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"Murder, Lies and Civic Duty."
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<blockquote data-quote="Kidjake" data-source="post: 6746455" data-attributes="member: 6776876"><p>After their meeting with the unicorn, Kavos and Gandil hightail it back to town to prepare for their coming confrontation with the ettercap. They drop off their gathered silk with Mrs. Boddan and grab a quick bite to eat before they seek out Father Adrian.</p><p></p><p>Father Adrian has gathered up Sheriff Longarm's deputies in front of the temple of Pelor and the three men are squeezing into their scalemail and strapping longswords to their sides as Father Adrian explains that they have to gather a search party and scour the forest for the missing sheriff. The deputies seem lost without Longarm's guidance but Father Adrian assures them that Elder Hadran is gathering the farmers even as they speak.</p><p></p><p>Kavos tells Father Adrian that they lost the tracks and had to come back and Adrian sighs in disappointment. Gandil draws Adrian away from the fumbling deputies and asks what he knows about creatures in the forest, specifically about things large enough to take the sheriff.</p><p></p><p>Father Adrian says that the town has been plagued by creatures from the forest for years, Kobolds; Dryads; Unicorns... all manner of strange creatures have been reported over the years but ever since the druids disappeared they lost contact with the forest. Father Adrian mentions that the forest has been becoming steadily more dangerous for years and at this point he can only think of a single man that could still be said to be intimately familiar with the forest.</p><p></p><p>Gandil presses for more information about the man and discovers that his name is Jonathan Lark and he's a ranger from the tiny village of Briar's Pass nestled deep in the forest itself, he comes by every month or so to trade meat and furs for whatever he can carry home. As hard as Westbank has fallen recently, Briar's Pass has been devastated. It's whispered that they have been under siege by nature itself.</p><p></p><p>Gandil naturally wants to seek out this ranger to make their lives easier, but Kavos doesn't want to spend a day traipsing about in a spider and wolf infested wood just to find a man that'll charge them to go traipsing about a spider and wolf infested wood for them. Kavos convinces Father Adrian to send one of the deputies to Briar's Pass to ask for the ranger's aid and Horace (a short, thickly built man in his mid 30's with a flat face and several prominent missing teeth) volunteers without a second thought.</p><p></p><p>Since they already know where Sheriff Longarm is going to be, their only goal at this point is to keep the search party far away from their dealings with the unicorn until they can set the body up convincingly. To this end, Gandil spins a story about losing the sheriff's trail far further north in the forest than they ever went. </p><p></p><p>They gather up the farmer posse that Elder Hadran assembled in the street and begin to lay out their plan. Most of the farmer's aren't too keen on the idea of storming the forest and several mutter that the fool orc brought it on himself. Several others ask what they're paying Sheriff Longarm for if they've got to go save him.</p><p></p><p>Kavos attempts to appeal to the farmers' civic spirit, but they lose almost half the group to apathy and fear before Father Adrian steps in with tears in his eyes and shouts that "Curtis Longarm would gladly lay down his life for ANY one of you! You won't even spend an afternoon to make sure that he's still alive?"</p><p></p><p>The remaining citizens are shamed into staying and shout taunts at the backs of their neighbors, calling them cowards and saying that the sheriff wouldn't abandon them. When it's all said and done the deputies are left with about 10 men with more courage or pride than common sense.</p><p></p><p>The deputies divvy up the farmers into several groups and draw a rough grid in the dirt to give everyone an idea of where they'll be searching. A tall, gaunt young man with thick red stubble and sharp features, who the locals call Looman, suggests focusing their search on the southern portion of the forest; reasoning that scavengers wouldn't have dragged a corpse as far as Gandil claims they did and the fact that Gandil tracked them so far north without finding Longarm's body might mean that the sheriff is alive and wounded somewhere along the trail.</p><p></p><p>Gandil starts to argue but Kavos congratulates the young man on such an insightful theory and suggests that Gandil and himself will focus their attention there. Looman suggests arming the farmers with any blade they can get their hands on and clearing the brush to be safe, but Kavos assures him that they'll make do without any farmers. Kavos smiles and explains "We don't want to stretch the search party too thin."</p><p></p><p>The final deputy, an older; balding gentleman by the name of Devon agrees that it makes sense not to stretch their resources any further than necessary and the matter is settled. As preparations are finalized, Father Adrian calls for everyone to wait and rushes into the temple; returning shortly with a wooden box which he places on the ground and opens.</p><p></p><p>Inside are a variety of potions and Adrian hands several Cure Moderate Wounds and Delay Poison potions to each group; he hands out almost the entire supply and refuses Kavos's offer of compensation, saying that Curtis Longarm is a dear friend of the town and himself and he only wants to see the sheriff returned; alive for healing or dead for burial.</p><p></p><p>Gandil takes this opportunity while everyone's gathered here to leap onto a barrel and loudly exclaim that "You have no need to worry citizens of Westbank, until we find your sheriff you're all under MY protection!"</p><p></p><p>The crowd cheers and Gandil leaps down amid them, drawing daggers from hidden nooks and crannies within his armor and handing them out to the lightest armed. I called shenanigans at this point but checked my copy of his character sheet and yep, he'd listed half a dozen daggers hidden on his person for some reason.</p><p></p><p>The under-armed denizens of Westbank beam with gratitude and Gandil drives them out of town and on a wild goose chase, shouting words of encouragement and slogans that should appear in sports drink commercials the whole time.</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p>It's evening by the time Kavos and Gandil make their way to the forest and Kavos casts light to keep them on track. They head east, where the webs get thicker until Gandil calls a stop and points out about 8 of the cat-sized spiders inexplicably traveling as a pack. He suggests that Kavos try to communicate with them and find out where the ettercap is.</p><p></p><p>Kavos just stares at Gandil for a moment before deciding that he just doesn't have the time to explain what's wrong with that plan, he settles on snapping his fingers and saying "Wouldn't you know it, I don't speak the language." Gandil suggests casting a spell to learn their language, but the exasperated priest just says that he can't because Asmodeous hates multi-lingual people.</p><p></p><p>Gandil's backup plan involves stabbing the spiders to death with his bastard sword but Kavos doesn't want to risk a confontation with the spiders if he can help it, so he enacts Plan C. He summons a dog and has it entangle itself in their webbing. While the spiders swarm over the helpless creature Kavos and Gandil sneak past as quickly as they can.</p><p></p><p>They discover a large, dog-sized spider and a pair of the smaller cat-sized ones spinning a new set of webs further up the trail. Kavos casts Cause Fear on the largest one and it instinctively flees, unsure of why the aging cleric terrifies it so. Gandil calls out for the other two spiders to surrender and take him to their leader.</p><p></p><p>I can't tell if he's joking, so I let him roll a Diplomacy check as a standard action, he rolls pretty well and gets a total of 21. His opponents roll to resist and as it turns out, they're still spiders so they respond by trying to eat his face. </p><p></p><p>Gandil's bastard sword flashes quickly and the first spider dies attempting to reach Kavos. The second spider attempts to bite Gandil but fails to penetrate his armor and is sliced cleanly in half.</p><p></p><p>They press further into the forest and nearly walk into the communal web of what looks like dozens of spiders, nearly everything is saturated with webbing. Gandil points out that there were other paths back where they came, but Kavos doesn't want to backtrack when it looks like they're getting so close. Gandil suggests impersonating an ettercap and demanding safe passage that way.