The Forbidden Hills

[UserClone]

Welcome, brother! A quick review (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6230216&postcount=1) of the posting procedure from Lost Vault. Just errata that so that any references to typing in "this [OoC] thread" are replaced with: "just put it in spoilers."

The mood is tense in amongst the Wolf people. They have moved late in the season to different winter quarters, only to find there is no elk there as well. They are on the outer fringe of the Bear tribe, and while they have not had hostilities with the Bear tribe, they have not spoken in many years.

After many hours of deliberation, the village elders, a council of five people including your father, who is also the chief of the Wolf people, has come to a decision. They call you into the Chief's tent to hear their decision.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine enters his father's tent. He stands simply, and nods his head at first his father, then the council's eldest, the shaman, and so on ...

He then wakes quietly for what will be asked of him.

[UserClone]

Your father speaks as he beckons you to sit in the place of honor between himself and the high elder, Walks-Two-Moon.

"The council has chosen you for a mission of great importance. It is your task to find out where the elk have gone and bring back food for the winter. There is another place where there may be elk, but it is too far and too dangerous to relocate the entire tribe. In the northern stretches lie the forbidden hills. There may be some elk that roam there still. In your hunt, you may encounter the Bear tribe. We have not spoken with the Bear tribe in many summers, but if you should encounter them, you bear our tribe's emblem of peace."

Raining-Rabbit's-Blood, your father, hands to you a small token, a piece of wolf hide about four inches on a side, from which a perfect circle of fur about half that in diameter has been stripped away, and a wolf's head has been rendered in white, in painstaking and beautiful detail.

The pipe that the other elders had been passing around since your father began speaking makes its way to him, and he inhales its thick, purplish smoke deeply. As he passes it to you, his grip lingers on the pipe for a long moment, his knuckles white and tense. As he lets go, his eyes grow a bit misty. It's hard to tell whether it is due only to the acrid smoke from the pipe.

Make a Fort save to avoid coughing and choking on the nasty smoke. Fail or Pass, your Wisdom score will increase by +4 for the next [roll0] hours due to the mystical properties of the smoke, otherwise per Owl's Wisdom. If you fail the save, however, you will be Fatigued for an hour as well.

[lostsole31]

While I haven't finished the character sheet ... 18 Con (+4) and +3 save modifier (due to level) = +7 total Fort save

[roll0]

[UserClone]

The elders are suitably impressed that you can take the foul smoke's effects in such stride as you blow out a great gout of the purplish stuff.

You are wished well on your journey by the elders, Walks-Two-Moon crying out in the tongue of the wolf for your safe return.

Venturing farther north into the forest, the Great Divide, the mountain range that separates the forest of the Wolf people from the plains on the other side, looms large in the distance. The Forbidden Hills, your destination, lie just at the foot of the largest of the mountains, Sky-Breaker Mountain. I'm going to need a copy of your character sheet soon...ish, but for now, just go ahead and make your own spot check.

[lostsole31]

Spot = [roll0]

[UserClone]

Your magically-enhanced eyes detect a wisp of smoke in the middle distance, some 500 yards away, but it is only perhaps fifty feet out of your way, and in fact seems to be close to the path you are currently on.

[lostsole31]

Hit Points ...
Level 1 = 12
Level 2 = [roll0] or minimum of 6.5.
Level 3 = [roll1] or minimum of 6.5.
Level 4 = [roll2] or minimum of 6.5.
To this, add Level (4) x Con mod (5) = 20, plus an additional 4 for Improved Toughness.
I got a total of 60 hit points, unless I did something wrong ...

Also, I swapped out the Dodge feat for the Shorten Grip feat from Dragon Compendium.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine has his bone bow out, with arrow relaxed along the string. He moves up to about 200 yards away, then moves stealthily. Then, at 50 yards (150 feet, or -15 on opposed Sense checks) he moves off the road and very stealthily closes in on the source of the smoke. He stops once he can make some manner of identification. (Spot/ Listen +12, Hide/ MS +8)

[UserClone]

Your magically heightened sense of awareness coupled with your having paid such strong attention to your surroundings has paid off. About forty feet in the distance towards the smoke's source, you hear a shuffling of leaves. Instinctually, you freeze for the briefest of moments, and in that fraction of a second, you perceive the source of the sound.

A black bear plods in your direction. It too halts, and begins sniffing the air. It doesn't seem to see you, but you know it's only a matter of time before it finds you anyway.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine is willing to wait a little bit to observe. Is he bear downwind of him ... if he is, that sucks. Otherwise, he should be good unless it roams closer.

