Aldren leads the group to the Tickwoods about five miles down the road from Sandpoint. Seemingly ever present at his side is his manservant, Wadsin, who seems to have an almost supernatural ability to anticipate what request Aldren is about to make, usually having the item or answer on hand even as the task is being asked.

The guide turns out to be a local hunter, Patten Morlick. Patten's brother is a fairly successful farmer and Patten lives on his farm, paying back his brother's hospitality with a share of meat and furs from his hunting and trapping in the local woods. Patten seems very nervous about this expedition and if pressed will comment that this particular boar has a pretty nasty history having claimed the life of several hunters he knows already.

<b>"It's smart. Smarter than a boar should be. A guy I know says the boar gored one hunter but left him alive and screaming for help. When another hunter came by to help, the boar gutted him too.

As for the "men-at-arms" it seems that Aldren found the sleaziest, shadiest, scummiest looking mercenaries in all of Varisia. One is Varisian, the other is a half-orce. Both are male and both smell horrible and have piecemeal equipment but most telling is that their armor has stitching that indicates where some kind of insignia identifying the armor's true owner had been crudely removed.

They carry bows and long boar spears and ride on either side of the party as escorts and during the daytime they don't seem to be very much a threat but there is no question that if Aldren had camped out in the woods these two men would cut his throat and strip him of his valuables without a second thought. Aldren seems completely oblivious to this and treats them like they are experienced hunting servants.

No matter how much one tries, the only answer anyone can get out of these two is a noncommital grunt.

Aldren is in high spirits as they enter the woods. Ahead of the group are three hunting dogs that Aldren seems to be following without question although he never mentioned where he found the dogs or what kind of training they have. Unlike the men-at-arms however the dogs seem to be in good condition and temperament.

"So tell me, Heroes of Sandpoint, what would motivate you to step up and put your life at risk to save the citizens of the town? From what I gather you were under no contract with the local government and you could have rushed to safety in the church with everyone else and let the guards handle things.

Even if you are swords for hire wouldn't it make good business sense to wait to be hired before bringing your proverbial swords to bear?"

Arialis did not even consider his question, she answered without hesitation. "They do not call me the Violet Knight of Kyonin for no reason. I have a strong penchant for helping those in need, to the detriment of my family." She said with a small shrug. "Innocents were being harmed, so I acted. Plane and simple." She said in her accented common.

Talitha smiles at Aldren. She is not very good faking it, so everyone can tell that she's trying to be polite.
"It would not be very good for a sword for hire prove that they are uncapable of defending themselves from an attack, and instead run like cowards from a few goblins."
She smiles and look at the two men next to him. This smile seems more real, like something she just thought is very funny
"Actually, we are not under any contract here either. You have not paid us anything to perform this task or protect you, so in case we were ambushed by this boar and he trapped you in a corner nothing would prevent us from running away in the opposite direction."
She grins at Aldren, showing her teeth. "Of course, we would never do that. We are brave heroes."
She looks again at the two swordmen and continues walking. It seems she wanted to go out and get some action, but the babysitting part of the task is something she was neither expecting nor enjoying.

Faeli stares off into the middle-distance as her words tumble free from her mouth un beckoned.

"I heard a scream, when I looked up I saw a little girl and then I noticed through the crowd that there were goblins chasing her. I fought my way through the crowd, to her but when I got there..." a tear rolled down Faeli's round cheek and free from her face as she pulled up the hood from her traveler's cloak.

"...when I got there it was too late." the gnome said with more resolve. "After that, they started to attack me, so I guess it was really just self-defense. Nothing so noble."

Tristen smiled as he thought back on the events from a week ago. "Right as everyone has said. We just happened to be at the place at the time. We acted. Must have been instinct. But then we did agree to help the sheriff out. So I would guess there's some sort of goodness within us to help the community."

Aldren chuckles at their responses.

"You make it sound so easy, like being a hero and risking your lives at a moment's notice is how everyone would act. I know I wouldn't be that brave. In fact, I dare say I wasn't. When the goblins attacked I ran. Perhaps if I had been armed and armored I might have transferred some of that steel to my spine but in the heat of the moment with the fires and the screaming I found my courage lacking."


The journey continues pleasantly and Aldren continues to chat amicably with the party. The group discovers that as mentioned before he is from a noble family from the large city of Magnimar and that the Foxglove manor has a turbulent history. Several times since its construction hundreds of years before tragedy has befallen the residents causing the Foxgloves to continually return to Magnimar.

Aldren mentions that he hopes to rebuild it and start a family out there once and for all, chuckling that "It can't burn down a third time, right?"

The party enters the woods and in almost no time the hounds find the scent although they seem much less enthusiastic compared to how most hunting hounds act when on a trail.

