‘Ping, ping, thud...’ the last spike penetrates Robwin’s armour.. and his ward.. and draws blood (OOC: 3ph deducted from ward, 4hp from health).

”Argh!..... I’m.. okay!...“ he shouts, desperately firing another fire bolt. “Get it... it’s getting away!...”

Fire bolt Attack: Attack: 23 Damage: 4

Not sure he could take another volley of spikes, Robwin ducks around the building (to E6, or even F6?), trying to break line of sight. He rests there, back against the wall, breathing heavily!

He calls up to the window “Miss, are you okay?”

As you all rush forward, prepared to bring the creature down, Tahnis' arrows flies through the air and over your heads. It rips through the wings of the creature, causing it to let out a painful roar. It crashes to the ground as it becomes unable to keep itself up. It breathes raggedly, trying to claw its way to you but eventually, it stops moving. 

COMBAT END

(Assuming Robwin still calls out to the woman) The woman sticks her head out of the window again. "Yes, yes! I'm quite alright! How about you folks down there? Are you all alright? Actually! Wait right there, I'm coming down! Her head disappears back into the window and you can all hear hurried footsteps and the unlocking of locks before the door slams open revealing an older woman in her late 40s rushing towards you. "Oh, thank you very much for dealing with that beast, my dears! Not everyday you see a manticore flying straight at you, claws and fangs out, screaming bloody murder about being hungry. Absolutely dreadful, it was. The thing of nightmares! Well, anyways, I digress. Are you all alright? Anybody hurt? Anybody injured? Anyone need a bit of healing?"

"Ms Gwynn? Thank goodness you're okay!...". Robwin grits his teeth, as his mage hand pulls, fruitlessly, at the spine sticking out of his shoulder.

"..you're a healer? Uh, yes... a little help here wouldn't go amiss! This one..." (indicating his mage hand) "is useless!" he says, swatting it away.

OOC: assuming the rest of the party is at full health, Robwin would welcome some healing (if she can help), but he's not desperate.

And then continuing: "We were sent here by Townmaster Wester. He's keen for you to return to Phandalin. You must have seen the dragon? It seems to have settled in the mountains, to the East, but it’s hunting farther each day"... and then more earnestly:... "I've seen it... it's a most formidable creature! Far worse than a... a manticore, did you say?... We're here to help you. To safely escort you back to town, if you would come?..."

Tahnis shakes his head. "I'm fine, thank you." He briefly scans the ground for his arrows, reminding himself to pick them up in a few seconds and to make a mental note about the manticore. "By the way miss, are manticore common in this area?" 

Vimak collects his handaxes. He is listening attentively to the conversation between Tahnis, Robwin, and the woman from the tower. "We really do recommend returning to the town," he says. "You will be safer there, whether from dragons or manticores." He'll look for and collect one of its spikes.

Prosper lowers his arrow as the monster crashes down onto the ground, breathing a sigh of relief before remembering her injured friend. "Robwin, you alright? Need to sit down?"

She waves cheerfully as the woman emerges. "That's a manticore, huh." She repeats. "Didn't expect anything this big this close to town. How about you, miss, are you okay? Seems kind of dangerous, living out here alone with monsters on the prowl."

Robwin looks over to Prosper with a big smile “I’m fine... I’ll be ok!” He winces a little as Ms Gwynn tends to his wound. “And besides, I guess now I’ve already got myself a souvenir!”

Lia the owl flutters over to Prosper and perches its tiny form on her shoulder, if she‘ll let it. Although the whole time, Lia’s eyes are fixed firmly on Robwin, its little body shaking with fear seeing him in pain.

Robwin looks over and sees Vimak picking up one of the creature’s tail spikes for himself, “Hey Vimak! You think you’d be able to hurl those things? Worth us picking up a bunch? They might make decent javelins. Or could anyone maybe fashion a few arrows? Adas? Tahnis?”.

OOC: the spikes useful for anything? Robwin will keep his anyway as a memento regardless.

"Oh yes! I'm Adabra Gywn, a pleasure to meet you all, and yes, I am a healer... of sorts. I mostly make salves and medicines and things like that. I do have a couple of potions, actually! Give me just a minute!" Adabra rushes back into the mill, you can hear a bit of rummaging and clattering before she returns to you all with a large wooden box in her hands. She places it on the ground and opens it up, revealing a couple of vials of a red potion. She takes two out and hands it to Robwin. "Take this. Hopefully it'll be enough. The others, I need to keep. Have to make a profit after all." She gives the group a wink and laughs.

As Robwin mentions the Townmaster, she sighs. "Urgh. Again? I told the last adventurers that came here that I won't be returning! I've been perfectly fine on my own..  well except for that manticore. But that was an exception! Manticores and other creatures of the like are rare here. Its just peace and greenery as far as the eye can see. Well, I know Harbin's stubborn and stingy so he won't pay you unless I come with you. But! I have prepared! You aren't the first to come here and I knew it was likely it would happen again." She rummages around in her pockets and pulls up a crinkled envelope. "Take this to the old man. He should be willing to pay you for your hard work after reading this... and hopefully take down that God's forsaken job listing."

