The Unseen Servant forums

The Mine?
Waterday, 24th of Goodmonth
Nearing Dawn, Warm, Humid, Buggy

In the darkness, Jaxsen gets back into his crawling mode, wondering what that strange sound he heard might have been. It almost sounded like running water hitting the jungle floor, but how could the dwarves have installed plumbing out here in the wild.

Once the hint of sour urine hits his nostrils, the monk freezes in place, hearing an unseen gruff voice a short distance away at the edge of the jungle. "Hey! What the.......who....."

The voice suddenly cuts off and the sound of ruffling clothing is followed by foot falls heading away towards the building. Jaxsen can make out the dark silhouette of a dwarf sized humanoid hurrying towards the shack with the emanating snoring sounds.

Action?

Jaxsen 10/19

Jaxsen Reiter

Oh... THAT kind of "out of the ordinary"!!

Jaxsen tenses for a chase, and then relaxes, and quickly backs further into the foliage. "I am not here to attack, I am here to look," he thinks to himself as he starts running. He allows time for the Dwarf to reach his shack, awaken his friends and get them ready for a chase. The Monk uses that time to put on his full speed, not running away, yet, but further around the compound in a generally western direction, moving as lightly as he can at speed. When he feels the Dwarves will be on the move after him, he slows again, drops back to the ground, once again in stealth mode, and watches for pursuit. Once the sun rises, he feels, the night-vision advantage of the Dwarves will fade and he can reconnoiter with less fear of discovery.

OK, just to ask and check my thinking .... a Dwarf who was asleep a few moments before, wakes up to take a whizz, and wanders out to the foliage, where he thinks he sees a man-shaped heat signature. When he does get his buddies to come look, there is nothing there to see, at least in the dark. And by the there is full light, the foliage has moved again.

And yes, I am pushing an agenda.

Creedence?
Waterday, 24th of Goodmonth
Nearing Dawn, Warm, Humid, Buggy

Jaxsen moves back into the jungle and starts running, immediately tripping over something he cant see, because it is still dark out, and he is in a jungle.

He gets up and starts running again, immediately smashing into a low hanging tree branch that he also didn't see, because it is dark out. This accident makes him a little woozy and cuts a small gash in his forehead. 1 dam

Realizing that he cant run in the dark jungle, he moves back into the clearing and heads west, soon tripping over something else on the dark ground. Unfortunately, the moment that passes isn't enough time to illuminate the area much better, but the hint of daybreak in the sky indicates that it will soon be easier to see out here.

By this time he can hear the snoring in the closest building has stopped and there is a sound of commotion and guttural murmuring coming from within.

Action?

Jaxsen 9/19

Jaxsen Reiter

Jaxsen shakes his head gently, happier than he should be, if only because none of the Masters of his Temple, who spent days and weeks and years training him, will ever see his foolishness. He then still follows the basics of his plan, only much slower. Moving west in the clearing until it becomes evident that the Dwarves are about to exit their shack, at which time he will move back into the foliage and resume his stealthy track west.

Hide In The Jungle
Waterday, 24th of Goodmonth
Nearing Dawn, Warm, Humid, Buggy

Jax doesn't get far before he hears a commotion outside the shack that sounds like several footfalls.

He quickly moves back into the jungle once he thinks the dwarves are after him.

Gruff voices speaking what has to be dwarven start drawing closer to his position. He watches the dark figures move about the area, apparently searching the edge of the jungle outside the buildings. He hears one voice calling out softly in the darkness. "Oui! Where dija go off to now? I know yer ere somewhere, ya little shite! Come on out an meet the boys!"

Action?

Jaxsen 9/19

Jaxsen Reiter

Allowing for the noise of their movement and the normal jungle sounds, Jaxsen uses his prone position to quietly low-crawl deeper into the foliage, due west. He returns to maximum stealth mode again, only moving with breezes, using the fact that he is heading directly away from the searchers to keep his profile as small as possible and hoping they start their search in the last place he was seen. He understands that only putting more foliage between himself and the pursuers will hide him effectively. "I am the walking stick," he thinks. "The hidden children of the Queen. Bless me, oh Bralm, with those gifts."

Hide In The Jungle
Waterday, 24th of Goodmonth
Nearing Dawn, Warm, Humid, Buggy

Jax continues into the dark jungle, finding thicker terrain and more of those unpleasant smells he picked up earlier.

Assuming the role of the insect, his strange crawling behavior goes on for some time, the monk slowly distancing himself from the voices and searching behind him.

