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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gina" data-source="post: 1559444" data-attributes="member: 10990">Wow! I didn't know they got that big!On the Road to Three OaksJuly 19thWe had finished our talk with Leiden and his group and moved on down the road, leaving them to their goblin torture. I wanted to stop them, but we do not have time to get into an argument about goblins of all things right now. Still, is it any wonder that the creatures loathe humans? We moved down the road, talking among ourselves about nothing in particular for perhaps half and hour or a little longer. Mor’Elandi suddenly motioned for us all to stop (not an easy thing as he likes to be behind us all!). He had heard the cry of a beast of some kind. We stopped, each of us straining to hear but there was nothing. We moved on for a while, with less conversation, more listening for the beast or whatever was out there. Mor’Elandi told us that he heard it again and he thought he saw something ahead in the trees. Something large, moving toward the road. We noticed it as well as we rounded a small curve in the road. There standing before us was quite possibly the largest animal I have seen in my life. Animal is probably not the right word. This must be the Owlbear that Leiden and his group had mentioned. It had the head and hooked beak of an Owl, large, saucerlike eyes and the body of a bear, covered in both fur and feathers variously. It was really much larger than I had anticipated.Naturally, I decided to try to use my Wild Empathy skill to do, um, something. Actually, in retrospect, I really should have a plan for what to do if I manage to succeed and another for if I don’t in these situations. Nevertheless, I moved forward, telling the others that I was going to deal with it. For some reason, they looked at me as if I were insane. At Mor’Elandi's suggestion, Thaile cast Bull’s Strength on me, just in case I needed to fight as I headed off to meet the Owlbear.  So, I approached the creature and looked at it, speaking calmly and with gentle authority, while looking it straight in the eye. It was MUCH bigger than I had first thought. Huge, in fact. It moved closer to me, sniffing me and circling, but not attacking. I kept on, trying not to betray the fear I felt at a creature of such a great size sniffing me, dried blood on its beak and feathers, as if it had fed recently. I kept speaking softly to it, feeling more than seeing the others making ready to attack once it bit my head off. It moved around me a little more, until it was between me and the rest of the group. Then it became distracted, apparently by how utterly delicious Kefk looked because it turned toward him with a low growl. I knew that I had failed in my attempt and that we were all going to be going to the great voice very soon. Kefk and Kytum-up were close to the creature, Thaile having moved back a bit and behind a tree where she could safely summon a monster to help. Tieran stood back farther, and looked like he was preparing to cast a spell,  and Mor’Elandi had moved to the side and into the underbrush. It hit Kytum-up, hard, then grabbed Kefk who struggled mightily, but was unable to get loose. I took a moment to cast Shillelagh and then moved forward to flank the animal. Thaile’s summoned creature turned out to be a Bison, which also attacked the creature. Tieran’s contribution was a fireball, which thankfully, did not hit me or Kytum-up. Kefk managed to wriggle free in time to also avoid being scorched. So, we fought the thing......it looked kind of betrayed when I hit it. I felt guilty, but it WAS trying to eat my companions. Then it hit me too. Mor’Elandi peppered it with arrows and the rest of us kept fighting. From Tieran we heard, “Feed it the Bison and run!”. We didn’t run, but kept fighting the thing, much to Tieran’s dismay. It had grabbed Kefk again and was trying to grap Kytym-up too. Then, with a final Magic Missile from Tieran it went down with a thud. We were all relieved except for Kytum-up who was extremely agitated about something. After a few moments, we realized that Kefk was still under the creature.  It took us a bit of doing but we got him out. He was nearly suffocated by the huge beast and was very glad to be out from under it. Mor’Elandi and I examined the creature, fascinated by it. It had some marks which showed us that it had been caught in a fireball fairly recently. After examining it, we began to skin it. Inside the stomach we found a single gauntleted hand. We bundled up the heavy, bloody hide and the head and then followed Mor’Elandi. He had decided that we needed to find its lair.So, we followed him through the forest, his owl flying ahead and back looking around. Eventually, we reached a clearing and the owl landed on his shoulder. The lair was ahead and there was another of the creatures hiding under some brush. There was a cave nearby that might just be their lair. We stood in the clearing, wondering and quietly discussing what to do. The Owl returned again and Mor’Elandi mentioned that the creature had not moved. The discussion continued, but I moved forward, anxious to see this creature. The owl had told Mor’Elandi that it was most likely dead. A moment later, I confirmed that by poking it with a nice long stick. It was much smaller than the other, which we had determined to be male. We soon realized that this one had likely been its mate. She was under some freshly cut (or torn off) tree limbs and in the center of what looked to be a fireball-burned area. I wonder if the tree limbs were removed by the male in an attempt to bury or hide the body of his mate. She was rather scorched as well as damaged from a Briar Web spell. We skinned her as well, taking the head too. After being assured by Tieran (who had sent his bat into the nearby lair) that all was safe and that there might be things we were interested in inside, we moved toward the open cave mouth. On the way we passed through a clearing where there had been a battle recently. It was obvious that the Owlbears had won. There were scattered remains and a lot of blood. Bits of armor and equipment littered the area, the pieces all very small. We moved toward the cave, glad that we had not ended up in tiny bits. The inside of the cave was grisly. There were pieces of bodies, we made out four.....a human male, a dwarven male, an elven female, and maybe an orc or half-orc. All were in pretty small pieces (except for the lower part of a torso, ugh), and partially eaten. There was also a nest. The others were interested in the pile of shiny stuff in the nest. I had eyes only for one thing. The nest contained a single egg. While the others were examining the pile of equipment, I took the egg and wrapped it carefully in one of my blankets, cushioning it with grasses and leaves and rigged my pack to keep the egg close to my body where my heat would keep it warm. Thaile was once again looking at me as if I were insane. I don’t understand why she does that sometimes. There were several interesting things in the pile, some gold, a set of damaged plate, a damaged mithril chain shirt, a backpack with some kind of strange magic on it, a gold medallion with a lion’s head on it, a sword, a shield, some damaged bracers, some gems, and a heavy shield. Tieran said that several of the things were magical: the mithril shirt, backpack, medallion, and bracers. We carried out most of the body parts and decided to spend the night in the cave, since it was defensible and relatively safe now that we knew that its occupants were dead. Watches went smoothly, though each watch heard small animals eating the body parts we had earlier carried out of the cave. Kefk encountered a skunk, but was not close enough to have a REAL encounter with it.</blockquote>

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