The guide pauses by one of the tracks and, looking a bit pale, nods to the others. One of the sellswords pipes up with a whistle.

"Oy, dat dere's the biggest boar print I've evah seen!"

Sure enough the track is gigantic, looking on par with a horse's hoofprint than a boar's.

Talitha is no hunter, so she has little interest in looking at the tracks. She pragmatically asks "Are they fresh? Does it mean we are close? What direction?"
And readies her sword and shield.

"A building is just that Lord Foxglove, a building. They can be replaced. It's the lives, and the souls, lost that cannot be replaced." She said with a soft sigh as she looked down for a moment, growing quiet, and suddenly remembering why she was really here. Why she truly came to this area. To find her brother.

When the guide spot up she looked down at the print, and cocked her head to the side. "Are we sure that's a boar, or possibly not something else? That print is as big as a horses hoof..."

Razyll stayed alert, while he didn't think it would be easy for a boar of this size to attack the large unaware, he previously would not have taught he would live to see a goblin hunting party attacking a village during full daylight.

Sudden the dogs tense, looking to the right and their noses twitching as they sniff the air. Their ears are perked up and focused on...something. Then the dogs flee with a few soft whimpers.

The two men-at-arms shift nervously in their saddles while the butler goes riding off to catch the dogs.

In the distance the group can hear the sound of branches being trampled and broken as something starts charging their way...

OOC: Everyone gets a round to prepare!

Tristen loaded a bolt into the crossbow. "Get ready Lord Foxglove. Whatever it is, is coming fast. Get your weapon up. Steady, steady. Don't fire until you see the 'whites' of its eyes."

Talitha takes her sword and raises her shield. She moves to the front line, protecting the rest and getting ready to receive what she expects to be the beast charging them.
"I think we'll need all our strength with this one! Damn! Be ready!"

"Please, leave this to the Heroes of Sandpoint." the half-orc said with a smile which was far less charming than he thought. While at the lord's side, Razyll brandished his holy symbol and worked a protection of divine-magic around Foxglove.

His time being short the half-orc turned to the sound of the coming creature and raised his shield.


OOC:
Using Sanctuary Spell on Lord Foxglove.
If I can I would also like to use the raise shield action for Razyll.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)


Sanctuary   (Abjuration)
Traditions: Divine, occult
Cast:       Two-actions, somatic & verbal
Range:      Touch; Targets 1 creature; Duration 1 minute

You ward a creature with protective energy that deters enemy attacks. Creatures attempting to attack the target must attempt a Will (DC:17) save each time. If the target uses a hostile action, the spell ends.

• Critical Success Sanctuary ends.
• Success The creature can attempt its attack and any other attacks against the target this turn.
• Failure The creature can’t attack the target and wastes the action. It can’t attempt further attacks against the target this turn.
• Critical Failure The creature wastes the action and can’t attempt to attack the target for the rest of sanctuary’s duration.

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This message was last edited by the player at 07:40, Sat 16 Jan 2021.

Faeli squealed and ducked behind a tree (as if that would help) in light of the strength of this tree toppling monster pig.

"By the gods, by the gods, bythegods, bythegods bythegods, bythegods, bythegods." Faeli said as she prepared a minor work of trickery which hopefully would help confuse the beast.


[OOC: Stealth action if that is a thing? Perhaps? I think poor Fae knows why her mom never allow meat in her diet. XD

Fae will ready the Ghost Sound cantrip. Faeli will create the sound of a juvenile dragon roaring behind or to one of the flanks of the beast once she sees it. Hopefully, that will cause the beast to become afraid or perhaps confused.

Ghost Sound (Cantrip): Auditory, Cantrip, Illusion
Cast:                  Two Actions somatic, verbal
Range:                 30 feet
Duration:              Sustained
You create an auditory illusion of simple sounds that has a maximum volume equal to four normal humans shouting. The sounds emanate from a square you designate within range. You can't create intelligible words or other intricate sounds (such as music).]

EDIT

Kaddock had frowned and shook his head as he knelt by the tracks of the boar.  He remounted and gave a careful check of his weapons afterward as they headed further into the woods.  When the approach of the boar was announced by a crashing in the woods Kaddock spurred the horse to  the flank.  He raised his bow, nocked an arrow and prepared for battle.

OOC: Ready weapon and focus on marking the boar as a prey.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:49, Mon 18 Jan 2021.

She would draw both of her blades, pulling her feet from the stirrups so that she can leap from the horse should she need to.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:55, Sun 17 Jan 2021.

From out of the underbrush comes the largest boar anyone had every seen. Standing around 6' tall at its highest point and coming in at over a thousand pounds it seemed a great mistake to consider this monster "just" a boar.

