Zero's #1-02: The Mosquito Witch (Inactive)

Game Master Super Zero

"Shovels, huh..." Macondi thinks about that for a bit. "Maybe I should get a shovel before they all disappear then."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

He turns to the inkeeper. "It is just a cow that is being attacked. Do you blame Witches when a goat gets attacked by wolves? Just point us to some place with some shelter from the insects. There should be plenty available with so many of the people of the town having left already."

The little kobold jots down a note while muttering to himself, "Six and four... dead on ..Shimmerford road.." He then sticks the little piece of paper in his coat.

"I think some of the people we've already talked to may actually be our best source regarding this 'six and four'.. not to mention this business of," He shrugs and his face contorts to one of strained incredulity, "stolen shovels??"

"Think I've heard 'im say that before, but I can't say what he's talking about. Most people 'round here left under their own power. Things are bad, but they didn't die."

He looks from Macondi to the calf. "Oh... fine! You can put him in the stable."

"Stolen shovels, yes," says Quintus with a nod, "That part's not even a vision, it's a fact! I'm just trying to piece it in. They’ve all gone missing. And picks. Hammers. Rope. Lanterns too. Maybe it’s a thief? But maybe that’s what it wants me to think. There must be some significance... it’s probably staring me right in the face and I just. Can’t. Think of it!”

"Hmmm... almost everything stolen seems to have metal in it. Or, is usable underground. Very strange indeed."

Sounds like dungeon crawl equipment

"Can you show us where the equipment was stored? Maybe there are footprints or traces of the thief."

Crap, so sorry. Been ill. Thought I was mostly keeping up with my games, but it looks like I missed one.

"Well, uh, not really?" Quintus scratches his head. "Wherever people had their outdoor tools. But everybody's left now, so there's nothing there anyway at most of the houses. But apparently when people were starting to pack up and go, everybody was asking around for their missing shovels. Don't know where that comes into mosquito plague."

What would you like to do next?

"I think I need a shovel. Maybe that farm with the cow still has a shovel. That might be why the mosquitoes were attacking it. We'll have to fight off the mosquitoes and get the last shovel in town because shovels are the bane weapon of a mosquito witch."

If anyone has a better idea, feel free to tell Macondi he is certifiably insane.

"Shovels? Remember that picks, lanterns and ropes were stolen too. So... Whomever is stealing them is digging with them. And what are they digging for?" Barak turns to the innkeeper. "Are there mines around here? What was the main business of Shimmerford, anyway?"

Then Barak thinks some more. "At any rate, I think we're done investigating in town. Let's go check out Witchtop Hill. Maybe we'll find this mosquito witch. Maybe we'll find shovel thieves. Let's see what's out there."

Amperex taps his chin in thought, "..this raises an important question: why did none of the people we've talked to prior mention this?" He stares at the floor in thought, "If these tools were being stolen all over town, they had to know about it.. so why not mention it? Seems like the sort of thing at least one of them would have remembered."

He assertively puts his hands on his hips, "I think someone isn't telling us everything they know."

"Interesting ideas from all of you. It would seem that we are likely to learn more about what's going on at Witchtop hill. But, we haven't seen the burned house of the suspected Cultist yet. I suggest we go there before we go to the hill."

"Mines? No, I don't think so," says the innkeeper, "Business has mainly been tourism for a long time now. Though there is something odd out among the hills. There's an area in the woods where compasses don't work."

The party starts to leave town, to visit Witchtop Hill--or perhaps the cultist's home first. This involves a trek through the misty woods, where the mosquitoes are less visible through the thick fog but can still be felt crawling on the skin. But which way to go from here?

Make a Survival check for navigation.

He assertively puts his hands on his hips, "I think someone isn't telling us everything they know."

Macondi shrugs a bit. "They seem insistent on not telling us though. So asking again isn't going to change that. We'll just have to find the information from things that aren't people in town."

To Aztryx he replies, "Yeah, I think the cultist's home is a good place to start."

