Looking startled and slightly incredulously over at his two friends Barmo appraises them, "Look at you two standing up for yourselves. Well alright, if you think that is a better idea. I mean, imagine your mentors when you tell them you investigated and correctly assisted in the recovering and or identification of a mystery in the woods." Barmo was clearly goading them.
"I mean master ranger Esmee does not seem to be the kind of hero to walk away from looking in the river, same with you grand druid Ed." The big halfling places his hands on his hips as he watches for a reaction, eyebrow raised comically.
"And what of you gladiator Barmo? What is stopping you from wading out and poking whatever that is with your short sword? What would your mentor say about sending a ranged comrade and a caster to the front?" Ed would sarcastically reply with a grin.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Eikis, being the practical girl that she was,wrapped the severed foot carefully in a cloth and brought it along in her fishing haul basket. Yes, it was disgusting, but ... well, technically speaking, it was a severed piece of flesh, and that's what the basket was made for, right? Plus, she thought, it might be important to show as evidence of their findings to the village elders, lest they be laughed at for spreading tall tales.
As the light wanes, Eikis smiles thankfully at Esmee for lighting the torch. Then the wind changes, and the smell hits the group.
"Ugh!" Eikis yells, covering her nose and mouth. "What is that?!"
As the others study the structure and debate about what to do, Eikis frowns at Ed. "It might be nature's way for things to decompose when they're dead, but if a drunk human fell into the water, the rest of his corpse should be looking like the foot in my backpack, not stinking up the fields here. And what is that thing in the middle of the river? It wasn't here the last time we were gathering berries, was it?"
At Eikis' command, Vicious follows her to stand guard while she herself investigates the river and the structure for clues about what happened: Vicious Perception, standing watch for danger: 11 + Guidance 4 Eikis Investigation, what happened here?: 10 + Guidance 1
(edit: I forgot the guidance on both)
(edit: Damn, I got the red bar of warning too, and rightly so: my investigation roll should read 9, not whatever it is reading right now, please use the 9)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Esmee's skin flares even deeper pink at Barmo's teasing and she refuses to look up, angry at herself for saying the wrong thing again.
She knew her mentor considered it their duty to protect the peoples of the Dale by staying watchful for danger and patrolling the surroundings. Barmo was right, he'd want to know more about the structure.
Eikis begins to move away with her pet and Esmee seizes on the opportunity to get away from the painfully awkward social situation. She douses and stows the torch before moving as stealthily as she can towards the thing in the river while keeping her eyes peeled for danger.
Eikis lets out a surprised squeak as the light vanishes. Then she pulls out a candle, and attaches it to the leather headband she created for just such a purpose - no matter that the other folks in town had called it her "walking birthday cake helmet" - and then uses prestidigitation to light it up. Light problem solved, she continues her own investigation.
"And what is the rush in this investigation? From the looks and smell of the situation this is a weeks old problem. Why stumble around in the dark investigating? Is it to impress our mentors and elders? Impress each other? What reason?" Ed will ask
Barmo barks out a bellied laugh and wags his finger at Ed, "You have me there! Ok how about this, we go to the edge of the river and see what we see. If nothing then we turn around and head home, our heads held high as having investigated the scene enough to report things back to the village." He reaches his hand out to shake Ed's.
"Curiosity!" Eikis responds, looking over her shoulder and flashing Ed a grin. "Don't you hate it when you leave a question unanswered, or a problem unsolved? I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I didn't know what the rest of this foot in my bag was getting up to! You know, this is like the time that I smelled something almost as bad as this in my pantry, but it was late, and I'd been working all day in my workshop, and I was really, really tired. I thought to myself, 'Yeah, it's probably just the old cheese wheel on the top shelf, telling me it's ready to be eaten.' Turns out, the next day, the smell was even worse! And you know why? It was Vicious Mark I's fault! I'd set him to auto-patrol, and he found a couple of mice trying to make a nest in the pantry. He took care of them all right, but I never programmed him for anything other than self-cleaning. So he never told me about it! Until I opened the closet the next morning, and whew! Let me tell you, I had to throw out my entire winter reserves right then and there. That was a hard year!"
She trails off as she notices the others groaning and rolling their eyes a bit - Oops,she thinks. I went off on one of my tangental stories again, didn't I... "Eh, sorry," she adds. "I'll get back to investigating the crime scene now. Crime scene!" Eikis giggles a little at the thought. "Ohh! I feel like Lance Wright in 'Private Investigation Stories: When Wright meets Wrong!' I just love those books!"
