Lazlo took position behind a nearby tree and loosed a shot at the manticore.  The bolt flew true, but the low-powered hunting crossbow didn't seem to have much effect.  Seeing Kara standing in the open, the old man turned to yell.  "Girl!  When I said take cover, I meant-Gah!"

Lazlo's warning was interrupted as the manticore flicked it's spiked tail and launched a volley of spines towards Kara and himself.  One spine caught Lazlo in the back despite his cover, while the other sunk itself into Kara's thigh.  The beast circled the island from the air, seemingly intending to hurl it's spikes from a safe distance.

Lazlo's turn:
MOVE: Move to O6, using tree for cover.
STANDARD: Shoots Manticore.  Critical hit for 4 damage.
FREE: Reload

Manticore's Turn:
MOVE: move to I-J, 3-4, 30' up.
STANDARD: Fire spines, 2 towards Kara, 2 towards Lazlo.  One hit for 7 damage against Kara, one for 8 vs Lazlo

Name	AC	Health	Notes
Liviana	18	27/27	In cover
Kara	13	15/22	Flaming sphere
Harald	22	36/36	In cover, Carrying Corpse
Lazlo	16	30/38	In cover
Manticore	17	53/57	Flying 30' up

Her weapon loaded Livi risked a peak out from behind the tree she was pressed to. She had just enough time to see the monster and duck back behind cover before the spines were launched at the party. She winced as she saw several of them hit, she would hopefully be able to heal the damage caused after the fight.

She turned to Harald who had quickly crossed the small island. She chanted a few words as she took one hand off her weapon to weave symbols. As the spell was finished she placed her hand on the warrior. "The manticore can only use it's spines a few more times before it runs out. Unless someone has a way to bring it down we'll have to weather a few more volleys. Then it will either have to fly off or land to attack. I trust you know what to do if it lands."

Standard Action: Cast Barkskin on Harald, +2 enhancement bonus to natural armor

"Damn, guess I was too pretty before."  Harald remarked as Livi changed his skin to the texture of hard bark.  "Bring it down, eh?  Let's see what I can do."

"Dragon guard!"  Harald shouted as he took on a defensive stance.  He dashed out into the open, away from the rest of the group to draw the attention of the attacking manticore.  "Hey ugly!"  He shouted a taunt at the creature, "Get your mangy self down here and show me what those claws are for!"

Swift Action: Assume Crane Style Stance
Standard Action:  Assume Total Defense Stance (+8 Dodge AC)
Move Action: Go to J6

Current AC is 27 (17 + 2 Barkskin + 8 Total Defense)
Current CMD is 34

"I know what you said," Kara mutters, but she does hurry up to the cover of the copse of trees. At the same time, she flicks a finger and the sphere of flame she conjured soars out at the manticore.

Move action: Move to M10
Standard action: Move flaming sphere to J4. The manticore takes 9 fire damage, DC 17 Reflex negates.

The manticore was surprised as Kara's flaming sphere leapt through the air towards it, but pulled up quickly enough to avoid the attack.  The sphere dropped back down to the ground.  The grass beneath it smouldered and blackened, but the island's vegetation was too damp to catch fire easily.

Lazlo quickly loosed another shot, once again drawing a small amount of blood from the flying monster.

Ignoring the pricks of Lazlo's crossbow, the Manticore swooped past Harald with a hissing laugh.  "The food thinks it can trick me!" it cackled as it hurled a volley of spikes at Harald from the safety of the skies.  Despite the martial artist's impressive reflexes and magical protection, one of the barbs managed to strike true and embed itself into the meat of Harald's chest.

Knowing what to look for, the party could tell the manticore was nearly out of spines to throw.  Only four of the long spikes were still attached to the monster's tail.

---

Lazlo:
STANDARD: Fire crossbow at manticore.  Hits for 3 damage.
FREE: Reload crossbow.

Manticore:
REACTION: Reflex save against Flaming sphere: Success.
STANDARD: Fire spines at Harald.  One hit for 9 damage.
MOVE: Fly to O5-P6

Name	AC	Health	Notes
Liviana	18	27/27	In cover
Kara	13	15/22	In cover, Flaming sphere
Harald	27	27/36
Lazlo	16	30/38	In cover
Manticore	17	50/57	Flying 30' up

This message was last edited by the GM at 12:37, Thu 23 Dec 2021.

Kara laughs, gesturing maniacally as she conjures up a second of the flaming spheres, this one directly on top of the manticore. Her hands are flying as though she were conducting an orchestra, directing the first sphere to move at the same time as she casts the spell again, her features split by a distressingly wide grin.

Standard: Cast flaming sphere, targeting P6.
Move: Direct first flaming sphere to move to P5.

First sphere damage 10, second 6, both allow a DC 17 Reflex to negate. Kara is having a fun time.

From the safety of cover Livi watched as the monster made another pass, along with a taunt. She ducked out from behind cover and pointed her crossbow. 'Manticores, manticores, where am I supposed to hit a manticore?' As she wracked her brain for information on manticores she missed her opportunity to shoot and instead just rotated around the tree to maintain her cover.

OOC:
Standard: Activate Monstrous Insight - Knowledge arcana check to get +2 to attack and AC against the manticore, 16 total.
Move: Reposition around the tree in L10

"This thing can talk?"  Harald said as the monster answered him back.  "Damn, I'm not trying to trick you so much as insult you!"  He shouted to the manticore.

Harlad rushed underneath the flying monster and hurled a small blade upwards into its belly, "You're not the only one who can throw spikes, monster!"  He kept a wary eye on the multiple orbs of fire lunging through the sky at the creature as he attacked.

