Quest #3 "Zombie Stomping"

[ChubbyPixie]

"We should come to a decision in an orderly fashion. Let us refer to the choices as 'the road,' being the path the loggers cleared, and 'the trail,' being the path to the possible hidden dwarven mine," proposes Chauncey. "All those in favor of pursuing 'the trail,' please raise your hand." He raises his and looks to the rest of the party.

[Scott308]

Brufrig Granitesunder

The dwarf raises his hand. You had me at 'Hidden dwarven mine.'

[tkrexx]

Lightfinger has no real preference.

As long as we come back with coin, I'm in! He smiles.

[Jernau35]

Wes

"Well, since the chance of zombies being at the end of either pathway seems to be equal, based on current evidence", deduces Wes, "I'd vote for the trail, rather than the road, since the other group will have either found 'em or not found 'em. If you see what I mean".

"But if we take the trail we shall have to be a lot more careful. We're more likely to get lost, and the critters may well be nastier down there too. Speaking of which", Wes reaches into his belt-pouch, "Here, take some more of this bug repeller. We've probably sweated the first lot off by now". He passes it around.

[Storm11]

Saracen is happy to go along with the majority. He will hand his flail to Chauncey to carry and ready and knock and arrow as he moves in his position along the trail.

[Bluetongue]

Ferris
"That gorilla beast was almost twice my size, maybe thrice", notes the gnome in his note book. He adjusts his combo-weapon over his shoulder and raises his other hand so tall, so high, it probably just passes the 1/2 orcs navel. "I will vote for the dwarf hidden Shiny Island gem mine!".

[OGRE MAGE]

Trail of Tearing
Noonish
Miserable

The six males decide to form up and investigate the jungle footprints. They begin tracking through the thick bush, following the small prints that head off in a roughly westerly direction. Lightfinger takes point and quickly finds that hacking through the heavy foliage, even on the trail, is slow, difficult work. Despite the size advantage of he and Ferris, the party has a miserable time slogging over, under, around, and through the many obstacles on the narrow path covered with fallen trees, jungle vines, and dead branches. Every tree and plant is covered with either thorns, spikes, acidic gooey sap, or razor sharp leaves.

The bugs and heat become even worse once you get deeper inside this thick tropical forest. Your druid-made insect repellent helps, but is by no means completely effective against the heavy swarms of flying, biting, and stinging tiny monsters. It begins to feel like this place is trying to prevent your progress more and more with your every step you take and every branch you chop out of your way.

After two hours of this misery, it feels like you have advanced about one mile in from the loggers trail. It is nearing high noon when you find a small natural clearing in the forest. You find the remnants of a fire pit with some burnt sticks around it. It appears that those making the small footprints used this area for a camp or rest stop recently. By the amount of prints, you guess that you are following about 6 travelers. The prints continue down the game path on the other end of the clearing.

[Jernau35]

Being the last of the group to enter the clearing, Wes waits while the others investigate the campsite. He remains on guard, watching the bushes and treetops.

[Storm11]

"Perhaps a short rest to drink some water and eat, and then we press on yes? I will take watch whisky you all take a break if you like," the holy champion suggests, looking around the clearing for signs of danger

[ChubbyPixie]

Chauncey sets down Saracen's surprisingly heavy flail, wondering how anyone, of any strength, could possibly use such an unwieldy implement as an effective weapon. Without the aid of magic, of course. It's beyond him.

"Wesley, if you don't mind," he says, taking some more of the bug paste and applying it behind his ears. "Mmm. Yes. There's nothing for it but to press on, I suppose. I'm no ranger, but I deduce by the nearly impassable growth, that at least no overly large animals will be rending us limb from limb this afternoon. They simply wouldn't fit on the trail." He searches perfunctorily around the clearing on the off chance that the previous party left some clue as to their make-up or purpose lying around by accident.

[tkrexx]

Lightfinger agrees.

I won't say nothing larger than a Dwarf could possibly cause us harm on this trail, but I'm not looking for anything large, The Halfling wipes sweat from his forehead. Snakes, rats... Monkoons... I must say I'm quite surprised we've not had sight of them as yet. He squats and leans against his pack, taking a swig from his water. If I were a betting Hobbit, and I am, I'd wager wherever this trail leads, we're half way there. It's the only reason to create a fireplace here.

