Still from his prone position, Drosk takes another swing with his warhammer at the wolf threatening him.
Attack:
Damage:
Drosk took hold of his hammer and tried to swing at the wolf attacking him but the angle was too awkward and did little more than push the beasts flank to one side ever so slightly. Anwyllia and Senmont fared little better as their opponent seemed more than ready for their attacks as they nimbly leapt aside. Alizar seemed to be waiting for the proper time to strike while Rourke and Lianth both strike their intended target.
The wolves counter with the one on Rourke getting a good bite in, most perplexed at how the larger wolfs previous wounds knit so quickly. The one attacking Alizar misses completely while the one on Senmont bite's the warriors arm after his attack overextends exposing the limb to the beasts snapping jaws. Drosk continues to try swinging at the wolf before him and finds his hammer only smashing into the dirt next to it. Tymothy scrambles back in a strange crablike crawl barely missing one of the wolves snapping jaws before throwing up his hands and unleashing a bolt of energy at the nearest beast, the one attacking Rourke, hitting it square in the ribs.
- Senmont: Attacks wolf 2 and misses.
- Anwyllia: Attacks wolf 1 and misses
- Alizar: holds action
- Lianth hits Wolf 3 for 2 damage
- Rourke: hits wolf 3 for 5 dmg
- Wolf 1: misses Alizar
- Wolf 2: hits Senmont for 3 damage
- Wolf 3 bites Rourke for 5 dmg
- Drosk misses wolf 1
- Tymothy casts magic missile hitting wolf 3 for dmg
Round 3
- Senmont: 20 (hp:10/13)
- Anwyllia: 17
- Alizar: 17 (hp 5/9)
- Lianth 14 (Rourke hp 8/13)
- Wolves: 14(#3 -11 #2 -12hp #1 -10hp)
- Drosk 4 (hp 8/9, prone)
- Tymothy: Last (hp 9/9 full defense)
Anwyllia switch targets to fire at the wolf attacking poor Rourke.
Alizar is in position for his successful attack, "the point" as he calls it.
Attack
Damage
If the attack hits, Alizar states in Celestial
Alizar then tumbles 15 feet away
Finally the fight ends. Senmonts attack comes down on the wolfs shoulder and cuts into it's torso sending the beast down in a heap. Anwyllia's arrow misses, as does Lianths however Rourke has apparently had enough as his jaws clamp down on his opponents neck and with a vicious jerk of the head he pulls the beast down. The sound of a snap is enough to show that it won't be getting up again soon. Drosk gives a signal to Alizar to hold off but a moment and when the wolf lunges at Alizar once again the dwarf jerks his body beneath it not only causing the attack to miss but giving Alizar the opening to cut the beast down finally. With a whimper it slumps atop the dwarf bleeding it's lifes blood.
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Lianth carefully sets her longbow aside, and draws her dagger, dispatching both of the fallen wolves with a stab into the skull, muttering words in an unfamiliar tongue as she does.
She cleans her dagger and stops to examine Roarke's wound, although he growls at her when she pokes at the torn flesh where the other wolf's fangs sank deep, cleaning it out to attempt to decrease the chance of infection.
She finally loooks to the others, noting that both Senmont and Alizar have injuries, but that Alizar's appear to be more hampering.
"I can attempt to heal your injury, remain still, Manytongues." she says as she places a hand on each side of the injury and calls upon the bounty of the living world.
Beneath the elf's skin, it feels like roots are growing, pushing aside damaged tissue and the flesh knits up with unnatural swiftness. A faint greenish aurora can be seem flickering like the spectral fires of marsh gas, flickering over the damaged flesh, and when it passes, there's not even a scar left behind.
Anwyllia takes some timetrying to find her spent arrows and when she comes back slielntly gives Lianth her arrows
She then goes inspect the bodies of the wolves . something is not right there
"Thanks for the assistance Lianth, I will attempt to return the favor."
"The wolves were likely hungry, they're quite lean, too bad as no fight was necessary."
Alizar examines the surroundings, sets security again, and if all is well, goes back into trance.
Hungry at the beginning of autumn ? What's more , they were undersized so they have been hungry for a long time .
Drosk checks his companions' wounds and, saying a quick prayer to Torag, channels a burst of holy radiance that sends healing energies through their bodies.
