Quest #6 "Return To The River"

[Hotgoblin]

Franny will take first watch with Brufrig.

She walks around the pavilion, sitting against one of the exterior walls affording her some privacy from the group. If there's a full moon, she will charge her Moonstone by laying it on her handkerchief under the moonlight.

[Bluetongue]

Ferris

pulls one of the bamboo shutters too and secludes a small portion of the communal hut so that he may study his spells and sleep in peace. He offers to guard about breakfast time.

[Storm11]

Waesfaren approaches the terse priest and lays a hand upon his shoulder.

"Before we rest it would be wise if you could heal the dwarf & the gnome. You may not like them but if you expect them to put themselves in harms way for these people and for us to be successful you need to ensure that everyone has the best chance of thats, to do otherwise will needlessly endanger the mission. You are wise enough to know this!" he says as gently as he can.

The Druid will look around for any wildlife in the area before he settles to sleep, hoping to speak to someone about what has happened here with his magic.

[OGRE MAGE]

The Communal Meeting Place
Evening, Cooler and Less Humid
Very Buggy


The party goes about readying the pavilion for an overnight stay, finding the accommodations quite plain, but much better than sleeping outside in the swarms of insects that plague this area. They have no problem shifting the portable bamboo walls around to make private rooms for smaller groups and they unfurl all of the reed mat shutters to make the whole place less inviting to the insects.

Seeing the priest fighting his inner turmoil, Krystal senses something bad. She speaks her mind, trying to convince the others that Keilif has brought them all here intentionally and that they are likely to be ambushed in the night. She is correct in thinking that this clearing would be the perfect place for such an endeavor. There is nothing in the way of cover between the pavilion and the 50 feet or so of empty clearing to the tree line. She goes so far as stuffing some of the many sleeping mats, trying to make them look like sleeping dummies are inside. Brufrig and Franny offer to take the first watch, with Franny going off by herself to sit outside the shelter. The moon is not high enough in the sky to reveal itself above the ring of trees that the pavilion sits in.

Ferris is happy to make his own private sleeping area and then offers to take the final watch. Bonnie takes the middle watch, but before she sleeps, she begins setting perimeter trip lines and snares as a makeshift jungle early warning system in case Krystal's assumptions prove to be true.

Wes goes off to consult with the cleric, hoping to talk some sense into the young man. They have a quick discussion about the priests anguish.

"Thank you for your support and advice, my friend. Your words definitely ring true in my ears and I know what I must do. My only concern is that I cant shake the feeling that those idiots were murdered by our group. And some of these people here don't feel that that is the case at all. Am I overreacting about this? What are your feelings about how that situation was handled. I cant abide by or even associate with someone I deem to be evil. You know what transpired, do you think the killings were justified?"

After giving it even more thought, Keilif finally makes a decision. He enters the pavilion again and walks right up to Brufrig and Bonnie.
"You two, along with Luther, murdered those poor people on the trail yesterday, no matter how you choose to spin it. I can not in good faith help someone that I deem to be evil. However, that doesn't mean that you cannot admit and repent your sins to have them absolved. I will ask the Sea Mother to heal your wounds if the two of you admit to everyone here that what you did to those youngsters was murder, plain and simple. If you choose to continue on with your charade, believing that what you did was justified, I am afraid that I wont be able to help you. I will leave the choice up to you."

Wes stays outside, looking around to see what natural jungle critters might be around this area. He spots some birds and small monkeys high up in the trees. There are also quite a few harmless tiny lizards that dart here and there around the grounds of the clearing that could likely be caught.

Actions?

Ferris 3/7 DM, RM, 1/1 first
Waesfaren Rhey 10/10 3/4 first
Bonnie 6/6
Krystal 5/5 CL DM RM 1/1 first
Franny Buurlslammer 12/12
Brufrig Granitesunder 3/15
Keilif 9/9 1/3 first

[Storm11]

Waes pats the cleric on the shoulder. "The way of the hunt is in all of us my friend. In the ocean the shark must try and eat the dolphin, and the dolphin must defend itself or die trying. Those ruffians threatened to kill the company if they didn't agree to be robbed. If they had agreed to be robbed they wouldn't be here now and able to assist these local people. If they had refused the bandits would have very possibly murdered them!
The Druid sighs. "The jungle is a dangerous place. These adventurers didn't lie in wait and hunt down those robbers. They would not have harmed them at all if their lives hadn't been threatened. What would you have had them do your grace?"

