Spider's Path

[HolyMan]

The following is a sub-quest from the Off to War campaign thread. Our heros have been sent out from the main army to warn Harkon Manor of a small army of Treylor heading their way. To reach the manor first the are going to take a shortcut through the Western Woods (a part know as the wilds).

Players for this side quest are:
ghostcat
Dragonwriter
Theroc
Myth and Legend
Frozen Messiah

NPCs:
Martomum Stonebreaker - grumpy dwarf
Greyhay - tracker
Unknown - tracker

Links:
Off To War... Recriutment/Discussion
Off to War [IC]
RG for Off to War
The Five Kingdoms
Off to War Houserules

[HolyMan]

read first

play attachment as you read

As the group walks along the woods seem normal after Martomum's strange caution. The normal sounds of birds, small animals, and the wind through the trees is all present. And the sounds of the group slowly marching through are the only things that seem out of place.

It is about noon when Greyhay returns to the group from his scouting trip. Everyone is sitting about on logs, rocks, or the ground, where ever they can find a spot.

"Gnolls tracking us," he reports grimly to the old dwarf.

[ghostcat]

After the dwarfs warning, Trinham tries to move through the woods as quietly has possible, while at the same time moving quickly so as not to slow the others down.

On hearing the scouts report, Trinham will become alert but won't stand up. He looks at Martomum waiting for orders. He doesn't say anything but thinks to himself. If it was up to me, I would hide in the trees and ambush the goblins. There again I'm a greenie, so what do I know. The last thing I want is to get on the wrong end of Martomum's tongue; again. So I'll just sit here and wait for orders.

OOC

The part about Moving silently is for atmosphere.

[Theroc]

Aidan blinked. "We're being followed? Suppose we are leaving a trail... Wut's a Gnoll, and how many are we talkin' about?" he asks, scratching his head. He hadn't much experiences outside the farm and ring-matches.

[Myth and Legend]

Lora looked around and tried to assess the situation. They could not outrun the Gnolls for sure, so it would be best to use the terrain to their advantage and stand their ground. "Gnolls - they are beast men, part human and part dog. They walk on two legs and wield melee weapons with proficiency. For a group as large as ours, evading them would be impossible. I say we stand and fight, preferably on higher ground. Those with ranged capabilities and spellcasters in the middle, the rest circling them for protection. We ready ourselves versus their approach and try to hurt them as much as we can, before they close in. Now, higher ground is what we need."

Lora's voice was with a serious tone, as the girl put her mind and knowledge to use. She had read some books on warfare and tactics, although out of curiosity more than for practical reasons. She was now glad that she had done so.

Spoiler:

Any checks needed HM?

[HolyMan]

"Eyes expec..." Martomumstarts to say but is interupted by Lora's... (triad?). He sits there listening quietly and when she is finished he shakes his head. "Ye be in right about all tats, buts we's has no tims fur its."

The dwarf jumps up and says to the group, "Tease 'oods be full 'o tem dog'eads. Ands mays be tey attack or tey wonts. So in if ye sits awaitn' tins ye lose ta times we gots."

"We's are 'eadin ta da Madds Eatercap, mays bee tey leavin us alone, ans may bees not, so keeps alert ye greenies." With that the dwarf shoulders his pack and starts of again.

ooc

Maybe we should discuss a marching order (just in case Martomum is wrong ) maybe use the ooc for that. Greyhay and the unknown backtracker are out scouting

ML

No checks as of yet, but a list af spells for the day if you please.

[Dragonwriter]

Jareth's lip curls at the mention of gnolls, knowing a bit about the loathsome creatures.

At Lora's little speech, the duskblade looks a bit surprised. "How'd you learn so much about the dog-men? Anyways, it was pretty well put and a decent strategy, if the dwarf thought we had more time..."

Jareth shrugs and pulls his chain from his hip, lazily swinging one end about as he walks a little behind Martomum. Now that the weapon is uncoiled, it's easy to tell this is one of the unusual spiked chain weapons, a difficult thing to wield properly but also very useful.

OOC

Jareth will stay near the front.

If you want to roll my Listen and Spot, HM, they don't have a modifier.

And Jareth has the following spells:
0 level (Used 0/3): Touch of Fatigue, Acid Splash, Ray of Frost, Disrupt Undead
1 level (used 0/3): Color Spray, Shocking Grasp

[Theroc]

"Hmm... dogmen. Maybe they had somethin' ta do with pa's crops..." he muttered under his breath, before turning to the others. "I've no objection to anything we do really, as long as we dun't get sidetracked and get the message through too late..."

When the group moved, Aidan made sure he was relatively close to Lora.

OOC

For marching order, Aidan will stay as close to Lora as he can without being creepy/invasive, so he can jump between any attackers and her. Aside from that, he won't have any preferences as to back/side/front.

[Myth and Legend]

Lora mounted her Glaive on her shoulder and leered her head to the side, looking at the new face in the group. A young, soft faced red haired boy, that was a full head taller than Lora, but seemed skinny to her. "I read a book. And who are you again?" she replied dryly, and continued marching. She turned towards Martoumum and tried to reason with him. "I'm positive we cannot evade them for long and that the more we prolong this, the bolder they will get. If we cut them down now, the others will be afraid to approach us."