The boar slams into one of the men-at-arm's horses, knocking it over as its tusks dig deep and open the horse's belly open spilling organs onto the ground. The scruffy rider has barely time to yell in surprise before he is toppled over and trampled under the hoofs of the creature. His skull makes a particularly sickening crunch when one of the massive boar's hoofs lands directly on it.

The boar finishes its charge, spinning around to set its tiny hateful eyes on the next target. It briefly focuses on Aldren Foxglove but its eyes seem to slide right on by focusing instead on Faeli as her and her pony end up being the closest target. With a snort it lowers its massive head and begins pawing at the ground preparing to charge again!


Combat Round 1


% - 75% | 75% - 60% | 60% - 45% | 45% - 30% | 30% - 15% | 15% - 0% | 0% > | Dead |

Talitha has been expecting the animal to attack her, as she had placed herself in the front line to protect their colleagues.
As she sees the boar appear and slam one of the men-at-arm's horses instead of attacking her, she gets ready to attack it. Then the boar looks at Faeli, getting ready to attack her instead, the fighter shouts at him "Not so fast!"
She moves to make sure that the boar does not have a clear path towards the gnome, and when the boar is in reach with both hands she launches a powerful strike against it, but in the last moment the horse moves and she misses the attack by several inches.


A1: Move to meet the boar in front of Faeli, interrupting the charge.
09:41, Today: Talitha rolled 17 using 1d20+2 with rolls of 15.  Command an Animal.
A2 & A3: Power attack two handed sword
09:49, Today: Talitha rolled 11,15 using 1d20+9,2d12+4 with rolls of 2,4,7.  THW power attack & damage.

"No pig, go away." Faeli said before the boar finished its gory charge "Yuck!" Faeli said absently before she realized that the boar's blood-crazed eyes had settled on her.  "What...wait...no."

Faeli rolled up her sleeves and took a knee as Talinta settled in front of her with her shield raised. The little wizard did her arcane maths as she cast Burning Hands as a Reach spell.

"Back up pig or you are going to be bacon and I hate bacon!"


OOC:
A1: Reach Metamagic (+30 feet)
A2 and A3: Burning Hands Spell

This message was last edited by the player at 13:23, Wed 20 Jan 2021.

Tristen d'Cordain moved his horse closer to Lord Foxglove. As his companions moved to protect each other, he fired his crossbow at the boar. "It's going to take a lot more than a bolt to bring down that beast!"

---

A1: Move up to N-O space
A2: Attack Boar w/Crossbow
rolled 22,3 using 1d20+3,1d10 with rolls of 19,3.  ATK/DAM
A3: Reload (if necessary)

Razyll raised his hand and touched his holy symbol before he gestured to the boar.


OOC:
A1 and A2 Daze Cantrip DC: 17
A3 Raise shield

OOC: I'll give you guys a freebie this round but remember you have to make a nature check if you want to move while mounted. If you want to stop having to control your horse then you have to spend one action to dismount.

This is your one global warning. After this if you want to move and fail your nature checks it will disrupt your movement.

Talitha spurs her horse to protect Faeli and disrupt the charge. Unfortunately the horse isn't fast enough so while she still gets an attack it isn't quite as powerful as she would have liked it to be.
OOC: It takes 2 moves to get to melee range of the boar, sorry.

Talitha swings her sword and is astonished to see the sharp blade just bounce off the thick hide and fur on the creature's back. It was like striking stone wrapped in reinforced leather!

OOC: Faeli, you can't use Reach with Burning Hands.

Reach Spell:

You can extend the range of your spells. If the next action you use is to Cast a Spell that has a range, increase that spell’s range by 30 feet.

Burning Hands:

Area: 15-foot cone

Burning Hands just has an area attribute, not a range.


Faeli moved her horse into position and unleashed her flame spell scorching the beast's hide. The creature's hair caught fire and spreads along the whole creature's body fueled by its natural oils and dry hairs. The boar squeals in pain and the air quickly smells of burnt flesh and fur.
OOC: Natural 1 on the reflex save so it takes double damage! 8 fire damage

Tristen gets into position and sinks a bolt into the creature's flaming hide.

Razyll casts a spell but it seems whatever magical effect should have happened doesn't take hold as the creature is too enraged from its flaming backside to let the spell take effect.

Kaddock tries to sink three arrows into it but two miss and the third skips off its back like it was striking stone.

Arialis moves up to support Talitha.

Aldren and the hired mercenary both circle their horses wide looking to get into flanking positions and surround the boar so it cannot build up deadly momentum behind its charge anymore.

The guide tries shooting the beast as well but fails to hit.

The boar lashes out, whipping its head back and forth and cuts at the horses of Aldren and Talitha. Talitha's horse takes a deep wound but stays standing (14 damage, 8/22 HP left) as does Aldren's steed 13 damage, 9/22 HP left

Combat Round 1