So why is everyone fixated on Zale? The undine already came with them but asked for nothing. He stops, watching and waiting for the others but doesn't say a word. The undine doesn't have a reason to speak, and doesn't know any of them but he's on a mission. Zale looks out over the ocean as the otter swims around near him and back to the burning bodies. It goes up to the shore at times and looks around. The bodies are dead, theres no reason to remain and yet everyone seems fixated to watch them burn. Maybe they are pyros? He is indeed ahead but not too far ahead.

Bellinha was right they needed to work together and so Ordin thought that while they waited for the fires to burn the bodies he would ask Zale if there was a problem.

"I agree with Bellinha.  We need to work together and not have any animosity between us if there is.  Thank you for joining us on this mission but I have a feeling that something is not right between you and I.  If it is something I did I am willing to talk it out so we can come to a resolution."

Well Zale is out in the water-not the shore. He just watches the dwarf say what he needs to say-perhaps he means it, perhaps not. But not a word is spoken from Zale. Why is it everyone gets all focused on him when he hasn't done anything? After last night blaming the circle and he defended it....

Magic can be manipulated.

Perhaps he's silent because he has nothing to say. Or he's just quiet. The otter watches the dwarf, peaking up from the water's surface. He keeps away from the 'pet' and darts off as Zale waits patiently.

The bodies catch fire, the smoke wafting up over the beach.  And the smell...

But you're satisfied the dead sailors won't be rising anytime soon.  Whatever their names were are only known to the sky and surf now.

The land starts to rise upwards again.  You climb up off the beach and onto the bluffs.  In about another hour, you catch your first sight of the Estate.

What you can see above the trees is a two story brick and wood manor home.  The afternoon sun glints off what's left of the broken windows.  At each corner of the building stands a tower that rises up an additional level.

As approach, you san see a trail leading up to the grounds of the Estate. Ordin, you know that it's the remains of an old road that leads to the east.  The road itself was originally going to connect Salt Lick to Coinhaven, but it never got completed.  Once the Brakers lost their fortune, no one else was interested in investing in the venture.

You can head to the east yourselves and head up to the main manor.  Or you can head up through the treeline, passing the old woodcutter's cabin to the south of the manor.

Please see the map in the Adventurer's Almanac.  You can either approach by the trail that's coming from the east (North on that map is at the bottom of the page), or you can come up through the tree line passing by location 2 on the Estate map.

You could try to swim up to it, but you'd have to scale the cliffs to reach the manor. A climb of about 80'.

Let me know if there are questions.  Thanks.

Kozibi watched the bodies burn and glanced at the others. "Well then. Let's keep this show going. No rest for the wicked...er...for those...doing good...things..." He shook his head. It sounded weird when he said.

He walked along with the others and one eyebrow rose at the sigh of the manor. "Hmm. Not too shabby. Could be worse, could be better. Definitely needs some love and attention."

He gave a shrug. "Well, no sense in dividing our forces and splitting up. We've nothing to hide, really, right? I say let's just march up the trail together. Well...walk up the road. I don't do marching." He flashed a brilliant smile.

Tilting his head, the undine stops and watches the odd bard. He looks down at his bare feet, letting them caress the ground. Forest. So much forest and no water. For a moment he looks around and points towards where the woodsman cabin is "Go there? Check manor afterward?" Its a small step but then he walks near them but keeps his distance as he grips his spear. The otter darts nearbye, looking around.

Bellinha paused to look in both directions, the woodcutters cabin and the manor itself.  "That idea sounds good to me.," she says in response to Zales suggestion.  "Woodcutters cabin, then the Manor and then the stone circle."  She took several steps forward, intending on taking the lead towards the woodcutters cabin, but then stopped.  Turning back to the rest of the party, she said "Are we ready to go?  I do not mind going first though my knowledge of the forest pales in comparison to Moon or Ordins, I would imagine."

