[IC] Pitchforks against the Unknown

[Eonas]

OOC thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315551)

Life is simple in Runwich. Inhabitants bustle about their daily lives, blissfully oblivious as to the doings of the greater world. Very little ever occurs here to excite the imagination. And this year started out no different - it was slightly less rainy than usual and farmers lost more crops to insects than normally, perhaps, but no really strange events.

Even now, just as the harvest is beginning to kick into full gear, most things seem to be going just as they would another year. You are all at the home of a farmer named Garl Nadolo, on the outskirts of town where farmland meets the forest. He's a very charming, sociable, and generous man, always holding celebrations for almost no reason at all. Today his pretext for a celebration is that his wife's small flowergarden has suddenly just bloomed into a beautiful floral mosaic.

He is just opening a cask of homemade wine when his son, a thin straw-haired adolescent boy named Tyr, bursts into the hut crying "Da! Da! It's Asho - he's gone! Looks like there was a fight at his house, there's blood and... and... just come and see for yourself!" Tyr is the eldest of Garl's two sons and an inveterate prankster, but now none of his expression is at all mischievous. Now he looks very pale, serious, and frightened. Garl pauses in the middle of his cask-opening operation to observe his son closely. He seems to be satisifed that Tyr isn't pulling one of his inane pranks again, for he presently sheathes a sharp knife into his belt and quietly says "All right. Euphalia, stay here with Runn. You others can stay or come as you like, of course."

He steps out the door and begins to walk towards Asho's house. Asho is the Nadolos' closest neighbor and friend, living alone with his wife Lami in a small farmhouse near the woods.

[Mabn]

Vane followed Tyr, picking up his hunting spears as he heads out the door.

[BarnabasBailey]

Zeke bit back a disappointed frown. He had his cup prepared and everything, after all, and the chance to get a mouthful or twenty of Garl's homemade wine was pretty much the highlight of the year. Something like this was going to bring the mood down to a crashing halt, maybe even postpone the thing entirely. Oh, and there was also the fact that a good friend of his was potentially in trouble. That was also bad.

Zeke tipped a hat he didn't own in Garl's wife's direction. "Ho na doncha worry none, Miss Euphal'a. We'll ha' your husb'n' back soon as we find ol' Asho safe an sound-like." With that, and the same placid smile that wouldn't leave his face even if the world exploded around him, Zeke made his way for the door. He still had a sickle that he borrowed from... somebody around here. Asho? No, that wasn't right... it didn't really matter. It was on his belt, along with a strip of leather that he fancied he could use as a sling on those days he wasn't up to his gills in homemade wine. Not that it mattered much; more likely than not, Asho probably nicked himself shaving or something. And the sooner they all realized that, the sooner they could get back to alcoholic oblivion where they belonged.

[Harbinger]

Old Man Henderson has had a bit more to drink than he should have. Hearing of Asho's fate, he narrows his eyes and mutters a bit to himself:

"Asho... What do they want with him? I thought it was me they were after..."

With a great deal of effort, Henderson gets up from his cozy stop by the fire, picks up his walking stick, and hobbles out the door after Garl.

"Better follow these kids, 'fore they get themselves into trouble. No telling what might be out there." he says, staring suspiciously out into the darkening sky.

[EdroGrimshell]

Ava was rather uncomfortable at this sort of event, the fact most people were supremely suspicious of her didn't help, especially after the lumber mill incident a week ago... that was a tough one to explain away, luckily no one had seen exactly what happened.

Her neon green eyes turned to Tyr as he burst in, before she raised a brow; blood? That was bad. Looked like a fight? Also bad. Put together? Really bad.

Ava jogged after them, picking up the club she left at the door as she followed along, she'd be of help with her natu- well it was actually unnatural, resilience but that was beside the point, and her experience. Especially if whatever did the damage was still there.

[Vetril]

Taern stops smoking his pipe, from his spot next to the fireplace. He looks at the people leaving in a hurry.

"I, for one, have no intention to go investigate. What if a bear is lurking nearby? They run fast, the bears."

He looks at the other people, as he becomes more and more worried.

"Yes, what if some wild animal is wandering around? Or - or what if - Gods help us - a whole pack of them is in town, right now? And wolves run even faster, you know."

The gaunt and frail man inhales from his pipe a couple of times, before realizing that its fire has gone out. Disappointed, he nervously strokes the beard growing on his chin, before he starts working to ignite the tobacco again.

[Eonas]

Okay, you can decide whether you stay or go when you post, distant quazar. I'll just move on for the sake of expediency.

When you arrive at Asho's place, you find the bottom of the wooden front door gnawed at or eroded by some mysterious force. The door is ajar, and even in the chilly evening air a peculiar undefinable stench emanates from inside. Garl pushes the door open, and gasps.

The home is a wreck. Jugs are shattered, chairs overturned, the bed in the corner of the hut broken down the middle. Yet it is not that which made Garl gasp, or even the blood irregularly sprayed around the room. It's the unearthly greyish-purple tint that the floorboards near the middle of the room have taken.

[Harbinger]

Old Man Henderson hobbles over to the strangely colored floorboards. He stares at them suspiciously, his eyes narrowing. Then he hollers at Zeke:

"Zeke, my boy! I think there may be something under these floorboards. Be a dear and come pry 'em up for me."

[Mabn]

"careful, that stuff might be poisonous. Put a rag over your hands." Vane looks around the outside of the house for tracks.

spot:[roll0]
survival:[roll1]
I can use track up to DC 20

[EdroGrimshell]

"That... can't be healthy," Ava says, slowly, then takes a sniff of the air, "what about an... an... nevermind, probably can't afford one," she says, shaking her head, she'd always taken her wage in the city for granted, now she couldn't afford all she used to use.

She undoes the small pouch around her necklace to let the light from the pellet of liquid sunlight reveal the inside of the room more clearly, "let's take a closer look."

Note: Ava is a little dull and slow, not stupid. She's had a lot of experience in her life, but it's hazy, so she's more knowledgeable, but unable to really reach it.

[distant quasar]

"Come now, Taern," Hezel said with an amused smile, setting down his wineglass. "You're letting your imagination run away with your senses, again."

He rises from his chair. "I for one am a bit curious as to what happened, however."

____________________________

His eyes widen in plain shock as he looks inside the room. Nothing he had ever seen, or heard about, compared to this. Perhaps Wottenztein might know something... but Wottenztein was not here.

With a sense of futility, he nonetheless tries to wrack his brains for something he might know about this... whatever it was.

Know (arcana) [roll0]

As he does so, he unconsciously steps forward to begin helping the others pry up the floor. He blinks as he realizes what he's about to do, hastily putting a bit of tattered cloth over his hands before hunching over to help the old man.

[Eonas]

Actually, I think I'm going to roll everybody a very minor sanity check as they observe the unearthly stench-filled boards. Only 0/1: if your sanity d% check comes up equal to or lower than your current sanity, subtract 1 from your current sanity. Otherwise, you're okay :)

Zeke: [roll0]
Henderson: [roll1]
Vane: [roll2]
Hezel: [roll3]
Ava: [roll4]
And possibly Taern: [roll5]

Henderson and Ava lose 1 point of sanity.