As they leave the town and the mist comes up, Macondi quickly gets rather disoriented. "Um. Is anyone not lost? Because I sure am."

"Thanks Macondi."

"Heather, could you kindly show us the way?" He pauses for a moment then says "Does anyone actually have a Wayfinder? That's the perfect thing to own at this moment! I've always wanted one but don't own one yet."

"Yeah, I have one. My sister Bitty insisted that I get it if Macondi and I were going to go off to be Pathfinders." Barak pulls his wayfinder out.

No survival though.

"Cultist's house first?"

Not hearing an answer, Barak starts walking towards the cultist's house. "Alright, let's see what's here, and then head off to Witchtop Hill."

"Come along Cogswork, we've got some rubble and ruin to sift through." The little kobold and his machine waddle out of the inn after Barak as he thinks out loud to himself, "Hmm.. my expectation of creepy houses owned by cultists is "spooky basement", he quotes with his fingers,".. so we should keep an eye out for any hidden doors or passages in the foundation."

don't know about anyone else, but I've been stuck in baldur's gate 3 land for a few days

Kineticist and Starfinder2e for me.

Survival: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

"Let's see... If I was a cultist, where would I put my house?"

"In the fog filled woods, obviously. But where in here?"

Barak turns to Heather. "Heather, have you got any idea where to look?"

With directions from the innkeeper (or Gahlia), Heather is easily able to locate the site of the cultist's house and the Pathfinder party reaches it within 30 minutes. Or, at least, where it once stood. However, the site holds no clues relevant to their investigation—only charred wood, salty ash, and chunks of blackened human bone.

Once they've exhausted the site and turn their attention to the next point of interest (Witchtop Hill?), the party passes near the village again--where they're alerted to the fact that something is wrong by the high-pitched screaming of horses.

A carriage pulled by six horses tears down the road near Shimmerford at dangerous speeds, the animals evidently driven wild by the biting bloodseekers—the bloodseekers themselves were not fast enough to keep up with the carriage and are not present, though the horses are clearly bleeding from numerous tiny wounds.

The carriage is on a crash-course with a sharp ridge and there appear to be several passengers on board. But if the Pathfinders act fast enough, maybe they could...

Leap onto the carriage, (Acrobatics or Athletics DC 19. On a success you rescue one passenger and can repeat the check. Once you fail, you fall off and fall behind)

Calm the horses, (Nature DC 19 to make the horses slow down so a passenger can escape on their own, or two on a critical success) or

Build a barricade (Athletics or Crafting to impede the horses to force them to slow down so a passenger can escape on their own).

Unfortunately, there's little time to act. That certainly makes this more difficult...
(Each PC can attempt one check.)

At the burned out ruins of the house, Macondi walks slowly around inspecting things almost at random. "Huh. I'm not noticing anything left here of use." He looks around in the surrounding area for a bit too. "Not a shovel here either," he comments disappointedly.

When the carriage comes careening out of the village, Macondi looks over in surprise. He recovers fairly quickly though. "Come on, Barak. We can do something about this, right?"

Acrobatics (armor penalty): 1d20 + 5 - 1 ⇒ (13) + 5 - 1 = 17

Macondi chases after the carriage, but falls behind because of the weight of the light armor that he is wearing. He makes a desperate burst of speed and leaps to try and catch the edge of the rear railing. He manages to grab it briefly and ends up dragged behind the carriage for a few seconds. When his knees couldn't take much more abuse and his hands were losing grip strength, he lets go and ends up face down in the dirt. He quickly starts to pick himself up from the ground and watches to see how everyone else is doing and if there is any way for him to continue to help.

Not sure how casting spells works in skill challenges like this. I have Guidance available. And Stabilize...

Stabilize probably isn't very helpful, but you could use guidance.

Edit: Oh, and the DC should be 18.

Aztryx grabs an abandoned wooden cart from the side of the road and places it strategically on the road so that the carriage will side-swipe it (instead of crash into it), flipping it over while hoping it will slow the vehicle down. He yells "JUMP!" at one of the passengers.