</p><p></p><p>Kavos decides he doesn't want to trust his life to any plan that Gandil devises and instead tells Gandil that he's got a plan that will minimize their injuries and clear out the spiders in one fell swoop.</p><p></p><p>Gandil is really into this plan, despite the fact that Kavos answers his repeated questions as to how this is going to work with "Don't worry about it, I know what I have to do; just trust me." He doesn't even seem that concerned when Kavos reveals <em>his</em> part in it.</p><p></p><p>Essentially Kavos instructs Gandil to walk into the middle of the webs and make a lot of noise and movement. Which Gandil did. Which resulted in Gandil being swarmed and bitten by roughly 30 spiders of every shape, size and color that either of them had ever seen before. Once Kavos was satisfied that Gandil was being bittne by ALL the spiders he channels negative energy over the area; wiping out the smaller ones instantly and severely wounding everything else; Gandil included.</p><p></p><p>Gandil tries to dive out of the kill-zone, only to discover that he's become entangled in the webbing so instead his flails helplessly at his bonds while several nightmares worth of spiders continue pumping poison directly into his system. Naturally Kavos launches another area attack. killing more spiders and causing Gandil to loudly question why they're friends.</p><p></p><p>Kavos shouts that Gandil should drink some of the potions that Adrian gave them and discovers that Gandil has actually already given them away to farmers as a sign of goodwill/bravado. Kavos asks Gandil why in the nine hells he'd do something like that and Gandil shouts back (no longer enjoying this plan) that he didn't think Kavos was going to use him as bait.</p><p></p><p>Kavos naturally hits him with a third and final burst of negative energy, dropping the remaining spiders and throwing Gandil into the negatives. After making sure none of the spiders are still moving, Kavos uses up almost all of his healing spells putting Gandil back together. Gandil is horrified to discover that Kavos didn't prepare anything to heal his poison and that he's barely stronger than the frail cleric in his current state.</p><p></p><p>Kavos is now violently opposed to the idea of backtracking, reasoning that things will only get worse with the addition of time and they press onwards despite their sorry state.</p><p></p><p></p><p>They run face first into several more groups of spiders before finally pushing through the webs and into a large clearing. They see an ogre sized creature that appears part man and part spider sitting on the ground cross legged and playing with the cat sized spiders like pets. Four of the dog sized spiders nuzzle close to it contentedly while two spiders nearly the size of horses perch in the trees menacingly, standing guard over their disturbing master.</p><p></p><p>The ettercap stops playing with its pets as the pair enter and as it turns around to face them each of its spiders bristle protectively.</p><p></p><p>Kavos holds up his hands and shouts "I come in peace, we only wish to speak with you."</p><p></p><p>The creature chitters angrily, "What you want?"</p><p></p><p>"We share a mutual enemy," Gandil says theatrically "The dastardly unicorn has something of ours and is blackmailing us into killing you and your spiders!"</p><p></p><p>The ettercap hisses and springs to its feet, its spiders likewise becoming agitated.</p><p></p><p>Kavos waves his outstretched hands and makes calming noises. "No, no, no. We aren't, don't worry. I respect your kind and would prefer if we worked together rather than fight aimlessly."</p><p></p><p>The ettercap's brow furrows and it chitters "Stupid nosy horse. Always bother me...always want me gone."</p><p></p><p>"The unicorn isn't all you have to worry about," Kavos says as he steps forwards, "There are people coming, men who want to destroy your home."</p><p></p><p>The ettercap makes a sound disturbingly close to smacking its lips and says "Me like men, let men come."</p><p></p><p>"No," Kavos says firmly "There are too many coming for you alone to handle."</p><p></p><p>"Me not alone!" the ettercap says, legitimately confused as it strokes its pets again.</p><p></p><p>"Yes and with your cunning, my friend's might and my magic; we can protect your home, keep your spiders fed and destroy all of our enemies." Kavos say soothingly.</p><p></p><p>"What you want me do?" the ettercap asks suspiciously.</p><p></p><p>Kavos smiles "Only what you've been doing: Protect your home. Together, let's kill the unicorn!"</p><p></p><p>The ettercap seems shocked and a little terrified at this suggestion "Nonononono, horse too big, too mean! He squish! He squish!" The spiders seem further agitated by their master's fear.</p><p></p><p>"We know where he is!" Kavos shouts to be heard over the raving monster, "We can ambush him, take him off guard and you won't have to worry about him ever again. In fact, me and my friend will handle him; you just take care of the wolves."</p><p></p><p>The ettercap makes that same smacking sound again. "Horse meat is good meat. Wolf meat is good meat too..."</p><p></p><p>"And you can have all of it, just help us kill that unicorn." Gandil adds.</p><p></p><p>The ettercap nods, "Spider need time. We make big web, horse not squish in web."</p><p></p><p>Gandil raises an eyebrow "I don't...you mean you want to trap him?"</p><p></p><p>The ettercap nods.</p><p></p><p>"Good idea..." Kavos says with a nod.</p><p></p><p>The ettercap points to the trees above. "We make big web. Stupid horse don't see spider, spider catches horse."</p><p></p><p>Kavos grins. "My name is Horace and this is my friend Longarm, what is your name friend?"</p><p></p><p>The ettercap tilts its head and says "Bassa."</p><p></p><p>"So we have a deal then, Bassa?" Kavos asks.</p><p></p><p>The ettercap nods. "You bring horse here?"</p><p></p><p>The pair nod devilishly. This situation might just resolve itself.</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>They agree to give the spiders a night to build their trap and decide to head back to town to rest. On the way out however, Kavos notices a long black wand in a refuse pile and asks Bassa if he can have it. Bassa doesn't care so he leaves the grove with a shiny new wand of Magic Missile.</p><p></p><p>When they arrive back at Westbank they're surprised to find that Looman and his men have already limped back home, having been attacked by both spiders and wolves during their search. Luckily, everyone still seems to be in one piece.</p><p></p><p>Kavos generously uses the remainder of his healing on Looman and the party and is thanked profusely by them. He claims that it's his duty as a follower of....Pelor? Yeah, Pelor sounds right. He and Gandil then retire to their rooms for the night, assuring the townspeople that they intend to continue the search at first light.</p><p></p><p>They wake up early and run through their morning routines quickly so that they can make good on their promise and get their business concluded before the townspeople get nosy. They ride out at a full gallop and discover that the spiders of the forest let them pass unmolested.</p><p></p><p>They check out the ettercap's grove before they do anything else and find it mostly deserted, looking around they discover a thick web up above, brimming with spiders. They grin, realizing that the trap is set.</p><p></p><p>They then backtrack to the unicorn's grove which is also empty, although they get the strong feeling of being watched. For close to an hour all is deathly silent before the unicorn appears, flanked by three wolves.</p><p></p><p>"We do not see the ettercap," the unicorn growls. "Where is its head?"</p><p></p><p>Kavos straightens, "I will not desecrate my hands with that filth. We've gotten rid of the majority of the spiders, your clearing is safe to return to. Where is our sheriff's body?"</p><p></p><p>The unicorn smirks. "We will not desecrate ourselves with the orc-flesh," it mimics, before getting deadly serious. "Your orc for its head. That was the deal man-flesh. THAT was the deal."</p><p></p><p>Kavos bristles slightly, "The ettercap is dead, do we really have to drag his body here? Can't I just show it to you?"</p><p></p><p>"Once we gloat over the ettercap's corpse, you may have your orc." the unicorn says flatly. "Go fetch it."</p><p></p><p>"I will not be treated as a beast of burden!" Kavos shouts.</p><p></p><p>"Then what manner of beast should we treat you as man-flesh?" the unicorn asks, narrowing its eyes.</p><p></p><p>"None." Kavos growls, tightening his grip on his staff.</p><p></p><p>Gandil sees that this is escalating quickly and suggests the unicorn sending wolves to fetch Longarm's corpse while they show the unicorn the dead ettercap. The unicorn stares at him for a moment and then nods, saying that he will have his wolves drag the orc's body to the edge of the forest, once he sees the ettercap he will tell them <em>which</em> edge.