Euphalia, busy with taking a large loaf of bread, smiles at Hezel as he leaves. "I'm sho it's nothin'." she says, in the type of heavy accent which suggests a rustic upbringing. Turning towards Taern, she asks "Wouldya like ta try some of mah bread? There's plenty fo' everyone, an' ah need to see if it's tastin' alright fer when they all come back." Euphalia's trademark method of giving away things in a way that suggests the givee is doing her a favor is fairly well known throughout the village, almost as well known as her skill in baking.

It's not difficult to see where Asho was presumably taken. As he looks closely, he notices two sets of footsteps and a breadcrumb trail of blood droplets and greyish-purple discolorings on the ground, leading up to a wheatfield between the house and the forest. At that point, the path taken by Asho is obvious, for an irregular trail about two yards wide has been engraved through the field. It's not a matter of wheat straws being pushed aside to create a trail, the trail was actually caused by the wheat in the trail being somehow decimated.

A lot of magic, especially Conjuration and Evocation magic, can leave residual sensory traces even after its arcane power has dissipated.
There is also a major type of magically-enhanced psychadelic drug which comes in a greyish-purple powder, and which is widely illegally trafficked in large cities.
As Van Hezel leans down to lift the floorboards, he realizes that the stench is coming from the discolored spot on the floor. Underneath the boards is exactly what one might expect to find there: dirt. At places the top layer of the dirt is also slightly tinted with the same greyish-purple hue as the floorboards, but for the most part it seems normal.

[Vetril]

"Eh, I guess you two are right. It's probably nothing serious and everyone will be fine."

Taern watches Hezel leave. The chandler seems still a bit worried, and glances out of the window. Then he mumbles, without addressing anyone in particular.

"Still I see no reason for everyone to go there - they can handle it, right? I think I'll... What? Oh, thank you dear, but I think I'll pass. I just need some fresh air for now, that's all. I'll be outside for a while, to smoke my pipe. I'll be right back."

That said, Taern walks outside, puffing his pipe while being lost in thought. He then looks upwards and exhales a circle of smoke from his mouth. Giving an absent-minded look at the sky, he mutters again.

"Yes, I'm sure it's nothing."

It sounds like he's trying to convince himself.

[distant quasar]

Hezel frowns as he stands up, away from the oddly tinged dirt and floor.

"Now that I think about it, I do seem to remember reading about some sort of magically enhanced, powdery drug with a hue like this... but it's sold, illegally, in cities. How would anyone here have gotten any?"

[Eonas]

As he walks outside, Taern notices a single star emblazoned in the evening sky, alone in a sea of space larger than anything Taern could ever possibly wrap his mind around. Suddenly, the Chandler trips.

When he hits the ground face-first, Taern realizes that he had actually fallen on a soft bed of hay. Beside him on the hay is the warm body of another person - he is about to speak to the person when he looks at him or her and realizes with horror that the person is lacking a head, fresh blood pouring out from its neck. Taern hears a clacking sound behind him, and spins around onto his back to see a gigantic set of mandibles hurtling towards his own neck.
0/1d3 for seeing the beheaded corpse. [roll0]
And 1/1d4 for the mandibles: [roll1]

I'm not going to beat you over the head too bad with your Aftersight, but with a feat description indicating you don't have any control over it, you betcha I'm going to invoke it occasionally.

He comes back to the real world, still lying face-first on the grass in front of Garl's home. It was all another of his visions, albeit the most horribly vivid one he'd ever encountered. His mind is still reeling from the shock when Euphalia's friendly voice calls out to him, asking "You all right over there?"


Garl tilts his head in puzzlement. "Beats me. Asho wasn't ever into that kind of thing, and his wife's a sensible girl if ever I saw one."

[BarnabasBailey]

"Whassat now?" Zeke whistled with a sort of disappointed air. "Drugs? Mebbe 'e got his hands on summat stuff. Never know; some outlaw drop a stash 'round heyah, Asho bring it en. I mean, if I donnow it, Asho might notta know it, y'ken?"

Zeke crouched down by the door. "More 'portent, what kinda thing ets through an honest man's do'? Musta been something right brazen. Like onnadem dire badgers what roam aroun' down en Skasdale."

Spot check to determine claw-bite marks around the door. I'd couple that with a Knowledge check, but I have none.

[roll0]

[EdroGrimshell]

"Should we follow the trail?" Ava asks, "or should we go back and get more help?" she continues, she was resilient, it was the only good thing about her change into an elan, but she had her limits just like everyone else.

[Harbinger]

"What we need to think about is, who in this town would have to means to purchase such substances? I can think of none else but the mayor himself, and I've said it for years!" he shouts, then coughs, then hiccups.

Henderson looks wildly around the room to support his theory.

Spot check: [roll0]

[Vetril]

Taern doesn't answer Euphelia's question for long moments: all that can be heard is him, whimpering in the dark. After a good minute, he sits, his right hand rubbing his neck, as if to make sure that it is still intact. He gives a quick glance to the sky: his eyes are bulging and anguish lurks within them. He stifles his laments before he finally gives the woman an answer.

"I'm afraid, Euphelia, like I've never been before in my life. There is something wrong in the air, and... That star! That terrible star!"

Taern rubs his face before looking at the farmer's wife. The chandler seems to have regained his composure, yet he still looks miserable. His hands grasp each other with such strength that his knuckles seem white.

"Uh... I - I could use something strong, Euphelia. It's going to be a while before I can sleep again."

[Mabn]

"Do this properly, the way that field and that door was torn up Asho's not the only one in danger here. We should bring the village to alert, starting at the house."

[Eonas]

Henderson doesn't find anything significant, except that he notices that the blood around the room still seems to be fairly fresh, only partly dried up.

Zeke has even less success in examining the door.

Euphelia runs outside and helps Taern into the house and onto a chair. "Can you tell us what happened?" she asks, in a tone at once soothing and concerned. Runn takes the opportunity to finish uncasking the wine, pour a mugful of it, and quickly down it when his mother's back is turned. He refills the mug in a moment, however, and hands it to Taern.

[Vetril]

Taern takes the mug with shaky hands. He is as pale as a corpse, and it looks like he is on the brink of a nervous breakdown. He drinks all the wine in one go, before handing the mug back to Runn. The alcohol seems to help, and the chandler calms down.

"Another, please."

The frail man covers his mouth with his hand, as he reorders his thoughts. His eyes stare into the air while he goes through the experience with his mind's eye. He then starts to explain, as he stares to the people that gathered around him.

"Now, I know some of you think I am crazy. No, don't say anything - I know. But this is important, and I beg you: you have to trust my instincts. Euphalia, I think Asho was killed by some kind of monster. I think they dragges his body to one of the barns. No one is safe; no one. We should waste no time, and go hide or barricade ourselves in a secure place."

[distant quasar]

"Now, now, let's not be too hasty. We can't even be sure this is the residue of a drug, much less that the mayor is responsible."

Van Hezel looks at Henderson pointedly.

"At any rate, if we want answers, it does seem that there is a trail to follow... but what with all this blood, I do believe we'd be wise to get some others to come with us."

He speaks a bit too calmly for those who know him to believe he actually is.

[EdroGrimshell]

"I'll see if I can't get the militia together, leave half in town and the rest search," Ava says, waits for a reply for only a few seconds, then heads out to gather a search party and a militia unit to defend the town.

[Eonas]

The only people apparently still in the building with Taern are Euphalia and Runn. Only you six were invited to this particular celebration.

Also, the town militia in question is less of a militia than a group of rag-tag townsfolk volunteering to keep law and order around the town when they have the time.