Still, he is curious about the smoke and a bear. A black bear shouldn't automatically attack just because I'm here unless it's really hungry. I doubt I tripped onto its home with the "source of smoke" (which is what, exactly?) so I shouldn't be threatening any cubs.

No, I don't want to kill a bear just to kill it ... especially if I've already crossed into Bear lands.

[UserClone]

The bear continues towards your general direction, in a lazy zigzag pattern, sniffing the air. It is coming from downwind. Just as you begin to move slowly upwind of it, the bear catches sight of you. It stands stock still as the two of you lock eyes. The smoke is a rather thin wisp in the near distance, maybe only twenty yards away, and you'd guess it was from a dying campfire by how thin it is.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine stands his full height, but does it slowly ... allowing the black bear to get a full measure of his height and girth. As he does so, he takes out some of the trail rations he had. Considering climate and terrain, and lack of elk meat, I am sure that the rations are only a little bit of preserved meat, and more along the lines of nuts, berries, and tubers. He drops it on the ground and unthreateningly backs up 20' from the treat. Hopefully, the bear will see this full day of food for a Medium animal as much better than trying to tangle with something my size.
Wild Empathy = [roll0]

[UserClone]

The bear plods toward the ration and sniffs it. Deciding that this treat is quite a find, it decides you aren't a threat and after a few minutes of chewing silently while staring at you, it blinks and wanders off to the east.

[lostsole31]

Satisfied at the outcome, Shouting Pine gets to within 30' of the source of the smoke and sees ...

[UserClone]

In a clearing off the path lies the remains of a makeshift camp. The fire has long been dead, and the tents are trashed beyond repair. The four human corpses, for dead they surely are, bear deep gashes, but you can make out the bear tribe emblem on their clothing and flesh. To the side of the human corpses, a dead gnoll is slumped against a large rock, a handaxe embedded in its skull.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine puts his bone bow away. He readies his sugliin, using it at reach to turn each of the bodies over to check them from a distance.

[UserClone]

Oh they are all good and dead, but that doesn't stop the gnoll corpse from stirring anyhow. After it slumps to the ground due to your prodding, you notice it trying to stand, and are afforded an attack of opportunity, then a full round's worth of actions before it gets another turn. What do you do?

[lostsole31]

[Okay, that's a sufficiently creepy descriptor. Since he has no reason to have developed hatred and training against whatever the primary creature in the campaign is ... I'm going to assume that the affrontery to nature is enough here. Favored Enemy is Undead.]

Attack of Opportunity
Attack w/ Sugliin @ 10' distance = [roll0], remember -4 defender AC for prone.
Damage = [roll1], extra +2 comes from Favored Enemy [Undead]

For Full Round
Attack w/ Sugliin @ 10' = [roll2]
Damage = [roll3]
Then, move back 5' so that the thing is 15' away.

EDIT: Damn. Natural '20' on the second. Still, favored enemy is good since I make up for not being able to crit the bastard.

[UserClone]

EDIT: Damn. Natural '20' on the second. Still, favored enemy is good since I make up for not being able to crit the bastard.

((Quite true. It's funny how some people only bitch about rolling a 1, but others can manage to grumble about rolling a natch 20. :smalltongue:))

Suffice to say that the next few minutes are spent picking bits of gnoll zombie out of the business end of your sugliin. After searching the bodies, you can tell that they've all been stripped of anything valuable, excepting the handaxe, which is masterwork, and bears the bear tribe emblem on the side of the blade, a bear claw dangling from the pommel.

[lostsole31]

Before monkeying around with anything else, Shouting Pine takes his time surveying the campsite and the perimeter for any clues ... what happened, how were the men killed, who and how many of what came/ went in/from what direction, etc. Taking 20 on Track/Survival = 32, 34 for the zombie. Since I recognize a "gnoll", what do I know about them? Simply rapacious evil humanoids with some kind of canine heads ... I doubt, even with my K:Nature, I would know what a hyena is this far north.

Shouting Pine gets to work separating the heads from the bodies. He then stacks the bodies. (Btw, he moves zombie pieces to the side of the camp and burns that body separately.)

After the bodies are stacks, he sets the four human heads on the top of the stack such that the back of each head is touching each other on the inside, and it looks like four heads are looking out in each cardinal direction.

