Bartok slows the horses down just long enough for one of the passengers to get off.
Anji tries to calm the horses but can't.
Bridget fails as well.
--Round 1
Bartok: Acrobatics 15 (Failure)
Valereon: Acrobatics 18 (Failure)
Brimly: Athletics 25 (Success, on the carriage)
Anji: Nature 23 (Success, 1 passenger saved)
Bridget: Crafting 22 (Success, 1 passenger saved)
Kesha: Nature 23 (Success, 1 passenger saved)
--Round 2
Bartok: Athletics 26 (Success, 1 passenger saved)
Valereon: (pending)
Brimly: automatic Success, 1 passenger saved
Anji: Nature 13 (Failure)
Bridget: Crafting 15 (Failure)
Kesha (pending)
Kesha stalls the horses long enough for the last passenger to jump off, and Brimly has enough time to jump off himself before the carriage and horses careen off a sharp ridge, shattering the conveyance and killing the horses.
The grateful travelers give the Pathfinders what treasures they escaped with in recompense: delicate silver jewelry worth and a minor healing potion worth .
They thank the Pathfinders profusely for the rescue, but they have an odd question for Bridget.
"Why does your familiar have a Mosquito Witch doll in its mouth?"
Bridget looks down and, sure enough, her familiar is holding the doll. Kesha looks in her pocket and in her backpack - hers has disappeared!
With directions from Mordha, the Pathfinders readily find Witchtop Hill, which is topped with a dimly lit grove of uncanny, bare-branched trees, with thousands of the townsfolks’ 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. A patina of grime suggests they have been there for a long time, but the dolls should not have survived in such pristine conditions if exposed to the elements.
Everyone besides Bartok spots a tiny, discarded sword suitable for a Small humanoid.
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When the grateful travelers press the silver jewelry and a minor healing potion into their hands, Kesha inclines her head politely— but her focus shifts the moment the question is asked. Slowly, deliberately, she checks her pocket. Then her pack. Nothing. She looks up just as Bridget notices the doll clenched in her familiar’s mouth.
Kesha’s voice is quiet “Strange...It was in my pocket.”
As they go over the Witchtop Hill, Kesha steps carefully through the grove, eyes scanning the rows of dolls as she moves. She steps forward, touching one gently then nods at Brimly, lowering herself to get a closer look at the tracks.
She kneels in the soft earth, brushing away a thin layer of leaves and grime to better see the impressions. She traces the direction with two fingers — from the tree… and then away. “A small humanoid-like creature came to this tree. Stood here. Then it fled to the northeast ” she says quietly. Her eyes flick toward the tiny discarded sword.
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"Aww...how unfortunate. The horses are dead, and now you'll have the misfortune of having to walk. How sad...for you." Bridget says creepily.
When the doll enters the possession of her familiar, Bridget is thrilled to find it and examines it very closely, throwing a flippant response to the townsfolk over her shoulder.
"Why, you ask? Because the Mosquito Witch - or at least the idea of it - radiates misfortune. Which so happens to be what I trade in! In any case, I grow tired of your questions and of your plight. Be off with you before I curse you!" She brandishes Betsy at them, still holding the doll within its jaws.
As the party moves along, Bridget continues examining the doll in Betsy's clutches. She's so enamored by it that she completely misses out on the tracks she came all the way here to find.
As the small sword crosses her path, she casually kicks it out of her way, uncaring of it or the plight of its owner.
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Upon reaching the hill, Valereon's smile fades as he looks at the dolls nailed to the trees. “They look old, but not damaged,” he says. “They shouldn’t be in this good condition if they’ve been out here this long.”
Valereon's eyes scan the area and notices the tiny sword on the ground. It's pretty much all that he observes.
Anji determines that the tracks are not those of a gnome, goblin, or halfling.
Brimly does more than eliminate possibilities: he positively identifies the footprints as those of a fey creature known as a mitflit, or mite.
---
The mitflit tracks lead deeper into the woods, but before the Pathfinders can determine their exact source, they hear the distressing noise of a dog howling in the woods. They enter a clearing, to see a group of bloodseekers slowly feeds off a dog they recognize - it's Peaches, Haru's dog.
