Fluin nods at you. "Alright," he says, "I'll go."

He lights a torch on the campfire and trudges out cautiously into the marsh following in the direction of the stench. About 60 feet from you he suddenly stops in his tracks, clearly startled, and let's out an involuntary expression of fear and astonishment.

On the edge of his torchlight you can see a loathsome creature with a huge, bloated body that resembles a buffalo. It has a long, thin neck which ends in a big head, somewhat like a warthog's, but far uglier. It has thick, stumpy legs like a hippopotamus and a strong, snakey tail which it holds aloft menacingly. It sniffs the air suspiciously in Fluin's direction and fixes on him with its bloodshot eyes.

The creature's appearance reminds you of a tale of the early city you once heard of how a creature fitting this description invaded the temple and was repelled by the devoted priests.

What do you do?

(Two questions: One, would Torrent have interacted with such a creature?  And two, have we had a chance to heal?)

Torrent stares at the creature, snapping out of his inward grumblings.  Nothing about this trip had gone right, and now, over everything, they were getting harassed by yet another creature.  What was wrong with the Bog?  Why was this happening?

(OOC - would the rest of us, other than Fluin and Tarek who are on watch, actually know about this creature?)

(Oh yeah, duh.  Torrent is sleeping off his bad day.  Ignore the last.)

Yeah, I'd assume everyone would want to get 8 hours of sleep when they can, in which case everyone besides Fluin and Tarek would be sleeping and unaware this is going on. Generally, it would be good to let me know in advance if you want to be awake at a time when you're not on watch duty. In Anakis' case, I think it might have been hard for her to stay awake during her watch because as far as I remember she spent the entire previous night watching the toads from up in a tree, but since nothing interesting happened on her watch, it isn't really important.

Torrent, you were "voluntold" for the second watch, at the beginning of which you had completed a short rest, so you can go ahead and roll your hit die if you want.

Whether anyone has interacted with this type of creature before is a matter of your character's backstory, so it's really up to you whether that's the case. I'd say it's unlikely, but sometimes unlikely things can happen.

Anakis at this point is probably sprawled out, fast asleep, with no knowledge of what's happening.

Hit die 4

It looks like Tarek has been offline for a couple days. Hopefully he comes back soon because I'd like for him to weigh in on what happens next. In the meantime, I wanted to check up on some bookkeeping. My understanding is that currently Anakis, Torrent, and Ulben have inspiration, and Aluzira and Tarek do not. Does that agree with everyone's recollection about their characters?

(OOC - Anakis has inspiration.)

(Yeah! Aluzira doesnt have inspiration.)

Tarek jumps up immediately, recognizing the creature, and joins Fluin. "I see this as a bad omen..." he mutters.

As you approach, the smell becomes more and more unbearable. 

"What is this thing?" Fluin asks through clenched teeth, rapier in hand. You can see his eyes watering and his skin take on an unhealthy pallor in the torchlight as the foul odor turns his stomach. "M-maybe we should wake up the others?"

The hideous creature makes no move while you approach, but keeps its enormous head low, outstretched towards you on its long, ungainly neck. You can see its red, bloodshot eyes almost glowing in the dim light of Fluin's torch, as it regards you with an indifferent stare that seems to hide a threat of extreme danger should you come much closer. It sniffs the air deeply in your direction and stands its ground on its sturdy legs. 

You can only imagine what your hero, Byron Strongheart, would have done if faced with such a monstrosity. 

What do you do?

Tarek starts to feel a sense of fear, but tries to prevent Fluin from striking. "I think... it might be scared of us," he adds, staring directly into the beast's eyes. "Almost as much as we're scared of it." He contemplates for a little bit, then tells Fluin, "Yeah, you go wake up the others. They'll know what to do."

Fluin looks back and forth between you and the monstrous creature and says, "Yeah, alright. Here, you might want to hold on to this." And he hands you his torch as he trudges back towards the campfire to wake the rest of the party quietly.

As Fluin rouses the group, you can all see this hideous beast on the edge of the dim light of the torch that Tarek is holding. It seems to be having a difficult time holding its massive, ugly head up high enough to face Tarek, its long, skinny neck appearing to be too weak for the job. From time to time it lets its head drop and looks at the ground as it continues to sniff the air in the direction of Tarek and the rest of the camp.

Aluzira, the creature you see before you is certainly an oddity and may be worth studying.

Ulben, it could be that this creature is hungry and has been attracted by the smell of your cooking.

The smell of the creature, however is powerfully nauseating, even from 100 feet away in the camp.

What does everyone do?

Torrent feels fairly well rejuvenated.  This past day has been brutal on the Genasi.  Immediately, though, he is assaulted by the smell of the creature.  "Ugh, what's that?  What's happnin'?" Torrent is no stranger to foul odors, knowing that he himself usually doesn't smell the best.  This is a smell in a league of its own.

(Would Torrent recognize the creature?)

Ulben thinks the monster is just hungry so he will walk to the monster with a chunk of our food I get about 25 feet away from it and toss it the chunk of food.

Animal handling check if you want it. 18

Anakis rouses from her deep sleep, rubbing her eyes as she sits up. "Wha... what's going on?" Then as she looks around groggily and she notices the creature and the smell hits her, she jumps to her feet and exclaims, "What is THAT?! That smells worse than the sewers! Cover your nose Custard," she says to her mouse as its head pops out and she pinches her nose.

(DM Question - I'm guessing this is probably a no, but thought I'd double check. Has Anakis slept enough to clear her point of exhaustion?)

Aluzira gets to her feet quietly, looking around to see what's going on, slightly startled by Anakis's exclamation.  She jumps when she sees the creature but relaxes a little seeing that it's not hurting anyone.  "Goodness, that's pungent,"  she whispers to herself, doing her best to breathe normally; hopefully, she'd go nose blind after a few minutes.  She walks closer to the creature but stays at least 30 feet behind Fluin, so she doesn't crowd it.  Then watches to see if it eats the food while trying to remember if she's ever read about this creature before. 

History 16

(Has everyone finished a long rest?)

(OOC - you mean short rest? I forget the gritty game rules we're playing sometimes haha)

(Lol, I’m hoping we made it to a long rest XD but a short ones good too!)