"This will help you see more bad spirits coming to protect your own, cousins," Shouting Pine thinks to himself as he prays to the Great Spirit to help these warriors on their journey.

He divvies up a ration, and places an equal amount by the mouth of each head. "Long walk to Spirit's Rest. For your journey."

[lostsole31]

What he might learn from checking the tracks at the scene will go a long way to continuing the following...

After searching the campsite, Shouting Pine sits down on a log by the waning fire he made from the cursed creature. He's got a lot to process, and he isn't the best thinker in his tribe ... better than many brute warriors, make no mistake, and oft underestimated ... but still not a great thinker. He tries to draw on the power of the smoke-pipe to aid him.

A lot is going to hinge on what you tell me about gnolls, and what my people and legends say of them. I ID'd them as such (cause you told me what it was), but my character's perception of them may vary drastically from what Rusty reads in a monster book. I am apt to say simply what was said before, and these guys tend to be decent hunters but more prone to banditry ... probably why I've heard of them. Could be overhunting if there are many of them, or this could simply be an isolated incident with a rare gnoll ...

... that became a hideous death-creature. Like the wendigo, this gnoll existed with wounds it could not have held in life, with a countenance of the walking dead. It was a creature - in the form it held before I destroyed it - that surely the Great Spirit has no use for on his lands. As such, it may be some manner of curse, or .... again, it may be a rare occurrence.

Given the fact that he and his people are very superstitious ... again, a lot will tell from the tracks ... but he is inclined that it is not the appearance of a gnoll that bothers him; there may or may not be more gnolls. The problem is that Shouting Pine believes there is a curse on this land, the bear lands.

The elk have disappeared. There is no contact with the Bear tribe. There are four dead bear clansmen here, and it would have seemed that it killed either a gnoll, or a creature that was already walking dead but they stunned it until I came and reawoke it somehow. The walking dead is definitely a very bad omen.

I don't know if there are other Bear left, but I am now resolved there is a curse on the land. And to this end, I shall give what I may to end this curse so that Elk and Bear may know food again. Whatever other creatures exist, I shall be especially wary for any creatures - gnoll or otherwise - that are similarly cursed with restless spirits in dead shells, and vent my fury, and that of the tribes of Bear and Elk, and that of the Great Spirit, upon them.I have now actually given rationale to my character's choosing of undead as a favored enemy ... regardless of the true nature or villain(s) in this module. Heh, on one hand I hope to not have wasted this ability on a choice that might never again be seen ... on the other hand, Shouting Pine would count himself lucky to never see another of its like again.

[UserClone]

There are several sets of gnoll tracks leading away from this area, all in one direction. Following the tracks through a wooded area, you see a clearing up ahead. At the heart of the clearing rises a rocky dome covered in dead vines and brush. Toppled statures line the walkway to a wide set of stairs. The steps narrow as they ascend to double doors guarded by a pair of gnolls.
Gnolls are hyena-headed men that are savages, even by your standards. They care nothing for the Great Spirit, nor of his teachings of taking only what you need, and instead of trying to be part of the circle of life, they try to put themselves above it. Despicable creatures. They deserve whatever curse seems to have befallen them.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine feels weird about the gnoll that was cursed by the gods. One one hand, it deserved it to be sure; on the other hand, the curse could have hurt others ... so what was the nature of ... oh, who cares? Obad-Hai saw fit to give him the strength of a grizzly, and Shouting Pine will not question his reasons.

Shouting Pine breathes a sigh of relief - albeit hollow with the death of the Bear tribesmen - as gnolls, creatures of flesh and blood, are a far easier foe to kill then restless spirits. He hopes.

Then, there is a flash of dull anger. Flesh and blood creatures eat, and with no elk and dead Bearfolk ... could it be however many of these creatures there are total are responsible for overhunting? :smallfurious:

Some questions ...These guys (visually) are as big and tough-looking as himself, though Shouting Pine hopes himself the better hunter.
How many gnoll tracks were there leading away from the campsite? Knowing this gives me an idea of how tough they are individually ... ish. And how tough are Bearfolk?

Also, what can I tell of their fighting habits from their tracks at the camp battlesite?

What weapons do these guys have? What protective equipment do they have?

Shouting Pine is going to hide from them and observe them from a distance until the sun is almost fully down. If he is not disturbed ... If they are standing guard, do they seal up the entrance as night falls? Do they change out guards? Also, is there a way it seems to me that I can sneak up to within 30' of the guards by coming in from the sides or the top/overhang (if any) of the entrance?