Crafting: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

The carriage slows a little as it bumps along the other cart. One of the passengers manages to jump out of the carriage into the cart, looking a little bruised but not too much worse for the wear.

"Barak, your turn." Macondi quickly throws out some divine guidance to help Barak's attempts to get the passengers off of the carriage.

Barak readies to leap, but lands wrong and falls off the wagon.

Athletics: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

"AAAAAAAaaaaaaagggghhhhh!"

"Gods damnit.. Cogswork! Scrap! Block that carriage off now!" The construct rushes into the street and places itself in position to hold up anything it, or Amperex can get their hands on to act as a makeshift barricade, like a section of a fence post, large barrel, or old carts.

Crafting: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

Heather attempts to jump onto the wagon.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

Heather also mistimes her jump and bounces off the wagon itself. She twists in midair in an attempt not to land on Barak.

Apologies for ghosting the table. Stressful week last week just took the wind out of my sails

Amperex isn't quick enough, and the carriage is past before his barricade effectively blocks the road.

Barak and Heather are both unable to get a hold on the speeding carriage.

The Pathfinders have managed to save one of the distressed passengers, but when the carriage and horses inevitably careen off of a sharp ridge, shattering the conveyance, there were still three passengers on board whom they were unable to rescue.

So only six horses and three passengers dead on Shimmerford Road. The surviving passenger shakily thanks the Pathfinders for their help, and begins making his way to the inn, swatting at mosquitoes.

Unless someone would like to spend a Hero Point, I'll post about Witchtop Hill next.

Following the landmarks from Mordha Lyons, Heather is able to lead the party to what must be Witchtop Hill. It's hard to miss!

The Pathfinders find a dimly lit grove of uncanny, bare-branched treses, with thousands of the townsfolk's Mosquito Witch dolls nailed to the bark.

Investigating the dolls reveals contradictory information as to who could have placed them or when they were placed, for a patina of grime suggests they have been there for a long time, bu the dolls should not have survived in such a pristine condition if exposed to the elements.

You can make Perception checks to look for clues and/or Survival checks to look for signs someone else has been here.

Macondi jogs his way over to the ridge that the wagon just went over and looks down at the wreckage. "Out of range and too slow." He shakes his head sadly and makes his way over to their next destination. Witchtop Hill.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

Macondi takes a quick look around at the witch dolls. He compares them to the one that he is carrying. He checks to make sure that the blindfold is still in place on at least that one.

"Well, if they do act as scrying foci - someone surely knows we are here now."

Macondi comes across a sword that was discarded here recently enough that it's still in decent shape. It's about the right size for him to use, dropped by a gnome or someone else around that height.

"Huh. Wonder who left this laying around." Macondi slips the sword into his belt. "Too bad it isn't a shovel though."

Aztryx talks to the one survivor and asks what happened.

After interviewing, he heads over to Witchtop Hill and looks around.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

Heather and Scout look around the area for clues.

Aztryx doesn't find anything else of note.

Heather, though, finds some recent tracks that are interesting. It looks like a Small humanoid like creature approached the trees at a walk and then fled northeast into the woods.

The creature (person?) was barefoot, so it might be possible to narrow down what they might have been...

Barak makes a face. "Things become clearer. That's the footprints of a Miflit, or a Mite. They're little, they're mean, they're blue and they're cowardly. They give other blue folk a bad name." Barak's draconic tail twitches. "And don't they have some ability to influence insects?"

Barak points to the clouds of mosquitos about and raises an expressive eyebrow as he looks at Macondi. "Bro, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Fey of their sort are also known for sorts of things like theft, if it is such a creature, it could explain the thefts with no apparent sign of suspects."

The kobold stands next to Barak and stares intently at the footprint deep in thought, "At the same time.. such a creature may simply be a minion of something more dangerous.

Amperex will attempt to Recall Knowledge on the subject of Mitflits; w/e skill is needed?

Knowledge about fey would generally be Nature.

"Hmmm. Is there any indication that it is alone? Or are there clues that it is traveling with another, or a group? Can we follow this one back to it's lair? What can we expect from such a creature? Do we know..."

