Bahram grasps one of his handaxes, spinning around and holding it up threateningly.
"I don't like this..." he draws the second handaxe, ready for whatever might come close to them.
At Durant's notice, you shift around to see a giant shadow approaching... only to find that a sandrat is curiously gazing up at you. Its size is no bigger than Gilfroy's foot.
Above Bahram a cry is heard; a bird, small and with long, black feathers, jets off into the sky at Bahram's sudden movement.
When you approach further north, a great cactus stands with two 'arms' heaved up towards the sky, like a giant. The veil of the night feels tighter.
"We are starting at nothing my friends. It is the desert at dusk. The animals come out after the heat of the day."
Durant replaces the spike.
under his breath."At least I hope it is..."
"I have spent too much time in the Temple" mumbles Abbas. "I need to be out here more to get my senses back. Mistaking a cactus for a giant."
To Dashki, "how is the tracking going, my friend. Are we getting close to where the pugwampis are?"
-- Abbas Garshta
Dashki is keeping his head flatly on the ground, barely batting an eye in your direction when you speak to him. "Hooves here. Something's been dragged this way against its will."
You can see the trail clearly - hoof prints in the sand and mud between all the scrubs and bushes, that shift north-west. Dashki stretches his legs and shoulders - you can hear his bones crack audibly. Shadows are stirring all around you...
"Could those be goat tracks?" inquires Abbas, looking at something he has no clue about. "A favored goat is missing. Perhaps the pugwampis took it."
-- Abbas Garshta
Dashki is keeping his head flatly on the ground, barely batting an eye in your direction when you speak to him. "Hooves here. Something's been dragged this way against its will."
Llathander breaks from the group and circles a large rock. When he finds nothing he scratches his head in bewilderment.
"I feel it too, folks, and for once, I am not responsible."
"Promise."
Dashki throws weird glances your way as you all stir in the night. "Reckon they could be," he says to Abbas.
After several hundred feet the silence is broken by a brief cry not unlike a human child. A small forest of cacti begins to grow around you, and the further you follow the tracks, it grows denser.
It sounds like a goat, though the timbre of the cry makes it sound as if the creature is in pain.
"What is that noise? How can there be a baby out here? We must go save it! Dashki, how do we get thru this cactus forest?" ask Abbas as he looks at the cactus and the sharp needles in front of them.
-- Abbas Garshta
After several hundred feet the silence is broken by a brief cry not unlike a human child. A small forest of cacti begins to grow around you, and the further you follow the tracks, it grows denser.
"a cuckoo cries
and through a thicket of bamboo
the late moon shines"
"A child cries where there can be no child. We fear to no purpose. Take care, we walk in illusion."
Bahram puts the axes away and then brings out a bow, ready to fire at whatever threat comes their way.
Is that a child? No one mentioned a child missing
Llathander will go towards the sounds ofthe child. If it is through the cacti He will have his falcata out but will rarely use it. Instead he will hunker down raise the buckler in front of his face and rush through the cactus field.
Dashki has no time to stop Llathander as the man bursts through the thicket of cacti - and is immediately struck by pain. The road through is twenty-five aching feet, though when he emerges on the other side, the cacophony of cries is all that fills the air.
Llathander sees a goat tied to a scrub - the source of the noise. Its body is stuffed with quills from the cacti. It is clearly frightened and hurted, and it bleats at you.
On the other side of the cactus field Dashki is nodding in direction where Llathander ran, before he tries to navigate through the sea. Profanity fills the air - he doesn't appear to be very successful.
"Coming with you, brother" says Abbas, as he walks behind Llathander thru the cactus thicket.
Seeing the goat, "ah, that must be Rombard, the missing goat, and not a baby."
-- Abbas Garshta
Llathander will go towards the sounds of the child. If it is through the cacti He will have his falcata out but will rarely use it. Instead he will hunker down raise the buckler in front of his face and rush through the cactus field.
Durant smiles ruefully at the wreckage caused by his brothers. He will walk calmly along the trail of smashed vegitatiojn left by the passage of the two armored men.
Despite Llathander's brash way of running through the thicket, the cacti remain a veritable field of thorns. The thorns look oddly inviting, as if waiting for you to crash into them. As you make your way forward, your feet feel oddly off balance. The air seems queer and disturbed.
Gilfroy takes a deep breath, asks Sivanah for some guidance, then attempts to tumble through the cacti.
Acrobatics:
Getting halfway through, he pauses amongst the spines to plot out the remainder of his route, recasting his spell.
Acrobatics:
Once through, he checks himself for injuries, removed any spines from his flesh, and looks about, for once without the thrill of excitement on his face.
Abbas sees Llathander taking damage as he forces his way thru the cactus thicket, but grimly follows anyway.
"Damn, that hurt" he says once breaking into the clear.
Holding his holy symbol aloft to the sky, "Sarenrae, heal your servants, so we may continue on."
-- Abbas Garshta
Ow.
Gilfroy moves through the sea of cacti without any difficulties; Durant, however, slips on some oddly wet sand halfway through. He crashes into a cactus, the quills somehow pricking him in the most painful way possible. When he gets out, the carpet of quills that cover his clothes and stick to his skin is close to unbelievable.
The air feels unbelievably...morose. There is a small strip of open land next to a fifteen-foot wide ravine. Down below is a large cactus, with many arms and wicked barbs.
"Gilfroy, can you calm the goat so we can get out of here?" asks Abbas.
-- Abbas Garshta
"I can try."
Gilfroy walks closer to the goat, making calming motions with his hands and gentle goat noises with his voice. Of course, his daily speak with animals has already been used, but he hopes he's saying something calming.