At dusk, Shouting Pine heads to a place which - using his Survival - he thinks is the best nightime redoubt. He will then take 20 on his Hide check, eat a ration, and drink some water before going to sleep.Ration and effects of smoke-pipe removed from character sheet.

[UserClone]

Judging by the footprints, Shouting Pine thinks there were five, possibly six gnolls originally, and only one of their number was defeated in this probable border dispute. Your best guess is that these bear clansmen were likely a hunting party who caught the gnolls poaching in their lands, and saw fit to do battle with them. Judging by the tracks, the damage to the campsite, and other subtle clues, you're thinking that the gnolls had anticipated this, splitting their party in two and, using half their number as bait, ambushed the bears in a pincer attack. Pretty sound, if brutish, banditry, as almost all the gnolls survived, wiping out the hunting party of men.

On a side note, it is well known among the indigenous peoples of the area that gnoll raiders have a custom of stripping all dead involved in a skirmish of anything valuable, with one exception: any weapon that is involved in the killing blow of one of their own number. Hence, they chose to leave the valuable masterwork handaxe embedded in the filthy gnoll's skull.

It seems that the guards are in general a lazy lot. Although they do change the guard; the guards are relieved of their duties at about sunset. There is indeed a mound of earth and sod into which the doors are set; it seems as though if you were very careful and stealthy, you could probably come from due North and clamber right over the top of the mound, literally getting the drop on the guards to make your way right in the front door. Of course, you haven't been around the back yet, so there's no telling whether there are more guards...

[lostsole31]

He takes a lesson from the campsite and doesn't get too eager too late in the day. It's very likely they have some means of protecting their front (or back) door with the same effective pincer maneuver and killing field that took out the Bearfolk.

As before for camping. Of note, food and latrine will be separated some distance from camp, and covered by a foot of earth.

It's my intention to get up right before dawn (hunter/ farmer hours anyway) and sneak around the backside, or upper side (don't know how the gnoll cave is situated) to find purchase so my sugliin can attack a gnoll. Basically find a perch right above the entryway to chop at gnoll guards with impunity from hand weaponry ... requiring missile weapons and my being able to scramble away without provoking AOO. That, and being able to come up on them from a totally unseen angle.

[UserClone]

You do indeed find yourself unmolested upon awakening. From your vantage point it's impossible to see what sort of guard or anything they might have on the rear of their lair, so you sneak widely around the side of the gnoll guards in the front, stealthily walking up close and over the unguarded, when you accidentally step on a loose rock, which clatters noisily to the ground below. You instinctively hunker down out of their view as you hear them questioning one another in their guttural language about the noise, and you remain tense until you hear a dismissive note in one of their voices, along with a note of assent in the voice of the other.

Breathing a (silent) sigh of relief, you circle all the way around the back, and as you reach the north of the hill, you notice a large boulder with a breeze coming from within the hill behind it. If you didn't know better, you'd think there was a cave back there. It seems as though there are no other external guards besides those two, and you could probably get the drop on them from right above the entrance...

So, what do you do?

[lostsole31]

I like the idea of getting the drop on them from above the entrance. Not because it is necessarily the best tactical option ... it's just cinematically cool. Very Rambo.

Shouting Pine gets into position above the natural lintel of the entrance, and swings the Sugliin down in an arc so that the weapon effectively does a piercing/ scooping action ... puncturing a gnoll guard and smashing him against the rock wall.

Assuming (hoping) that is a surprise round action, if he gets initiative he wants to do a sideslash with the sugliin against the second one.

Obviously, if any go to leave a threatened square and provoke an AOO ... smash!Surprise attack = [roll0], damage = [roll1]
First Round Attack = [roll2], damage = [roll3]
AOO, if any = [roll4], damage = [roll5]
EDIT: Yeah. Anyone for gnoll paste, er, paté? :thog:

[lostsole31]

Huzzah for super-phonecon gaming session!

So, if I'm not too far off ... I still am dealing with a summoned wolf that is about to poof out any second now. Then, there is a dire rat over the tiny, bloody druid(? ... spells + companion?) thingy. Grakkal and its rat are toast.

[UserClone]

You are correct, sir. Your turn, as I recall.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine continues to fight defensively, ignoring the wolf and going for the rat this time, expecting that even if the wolf gets another attack in ... he's gonna go poof before long.Attack = [roll0], Damage = [roll1]
AC is 21

That should paste the rat.