"O' course, o' course..." Euphelia says, still soothingly. "Can yer tell me wha' type of critter this was firs'?"


Tyr immediately volunteers to join Ava. "You should tell his wife, too." Garl adds. "But be quick - Asho can't be far, we can still catch up to him."

[Eonas]

While Ava is in town, everybody else can keep searching or talking or doing other stuff.

When Ava gets into town and alerts the people in the town hall, it takes only a few minutes for a crew of five townsfolk to assemble: Tobos, the town butcher's introverted son; Drostam, a muscular farmer on the northern edge of town; Abdiel Derger and his two sons Droem and Jaxith, also farmers. Each of them carries some sort of weapon. As they return to the hut, they meet Tyr and a very pale Lami.

"Are we ready to go?" Garl asks, his tone a little impatient.

[Mabn]

While Ava was gone Vane checked on Asho's animals to see if any of them were targeted.

spot:[roll0]
listen:[roll1]
knowledge nature: [roll2]


Hearing the militia approaching he moves towards the field where Asho was taken.

[EdroGrimshell]

"One moment, I want to see if anyone in the house is coming along as well," Ava replies, keeping her voice slow so she wouldn't screw up her speech. She heads inside and simply says, "we're heading into the fields to try and find Asho, if you're coming now's the time to say so."

[Vetril]

Taern turns his head towards Euphalia, as he shudders, remembering the creature.
"Uh, it had these huge mandibles. It was like, uhm, some kind of.... Wha?" - the man jumps on the chair as Ava walks in. His hands start shaking again as he rubs his face a couple of times - "Ava, I swear, you almost made me die of fear! Asho... Asho is dead, and the thing that killed him is out there waiting for you to show up, so it can kill you too! I swear by the Gods I saw it!"
The frail chandler walks up to Ava and weakly pulls her arm. From this close, she can notice his whole body is trembling. He looks spooked, as if he had seen a ghost.
"Listen to me. You know Asho's dead, right? None of you should go out there. We should all hide and keep our heads low. When the morning comes, we can run for it and have the King's men sort it out. Please. You're going to die if it finds you. I know it!"

[Harbinger]

"We can't assume Asho is dead, Taern. He could still be alive, and even so we must find what took him and put an end to this!"

He looks up at Ava.

"If Taern is too cowardly to go, I'll come with you. You'll need someone to look after you."

[EdroGrimshell]

Ava looks at Taern, "...did you see something?" she asks, tentatively, a thought coming to her, "what did this to Asho?" she asks.

[Vetril]

Taern gives the old man Henderson the evil eye. He seems annoyed by how his warnings were dismissed. The chandler straightens his back.

"Well you obviously haven't seen what I have, right?"

He turns again towards Ava, to answer her questions.

"I saw a monster, like I see you now. Asho's body is hidden in a barn, I think. There is hay everywhere, and... That thing;" - anguish returns to Taern's eyes - "it saw me, Ava! It tried to bite my head off, like it did with Asho! I have never seen anything like that before, but it's dangerous! It will kill you if it finds you; we're just peasants. We've stumbled on something much bigger than us... Listen to me."

[EdroGrimshell]

Ava pauses, "not all peasants are helpless," she leans in, slightly, "and sometimes, it's better to not sit around waiting for death to find you. If we find something, we'll leave for the city. I have friends there that can help us."

[Vetril]

The chandler shakes his head as he hears Ava's words.

"You just don't understand! That thing will kill you! It bit Asho's head off with ease! How do you fight something like that? You're all going to get yourselves killed!"

Taern takes a deep breath.

"All right, who's in charge of the militia this time? Let me talk to them. Maybe they will listen to reason."

[EdroGrimshell]

"As the one that called it, that's me, actually," Ava replies, then she gets an odd look on her face, before simply leaning in and saying, "my sorry is different from most, you know most of it already, but the part you don't know is what makes me so confident I will survive..." the look on her face is a mix of sadness and anxiety, it made her uncomfortable to talk about, "we have little option unless we send someone to the city, even then it will take a few days to receive help. We need to know as much as we can about what did this to be as prepared as we can when help does come."

[Eonas]

Garl and the town militia, listening in to the conversation, scratch their heads in perplexity. Abdiel, one of the militia, says "Call me stupid if yer will, but I kinda figger this-ere monster is just a buncha normal folk, just like you and me. An' we're lettin' em gettaway every minnit we stand 'ere talkin'. 'oo's with me?"

The rest of the militia respond in the affirmative. Garl and Tyr remain silent, but it's plain that both of them are impatient to leave.


Not apparently. The only animals Asho keeps are chickens, and while you recognize that these have the appearance of being terrified, they all look unharmed and there aren't any traces of blood or the like.

[Mabn]

"Whatever it is, it targeted Asho, killed him, took nothing, and scares the hell out of his chickens. If we fled from it there's every chance it would find us on the road. Best kill it while we know where it is."

[Vetril]

Taern looks out of the window all of sudden; he squints his eyes as he looks outside. Then, without stopping his inspection for a single moment, he replies to Garl.

"Aye, I'll call you stupid no problem, Garl. I'm telling you, if it was a man that killed Asho, I am the Court Wizard. What kind of cutthroat steals the body of his victims?"

The chandler turns once again towards Ava. His expression changes to concern.

"That's not going to stop you and this merry brigade, am I right? Damn you, Ava. Go ahead, throw away your life! Me, I'm going straight back to my house and lock myself in the basement."

The man looks at Euphalia.

"And you better do the same, you and Runn. And you, boy - don't even think about playing hero and go outside to see the monster. You'll end up in the graveyard, so don't do it."

He grabs his things as he prepares to leave with haste.

[Harbinger]

"I'm with you guardsman!" shouts old Henderson, almost jumping with excitement.

"Whatever this creature is, we must find it and kill it. We must prevent further deaths!"

[distant quasar]

Van Hezel shakes his head at Taern.

"Come on now. Man or monster, surely you can't mean to just let whatever did this to Ava roam free, and not even try to do anything about it? You truly mean to lock yourself in your home and tremble in fear while the world keeping going around you?

I had thought better of you, Taern."

[Vetril]

Taern opens the door, and stops for a moment, looking at Van Hezel.

"There's courage, and then there's foolhardiness. You don't go out of your way looking for trouble, cause trouble will find you soon enough. I'm sorry; I knew Asho like everyone else here, but I don't have a death wish. I surely hope you don't all get slaughtered out there. If you change your mind or need my help, you know where to find me; I'll help you out, as long as it's not going to get me killed."

He steps outside, then leans back, as if he had an afterthought:

"As for Asho, he's in some place where there's hay. His body, at least. I'm not sure about the head. If I were determined to risk my life to verify that he is, in fact, dead, I'd start looking in his barn, I guess. Take care."

That said, the gaunt man leaves, walking at a good pace. He heads to his home, never looking back, and never leaving the path.

[distant quasar]

Van Hezel sighs as he watches him go.

"Well then. For those of us with the guts to not just hide in our basements, I propose we go to the barn."

[EdroGrimshell]

Ava sighs, "it takes a monster to fight a monster, Taern, and you're looking at one," she whispers to him, then turns to the others, "let's go."

[Eonas]

The examination of Asho's small barn is disappointingly unfruitful. Everything seems normal in its place, from the miscellaneous farm tools to the jugs of chicken feed to the food stockpiled in one corner. It doesn't seem like anybody even entered the barn anytime recently.

