Quest #15 "Taking Down Captain Bing"

[Bigtaff]

Talaris

Talaris wipes the sweat from his brow, heart still racing from his first legitimate combat.
"Is anyone in need of healing?"

[OGRE MAGE]

Emancipation
3 Dead Ogres
Earthday, The 4th of Goodmonth
Mid Afternoon, Hot, Sunny, Very Buggy

Checking over the dead ogres carefully, the thief finds them to be carrying nothing of value whatsoever on their persons. They are easy to search, being clad in only a leafy loincloth, which the thief also searches to little avail. No coins, gems, or other like items are found, though one of them does have a small chunk of an unknown black rock tucked away in his briefs. It is about the size of the halfling's fist, but it carries no markings or other indications of what it might be.

A second search comes up with nothing, so the bodies of the ogres are pulled into the jungle, well away from the clearing. Mountaincar revels in carrying one of the bodies all by himself, still enjoying his exaggerated girth for the time being. After a short time, the bodies are hidden well out of site.

Quickly searching over the entire clearing, the group finds little else other than empty huts and discarded rafts. It doesn't appear that anyone is staying in this area as no signs of life are currently present. The continuation of the trail where the ogres came from is the only thing left to explore. It leads off to the north, heading deeper into this thick jungle forest. There is talk of trying to follow the path of these ogres in hopes of finding a treasure filled lair.

Before moving along, Talaris offers up healing to anyone who needs it. Luther and Monocar both look like worthy candidates.

Actions?

Luther R3 18/26
Lightfinger T4 19/19
Talaris C1 9/9 2/3 first
Monocar F3 16/31 Enlarged: 16
Chauncey MU3 16/16 CL, DM, RM 0/2 first 0/1 second Webs: 46
Lerrick C1 8/8 2/3 first
Alordan R3 18/18

[ravenn4544]

Alordan suggests "we could keep going down this trail a bit more. These huts may provide some shelter at night if we are going to remain over night..."

[tkrexx]

Lightfinger ponders.

Examining the black stone with an eyebrow raised, the Thief shrugs slightly and stashes it in his pouch. He feigns being busy with other things while the Ogres are dragged away, just now noticing Monocar carrying one. At least there are 3 less things on this island trying to kill us. Is it my imagination, or did Monocle get bigger? Difficult to say from my vantage point.

[ChubbyPixie]

Chauncey hems and haws, indecisive. He looks up the trail, then back down it, then at the huts. "Right now some advice from Wesley would be welcome. Damn that druid and his village improvement projects! ...If we press on now and encounter further resistance of the magnitude of the ogres, we will, without the aid of any further magic, surely perish," he says "If we continue on and find ourselves shelterless this evening, I will be unable to rest sufficiently to regain the use of my spells, due to the insect menace. Luther, Alordan. Would you mind terribly looking for signs that these huts are currently used, if only perhaps as nightly sleeping quarters for some of the workers in the village south of here? They must sleep somewhere. If not, we might perhaps, 'hole up here' for a spell..." he is suddenly overcome with a fit of chuckling "...ahha ha... do you see what I did there? 'For a spell?' Because in resting I regain my... never mind. Trust me, it was quite amusing." He continues: "If we picked a few of the huts on the periphery, we might create a small hole in the wall, allowing us to see, unobserved, any who pass through here this evening. Then, we may rise early and proceed under cover of darkness." He looks to the others to gauge their reaction.

[OGRE MAGE]

Chauncey's suggestion entices further inspection of the small huts. It does indeed appear that they have been slept in recently. There are no bedrolls or any other items lying around, but there is indication of fresh disturbances on the ground in each of them.

The mage then remembers Wes telling him of a larger, communal hut located a bit further up the trail that was not used either time the druid passed through that clearing.

[kruk]

Lerrick moves to the two injured Luther and Monocar. Would you like me to heal some of your wounds? I can heal both of you. However, I wont be of much use the rest of the day if we encounter anything else?

[Bluehorse]

Monocar

Smiles wide at Lerrick sitting down cross legged so he is closer to her level. "that'd be great! Don't worry about it. You're plenty useful. Rather be healed and have you behind me than hurt and have to fight again... get knocked down and then you wind up in the thick of things."

Monocar looks up at Chauncy. "Should be scout around first? I'm all for making camp tonight, but the idea of being in a building instead of out in the bugs sounds great.
I just want to know what is out there before we do. No nasty surprises. I dont mind, especially as long as this last." he gestures at his new size.

[ChubbyPixie]

Chauncey will relate what he suddenly remembers about the communal hut further up the trail that Wesley said was empty. "It seems, Monocar, as I feared, that the ones in this clearing are being used in the evenings. We should press on to the next clearing," He peers up at the light coming through the treetops. "We will, perhaps, arrive there, before dark."

[Bluehorse]

Monocar

Chauncey will relate what he suddenly remembers about the communal hut further up the trail that Wesley said was empty. "It seems, Monocar, as I feared, that the ones in this clearing are being used in the evenings. We should press on to the next clearing," He peers up at the light coming through the treetops. "We will, perhaps, arrive there, before dark."

"If these are being used maybe someone small and hobbity should stay behind and see who is using them." He turns and looks at LF pointedly, in case they didn't get his hint. He was a good chap like that.

