Quest #17 Hunting With Ren And Stumpy

[Bluehorse]

Liam

Seeing the giant chicken is dead, Liam adjusts his crossbow so that he is non-threatening. Sorry, I was worried there for a moment and came to see if I could assist. It seems you have everything under control. My name is Liam Meadestaff. A pleasure to meet you. I just arrived this afternoon after Brother Reythan sent word the people here needed help.

[Karaunios]

Galanthas is pretty embarrassed when he gets entangled in the vines. How is it that he did not think of it! But of course the success of the hunt, despite all the running from the dwarves, is enough a reward. He looks back at Ren and Stumpy once they've killed the bird and says, chuckling, "Thank you for not killing me, guys!"

Seeing the newcomer, Galanthas feels even more embarrassed now. He grits his teeth for a moment and, trying to conceal his discomfort, he says: "Well met, Liam. Yes, it seems we have everything under control. Sort of." He says pointing at himself with a wiry smile. "We were actually scouting the area and looking for something so the poor people of this town have something to eat... I'm Galanthas the Wise, by the way." The chain-mail clad elf offers his hand as a greeting... Insofar as the vines allow.

[OGRE MAGE]

A few of the townsfolk begin to gather around to look at the dead giant blue chicken, keeping clear of the wiggling patch of vegetation for now.

Some of them smirk at the elf stuck in the weeds, but they are too hungry to pick on him about it, believing they might lose a meal over the joke.

A young boy walks up to Wes and pulls on his robes to get his attention.

"Hey mister! If you can do that trick with weeds and roots, do you think it would work on corn and potatoes? My moms garden could really use some help!"

[Jernau35]

Wes

Wes waves his hand and dismisses the spell, before anybody else get caught up in it. Then he turns first to the boy. "Why yes I can, and in fact I intend to do so tomorrow morning once my god, Obad Hai, has blessed me with his magic again. I'll see you there!" Wes ruffles the boy's hair and reaches into his beltpouch for some of the smoked lizard meat. "Here, take this with Obad Hai's blessing until then", he says, handing it to the boy.

Then Wes turns to the newcomer. "Good afternoon Mr Meadestaff. I'm Waesfaren Rhey, known round here as Wes. It's a pleasure to meet you. Reythan asked you to bring help did he? Well, he's a wise man for sure. What sort of help did you bring?"

[OGRE MAGE]

I know I probably made it seem like Raythan's home is right next to the trail, but if you look on this map...

viewtopic.php?f=446&t=6346#p294684

You will see that it is clearly far enough away that the returning hunters might not have even noticed the new additions to the town while they were gone.

No big deal, I just wanted to make that clear for everyone.

[Bluehorse]

Liam

Livestock and tools. he says simply. I should get back to them, I left a few citizens to guard the animals when I was worried things may go south from here. Please, come visit me when you are done here. I would love to converse with you.

[OGRE MAGE]

Hunting Up The Loggers Trail
Huge Dead Chicken
Freeday, 5th of Goodmonth
Late Afternoon, Hot, Humid, Buggy

The little boy runs off with a high pithed "Yahoo!" when Wes gives him a snack. The druid tries to dismiss his entangling foliage before realizing that the hypervegitive spell must run its course naturally. In the meantime, the hunters meet and greet with the towns newest member, Liam Meadstaff. After a short introduction, inviting the hunters to come see what he brought, the newcomer takes his leave to go and check on his precious animals.

After about 8 minutes or so, the weeds and roots return to their normal state and the slightly embarrassed elf is able to move around again. Checking over the dead chicken monster, the hunters find that it had clearly escaped some kind of captivity. It has a thick, frayed rope harness hanging from its long neck and old wounds are easily spotted on its body. It is also branded in a few places with what appears to be rough, round circles that vaguely resemble a stone or rock. Those wounds look fairly fresh.

Some farmers and other townsfolk gather around the beast is it is being inspected. Their murmurs indicate that they hope this animal will soon be on the way to the fire pit to be cooked and eaten. "What do you suppose it tastes like?" seems to be the popular question at the moment, but none of them advance upon the creature without first getting the nod from the hunters.