[Harbinger]

"I knew that chandler was lying!" Henderson shouts, "
He's probably working with the mayor! We can't trust anyone..."

Henderson's eyes twitch back and forth, looking from Ava to Van Hezel suspiciously.

[EdroGrimshell]

"I don't think that's the case, Henderson, you can't fake that kind of fear. It may well have simply been that he saw something and his imagination went a bit too far. Search the fields, I'm going to find out what Taern really saw. Travel in pairs at minimum, whatever it is, it will no doubt be strong enough to take on a single man."

[distant quasar]

"No. We shouldn't split up at all. If there's even a chance that Taern's fear is justified, we can't risk facing a monster at anything less than our full strength."

[Mabn]

"We do still have a pretty good Idea where this creature went, why don't we follow the gist of its path and check barns on our way? Really it sounds like finding the creature is the easy part. Especially if it wants us to."

[Harbinger]

"I agree with Ava. Even if Taern wasn't lying or mistaken, splitting up will let us find whatever it is faster."

[Mabn]

"The problem there is that I'm going to find it and when I do I want as many painful things launched in the air towards it as possible before it starts chasing me. But if we really need to find it quickly we should argue while moving towards it."

track:[roll0]
spot:[roll1]

Vane turned around and set off at a jog along the creatures trail.

[Harbinger]

Henderson shrugs.

"Works for me," he says, hobbling after Vane.

[Vetril]

A nervous looking Taern walks down the path. He keeps looking around and behind his back, as he mutters to himself.
As soon as he gets in sight of the village, the chandler starts to whistle, but it is clear that he's just trying to grant himself a measure of courage - at a point, he even whispers an encouragement.

"Just a little more, Taern. You can do it."

In case there's something to notice, Spot: [roll0].

[Eonas]

Apologies for the delay, I've had to reconsider the direction of the adventure. I'm still new to this whole Lovecraftian DMing thing.

I'm just going to Take 10 on everybody's survival and spot and listen checks (except for Mabn, who already rolled his), just for the sake of expediency. If anybody wanted to roll for anything or take 20 anywhere along the process, just lemme know. Or if you want to do anything else, obviously. I'm assuming you follow the trail into the forest - if you do anything else, let me know.

Vetril, I'll do you in a while. Just gimme a chance to figure things out for a moment.

The peasants have no difficulty in following the trail and tracks through Asho's field and into the forest, in part due to the fact that on either side of the tracks all the grass and plants seem disintegrated or eaten. The forest itself begins normally, but the more the party enters it, the more they find it becomes thicker and darker, a net of gigantic decaying trees and strange flora. After an unclear amount of time (for time seems almost to blur and merge with itself here), the peasants find that the trail ends at the door of a small windowless, apertureless hut. The door is ever so slightly ajar, and a mere glimmer of faint green light peeps out from the crack between the door and the wall.

[EdroGrimshell]

"This does not look natural," Ava says slowly, and quietly, "I think Taern may have been onto something, he just wasn't in his barn. Keep back, I'm going to check what's inside, keep weapons at the ready and if you have a sling, keep it on hand. If we find something dangerous, we'll want to keep distance between us and it," with that said, Ava heads into the shack, opening the door with her spear.

[distant quasar]

"This is decidedly... odd..." Van Hezel mutters to himself whilst readying his sling.

Knowledge (arcana) [roll0]
to determine what might be emitting a green light, given that he believes what killed Asho is potentially a summoned monster.
Knowledge (planes) [roll1] for good measure

[Harbinger]

Henderson pays little heed to Ava's warning, following slightly behind her as she approaches the hut. Suddenly a horrible thought occurs to him.

"Say... that light... you see any candles in there, Ava?"

[Eonas]

There are a variety of magical effects and extraplanar creatures that emit different kinds of light, but Hezel don't know more than that.

Garl and the militia also ready their various weapons, standing together nervously.

[Mabn]

Vane struck two of his spears in the ground beside him in easy grasp and readied his third to throw.

[EdroGrimshell]

(Already opened the door)

Ava peers inside the shack, "can't say I've ever heard of a candle that gives off green light," she whispers back, keeping her eyes as open as she could.

Spot: [roll0]
Search: [roll1]

[Eonas]

Whoops, missed that you opened the door.

As Ava opens the door, the commoners quickly see the cause of the light: a flickering green-flamed candle which is placed on a small table in one corner of the hut, and which is in perfect condition, as if the heat of the flame never melted the candlewax. Next to the candle on the table is a thick book, and next to the table is a chair. On the opposite side of the hut is a small bed, and beside the bed is a wooden chest.

Finally, in the middle of the hut's wooden floor, there seems to be a similiarly wooden trapdoor.

[Harbinger]

Henderson rushes past Ava, grinning.

"I knew it," he shouts, "I knew it! This proves it it!" Henderson draws breath dramatically, then exclaims loudly. "This is a candle. Who do we know that makes candles, eh? And who was too cowardly to show his face here tonight, eh? Taern! Taern is workin' with the mayor, trying to stop us from finding out what he's been up to."

The old gnome laughs. "I knew it all along," he says triumphantly.

Henderson's smile grows even wider as he spots the trapdoor on the floor.

"Look, and there's where they must be hiding Asho!"

Paying no heed to anyone else, Henderson kneels down and begins straining to open the trapdoor.

[EdroGrimshell]

"That's not a natural flame, Henderson, I highly doubt a normal chandler could make something like this, and with how terrified Taern was, it's unlikely he was lying to us," Ava comments, "I think we're looking for a mage, not a chandler."

[Harbinger]

"Quiet, Ava, I'm about to find Asho! Then you'll see, you'll all see how foolish you were!" Henderson continues struggling with the trapdoor.

[distant quasar]

Knowledge (arcana) for the candle: [roll[1d20+5[/roll]

Van Hezel steps inside the shack after Henderson.

"Come on Henserson," he says absently, walking over towards the candle and inspecting it, "Let's not get carried away.

[distant quasar]

botched the roll: [roll0]

[Eonas]

Henderson finds the trapdoor immovable. Abdiel and his elder son Jaxith bend down to help him, but they have little luck either.

As Van Hezel approaches the candle, he notices that it doesn't seem to emanate any heat at all - in fact, it seems to be just a tinge colder around the candle.
Many wizards use these types of magical effects to produce light, when real fire won't do the trick for whatever reason (flammable materials and very long study hours being the most common ones).

[Mabn]

Vane looked out back for a wood splitting ax.

[roll0]

[Eonas]

Unsuccessfully: there doesn't seem to be any handmade implents outside the hut. Neither does there seem to be any axe inside the hut itself.

[Mabn]

Vane throws some tinder on the trapdoor and takes flint and steel from his pocket. He lit the tinder and fanned it into a flame over the trapdoor.

[distant quasar]

Van Hezel tugs at his beard, barely noticing the flame Vane is working up.

"It probably took a wizard to make this candle," he muses aloud, "But who around here knows magic any way? And why would they need magical lighting... unless there's something flammable around, or..."

Then he looks up at Vane's flame, fully seeing it for the first time.

"Hold on!" he says loudly, moving over to beat out the flames.

"There are only two reasons I can think of for why anyone needed to make a magical candle like this, and being near flammable materials is one of them. We'd best find another way to get through the trap door..." he already seems to be getting lost in thought again.

[Mabn]

"If the creature is down there having the hut catch fire isn't really a problem. If not we should keep going."