[Scott308]

Brufrig Granitesunder

The dwarf takes some of the bug repellent, applying it to himself. Hmm. Now I know why you all smelled so bad. Woulda been nice to have this at the start, but I guess that's the price I paid for being late, huh? He takes a seat, and gets some fluids back into his system in an attempt to replace what he has sweated out so far.

[Bluetongue]

Ferris

"With all the sweating and gnats sucking blood out of me, I'll be down to Halfling size soon and that just won't do at all!", the gnome wipes sweat from his brow and beard.

"We came looking for the undead but find nothing save bugs, briers and brambles. I am sure the zombies would have come from a crypt or burial ground closer to the settlement than this, did we miss something?"

How are the tree tops birds? Any canaries, budgies or parrots about, wouldn't mind catching one for a cage, useful to alert to seeping gas in mines.

[Jernau35]

Wes

The Druid takes a closer look at the remains of the fire. He tries to determine how old it is in order to get some idea of how long it's been since it was used. Is it still warm and smoldering? Did the fire builders cover it over with turf when they left to try and hide the evidence? Are there any fragments of food laying around? Wes also inspects the site to see if he can determine how long the others spent there. Does it look like an overnight camp, with indentations in the fallen leaves etc where bedrolls where laid, or more of a casual campsite for a few hours?

"What kind of folk need to light a fire in this heat and humidity?" he asks the rest of the party.

[OGRE MAGE]

Fire Pit Clearing on the Trail of Tearing
Early Afternoon
Hot and Miserable


A well needed rest is taken for a short while. Some of the group looks around the camp. EVERYONE drinks water. In fact, the water supplies are already far more drained than they would be for a normal dungeon crawl as the heat and humidity sucks the very moisture from your pores. Those that brought along extra water are glad that they did. Rehydration and reapplication of bug goop is paramount in this hellish jungle. Brufrig scoops out his first finger full of the druid paste, now understanding why the others smell the way they do. His skin is already showing the red bumps and other signs of many nasty bites and stings.

The jungle is still teeming with all kinds of life. Exotic birds, monkeys, and insects flap and crawl around everywhere. The cacophony of different and strange noises assails your ears. So far, normal animals and birds are all you have seen, but every one of you is certain that there is plenty of other life out here as well. None of the jungles natural inhabitants come very close to you however, seemingly unhappy to have intruders in their area.

After conducting a search of the clearing, the druid finds the remnants of an old gut pile. It looks like whoever was here before must have caught themselves an animal and used the fire pit to cook or smoke the meat. The pile of guts and bones has already been dug through, and by more than one creature so far it would seem. There isn't even enough of it left to determine what the animal was, likely a wild boar or something similar. There is no evidence that the camp was used for sleeping, more like a quick stop for lunch. The remnants of the fire indicate that this pit was not used within the last few days, but it couldn't be more than a week or two old by your best estimate.

The trail of small boot prints continues off into the thick jungle on the other side of the clearing.

[Storm11]

After refreshing himself and reapplying the anti-bug goop Saracen will prepare to follow the small footprints into the jungle from the clearing ice again in his marching order.

Seeing Ferris and Lightfingers footprints before him as he walks the half-orc will try and see which look to be more similar and accurate to the prints left by the groups mysterious quarry, if at all!

[OGRE MAGE]

New map up.

viewtopic.php?f=446&t=6346&p=300915#p300915

[tkrexx]

Lightfinger re-goops.

Well, The handsome Hobbit stands and applies more bug repellent and pats his pack once again, satisfied that others will bear its burden, Much as this clearing has been welcome, I do believe good Saracen is ready to go. He scurries up ahead of the orange Half-Orc, giving him a wink as he passes. Monkoons are still on his mind, but the tracks have him intensely curious.

[Jernau35]

Wes

Before the party begins to head out from the clearing, Wes calls them together. "It's clear that our priority on the next part of our trek should be finding water. Keep an eye open for large vines or stands of bamboo near the trail. We can tap those, they should filter the water and be clean enough. But for safety, collect if you can rather than drink it. Saracen and I have magic that can purify it."

"We'll need to find a decent campsite too. Better we stop an hour early at a site with water than push on without it. Running water if we can, standing if we can't, and a dip in the ground if we must."

[Storm11]

Saracen nods at the wise druids words. My magic is spent this day, but after some rest pholtus will give me the power to create water should it become necessary." He smiles his grim toothed smile at Lightfinger as the halfling runs past