NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 1584940" data-attributes="member: 18280">Ninth SessionAgain, the ship’s boat was sent from the River Princess.  This time, along with the sailors came a tall elf, a dwarf, and a comely Lakashi maiden with a longbow.  The elf walked up to the group, while the dwarf and the maiden remained with the boat.  “Where is Ahern?” he asked.“Alas, he was slain in those ruins,” Nift replied, “by wolves.”“I feared as much, when I saw you raising a cairn, and I could not see Ahern among your number.”“He was a friend?”“He was my half-brother.  Poor Ahern!  To have died so young!”  The elf shook his head sadly, and his gaze seemed far away.  Presently he recalled himself.  “I am called Manveru Atwood,” he said.  “These my companions are Eden, a sorceress of the Lakashi people, and Barrock the Hunter, a sturdy dwarf.”“I am sorry for your loss,” Locke said.“Thank you.”“For my part, I will be happy to return to Selby-by-the-Water,” said Desu.  “I do not like this place.”They prepared to leave.  As they headed toward the ship’s boat, however, a group of Lakashi women stepped out from the cover of the forested area to the south.  The women were tall and dark, with dark hair braided around feathers and held with snakeskin.  They dressed in deer leather jerkins and pants, with snakeskin boots and belts.  Two of them were armed with short bows – hand axes were in their belts.  Four others were unarmed save for stout walking sticks.  Their leader, a stunning woman with clear green eyes, raised her hands to show that she bore no weapon, and walked slowly forward.Desu went out to meet her. “What clan are you?” she asked.“I am Desu Atram, of the Catfish People of the Hooth Marshes.”“I am Catori of the Adder People.  These you see are under my charge.  We were on pilgrimage to the Serpent Stone, but we lost two warriors to monstrous spiders, and we were forced to turn aside.  I thought our pilgrimage would be in vain, until I saw you.  Surely our ancestors ordained such a fate!  Will you aid us?  The Serpent Stone is in a hidden valley, not two days from this place.”Desu didn’t even have to ask his comrades.  This was a thing he would do, even if he must do it alone.“It is not our custom to bring outsiders to the Valley of Snakes, but if you vouch for your comrades, that they will not betray the secret of its location, I will accept your word.”“I will vouch for them.”Apart from Catori, there were the two archers, Altsoba and Amadahy.  The women bearing staves were named Dena, Ituha, Mansi, and Sokwe.  They helped the adventurers gather their goods from the pile readied for the ship’s boat.  Locke spoke to the sailors, letting them know that the company would not be returning to the River Princess.A serpent as long as a man drew itself off of the ship’s boat, and followed Manveru.  Catori looked at the elf, appraisingly.When all was prepared, the Lakashi women led the party through the forest to the south.  Small streams and pools broke the land, but overall the way rose from the river to higher ground.  It was slow going on foot.  Occasionally, the party was forced to skirt around a cliff of sheer rock in order to find an easier passage, or to move cautiously over loose skree.  Overall, though, it was clear that Catori knew where she was going.After a few hours of this travel, they struck a trail.  At first it seemed little more than a game trail under towering pines, but after a while it widened out, and the adventurers could tell that they now followed an ancient road, running almost straight.  Whoever had made it, it was very long ago, for the trees that first thrust up through the old road stones were themselves ancient or fallen.At one point, a movement in the trees warned them of an owlbear bearing down upon them.  The Lakashi women quickly moved back, leaving the rest of the party to face the creature.  Eden, the Lakashi sorceress, moved back with them.   Altsoba and Amadahy strung their bows.  After a moment, Eden did the same.Desu reached into the Green and began to make motions necessary to summon up his connection to the living world.  He spoke a word of command, and the Green responded, causing the undergrowth – and even the trees – to entwine around the approaching beast.  Unfortunately, he had miscalculated the distance, and the Green’s fey nature.  Even at the edge of where they stood, the plants tried to grasp their legs.  Those who could swiftly stepped back.  Locke, however, was entangled…and he was their strongest fighter!Locke struggled to free himself as his companions sent arrows and sling bullets toward the enraged owlbear.  The creature was as large as the great brown bears of the deep forest, but its forequarters were those of an enormous great horned owl.  Its eyes burned with malice.  Its beak snapped ineffectually at them.  The plants held it at bay for a time, but it was strong, and moved forward slowly against the entangling plants.Though struck by half a dozen arrows, it pushed on until at last it had reached the edge of the entangling effect, where the party stood.  Manveru commanded his serpent companion to attack, and it struck with venomous fangs.  Locke still struggled against the vines and grasses that held him – there would be no help from that quarter.  Manveru drew his scimitar, and Barrock the Hunter stepped forward with his axe.  Together they hewed the thing until it fell.  By this time, Manveru was bloodied unto exhaustion, and Barrock had fallen.  Desu quickly stepped forward to heal Barrock, but Manveru was himself a member of the druidic brotherhood.  Reaching into the Green, Manveru caused his own flesh to knit together as much as he was able.Eventually, the plants grew still once more.  Barrock began to remove the claws from one of the owlbear’s large paws.  “This will make an interesting trophy,” he said.Locke cut through one of the owlbear’s haunches.  “This will make an interesting dinner!” said he.They followed the ancient road for the rest of the day.  The land continued to rise and fall about them, though the road must have been well made as it was reasonably level.  Occasionally, they could see outthrusts of rock that loomed over the track, or loose tumbles of old stone that must once have marked walls or stone fences, but these were few and far between.  As night drew near, the Lakashi made for a shallow cave that they seemed to know well.  Within, there was a fire pit and stacked firewood.  Representations of forest animals had been painted on the walls of the cave with ochre and natural dyes – deer, wolves, bears, boar, and snakes.  While crudely stylized, the paintings had a kind of natural grace about them.Locke and Manveru squabbled over who would cook the meat, until they decided to work together.  Barrock went out to see if he could find any crayfish in one of the small nearby streams to add to the meal, but he saw nothing.  That night, they ate the owlbear’s haunch.  The piece of meat Barrock ate may have been envenomed, for it made him ill.</blockquote>

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