[Eonas]

Gael and Abiel immediately begin helping Van Hezel. "What if there are explosives here? Or a cask of oil?" Gael asks quickly.


Meanwhile, as Taern walks home, he happens to see his own reflection in a pool - and the in the reflection's eyes, he recursively sees himself seeing himself seeing himself see himself. And as his mind tries to process this, he suddenly realizes that he's in a vision (he also realizes that it's the first time he's ever realized that he's in a vision - 'lucid visions' are an anomaly for him).
And in the vision, he's somebody else. Or rather, he realizes he's seeing the world through the eyes of somebody seeing the world through the eyes of somebody else, who in turn is seeing the world through the eyes of somebody else... on and on for uncountable people. And in the vision, he is on the top of a stone tower, gazing out at a landscape barren, flat and devoid of life. In the distance, he sees creatures crawling over the landscape. They're too far away to distinguish any of their features, something for which Taern (or the person through which Taern is seeing - it's hard to tell) feels inexplicably glad.

Beside him in the tower is a large book, whose cover is inscribed with strange and ornate symbols that make Taern shudder, hieroglyphs depicting things totally alien to Taern's entire conception of the universe. The only symbol he can make out is prominently displayed near the center of the cover: a vicious set of mandibles.

Then, Taern finds himself saying words in a tongue unknown to him. He is dimly aware of a strange connection between himself and those words, but before he can discern what exactly that connection is, he is abruptly jolted back to the present world. For some reason Taern can't distinguish, the book seems terribly important to him, right here and right now.

[EdroGrimshell]

"If you don't mind I'd rather not be blown up," Ava says, and backs up, spinning her spear lazily to keep herself loose in case something came about.

[Vetril]

Taern is sitting on the ground, leaning against a little stone wall that traces the limits of a field. He is holding his face in the palm of his hands. The silence is broken by the noises he makes as he cries. This continues for a while, before he finally stops. He sits in silence, going through the vision once again, this time applying his agile mind to it. Had he experienced the vision of someone from the past possessing the same curse? Did this unknown person see through the eyes of a third man cursed equally by the sight, and so on, through the years, back to ancient times? Taern's head spins as he considers the thought. Just how many disgraced persons had to suffer this particular vision, to forge this mystical chain of which he is now the last link?

Most importantly, was this all pre-determined?

Kn. (History): [roll0] (+4 bonus from Aftersight). Taern tries to place the vision within an historical frame to understand its meaning.

He takes a few moments to clean his face. Then, all of sudden, he grabs a pebble and throws it in the dark, in a sudden outburst of rage:

"Why! Can any of the Gods tell me why? Why did you curse me with the sight? I don't need it! I don't want it! Damn you! All of you!"

He looks to the pool on his left side, meeting his reflection's stare. He asks a single question, as if the image could actually answer him.

"Why can't I just live a normal life?"

Yet, in his mind there is now the image of a certain item. The chandler moans, as he feels almost a physical force, pulling him back in the direction he came from.

He looks at the village, so close and reassuring. With a sigh, he starts walking back to the farm.

[Mabn]

"Alright, we can do it this way then." Vane hooks a grappling hook into the trap door and hold up it cord. "everyone grab and pull."

[distant quasar]

Van Hezel nods with absent satisfaction, going over to pick up an end of the rope and tug with the others.

I assume my strength isn't the highest, so here's an assist other:[roll0]

[Eonas]

Taern can't place his vision anywhere in his historical knowledge, but it's likely that what he saw would be very difficult even for a learned historian to place.

Drostam Aid Another [roll0]
Abdiel Aid Another [roll1]
Jaxith Aid Another [roll2]
Droem Aid Another [roll3]
Tobos Aid Another [roll4]
Gael Aid Another [roll5]
Tyr Aid Another [roll6]
So everybody except Jaxith's rolls succeed: 5 successful aids, plus Hezel's.

Does anybody else Aid another?

The five militiamen, as well as Gael and Tyr, also pick up the rope behind Vane and pull.

[Eonas]

When Taern arrives at Gael's house, he finds that the only people there are Euphalia and Runn, both engaged in cleaning duties. As soon as Euphalia sees Taern, she immediately stops what she's doing to concernedly ask him how he's feeling, and informs him that the gang went to Asho's farm to chase the kidnapper.

Okay, I'll assume that nobody else Aids Another, then.

The peasants tug on the rope until it seems that the rope is nearly at its breaking point, but still the trapdoor doesn't budge. Some of the militia look frustrated; Gael looks perplexed.

[Mabn]

"Anyone else have ideas?"

[EdroGrimshell]

"Anyone check to see if they could pry up the hinges?" Ava asks dryly.

[Mabn]

"Anyone have anything with which to pry a hing off?"

[Eonas]

Strength prying roll: [roll0]

"Oh! I do!" exclaims Jaxith in a voice that echoes unnervingly loudly in the hut's narrow confines, as he draws his dagger and uses it to attempt to pry the hinges of the trapdoor off. Unsuccessfully: for though the hinge creaks a little against the floorboards, it still seems unnaturally solid.

"I don't think this place is very normal." Droem observes, somewhat redundantly.

[Vetril]

Taern steps out of the door as soon as he understands where the militia went.

"I need to run there then - they might be releasing something which would better stay locked up. Euphalia, for the Gods' sake listen to me - we're all risking our lives. There's a monster around. There might be more than one. You take Runn and hide in the safest place you can find. Don't go out. If something comes, hide and let it pass."

That said, Taern starts walking towards Asho's farm as fast as he can go without runnning.

[Eonas]

"All right naw, don' hurt yerself!" Euphalia calls after Taern, and resumes her cleaning work.

When Taern arrives at Asho's, he finds it exactly as the other investigators did, except with the obvious addition of a herd of footsteps going through the clear-cut path through Asho's fields into the forest.

If he chooses to follow the path all the way into the forest, here's his survival/tracking check:

[roll0]

If he stops at the edge of the forest, he doesn't need that tracking check. You going in?

[Vetril]

You going in?

Unfortunately I decided to go in :smallbiggrin:

[Eonas]

At first, the route taken by the group is easy to follow, but soon Taern finds himself having to pay very close attention in order to follow the path. After what seems like a long time, he realizes that he'd been walking in circles: there's an unmistakeable landmark that he's crossed at least 3 times so far on the journey. The landmark in question is a jagged, rotted-out treestump with a circumference of easily 20 or 30 feet. The stump seems to be gnawed at in a manner similar to Asho's front door, and around the stump there isn't any plant life.

Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]

[Vetril]

Taern eyes the bite marks for a moment before he sits on the stump. His left hand moves up to upport his chin. He tries to orient himself and remember the direction he came from. As he thinks, he takes his pipe out of the satchel he is carrying; mechanically, he starts to charge it with pipeweed.

[Mabn]

Vane built up a pile on tinder again. "Everyone leave the hut and stand a ways away." After giving them time, he again lit a fire over the trap door and left the hut at a run.

[EdroGrimshell]

Before leaving, Ava grabs the candle, a fire that never died could be useful.

[Eonas]

The fire spreads through the hut, and as the townsfolk run away from it, they see and smell nasty sulfurous fumes emanating from the hut.
There's also a faint humming or buzzing sound coming from the hut's general direction, slowly climbing in intensity.

If you don't do anything or keep running away, just say so and I'll continue narrating.


