STR: 10

Cirrus is panting a bit, "...Alright...now that... that's cleared...I think we're good on healing, so...onto the last building?" He notices Gwen spacing out, "Is... she okay?" He thinks to himself, Don't know why she's rattled, I'm the one who nearly died.

Edit: Nevermind, none of that happens because he can't talk. I don't know how I managed to forget that.

21

Gwen is still shaking too entranced in her own world to realize the spider is gone. So she continues to sit there staring at the ground. The fire continues consuming what it had already engulfed, as a thick black smoke rises into the sky as the snow melts, slowing it's advance wuite sharply, but not quite extinguishing it.

Good. You're alive. Now sit here and wait. Rose speaks with the tone of a stern mother talking to an unruly child before standing up to walk over to Gwen's side. Rose takes Gwen in her arms and holds her close, whispering to her about how it's going to be okay and that she is there for her.

STR Save[DC 10]: 21.

Paavu whether the blowback fairly well and is only pushed back a step or so from it. Whereas others are concerned with each other or are too incapacitated to act, Paavu is hurriedly and in some ways painfully still grabbing out his trusty trench shovel; now closer to a full blown snow shovel thanks to his runic magic. 'What kind of oil was that!?' He thought angrily. For in all his years of dealing with wintry conditions, he had never seen a blaze go up so swiftly over what couldn't have been that dry of conditions, nevermind anything else!

Even at loss for it as he was, Paavu would continue to furiously try to shove more and more fresh snow onto the blaze to try and snuff it out before it can spread further than the immediate area of the burrow. If nothing else, he hoped to dampen it enough for the smoke trail already beginning to form to appear as little more than a proverbial blip in the minds of distance seers. A likely fruitless effort with such a goal as the end results, but one he endeavored to make a reality all the same.

If Burgee wasn't already reacting to the fire, Paavu snaps his fingers in the Kenku's direction. "Help Paavu get this under control. Use that magic of yours." He request. In between heaping up great mounds of snow, any uncovered frozen and dead vegetation beneath is chopped as best he can before being cast well away from it, as if to further stem it****y with it taken care of does he finally take a few to catch his breathe, shaking his head. "Foolish Goliath... If they knew us not here before." He clenches his eyes shut tightly, and just shakes his head once more. He then looks to Cirrus, presuming him still paralyzed by the spider poison. Whether he is or not, a complicated expression crosses his face before he sighs and looks to the greater party. "Everyone alright."

"I don't have much but..." Burgee replies to Paavu as he snaps his finger and the helping hand appears and begins shoveling snow as best it can to assist with slowing the flames. Looking toward the others he hopes that they are all ok. Rose having Gwen in hand seemed to be helping and he didn't want to distract from Rose's comfort.

"Cirrus? You ok there?" 

Rose had moved over to Gwen's side, holding her and cooing gentle words. And initially, Gwen jumped. But her shaking slowed bit by bit while the others were doing their damnedest to stem the flow. Shivering and quivering on her knee's still mostly limp but slowly... slowly regaining her composure, and cirrus was indeed still paralyzed. Able to speak, bnreathe, but completely and utterly Paralyzed for roughly another hour.  Gwen speaks, shakily I...I....I...I'm.... I'm.... I'm..... ssssssooorrrryyy mmoother... father... I couldn't save you... for a moment.... her eyes were glazed.. stuck in the past, but a firm shake from Rose brings her back to the present... I'm sorry.... the.. the webs... don't bother me.... but... .... but. . actually seeing them..  and then Cirrus.. he.. she began to rock... a known coping mechanism of the bard. T-They're .. all gone.. right? she asks, looking around suddenly, and seeing only the fire, and no sign of the spiders, the one in the brish.. the only reason she was able to help was because she couldn't see it well.

The efforts of the mage hand, Paavu, and Burgee easily snuff out the burgeoning flames, and after a few moments, the black smoke ceases to rise. 

"Venom." Paavu answers on Cirrus' behalf. "Spider Venom. It's been years, but seen effect before. If lucky, pass in time." He looks to Gwen and Rose. "Time we will need to recoup... again." Having said that, the goliath goes over and tosses Cirrus onto a shoulder. "Can you walk, little elf. Or shall Paavu carry you as well?" He asked simply, if perhaps a bit too briskly to be considered all too sympathetic. Yet, even if chided for it after, the man remains unmoved by any of it.

Time was precious, and the smoke -- /His/ mistake in spite of any evidence to the contrary -- was one that needed to be made up for in the immediate time. If that meant sounding a bit callus, then so be it. Once he had a favorable answer, even if perhaps an again scathing one, he looks to Burgee and says, "We head back to resting house. Our tracks. Disrupt them as much as you can in our passing. with your magics. If nothing else, it should delay any that migh come to track what has happened here." The request made, and with Cirrus over one arm and Gwen either being guided by Rose or held uncomfortably (by Paavu's perspective) like a wee babe in the still very damaged other, he leads the way back to the home the rested in before.