Spoiler:

0 level: Daze, Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, Ghost Sound
1 level: Enlarge Person, Sleep, Backbiter

Dragon - 5' 10'' weighting 115 pounds only? Lora is 5'4' and weighs 129 pounds.. You described him as muscular in the RG post, so I didn't know which one to go with and only said skinny, although honestly his ideal weight is around 166 pounds which makes him severely underweight.

[Dragonwriter]

Jareth shrugs. "You didn't seem too interested in who I was when you walked right by me in camp. Name's Jareth, newly stuck with this bunch."

He keeps walking, idly swinging the chain around and looking about. He's never been too comfortable in the woods, despite where he was raised...

OOC

Sorry. What I meant was that he's very wiry. He's definitely a beanpole, but strong nonetheless. He looks real skinny, but that's just appearance. His overall frame belies his strength, but his arms are well-muscled. And since he's so young, he's not fully grown out yet. You can kinda think along the lines of Tobey Maguire in the new Spider-Man movies (particularly the first one), if that helps.

[ghostcat]

"I'll take rear guard and see if I can catch anyone trying to sneak up on us. True to his word, Trinham follows along about 20' behind the party, with Mogins by his side, all the while looking and listening for anything approaching the party from behind. At the same time he trusts the others to protect him from frontal attacks.

OOC

Trinham: Listen +2, Spot +2
Mogins: Listen +3, Spot +3

Spell List

Sorcerer Level 0 Spells: Daze, Flare, Ghost Sounds, Mage Hand.
Sorcerer Level 1 Spells: Magic Missile

Spells Per Day

0 Level: () () () () ()
1 Level: () () () ()

[HolyMan]

The party marches on for the next several hours. In the beginning the could here someone or something following them, the sounds of many creatures running through the brush.

First to the left then from behind, then again they pass on the right this time. Then after a while the noise of being followed stops and nothing can be heard for an hour or more before Martomum stops the party and tells everyone to set camp.

As the sun sets and everyone finishes a meager meal of rations and water, Martomum sitting on the exposed root of a gnarled tree begins speaking as he looks deep into the flames of the small fire.

"Toes gnolls, nots be a bother tea us," he says quietly. "Wat's yuse greenies needs ta knows is dat on ta morrow' we's wills meet da Madds Eatercap. Ana dare bees no ways round em. Dats whys toes gnolls did nay bother us. Tay will says to da Eatercap tay sents us as a givts."

Martomum pokes the fire with a thin stick, seemly lost in ill memories.

[ghostcat]

"Martomum. Can you tell us everything you know about the Madds Eatercap, especially any vulnerabilities. The more we know about them, the better we will be able to defeat them."

[HolyMan]

"Dare be buts 'un Madds Eatercapp," the dwarf says looking up from the fire. "He's be like a spider on two eggs."

[Frozen Messiah]

Claude has been particularly quiet during the travel. His mind is alway on what was moving around, and his hand was always on his bow, but his mind was also on the conversations that had been happening with his allies.

Claude leans up against a treethat is just at the edge of fire light, close enough to hear and see everybody. "Eatercapps, hmm... do you know where they may live? I'm just asking because you seem to be very sure about them being here." Claude askes while stroking his goatee in thought "Because if we do know where they are and you say they're like spiders then we should be able to give them a run." After Claude was done saying that a slight smile curls across his face.

[Dragonwriter]

Jareth shakes his head, saying to Claude, "Were you not listening? The dwarf said there's only one 'Mad Eatercap,' though I think it's pronounced a different way... Forgivable, as he's got a thick accent. Probably the best thing to do will be to continue as we have been, keep a close eye out for webbing and cut down any creatures that try to bother us. If anyone else has knows any magic to make us or our weapons stronger, keep those spells ready and cast them if we find trouble. Simple enough, and it should see us through this."

[Theroc]

Aidan frowned at the discussion.

"A spider on two legs, eh? Is he a partic'arly cunning Gnoll, or something worse that they listen to outta sheer fear?" He asked, watching the fire. "Are we going to need to fight this 'Mad Eatercap', or just talk nice, give 'im something 'e wants an 'e let's us go our merry way?" He remained near Lora, attempting to remain alert for anything unsavory, though the idea of being stalked by monsters put the boy a bit on edge, slowly feeling he'd be much happier if it was a tangible foe he could simply fight.

[Frozen Messiah]

"J'excuse Jareth, I'm having a difficult time with Sir Martomum's accent. If there is only one then proceeding would be the best course of action, and as we move we should take care to make make ambush a risky buisness." Claude says with a little bow of apologize to Jareth and Martomum. He notices that his eyes are beginning to become heavy. "I will be heading off to bed in a while would someone please wake me up for my watch." Claude says witha yawn to finish.

[HolyMan]

"Eyes 'ave no robbles speakin'," Martomum says looking up from the flames. "It bees all 'o ye tat has rables ina dare mouths." The dwarf then throws his stick into the fire sending up sparks. "Aye," he says to Claudes comments. "Sleeps be ina wats needed fur ta morrow."

ooc

You all can keep up the campfire talk if you like, but if nothing by tomorrow night will move on instead.

[ghostcat]

"Well! Does anyone have a better plan for dealing with the beastie? I don't particularly like Claude's plan but I can't think of anything better myself. Mention of bed sets Trinham off yawning. After stifling a large yawn, he continues "Unless anyone has a better one I vote we take Martomum's suggestion and go to bed. So, what are we doing about watches?