In the forest darkness is clearly visible a glow of light, somewhere in the distance but also not too far.

[EdroGrimshell]

"Well, that doesn't smell too good, like rotten eggs. Let's just hope nothing is under it," she looks around now, making sure she didn't miss anything, then continues, "we should move back a bit more, and keep our eyes open, don't want to be blindsided by anything."

Search: [roll0]

[distant quasar]

Listen [roll0]

"I agree. I have to wonder what's burning in there to produce that smell though..."

[Mabn]

"Put out that candle, if something's there we don't want to make ourselves targets."

[EdroGrimshell]

Ava grabs the burning end, "magic flame, doesn't go out unless dispelled, remember?" she says.

[Vetril]

Taern remains oblivious of the light in the distance: he seems to be looking in the opposite direction. Smoke raises from his pipe.

[Eonas]

While I say the following checks are Mandatory, you can voluntarily choose to fail them - as with any other 'mandatory' checks I'll prescribe.

However, if you fail a check or don't attempt one, please don't open the relevant spoiler. That's the whole point of me spoilering the text, after all.

"Do you hear that?" Tobos asks, fully alert.

There's a set of footsteps accompanied by a dissonant symphony of buzzing and humming, rising in intensity and coming from the burning hut.

Suddenly, there's a series of loud crashes, and the peasants see two figures, wreathed in flame, emerge from the hut running. Their presence is accompanied horrible cluster of insectile buzzing and humming. Several of the militia gasp or swear. Tyr and Garl both start back and reach for their weapons.

And surrounding the figures is a swarm of grasshopper-like insects, crawling and hopping madly with the figures. The insects rapidly (extremely rapidly) devour any bits of wood debris in their way, but don't seem to harm the figures themselves.

Roll a sanity check, 1/1d4.

[distant quasar]

What is the "1/1d4" for? I thought sanity checks were d%:

[roll0]

EDIT: Ah, I see, I lose 1 even though I pass, but 1d4 if I had failed. Got it.

Van Hezel squints at the figures, trying to make out what surrounds them, and then instantly regrets it.

"Gah!" he blinks furiously and shakes his head to clear his thoughts, readying his sling to fire if the figures... or what surrounds them... comes close.

[Mabn]

Vane
[roll0]
"Do not approach, I will attack you!"

[Vetril]

Still unaware of what is happening, Taern checks the sky to see if he could orient himself that way.
He also tries to remember if there is a building or something that reminds him of his first vision of the night.
Failing that, he turns around and gives a good look in all directions, trying to decide where he should go according to what he sees, hears, and possibly smells.

Survival: [roll0].

(pick the relevant one, as I am unsure)
Knowledge (Geography): [roll1].
Knowledge (Local): [roll2].

Spot: [roll3].
Listen: [roll4].

[Eonas]

"What? I don't hear - oh, my, what's that?" Ava asks, nervously.

The figures momentarily stop running. For a split second it sems as if they're speaking to the peasants, but then it becomes obvious that the words they use are thoroughly alien. As they speak, the flames lapping at their hair and clothes are extinguished, and a white horse gallops towards them from... well, somewhere (nobody heard or saw any horse a minute ago). Though it's obviously difficult to tell, the figures seem terrified of something - there's a general hurriedness to their behavior, for one thing, and it's possible that as they spoke they were stammering. And as far as anyone can tell, they hardly notice the group of peasants amassed before them.

Upon closer inspection of his environment, Taern has no difficulty seeing a spot of light flickering in the distance. He also seems to hear a sort of solitary violinlike buzzing from far beneath the stump.

(If he chooses to walk towards the light, Survival DC 12)
Weaving through the trees to get to his destination is no easy task, but Taern arrives at the scene of the fire much more quickly than expected.
He arrives at the scene of the action in 6 rounds
The matted net of trees and plants obstructs a clear path between Taern and the light, frequently forcing him to take long detours. The more he tries to maneuver, the more the trees surrounding him seem to press in closer, and his line of sight to the distant light is frequently cut off by the sheer density of foliage between him and it. Not only that, but the trees and plants seem more menacing and almost sentient. Eventually, it becomes obvious that Taern is horrifically lost, without even the light to provide bearings.

And then, as Taern trips over a root that he wasn't sure was there a minute ago, he glances at a particularly thick-trunked tree. The glance triggers another brief vision of a man in a forest just like this one, being torn to shreds and eaten alive by the trees and plants. The vision was too short and startling to tell exactly what trees or plants did this, or how they did it, but it was graphic enough to engrave a very strong impression upon the chandler's mind.

(sanity check, 1/1d4+1)

Once the vision ends, Taern finds himself lying face-forward on the ground. As he tries to get up, it rapidly becomes obvious that his right arm is stuck in a tangle of plants. And then... Taern feels something very distinctly snaking up his leg.

(roll a DC 15 reflex save)
(If not, open neither spoiler and just tell me what you want to do.)

[Eonas]

As the horse runs toward the figures, they both immediately run to meet it. Suddenly, however, the horse stops in its tracks, and begins to scream in agony.
For the insects which were previously surrounding the figures, are now swarming the horse and eating it alive with alarming rapidity.
Make a sanity check, 1/1d4.
One of the figures stops in his tracks as well, as if stunned. The other redoubles his running toward the horse, yelling indistinctly and waving his arms as if to shoo something away from the horse. Whatever he's trying to achieve seems not to work, however, and he soon changes direction: towards the peasants. As he runs, he yells in Common speech. While he speaks in an odd, overly-enunciated sort of way and while he's obviously verging on hysteria, most of his words are pretty clearly audible: "You've got to help me get out you've got to help me it's growing too fast! It wasn't supposed to happen it'll kill us all if we stay here it killed the receptacle we've got to get away now!"
The speaker is Kent, a young man who moved away from the village with his recently pregnant wife, about a year ago. He was a very strange and secluded person, and the only reason the figure's identity is at all recognizable is that Kent's accent is one-of-a-kind and unforgettable.

[Mabn]

Vane set his shirt on fire and shoved the burning garment over Kent, pushing him to the ground. "Heat and smoke will knock out the bugs before it kills you, but you're coming with us clean or not at all."

[Harbinger]

Henderson squints, looking around in confusion. "What's happening? What are you all doing?"

Spot:

Knowledge: 1d20+1[/roll]

[Eonas]

Okay, so since the figure was still some distance away when he started calling for help, I'll assume that he kept running while Vane lights his shirt on fire, meaning that by the time he gets to Vane the commoner's all ready to put the shirt over him.

As soon as the flaming shirt is placed onto the figure, he begins struggling against Mabn and screaming inarticulately. In a moment, however, his screaming actually does become articulate, but his words aren't in any recognizable language.
He's clearly a spell of some type.
Specifically, a spell which grants a single person a glance of cosmic irony.
All at once, Vane sees (almost against his will) the overwhelming irony of the situation. Here they are, struggling over a shirt, while somewhere very close by lies a horror that Vane's tiny brain probably can't even fathom. It was going to kill them all, that's what the figure said. And Vane realizes with crushing force the inevitability of death. What does anything matter? A flaming shirt beside death's infinite oblivion! Ha! Why, it's positively hilarious...
The company see Vane suddenly burst into convulsive, mirthless laughter, like that of a hyena. The laughter seems to debilitate him, doubling him over.

