After the shopkeeper heads out the door, Marnoa picks up one of the carrots and heads outside, following to observe these strange wombats (and villagers suffering from carotenemia).
(OOC: I apologize, is it Mamoa or Marnoa? I think I've been calling you the wrong name)
Dulf (for that is the merchant's name) grabs a jacket and leads you through a back door to a pen just outside the back of the store. Inside, you see a group of about 20 wombats. They are mostly engaged in regular wombat activities, but when they see all of you come out, they begin to snuff and snort and grunt quite loudly. They don't move, but they watch all of you very closely.
"I kept smoothing it out, but they kept clawing it back into the ground there. After the last time I tried to clean it, 10 of them chased me out of the pen. I ain’t been back in since. I just throw their food over the side of the fence and rake the poop out. Since I left it alone, they’ve made it a bit more elaborate. It is quite unsettling."
"Fascinating,"Fuego stares in wonder."Are the characters always the same, or do they change? Does anyone recognize these symbols? Clearly these are no ordinary wombats. Have any other villagers had similar outbreaks of wombattian literary efforts?"
Marnoa looks at the situation and sees the writing, decides to try something. If he sees one of the wombats watching them, he holds a small coil of wire in his hand and points his finger at it, thinking and sending it a message, "Are you intelligent? Did you write this? What is going on here?"
Dulfsays, "Honestly, I've never seen the like. As I said, they started about two weeks ago. This is the only thing I've ever seen 'em write. I imagine people would keep a lot fewer wombats if this kept happening."
None of you recognize the script.
The wombat Marnoais talking to just looks back at him blankly, but also somehow menacingly.
Looking at the writing in the dirt, Jacks furrows his brows. He watches others investigate and interrogate the wombats, tossing the apple in his hand up and down, obviously bored and expecting others to do the work.
Once everyone has left the building, Andre is going to ritual-cast Alarm on the front door so that no one can sneak in without him noticing... well, okay, mostly so that he can activate his Arcane Ward without burning a spell slot.
Marnoa uses prestidigitation to clean off a patch of ground, then repeats it again to copy the image of the symbols there, inside the wombat pen, and watches for their reaction. “Any of you know how to make this out? Who would know, these sort of symbols?”
(I'm assuming you are looking for the wombats reaction, right?)
The wombats get up and move over to the new drawing, sniffing around it and grunting excitedly. One of the larger wombats examines it closely, turning it's head side to side so it can see it from all angles. Eventually, it snorts, turns around, and unloads a stream of cube-shaped fecal matter on Marnoa's drawing.
"Alas I am unversed in the secret written language of the wombat. It is totally foreign to me. Señor Dulf, do you have a village scholar or scribe who might be able to interpret these symbols? Otherwise, I suggest we proceed to speak with your father on the matter of... compensation." Fuego absent-mindedly fingers his nigh-empty coinpurse as he speaks.
Dulfgasps at Mortimer's suggestion. "I...I'm...I'm sure the pen is not at fault. It hasn't changed a bit since the wombat's started acting up and they've been in it for over a year now. I'm certain that if you figure out what is wrong, the pen will return to normal. Why don't you go see my father? I'm sure he'll compensate you fairly." He begins to shoo you all away from the pen.
Dulfheads back into the store and, after a bit of yelling, Andre leaves the store red-faced, sticky-fingered, and sugared-up. You can all make your way into the tavern, if you like. You notice that, outside the door, there is a sign swinging, with a picture of a fish of some sort, with blood dripping from it's eyes and mouth.
After the shopkeeper heads out the door, Marnoa picks up one of the carrots and heads outside, following to observe these strange wombats (and villagers suffering from carotenemia).
(OOC: I apologize, is it Mamoa or Marnoa? I think I've been calling you the wrong name)
Dulf (for that is the merchant's name) grabs a jacket and leads you through a back door to a pen just outside the back of the store. Inside, you see a group of about 20 wombats. They are mostly engaged in regular wombat activities, but when they see all of you come out, they begin to snuff and snort and grunt quite loudly. They don't move, but they watch all of you very closely.
"I kept smoothing it out, but they kept clawing it back into the ground there. After the last time I tried to clean it, 10 of them chased me out of the pen. I ain’t been back in since. I just throw their food over the side of the fence and rake the poop out. Since I left it alone, they’ve made it a bit more elaborate. It is quite unsettling."
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
Morty would like to ritual cast Detect Magic if they have time (And if not he will spend the spell slot)
"Fascinating," Fuego stares in wonder. "Are the characters always the same, or do they change? Does anyone recognize these symbols? Clearly these are no ordinary wombats. Have any other villagers had similar outbreaks of wombattian literary efforts?"
(It's Marnoa :)
Marnoa looks at the situation and sees the writing, decides to try something. If he sees one of the wombats watching them, he holds a small coil of wire in his hand and points his finger at it, thinking and sending it a message, "Are you intelligent? Did you write this? What is going on here?"
Dulf says, "Honestly, I've never seen the like. As I said, they started about two weeks ago. This is the only thing I've ever seen 'em write. I imagine people would keep a lot fewer wombats if this kept happening."
None of you recognize the script.
The wombat Marnoa is talking to just looks back at him blankly, but also somehow menacingly.
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
(Is the text or the wombat magical?)
Looking at the writing in the dirt, Jacks furrows his brows. He watches others investigate and interrogate the wombats, tossing the apple in his hand up and down, obviously bored and expecting others to do the work.
There is a general aura of magic around the pen and it's inhabitants. School of Conjuration
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
Once everyone has left the building, Andre is going to ritual-cast Alarm on the front door so that no one can sneak in without him noticing... well, okay, mostly so that he can activate his Arcane Ward without burning a spell slot.
"There's summoning magic around the wombats and the pen"
Marnoa uses prestidigitation to clean off a patch of ground, then repeats it again to copy the image of the symbols there, inside the wombat pen, and watches for their reaction. “Any of you know how to make this out? Who would know, these sort of symbols?”
(I'm assuming you are looking for the wombats reaction, right?)
The wombats get up and move over to the new drawing, sniffing around it and grunting excitedly. One of the larger wombats examines it closely, turning it's head side to side so it can see it from all angles. Eventually, it snorts, turns around, and unloads a stream of cube-shaped fecal matter on Marnoa's drawing.
Everyone's a critic.
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
"Alas I am unversed in the secret written language of the wombat. It is totally foreign to me. Señor Dulf, do you have a village scholar or scribe who might be able to interpret these symbols? Otherwise, I suggest we proceed to speak with your father on the matter of... compensation." Fuego absent-mindedly fingers his nigh-empty coinpurse as he speaks.
"If the pen is magic, maybe if we destroy it the wombats will calm down"
Dulf gasps at Mortimer's suggestion. "I...I'm...I'm sure the pen is not at fault. It hasn't changed a bit since the wombat's started acting up and they've been in it for over a year now. I'm certain that if you figure out what is wrong, the pen will return to normal. Why don't you go see my father? I'm sure he'll compensate you fairly." He begins to shoo you all away from the pen.
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
"Alright, alright, don't push" Mortimer says as he picks up his ritual materials and hastily heads back toward the shop
Dulf heads back into the store and, after a bit of yelling, Andre leaves the store red-faced, sticky-fingered, and sugared-up. You can all make your way into the tavern, if you like. You notice that, outside the door, there is a sign swinging, with a picture of a fish of some sort, with blood dripping from it's eyes and mouth.
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
Fuego pushes open the tavern door and marches inside.
"How delightful" Morty says with genuine mirth at the image of the fish