Channel Energy:
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Lianth waits until Anwyllia is no longer examining the corpses and hauls them away from the camp, so that vermin (such as defecting fleas, in addition to those attracted to the corpses) do not end up infesting the campsite.
She then returns to sleep, after telling Drosk, "I thank you for your healing energies. Roarke will sleep much more soundly for your efforts."
The rest of the evening is uneventful. Though with the attack it's not quite so easy to return to rest. Despite that you awaken refreshed the following morning and after going about your morning preparations you find yourselves ready to head out once again. If all goes well you should be able to reach your destination by late afternoon or early evening.
Following the paths marked by the map you notice the trees begin to thin, revealing a field of short, green grass that leads to the shores of a wide, calm lake reflecting the overcast sky above. A dense fog hangs over the center of the lake, obscuring the far side. Near the shore of the lake, a dark form lies next to the water. This could be a good place to refill waterskins and rest a moment before continuing on.
Perception on the body near the lake and immediate area around it
The form is indeed a body, investigating it you find it's that of a human and there appears to be numerous bitemarks all about it's upper torso and it seems bloated as though from some sort of poison which would explain why the scavengers haven't gotten to it. Sifting through it's belongings you find most of it's gear has rotted away to nothing. There is, however, a rather fine short sword at his side and a coin purse that doesn't seem entirely empty.
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Uncomfortable with the thought that whatever poisoned this fellow could lurk in the water, Lianth drags it at least 30 ft. from the shore, before stopping to examine the wounds more closely, as well as attempting to identify if this man is a fellow townsman, from his face or distinctive items of gear.
Out loud, she says, He's been bitten many times, and poisoned, from the look of it. We should not fill our waterskins here. There may be aggressive poison eels or something...
Anwyllia stays in the shadows of the trees letting the others check the situation and looking around .
Knowledge local for information about the lake, general activity, reports
As far as you can see with the mist, the lake looks calm and seren, apparently quite safe though the body being drug from the shore by Lianth.
You can't recall anything special about the lake. As with all of Nirmathas there are creatures about if you go looking for them. Poisonous snakes for example. It's a common watering hole for animals and travelers in the region and the mists are the source of a variety of tales told to children at night.
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Lianth shares her knowledge, While he was poisoned by a snake bite, the water-spirits tell me that he drowned, his muscles failing due to the venom. It should be safe to fill out waterskins, if we are cautious and do not splash around too much. Unlike eels, snakes of this sort are solitary and not territorial. She also points out the coins, He seems a city man, from Tamran, not a local.
Alizar states "there are many stories of snakes in the water, and this lake is a rich source of intrigue to the village. That being said, I will fill my waterskin first, least chance of being attacked."
Alizar approaches the water deftly, looking for signs of disturbance (ripples, etc). If safe, he fills the waterskin then backs away. Alizar is prepared for a sudden attack from the water, if possible.
No disturbances are made save for the slight movement of the water caused by the light wind of the day and the ripples caused by Alizars waterskin as it breaks the surface of the lake. Everyone refills their skins and soon you are ready to continue onward. Unless there is anything else you wish to do in the area...
You leave the Gray Lake, it's mist and the body behind upon filling your water skins and continue on your journey. You travel deeper and deeper into Fangwood, through a twisting maze of wood and brush. As the path tops a small rise a broad valley spreads out before it, the opposite siode of which looks like a writhing serpent. Yet between the two lies a steep hill sloping down into the valley. A cold rain starts to fall making the ground slick and treacherous.
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Lianth calls upon the spirits of the ground to hold fast to their feet, and the spirits of the wind to soften their descent, if they lose their grip. She's muttering non-stop during the companions descent, as the spirits are fickle, and their memories short...
Lianth seems to run down the treacherous slope, the wind under her arms, twisting and flipping like a circus-performer, moving so quickly and surely that stones have no chance to turn beneath her feet before she has moved on, but Roarke is not so beloved by the spirits...