Difference this is that once passanger(s) are set inside, he bars the main door with his body(back to normal size by then), trying to catch his breathe.

It's okay hun. It's going to be okay. Rose kept saying as much as it needed to be heard until Gwen started to come back to herself. Those comments about her parents troubled her, she knew something had happened but Gwen never seemed to want to talk about it in detail, but it seemed she was getting some details now. It's okay. They are gone. You even killed one and helped me you know. Rose would wait for Gwen to answer Paavu but if she didn't she assured him she could take care of Gwen and get her back to the resting house as long as he took Cirrus. When Gwen felt ready to move, assuming she didn't get carried, Rose would grip her hand tightly and start escorting her back, taking their time to help get Gwen to relax. It'll be okay hun. Cirrus is fine. We all are. And they are dead or fled. It's all okay. 

Gwen is picked up as she doesn't respond to Paavu, but Rose still provides verbal support along the way. Everyone making it back  to the 'safe space.' Gwen eventually calms down, but she appears mentally exhausted. Cirrus too is carried and both are set in the center of the room, more or less. (will wait for burgee's post as a ..decision hinges on his actions)

Cirrus remains unresponsive, but still alive.

The wind billowed behind the group covering their tracks as they made their way to the house. Once they arrived Burgee collapsed, exhausted, in the corner to rest.

Rose sits by Gwen until she starts to calm down before sitting in a corner half exhausted herself. Looking at the sorry state they are in Rose can't help but feel a pang of doubt about their current actions. So...now what? I think if we had the element of surprise I think it's safe to say we've lost it. And not to sound like Gundren but...well every moment we waste is a moment they gain to get ahead of us even more.

 Gwen finally finishes snapping out of her stupor, and says Maybe, Maybe not. I doubt they're looking around them all the time. They're overconfident that they got away with it, and with us gone for so long they might be complacent, since we didn't immediately pursue. And.. sorry again for before but... well spiders.. they.. have an effect on me. So .. lets not give up just yet.. what was .. that? she asks, as the obvious shuffling of metallic boots can be heard outside... Rose and Paavu can both tell its some sort of procession... though of what specifically they're not sure. Paavu and Rose both get up, taking different windows  and peeking as much as they can through them without drawing attention.

Quietly, they both observe a procession of goblinoids. Six well armed Hobgoblins march around an even better armed Orc. And lumbering just behind them about fifteen feet behind it all, is of all things, an Ogre. They are all walking down the path where the spiders had been previously, marching in the direction of the Triboar trail.

Initially, Paavu had been content to let the procession pass, and was moments away from turning towards the others to quiet. The goliath pauses mid-motion, eyes wide for a second, and then sqeezed almost as tightly as his free hand. "Bloody hobs." He murmurs before opening his eyes and saying just openly enough for those inside. "The horses. They'll know. They work for them. They'll hunt for us." He looks down at Cirrus paralyzed form in his back, then to the others.

"Not before find and killing mounts, slowing us down terribly. We must strike now. Catch them off guard. Ready yourselves. We strike before they smash or burn this refuge, and us along with it." Trusting the others to back him, Paavu makes for the door, activated his rune, and gives one final look, confirming the others were ready before the surprise rush outside to strike out at their back line. No shout of warning. No battlecry. The sound of their footfalls would serve well enough. But while there was still even remote confusion over the sound, and some were still in the process turning back to look, he hoped to be upon them with Grol's morningstar in hand.

(waiting to see what Rose and Burgee do)

Rose sees Paavu readying to attack the newcomers and quickly shakes her head at him. Paavu no!  She says in a whispered shout. We don't know that. They might be passing through. And Cirrus is still stuck. Wait for them to pass.

Looking from Paavu to Rose, and finally to Cirrus and Gwen, Burgee takes a measured look at Paavu. "She's right. We're in no shape for a fight right now. I'm exhausted. Let's watch before we act."

"You two are too trusting... too willing to hope Tymora might see us through." Paavu comments on without stepping away from the door. "Yue..." He adds softly before bowing his head, and shook it just lightly so. "... Fine... Have it your way. What's a few more bodies, I suppose." He states quietly, but tiredly as he took his hand away from the door, and backed away just enough to avoid being slammed by it, if it should be forced open. However, he would keep his morningstar ready, just in case.

The procession continues on until they reach the area where the cart, and animals were, at which point, shouting can be heard, and the drawing of weapons. Moments later, the sounds of the horse(s) being slaughtered, and their pained cries just before death claimed them could be heard. It lasted only a matter of minutes, before the sounds of slaughter ended, replaced by curiosity in regards to the contents of the cart, followed by the gruesome sound of crunching bones, and the ogre began to eat a horse raw, and then the sound of the cart being pulled away from its post. Soon, the procession begins moving again, and unless something is done, they continue on down the path, cart in tow. Their march proceeding as if nothing else mattered. Cart in tow, and everything on it.. stolen.