With the manor now in sight, Ordin quickens his pace with Dillo easily padding along beside him.  Once they were closer and a decision was made to check out the woodsman's place first Prdin said, "I can take the lead through the woods.  Dillo and I are well suited for such a task."

If it were okay with the others Dillo would take point with Ordin about 5ft behind him.

You head out up the tree line towards the cabin.

It's in surprisingly good shape.  The windows all have shutters on them, and those shutters are closed.  Though, as you get closer, you can see a wane light shining through the cracks in those shutters.

There is a main building, probably the cabin proper where the woodcutter and his family lived.  Attached to it is what looks like some kind of barn or storeroom.  Probably where the lumber was stored.  In front of the storeroom is an old wagon.  The wagon is in much worse shape than the cabin.  Two of it's wheels have fallen off, and it is stuck in the dirt like an old socialite well past her prime, whose tea parties no one attends any longer.

None of you see anything out of the ordinary or hear anything of concern from where you are.



I am assuming you guys have circled the cabin from the northwest to the northeast and back again to recon it.  You are about 45' out.  There seems to be a dim light shining from inside the cabin, but the windows are all shuttered and you cannot see inside.

Area 1 is the main cabin.  Area 2 is the storeroom.  The wagon is obviously the wagon.

Let me know if there are any questions.  Thanks

The undine moves towards the building, spear in his hand. He tries to be stealthy, the otter now sitting on his bag. Zale just waits to see what the others do but keeps his distance.

17:09, Today: Zale Morcant rolled 13 using 1d20+3.  Stealth.

17:09, Today: Zale Morcant rolled 13 using 1d20+3.  Perception.

Bellinha slowly drew she sword from its scabbard, the rings on the back of the weapon chiming lightly with the movement.  "Could that light be bandits?" she asked softly.  "No one is supposed to be living up here."

"Okay, so the front door is small, will only let one of us go in at a time but the store room door is bigger."  she said.  "I'm thinking that maybe we check out the store room first.  Thoughts?"

OOC:
Bellinha Grunnel rolled 18 Perception.
Bellinha Grunnel rolled 5 Stealth.

Not known for his sneakiness, Ordin watches the others as they step and follows their movements surprising himself with how quiet he is moving.  That is until Bellinha speaks out.  Turning back to her he gives a nod not wanting to make any further noise as he approaches the barn door.

As he gets close he reaches into himself and tries to tell if there is anything undead inside.

08:41, Today: Ordin Oakbranch rolled 20 using 1d20+2.  stealth check.

08:41, Today: Ordin Oakbranch rolled 22 using 1d20+9.  perception check.

In reply to Ordin Oakbranch (msg # 40):

You being to creep towards the barn door. Slowly creeping.  Carefully.  Stealthily.

Slllllllooooooooooowwwwwwwly.

You come in around the northwest corner of the building.  The wagon pays you little attention.

As you get closer, you can see the door is closed, but there is a rather large hole, as if something dug it's way out from inside by tunneling under the door.  The rut isn't large.  Maybe a couple of feet wide.


None of you can hear anything other than the afternoon breeze.  A squirrel scampering up a nearby tree.  A fallen leaf landing on the ground.

But not each other.  Because you are all moving really, really slowly. And carefully.

Kozibi stayed back a bit from the group. He wasn't used to be stealthy really, aside from trying to get away quietly from the very infrequent jealous significant other - he usually tried to stay away from married/committed people romantically as a rule.

He frowned at the quiet discussion, and then gave a shrug. He was certainly not the ideal choice to go in through the door first. He was not a fighter. So he stayed silent and kept his senses mildly alert.

21:46, Today: Kozibi Januson rolled 8,12 using d20+5,d20+4.  Perception, Stealth.

Taking a deep breath, the undine moves towards the storage area, against the side of it. He grips his spear, and glances at the otter. The otter looks up at him and slowly moves down the rut.

Zale, you come up to the door.  You cannot hear anything on the other side of it.