Ed, doing his best to figure out what's in the river takes a few solid minutes tilting his head this way and that but he can't discern what it is. He's met with limited success as it's still a ways upriver (maybe 200') and the light is fading fast. It's oddly shaped, almost like a big pointed boulder with some trees stuck on it but it looks wrong for that. The shape doesn't look natural.
As everyone closes in towards the river to search for clues Viscous takes up a guard position and Esmee melds into the surroundings on high alert.
Eikis trying her best to solve the mystery is rewarded with finding some clues on the river bank wedged up against some of the rocks. There's a chunk of flat wood about 2' long and 10' wide that's squared off on one end and broken on the other, and a section of rope hung up on a boulder with the rest trailing away downstream.
As Esmee continues her prowl she notices some sounds barely reaching her over the sound of the water coming from the structure. It's faint but she hears some squeaking hisses. It sounds like mice or rats but for her to hear it from this distance there would have to be a whole lot of them or they would be the biggest mice or rats she's ever heard.
"Guys! I found something," Eikis whispers loudly, pointing at the broken chunk of wood. She squints at it. "It's wood that's been cut for a purpose... something someone built got destroyed. I bet it's a piece of that thing stuck in the middle of the river! It looks like it's big enough to be part of a ship, like a plank from a roof or a wall or a floor or something." She scrambles a little closer towards the boulder and tries to gather the rope out of the stream, pulling it back in. "I wonder what it is? Some kind of river-traveling machine gone wrong and accidentally killed the inventor? Huh... but what would anyone want with our river anyhow? It's not much of a shortcut to Wayport considering the danger of the falls."
Esmee's heart speeds up. The thought of a real fight, not training, for the first time shoots adrenaline through her system. She was probably overreacting. Surely it was nothing, just the water and wind at night playing tricks on her. Better to be prepared, though.
She pulls her longbow from her back and hearing Eikis's loud whispers begins to creeps back towards her peers.
Once she's in earshot she more cautiously whispers, "I heard noises, like...I don't know rats or mice or something. Which is a little weird that I could this far away, right? Plus, I mean, it's in the middle of the water."
Eikis, one side of the rope comes up easily, it's about 20' of it. The other side is difficult to pull. It's stuck or there's something attached to it. Give me a strength check.
With Barmo adding his bulk to the job, he and Eikis are able to free the rest of the rope and start hauling it in. It's heavy and difficult. There is definitely something on the other end, dragging through the water. It feels like when you get a fishing line caught on an underwater branch and have to haul it in only much bigger. With much grunting and huffing the two of you have pulled at least 100' of rope out of the water when you start to make out whats on the other end.
At first it looks like it could be some kind of giant sea snake. It's light colored and seems to slither back and forth in the current, but as it gets closer you can see its some kind of fabric. A large piece of light colored fabric. Once you have it completely out of the water and get it stretched out you find it's a huge rectangular piece of cloth. About 18' on the longest side with brass grommets running the length of one side. In the center of the cloth is a symbol you recognize. You know from your lessons that it's the symbol of Brassport. It looks to have been in a fire but is still mostly in tact.
"Oh boy," Eikis says, falling back in dismay. "I think this all just got a tiny little bit bigger than Hickorydale. This looks like one of Brassport's big ships got caught in our river! ... which means I've got a Brassport foot in my backpack! Ohh... this really isn't good, guys!" Eikis frets and worries for a moment. "Should we look on the ship for signs of an accident? Or... Esmee heard rats, right? Do you think they were done in by a gigantic rat plague, and we'd be bringing it back with us if we went to find out? Umm I don't know what to do!"
The halfling girl tries to think of what her mentor would do, would he go back and report what he found to the Elders or would he press on? If they do go back, what really are they going to report? Hey, we found a foot and a flag but umm, sorry no clue what any of it means. Looking at it like that, their mentors might be disappointed in them that they had an opportunity to show their competence at the skills they've been training for but didn't. Would they think the group was craven and unfit for further training?
That thought made Esmee's stomach sink, the last thing in the world she wanted was to lose her mentor. Pushing away her doubts, she grips her longbow tighter.
"I think I can try to get close enough to take a look around without anything seeing me."
Looking startled and slightly incredulously over at his two friends Barmo appraises them, "Look at you two standing up for yourselves. Well alright, if you think that is a better idea. I mean, imagine your mentors when you tell them you investigated and correctly assisted in the recovering and or identification of a mystery in the woods." Barmo was clearly goading them.
"I mean master ranger Esmee does not seem to be the kind of hero to walk away from looking in the river, same with you grand druid Ed." The big halfling places his hands on his hips as he watches for a reaction, eyebrow raised comically.
