Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Banzo shouts, "Don't just stand there like pin cushions, find some cover!"
And then Banzo will move away from the arrow in the dirt, looking for any cover for himself.
On Second Watch:
Enwynn's response to Zeltheris is quiet amusement as she softly answers "Perhaps you spend more time observing the audience than nature?" then in a more serious tone "I hope so. There are creatures that fly in the woods by night that are harder to spot than those who hunt by day."
In The Morning:
The elf looks to Herman, as he speaks of his father and his totem, and nods as she quietly says "Mine seems to have led me here again, but dangerous as it has been travel before, I have traveled these woods and lived to tell the tale." then falls silent as she and Corwyn scan the sky over the forest in two directions at once.
It is the sound, rather than the sight of the arrow she senses that drags her attention away from the sky. The elf looks but briefly at the arrow before she moves in seach of cover at Banzo's suggestion, hoping it might hold some clue as to what manner of archer fired it.
Based on her past experience she judges the arrow to be badly made...and likely of goblin manufacture...
Cover is few and far between consisting of some tufts of tussock grass and a small weathered stone road marker about 10 inches in height....
Herman looks surprised at the arrow, he jumps on his feet but then he realises it is all right...for the moment....
"Banzo, there is no cover around here and then...whoever sent that arrow...it was just a warning,
let's take it like an omen: let's just go to Largo, we check the tower on our way back, allright?"
The barbarian takes this a sign but also as an opportunity to divert the others from what he sees as a low priority
Zeltheris hesitates, "It could be a trap, a temptation to make us chase him into an ambush. Better to avoid it or to spring it and take care of them now?"
"My vote would be spring the trap. If they are bold enough to target obviously well armed and capable adventures, then no traveller will be save through here."
Garet moves cautiously ignites his blade brings his dagger to hand and moves cautiously towards the tree line hoping to get a better read on the situation.
The companions ponder their options....
Moving to the tree-line Garet finds a hollow behind one of the gorse bushes where its obvious many beings have sat over time watching the road. There is a detritus of half chewed beetles, fruit pips and other more dubious leavings. There is definitely a trail leading into the forest towards the outcrop....
Enwynn, finding no cover in easy reach, but also further missiles from the undergrowth looks to the forest's edge, then back to the arrow on the ground to offer the tentative opinion of "Goblin-made arrow..." then stops as she reconsiders the missile. She adds "...Or an arrow badly made from scavenged parts of goblin arrows. Might not be one that fired it."
The elf looks to the others and concludes "An odd bait, but if so, the snare's loop is not out here." She watches Garet's progress to the forest's edge, concern on her face.
"Not an ambush just yet then." Enwynn murmurs in a relieved tone, but still wary of what lies beyond the edge of the trees, and somewhat ashamed at her wariness of a forest, even one as unwelcoming as the Darkwoods, as an elf in the same moment.
She moves up for a closer look, carefully following in Garet's footsteps, memories of older snares and pitfalls in the Darkwoods writ large in her mind, but curiosity and concern driving her onward regardless.
OOC: Does Enwynn recognise the beetles or fruit pips as local species, or are they unknown to her?
Banzo hurries over to join Garet and Enwynn at the forest's edge. Noticing the leftovers of beetles and fruit, "Looks like they spent some time here, could they be trying to draw us into an ambush?"
Herman looks at Garet, puzzled, thinking
"...he voted but then he acts by himself, what is the real purpose of this vote?! I will never catch this concept of democracy..."
He crosses his arms, not moving an inch
Local wild fruits and insects....though a couple of the beetles are more commonly found in cave environments.
Nature: 3
"More than one of them, probably. Local fruit, local bugs, but the beetles are cavern dwellers, not wood beetles." Enwynn answers Banzo quietly "And I do not know with certainty, but it may be an attempt at one. It is hard to read a message from an arrow..." then sighs as she turns back to the arrow just in case she has overlooked something she should have considered before...
OOC: Does the arrow have any sign of a message attached to it?
The refusal writ in Herman's stance is more obvious to her eyes, and does not bode well for any expedition deeper into the forest for the moment.
The elf offers a compromise to the barbarian as she says gently to him "I can not and will not take an unwilling traveler into the Darkwoods, it would be a risk I am unwilling to take in addition to the ones faced there already."
Her expression is an understanding one as she adds "I expect we will return here when more pressing matters are dealt with, and that you will be more willing then than you seem to be now."
( No message.)
( So heading north toward Stonebridge then, folks?)
"Herman has the right idea. We were headed to Stonebridge with a purpose and a single arrow shouldn't deter us from our objective."
Banzo looks in the direction that will circumvent the forest by going around.
"Whatever is in this forest waiting for us, it can keep for a while longer yet. Onward to the King!"
Enwynn stares into the trees one more time, then places the arrow on top of the milestone pointing in the direction it came from. She turns away from the forest with a sigh and heads back towards the outer path.
She replies to Banzo "Indeed, he must be quite eager to hear what you all have to relate, so best that we do not to keep him waiting too long to hear it."
The companions gather together and head north along the eastern edge of Darkwood Forest following the track of the border road for the morning before reaching the stone bridge crossing the Catfish River shortly after midday. As you are crossing the river a number of giant toads come to the surface but obviously think better of taking on such a large party.
Shortly after the river crossing you see a brightly coloured camel drawn wagon headed south towards you.
((are camels common in this area?))
( Generally further south in the Desert of Skulls or The Southern Plain but they are not unknown.)