Aztryx stops himself, realizing that he's asking way too many questions - too quickly. He smiles to himself and says "Sorry. Hmmmm..."

He then tries to remember anything that he can about Mites, especially if they are organized.

Society: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

Aztryx knows that Mitflits are a type of gremlin. They tend to be self-loathing, which makes them easy to push around. They often rally around a slightly more powerful leader, though they're vulnerable to being bullied by their foes as well (penalty to resist Intimidation checks).

They do have a way with insects, which they can magically communicate with.

Barak points to the clouds of mosquitos about and raises an expressive eyebrow as he looks at Macondi. "Bro, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Depends on if you are thinking of blasting them out of the air with compressed water. Do you have any idea how ... distracting ... those bugs are." Macondi sighs a bit. "But there are so many of them that it doesn't seem worth it. More would just replace them."

He looks over at Barak. "But that probably isn't what you are thinking. Miflit, huh. Maybe if we got rid of them, the mosquitos would go away too."

Barak slaps a mosquito. "Let's track them down and find them. And if we can't track them, Witchtop Hill sounds like a fine place to start."

Heather calls to the party. "Mitflit? The tracks appear to be made by a kobold."

"Stay alert, Scouty, I'm not sure what we're dealing with here."

Heather will also attempt to RK. Nature +6

Scout chuffs and sticks close to Heather.

"Rawr"

"Kobolds dressed as Miflits. Or maybe the other way around. But whichever, if by finding them we can get rid of the mosquitos I'm all for it. I'm terrible at tracking though."

Knowledge about kobolds would be Society, as they are humanoids.

While Heather suspects the footprints actually belong to kobolds, she does know a little about mitflits when Barak brings them up. She knows that in general gremlins are cruel fey tricksters and saboteurs who have fully acclimated to life in the Universe, finding distinct niches for their inventive destructiveness.

Following the footprints to the northeast, the Pathfinders find that they extend a modest distance into the woods before the strides become shorter as though the running creature slowed to a walk... and then started intentionally obscuring their footprints.

The party continues in that direction, but gets turned around in the woods--despite having compasses, they seem to be going in a circle somehow. After being lost in the woods for several hours and enduring incessant mosquito bites (Everyone can make Fortitude saves), they find themselves at a large, muddy pond.

This doesn't seem to be what they were looking for. It looks nearly identical to many such ponds in the Shimmerford woods, except that it seems to be teeming with unseasonable life--the water is squirming with mosquito larvae.
The Pathfinders spot a man with fine brown hair and white clothing lying supine on the ground. He is on the shore of the pond with his head and torso floating in the water, and his clothes are inexplicably pristine despite the mud.

Fortitude: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

"Bah. Blasted bugs," Macondi grumbles as he swats yet another mosquito off of his arm. "Does this Koboldflit have to go through the most dense area of mosquitos possible?"

It looks nearly identical to many such ponds in the Shimmerford woods, except that it seems to be teeming with unseasonable life--the water is squirming with mosquito larvae.

The Pathfinders spot a man with fine brown hair and white clothing lying supine on the ground. He is on the shore of the pond with his head and torso floating in the water, and his clothes are inexplicably pristine despite the mud.

Macondi hurries over to the man, wading into water up to his knees if needed and tries to reach him and drag him to shore at least. "Dead. Not dead. No way to check in the water."

Fortitude: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

"Gods damned bugs!" Amperex goes into a furry swatting at flying mosquitoes as he walks, with Cogswork attempting to help as best it can mimic the motions.

upon seeing Macondi rushing to the prone man he shouts after, "Be careful! Whatever did that to them could still be here!" He draws his firearm just in case and watches for any hidden threats.

Amperex will attempt to seek for anything larger and more dangerous than larva that might be in the water.

Heather Fort: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
Scout Fort: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Heather pulls out her crossbow and loads it, unsure whether the man is bait for a trap or something more sinister.

Scout growls and tenses, also sensing Heather's unease.