Bluff check to make it look like he's doing something useful:
Untrained wild empathy check, anyone? :)
When he gets out, the carpet of quills that cover his clothes and stick to his skin is close to unbelievable.
The air feels unbelievably...morose. There is a small strip of open land next to a fifteen-foot wide ravine. Down below is a large cactus, with many arms and wicked barbs.
While Gilrfoy tries to talk to the goat Durant will remove the worst of the quills.
If there is no positive response to the bleating gnome.
Durant will attempt to climb down the ravine.
Ow, Ow, Ow, OwLlathander says after removing each and every quill. Sure it hurt, but i provided a safe path for all the companions.
Brothers, Friends. I think we are forgetting the most important thing. Who brought the goat here and who tied him up.Upon looking at the quills in his body that no longer linger with pain thanks to the divine servant of Sarenrae. More importantly which way did they take to avoid that thicket. He continues to remove the cacti quills and turns around Gil, care to help me out with some of these hard to reach places?
Despite Gilfroy's lack of magic, his soothing voice and odd goat-like bleats soothe Rombard the goat and he stops struggling. It kneels in front of the gnome and is bleating sadly - it is clearly distressed still.
As Durant prepares to climb down into the ravine...
You spot something rustling in the bushes and scrubs where Rombard is tied up; something with a dog-like face, and angry eyes that ooze of loathing... it clutches a large, over-sized dagger in its small grubby paws. The air around it is oppressing and ... strangely, the word that springs to mind is clumsy.
Pugwampi
Llathander:
Durant:
Gilfroy:
Abbas:
Bahram:
With the goat successfully calmed, he heads over to Llathander. Eyeing the quills in the paladin's posterior, he comments, "So is it my height that suggests to you I would make the ideal person to pull cactus spines from your butt?"
Dashki glares at Gilfroy and Llathander as the conversation ensues when there is a loud rustle from the bush next to the goat - and then some sort of dog-like growling, similar to how the gnolls sounded the days past. "A pugwampi," Dashki calls out, ripping quills off of his arm. He then proceeds to growl in the same disturbing tongue.
The creature pops out of the bush with a dagger far too big to hold. It screams at you, poising to lunge at Llathander and Gilfroy.
Init 1:
Init 2:
Gilfroy quickly ducks behind Llathander and slaps a guidance spell on his spiny butt, giving him a +1 to any one attack, skill check, or save.
Durant Charges the thing. At the last moment slipping into a low twist leg stance as his hands slip under the dog-thing's gurard and take firm hold of it's chest and legs.
Gilfroy slaps Llathander's rear as Durant rushes forward; the monk slides next to the Pugwampi, his tackle, while nicely calculated, not hitting true. He still grabs the little creature, who starts growling and snarling, drool spilling all over your face. Its dagger drops to the ground as Durant clutches it tightly - it is grappled.
"Slit its filthy throat," Dashki says callously. "Almah never said she needed it alive."
Initiative Order
1. Pugwampi
2. Group
After Gil slaps him on the behind Llathander will say I know we were drinking buddies but I don't remember anything like that happening
Llathander will slash down at the tiny murderous beastie.
will use smite evil as well as the guidance
attack 1 with falcata
attack 2 with falcata
Damage 1
Damage 2
After Gil slaps him on the behind Llathander will say I know we were drinking buddies but I don't remember anything like that happening
Llathander will slash down at the tiny murderous beastie.
will use smite evil as well as the guidance
attack 1 with falcata 1d20+3+3+1
attack 2 with falcata 1d20+3+3+1Damage 1 1d8+2+1
Damage 2 1d8+2+1
"Brother! It is restrained! Hand be some rope and help me to bind it. There are questions to ask and answer and it is harder to question a severed head. Especially if it is mine."
"Brother! It is restrained! Hand be some rope and help me to bind it. There are questions to ask and answer and it is harder to question a severed head."After Gil slaps him on the behind Llathander will say I know we were drinking buddies but I don't remember anything like that happening
Llathander will slash down at the tiny murderous beastie.
will use smite evil as well as the guidance
attack 1 with falcata 1d20+3+3+1
attack 2 with falcata 1d20+3+3+1Damage 1 1d8+2+1
Damage 2 1d8+2+1
"Brother! It is restrained! Hand be some rope and help me to bind it. There are questions to ask and answer and it is harder to question a severed head."After Gil slaps him on the behind Llathander will say I know we were drinking buddies but I don't remember anything like that happening
Llathander will slash down at the tiny murderous beastie.
will use smite evil as well as the guidance
attack 1 with falcata 1d20+3+3+1
attack 2 with falcata 1d20+3+3+1Damage 1 1d8+2+1
Damage 2 1d8+2+1
After Gil slaps him on the behind Llathander will say I know we were drinking buddies but I don't remember anything like that happening
"Little do you know how badly you lost that contest," Gilfroy says with a cryptic wink.
Bluff:
Bahram will aim and fire an arrow at whatever creature is not in mellee combat so he doesn't suffer any penalties.
Bahram's arrow fires off in the distance, completely missing everything and you swear you can even hear a cat yelp out off in the distance.Bahram sighs, finding his bow being less and less useful, but grasping a second arrow ready for another attack.
"Some help would be welcome friends." "This thing is stronger than it looks"
"Well, get in there, buddy, and help him hold that thing down!" Gilfroy wraps his sleeves around his hands and gives him a shove on the spines in his butt.
Nope.
I am afraid the DM called game in the OOC thread.
I am rather bummed as I was enjoying the game.