Athletics
Orion - Nature
Jeeves - Stealth
Dolmandir - Thievery
Benkost - Acrobatics
Zhan sneaks and brings the young dino he is riding into the pen. Percival imitates how Zhan does it but the attempt does not work for him. Dolmandir uses his knowledge about the dinosaurs to his leverage. Benkost brings two of the stegosauruses to their knees out of fear of being spanked. Orion inspects the pen and discovers the footprints of a clawed creature and signs that part of the enclosure was chopped or torn apart. Bakunawan has his own way to ride one of them. With some ropes and a skillful jump, he manages to ride onto one and bring them to the pen.
Bakunawan - -1+1
Zhan Phil - 1+1
Orion - 1+0
Jeeves - 1+0
Dolmandir - 1+1
Benkost - 1+2
TOTAL - 4+5
Skill used from the previous round:
Bakunawan - Acrobatics
Zhan Phil - Stealth
Orion - Nature
Jeeves - Athletics
Dolmandir - Nature
Benkost - Intimidation
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Jeeves stalks toward a dinosaur. A good butler knows just when to be somewhere, and how to avoid being noticed by his betters when he is not required.
When right behind one of the little dinos he scoops up the surprised creature.
Well, he tries to. That patch of mud he avoided before... it had a friend that was lying in wait.
Orion effectively prays, or so he believes because some dinos seem to behave. Benkost brings the dinos with a dino song he knows. Zhan steps on a branch and slips, to the surprise of the dino he is chasing. Dolmandir shows how it is done with a flourish. Percival tries to be stealthy, just to be caught by another in the mud.
Bakunawan laughs when he sees Zhan falls to the ground. "You forgot your training, I guess." he bickers before proceeding to the task. He sneaks behind the dino Jeeves is trying to chase, showing him how it must be done.
Which he barely succeeds.
Bakunawan - -1+1+1=1
Zhan Phil - 1+1+0=2
Orion - 1+0+1=2
Jeeves - 1+0-1=0
Dolmandir - 1+1+2=4
Benkost - 1+2+1=4
TOTAL - 4+5+4=13
After about twenty minutes, the party rounds up the dinosaurs and herds them into Xila’s enclosure. She thanks them, then begins counting the dinosaurs, tapping at sticks in her hair the way one might count on their fingers. She counts all the dinosaurs multiple times, with more urgency and desperation each time, and suddenly cries out in alarm, "One of them is missing! Babs is missing, the youngest among them! What am I gonna do..." she is about to start to cry.
Xila receives the handkerchief and gives one big blow from her nose covered by the same cloth. She then returns the soiled handkerchief to Percival. "Thank you."
"I hope you don't mind if I request one more thing: to find Babs. She might be kidnapped, that poor thing! I will give you the reward if you find her, please." she begs. "Maybe you can look around while I stay behind here so no more dinosaurs will be missing." She pulls out something and gives them to the group. "Here, take this. Maybe it might help on your search for Babs." She gives them 2 minor healing potions and 2 lesser eagle-eye elixirs.
Dolmandir leads the group and arrives at a certain hill after an hour, following the track the hunter found. When the party is within sight of the top of the hill, they find gruesome decorations framing the lair’s entrance. Bones and body parts of various animals hang from ropes and sinew in front of crude paintings of dried blood depicting the skeletons of mammoths and dinosaurs.
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"Unless someone objects, I'll take the potions. If you need one, let me know." Orion looks at his companions to see if anyone wants to take a potion or two. If anyone wants, he gives it to them.
"I think its wise that our tracker Dolmandir takes an Eagle Eye Elixir. I will drink the other one if no one objects. I found tracks of something big with claws over here by the broken area of the pen.. I suggest we begin tracking from there." He pauses to see if anyone wants the other Eagle Eye Elixir.
He follows Dolmandir and urges the rest of the party to do the same. He kneels over a footprint, and tries to see if anyone can identify the tracks.