"What have you done to him?" Ava asks, brandishing her club at him frightenedly. As if in answer, the other figure answers "We're all going to die." Her voice identifies her as female, but it has a mechanical antipathy which dehumanizes it. The first figure (beside Vane), meanwhile, only resumes running, throwing Vane's shirt off to one side.

You all (except for Mabn) may take an attack of opportunity against the figure, if you want. And then you also get to take actions, going in whatever order you like. The woman is about 15 feet from the hut and 40 feet from you, and the man is 30 feet from you (about 90 feet from the hut). If you want a crude diagram, just ask.
You get to come in next round.

[Mabn]

Vane's laughter turned to strangled convulsions as he threw up but found himself unable to stop. Throwing himself onto his side to kept from suffocating he shoughted between hysterical lauter and wracking coughs. "I was trying to save you Kent! Damn you your dead now and you killed yourself! You had a child coming! What happened to you!" He slumped as the last words left his mouth, beginning to sob softy, his laughter sounding increasingly horrific.

[distant quasar]

Van Hezel moans softly and rubs his eyes.

What is going on here?

He looks up at the figures, Kent now running away yet again. The one of the spoke however... He looks at the female, shouting "What do you mean? Explain yourself!"

[Eonas]

"We tried to follow the instructions, but it ate through the receptacle too quickly, and the peasant wasn't enough... so it's free now, and none of us are fast enough to escape it." The woman answers patiently and calmly, then recites a sequence of vocal 'clacking' sounds that can only be spelled as "Gr'r'rrt erb k'krr xyq'q'q'q"

[distant quasar]

Van Hezel sighs and shakes his head at the woman, trying not to lose his cool.

"What ate through what receptacle? Please, we really don't have a clue what's going on..."

[Eonas]

For some reason, the question seems to rouse the woman from her stupor slightly. She steps toward the group, and for the first time the group can properly see her face: it's emaciated and pale (and even beginning to wrinkle); yet it still looks youthful. With a very odd expression on her face, she answers "The Voracious One. It feeds and it feeds and it reproduces and there's nothing you can do to stop it and its young. It ate through the receptacle and it'll eat all of us too!"

Suddenly, her facial expression takes on a new aspect: malignity. "Yes, we're all going to die, just like the book said. Listen! It's coming!" Unexpectedly, the woman begins laughing: a demoniacal laugh uncannily like Vane's mirthless, ironic laugh (which, fortunately, seems to be subsiding).

You hear a sound coming towards you from the forest: the rustling of leaves, the sound of footsteps upon the ground.
At the same time, you hear a less identifiable sound coming from the hut's general direction. The sound of hopping, perhaps? Or clacking? Or something still stranger.

Vane can act now.
Okay, Taern's now within about 30-60 feet of the commoners: he can see the hut burning and heard a good portion of the woman's speech.

[Mabn]

Vane pull himself to his feet"Sounds like we haven't been using enough fire. I hate this night already."

[distant quasar]

Van Hezel steps away from the woman warily, coming to stand next to Vane.

"There's still something around the hut..." he whispers.

[Vetril]

Taern finally arrives, pushing away bushes as he walks towards the others. Taking note of the burning hut, he stands for a long moment, despair starting to show on his face.

"Fools! What have you done? Run, and don't look back!"

[Mabn]

"Run where? This is our home and if we start running we won't stop until we don't recognize our destination."

[Eonas]

As the peasants talk, a large, black shape appears in the flaming hut's wreckage. The bright flames which surround it render its actual form impossible to decipher: all that the commoners can see is a flickering mass of shadows.

The two youngest and most impressionable members of the militia, Jaxith and Droem, having been watching the scene with increasing trepidation, both let out a childlike squeal and begin running heedlessly away from the hut.
The woman, meanwhile, continues laughing maniacally.


Henderson: [roll0]
Vane: [roll1]
Taern: [roll2]
Hezel: [roll3]
Ava: [roll4]

Tobos: [roll5]
Drostam: [roll6]
Abdiel: [roll7]

Thing initiative: [roll8]

Wow, you guys really lucked out here. I'll just say everybody gets to make their actions in whatever order they prefer.

[Mabn]

"How much fire do we have? I have some torches, some candles, some flint, ways to start stuff, in other words, but that thing is standing in the middle of a burning building and unless we can set the forest on fire and drop in on that thing I don't think we can kill it."

[Vetril]

Taern grabs the nearest peasant by the arm and pulls!

"I said run! Run for your lives! We can hide, but the village will not know until it's too late, if you all die here!"

And then, the chandler runs as fast as he can, in the direction that he thinks will bring him towards the village.

[Mabn]

"We should alert the rest of the village one way or another, but if this thing multiplies like she said leaving it alone is not an option. Decide if you want to run or rally while I buy time"
Vane hefted a spear and walked towards the smoking figure.

[distant quasar]

Hezel hesitates for a moment, looking back and forth between Vane, Taern, and the rising creature. Finally, he places a rock in his sling, preparing to fire if... whatever it is... does something hostile.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Eonas]

Okay, I'll go without Harbinger then.

Tobos and Drostam cautiously follow Vane towards the hut, holding their butcher's cleaver and pitchfork with shaking hands. Ava and Abiel also prepare to shoot the creature in the hut with their sling and crossbow.

And, in fact, they all do shoot. For suddenly, something jumps out of the hut. As alien to the peasants as the monster is, it's clear that the monster is taller than a bear, with a vaguely insectile body, long clawlike limbs, and a gigantic set of vicious mandibles. And in its black, bulbous eyes only one purpose is discernable: to feed.

As the monster snaps its mandibles at the woman, there is a resounding crunch and a scream that unexpectedly ends in a giggle. The woman is on the ground now, badly mangled but still laughing hoarsely. The various shots levelled at it ping off the monster's hide - it's unclear whether they were effective, but the monster doesn't so much as turn towards the group (although a part of its diamondlike eyes is facing them, giving the peasants the unpleasant impression that they are still being watched by it). Drostam outright faints at the vision, while Henderson and Zeke immediately turn tail and bolt in the same direction as the others.

Everybody make a 1/1d10 sanity check for having seen the monster, as well as a 0/1d3 sanity check if the monster kills the woman. I'll edit the post in a moment to reflect that.
Tobos: [roll0] [roll1] [roll2] [roll3] Still completely sane.
Drostam: [roll4] [roll5] [roll6] [roll7] Temporary and indefinite insanity
Abdiel: [roll8] [roll9] [roll10] [roll11] Indefinite insanity
Ava: [roll12] [roll13] [roll14] [roll15] Temporary and indefinite insanity
Zeke: [roll16] [roll17] [roll18] [roll19] Still sane
Handerson: [roll20] [roll21] [roll22] [roll23] Still sane

EDIT: The second roll isn't necessary, yet.

Here's some attack rolls:
Ava attack: [roll24] [roll25]
Abdiel attack: [roll26] [roll27]

Thing attack: [roll28] [roll29]

You all get to go again. Vane, Tobos, and Abdiel are all within 15 feet of the monster.

[distant quasar]

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Mabn]

[roll0]
[roll1]


hit:[roll2]
crit:[roll3]
damage:[roll4]
If a 11 hits that's 27 damage(hopes with not much actual hope). Also, 70 san horay!
Vane hurls his first spear at the creature an moves within 5 feet of it, ready to strike it again if it tries to eat the women.

[Eonas]

Vane's spear hits the monster's body with a sickening thud and remains affixed to it like an arrow on a shield. Tobos and Drostam follow suit and through Tobos' cleaver blow also hits home, the monster hardly seems perturbed.