[UserClone]

Indeed, the rat is pasted. The wolf takes another snap at you, and manages to scratch you for 3 damage to your lower leg, but fails to trip, and subsequently *poof*'s out of existence. You are now alone in this chamber, showered with blood, and surrounded by the crumpled corpses of the rats, the gnoll, and the little flier.

[lostsole31]

Indeed, the rat is pasted. The wolf takes another snap at you, and manages to scratch you for 3 damage to your lower leg, but fails to trip, and subsequently *poof*'s out of existence. You are now alone in this chamber, showered with blood, and surrounded by the crumpled corpses of the rats, the hobgoblin, and the little flier.

[Did you update the sheet for damage like I do in yours? It looks like you did, for I think I was at 47 hp before the wolf bit, and I'm now at 44 hp. Let me know whether or not you want to update the sheet or myself.]

I take a look at the nasty tiny beastie to notice what it is better. Obviously, Shouting Pine won't have a clue, and Rusty won't metagame, but still curiosity has got the better of him. However, he will be cautious. This lil' b-tard was surprisingly capable with spells, and might be hard to hit 'cause of size ... I don't wanna' be suckered by a 'scary movie villain returns from death for one last strike' scenario. So I am going to perform a coup de grace by smashing its little chest in, then take a look at its face and everything just to see what I was dealing with.

Sounds like I got Grachal (a gnoll, not a hobgoblin, right???). I don't know who the little guy is, but there's still the Blood .... Drinker? to deal with yet. I perform a full search of the gnoll's body, the little guy, and then the room. I take 20. I then - last of all, cause it's icky - look at the receptacle (don't remember what you described it as, so much as what was in it) with the blood.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine, realizing he senses nothing, *bumps* his head against the elk bones that litter/ adorn the room in woe.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine, seeing that the gods have not responded to his woe, contemplates *bump*ing himself off.

[UserClone]

The little critter's chest collapses, and in just a few moments, his tiny corpse begins dissolving in its own spilled blood. A high, tinny voice rings out in an eerie echo of maniacal laughter, and then hisses something in a guttural, sinister language. Within a minute's time, there is only a small scorch mark, left like a blackened shadow of ash in the shape of the creature, left on the floor to prove it ever existed.

Searching the body of the gnoll, presumably the Grachal of whom you'd heard previously by the cowardly gnoll you so coldly dispatched, you discover that his studded leather armor is obviously magical, being of fine make and bearing not a single stain or mar despite the sound thrashing you gave him and the subsequent explosion of blood and gray matter as his head smashed open from the impact of its hitting the floor. As well, his battleaxe is the work of a master forger, and he has a good-quality shortbow and a quiver of arrows. His heavy steel shield is still strapped to his right arm, and in his pouch he has 200 gp and a few short, fat sticks which appear to be dipped in dried tar or the like.

Examining the pool, you discover that it isn't filled with blood as you had thought, but heavily bloodied water. Shining the light over its surface, you detect a curvature at the bottom, as though it were a passage to another space, presumably where the winged creature came from. It's big enough for you to swim through, to be sure, but who knows where it might lead...?

[lostsole31]

I look on at the continuing destruction of the small creature. I realize now that this place is not about perverting the Great Spirit's teachings, but of worshiping or otherwise being in league with evil spirits such as this thing. Looking into the blood-water pool, Shouting Pine realizes that he will likely fight a more powerful cultist, and/ or more powerful evil spirits.

After his search, he leaves those things for now so as not to weigh himself down too much with treasure. He goes back to the den of the boar he killed and retrieves his sugliin. Assuming he is unaccosted, he returns to the blood-water pool. He takes another big dollop of healing goo and applies it to his wounds. I want to know how well I am after application to help me decide what I want to do next.

[UserClone]

As you rub the magic goo on your leg wound, it heals up nicely, leaving you at about 85% of your full strength, you'd estimate.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine asks the Great Spirit to protect him on this journey, takes a deep breath, and then goes into the bloodied water and follows the curvature at the bottom.

[UserClone]

As you round the curve and begin a very slight upward slope, your movement stops and you are gently yanked backward. The sugliin is just too long to maneuver through the curvature of the pool and is stuck. You'll have to leave it behind, either here or in the room you were just in.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine was actually worried about this when he went in that the sugliin would be too large. He returns to the Elkbone Sanctuary. He finds a spot in the middle of the room and pounds a hole into the rock of the floor, placing his sugliin's pole into it to stand it up. Remember, it's not just a weapon, but his people's standard.

