(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown

(OOC: Think so :-)

(Oh boy, here I go surviving again…)

Survival: 15

(1 vial of wasp poison acquired)

Quote from DarthDrizzt >>

Guilim will close the box, setting into his pack for the time being before going to join the others. "So we have a lot more to deal with then just a murderous Ranger. I do not know much about the dark magic like that but I was always taught to either avoid it or destroy any signs of it."

 Rohuzar offers a nod and an uncharacteristic fist bump at the sentiment. 

Arcana for the spell components: 16

Grugga also mentions what he learned at the beach: that someone tried to burn the boat and that there were 4 sets of humanoid footprints and 1 set of hoofprints leaving the dock, and 1 set of each returning.

"Is there anything else left to learn here? I'm ready to press on if not"

Congratulations.  You have a jar of poison.  In its present form, the venom could be applied to weapons as an injury poison.  If so, it would be effective for one hit and apply an additional 1d6 poison damage.  The half liter of venom is good for 10 applications.  Otherwise the flask of poison could have other uses or applications, as limited only by the imagination of the players and the willingness of the DM to play along.

Additionally, CONGRATULATIONS as you will all have survived to LEVEL 2 upon completion of the next long rest.  Let you characters contemplate a bit about what they have been through recently… this has been a wild… what?  Four days in game?

On to less happy matters.  After this fight and your investigation of the shack and bodies, I need another CON save… DC 12 this time… or 1 point of exhaustion.

Finally… you are ready to depart… which brings us to… next post….

You gather yourselves and walk back down the dock to your boat.  The plan, as agreed with Captain Stripe, is to take you back to Anchorage now.  Counting the fight with the wasps and your search of the grounds, you’ve been docked here about 30 minutes.

It is near mid day and the sky is clear with a cool breeze coming off the water.  The boat creaks and groans as it rubs gently against the pilings of the old dock.  Other than that the boat is quiet.

There is no sign of Captain Stripe or his son.  The deck is wet and slick as though it has been raining heavily, but other than the brief drizzle earlier while you were on the water there has been no precipitation.

Below deck in the fish hold, Dandelion is lying down in a corner, his breathing rapid and his eyes bloodshot.  Some of the hair in its mane, tail, and on the tufts of its ears has turned white.

Con save: 15

Upon entering the boat, Grugga sees Dandelion from up above and quickly drops into the hold. He kneels down before the mule and takes a copper coin from his pocket, flipping it over his shoulder as he says "Reaper, be elsewhere today." ((casts spare the dying))). After a pause to see if his breathing slowed down he says, "Hey, boy, it'll be alright." He strokes the mule and moves aside for Leelan to tend to him. "What happened here captain? ... captain?"

Grugga, the mule is terrified but upon examination does not appear to be harmed.

Your calls for the captain go unanswered.

Aubrey Con save: 19

Aubrey too moves onto the boat and starts searching for any signs of it's crew.
Perception: 15 but realizes he is really tired now.

Aubrey, you get another burst of adrenalin as you search for what became of the Captain and his son but it is short lived.  You indeed soon feel the weight of these events and your physical exertion heavily on your shoulders.

In addition to the fish hold, there is a rain shelter near the stern and a smaller storage hold near the bow.  Neither has any sign of the two men.  They are not visible in the water and you can’t imagine how they could have come ashore without any of you noticing.  A quick jog down the dock to count prints isn’t helpful, with all of your prints added the sandy beach is so torn up you can’t keep all the tracks straight.  Still, you have to think if they had both come ashore they would have alerted all of you.

Thinking back, the last you saw either was as the captains son lowered the plank and the five of you walked ashore.  

"Say, does anyone still have their hydrospirator? I turned mine into the blood pump... I want to look in the water for them real quick."

Grugga will call out their names as loud as he can before attempting the following...

If someone hands me their hydrospirator with attached Gruggaview9000's, Grugga will take off his scale armor, heal his leg with cure wounds 4 and jump into the water to take a look. Perception: 4

Con: 9 (1 point of exhaustion)
Once he’s arrived at the boat, Leelan moves to take care of his mule. He attempts to calm her down by stroking her mane.

"Easy there. It’s alright." He notices the whitened hair, the eyes and the rapid breathing of the animal. "By the Gods, what happened here? She must have seen something truly terrifying."

Animal handling (to try and calm down the mule): 8

Fighting his exhaustion Aubrey moves to hopefully be able to cover Grugga from the boat with his crossbow.
Perception to spot threats in the water: 11

Leelan, Dandelion does begin to calm down, though you're not sure it has much to do with your attempts.  It might just be the presence of some familiar people.  It still wants to hide in the corner of the hold, but at least its breathing slows to a more natural rate.

Aubrey, you take up a position high on the boat looking over the lake where Grugga is paddling around.  The water is deeper out here but you don't see anything that looks like a threat.

Grugga:

Wisdom save ((for my RP guidance)): 0

Grugga paddles around the edge of the lake for a while, swiveling his neck to take in the hidden landscape that lies below the surface. After swimming several expanding concentric semicircles abound the boat, Grugga suddenly stops for the first a ways out from the shore. He calmly treads water for about half a minute with his face under the water, hydrospirator tube poking up into the air, when all of a sudden he begins flailing madly, whipping around toward the dock, and swimming as quickly as he can. ((DM, did anyone else see anything?))

At the front of a current of churning water created by the panicked strokes of his legs, he makes it to the dock in less than a minute. Once he arrives, he rips the hydrospirator from his face, and pulls himself up on the weathered wooden boards, accepting any help offered. His eyes are wide and panicked from what you see of them before he turns back to face the lake, searching for something... But almost immediately, he pulls himself to his feet, grabs his armor and invention, and starts making his way to dry land.

"The hag got them," he says breathlessly while dragging his gear down the boardwalk, leaving a deep gouge in the boards where the corner of his apparatus cuts into it. "She saw me... I know she did... Please, I don't think I can go back in that boat." He collapses into the sand once he gets there and stares into the sky, gasping for breath.

(No.  Aubrey only saw Grugga paddling around.  Only Grugga was treated to this display.)

Rohuzar DC 12 con save 16 

Rohuzar’s training serves him well, but he’s starting to see the others droop. He hears the commotion below deck and heads to help get the donkey up and out of the boat. 
Animal handling 23 

When he hears Grugga start blistering out in the water, he’ll shout upstairs. “EVERYBODY OUT! VE ARE LEAVING.” 

He starts trying to gesture for everyone to go further ashore. “I go for Grugga. Some-vun find town guard. This needs reported before it is pinned on us.” 

Athletics to go get Grugga 11 

Aubrey gets ashore as quickly as he can, grabbing his backpack, clearly exhausted now, looking back to see that everyone comes along. "I think Northbridge might be the closest settlement now Rohuzar, perhaps we should continue north on foot then?"

Con Save: 8

You gather the horrified Grugga and lead Dandelion up and out of the hold and back to shore.  

While Leelan and Aubrey are feeling the effects of the physical pace you have set for yourselves, the rest of you are still doing well and all of you cannot wait to be away from this place.

DM - I need to know the following:

• Where are we heading?  On to Northbridge?  If so, are you going to follow the coast, or make through the woods back to where the Midway Road should be and then follow that into town?  Are you heading somewhere different?
• In either case, I need a marching order and the following:
  • From the leader: a nature check if you are following the coast, or a survival check if you are cutting through the forest to get back to the road.
  • For fun, a simple d20 roll.  Doesn't matter who.  I'll accept the first one to come in.