He crawls until all he can hear is the jungle awakening around him. Enough daylight has finally crept in above the canopy for the human to see naturally by.

Action?

Jaxsen 9/19

Jaxsen Reiter

Jaxsen stops moving and rolls to a crouch. Keeping a close lookout, he begins to stand and look back towards the mine. He'll stop rising if he sees anything resembling a Dwarf.

Hide In The Jungle
Waterday, 24th of Goodmonth
Nearing Dawn, Warm, Humid, Buggy

Raising his head out of the bush, Jaxsen doesn’t see any dwarves (or anything else but vegetation) in the direction of the mine.

Action?

Jaxsen 9/19

Jaxsen Reiter

Jaxsen begins another low, slow crawl in a north-northwesterly direction, to approach the mine from a different angle. He keeps his head down and his ears and nose open to avoid being surprised.

Hide In The Jungle
Waterday, 24th of Goodmonth
Nearing Dawn, Warm, Humid, Buggy

Changing direction, Jaxsen insect-crawls towards the north, hoping to come at the mine from another direction. He slogs through much more partially trampled underbrush, picking up more indications of this area being used as a dwarven toilet at one time.

Once he wishes he couldn’t smell the tainted ground anymore, he picks up a horrible decaying scent of something even worse, just up ahead in a mound of leafy vegetation.

Give me a Normal Con check, please.

Action?

Jaxsen 9/19

Going with the idea this is a "Puke Check"

Normal check vs CON (16) [3d6]=9

Jaxsen feels the bile rise, but swallows hard and does his best to continue. He tries to direct his focus in other directions, checking to see if the strange north/south migration of the insects is affected by the stench which would normally cause swarming. Remembering stories of leaf-covered monsters, sticky and otherwise, he watches the mound of vegetation for any movement.

Hide In The Jungle
Waterday, 24th of Goodmonth
Nearing Dawn, Warm, Humid, Buggy

Slowly dragging his injured body through more of the tainted ground, Jaxsen is able to keep his trained mind from overreacting to the stench ahead.

He looks over the roughly human sized mound on the jungle floor and finds that it is indeed moving, crawling with flies and jungle maggots that cover the entire body. The stench from the recent decay is nearly overwhelming, but the insects in this area seem to be acting normally, doing what they do to rotting flesh.

Action?

Jaxsen 9/19

Jaxsen Reiter

Not wanting to push his endurance with the foulness around him and the stench from the corpse, Jaxsen raises himself into a low crouch and moves carefully in the direction he last saw the mine area. Now covered in dirt, leaves, filth and assorted non-human scents, he trusts to that camouflage to carry him through. As always, he keeps his eyes carefully open for others. "Oh Merciful Queen," he prays silently. "Hide me from my enemies' eyes as you hide so many of your children."

Hide In The Jungle
Waterday, 24th of Goodmonth
Nearing Dawn, Warm, Humid, Buggy

The filth covered monk continues crawling until he can see an opening in the distant foliage.

He spots two dwarf sized figures walking slowly by, looking into the jungle as they pass.

Action?

Jaxsen 9/19

Jaxsen Reiter

Jax freezes in place, letting the Dwarves hopefully just pass by.

Range to the Dwarves? Are they in the foliage, or just walking the border with the trees?

Hide In The Jungle
Waterday, 24th of Goodmonth
Nearing Dawn, Warm, Humid, Buggy

Jax freezes, watching the dwarves pass by, about 20 feet in front of him, just inside the clearing he saw earlier.

He doesn’t think they spotted him, but they are clearly still looking.

Action?

Jaxsen 9/19

Jaxsen Reiter

With any indication that the pair are not looking in his direction, Jax uses the opportunity to slowly lower himself back into the foliage. If they do not look away, Jax continues to stay as still as possible.

Hide In The Jungle
Waterday, 24th of Goodmonth
Nearing Dawn, Warm, Humid, Buggy

The dwarves appear to head off along the tree line, eventually allowing Jaxsen to crouch back down into the thicker foliage again.

The young monk can hear distant sounds of activity as the rest of the camp slowly awakens.

Action?

Jaxsen 9/19

Jaxsen Reiter

Jax uses the opening to move closer to the occupied area. He is careful to stay low and to move stealthily. His objective is to get close enough to see the layout of this place, but to stay hidden in the foliage.

I suppose this would depend on the actual thickness of the growth, but 10 or 15 feet at least.