</p><p></p><p>Kavos and Gandil look at each other and then Kavos says "You're a creature of good. You know what I've done... How do I know I will not end up with the same fate as the ettercap? Your behavior is too suspicious for my liking."</p><p></p><p>The unicorn's eyes twinkle at the mention of it being a creature of good. "As you say, We are a creature of good...what reason should one such as you even have to doubt our word?"</p><p></p><p>"I've heard that unicorn's are good judges of character," Gandil says, trying to get on the thing's good side. "Even if you don't trust Kavos, you can see that my heart is pure....er."</p><p></p><p>"There is blood on both of your hands man-flesh." the unicorn says, "but there is so much blood in this world...it tends to get on everything."</p><p></p><p>"Come with us unicorn," Kavos says. "Come with us and see the ettercap's corpse with your own eyes. You are a powerful creature, surely you aren't afraid of an old man."</p><p></p><p>"Lead on." says the brutish unicorn. "But be warned, we are the last for a reason. Attempt to deal with us as you did the orc and we will feed your remains to the forest."</p><p></p><p>As they walk, Gandil probes the unicorn as to why it and the ettercap can't live in peace. The unicorn seems irritated by his questions, but it seems irritated with everything.</p><p></p><p>The unicorn explains that the ettercap and its spiders consume everything they find and that no ecosystem can support their behavior for long.</p><p></p><p>"How old are you, unicorn?" Gandil asks, genuinely curious.</p><p></p><p>The unicorn shudders. "Too old," it says remorsefully. "Too old to sire...too old to bring us back."</p><p></p><p>They reach the grove and the unicorn glances around suspiciously. "Where is the aberration?" it growls menacingly.</p><p></p><p>"Further down this way." Kavos says, striding into the grove and heading to the trees on the far side.</p><p></p><p>The unicorn and its wolven entourage continue a little further before they hear "Stupid horse! Stupid horse!" as the ettercap chitters joyously from the trees. A thick web drops and encases the unicorn and all three wolves. The unicorn roars in rage.</p><p></p><p>"You brought this on yourself unicorn!" Gandil says smugly, drawing his sword. "We knew you planned to betray us all along! The ettercap told us everything!"</p><p></p><p>Kavos is about as confused by Gandil's ranting as the unicorn is, but he too readies his staff.</p><p></p><p>The ettercap dances around laughing joyously. "Horse meat! Wolf meat!" it chitters before turning around, drooling expectantly as it faces the party, "Man meat!"</p><p></p><p>"Wait, what?" Kavos sputters before both he and Kavos are entangled in a web of their own.</p><p></p><p>"Why Bassa?" Gandil shouts mournfully, "I believed in you! What about all those stories of the unicorn's treachery, was it all a lie?" the semi-delusional warrior wails, turning back to the unicorn. "We're sorry unicorn, he tricked us! We never should have doubted your gentle good graces!"</p><p></p><p>Gandil rolls a bluff check with a meager +2 bonus to see how convincing he is and rolls a natural 20. The unicorn rolls his sense motive with a respectable +14 and....rolls a 1. They pull the wool over his eyes by the skin of their teeth and I inform the PCs that rather than devious, he only thinks they're idiots. Gandil declares this a thorough success.</p><p></p><p>Swarms of cat-sized spiders, almost a dozen dog-sized spiders and a pair of the horse sized spiders leap from the trees and mob their victims. One of the large spiders bites Gandil, wounding him noticeably and pumping its strength draining venom into his veins. Another of the large spiders leaps onto the unicorn and does the same, the smaller spiders attack everyone equally and everyone takes a few minor cuts and scrapes; Kavos is noticeably weakened by the assault and Gandil feels his strength waning as well.</p><p></p><p>"Unicorn!" Gandil shouts. "The only way that we have a chance is if we all work together! I believe in you unicorn!"</p><p></p><p>The unicorn kicks out once and the massive, intimidating spider that was Bassa's ace in the hole takes almost twice its hp in damage and explodes in a shower of gore. Kavos and Gandil suddenly realized that they nearly backed the wrong horse.</p><p></p><p>"Bassa, you fool!" Kavos shouts, unleashing a burst of negative energy that drops all of the cat-sized spiders in the area at once. The rest are in various stages of injury. </p><p></p><p>Gandil tries to charge the backstabbing ettercap in a fury, but can't break free of his webs. If anything he feels like he's stuck even worse.</p><p></p><p>The ettercap is suddenly terrified, having lost so many spiders so fast. It eyes the massive unicorn on one side and the PCs on the other and decides that this is too rich a meal for its blood. It begins frantically clambering up the web. The last horse-sized spider sinks its fangs into Gandil and he feels his strength wane drastically.</p><p></p><p>The unicorn bucks once and the strands of webs attached to it burst effortlessly, it charges towards Bassa but finds that the ettercap is beyond its reach. One of the wolves frees itself as well and launches into one of the smaller spiders viciously.</p><p></p><p>Kavos uses Command: Fall on the ettercap, but the creature resists the attempt now more terrified than ever. The ettercap disappears into the foliage above, the unicorn roaring in rage. Kavos shouts "Bassa, you lying wretched creature!"</p><p></p><p>The unicorn glares at the PCs battling with the swarm of spiders for their very lives. "We should leave you for the spiders you love so much." it growls, making no effort to assist them. The freed wolf approaches Kavos with a low growl as if angered by his (supposedly accidental) betrayal.</p><p></p><p>Kavos quickly scans the tree tops, sensing their impending doom if he doesn't do something fast. Seeing the barest rustle among the leaves he casts Hold Person and hopes for the best. (Pretty sure ettercaps aren't affected by Hold Person, but I wanted to see what buying another round or two would do for them so I let it slide. Maybe he had a little elf in the wood pile way back when.)</p><p></p><p>Gandil gives a mighty roar and flexes his bulging muscles...however the webs are unimpressed and he trips, entangling himself further.</p><p></p><p>Half a dozen cat-sized spiders flood out of the bushes and onto the web, the large spider hisses angrily. The unicorn smirks and raises a hoof as if to help. "What will you give us man-flesh? What will you offer in exchange for mercy?"</p><p></p><p>"The ettercap!" Kavos shouts, pointing into the trees. "Please!" the elderly cleric begs.</p><p></p><p>The large spider bites into Kavos painfully, driving him to his knees.</p><p></p><p>"I have him held unicorn! Save us and vengeance will be yours!" Kavos entreats. Several more of the smaller spiders bite Kavos, wounding him further and poisoning him so badly he can barely hold his head up. The unicorn continues glaring, weighing their lives vs his blood lust.</p><p></p><p>Kavos casts spiritual weapon and sends it above him to strike at the ettercap while it's held immobile. A spider takes an attack of opportunity and Kavos is left with a single point of strength. Gandil lashes out with his sword and slays one of the spiders menacing Kavos.</p><p></p><p>The unicorn touches Kavos with his horn and the elderly priest feels the poison cleansed from his system. The damage is already done, but it doesn't progress. "Kill the ettercap man-flesh and you may leave this grove alive."</p><p></p><p>"With the orc?" Kavos asks desperately.</p><p></p><p>"A deal...is a deal." the unicorn concedes.</p><p></p><p>Kavos casts Summon Monster, chanting to his dark master while Gandil takes out some of the spiders menacing him.</p><p></p><p>The unicorn is too busy watching the ordeal in the trees, its breath held in anticipation. Gandil shouts "Free me from these webs unicorn and I can aid in capturing the ettercap. I have a wondrous item which allows you to strike a target from a range greater than any mere blade would allow. It's called a shortbow. Surely you've heard of such a device unicorn!"</p><p></p><p>Kavos finishes summoning a flock of eagles directly next to the treachorous Bassa, he goes all out casting Magic Missile from his wand, screaming for his eagles to kill and directing his spiritual weapon to strike the ettercap as well. Bassa takes a considerable amount of damage, but he's still breathing and Kavos has only a single round more to do his thing.</p><p></p><p>The unicorn rushes beneath the trees, ignoring Gandil's pleas for assistance and stares up at the dangling ettercap like a kid waiting up on Christmas eve to murder Santa Claus.