"And what of you gladiator Barmo? What is stopping you from wading out and poking whatever that is with your short sword? What would your mentor say about sending a ranged comrade and a caster to the front?" Ed would sarcastically reply with a grin.
Eikis, being the practical girl that she was,wrapped the severed foot carefully in a cloth and brought it along in her fishing haul basket. Yes, it was disgusting, but ... well, technically speaking, it was a severed piece of flesh, and that's what the basket was made for, right? Plus, she thought, it might be important to show as evidence of their findings to the village elders, lest they be laughed at for spreading tall tales.
As the light wanes, Eikis smiles thankfully at Esmee for lighting the torch. Then the wind changes, and the smell hits the group.
"Ugh!" Eikis yells, covering her nose and mouth. "What is that?!"
As the others study the structure and debate about what to do, Eikis frowns at Ed. "It might be nature's way for things to decompose when they're dead, but if a drunk human fell into the water, the rest of his corpse should be looking like the foot in my backpack, not stinking up the fields here. And what is that thing in the middle of the river? It wasn't here the last time we were gathering berries, was it?"
At Eikis' command, Vicious follows her to stand guard while she herself investigates the river and the structure for clues about what happened:
Vicious Perception, standing watch for danger: 11 + Guidance 4
Eikis Investigation, what happened here?: 10 + Guidance 1
(edit: I forgot the guidance on both)
(edit: Damn, I got the red bar of warning too, and rightly so: my investigation roll should read 9, not whatever it is reading right now, please use the 9)
Esmee's skin flares even deeper pink at Barmo's teasing and she refuses to look up, angry at herself for saying the wrong thing again.
She knew her mentor considered it their duty to protect the peoples of the Dale by staying watchful for danger and patrolling the surroundings. Barmo was right, he'd want to know more about the structure.
Eikis begins to move away with her pet and Esmee seizes on the opportunity to get away from the painfully awkward social situation. She douses and stows the torch before moving as stealthily as she can towards the thing in the river while keeping her eyes peeled for danger.
Stealth 8
Perception 8
edit: Lucky reroll of the 1 Stealth 12
Eikis lets out a surprised squeak as the light vanishes. Then she pulls out a candle, and attaches it to the leather headband she created for just such a purpose - no matter that the other folks in town had called it her "walking birthday cake helmet" - and then uses prestidigitation to light it up. Light problem solved, she continues her own investigation.
"And what is the rush in this investigation? From the looks and smell of the situation this is a weeks old problem. Why stumble around in the dark investigating? Is it to impress our mentors and elders? Impress each other? What reason?" Ed will ask
Barmo barks out a bellied laugh and wags his finger at Ed, "You have me there! Ok how about this, we go to the edge of the river and see what we see. If nothing then we turn around and head home, our heads held high as having investigated the scene enough to report things back to the village." He reaches his hand out to shake Ed's.
Ed sighs and casts the cantrip produce flame and follows Esmee providing light for her investigation
Ed grins at Barmo and shakes his hand. Thankfully he had cast produce flame on his left hand!
"Curiosity!" Eikis responds, looking over her shoulder and flashing Ed a grin. "Don't you hate it when you leave a question unanswered, or a problem unsolved? I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I didn't know what the rest of this foot in my bag was getting up to! You know, this is like the time that I smelled something almost as bad as this in my pantry, but it was late, and I'd been working all day in my workshop, and I was really, really tired. I thought to myself, 'Yeah, it's probably just the old cheese wheel on the top shelf, telling me it's ready to be eaten.' Turns out, the next day, the smell was even worse! And you know why? It was Vicious Mark I's fault! I'd set him to auto-patrol, and he found a couple of mice trying to make a nest in the pantry. He took care of them all right, but I never programmed him for anything other than self-cleaning. So he never told me about it! Until I opened the closet the next morning, and whew! Let me tell you, I had to throw out my entire winter reserves right then and there. That was a hard year!"
She trails off as she notices the others groaning and rolling their eyes a bit - Oops, she thinks. I went off on one of my tangental stories again, didn't I... "Eh, sorry," she adds. "I'll get back to investigating the crime scene now. Crime scene!" Eikis giggles a little at the thought. "Ohh! I feel like Lance Wright in 'Private Investigation Stories: When Wright meets Wrong!' I just love those books!"
Ed, doing his best to figure out what's in the river takes a few solid minutes tilting his head this way and that but he can't discern what it is. He's met with limited success as it's still a ways upriver (maybe 200') and the light is fading fast. It's oddly shaped, almost like a big pointed boulder with some trees stuck on it but it looks wrong for that. The shape doesn't look natural.