Calling a bird down to speak to him Waes will cast his spell. "welcome little one, your plumage looks vibrant. I wonder, did you see what attacked this man nest, can you describe them and did you see where they went?"

Once he is through with the bird he will cast an animal friendship spell on one of the monkey's.

[OGRE MAGE]

Waes pats the cleric on the shoulder. "The way of the hunt is in all of us my friend. In the ocean the shark must try and eat the dolphin, and the dolphin must defend itself or die trying. Those ruffians threatened to kill the company if they didn't agree to be robbed. If they had agreed to be robbed they wouldn't be here now and able to assist these local people. If they had refused the bandits would have very possibly murdered them!
The Druid sighs. "The jungle is a dangerous place. These adventurers didn't lie in wait and hunt down those robbers. They would not have harmed them at all if their lives hadn't been threatened. What would you have had them do your grace?"

"I think I understand the wisdom of your words, but it is still hard for me when I see the faces of those three men being cut down for no reason other than being stupid. I guess in nature, only the strong of body AND mind survive."

"I just think that it could have ben handled better is all. To strike someone down for threatening you seems excessive. I still consider it to be murder, even if it was in presumed self defense."

The cleric thanks the druid and heads into the pavilion to confront the badly injured dwarf, hoping an accord can be reached.

Storm...
The birds and monkeys are up in the tall trees. None come within 10 feet of you. There are little lizards running around everywhere though. You can shout up into the trees if you want to, but that will make quite a bit of noise. I will leave that decision up to you.

[Scott308]

Brufrig Granitesunder

Listening to Keilif chastise him once again for his handling of the bandits, the dwarf cuts him off. I don't believe we did anything wrong, so none of us should apologize. But I am glad to see your true character. He then turns away from the cleric, signalling that the conversation was over.

[Spearmint]

Krystal


I just had this thought of Wes wandering around the clearing chasing lizards to stick on his kebab skewer. then the thought came to me that the animals are all up in the trees, though that is quite natural. still you might expect some monkeys to be chasing each other on the ground, hunting berries and stuff. perhaps they know something...like the ground is unsafe? Plenty of animals like trapdoor spiders, scorpions under the sand, ghouls digging a tunnel, lurking ankhegs?

Any patches of boggy ground, dug out lair entrances? Krystal calls to Wes,"No need for you to wander alone so far from the hut."

[OGRE MAGE]

The Communal Meeting Place
Night, Cooler and Less Humid
Pitch Black and Ridiculously Buggy


Keilif throws his hands up in complete frustration at the dwarfs refusal. He does not speak again, instead going off into a corner to pray and sleep all by himself.

Darkness sets in rapidly as the party settles down to rest. Despite Krystal's warning, Wes takes care of some druidic business outside while the jungle clearing transforms into a loud, dark, hive of insect action. Brufrig stays awake for the first few hours of night, watching over the group while they sleep. His watch ends up being uneventful. Franny sits outside the pavilion while she takes her turn at watch duty. Despite being slathered in the natural bug repellent, she gets completely hammered by the swarms of flying, biting insects. She is bitten and stung so many times that it actually starts causing her physical damage. 2 dam When it finally climbs above the tops of the trees in the clearing, she lets the light of the nearly full moon charge her stones before gladly crawling back into the relative safety of the enclosed thatch hut. As she readies for her own rest time, she notices that the inside of the large hut is also crawling with hundreds of the tiny harmless lizards that were seen outside. One actually jumps onto her from the wall, but when she starts to panic, it flits away with lightning speed, far more scared of her than she is of it.

Bonnie and Keilif take the second watch shift, making quiet and uncomfortable small talk to keep awake while the others sleep. At one point, Bonnie sees the priest walking around among the mass of sleeping bodies. He reaches down and does something that she cant make out to Brufrig. The surly dwarf lets out a loud fart, indicating that whatever it was, it couldn't have been too deadly. The priest sits back down but doesn't say another word to the elf.

After about an hour of their watch goes by, Bonnie is startled to hear a rustling noise outside above the normal jungle din. It sounds like it is coming from the tree line where she set up her alarm system. Her and Keilif jump to their feet at the sudden noise, certain that something has just set off one of her trip wires.

Actions?

Mini Game: 50 XP for the first player to correctly state what Keilif was doing to Brufrig. Lets see who is actually paying attention.