</p><p></p><p>"Dammit unicorn!" Gandil shouts pushing against the webs with everything he has and finally bursting them with a tremendous display of strength. Gandil runs up behind the unicorn, staring at the dangling ettercap as well.</p><p></p><p>Kavos realizes that he isn't going to kill the ettercap this way and directs a final nova attack (eagles, magic missile and spiritual weapon) to attack the trees supporting Bassa. He just barely deals enough damage for the limb to snap and the ettercap to be dropped onto the forest floor below.</p><p></p><p>Bassa strikes the ground hard and groans, attempting to stand up. The unicorn comes down with its considerable mass and squashes the squealing creature like a bug, its milky blood flowing freely from its wounds. The unicorn comes down a second time and it ceases squealing.</p><p></p><p>Gandil stares at the creature's corpse and kicks it once himself for good measure, the unicorn rolls around in the gore, rutting like a beast and generally turning the corpse into a fine paste. Gandil lands kicks of his own where he can as a sign of friendship.</p><p></p><p>Kavos collapses unconscious, finally realizing the extent of his wounds.</p><p></p><p>"Despite your treachery, our will is done. The ettercap will poison our forest no more." the unicorn states, once it's had its fill of carnage. "Our wolves will bring the orc to the grove."</p><p></p><p>A pack of wolves rushes into the clearing, chasing off what's left of the now docile spiders and dragging Longarm's corpse. One of the wolves is dragging the orc's massive falchion as well.</p><p></p><p>"The orc's blade was enchanted, we can smell the magic in the steel." the unicorn says. "The trophy of your kill will be your reward for bringing the murder of our brothers to justice."</p><p></p><p>Gandil smiles, "Thanks. You know unicorn, we make a pretty good team. You should aid us in the battle against the Wandering Duke, you must see that they are going to trample through this forest."</p><p></p><p>"We will think on it." the unicorn says genuinely. "The forest is not as mighty as it once was and us....we are too old to care. But a favor for a favor? Yes. Yes, that we can do. When we have need again, we will send for you. In return, we will answer your call when you need us most."</p><p></p><p>Gandil gathers up Kavos as the unicorn and its entourage disappears into the forest and the cleric tells him that he must wrap Longarm in the webbing before they go, Gandil grins and does as he's bid.</p><p></p><p>Kavos asks Gandil to carry him, however Gandil assures him that he'll be back once he gets their horses. Kavos points out that they're a good ways away and he's all but defenseless at the moment, but Gandil still doesn't want to actually carry him; citing it being bad for his back. Gandil suggests that Kavos should summon a horse or something and ride that sucker out of here.</p><p></p><p>The argument goes on for longer that it really should, but eventually Kavos convinces Gandil to piggy back him to the edge of the forest before he's crushed under the weight of his own skeletal system. He simply suggests that it'll look really badass.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>They arrive in town and Gandil sweeps Kavos off his horse so that he can march into the town square dramatically. The townspeople are aghast at the shape that they're in and the deputies have already gathered there along with the requested ranger. Deputy Looman shouts that he told them they needed to stick together, but he's silenced by the rest.</p><p></p><p>Kavos tells a harrowing story of stumbling upon their lair and doing battle with the mighty ettercap, he plays up Gandil's bravery and claims that after Gandil singlehandedly slew a score of monstrous spiders he struck the ettercap down with a single blow of his sword. Kavos sighs and says that because of his own weakness Gandil was unable to search the clearing after the battle and so they returned to Westbank.</p><p></p><p>The entire search party, all of the assembled farmers, the three deputies and the ranger set out at once to search that clearing. Father Adrian leads the two of them into his temple where he tends to Kavos's wounds offering prayers to the sun god and thanks to the hapless heroes.</p><p></p><p>Kavos asks where Elder Hadran is and Adrian explains that the elder is calming the fears of the people. With the sheriff missing their imaginations are running wild. Kavos suggests that Adrian have Elder Hadran call a town meeting so that they can put some of their fears to rest. Father Adrian agrees that it's a good idea and within a few hours almost every citizen of Westbank is assembled in front of the temple of Pelor.</p><p></p><p>Once Elder Hadran (a man who looks to be in his 70's with a full grey beard and bright blue eyes) calms down the crowd, Kavos dramatically drags himself before them. Gandil makes a show of offering a strong, supporting arm. They repeat their false tale of bravery and heroism for the assembled crowd.</p><p></p><p>Gandil shouts that the people of Westbank no longer have any cause to fear, because they've slain the beast responsible for their troubles in the forest and if any other beast should rear its head, he'll slay that one too!</p><p></p><p>Every gasps and murmurs among themselves as the story progresses and all in all there's considerable uproar. As the excitement grows the crowd gets louder until the ranger and deputies return, bearing a body wrapped in a simple cloak. The crowd goes deathly silent.</p><p></p><p>The ranger is a tall, dark haired man in a green, muddy cloak with a large bow slung over his shoulder. He holds up a hand for silence as the visibly grieving deputies lower their former boss to the ground.</p><p></p><p>"We found Longarm," the man referred to as Jonathan Lark calls out, motioning to the body. "It looks like he found his way into a nest of spiders." the ranger says bluntly. Several people break down into tears, everybody seems shocked.</p><p></p><p>"Where are his next of kin?" Gandil demands. "They have to be informed!"</p><p></p><p>"He's not a local..." Father Adrian says with a pained sigh. "His family is more than 80 miles away."</p><p></p><p>Kavos winces theatrically and says that he and Gandil would gladly journey to tell them. Gandil demands that Elder Hadran take the body somewhere private because it's upsetting the villagers.</p><p></p><p>Father Adrian obliges and removes the body himself, showing surprising strength for a man of his age and stature. Elder Hadran dismisses the meeting, urging everyone to go home. They murmur fearfully as they go.</p><p></p><p>Elder Hadran sighs and asks that the PCs join him in his home.</p><p></p><p>They oblige and after shaking Jonathan's hand and thanking him for his service they meet the Elder in his home. Hadran invites them in and bars the door as they enter. He invites them into his sitting room and motions to a pair of comfortable chairs, taking his place in his own well worn seat. The PCs do as they're bid.</p><p></p><p>"Don't think me cold gentlemen..." Elder Hadran says with a pained sigh., "But we have a problem in this town and I hope that you might be the solution."</p><p></p><p>Kavos raises his brow curiously. "How can we assist?"</p><p></p><p>"The people are terrified, our protector has been slain by beasts and our troubles seem to multiply by the day. We need a sheriff to maintain order and set people's minds to rest..." Elder Hadran says, trailing off hopefully.</p><p></p><p>"Who do you have in mind?" Gandil asks innocently.</p><p></p><p>"W-would one of you be interested in the job?" Elder Hadran asks, "We don't have much to offer you, except accommodations and a modest wage. Once trade starts back up though, we'll have more to offer."</p><p></p><p>Kavos and Gandil glance at each other. </p><p></p><p>"Five gold per week, plus a house, food and whatever you can find in the sheriff's office." Elder Hadran offers desperately.</p><p></p><p>"What you really need..." suggests Gandil "Is strong leadership in this town. Wouldn't you agree? A sheriff can only do so much after all."</p><p></p><p>Both Kavos and Elder Hadran look at him questioningly. </p><p></p><p>"Your people don't seem to have anything in the way of organized leadership, if you want things to change then you're going to have to take charge of this situation. You need a mayor, and I nominate Kavos." Gandil says.</p><p></p><p>"No, please..." Kavos responds, shaking his head and waving his hands. "You're getting ahead of yourself Gandil. I'm sure that Elder Hadran would make a fine mayor."</p><p></p><p>Elder Hadran seems to consider the idea. "Truth be known, we've never had a real mayor before. Folks mostly do what they will and I just do what I can to make sure nobody goes too hungry..."