While the Pathfinders may wish to immediately rush to the dog’s aid, Brimly quickly points out that it isn’t safe to do so - the injured animal will likely lash out instinctively, even toward people trying to help.
--Round 1
Brimly (19/19 hp)
Valereon (28/28 hp)
Peaches (-0 hp)
Bridget (15/15 hp) / Betsy (7/7 hp)
Anji (17/17 hp)
Red Bloodseeker (-0 hp)
Yellow Bloodseeker (-0 hp)
Cyan Bloodseeker (-0 hp)
Kesha (15/15 hp)
Bartok (24/24 hp)
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Valereon quickly studies the scene. The swarm density, wind direction, and his distance to the dog.
He decides to move closer. He pulls out his rapier and lightly cuts his palm then flicks a drop of blood onto a strip of cloth. In an attempt to draw their attention, he gracefully throws the cloth into the air and yells, "Look at that! Fresh blood!"
---
Valereon creates a temporary distraction, but he's emboldened by his Success.
Brimly pulls out a pair of frying pans and strides up.
Peaches lashes out at Yellow.
He snatches Yellow out of the air with a giant spurt of blood. But it becomes clear that Peaches is pretty wounded - he's still bleeding.
vs DC 15
--Round 1
Bridget (15/15 hp) / Betsy (7/7 hp)
Anji (17/17 hp)
Red Bloodseeker (-0 hp)
Yellow Bloodseeker (-8 hp)
Cyan Bloodseeker (-0 hp)
Kesha (15/15 hp)
Bartok (24/24 hp)
--Round 2
Brimly (19/19 hp)
Valereon (28/28 hp)
Peaches (-3 hp, 3 persistent bleed)
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Heeding the warnings, Anji lunged forward to shield the animal. With a swift sweep of his hand, he traced glowing sigils in the air, manifesting a bird of black energy that streaked across the clearing and slammed into the bloodseeker.
You aren't subject to any conditions or other effects of whatever damaged your ally (such as poison from a venomous bite). Your ally is still subject to those effects even if you redirect all of the triggering damage to yourself.
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"Hey! What's going on! I can't see anything from back here."
Bridget complains loudly as she Strides up behind the others. Her face brightens with gleeful curiosity as she sees the carnage before her.
"Ah! Bugs...Hold still while I pin you to the ground. I'll have a closer look later." As she says this, Bridget conjures Needle Darts out of thin air and sends them flying at Cyan.
With Independence and magical flight on its side, Betsy soundlessly takes off into the air and hovers near Valeron's ear, its many eyes staring blankly into the Swashbuckler's face.
vs DC 15
Anji's spell causes Red to wither and die.
Bridget shoots out needles, and blood splatters everywhere.
---
Peaches, realizing the Pathfinders are friends rather than foes, begins grabbing their clothing and trying to drag them further into the woods.
Following Peaches, they quickly discover Haru nearby, standing and staring blankly, not responding, as a bloodseeker sucks blood from her neck.
Bart looks slightly annoyed he didn't get a chance to fight, but quicly follows the dog to the forest. he hesitates as he tries to recall anything regarding getting these parasites off a victim.
nature: 1d20 ⇒ 1
Bartok is certain that beheading Haru would get rid of the bloodseeker.
Umm...i guess hacking at it wonm't do the trick, eh?
Bridget knows that the bloodseeker is flat-footed while attached, and easy to attack. However, if the bloodseeker is killed while attached to a creature it has drained blood from, that creature takes 1 persistent bleed damage.
The proper way to remove a bloodseeker is to Escaping the attach or Grapple it before killing it.
Bartok grabs the bloodseeker and pries it off of Haru, and Brimly smashes it between his two frying pans.
Removing the bloodseeker is enough to snap Haru out of her trance. Haru recalls little about she got into her current circumstances, but her attitude has definitely changed since you last met her. She's less arrogant, and more forthcoming with what she does know.
Haru (and Peaches) are looking for two fellow monster hunters, who came to Shimmerford and are currently missing. The aiuvarin in gold armor is monster hunter Lasarte Mourguy, and Haru has tracked her to an area nearby.