He then takes out his tigerskull club, appreciating the Great Spirit wishing him to challenge what lies ahead more 'personally' and goes back into the bloodied water.

[UserClone]

The water is thickly red with blood, and there are ropy strands of it congealed here and there along the walls of the tunnel and floating within, silent reminders of the atrocities committed against the Great Spirit's sacred elk.

As you break the surface of the water and breathe deeply, the sharp smell of the small enclosed room is pungent and offensive to your nostrils. There is not much in here except a small hoard consisting of a large, fine pearl, a mace with silvery glowing runes which move like a waterfall down its shaft, a small bottle of thick white liquid with little flecks of gold throughout, a stone figurine in the shape of an elk, and a total of 100 gp and 200 sp in coins.

[lostsole31]

Is it a light mace, or a heavy mace?

[lostsole31]

This first day out with the boy, we will not go very quickly but enjoy our time. In this day, I go half-movement and couch him in my taciturn way about hunting and foraging. (Seeing how good this kid is at Survival.)

[lostsole31]

[Just making sure the thread doesn't die from inactivity, so posting every now and then ...]

Then, see how good the kid's athletic skills are ... (running, jumping, climbing, is he acrobatic, etc.).

[UserClone]

I'm really sorry, but, as I'm approximately 12 days from shipping, I'm officially going to postpone this one until (...say May?) such time as I have returned from training, since I won't have internet access anyway, at least until AIT, for sure.

[lostsole31]

No, no, no ... I realize that Joe. I knew that this game was on a very long hiatus. The only reason I posted (and I will do so about once a month) is to make sure it doesn't get chucked by the Giant, that's all.

[UserClone]

OOOOHHHHH...gotcha. Well then, carry on, sailor.:smallsmile:

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine is sooo tall, it's as if his head *pokes* through the bottom of the clouds. :smallwink:

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine *pokes* a hole in the ground with the Spear of Fertility, and drops some seeds of edible plants he has carried from his home into that hole, covering it back over and praying to the Great Spirit to provide nourishment in the tundra ground, trusting that the Spear of Fertility will help them grow.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pines then *pokes* Too Dumb Twigs (or whatever the hell his name was) lightly in the belly, pointing to his waterskin and the seeds.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine puts the seeds into the ground, takes Too Dumb Twigs' water to carefully water the ground, and tamps the ground down (without smothering). It won't be instant, but Shouting Pine has faith that the Spear of Fertility will help the plant grow.

Shouting Pine then pokes Too Dumb Twigs in the belly and points back towards their path ... and continues onward.

[UserClone]

With a nearly silent *whoof* the air is pushed from the weak boy's lungs, and he follows mutely.

The two of you wander all day and well into the evening, before coming upon a suitable clearing, a rough circle approximately 200 feet in diameter where no trees are growing. Seems like a good place to make camp, as the lack of cover means you;ll easily be able to see approaching monsters, and the flat, even ground is perfect for sleeping on.

[lostsole31]

Shouting Pine, not knowing what to do with the boy, picks him up and removes the camp at least 500 yds before before hunkering down for the night.

EDIT: He's going to sleep, though, despite not having a watch. There's enough of the willies about that Shouting Pine reasons that normal predators will steer clear. However, seeing his death in a dream at the mouth of a super-spider doesn't sit well with him. But he will do as he must, as he has been taught, and as his instincts (and The Great Spirit) lead him. If that is his end, it is his end.

For now, though, he is interested in the light of the sun.

[UserClone]

When you awaken, the boy is awake also, crying in your arms, and seems the worse for wear, though he appears whole and healthy enough to keep moving.

[lostsole31]

Keep moving ...

[lostsole31]

Are we giving up on this??

[UserClone]

TBH, I'd forgotten about it. I think I'd just as soon do so. For whatever reason, I just can't seem to get jazzed about this game. I think the same goes for Jest-Alt, unfortunately. :( There's just not enough to Grolff, emotionally/motivationally, for me to build on. It's completely my own fault for having made a monster, but at the same time, I kind of feel like half the point of a solo game is not to have a large group of adventurers as the dynamic, but perhaps one or maybe two allies. That and the way I made Grolff just make it feel bland for me at this point. I'm sorry. I'm not sure exactly what the issue is with me coming up with stuff for this one. I just don't see where it should go, and it frustrates me when I try to think it up.

[lostsole31]

Okay, dude. The threads are dead. Long live the threads. We'll kill both games.