Is your otter-bud crawling inside through the rut under the door?

As the otter goes into the door through the rut, Zale focuses and mutters something. He slightly glows as well as the otter.

OOC
Casting Mage Armor on the otter. Last 2 hours.

Bellinha touched Ordin on the shoulder and indicated to the tracks.  Slowly, she creeps up to the wagon, leaning over to see what might be in the back.  Hopefully nothing, but she had to be sure.

Ordin had seen the tracks as well and when Bellinha touched him and showed the tracks he gave a nod to her.

Ordin likewise moved to the wagon ready for whatever may be inside.

The otter is armored up Zale.  He dives under the rut and is on the other side of the door.

At that same time...Bell and Ordin, you both begin to move towards the wagon.  As you do so, you can see the faint line of tracks head under one of the sides that is still held up by a wheel.  It almost resembles a little cave of sorts under there.

And of course, there's something living in there.

As you get closer, two long, thick coils of large centipede dart out from under the wagon.  They both seem to be as long as Koz is tall.  And they both have what look like octopuses for heads.

Oh.  No. Those are tentacles.  These are a pair of those whatchmacallits. Carrion Crawlers.

Yeah.  That's it.  Those things.

We are in combat people.  Ordin and Bel are 10' away from the two crawlers.  Koz, you are 55' away. Zale, you are 15 and by the door to the storage room. Zale, you have already cast the Mage Armor on Otter.

The crawlers are acting on an init 10.  Roll init and post your actions.  Thanks
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:05, Wed 08 Dec 2021.

After armoring up the otter, Zale turns and see the crawlers. He takes a deep breath "Do not let it hit you. Poison."

OOC Trying to figure out what the creatures are.

19:37, Today: Zale Morcant rolled 25 using 1d20+7.  Knowledge (Planes).

19:37, Today: Zale Morcant rolled 23 using 1d20+7.  Knowledge (Arcana).

19:37, Today: Zale Morcant rolled 25 using 1d20+5.  Intiative.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:23, Wed 08 Dec 2021.

"GAH!" Bellinha shouted, startled by the tentacle things coming from beneath the wagon instead of inside of it.  Plus they were giant centipedes with tentacles.  "...I mean...what are those things!?"

OOC:
Bellinha Grunnel rolled 21 for Initiative.
Bellinha Grunnel rolled 11 for Knowledge Dungeoneering.
Bellinha Grunnel rolled 16 for Knowledge Planes
Readying an action to attack the Carrion Crawlers if they get close.

Kozibi was more than happy to let the others do the more hands-on portion of investigating, but hadn't realized he had gotten so distracted and let them get so far ahead of him. He'd meant to stay much closer. So he was a bit surprised when an attack happened.

His eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up. He then let out a small curse and drew his longsword as he hurried forward.

OOC: Wasn't planning on staying quite THAT far away but that's fine, lol.

Standard and Move action: Move forward 30 feet and draw longsword.

21:41, Today: Kozibi Januson rolled 11 using 1d20+3.  Initiative.

Ordin had never seen anything like these things before.  It seemed to Ordin that the things had built a home under the wagon and had presented themselves to defend against intruders.

"I think we should back up and leave them alone.  They are probably just defending their home."

Ordin will move back towards the storage building.
06:38, Today: Ordin Oakbranch rolled 3 using 1d20+2.  Initiative

In reply to Bellinha Grunnel (msg # 50):

Zale and Bellinha</purpele> both of you have heard of these before.  Carrion Crawlers are like giant centipedes with octopus heads.  To <purple>Zale's point, the tentacles are coated with a thin poison.  You both think it's paralytic.  Though maybe it causes you to burst into flames and die while reciting your grandmother's recipe for baked squash.

That last part might not be right.  You'd have to let the tentacle touch you to be sure.


The two seem fixated on you Bellinha, as they skitter across the ground in your direction.

Post your actions and rolls please.  Bel, they are within striking distance of you now.

Thanks