(The spikes are thin but definitely sharp. Most of them have broken upon impact with the ground and the ones you pull out of you also snap. You manage to find 2 intact spikes though. Whether they're useful or not depends on what you intend to use them for.)

"That was a good hunt friends," Adas remarks as he joins his companions. To Adabra he says, "Well at the very least I am glad we made it when we did. This tower seems strong however, It is my impression you should live as you would like. Though at the cost of sounding repetitious, with the threat of the local dragon increasing it is better that you would be local so that your wares would be much more available and you would have the opportunity to help many more people than staying here."

The groups interest in the Manticore corpse is not lost on Adas and he smiles as he approaches the dead beast. He examines the body and removes his hunting knife. "Allow me to try my hand at fully harvesting this gift from Solonor."  The hunting cleric begins to skin or harvest what he is able, paying close attention to any possible trophies he could recover.

Survival: 15

Robwin looks from the two small glass bottles in his hands, to Adabra Gwyn, and back again, astonished: "But this is too generous... I... I don't quite know what to say... I.... Thank you!! Truly, thank you...". (OOC: He stows them safely in his pack for now, but will gladly redistribute them around the team, as needed, before the next fight. Can I assume they're both the standard potion of healing?).

Once the spike is out of his shoulder, he uses the cantrip prestidigitation to clean the blood and grime off, "There, almost like new!" he says, pleased with himself "Although it IS a shame it snapped. No matter" he stows the two pieces safely away in his scroll case for now (along with Adabra's letter).

"Hmmm, regroup in town, or head onward?" he mutters aloud...

(OOC: At this point do we know roughly how far it is to get to the Gnomes, or the Excavation site? Hours? Days? Weeks?)

Tahnis makes another note about the manticore and Adabra before glancing at the others. "I think we can continue onward to town unless someone else needs to return for another reason."

OOC: if we head straight to the next quest, Robwin would really benefit from at least a ‘short rest’ (hit dice healing and 1x spell back!). Maybe we could sit and eat some of our rations here with Adabra? Then we could head straight to the Gnomes. If we want to go to the Excavation though, it might be worth speaking with the lady at the Miner’s Exchange first, back in town? Or if both trips are days away, then perhaps there’s no harm in resting at the inn overnight and heading out in the morning? Happy either way. A wizard is always happy to rest overnight lol. But not desperate yet :-)

"If the miss will not come with us then I do believe we should venture on to the Gnomes. Though a rest would be beneficial," Adas comments over his shoulder as he works.

"I wouldn't mind a brief rest myself," Vimak says. He swings his arms at the shoulders and twists his torso. "We ought to warn as many as will be warned, gnome, dwarf, lizard folk. A dragon's a treat to everyone." 

Vimak says to Adabra, "We did promise to inform you of the danger and ask you to to back to the town, so we've done what we told the town master we would. Thank you for the letter. But it's likely to get more dangerous the longer the dragon is in the area. Are you sure you won't reconsider?" He's trying to be persuasive without being at all scary.

Adabra shrugs at Adas' and Vimak's attempts to convince her. "I'm sorry, but I've been living here for decades, through thick and thin. I think I'm capable of taking care of myself as well as the people of the town if they need me to. If you need a rest, though, you can rest here! It's the least I can do.

(You're not sure where either locations are since you don't have a map and haven't asked anyone where it may be.)

"It's your decision, ma'am, and we'll be sure to take your letter to the townmaster, but I really hope you'll reconsider. Thank you for your aid in helping patching up our friend!" Prosper tells Adabra earnestly before turning to address her companions.

"Let's pop back into town to carry Miss Gwynn's message at least. Or, hmm, Ms Gwynn? Do you know how far Gnomengarde is from here? If it's close we might as well speak to them before it gets dark."

"Oh, yes, it's close by. Just 2 hours to the south east, more east than south. It's carved into the base of one of the mountains."

”Maybe that settles it then... a short rest here, then on to Gnomengarde. Then we can see how late it’s getting...” he says, offering a kind smile around the group, “...suits me!”

Robwin gently traces non-existent lines in the air with his fingers as if assessing something “hmmm.. I feel like there are strange vibrations in the magical weave here around this hill. Maybe that’s why Ms Gwynn favours this site, for her craft, after all... hmmm... or maybe it’s nothing...”.

”Ms Gwynn, it’s clear you have great skill and potent magics... I too am a practitioner of the arcane. Protective magics rather than restorative. But I’m short on components and they’re not easy to come by. Do you happen to know where I might find a diamond or a pearl? Or anywhere else I might seek magical knowledge outside of the cities?”. 

Vimak sharpens his handaxes during the short rest. He'll ask Tahnis, Prosper, and Adas about archery, about techniques and maneuvers with a bow and arrows, while looking south east towards the mountains and Gnomengarde. Once Robwin has finished talking to Gwynn, and once everyone seems rested, he'll say, "Are we ready?"

Unless someone hesitates, he'll start toward the mountains.

Tahnis nods and rises to his feet. "I'm ready."