</p><p></p><p>Gandil smiles and leans forward in his chair, "Don't you think that this town needs strong direction? Why don't we ask everyone else? Why don't we hold an election? A mayor could really coordinate our defenses, I know that you've had more than your share of loss this year."</p><p></p><p>Elder Hadran nods, "A mayor may do this village some good... If you're serious about taking on that sort of responsibility then I'll spread the word. Although we only really have a few dozen homesteads and about 30 people about town. Not many citizens to draw on."</p><p></p><p>Kavos and Gandil look at each other with smiles plastered on their faces. </p><p></p><p>"Spread the word." Kavos says, "If you'll have me, I'll lead this town to greatness."</p><p></p><p>Elder Hadran looks pleased and holds out his hand to Gandil, Longarm's bronze star shining from his palm. "How about you young man? Will you be our new sheriff?"</p><p></p><p>Gandil stares at the star and feels a rush of genuine emotion knowing that these people were depending on him to save them. He takes the star wordlessly and pins it to the front of his armor, a single manly tear falling down his cheek. "I'll do it." he finally says. "I'll make Longarm proud."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Kidjake, post: 6746455, member: 6776876"] After their meeting with the unicorn, Kavos and Gandil hightail it back to town to prepare for their coming confrontation with the ettercap. They drop off their gathered silk with Mrs. Boddan and grab a quick bite to eat before they seek out Father Adrian. Father Adrian has gathered up Sheriff Longarm's deputies in front of the temple of Pelor and the three men are squeezing into their scalemail and strapping longswords to their sides as Father Adrian explains that they have to gather a search party and scour the forest for the missing sheriff. The deputies seem lost without Longarm's guidance but Father Adrian assures them that Elder Hadran is gathering the farmers even as they speak. Kavos tells Father Adrian that they lost the tracks and had to come back and Adrian sighs in disappointment. Gandil draws Adrian away from the fumbling deputies and asks what he knows about creatures in the forest, specifically about things large enough to take the sheriff. Father Adrian says that the town has been plagued by creatures from the forest for years, Kobolds; Dryads; Unicorns... all manner of strange creatures have been reported over the years but ever since the druids disappeared they lost contact with the forest. Father Adrian mentions that the forest has been becoming steadily more dangerous for years and at this point he can only think of a single man that could still be said to be intimately familiar with the forest. Gandil presses for more information about the man and discovers that his name is Jonathan Lark and he's a ranger from the tiny village of Briar's Pass nestled deep in the forest itself, he comes by every month or so to trade meat and furs for whatever he can carry home. As hard as Westbank has fallen recently, Briar's Pass has been devastated. It's whispered that they have been under siege by nature itself. Gandil naturally wants to seek out this ranger to make their lives easier, but Kavos doesn't want to spend a day traipsing about in a spider and wolf infested wood just to find a man that'll charge them to go traipsing about a spider and wolf infested wood for them. Kavos convinces Father Adrian to send one of the deputies to Briar's Pass to ask for the ranger's aid and Horace (a short, thickly built man in his mid 30's with a flat face and several prominent missing teeth) volunteers without a second thought. Since they already know where Sheriff Longarm is going to be, their only goal at this point is to keep the search party far away from their dealings with the unicorn until they can set the body up convincingly. To this end, Gandil spins a story about losing the sheriff's trail far further north in the forest than they ever went. They gather up the farmer posse that Elder Hadran assembled in the street and begin to lay out their plan. Most of the farmer's aren't too keen on the idea of storming the forest and several mutter that the fool orc brought it on himself. Several others ask what they're paying Sheriff Longarm for if they've got to go save him. Kavos attempts to appeal to the farmers' civic spirit, but they lose almost half the group to apathy and fear before Father Adrian steps in with tears in his eyes and shouts that "Curtis Longarm would gladly lay down his life for ANY one of you! You won't even spend an afternoon to make sure that he's still alive?" The remaining citizens are shamed into staying and shout taunts at the backs of their neighbors, calling them cowards and saying that the sheriff wouldn't abandon them. When it's all said and done the deputies are left with about 10 men with more courage or pride than common sense. The deputies divvy up the farmers into several groups and draw a rough grid in the dirt to give everyone an idea of where they'll be searching. A tall, gaunt young man with thick red stubble and sharp features, who the locals call Looman, suggests focusing their search on the southern portion of the forest; reasoning that scavengers wouldn't have dragged a corpse as far as Gandil claims they did and the fact that Gandil tracked them so far north without finding Longarm's body might mean that the sheriff is alive and wounded somewhere along the trail. Gandil starts to argue but Kavos congratulates the young man on such an insightful theory and suggests that Gandil and himself will focus their attention there. Looman suggests arming the farmers with any blade they can get their hands on and clearing the brush to be safe, but Kavos assures him that they'll make do without any farmers. Kavos smiles and explains "We don't want to stretch the search party too thin." The final deputy, an older; balding gentleman by the name of Devon agrees that it makes sense not to stretch their resources any further than necessary and the matter is settled. As preparations are finalized, Father Adrian calls for everyone to wait and rushes into the temple; returning shortly with a wooden box which he places on the ground and opens. Inside are a variety of potions and Adrian hands several Cure Moderate Wounds and Delay Poison potions to each group; he hands out almost the entire supply and refuses Kavos's offer of compensation, saying that Curtis Longarm is a dear friend of the town and himself and he only wants to see the sheriff returned; alive for healing or dead for burial. Gandil takes this opportunity while everyone's gathered here to leap onto a barrel and loudly exclaim that "You have no need to worry citizens of Westbank, until we find your sheriff you're all under MY protection!" The crowd cheers and Gandil leaps down amid them, drawing daggers from hidden nooks and crannies within his armor and handing them out to the lightest armed. I called shenanigans at this point but checked my copy of his character sheet and yep, he'd listed half a dozen daggers hidden on his person for some reason. The under-armed denizens of Westbank beam with gratitude and Gandil drives them out of town and on a wild goose chase, shouting words of encouragement and slogans that should appear in sports drink commercials the whole time. It's evening by the time Kavos and Gandil make their way to the forest and Kavos casts light to keep them on track. They head east, where the webs get thicker until Gandil calls a stop and points out about 8 of the cat-sized spiders inexplicably traveling as a pack. He suggests that Kavos try to communicate with them and find out where the ettercap is. Kavos just stares at Gandil for a moment before deciding that he just doesn't have the time to explain what's wrong with that plan, he settles on snapping his fingers and saying "Wouldn't you know it, I don't speak the language." Gandil suggests casting a spell to learn their language, but the exasperated priest just says that he can't because Asmodeous hates multi-lingual people. Gandil's backup plan involves stabbing the spiders to death with his bastard sword but Kavos doesn't want to risk a confontation with the spiders if he can help it, so he enacts Plan C. He summons a dog and has it entangle itself in their webbing. While the spiders swarm over the helpless creature Kavos and Gandil sneak past as quickly as they can. They discover a large, dog-sized spider and a pair of the smaller cat-sized ones spinning a new set of webs further up the trail. Kavos casts Cause Fear on the largest one and it instinctively flees, unsure of why the aging cleric terrifies it so. Gandil calls out for the other two spiders to surrender and take him to their leader. I can't tell if he's joking, so I let him roll a Diplomacy check as a standard action, he rolls pretty well and gets a total of 21. His opponents roll to resist and as it turns