Gelik will continue to orate but otherwise hold his ground
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Gelik will continue to orate but otherwise hold his ground
R2T15: Gelik continues to orate, but otherwise holds his ground.
R2T14: It seems the good duergar is already over his fear of Book. He carefully casts a spell upon himself using some type of primitive fetish and then tries to stand. Sersheelda gores him in the lower right arm with her strange set of horns for 15 and Book lashes him in the shoulder with his whip for 15, and Fruthrin bites him in the upper right arm for 7. "I will end you all, and we Aspis will fall upon your people and wipe their presence from this land!" he yells, cackling as he moves a little bit, albeit into a flanked position.
R2T13: Fruthrin moves up and snaps his jaws, biting through the armor, but now being stopped by the duergar's toughened skin.
R2T12: Veress pads up to the gray man and bites him in the left knee and holds on, slashes him in the neck with a forepaw, tears into his head with his other forepaw, and his two back legs totally disembowel the gray dwarf.
Dr. Kilral Blackmountain's countenance changes from maniacal hate to an almost distant smile, though even that is still hideous on his torn-face death rictus.
Combat Ends!
”Damn it! Im sure that was a setup to invite revenge… Well. Let’s check him over for clues and report back…”Book says.
Fronaldo pops back into view, grumbling to himself about crazy deep dwarves not being worthy of a fight. He shuffles over to the fallen figure and rifles through his gear looking for anything interesting. He also performs a medical examination of the corpse to try and see if he was ill or suffering from a physical malady of some sort.
The duergar had the following equipment...
Other than the backpack, nothing is masterwork.Spoiler: EquipmentScythe
Sling w/ (20) bullets
Club
Dagger (more tool in design than weapon)
Hide armor
Explorer's Outfit
Spell Component Pouch (these are personalized, not one-size-fits-all)
Masterwork Backpack, containing...
* Alchemist's fire (2)
* Acid Flask (2)
What do you take (for the party, I do NOT want to hear about what you want to keep for yourself right now)?
The duergar died by multiple wounds of various types, mainly brought on by disemboweling and critical skull concussion commensurate with the natural attacks of a large hunting cat. There seem to be no signs of any physical ailments.
What else do you do here?
Fronaldo definitely suggests that they take the alchemical weapons but the rest does not interest him.
The party leaves the body as is ... doesn't check the immediate area ... and returns to the encampment to debrief Amivor. Amivor finds the news disturbing. While there was no "bronze shield" that Amivor expected you to find from an Aspis agent, he can't ignore the fact that the Pathfinder Society's main competition ... the Aspis Consortium ... has found their way to Saventh-Yhi. From the description of your interaction, it definitely doesn't sound like the duergar was acting in duergar interests.
That evening, Fronaldo tutors Harrim, Gelik and Xhanfaerd on economic theory.
Oathday, 9 Calistril 4711 AR (Waxing Crescent)
What's the plan for today?
It may be a little late, but Book suggests we send a scout out to check out the alleged encampment the dead fellow said was there. As to the continued exploration. 2 squares due west, please.
Does anyone volunteer to be "a scout?"
“Me! I will do it!” shouts Fronaldo excitedly. He waves Book over.
“Are you coming “scouting?!”
Book looks at Fronaldo and back at the others and shrugs. ”We’ll be back…”
He turns to Fronaldo and gestures ahead. “Let’s go take a look.”
Fronaldo smiles toothily and takes a short lead heading back to the location of the Duergar encounter.
“Hey Book! Do we want to capture one of them alive for, you know,“interigation”?
Well…mostly alive?”, asks the little green goblin.
Book looks at Fronaldo… ”What? No! Of course not!”
Well, hopefully you are looking to be stealth AFTER you get to this point, as the two scouts - Book and Fronaldo - were just chatting away.
Okay, you are at the scene of where you killed the duergar (you think), but while there is blood and the like, there is no body.
Book looks for signs of whether the body was dragged away or otherwise.
A slightly deflated Fronaldo helps Book look for clues as to where the body went.
Spoiler: crunch
he will aid Book to search
Interestingly enough, while Fronaldo normally isn't that aware, when looking for tracks, signs of passage, living off the land, not getting lost, etc. .... Fronaldo is the best survivalist and tracker in the group. This is probably because while Fronaldo is usualy internally focused and intellectual, he enjoys to some degree what amounts to a type of "puzzle" in figuring out tracks, where as more intuitive or reactive sensory input he is less adroit. Book, for his point, is a decent assistant.
Unfortunately, it's been a day ... there are the usual mid-day heavy rains, and it isn't missed by Fronaldo that it seems that very specific attempts were made to hide passage. In the end, the two scouts don't find much to work with, and are unable to pick up the trail at any point.
Now what?
“The deep dwarf said North from here along the lake to their camp, right? We should check it out. says Fronaldo excitedly. There is a gleem in his red eyes as if he hungers for mayhem and excitement.
Book nods and switching to stealthy mode heads north with the wee green man in tow…
In extremely short order, the ruins-proper fall behind as Book and Fronaldo follow along the jungle along the western bank of an 80-foot-wide ancient canal or finger lake (hard to tell which) that extends north briefly before you can see from the bank that it slowly turns eastwards.
About 250' or so north of where you started, is a full-size encampment ... a match in manpower and organization as your own full Pathfinder encampment. You see the flag flying of the Aspis Consortium.
What do you do?
Book gestures to Fronaldo to start backing away and we'll head back to camp to report.
Spoiler: TP Book>>>Frontman"Yup. He wasn't lying! We need to get back and report this..."
Fronaldo nods and backs away with Book.
Meanwhile, Aron, Xhanfaerd, Sersheelda, and Harrim wait, with increasing worry ... not realizing that the two jokers decided to go right back to camp instead of catching up with their friends first.
Remembering that they apparently led the group away from the camp first, Book changes direction towards the other group members while glancing at Fronaldo and rolling his eyes.
Once the two scouts regroup with the others, the group as a whole return to the main encampment and report to Amivor.
He nods his head philosophically, seemingly unworried. "We knew that we weren't going to be the only ones. I'm sure that the Free Captains and Sargavan military will find their way here before too long, so we can expect to see signs of them as well."
From the day's scouting mission, Fronaldo realizes that while training is one thing, he had better help tutor Book's overall physique in fine motor control. Whatever the goblin may think about his rival, he can respect his agility, so perhaps helping Book develop his wouldn't be a bad thing if more scouting missions are called for. Aron gets in on this training as well.
Fireday, 10 Calistril 4711 AR (First Quarter)
What's the plan of exploration today, Book?
West two squares, please.
Moving west is all jungle, so there was little cataloguing and slow-exploration, meaning more time to explore. Where next?
One square west and one north, please.
And with that, the group charts a portion of the jungle surrounding (or surrounded by) Saventh-Yhi, and then return to the main encampment.
With the day mainly being about jungle movment, Fronaldo gives survival training to Book, Aron, & Sersheelda.
Starday, 11 Calistril 4711 AR (First Quarter)
Which way today, Book?
Two west, please.