Acrobatics
Alizar moves with the litheness of the elves
Anwyllia will looks at Tymothy , shrugs and remove a rope from her . she will then looks for a place to anchor the rope and waits until all who want to use the rope have done so . Ahter which she will recover her rope and finally descend
Acrobatics
Senmont manages to make his way down the slope unscathed with the assistance of Lianths spells though his first few steps were questionable. Lianth managed to make it look quite graceful and while Alizars first steps weren't much better than Senmonts he too made it to the bottom just fine. Roarke almost had a bad fall but managed to right himself and slid down much of the hill, though he suffered a few bumps and bruises by the time he made it to the bottom he wasn't too badly damaged.
With the rope things were a bit easier for the rest. Anwyllia made her way down with ease, Drosk slid a little but the rope kept him from falling and hurting himself, Tymothy wasn't too fortunate and his first stretch down the hill had him covered in mud and by the time he made it to the bottom a bump had begun to visibly show on his forehead where he had a face to face with a rock. Suffice to say the young wizard looked even more miserable though a muttered incantation at least cleaned him of mud and temporarily dried his clothes.
Drosk gets a chuckle from poor Tymothy's condition and after a hearty pat on the lads shoulder (causing him to stagger) his voice lets out a strong low bark of a prayer as a wave of misty light washes over the party mending those bumps and bruises entirely.
****
Making it to the bottom of the valley, more or less intact, you realize this is Serpent Gorge as depicted in the map you received at the beginning of your quest. It doesn't take long to find the entrance of the crypt at the bottom of the valley and it doesn't take long to notice something is not right...
An archway of stone is set into the side of a small hill at the bottom of the valley. Moss has overgrown many of the details but one is still quite clear. The keystone of the arch is carved with a flame symbol with a stylized rune in the middle. Beyond the archway is a darkened tunnel that leads to a pair of massive wooden doors, one of which is slightly ajar.
A pair of horses and a trio of ponies lie slaughtered next to the archway, each corpse still tied to a post set into the group nearby. A swarm of flies hangs lazily in the air above them.
"Stay back" Anwyllia will approach the scne prudentlyand tries to determine what happened there
Stealth
Survival
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Lianth fusses with Roarke for a moment when they land, noting that his got a slight limp, but deems it not warranting invoking magical healing at this time. A similar inspection of Tymothy leads to the same conclusion.
She takes out her longbow and readies it, covering Anwylia as she approaches the corpses of the horses and ponies.
From her distant position, she looks for any signs of predation, or if the animals appear to have been killed by weapons...
It is evident that whatever attacked the animals did so about two days ago using either crude swords or claws. The ground about the horse is littered with hoof and boot prints making it difficult if not damn near impossible to discern exactly what happened via the tracks.
Sticking out from beneath one of the horses seems to be a human bone or two. To view the rest you would have to move the heavy corpse...
Perception
Anwyllia indicates to the others they can come
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Lianth steps forward, muttering a prayer to the Horned Hunter as she does, to focus her spiritual awareness.
These animals were slaughtered by something using claws or some sort of crude swords. I see human bones beneath this one, but why those remains would be skeletal and the horses and ponies left here to rot, uneaten, is a mystery... she says, as she attempts to lean the horse up so that she can pull the bone free and see if it is fresh.
Perception
Knowledge local (symbol of the archway, this area, the crypt)
"See anything interesting, besides these bones, which I can't make out? Dust from the step down, of course."
"Also, what could have clawed horses to death and not taken them for food? I will think on this momentarily."
As Lianth examines the bones and attempts to move the horse Alizar looks about and further examines the symbol on the arch...
The symbol represents the ever burning flame alight somewhere within the depths of the keep. Supposedly wherever Kassen is buried.
The early years of the town of Kassen, then called Kassen's Hold, were hard and dark indeed. The place was settled by one Ekat Kassen, a retired adventurer who spent a small fortune taming the region and eventually founding the town that took his name. The first years were difficult but more so when a mercenary captain named Asar Vergas entered the region with a host of soldiers. He raided the town relentlessly and it was two months before his hidden camp was discovered.
Upon finding where their nemesis was, apparently camped somewhere near this valley, Kassen led the townsfolk against their enemies in a bloody and costly battle. He struck down Asar but was dealt a mortal blow himself and died a couple days later. Those who died in that battle were buried in this crypt and the Everflame was lit in memorial to those difficult and trying days.
You also notice that one of the saddle bags on the dead horses seems to be full still.
The bones are that of a human and clearly quite old...