The other missing cryptid hunter is Andor Oronce, who was referenced at the brewery.
Finally, Haru hands over her own adventuring gear, as she is currently not in a state to be using it. This includes a cold iron dagger and two
vials of holy water, as well as an empty vial that once held holy water.
LASARTE MOURGAY
The Pathfinders are directed to a copse in the woods where compasses cease to function, with trees inscribed with creepy runes. They find pieces of Lasarte’s gear and scraps torn from her red dress, but not Lasarte herself.
While the tracks resemble those that might be left by the Mosquito Witch’s pointy feet, a creature of its reported size would be unlikely to take such close footsteps.
Lasarte’s gear was left behind, and includes a short sword, a dagger, a lesser antidote, and a suit of gold-plated half-plate armor.
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"Yeah, that's right Miss Stuck-up. We saved your life and you'd best remember it!" Bridget taunts the weakened Aiuvarin.
The Witch ignores the environmental signs that Lasarte has met with a terrible fate, instead opting to examine the runes on the tree.
She scoffs. "These are scribbles made to look vaguely scary. They hold no real occult power. A mitflit probably made these!"
It looks like this happened long enough ago (several weeks) that things have been moved around. But no body is up in the trees.
he checks around just to be sure.
Anji searches the grove for magic, but there is absolutely none to be found.
He asks Kesha for the doll, one more time, just to quadruple-check that it isn't magical.
Kesha is sure that she gave Anji the doll previously, after it was thrown onto the street and Anji said he wanted to examine it. Anji is convinced that he said he'd investigate it at night, and that Kesha kept it.
Kesha opens her backpack, revealing nothing but her gear and a bottle of Jack for brushing her teeth, and a confused Anji opens up his sack to find the doll on top.
The doll is absolutely not magical, Anji determines.
THE SHIVERING POND
This large muddy pond 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 immediately spot a man with fine brown hair and white clothing lying supine on the ground. The man 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. Mosquitoes crawl out of his mouth and from underneath his eyelids onto his blankly staring eyes.
Andor coughs up a wet lungful of drowned insects and stirs. He's clearly not okay - he's diseased, which is likely to kill him sooner or later, but the Medicine check stabilizes him for about 2 hours.
Andor doesn’t remember anything that happened since he came to Shimmerford, beyond the impression of terrifying red eyes staring out at him from the darkness. But, he remembers where the impression took place - a cave system, nearby, called the Iron Cave.
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It looks like this happened long enough ago (several weeks) that things have been moved around. But no body is up in the trees.
he checks around just to be sure.
Anji searches the grove for magic, but there is absolutely none to be found.
He asks Kesha for the doll, one more time, just to quadruple-check that it isn't magical.
1d5
Kesha is sure that she gave Anji the doll previously, after it was thrown onto the street and Anji said he wanted to examine it. Anji is convinced that he said he'd investigate it at night, and that Kesha kept it.
Kesha opens her backpack, revealing nothing but her gear and a bottle of Jack for brushing her teeth, and a confused Anji opens up his sack to find the doll on top.
The doll is absolutely not magical, Anji determines.
Bridget is interested in this man's story. "Oooh. Tell us more. Quickly, since you've got about 2 hours of life left in you." She bluntly breaks the truth to this unfortunate soul.
"Are you alright?"
"Oooh. Tell us more. Quickly, since you've got about 2 hours of life left in you."
"I've told you everything I know! Please don't leave me here to die alone."
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The Pathfinders make their way to the cave, Bartok and Andor lead the way. Unfortunately, Andor keeps hacking and coughing, and as the party approaches the cave, it's clear that they've been heard long before they've been seen.
There's a panicked frenzy of stabbing and yelling, but that's normal for mitflits. The real danger is when everything goes quiet, except for angry whispering.
"Just kill them!"
"We can't just kill them, there's more than one!"
"Do they have weapons?"
"No, just frying pans!"
"And one of them is carrying a doll!"
"So?"
"So that's dangerous, right?"
"No, you dimwit, that's just a lie that we made up!"
"Ohhh ... wait, so is someone lying about the intruders, then?"
"No, they're real."
"And the frying pans are real too?"
"SHUT UP, THEY'LL HEAR US!"