Our Mysterious Benefactor |
A month has passed since you came to Ravengro to attend the funeral of Professor Lorrimor, and as his will requested, the time has come to take his books to Lepidstadt. His daughter, Kendra, has been your charge and hostess for the month and she is saddened to see you go, yet thankful that you have agreed to fulfill her father's final wishes. She prepared quite a feast for you the night before and many toasts were given to the memory of the Professor and to you as the heroes who liberated Harrowstone.
After much discussion, you have chosen your path to Lepidstadt. The distance from Ravengro to Lepidstadt is about 100 miles. No journey in Ustalav is without risk, but the old Mountain Road is generally regarded as the best route. This road follows the southeastern foothills of the Tusk Mountains, passing through the towns of Tamrivena and Courtaud before following the Lesser Moutray River up to Lepidstadt. With luck, you should be there in a little over a week.
You set out with the sun, thin as it is in the early morning mist. As you travel you see less people and more marshes, trees and ruins jutting from the swampy ground here and there. Most of these are no more than walls, but you do occasionally catch a glimpse of structures that appear to be more intact.
Three days out, around later afternoon, you are somewhat surprised to come across a series of brightly colored wagons. Gaudy paint depicts images of garish figures, all performing beneath the banner of "The Crooked Kin— Ustalav’s Greatest Traveling Cabinet of Curiosities!”
You see eyes peering cautiously from the wagons, but no actual people until an albino man with long white hair wearing a tall red hat and bright red jacket with striped pants hops down from the lead wagon. He bows in a very theatrical manner and calls out, "Welcome my fellow travelers! Welcome to Ustalav's finest travelling show! I am Kaleb Hesse, ringmaster of this fine bunch. But, I fear, you have found us at a sad time; one of our fellows is missing!"
Our Mysterious Benefactor |
The man acts and talks like a nature showman, making pin-pointing his exact motives difficult, but there is a worried look that plays around his eyes. You don't think it's faked.
The man sighs and sweeps his hat from his head, holding it by his chest. "Allow me to introduce you to the rest of the family. Come out, everyone, it's safe!" The wagons open and out steps a menagerie of interesting people. There's a short, hunched man who seems to be infested with fleas, judging by his scratching; there's a a woman with a silky beard who stands nearly 7 feet tall, but has kind eyes; there's two girls, barely out of their teens, who are attractive enough, but whose heads are smaller than they ought to be; the girls stand with a young man who is covered with thick brown hair all over his body, who peers out nervously from behind their legs. You also see a Vudrani woman carrying a Mwangi man who has no arms nor legs, three men with an extra limb each, two with an extra leg and one with an extra arm, dressed in garish clothing, and last a hulking brute of an Ulfen man, nearly 8 feet tall and ugly as sin. You can also hear growling coming from the last wagon, as well as a deep croaking sound.
The albino gestures to the girls with the tiny heads. "Aleece, one of the sisters here, has gone missing in the swamp. We stopped here at midday and noticed she was missing an hour after that. We followed her tracks into the swamps, but," he sighs deeply, "We're none of us woodsmen and none of us warriors. You seem competent with those weapons and you carry yourselves like folk who've known battle. Can you help us? I can't pay, but I have a magical dagger that was the property of our former knife thrower. Sadly he passed away from consumption last winter. Will you help us?" You can see that the two girls with small heads have been crying and the shaggy boy is whimpering softly, like a puppy.
Zano Turok |
Zano come forward, looking nervous and shy, he does not say much, but you can tell he came with Sonny.
I agree Sonny, I hate to see anyone suffer, I've seen too much of it, and a missing person is very important to the family he says as he sympathizes with the situation.
Xerice Lockhart |
.
Ezechias |
Ezechias stands proud and does his best to comfort the poor man.
"We shall find her, have no fear. I, Ezechias, knight-errant of Sarenrae, pledge to find her and return it to you. What do you know about the circumstances of her disappearance? Any information that could help us find her would be invaluable."
