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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carlo-One" data-source="post: 8032860" data-attributes="member: 7015827">After as good of a night’s sleep as possible under the roof of the sole inn in the small, out-of-the-way village, the company awoke early in the morning to the patter of rain. Darrow and Dermot had a bit of a struggle getting out of their room, due to the wet door wood warping overnight, but they eventually joined their companions in the common room. Undt’s breakfast of porridge and farm butter was simple, but hot and filling; Darrow, as usual, washed it down with a morning ale.Rahnee reviewed their tasks for the morning, asking Darrow and Dermot to be the ones to deal with the guard captain, since she thought from their previous day’s conversation that he might not like talking to a woman about military matters. She also cautioned Dermot to scout carefully, given the dangers the manticores posed, and advised Shanni to stay close to Aerikoth. Dermot noted that he possessed some lore about manticores, but had never actually encountered one; the ranger seemed to be looking forward to the experience.At this point the guard captain came into the inn out of the rain, looking somewhat uncomfortable, to query their orders for the day. Darrow related how they planned to have Dermot in front of the marching order, with the other four adventurers behind him ready to hit any manticores that were encountered. The baronial guard’s role would be to follow on and help pin the beasts down if they were too much for the adventurers. The guard captain acknowledged this and departed to order his men to strike camp.After finishing what was left of breakfast, the companions took their gear and headed out, Rahnee leaving several gold coins with Undt for his troubles. Aerikoth cast two protective spells on each of the others, as well as himself, before they started down the faint path leading from Glees into the forest. An hour or so of walking brought them into thick woods, where the path was no longer visible. Dermot carefully advanced while leading them further east, but could not avoid a sudden attack by giant spiders. Darrow felt somewhat repulsed by their ickyness, but they were defeated without any harm to the companions.Some additional terrain was covered before Dermot signaled the presence of two manticores ahead, as well as another large spider that he had spotted. As the manticores were being engaged by the party, including Aerikoth’s summoned dire bear, another group of spiders approached them from the rear but were driven back thanks to Shanni’s arrows. Her bow also made the killing shot on the remaining manticore.Dermot resumed scouting but was taking so long that Rahnee was about to go looking for him, despite Shanni’s worries about splitting up. The ranger eventually returned, having located a cave with two manticores outside it, perhaps the beasts’ lair. The five companions first carefully approached, then rushed the monsters with Darrow in the lead. In a short but violent fight, the dwarf was wounded by the fierce beasts; Shanni again maneuvered to use her bow to good effect from behind to defeat their monstrous opponents.After silently exploring the cave entrance, Dermot emerged and reported another manticore a short distance inside. Aerikoth said that he could cast a fireball spell if needed. However, the party was able to enter the cave and quickly dispatch the remaining beast and another one found further in. Moving into a narrow, dark tunnel, the group discovered a chamber at the end with the skeletal remains of two unfortunate campers. Both had axes and one had a leather pouch with a gold ring inside. Darrow collected the axes and the ring, after Dermot observed that it might be able to be identified by the locals, assuming gold rings were not common in the area. The companions agreed that they had likely killed all of the manticores in the forest and decided to head back to meet up with the baronial guard.</blockquote>

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