out, they're still spiders so they respond by trying to eat his face. Gandil's bastard sword flashes quickly and the first spider dies attempting to reach Kavos. The second spider attempts to bite Gandil but fails to penetrate his armor and is sliced cleanly in half. They press further into the forest and nearly walk into the communal web of what looks like dozens of spiders, nearly everything is saturated with webbing. Gandil points out that there were other paths back where they came, but Kavos doesn't want to backtrack when it looks like they're getting so close. Gandil suggests impersonating an ettercap and demanding safe passage that way. Kavos decides he doesn't want to trust his life to any plan that Gandil devises and instead tells Gandil that he's got a plan that will minimize their injuries and clear out the spiders in one fell swoop. Gandil is really into this plan, despite the fact that Kavos answers his repeated questions as to how this is going to work with "Don't worry about it, I know what I have to do; just trust me." He doesn't even seem that concerned when Kavos reveals [I]his[/I] part in it. Essentially Kavos instructs Gandil to walk into the middle of the webs and make a lot of noise and movement. Which Gandil did. Which resulted in Gandil being swarmed and bitten by roughly 30 spiders of every shape, size and color that either of them had ever seen before. Once Kavos was satisfied that Gandil was being bittne by ALL the spiders he channels negative energy over the area; wiping out the smaller ones instantly and severely wounding everything else; Gandil included. Gandil tries to dive out of the kill-zone, only to discover that he's become entangled in the webbing so instead his flails helplessly at his bonds while several nightmares worth of spiders continue pumping poison directly into his system. Naturally Kavos launches another area attack. killing more spiders and causing Gandil to loudly question why they're friends. Kavos shouts that Gandil should drink some of the potions that Adrian gave them and discovers that Gandil has actually already given them away to farmers as a sign of goodwill/bravado. Kavos asks Gandil why in the nine hells he'd do something like that and Gandil shouts back (no longer enjoying this plan) that he didn't think Kavos was going to use him as bait. Kavos naturally hits him with a third and final burst of negative energy, dropping the remaining spiders and throwing Gandil into the negatives. After making sure none of the spiders are still moving, Kavos uses up almost all of his healing spells putting Gandil back together. Gandil is horrified to discover that Kavos didn't prepare anything to heal his poison and that he's barely stronger than the frail cleric in his current state. Kavos is now violently opposed to the idea of backtracking, reasoning that things will only get worse with the addition of time and they press onwards despite their sorry state. They run face first into several more groups of spiders before finally pushing through the webs and into a large clearing. They see an ogre sized creature that appears part man and part spider sitting on the ground cross legged and playing with the cat sized spiders like pets. Four of the dog sized spiders nuzzle close to it contentedly while two spiders nearly the size of horses perch in the trees menacingly, standing guard over their disturbing master. The ettercap stops playing with its pets as the pair enter and as it turns around to face them each of its spiders bristle protectively. Kavos holds up his hands and shouts "I come in peace, we only wish to speak with you." The creature chitters angrily, "What you want?" "We share a mutual enemy," Gandil says theatrically "The dastardly unicorn has something of ours and is blackmailing us into killing you and your spiders!" The ettercap hisses and springs to its feet, its spiders likewise becoming agitated. Kavos waves his outstretched hands and makes calming noises. "No, no, no. We aren't, don't worry. I respect your kind and would prefer if we worked together rather than fight aimlessly." The ettercap's brow furrows and it chitters "Stupid nosy horse. Always bother me...always want me gone." "The unicorn isn't all you have to worry about," Kavos says as he steps forwards, "There are people coming, men who want to destroy your home." The ettercap makes a sound disturbingly close to smacking its lips and says "Me like men, let men come." "No," Kavos says firmly "There are too many coming for you alone to handle." "Me not alone!" the ettercap says, legitimately confused as it strokes its pets again. "Yes and with your cunning, my friend's might and my magic; we can protect your home, keep your spiders fed and destroy all of our enemies." Kavos say soothingly. "What you want me do?" the ettercap asks suspiciously. Kavos smiles "Only what you've been doing: Protect your home. Together, let's kill the unicorn!" The ettercap seems shocked and a little terrified at this suggestion "Nonononono, horse too big, too mean! He squish! He squish!" The spiders seem further agitated by their master's fear. "We know where he is!" Kavos shouts to be heard over the raving monster, "We can ambush him, take him off guard and you won't have to worry about him ever again. In fact, me and my friend will handle him; you just take care of the wolves." The ettercap makes that same smacking sound again. "Horse meat is good meat. Wolf meat is good meat too..." "And you can have all of it, just help us kill that unicorn." Gandil adds. The ettercap nods, "Spider need time. We make big web, horse not squish in web." Gandil raises an eyebrow "I don't...you mean you want to trap him?" The ettercap nods. "Good idea..." Kavos says with a nod. The ettercap points to the trees above. "We make big web. Stupid horse don't see spider, spider catches horse." Kavos grins. "My name is Horace and this is my friend Longarm, what is your name friend?" The ettercap tilts its head and says "Bassa." "So we have a deal then, Bassa?" Kavos asks. The ettercap nods. "You bring horse here?" The pair nod devilishly. This situation might just resolve itself. They agree to give the spiders a night to build their trap and decide to head back to town to rest. On the way out however, Kavos notices a long black wand in a refuse pile and asks Bassa if he can have it. Bassa doesn't care so he leaves the grove with a shiny new wand of Magic Missile. When they arrive back at Westbank they're surprised to find that Looman and his men have already limped back home, having been attacked by both spiders and wolves during their search. Luckily, everyone still seems to be in one piece. Kavos generously uses the remainder of his healing on Looman and the party and is thanked profusely by them. He claims that it's his duty as a follower of....Pelor? Yeah, Pelor sounds right. He and Gandil then retire to their rooms for the night, assuring the townspeople that they intend to continue the search at first light. They wake up early and run through their morning routines quickly so that they can make good on their promise and get their business concluded before the townspeople get nosy. They ride out at a full gallop and discover that the spiders of the forest let them pass unmolested. They check out the ettercap's grove before they do anything else and find it mostly deserted, looking around they discover a thick web up above, brimming with spiders. They grin, realizing that the trap is set. They then backtrack to the unicorn's grove which is also empty, although they get the strong feeling of being watched. For close to an hour all is deathly silent before the unicorn appears, flanked by three wolves. "We do not see the ettercap," the unicorn growls. "Where is its head?" Kavos straightens, "I will not desecrate my hands with that filth. We've gotten rid of the majority of the spiders, your clearing is safe to return to. Where is our sheriff's body?" The unicorn smirks. "We will not desecrate ourselves with the orc-flesh," it mimics, before getting deadly serious. "Your orc for its head. That was the deal man-flesh. THAT was the deal." Kavos bristles slightly, "The ettercap is dead, do we really have to drag his body here? Can't I just show it to you?" "Once we gloat over the ettercap's corpse, you may have your orc." the unicorn says flatly. "Go fetch it." "I will not be treated as a beast of burden!" Kavos shouts. "Then what manner of beast should we treat you as man-flesh?" the unicorn asks, narrowing its eyes. "None." Kavos growls, tightening his grip on his staff. Gandil sees that this is escalating quickly and suggests the unicorn sending wolves to fetch Longarm's corpse while they show the unicorn the dead ettercap. The unicorn stares at him for a moment and then nods, saying that he will have his wolves drag the orc's body to the edge of the forest, once he sees the ettercap