Our Mysterious Benefactor |
One of the tiny-headed women steps forward. "We noticed she was gone about an hour after we stopped. We didn't think too much of it, until we couldn't find her anywhere in the wagons."
The ringmaster nods his head and gestures toward the edge of the swamp. "We found some tracks heading into the swamp, but then..." He steps to the edge of the swamp, where he parts the tall reeds to show water at the bottom. "We couldn't find any more tracks anywhere. The water obscured them." The reeds here are 6-8 feet tall and thick; the water is a further two feet deep and the muddy bottom sucks at your boots. You notice that the ringmaster and the tall Ulfen fellow both have wet boots on. They clearly tried to follow the tracks.
Survival checks for tracks!
Xerice Lockhart |
Xerice sighs as the party jumps at the opportunity to help a bunch of freaks in the middle of the swamp.
"Great, from helping a town of idiots to helping a lost puppy in a swamp. What's next help the elderly visit the toilets?" She complains.
Unfortunately for her the books are in Ezechias' backpack I assume. Leaving her with little alternative than following the others in the swamp.
survival: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
"Oh how sad, no tracks to be found. Maybe it was the invisible girl and she went back into her cart snickering at her little joke. Let's head back and hope they have found her already. We have a deadline after all." Xerice says.
She does look around if she can see any rats whom she could ask if they have seen any girl come this way.
Our Mysterious Benefactor |
You find a smallish rat nibbling around a thick patch of reeds. It listens carefully to you, tilting its head. "Yes yesyesyes! Two legs, girl, comes past, goes to place-where-rats-dare-not-go! Where the deadly shadow lives! The Feaster in Watery Shadows!"
Xerice Lockhart |
Though Xerice wondered off slightly and is crouched down near a bundle of reeds. She mumbled a little in her self it seems and at one point you hear her let out curse.
"Which direction did the two legs go? What can you tell me of the deadly shadow? For instance how large is it? Does it eat a lot of two legs?"
After which she returns muttering.
Our Mysterious Benefactor |
Xerice Lockhart |
Xerice sighs Why my Calistria? She rummages in her pocket for a moment and takes out a little bit of rations which she holds in front of the rat.
"Right, so which direction can we find this "Feaster"?"
Our Mysterious Benefactor |
Ezechias |
Ezechias marvels at the exchange between Xerice and the rat, though he isn't really sure what to expect of it.
Xerice Lockhart |
Xerice stands up and turns around again. Just as she steps forward she stops as she sees Ezechias look at her. "What? Never seen someone who can talk to animals?" She says with an angry voice. She strides past him and returns to the group proper.
"According to an animal of the swamp there is a creature of the swamp it called a "Feaster" around here. It's possible it took the girl as it has seen the girl go past here. The animal discribed the creature as big, walking on many legs and it's bite makes its target woozy. Apparently it's in the direction of the clearing, that way." She says as if it were the most normal thing in the world and points the direction the rat pointed in.
Ezechias |
"Excellent. Let's follow this lead, then." nods Ezechias before leading the group in the direction the rat gave Xerice.
Our Mysterious Benefactor |
You follow the swamp rat's directions and soon emerge from the tall reeds into a clearing, still swampy, but filled with pale grey flowers.
Xerice Lockhart |
Xerice walks somewhere in the middle. She has no interest in being attacked by this "Feaster".
Cireth Aldwulf |
Cireth will take the lead, casting mage armor.
Well, the exposure to all that Necromantic Energy allowed me to do this as well
Cireth casts another spell, bolstering his life force and moves with an additional spring in his step.
Cast False Life: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Ezechias |
Ezechias is unsure of how to act in the wilderness, so he's pleased to let his knowledgeable companions take the lead here.