As everyone closes in towards the river to search for clues Viscous takes up a guard position and Esmee melds into the surroundings on high alert.
Eikis trying her best to solve the mystery is rewarded with finding some clues on the river bank wedged up against some of the rocks. There's a chunk of flat wood about 2' long and 10' wide that's squared off on one end and broken on the other, and a section of rope hung up on a boulder with the rest trailing away downstream.
As Esmee continues her prowl she notices some sounds barely reaching her over the sound of the water coming from the structure. It's faint but she hears some squeaking hisses. It sounds like mice or rats but for her to hear it from this distance there would have to be a whole lot of them or they would be the biggest mice or rats she's ever heard.
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
"Guys! I found something," Eikis whispers loudly, pointing at the broken chunk of wood. She squints at it. "It's wood that's been cut for a purpose... something someone built got destroyed. I bet it's a piece of that thing stuck in the middle of the river! It looks like it's big enough to be part of a ship, like a plank from a roof or a wall or a floor or something." She scrambles a little closer towards the boulder and tries to gather the rope out of the stream, pulling it back in. "I wonder what it is? Some kind of river-traveling machine gone wrong and accidentally killed the inventor? Huh... but what would anyone want with our river anyhow? It's not much of a shortcut to Wayport considering the danger of the falls."
Esmee's heart speeds up. The thought of a real fight, not training, for the first time shoots adrenaline through her system. She was probably overreacting. Surely it was nothing, just the water and wind at night playing tricks on her. Better to be prepared, though.
She pulls her longbow from her back and hearing Eikis's loud whispers begins to creeps back towards her peers.
Once she's in earshot she more cautiously whispers, "I heard noises, like...I don't know rats or mice or something. Which is a little weird that I could this far away, right? Plus, I mean, it's in the middle of the water."
Eikis, one side of the rope comes up easily, it's about 20' of it. The other side is difficult to pull. It's stuck or there's something attached to it. Give me a strength check.
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
"Ehh! It's stuck! Vicious, come help me pull this up!" Eikis yells. The badger pads over and takes up some of the slack, also pulling on the rope.
Strength check with advantage: 10
Even with your trusty badger giving you a hand you're not able to dislodge it. You're going to need a hand.
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
Straining against the rope, which is obviously not budging, Eikis manages to gasp out "A-A little help here?"
Barmo lumbers closer to Eikis and grasps the rope with her. Using his bulk and her grip he Yanks as best he is able.
Strength with advantage: 18
With Barmo adding his bulk to the job, he and Eikis are able to free the rest of the rope and start hauling it in. It's heavy and difficult. There is definitely something on the other end, dragging through the water. It feels like when you get a fishing line caught on an underwater branch and have to haul it in only much bigger. With much grunting and huffing the two of you have pulled at least 100' of rope out of the water when you start to make out whats on the other end.
At first it looks like it could be some kind of giant sea snake. It's light colored and seems to slither back and forth in the current, but as it gets closer you can see its some kind of fabric. A large piece of light colored fabric. Once you have it completely out of the water and get it stretched out you find it's a huge rectangular piece of cloth. About 18' on the longest side with brass grommets running the length of one side. In the center of the cloth is a symbol you recognize. You know from your lessons that it's the symbol of Brassport. It looks to have been in a fire but is still mostly in tact.
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
"Oh boy," Eikis says, falling back in dismay. "I think this all just got a tiny little bit bigger than Hickorydale. This looks like one of Brassport's big ships got caught in our river! ... which means I've got a Brassport foot in my backpack! Ohh... this really isn't good, guys!" Eikis frets and worries for a moment. "Should we look on the ship for signs of an accident? Or... Esmee heard rats, right? Do you think they were done in by a gigantic rat plague, and we'd be bringing it back with us if we went to find out? Umm I don't know what to do!"
Esmee feels just as doubtful as Eikis sounds.
The halfling girl tries to think of what her mentor would do, would he go back and report what he found to the Elders or would he press on? If they do go back, what really are they going to report? Hey, we found a foot and a flag but umm, sorry no clue what any of it means. Looking at it like that, their mentors might be disappointed in them that they had an opportunity to show their competence at the skills they've been training for but didn't. Would they think the group was craven and unfit for further training?
That thought made Esmee's stomach sink, the last thing in the world she wanted was to lose her mentor. Pushing away her doubts, she grips her longbow tighter.
"I think I can try to get close enough to take a look around without anything seeing me."