he will tell them [i]which[/i] edge. Kavos and Gandil look at each other and then Kavos says "You're a creature of good. You know what I've done... How do I know I will not end up with the same fate as the ettercap? Your behavior is too suspicious for my liking." The unicorn's eyes twinkle at the mention of it being a creature of good. "As you say, We are a creature of good...what reason should one such as you even have to doubt our word?" "I've heard that unicorn's are good judges of character," Gandil says, trying to get on the thing's good side. "Even if you don't trust Kavos, you can see that my heart is pure....er." "There is blood on both of your hands man-flesh." the unicorn says, "but there is so much blood in this world...it tends to get on everything." "Come with us unicorn," Kavos says. "Come with us and see the ettercap's corpse with your own eyes. You are a powerful creature, surely you aren't afraid of an old man." "Lead on." says the brutish unicorn. "But be warned, we are the last for a reason. Attempt to deal with us as you did the orc and we will feed your remains to the forest." As they walk, Gandil probes the unicorn as to why it and the ettercap can't live in peace. The unicorn seems irritated by his questions, but it seems irritated with everything. The unicorn explains that the ettercap and its spiders consume everything they find and that no ecosystem can support their behavior for long. "How old are you, unicorn?" Gandil asks, genuinely curious. The unicorn shudders. "Too old," it says remorsefully. "Too old to sire...too old to bring us back." They reach the grove and the unicorn glances around suspiciously. "Where is the aberration?" it growls menacingly. "Further down this way." Kavos says, striding into the grove and heading to the trees on the far side. The unicorn and its wolven entourage continue a little further before they hear "Stupid horse! Stupid horse!" as the ettercap chitters joyously from the trees. A thick web drops and encases the unicorn and all three wolves. The unicorn roars in rage. "You brought this on yourself unicorn!" Gandil says smugly, drawing his sword. "We knew you planned to betray us all along! The ettercap told us everything!" Kavos is about as confused by Gandil's ranting as the unicorn is, but he too readies his staff. The ettercap dances around laughing joyously. "Horse meat! Wolf meat!" it chitters before turning around, drooling expectantly as it faces the party, "Man meat!" "Wait, what?" Kavos sputters before both he and Kavos are entangled in a web of their own. "Why Bassa?" Gandil shouts mournfully, "I believed in you! What about all those stories of the unicorn's treachery, was it all a lie?" the semi-delusional warrior wails, turning back to the unicorn. "We're sorry unicorn, he tricked us! We never should have doubted your gentle good graces!" Gandil rolls a bluff check with a meager +2 bonus to see how convincing he is and rolls a natural 20. The unicorn rolls his sense motive with a respectable +14 and....rolls a 1. They pull the wool over his eyes by the skin of their teeth and I inform the PCs that rather than devious, he only thinks they're idiots. Gandil declares this a thorough success. Swarms of cat-sized spiders, almost a dozen dog-sized spiders and a pair of the horse sized spiders leap from the trees and mob their victims. One of the large spiders bites Gandil, wounding him noticeably and pumping its strength draining venom into his veins. Another of the large spiders leaps onto the unicorn and does the same, the smaller spiders attack everyone equally and everyone takes a few minor cuts and scrapes; Kavos is noticeably weakened by the assault and Gandil feels his strength waning as well. "Unicorn!" Gandil shouts. "The only way that we have a chance is if we all work together! I believe in you unicorn!" The unicorn kicks out once and the massive, intimidating spider that was Bassa's ace in the hole takes almost twice its hp in damage and explodes in a shower of gore. Kavos and Gandil suddenly realized that they nearly backed the wrong horse. "Bassa, you fool!" Kavos shouts, unleashing a burst of negative energy that drops all of the cat-sized spiders in the area at once. The rest are in various stages of injury. Gandil tries to charge the backstabbing ettercap in a fury, but can't break free of his webs. If anything he feels like he's stuck even worse. The ettercap is suddenly terrified, having lost so many spiders so fast. It eyes the massive unicorn on one side and the PCs on the other and decides that this is too rich a meal for its blood. It begins frantically clambering up the web. The last horse-sized spider sinks its fangs into Gandil and he feels his strength wane drastically. The unicorn bucks once and the strands of webs attached to it burst effortlessly, it charges towards Bassa but finds that the ettercap is beyond its reach. One of the wolves frees itself as well and launches into one of the smaller spiders viciously. Kavos uses Command: Fall on the ettercap, but the creature resists the attempt now more terrified than ever. The ettercap disappears into the foliage above, the unicorn roaring in rage. Kavos shouts "Bassa, you lying wretched creature!" The unicorn glares at the PCs battling with the swarm of spiders for their very lives. "We should leave you for the spiders you love so much." it growls, making no effort to assist them. The freed wolf approaches Kavos with a low growl as if angered by his (supposedly accidental) betrayal. Kavos quickly scans the tree tops, sensing their impending doom if he doesn't do something fast. Seeing the barest rustle among the leaves he casts Hold Person and hopes for the best. (Pretty sure ettercaps aren't affected by Hold Person, but I wanted to see what buying another round or two would do for them so I let it slide. Maybe he had a little elf in the wood pile way back when.) Gandil gives a mighty roar and flexes his bulging muscles...however the webs are unimpressed and he trips, entangling himself further. Half a dozen cat-sized spiders flood out of the bushes and onto the web, the large spider hisses angrily. The unicorn smirks and raises a hoof as if to help. "What will you give us man-flesh? What will you offer in exchange for mercy?" "The ettercap!" Kavos shouts, pointing into the trees. "Please!" the elderly cleric begs. The large spider bites into Kavos painfully, driving him to his knees. "I have him held unicorn! Save us and vengeance will be yours!" Kavos entreats. Several more of the smaller spiders bite Kavos, wounding him further and poisoning him so badly he can barely hold his head up. The unicorn continues glaring, weighing their lives vs his blood lust. Kavos casts spiritual weapon and sends it above him to strike at the ettercap while it's held immobile. A spider takes an attack of opportunity and Kavos is left with a single point of strength. Gandil lashes out with his sword and slays one of the spiders menacing Kavos. The unicorn touches Kavos with his horn and the elderly priest feels the poison cleansed from his system. The damage is already done, but it doesn't progress. "Kill the ettercap man-flesh and you may leave this grove alive." "With the orc?" Kavos asks desperately. "A deal...is a deal." the unicorn concedes. Kavos casts Summon Monster, chanting to his dark master while Gandil takes out some of the spiders menacing him. The unicorn is too busy watching the ordeal in the trees, its breath held in anticipation. Gandil shouts "Free me from these webs unicorn and I can aid in capturing the ettercap. I have a wondrous item which allows you to strike a target from a range greater than any mere blade would allow. It's called a shortbow. Surely you've heard of such a device unicorn!" Kavos finishes summoning a flock of eagles directly next to the treachorous Bassa, he goes all out casting Magic Missile from his wand, screaming for his eagles to kill and directing his spiritual weapon to strike the ettercap as well. Bassa takes a considerable amount of damage, but he's still breathing and Kavos has only a single round more to do his thing. The unicorn rushes beneath the trees, ignoring Gandil's pleas for assistance and stares up at the dangling ettercap like a kid waiting up on Christmas eve to murder Santa Claus. "Dammit unicorn!" Gandil shouts pushing against the webs with everything he has and finally bursting them with a tremendous display of strength. Gandil runs up behind the unicorn, staring at the dangling ettercap as well. Kavos realizes that he isn't going to kill the ettercap this way and directs a final nova attack (eagles, magic missile and spiritual weapon) to attack the trees supporting Bassa. He just barely deals enough damage for the limb to snap and the ettercap to be dropped onto the forest floor below. Bassa strikes the ground hard and groans, attempting to stand up. The unicorn