[tkrexx]

If these are being used maybe someone small and hobbity should stay behind and see who is using them.

Lightfinger grins.

Monocle, my over-sized friend, you may have something there, The tall Halfling agrees, I'm indeed quite curious about the citizens here, a potential source of allies and information. Let us find this larger, allegedly vacant dwelling Clancey described and I'll creep back here and do what I do.

[Urson]

Luther

Good idea- let's move on. The longer we stand and talk, the more chance we have of another rude interruption.

Luther leads the way, watching the ground for tracks, occasionally scanning the undergrowth to look for a possible 'side path' the ogres used. He carries his bow with an arrow nocked.

[OGRE MAGE]

Emancipation
Northward!
Earthday, The 4th of Goodmonth
Late Afternoon, Hot, Sunny, Very Buggy

The groups new clerics express their willingness to heal the front line fighters before heading out again. (go ahead and make those CLW rolls if you like)

After another hour or so of hiking further north up the trail, the group finds the lone pavilion that Wes mentioned to Chauncey. (ignore those train whistles in the background ) They find no other resistance along this portion of the trail. The rangers search carefully for any tracks that lead off into the jungle, but they don't find any.

This wide clearing alongside the river is completely empty save for one long thatch hut with open walls. This hut is much larger than the others you have found and must be used as a communal meeting place of sorts. The walls of this place are open to the air, but each of them have rolled up reed mats just below the roof that can be untied and lowered to keep the insects and smaller animals out. No bedding or any other furniture is inside the empty hut, and there are no signs that this place has been used lately. One large stone hearth dominates the center of the hut that must be used for cooking purposes. There are a few more rolled mats hanging down from the ceiling on the inside of the hut, presumably used to block off smaller rooms inside the main hall. The stone of the hearth is cold and doesn't appear to have been used recently.

It is currently about 2 hours from sunset and 3 away from total darkness. Each of you know how bad the insects can get once the sun goes down out here in the deep jungle.

Actions?

Luther R3 18/26
Lightfinger T4 19/19
Talaris C1 9/9 2/3 first
Monocar F3 16/31
Chauncey MU3 16/16 CL, DM, RM 0/2 first 0/1 second
Lerrick C1 8/8 2/3 first
Alordan R3 18/18

[Bigtaff]

Talaris

Talaris invokes the strength of Pelor and casts a healing spell onto Monocar (CLW = 7)

[OGRE MAGE]

I forgot to mention in my post that Monocar has shrunk back down to his normal huge size.

I have been thinking about my ruling on the Enlarge spell where Gary suggests that clothing and armor would get ripped up if cast on a clad person.

I think I might renege on my initial thinking. Since Enlarge is only a 1st level spell, and I assume that note was placed in there to limit the power of said 1st level spell, I am inclined to enact that little tidbit from now on.

So, ignore the fact that I said clothing and armor wouldn't be damaged. Since weapons stay the same size, I think armor and clothing should too.

I apologize for being so wishy washy on this matter, but now that I have given it some proper thought, I think Gary was right.

So, from now on, please keep that in mind if this spell is ever used on a person again.

Apologies for being so damn disagreeable, Mr. Storm.

(I will post this in the ooc thread as well so everyone can see it.)

[Storm11]

[Bluehorse]

Monocar

Thanks his new cleric friend for the heal, feeling much better than before. He really likes clerics, he is learning. "Thanks Lady! I feel great."

As they are walking along, Monocar seems to be enjoying the new view, but suddenly groans and then begins to shrink. "Wait.. no! Wait! Oh! Whoa! Oof!" He stumbles over his feet and falls on his face. "Doh! No! I liked that! Wait..." He stands up and looks down in his pants. "Dang it! Not even.... Doh! Chauncy! Can you do that again? But longer this time... The spell I mean. I liked being that big. It was great! Less bugs up there. And I was able to take on that ogre with no problem! It was awesome!"

Once they are to the communal building, Monocar looks around and bites his lip in thought as the din of bugs begins to increase. "I don't know about you... but I'd rather risk a night here where we can at least have the bugs kept off than risk coming out looking like Ol Wes did... seriously... It as like they did nothing but chew on him all night... We can keep watches... There are enough of us that it wouldn't be much... what... one hour each or something?"

[ravenn4544]

Alordan agrees with camping now “would give us time to prepare the camp a little to defend also. Maybe a few deadfalls on the trails or trip wires to warn us of approaching harm.”

[kruk]

Lerrick returns a smile back to Monocar and then reaches out with her hand and touches him. In a instant soothing healing warmth spreads through Monocar's body.

healing: [1d8+1] = 6+1 = 7 hp

[Urson]

Luther

Luther looks around the clearing, assessing things.

I'd say we camp here. We should have enough time to get this place livable- at least for the night. Some defenses along the trail would be an excellent idea, Alordan. He digs in his pack and produces his coil of wire, which he tosses to Alordan.

If you would, go ahead and start on those. We'll need some firewood- and some green stuff to make a smoky fire to keep the bugs away. Monocar, you and me can take care of that. The rest of you- please check the longhouse thoroughly. Make sure we don't have crawlers in the rafters or anything like that.

Luther heads out to look for firewood, and any aromatic herbs that will help chase bugs.