Actions?

If you want to have a chat with Liam, that can be done in his thread here: viewtopic.php?f=446&t=7628
Otherwise, go ahead and do what you need to do in town. In the meantime, I will get an XP reward up for this mission sometime today.

Wes D3 24/24 1/4 first 3/4 second 0/2 third
Greff 13/13
Galanthas 8/8 0/1 first

[Jernau35]

Wes

"In just a couple of minutes, good people." declares Wes. "First, we'd like to get a look at those brands". He turns to the rest of the party. "Those brands, do they make you think of dwarves?"

Wes wonders if the strange bird, with it's axe-like beak, was just randomly captured by the dwarves, or if the dwarves are keeping more of the birds, possibly as a food source. Wes, loyal servant of The Shalm, finds the latter idea offensive. Creatures like this were created to be hunted, not farmed! Another reason to investigate those obnoxious dwarves...

[LtTibbles]

Greff

"Well dwarves do love their rocks that would be my first guess. Though I don't really know if there would be any other groups on the island that would be interested in keeping these things tied down. Well looks like your spell has faded what say we get our spoils into town?"

[OGRE MAGE]

Here is some XP, if you're into that kind of thing.

viewtopic.php?f=446&t=6230&p=377125#p377125

[Karaunios]

Galanthas, not knowing what to add to what Greff said about the makings on the bird, says "Yes... Let's take all this meat back to town and share it among the townfolk... Am I the only one who's hungry? What say you? He asks looking at his four companions.

[Jernau35]

Wes

"Yes, we should be able to move it easily between the five of us, and I'm sure a few of these other folks would be happy to help".

Once the big bird is done at the fire pit, Wes takes a couple of strips to dry and smoke, replacing the rations he's given away over the last couple of days.

Wes has another "to do" list while he's back in town. He's got to cure the sick man in the bunkhouse and use his magic to grow the vegetable garden. That will use up both of his 3rd level spells for that day. Since time is pretty "flexible" in town, maybe we could skip a day ahead until Wes has his full complement? (OM what do you think?) Isn't LtTibbles out of town for a few days anyway?

Wes also wants to talk to Nehru, Liam and Marge about the animals.

And last but not least, maybe our group could meet back in the tavern to discuss our next trip?

[Karaunios]

Galanthas also eats some chunks of meat and fat and smokes some of them, being careful as of not taking too much from the villagers and, once he has secured it in his backpack he says to his companions he will head then to the tavern, in case they want to come with him until Wes comes.

Yes, let's do that if it's allowed of course. Galanthas we can also discuss about sharing a lodge to spare some coin. If I recall correctly they had 6 beds apiece, and we're 5 people.

[OGRE MAGE]

Yes, of course, all of these things are possible. You can have a discussion about what to do next at any time or in any thread you want. Since time is "flexible" once you are back in town, I don't see why we couldn't skip ahead one day for everyone involved.

If there is anything you want to do here in the meantime, feel free. Once everyone is ready, and a decision is made regarding what you want to do next, I will get another thread started for that particular mission.

[OGRE MAGE]

The axbeak carcass is carried off to the cook fires and the 5 hunters are of course allowed to take their share of the best bits of meat for themselves. The fire tenders get to work plucking, cleaning and dressing out the huge amount of meat from the dead animal.

The townspeople cheer loudly when the animal is offered up for everyone to eat, and despite the fact that some of the people here are literally starving, no trouble arises with the portioning or sharing. There is enough meat for anyone who wants some to get a decent meal, seriously raising the morale of the downtrodden townies once again. Once the hunters are recognized and acknowledged as the providers, thank-yous and friendly back-slaps become commonplace. Ren and Stumpy seem to enjoy the recognition, though neither man gloats about their actions in the least, happy that everyone can eat their fill, even if it is only for one meal.

Oddly enough, the meat does not actually taste like chicken.