The rot fungus was sentient. That was a frightening thought. Dathyra was too bewildered by the odd sight before them that it never occurred to her that the fungus would sense her or Harivaldr's presence in the room. She had expected it to be thrashing about wildly without thought. But when the fungus took a deliberate strike at her, glancing her shoulder, she was filled with terror. True, the sting of the appendage whipping against her smarted, but knowing that they were dealing with something so...alive was a frightening thought.

She couldn't let these thoughts dwell for much longer. If they were going to survive this latest danger, they were going to have to fight back. Merric and Sen certainly hadn't let that thing's wild movements distract them too much. She stepped over to the side after the appendage struck her, trying to avoid it a second time and took aim with her crossbow. Dathyra tried to remember her training with it before she left. She hadn't used the weapon too often for her travels. She had mostly relied on her own magic and the heavy and trusty weight of her mace. She needed to keep a steady hand, breath normally. That was hard. The stench alone of the rotting fungus made it hard to breathe, but she needed to focus on hitting her target. That would take her mind off the smell. Settled on her aim, she fired.

Sen will do some fancy footwork moving to the side of the thing. yelling out "a-ha!" as he does so. He almost looks like he's having a good time taking whip cracks at this unknown. The terror has not fully entered into his head. Disturbing yes, the vilest he's ever seen? Not likey. "Try not to enter its grasp. There's no telling what it can do to you!" Another crack comes from the whip.

Attack: 21 Damage: 11

Dathyra's careful aim paid off and the crossbow bolt slammed into the large mass of decay. Sen danced to the side, in his element, facing untold danger. The whip strike slices off another wedge of rot that lands on the dirt floor with a squishy plop.

Merric is up!

Merric, a little concerned that his distraction was not effective in drawing off the creature attacks from his allies, decided that perhaps a more direct approach would be necessary.  Moving up to the creature he unleashed everything he could muster - dropping his torch, drawing his dagger with his off hand, attacking with both his weapons, and then dancing nimbly away...[should end up about 20' away].

Attack: 16 Damage: 10

The first attack with his shortsword, luckily hits a second time after glancing off the creatures "skin" [Halfling Luck]: Attack: 26 Damage: 8

Off Hand Attack: 10 Damage: 3

...if either above attack hits... Sneak attack damage (Rakish Audacity):  8

Merric attacks with two weapons, scoring deep gashes into the rotting creature. More of it falls off and it starts to waver and shudder a bit. The rakish fury of Merric is unleashed on the abomination.

Merric 

Hari (Hari is UP!)

Rot Fungus

Dathyra

Sen

Having seen the lack of effect his spell had on the creature, Harivaldr gritted his teeth and growled a few words of Dwarvish to himself before running forward with his longsword raised high and a battlecry on his lips. He swung two-handed at the rotting mass...

Attack: 20 Damage: 3

Harivaldr calls upon some choice Dwarven cursing and charges the Fungus. His sword strokes true and what's left of the creatures structural integrity collapses into muck on the floor. Hari sighs in relief, then feels if he might retch. 

Dathyra leaned back against the wall of the barn, letting out the breath she was holding. Though, that may have been a mistake. The awful stench still lingered in the air. True, she had been given people into her care that had diseases and maladies with festering, rotting sores that had smelled similar to this, but it didn't change the fact that it still made her a little light headed. She could push through this minor inconvenience if she just put her mind to other things.

"What happened?" she asked. She looked to Sen and Merric, who had been the first victims the fungus had gone after. "Are you two alright?"

Checking himself to see how bad his wounds were, Merric carefully pokes the strange creature with his sword, testing to see if it's dead.  "It's just came poppin' outs from near the animal there!  I was just lookin' for some clues as to what may have been doin' the killin'.  Thank you both fer the help...thats thing was scary!"  Looking more around the area he adds "I may have ruined any chance we's had of finding any clues here's about."

Merric is gingerly checking out a couple obvious wounds, but nothing appears overly serious from outward appearances.

Sen turns and give his whip a few cracks, knocking away the ichor that coated the leather. With some quick wrist work, the whip is coiled in Sen’s hand. He turns back around and heads in to investigate with the others. “Ooo-we! That was some thing else. Damn thing came alive when we got close.” Sen snaps the closure on his whip strap and looks himself over. “Yeah. I’m alright. Thing didn’t get you? I image is some sorta -a infection, I’d say. Took over whatever was killed in here. But hell, I don’t know. Never seen anything like it.”

Harivaldr breathed a sigh of relief when the thing finally died... and immediately regretted it. The thing's stench was already bad enough without him being right next to the foul thing, and he ran back out of the barn and started dry heaving. When he recovered, he stood back up, wiped his blade free of filth on the grass, and walked back to his companions. "It was hiding? Was it in the bodies, or just among them? Oh, gods, that's foul." He waved away the scent of rot once more. "Has anyone here seen anything like this before? Because I can't say I have."

Dathyra shook her head. "I don't think you ruined anything, Merric. In fact, I'd be willing to say this was a good clue." She looked to Harivaldr. "I can't say I've seen anything like this myself, but I find it hard to believe it's just a coincidence. Whoever's involved with stealing all the livestock probably left...whatever this is behind, either as a spell, a trap, or just by mistake. Not to sound too judgmental, but I'd argue something like this would be a little too subtle for orcs. They take a more direct approach. Whatever this is suggests something darker may be waiting for us if we follow that blood trail north."

[Investigation or Nature checks from those that wish to examine what's left in the barn]

Investigation: 9

Nature: 8

Sen steps in and takes a deep long look into the abomination. Investigation: 11

Dathyra and Merric scour the barn for clues. Sen posts himself by the door in case they are attacked. Harivaldr is outside reviewing the contents of his lunch. Merric and Dathyra examine the dead horses in the barn.  The horse bodies have deep parallel wounds, reminiscent of claw marks, along their flanks and Merric pulls out several six to eight inch thorns embedded in each.

Looking at the deep, strange marks on the horses, Dathyra shook her head. "I'm beginning to wonder less about who took the livestock, so much as what took them."

As the late afternoon arrives the temperature drops and snow begins falling. Will makes his way over to barn after the ruckus is finally over. The stench has lessened because of the death of the Rot Fungus but the scene is still overwhelming. 

"Are you all okay? I heard some yelling and I got here as soon as I could. What happened? Orcs right?" he nods to himself and continues on. "I mean I'm not one to jump to conclusions but look at this place.."  He shudders and looks at you once more, "so what's next?"

"I suppose anything is possible at this point," Dathyra said as she stood up.

Humans were awfully quick to judge, though she supposed elves could be the same way too sometimes. Humbleness truly was a virtue that so few had. Still, she didn't offer protest. The people of Northwood were set in their judgment, and it would only take proving them wrong with cold, hard proof that would settle their worries.

She continued. "We're fine. Thankfully, nothing too dangerous, and I believe this barn is now cleared out of any trace of the intruders. I think we should head north. My dwarven friend and I found evidence to suggest they went that way after looting your farm."

She shivered as she stepped out the door. It really was getting close to winter now. The snow was light and wasn't too cold, yet, but if the weather kept turning like this, they would be blanketed with snow soon.