Red Dead Annihilation: Campaign Thread

Never had Danica been more sure than this moment that someone was a Hag. Alarm bells dolling in her mind as Nanny called her Captain and their dwarven guide by name. She had some guesses as to what the worm and red robin were referring to but now wasn't the time. 

Teeth grinding under her clenched jaw, the elf watched the seemingly frail old woman straighten and make herself more imposing. The offer made her pause however, glancing at her companions and the still shivering Hew in consideration.

"What say you, Seekers?" Danica asks in a low serious voice, purposefully not voicing her own opinion yet. 

Mica felt a small measure of satisfaction as Danica described the enchantment found in the drink, he knew there was a reason the old woman made him feel uneasy.  As she straightened her posture, he was sure there was more she was hiding.  Still, perhaps she could give them needed information.

He looks over in the general direction of the cliff face “I am sure I could find those terror folk nests, Captain.  Sounds like we would be doing the whole jungle a favor by pushing them out.  Our last lead and the trail ended here, might be worth it to get some answers of what lies ahead.  We got plenty of questions.”  He looks back at Danica and the others, looking for their thoughts.

Meili said her opinion twice already and now only added one thing. "It is always better to have as few enemies as possible."

Ran picks up his pack and nods.

"I've never seen a flying lizard man," Ran says. "Should be interesting."

He starts off in the direction Nanny had pointed (south?) before pausing.

"They do fly, right?" Ran asks the others. "So we want to catch them in their nest or cave or whatnot. The less space we give them to move the better."

Once they get away from Nanny and her monkey, Ran will look at the bird again. "So, any idea if Nanny there can magic you back into a person?"

Nodding at their answers, Danica spares a glance to Inete and Hew before sighing and looking to the foreboding old woman. "We'll try and take care of these terrorizing reptile folk for you Nanny. We'd much rather have you as an ally than an enemy." Glancing to Meili after she says so.

Looking in the direction that she had indicated the Ptera folk had retreated off to and then to Mica, the elf asks, "Not doubtin' yer trackin' skills or anythin', but can't imagine it's easy to track anything that can fly. But at least we have 'cliff face' to go off of." 
Walking off with Ran, Danica hums at his idea. "That'd be best, aye. But That'd mean sneakin' up on em without any o'their scouts noticing." Rapping a knuckle against his armor pointedly, the sailor says, "Easier said than done for some of us." 
Eyeing the parrot that was still on the man's shoulder she asks, "You joinin' us?" 

Mica just grins at Danica “Even flying creatures have a home, whether it is a den, nest, or cave.  There will be sign enough to point us in the right direction”  I hope he thinks to himself.  He looks over at Ran “Ayuh, we will want to keep them bottled up if we can.  Any ideas on that front would be appreciated.”  He pulls gently on Hew’s arm “Come on, Hew.  Tell us what you know of these terror folk as we walk, help me find the nest”   Glancing over at Meili he asks “Were these terror folk in your book?” 

Mica moves ahead of the group with Hew toward the cliff face, moving carefully and looking for any sign of the terror-folk nests.

Survival: 15.

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"In Mr. Volo's book," meticulously corrected Meili but then shooked her head. "No, there was nothing in there. At least I do not remember anything. Maybe Mr. Volo was lucky to never come across those creatures personally and did not want to add rumours to his book."

Meili's face twisted in disgust but she still said it out loud. "We have that poison... The one, Velan got. Maybe it will help."

[Nothing about Ptera-folk, but the was an extensive section about Hags in Mr Volo’s book…]

Ran mulls over what they had been read about hags and shakes his head.

"So old Nanny back there might want to screw with us, but if let her know we'd be happy with dealing with these Sewn Sisters, she might actually help us?"

As he follows Mica, trying not to get in the ranger's way of finding sign of the ptera-folk, he muses a little more.

"Might be best not to ask all three questions when we get back then," Ran says. Then he looks around for spying monkeys or whatnot before looking at the bird. "You better not just be a clever spy."

"Probably," slowly nodded Meili to Ran's first statement, coming to terms with Nanny's possible nature. "If she is... you know." Meili also looked around and decided not to speak about Nanny's occupation out loud. "But so was Amphyretta. Yet, she helped. So can Nanny.  If the price is dealing with Sisters too... The Sisters already tried to kill us, we will have to deal with them sooner or later. I'm afraid we would not even need to go out of our way to do so."  

"Lets first return from the mission. Hew," she looked at the dwarf who remained sick and stubborn but free and himself. "Do you know anything about those Pterafolk nests? They come at night, it seems, are they nocturnal and sleep during the daytime?"