Our Mysterious Benefactor |
Xerice keeps her eyes open in this swampy marsh, while Cireth seems to shimmer with borrowed life. Zano looks around, but the flowers seem only to be flowers to him, nothing out of the ordinary about them. Ezechias seems ill at ease, out of his element in the swamp. Everyone stares around, when Zano notices something protruding from a patch of flowers in the center of the clearing. It looks like a human hand.
Zano Turok |
Is the hand sticking out of the ground? severed from the body? Is the hand coming out of the flowers? Does the hand look like it has been there for days, or did it just get there? Does the hand have anything on it, scratches, markings, a ring, or would I need to get closer to know that?
I stay where I'm at and take 20 on perception to see if I can notice more of a body around here.
I'm staying put and looking around for a few minutes, there has got to be more of a body around here.
Our Mysterious Benefactor |
There is a cluster of the grey flowers, which grow above the water line of the swampy ground. The hand is sticking up from there. If you get closer, you can part the flowers to see the body of a teen girl, her head clearly too small for her body, dead eyes staring up in shock and pain.
Heal checks!
Xerice Lockhart |
Sonny Wright |
Heal: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
Sonny approaches the body and examines it. He shakes his head and says, "Tsk, Tsk. What a waste of a young life. It looks like she was killed by a very large spider. See these puncture marks here. Let's take her body back to the group so there can be a proper goodbye said for her."
Ezechias |
"We should ensure that she's properly buried, so that his parents' mind may find some closure... eventually." suggests Ezechias, appalled by the girl's fate.
Our Mysterious Benefactor |
A sudden scream of pain erupts in the night! It clearly seems to be coming from the north!
Xerice Lockhart |
"Keep your eyes open. Stick together." Xerice sats, She uncoils her whip and holds it at the ready.
Our Mysterious Benefactor |
Not the night. Day. Darn you drama!
Suddenly another scream, slightly different and choked, erupts from the east!
Ezechias |
Ezechias was about to rush north when the second cry echoes. The paladin stops, not knowing where to go, but unsheathes his sword and stands ready.
Xerice Lockhart |
"No, you fool. There is only one creature. It is trying to split us up. We stick together."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Our Mysterious Benefactor |
Another scream to the west of the party seems to confirm Xerice's suspicions. Suddenly without any warning, a large form appears behind Cireth! It looks like a spider with a woman's face and it bites at the sorcerer!
Bite: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26 Cireth shouts in alarm as the teeth clamp down and inject something that burns into his body, dealing 2d6 + 7 ⇒ (3, 1) + 7 = 11 damage! Cireth Fort: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14 He feels his body begin to shake as the poison courses through his veins, taking 1d2 ⇒ 1 Constitution damage!
Initiatives!
Cireth: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19
Zanu: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
Xerice: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15
Ezechias: 1d20 ⇒ 2
Cesare: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Sonny: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Spider: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
Round 1:
24 Caesare
19 Cireth
15 Xerice
14 Zanu
9 Spider
5 Sonny
2 Ezechias
Caesare, Cireth, Xerice and Zanu are up!
Xerice Lockhart |
Xerice steps a bit to the north and attacks the creature with her whip.
attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
dmg: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Cireth Aldwulf |
Ack!
Cireth cries out. Not overly alarmed by the bite itself as first. His spell healing his flesh even as the barbs go into his skin... Mostly. The poison coursing through his veins is another matter entirety, and his protection spell is gone.
Regardless, Cireth wants vengeance upon his attacker, growing claws and striking out.
Claw #1: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Damage: 1d4 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 3 + 1 = 8
Claw #2: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Damage: 1d4 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 1 = 5
Fort save against poison if needed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Our Mysterious Benefactor |
While Caesare grows and Zanu buffs, Xerice whips the thing, which hisses and spits. Cireth's claws grow and he slashes twice at the spider-thing, hitting both times. It disappears!
Suddenly it reappears on the other side of Zanu, fangs bared!
Ezechias and Sonny are up!
Cireth, the poisons burns, but does not harm you further this round!