Ferris 3/7 DM, RM, 1/1 first
Waesfaren Rhey 10/10 3/4 first
Bonnie 6/6
Krystal 5/5 CL DM RM 1/1 first
Franny Buurlslammer 10/12
Brufrig Granitesunder 10/15
Keilif 9/9 0/3 first

[Scott308]

He healed Brufrig. HP went from 3 to 10.

[Spearmint]

clw on Brufrig

Krystal sleeps in her elven trance, waiting for a poke between the ribs to wake her up.

[Storm11]

When Waes is finished with his talking he will settle in to sleep in the main section of the hut with the others.

[Monsieur Rose]

Bonnie

"Shhh. You heard that, right?" Bonnie whispers to Keilif."Something big has tripped the line." She quietly pulls her blade and turns to Keilif. "Quickly! And quietly! Get the others up. I"ll take a peek."

She tries to go out the opposite side of the hut from the sound as quietly as possible. She scans the treeline and area for movement upon exit.

[OGRE MAGE]

The Communal Meeting Place
Mid-night, Cooler and Less Humid
Pitch Black and Ridiculously Buggy


Keilif bounds into action, hustling around the room to quickly awaken the group. He starts with Brufrig and Franny, hoping they will be the most alert in case the threat is on them quickly.

Bonnie darts out a back flap, trying to sneak around the huts sidewall to get a better look at what might be coming. Keilif flips open one of the mat walls for a look just as Bonnie peeks around the corner. The groups demi-humans spot something incredibly disturbing advancing on the pavilion in the dark night.

The creature is roughly the height of a normal man, though It is far wider and bulkier. It's body is humanoid, but wedge shaped, with its upper portion much wider than its lower half. It's whole body is covered in large, hairy, hump-like bulges and bumps.

The beast slowly shambles forward until it is about 25 feet away from the pavilion. In the pitch black darkness of the night, only those with infravision looking on can see the creature begin to lean backwards, as if it is ready to strike.

Actions!

Ferris 3/7 DM, RM, 1/1 first
Waesfaren Rhey 10/10 3/4 first
Bonnie 6/6
Krystal 5/5 CL DM RM 1/1 first
Franny Buurlslammer 10/12
Brufrig Granitesunder 10/15
Keilif 9/9 0/3 first

[Scott308]

Brufrig Granitesunder

Not wanting to get up because he just got to sleep a short while ago, Brufrig nonetheless gets to his feet and grabs his weapons quickly when Keilif tells him there is something outside. Feeling much better than he would expect from the short nap, the dwarf slips outside after loading his crossbow. Light a torch or two. Maybe fire will scare it off, he quietly tells those still in the hut. Taking a few steps away from the building, he fires the crossbow at the creature, yelling Aaaaaahh! Go away! Raaaaaah! hoping the noise may frighten it and make it realize there is no easy meal to be had here.

Crossbow Attack (20): [1d20] = 11; Damage: [1d4] = 4

[Storm11]

Waesfaren peers out with his infravision to look around the creature. He will grasp his wreath of mistletoe and begin to call to the plants and trees and grasses around them, making the creature the centre of the summons. "I call upon the earth and stone, the roots and leaves and shrubs around, entwine about this creatures bones, come dance and rise up from the ground!" he calls in his light voice, his eyes beginning to arc with lightning as the nature energy floods through him.

"It may not be an enemy, let us see if we can't catch and hold it and maybe find out what it wants! Crossbows and arrows ready perhaps but let's not fire straight away," the half-elf cautions looking side wise at the sissy priest.

[Spearmint]

I wonder if it is a gorilla infected with the same veggie virus we encountered at the logging camp?

Krystal seeing the creature bend backwards reminds her of the stance archers make before releasing a volley of arrows.'Incoming'she thinks and ducks behind several layers of thick bamboo dividers.

[Hotgoblin]

Franny wakes to Kelif's shoulder tap. She hurries into action, hearing Brufrig's yelling at something to "Go Away". Franny, readies her crossbow and peers into the darkness to see what is coming for them.

[Monsieur Rose]

Bonnie

Peering around the edge of the hut, something sparks a horrible idea in her mind. "Move!" She yells at the group."Watch for fire!"

She runs back into the hut to grab her pack and kick anyone who's not up.

[Bluetongue]

Ferris will fire off a crossbow bolt at the approaching wedge.

ferris crossbow [1d20+1] = 3+1 = 4 bolt damage [1d4+1] = 1+1 = 2

he bemoans losing his 'touch' since been licked and frozen by the lacedon.