Stolt stabs at the remaining rats. However, they manage to evade his poorly aimed strikes.

OOC:
21:21, Today: Stolt Greenwaters rolled 7 using 1d20+5.  to hit Rats.

Spark tries to make more of a nuisance to have the rats focus on him instead of his friend who seems to have been bitten a lot.

Action: Attack rats
19:02, Today: Spark rolled 25,8 using 1d20+5,1d6+3.  atk / dmg.
19:03, Today: Spark rolled 3 using 1d6.  crit damage.

"Agh-! Get off me!" Stennan will swing again, trying to cleave off the rats who are climbing up his body.

OOC: Rolled a 20 (unnatural) for attack, and 8 for damage
This message was last edited by the player at 00:48, Tue 19 Jan 2021.

Round 6!
Stolt stabs at the remaining rats. However, they manage to evade his poorly aimed strikes.
"Agh-! Get off me!" Stennan shouts as he swipes rats away with his blade.
Round 7!
Spark deftly eliminates the last few rats on Stennan, without hurting his ally.
The last few stubborn rats continue to pester Stolt, though they fail to hurt him.

Initiative
Stolt 6
Stennan 3
Spark 17
Rats 17

E1 has taken 27 damage and is dead.
E2 has taken 23 damage
E3 has taken 27 damage and is dead


SG= Stolt
SP= Spark
SS= Stennan
Ex= Enemy x

Stolt stabs like mad, eager to finally be done with the fight, shouting, "Take that!".

OOC:
15:14, Today: Stolt Greenwaters rolled 23 using 1d20+5.  to hit rats.
15:15, Today: Stolt Greenwaters rolled 9 using 1d6+3.  damage.

With relief at seeing the last rats of this bunch plopping dead to the ground, Spark moves to engage the final bunch. "Hang in there; we're almost done."

Move: D7
Action: Attack rats
19:51, Today: Spark rolled 24,8 using 1d20+5,1d6+3.  atk / dmg.

"Oh, thank you! Stennan shouted to Spark, as he ran over to the final horde of rats, and started hacking away at them.

OOC: Rolled an 11 for attack, and a 6 for damage
This message was last edited by the player at 14:40, Thu 21 Jan 2021.

Stolt finished off the remaining rats as the others moved to assist him. Surveying the mess, Spark spots something. One of the rats seemed to have gotten tangled up in some fishing line on the way here, and was dragging something behind it. At the end of the line, he could see a small pouch. Inside: 27 silver coins and 6 copper.

Congratulations, each of you gains 50 xp!

"Thank you," Stolt says as spots the others coming to his aid. "You're hurt," he says sharply, noticing their wounds. "I don't have any cures now but I can pray for some," he offers apologetically and looking a bit ashamed.

Spark stores his mace and leans down to carefully untangle the cord from the rat to retrieve the pouch. Dumping the contents into his hand, he chuckles. "Some wealthy rats we found."

He divides the spoils up in three neat piles with 9 silver and 2 copper and holds it out to his comrades in arms. "One pile for each for our trouble."

Looking at the two of them, he looks them over to assess the damage. "Are you both able to move on, or should we tend to wounds here. I still have some abilities left."

"I wasn't expecting that," Stolt says with surprise. He takes and puts away his portion of the treasure.

"Oh, thank you," Stennan commented, as he pocketed the money. He did a onceover of his wounds, while not doing anything too drastic, before responding, "I think I can heal myself, and get to a stable condition, but thank you for the offer."

OOC: I'm going to use all five of my Lay on Hands points on myself, especially since I figure we might go to long rest soon

Spark nods, "very well. I will restore some of my own vitality, and perhaps we should move out and make progress."

He closes his eyes and mutters a few words, and on the edge of perception, there is a sensation of a great big gear turning one tooth over.

Action: Cure wounds
13:26, Today: Spark rolled 8 using 1d8+1.  Cure wounds.

"I see we are a well resourced group, at least in terms of healing," Stolt murmurs after Spark and Stennan heal themselves.

"I'm ready to continue when you are," he announces.

About an hour later, as you approach the road back to Amelakia, you see standing near the crossroads a very large person. They seem to be around eight feet tall, broad shouldered, and have a huge belly, which is barely covered by the thick hides they wear. As you get closer, you see that they appear to be a man, with a thick beard and shaggy, dark hair. a battleaxe hangs at one hip, a javelin, the other. His massive arms are crossed in front of his chest as he seems to be trying to pretend he hasn't noticed you, as his head turns every way but the one you are in. He is about 100 feet west of the crossroads.

Spark involuntarily slowed his pace as the creature came into view, with a noise of concern he quietly inquired of his companions. "Hm, what manner of being is this, then. Have any of you seen such a man before?"

There was something that tickled Spark's neural pathways, but he couldn't put his finger on it. The possibility that he had encountered something like this from before he Awoke last was certainly present.

"I have not though I'm don't think it's a man," Stolt replies in an intense whisper. "Perhaps a giant? I've heard of such things in tales." He had slowed as soon as Spark started slowing and now seemed to be dragging his feet, reluctant to keep up even with Sparks reduced pace. "Look at his the arms. If he swung that axe of his, he might cut you in half with a one swing, armor and all!"

"It's odd he hasn't turned to face us," Stolt says quietly after several moments. "He seems to be guarding the crossroads from directions other than the town. Do you think he might in the town's employ?"

"I think he could be a hill giant, but I don't remember fully. Whatever he might be, I'd rather not be on his bad side. Perhaps we could negotiate?" Stennan inquired, studying the humanoid. It definitely seemed that the creature hadn't noticed them, or at least didn't acknowledge them, but still, one can't be too careful around unknown creatures. If Stennan was being honest, however, his idea was a little more "direct" than he would've normally considered. Well, we'll see...

To clarify, the big guy is not in your path. You're heading north, so its something like this, with * as the road (not to scale)

"Perhaps the better course of action would be to simply walk on by, hope it doesn't attack and report it to the village for further patrols to investigate?"

Unless there were objections, Spark would move along the path north at a casual pace, once passed the crossroads he would raise his arm and wave a greeting to the large humanoid standing idly by the wayside.

Stolt nods vigorously in agreement. He joins Spark, doing his best to appear unconcerned. However, when Spark raises his arm, he bites his lip and prepares to bolt.

The big fellow jumps a little, as if startled, then gingerly waves back.

"Yeah, let's be sure to report it. Maybe someone forgot to tell us about him," Stolt says, after breathing a sigh of relief.

"Well, he seemed friendly. Let's move on with the patrol, though it wouldn't do harm to make mention of him back in town." Stennan kept walking forward, past the big guy. He definitely didn't seem aggressive, in fact, he was startled, so Stennan figured he wouldn't mind a band of adventurers passing him by.

You make it back to town with no further distractions.

Congratulations on finishing the patrol! You each get 134 xp and 1 downtime unit, and when you report in to Smith, you get the 20 promised GP, plus whatever he offers for any information you give him when you get there.