Urn Your Pay (Rae judging)

By this time, you are becoming used to travel in these fens. The smell of rotting vegetation and stagnant water has become a dim background nuisance rather than the overpowering stench it was yesterday morning. Your sense of direction is better, and the swamps seem less unrelentingly random than they did yesterday. Apikotoa's pace is still grueling, and the mud squishing between your toes is still entirely too slimy, but you can begin to imagine how people could live in a place like this. Especially people with waterproof skin.

Apikotoa leads you in a generally northeasterly direction for most of the day. In early afternoon, the water starts to become deeper. Apikotoa waves to the east and says, "Reever close now. Need boat to go farther that way. Or sweem," he adds, with a slightly dismissive glance. He turns northward, and the water depth recedes again. After a few more hours, you can see a larger green spot between the trees ahead, and soon you arrive at the next hill.

It is immediately apparent that this is a better prospect than the first hill. It rises some hundred feet above the water level, and its sides are mostly covered in trees and underbrush. Pushing cautiously through, you climb perhaps a quarter of a mile, and after circumnavigating a particularly thorny thicket, you are rewarded with the sight of a large, dilapidated manor house!

There is a thirty foot area between the house and the nearest trees on any side, providing a clear view all around. The main part of the house is two stories high, with several one-story extensions to the back and sides. The front of the house, as evidenced by the stone portico with worn columns framing large metal-bound double doors, faces east, and you can see that it must have once commanded an excellent view over the river. All around the upper story are a series of boarded-up windows. On the southeastern corner of the house, one of the boarded up windows has been broken, and you can see a few crows flying in and out of the hole. In addition to the main entrance, there is another stone porch, with a roof held up by stone pillars, on the north side of the house, with two boarded-up doors leading into the building.

[sblock=ooc]Here's where I start trying to use a different kind of map; hopefully it doesn't become too much of a pain. The map shows the exterior of the house. The blue area is a single floor, and is fifteen feet tall. The red area is where there is a second floor. Hopefully the open air stone-floored areas and the doors will be clear enough. The squares are five feet. [/sblock]

Erf beams triumphantly at the Lizard man.

"Well looks like ye got us wherewe need t' be Apikotoa! I'll not ask ye to risk yer neck comin' in with us just in case somethin's taken to indoor livin', but I'd appreciate it if ye'd wait here for a bitte while to guide us back."

The little green gnome turns to his fellow adventurers.

"So what d' ye say folks should we try for a bitte stealth just in case? Or barrel on in all bows twangin'? I'd prefer the former meself. If'n ye can give me a bitte while I can have Fenenn search around for us 'n see if we can find any trails, a foot print or sommat might help give us a bitte clue as to what if anythin' we might expect to find."

With that the little gnome dismounts and points to the ground in front of Fenenn, it seems to take the dog a while to catch on but soon he is snuffling around enthusiastically.

[Sblock=OOC] Erf will push Fenenn to track, I won't bother rolling unless there is somekind of time constraint I'm unaware of - essentially taking twenty.

Erf will then have Fenenn search out any trails going to the Mansion and follow them with the group looking for clues, etc.

Fenenn's track = Fenenn's tracking. (1d20+7=25)

Erf aides Fenenn's tracking. (1d20+5=17)

So basically looking to pick up a trail by scent and then follow it looking for foot prints, tufts of fur, etc. They will stay back behind the trees while doing this.[/sblock]

Apikotoa nods. "I weel camp at the base of the heel. I weel hunt. Eef I do not see you for three days..." he shrugs indifferently.

As Erf circles the clearing, there are many tracks to be seen. The swamp is alive with signs of wildlife, especially birds, lizards, snakes, and small game. There are fewer tracks that actually approach the house, however, and the only notable ones are sets of irregular depressions in a path of about three feet in diameter. These marks were clearly not made by two-legged creatures, and if it was made by four-legged creatures, there must have been several of them. At the other end of the trail from the house is the husk of a lizard about the size of a chicken. The lizard is reduced to mostly skin and bone, but the skin and bone are largely intact except for a single ragged puncture wound. The corpse is perhaps two days old.

[sblock=kn(nature) DC 14 or bardic knowledge DC 18]Some spiders eat their prey in this fashion, secreting digestive acids into the victim's body until their internal tissues are liquified, and then sucking the liquid out.[/sblock]

Ter-raen looks at the broken down house for moments. Finally here, after days of travel. Lost the young man too. This is a house of bad omen. He looks at the remaining party, especially at the enthusiastic gnome with the perky wolf as the pair looks around the house. He places his hand over the hilt of his scimitar, and holds it tightly for a few seconds before letting it go again. If there is monster inside, Ter-raen will cut it down.

Erf nods in appreciation and understanding of Apikotoa's words.

"Well hope to see you soon Apikotoa me friend."

With that he sets to searching with Fenenn, whos nose eventually leads him to a small withered body. Erf bends down and examines the lizard husk with an experts eye, prods it with a foot and watches in flop deflated.

"Well looks like we're gonna be dealin' with at least one spider, probably a big fella, bigger'n me at least. So we'll have to be wary of webs n' poison as well as smashin' the scuttlers - they probably won't let us in their home without protest. Hmmm, let me think 'ere. Daylights probably our friend n' we'll need plenty of light, maybe fire fer the webs. Probably want a long stick or two so we can search ahead of use fer webs n' avoid gettin' caught up."

He turns to Gildrim and Ter-raen.

"So lets grab some sticks we can use to prod unpleasent sticky stuff, does anyone 'ave a light source? Might get pretty dark in those shadows."

[Sblock=K. Nature 24]K. Nature (1d20+8=24) [/sblock]

ooc: Waiting for input/actions. Trouvere has indicated elsewhere that his connectivity is limited at best this week, but I hope I'm not overstepping to point out that he has no light sources listed on his character sheet.

"Hmm, Ter-raen don't have torch. But here is broken house, and wood here can make torch. Ter-raen take his torch lighters." Ter-raen takes off his backpack and fumbles inside for a moment, finally bringing out his flint & steel from within. "Normally, Ter-raen see fine in dark, so don't really bring torch with him."

"Well I know ye and Gildrim'll be fine big fella, but me 'n Fenenn need at least a bitte bit of light though we see better than humans 'n such. Torches sound like a good idea 'n we can use 'em on the webs to."

Erf will gather up a half dozen torch sized sticks and get one alight.

"I'll carry 'em so ye big hitters can go a whompin'."

[Sblock=OOC]Survival Check =Survival check to locate viable wood for torches. (1d20+5=13) [/sblock]

There is no shortage of dead limbs of various sizes around the island, and Erf has no trouble finding sticks that will burn for a little while, though not as effectively as a well-made torch.

ooc: I figure a torch is more than just a burning stick; it probably has at least a few pitch-soaked rags bound to it. Let's call a burning stick half a torch: half the illumination, half the duration, same damage if used as an improvised weapon.

[sBLOCK=OOC]Seems more than reasonable to me Covaithe, half will be easy since Erf and Fenenn both have low-light vision effectively it will function as a regular torch would for a human. I was assuming something like that hence Erf getting 6 sticks to burn. I am currently kicking myself for not including sunrods in Erf's gear![/sblock]

"Right then lets be off fer the Urn 'n such!"

Erf exclaims excitedly.

"I'll follow a little ways behind ye big folks if ye don't mind, ready to heal 'n holding the torch. Ye might wanna use these 'ere sticks to test fer webs they can be awful tricky te see thin as they are 'n all - just drop 'em if ye need to fight."

He offers Ter-raen and Gildrim each a long stick. With that Erf and Fenenn begin heading for the ruined mansion.