Gael, meanwhile, seems catatonic at the sight of the monster, and Tyr is dragging his father away by the hand, away into the forest like the others.

Tobos attack: [roll0] [roll1]
Drostam attack: [roll2] [roll3]

Standby for another IC post.

[distant quasar]

Van Hezel wavers momentarily, but at the sight of the others fighting, readies his sling again.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Eonas]

The 'volley' of stones that hit the monster is similarly ineffective: Van Hezel's stone only barely burrows itself in the monster's flesh, while Ava's just harmlessly bounces off its chitinous exoskeleton (Abdiel, meanwhile, is occupied in replacing a crossbow bolt - a task made far harder by his trembling fingers).
Inexorable in its purpose, the monster lunges at the woman again. Its snapping mandibles sear through her flesh, but she keeps laughing, though bleeding profusely. One of the monster's thrashing limbs, however, slices her head off as neatly as if it were a loaf of bread, causing her giggles to end in a throaty gurgle - and then silence.

This accomplished, the monster turns towards the three peasants standing before it, limbs still flailing and mandibles still snapping. Tobos turns to run, and Drostam points his pitchfork at the creature defensively, but it turns out to be in vain. Both are struck by the limbs and fall to the ground, unconscious and bleeding out.

And Vane finds himself standing alone, toe-to-toe with the creature that killed two of his companions in a matter of seconds.

I rolled Ava's attack behind the screen: they both missed.

Bite attack on woman: [roll0] [roll1]
Claw 1 Attack on woman or on Tobos [roll2] [roll3]
Claw 2 Attack on woman or on Tobos or on Drostam [roll4] [roll5]
Claw 3 Attack on woman or on Tobos or on Drostam or on Vane [roll6] [roll7]

Y'all are statistically likely to have to make more sanity checks.

Yup.

[distant quasar]

Critical: [roll0] not that it will matter much

[Mabn]

[roll1]
[Roll]1d100][roll2]
Vane drops the torch he was holding on the pile of newly deceased and gets the hell away from the death machine (withdraw action)

[distant quasar]

[roll0]
[roll1]


Ready action to fire if it attacks moves to attack me or Vane.

Van Hezel similarly backs away, keeping his sling ready.

[Eonas]

In order to find your way out of the woods, you're going to have to make a DC 15 Survival check, no take 10s allowed. Only one person gets to make the check, though the others in your group (for Vetril, that would be Abdiel's children Jaxith and Droem, for distant quazar and Mabn, that'd be Ava and Abdiel) get to Aid Another.

Your character knows that Droem, Abdiel's younger son, is characteristically totally unaware of his surroundings, but Abdiel and Jaxith are both passable at these sorts of wilderness-related activities.

[Vetril]

Since Taern is not the best at orienteering, I'd like to have them Aid Another.

Knowledge (Local): [roll0]

Survival: [roll1].
I have a feeling we're gonna get lost in the woods.

Edit - actually, nope!

[Eonas]

As Van Hezel, Ava, and Abdiel run backwards into where the woods are thicker, they finds that the strange flora around him hampers they movement significantly. Roots seem specifically poised to trip them, thorned leaves scratch at their faces, matted webs of vines prove difficult obstacles to cross. In fact, Abdiel is quickly entangled, held in immobility by tendrils wrapped around his body.

Hezel Reflex save: [roll0]
Ava save: [roll1]
Abdiel save: [roll2]

Monster attack/damage on Tyr: [roll3][roll4]

Okay. Hezel and Ava only move at half-speed (as will Vane, once he leaves the clearing - which he is 30' away from doing), and the monster is 40' away from Vane.

The monster charges towards the retreating peasants, stopping only for a moment to behead Tyr, who bravely stood in its way to shield his catatonic father from certain death.


Taern and Abdiel's two sons, meanwhile, have difficulty picking their way towards the village. While nothing actually hazardous occurs during their trek, the density of the vaguely menacing forest renders it impossible to go anywhere in a straight line, and the dim illumination only adds to the challenge.
Yet, finally, they emerge from the forest. They aren't where they initially entered, but the nearby farmfields are pleasantly familiar, even if the group can only see them by the weak light of the moon.

[Mabn]

Vane again throws a spear at the horror before running away from the others.

hit:[roll0]
crit:[roll1]
damage:[roll2]

[Vetril]

Taern points at the familiar landmarks.

"There! And so the village is in that direction! Let's go, just a little! As soon as we get there, start calling people - we have to leave, or hide, as fast as we can!"

[Eonas]

Okay! My schedule's calmed down now.

You also get an action, distant quasar.

Vane's spear bounces off the thing's exoskeleton harmlessly.

Taern's companions, Jaxith and Droem, need no encouragement. Both of them run through the field to the farmhouse, yelling loudly and mostly incoherently. The inhabitants, an elderly couple and their son, are eating calmly at the table when the group arrive. The elderly man, Rogash, calmly invites them to eat, but Jaxith only shouts "You've got to get out! You've got to get out! Now! Run for your lives!"
This outburst does very little to inspire the family to flee - instead, the couple go and try to calm down Jaxith. Droem decides to keep running towards the town to alert everybody else.

[Mabn]

Vane dug deep inside himself and thought. The village needed time and he needed to live - in that order. His best bet was the forest: he lived and walked through it every day of his life and this thing was kept in a cellar, fighting it on his own soil was about all he had. The trees should keep it from charging or running, which should buy him time, but it was faster than him, so even ducking and weaving like he was running from an angry elk he needed a goal. If he could find a pit or a ridge he could drop something heavy off that would be best. Even a good body of water had potential. Baring that he needed to get it real angry with a good lead and try to climb up a tree it couldn't knock down. He started running.

knowledge nature:[roll0]
survival:[roll1]
spot:[roll2]
listen:[roll3]

take whichever are relevant

[Eonas]

Since distant quazar hasn't replied, I assume he just keeps running then.

Here's a reflex save for Vane: [roll0]

Vane realizes that the foliage around here isn't remotely normal - but then again, that was obvious. What's less obvious is that they seem to exhibit signs of sentience. It's even possible that some of the planes are carnivorous. Certainly, it doesn't seem to be totally safe to climb most of the trees. He does, however, spot a few nearby trees which seem to be dead - perhaps those might be safer to climb?
Vane hasn't seen any water during the course of his entire trip into the forest (which does raise questions as to how the trees sustain themselves). There doesn't seem to be much in the way of ledges or ridges anywhere in sight, though he does recall having seen some earlier (how far away they might be is beyond him - the entire forest plays tricks with his perception of time and space).

As he runs into the thick of the woods, he too has to struggle to keep loose of the plants which hinder him at every step. The monster keeps approaching, and now that Vane, Van Hezel, and Ava are obstructed by the woods' fauna, it begins to catch up, seeming only 50 or so feet behind Vane. Abdiel, however, is unable to move an inch, his entire body now entangled by creeping tendrils and vines.

[Mabn]

remember Vane is running through a different part of the woods than everyone else (barring magic)

Vane didn't like the chances of obviously dead trees standing up to the thing behind him. If the trees really were sentient however he might be able to cause more of a distraction than he thought. 2 torches, 6 candles, a bedroll, a sack, and a flint and steel. Time to see if sentient trees could scream.


Vane will keep doing double moves, lighting things on fire and dropping them wherever seems best