comes down with its considerable mass and squashes the squealing creature like a bug, its milky blood flowing freely from its wounds. The unicorn comes down a second time and it ceases squealing. Gandil stares at the creature's corpse and kicks it once himself for good measure, the unicorn rolls around in the gore, rutting like a beast and generally turning the corpse into a fine paste. Gandil lands kicks of his own where he can as a sign of friendship. Kavos collapses unconscious, finally realizing the extent of his wounds. "Despite your treachery, our will is done. The ettercap will poison our forest no more." the unicorn states, once it's had its fill of carnage. "Our wolves will bring the orc to the grove." A pack of wolves rushes into the clearing, chasing off what's left of the now docile spiders and dragging Longarm's corpse. One of the wolves is dragging the orc's massive falchion as well. "The orc's blade was enchanted, we can smell the magic in the steel." the unicorn says. "The trophy of your kill will be your reward for bringing the murder of our brothers to justice." Gandil smiles, "Thanks. You know unicorn, we make a pretty good team. You should aid us in the battle against the Wandering Duke, you must see that they are going to trample through this forest." "We will think on it." the unicorn says genuinely. "The forest is not as mighty as it once was and us....we are too old to care. But a favor for a favor? Yes. Yes, that we can do. When we have need again, we will send for you. In return, we will answer your call when you need us most." Gandil gathers up Kavos as the unicorn and its entourage disappears into the forest and the cleric tells him that he must wrap Longarm in the webbing before they go, Gandil grins and does as he's bid. Kavos asks Gandil to carry him, however Gandil assures him that he'll be back once he gets their horses. Kavos points out that they're a good ways away and he's all but defenseless at the moment, but Gandil still doesn't want to actually carry him; citing it being bad for his back. Gandil suggests that Kavos should summon a horse or something and ride that sucker out of here. The argument goes on for longer that it really should, but eventually Kavos convinces Gandil to piggy back him to the edge of the forest before he's crushed under the weight of his own skeletal system. He simply suggests that it'll look really badass. They arrive in town and Gandil sweeps Kavos off his horse so that he can march into the town square dramatically. The townspeople are aghast at the shape that they're in and the deputies have already gathered there along with the requested ranger. Deputy Looman shouts that he told them they needed to stick together, but he's silenced by the rest. Kavos tells a harrowing story of stumbling upon their lair and doing battle with the mighty ettercap, he plays up Gandil's bravery and claims that after Gandil singlehandedly slew a score of monstrous spiders he struck the ettercap down with a single blow of his sword. Kavos sighs and says that because of his own weakness Gandil was unable to search the clearing after the battle and so they returned to Westbank. The entire search party, all of the assembled farmers, the three deputies and the ranger set out at once to search that clearing. Father Adrian leads the two of them into his temple where he tends to Kavos's wounds offering prayers to the sun god and thanks to the hapless heroes. Kavos asks where Elder Hadran is and Adrian explains that the elder is calming the fears of the people. With the sheriff missing their imaginations are running wild. Kavos suggests that Adrian have Elder Hadran call a town meeting so that they can put some of their fears to rest. Father Adrian agrees that it's a good idea and within a few hours almost every citizen of Westbank is assembled in front of the temple of Pelor. Once Elder Hadran (a man who looks to be in his 70's with a full grey beard and bright blue eyes) calms down the crowd, Kavos dramatically drags himself before them. Gandil makes a show of offering a strong, supporting arm. They repeat their false tale of bravery and heroism for the assembled crowd. Gandil shouts that the people of Westbank no longer have any cause to fear, because they've slain the beast responsible for their troubles in the forest and if any other beast should rear its head, he'll slay that one too! Every gasps and murmurs among themselves as the story progresses and all in all there's considerable uproar. As the excitement grows the crowd gets louder until the ranger and deputies return, bearing a body wrapped in a simple cloak. The crowd goes deathly silent. The ranger is a tall, dark haired man in a green, muddy cloak with a large bow slung over his shoulder. He holds up a hand for silence as the visibly grieving deputies lower their former boss to the ground. "We found Longarm," the man referred to as Jonathan Lark calls out, motioning to the body. "It looks like he found his way into a nest of spiders." the ranger says bluntly. Several people break down into tears, everybody seems shocked. "Where are his next of kin?" Gandil demands. "They have to be informed!" "He's not a local..." Father Adrian says with a pained sigh. "His family is more than 80 miles away." Kavos winces theatrically and says that he and Gandil would gladly journey to tell them. Gandil demands that Elder Hadran take the body somewhere private because it's upsetting the villagers. Father Adrian obliges and removes the body himself, showing surprising strength for a man of his age and stature. Elder Hadran dismisses the meeting, urging everyone to go home. They murmur fearfully as they go. Elder Hadran sighs and asks that the PCs join him in his home. They oblige and after shaking Jonathan's hand and thanking him for his service they meet the Elder in his home. Hadran invites them in and bars the door as they enter. He invites them into his sitting room and motions to a pair of comfortable chairs, taking his place in his own well worn seat. The PCs do as they're bid. "Don't think me cold gentlemen..." Elder Hadran says with a pained sigh., "But we have a problem in this town and I hope that you might be the solution." Kavos raises his brow curiously. "How can we assist?" "The people are terrified, our protector has been slain by beasts and our troubles seem to multiply by the day. We need a sheriff to maintain order and set people's minds to rest..." Elder Hadran says, trailing off hopefully. "Who do you have in mind?" Gandil asks innocently. "W-would one of you be interested in the job?" Elder Hadran asks, "We don't have much to offer you, except accommodations and a modest wage. Once trade starts back up though, we'll have more to offer." Kavos and Gandil glance at each other. "Five gold per week, plus a house, food and whatever you can find in the sheriff's office." Elder Hadran offers desperately. "What you really need..." suggests Gandil "Is strong leadership in this town. Wouldn't you agree? A sheriff can only do so much after all." Both Kavos and Elder Hadran look at him questioningly. "Your people don't seem to have anything in the way of organized leadership, if you want things to change then you're going to have to take charge of this situation. You need a mayor, and I nominate Kavos." Gandil says. "No, please..." Kavos responds, shaking his head and waving his hands. "You're getting ahead of yourself Gandil. I'm sure that Elder Hadran would make a fine mayor." Elder Hadran seems to consider the idea. "Truth be known, we've never had a real mayor before. Folks mostly do what they will and I just do what I can to make sure nobody goes too hungry..." Gandil smiles and leans forward in his chair, "Don't you think that this town needs strong direction? Why don't we ask everyone else? Why don't we hold an election? A mayor could really coordinate our defenses, I know that you've had more than your share of loss this year." Elder Hadran nods, "A mayor may do this village some good... If you're serious about taking on that sort of responsibility then I'll spread the word. Although we only really have a few dozen homesteads and about 30 people about town. Not many citizens to draw on." Kavos and Gandil look at each other with smiles plastered on their faces. "Spread the word." Kavos says, "If you'll have me, I'll lead this town to greatness." Elder Hadran looks pleased and holds out his hand to Gandil, Longarm's bronze star shining from his palm. "How about you young man? Will you be our new sheriff?" Gandil stares at the star and feels a rush of genuine emotion knowing that these people were depending on him to save them. He takes the star wordlessly and pins it to the front of his armor, a single manly tear falling down his cheek. "I'll do it." he finally says. "I'll make Longarm proud." [/QUOTE]
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