“Fooll!”  Mica slows and mutters to himself “the enchanted skull, the stick figures along the trail, they were not from the wizards, they should have warned me of Nanny.”  He looks apologetically at Meili “I should have listened more while you read.  But you are right, best to deal with the task in front of us first.  We can worry about questions after.”  He turns back to continue looking for signs of the terror-folk nests.

[Coming to terms with the likely reality that Nanny is in fact a hag, the party cannot help but feel the fresh sting of Velan's absence.  Surely the Hexblood would have seen the signs sooner and kept them from walking right into her lair.  Still... they were able to walk out again, so perhaps all is not so bad....]

The scarlet bird bob's its head at Danica and hops over to Ran's other shoulder.  Ran, the bird leans in close at your question.  It clicks its tongue twice and squeezes out a quiet "Wrank!" but says no more.

Hew thinks for a moment at Meili's questions.  "I believe diurnal is the proper term.  You see Ptera-folk out as frequently (cough) in the day as in the night.  Most attacks on travelers come at night at camp, though that may be due to the campfire light alerting the devils to your presence.  I've never been inside a nest, a fact for which I am (cough cough) grateful.  In combat, the use their wings to their advantage, flying low to attack and then retreating back to the skies or the trees.  I've seen them use spears, but just as often they fight with bare hands and claws.  In raids, it is usually enough to kill or seriously wound one and they will retreat.  Defending their nest... one suspects (cough) they will not give up so easily."

"According to legend, they were among the very first creatures here, before humans, before the yuan-ti... before even great Ubtao brought forth the dinosaurs," Inete adds.  "If they have any culture at all, they do not share it with outsiders.  They build their nests high in cliffsides, and the only interaction outsiders have with them is when the terrorfolk come to raid."

In the late afternoon sun the party works their way through the palm trees and cycads to the southern edge of the plateau.  From here you can see more mountains in the distance.  A range to the west, which the sun creeps down toward, and another to the southeast.  Hew pauses briefly, whispering something and touching his lips as he looks away south.

Mica, please make a Survival and a Perception check.

While not a wildlife tracker, Ran does have some experience following trails, and he does his best to help Mica find sign of the ptera-folk.

Rolled with advantage with Ran's help

Perception: 23.

Survival: 15.

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Mica's scouting pays off quickly.  Skirting the edge of the cliff, he is able to spot a ledge and wide opening about 30' below the top of the plateau.  The 'landing' is littered with bones and a hide tarp made from dinosaur skin flaps lazily in the breeze, covering the entrance and blocking any view of what is inside.  There is a tree near the edge of the plateau which could serve as an anchor point for ropes leading down.

More, Mica finds a possible back entrance.  About 70' from edge of the cliff, roughly lined up with the cave opening below, there is a cleft in the ground.  This leads to a narrow chute in the rock heading straight down.  It looks like this 'chimney' may lead into the same cave.  However, the chute is narrow.  A small figure could get inside, or a medium figure wearing no more than light armor.

[Meili, Danica, Hew and/or Inete could potentially wriggle down this chute.  Ran and Mica would need to remove their armor to do so.]

Other than the single tree near the edge, there are only cycads nearby.  The skies are clear at the moment, but if any absent Pterafolk were to approach the cave, or any resident Pterafolk exit from it, anyone standing up here on the plateau would almost certainly be spotted from above.

Ran looks at the 'chimney' and just shakes his head.

"I'm not going that way," Ran says in a quiet voice. "That's a tight fit and I'll look like a bloody muppet if I get stuck and my legs are just flailing around."

He then looks at the tree and the ledge below and then pulls his hemp rope from his pack.

"I'm thinking I tie this off, and climb down this way," Ran says. "We can come at this from both sides."

Ran watches the skies.

"Best rattle our dags and get on with this."

Meili also checked out the "chimney". "I think I will fit in there and agree that we should get in from both sides but... what's then? Even if we are lucky and this ptera-folk not notice us," she looked in the regrettably clear sky and even more regrettable lack of vegetation around, "do you think they would not notice us entering? We do not even know how many of them are there..."

"I mean, we need some plan for the inside too, I think." She looked down at her feet frowning at the thoughts she could not shake from her head. "I keep thinking of the poison baits farmers use in the barns."

Ran nods as Meili speaks then frowns.

"These are humanoids, right?" Ran asks. "Vicious killers and right all round shites from the sounds of it, but smart too. Maybe not wizard smart, but at least bounty hunter smart. Unless you plan on dousing one of us in poison and throwing us down as bait, I might be missing the plan here."

He looks down at the ledge again.

"If they can't fly, they're not at full strength would be my guess," Ran says. "So my plan is not to let them fly. Get in the way of the ledge so they can't take off and start fighting."

Ran gazes at the sky again.

"I'd be chuffed to get some recon on what's down there, but we're easy prey out here in the open with no where to hide. I say we get going."