OOC:

Move Action: Move to cover in N6
Standard Action: Throw Shuriken at Manticore (23 to hit; 7 Damage)

AC: 19 + Cover

I think my attack has -2 or -4 to hit from the range.

01:46, Today: Harald Goldtooth rolled 7 using 1d2+5.  Damage.
01:45, Today: Harald Goldtooth rolled 23 using 1d20+6.  Dragon's Teeth.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:55, Tue 28 Dec 2021.

The flying monster narrowly avoided both of Kara's orbs of fire, but the distraction of doing so left it open to hits from both Harald's "dragon tooth" shuriken and Lazlo's crossbow.

The Manticore snarled at Harald in response, it's attention clearly focused on the big man at this point.  If hurled the last of it's spikes at the martial artist as it continued to circle overhead, landing another two hits despite the thick brush between them.

Lazlo's Turn
STANDARD: Fire crossbow at Manticore, hits for 2 damage
FREE: reload.

Manticore's turn
STANDARD: Throw spines at Harald, two hits for 6 damage and 9 damage.
MOVE: Move to K-L, 8-9. 30' up

Name	AC	Health	Notes
Liviana	20	27/27	In cover, monstrous insight
Kara	13	15/22	In cover, 2 Flaming spheres
Harald	19	12/36	In cover
Lazlo	16	30/38	In cover
Manticore	17	41/57	Flying 30' up, no spines left

As the creature approached again to attack Livi ducked out from behind cover. She aimed her crossbow at the creature and fired. The shaman didn't wait to see if her attack landed before she ducked back behind cover and reloaded the weapon to fire again.

Standard: Fire crossbow at Manticore (23 to hit, 5 damage)
Move: Reload Crossbow

"That's gonna hurt tomorrow."  Harald brushed the spines out of his bark-enhanced skin.  He retrieved a small vial filled with an amber liquid from his sash and drank it down.

"You two have any new magic tricks to help out here?”  He called from his own cover.  That Manticore was either going to land or flee now that it had used all it's spines.

OOC:

Move Action: Retrieve potion
Standard Action: Drink Potion

Effect: Mage Armor - +4 AC/1 hour

Current AC: 23 + cover

Kara snarls out a quick "Working on it," before continuing her mad orchestra, even faster now that she can direct her full attention to it, directing the flow of magic to both of her spheres of fire to keep the pressure up.

Standard to direct one, move to direct the other into the manticore's space, I believe I have enough movement range to avoid the trees with each. First sphere damage 13, second 11, Reflex negates each at DC 17.

Almost unbelievably, the manticore dodged both flaming spheres once again, and Kara's first sphere winked out of existence as it's duration expired.  Lazlo loosed another bolt, this time going for a headshot, but narrowly missed the creature.

With no spines remaining to throw, and still confident of it's chances, the monster swooped down, crashing through a few smaller trees as it landed in the middle of the party.  It swiped it's massive claw at Liviana in retaliation for her recent crossbow bolt.  The claws threw up sparks as they scraped the shaman's breastplate, but left Liviana unharmed.

Lazlo's turn:
STANDARD: Fire crossbow at manticore using deadly aim.  Miss with a 16.
FREE: Reload

Manticore's turn:
MOVE: Move to K-L,8-9.  Land.
STANDARD: Claw attack at Liviana.  Misses with an 18.

Name	AC	Health	Notes
Liviana	20	27/27	monstrous insight
Kara	13	15/22	1 Flaming sphere
Harald	23	12/36	Barkskin, mage armor
Lazlo	16	30/38
Manticore	17	36/57	landed, no spines left

This message was last edited by the GM at 05:50, Thu 06 Jan 2022.

The fiery sphere once again swoops to keep up with the manticore, Kara snarling as it continues to slip away from her fire. She turns that snarl into a brief chant, invoking another power this time, and calling up a thin sheen of slick grease beneath the creature, trying to interfere with its balance now that it is on the ground.

Flaming sphere 15 Reflex DC 17, grease Reflex DC 16 or fall prone.

The manticore was able to hop away from the rolling ball of fire yet again, but was surprised to land on unnaturally slippery footing.  It's feet shot out from beneath it, and it tumbled to the ground.

OOC: The Manticore is prone.

"There's a good trick!"  Harald called as the monster slipped and lost its footing on the conjured grease.  "Dragon's might!"  The big man shouted as he entered a power stance.

A single leap closed the distance between himself and the prone manticore, Harald brought his heel down on the monster's head.  He followed up after landing next to the monster by using his remaining momentum to slam his fist down into its body.

OOC:

Current AC: 23

Swift Action: Enter Dragon Style
Free Action: 5-foot step to M7
Full Action: Flurry of Blows vs Prone Manticore

Attack 1: 18 to hit, 15 Damage, Stunning Fist - DC 15 Fortitude or Stunned
Attack 2: 19 to hit, 10 Damage

16:13, Today: Harald Goldtooth rolled 15,10 using d8+7,d8+5.  Damage.
16:12, Today: Harald Goldtooth rolled 19 using 1d20+10.  FoB 2 vs Prone.
16:12, Today: Harald Goldtooth rolled 18 using 1d20+10.  Stunning Fist - FoB 1 vs Prone.

The Manticore roared in pain as Harald laid into it, but didn't seem as concussed by the axe kick as he had hoped.

Manticore isn't stunned.

The Manticore's confidence disappeared immediately upon receiving Harald's assault, which turned into full-on terror as Lazlo drew an axe from his belt and laid into the beast from the other direction.  It tried to scamper to it's feet and fly away, but another pair of strikes from Harald and Lazlo brought it down for good.

Breathing heavily, Lazlo removed the manticore spine still lodged in his back, and looked around at the party.  "Good work." He grunted.  "Beast like this, so close to Morast...Things coulda been a lot worse if we hadn't come out here today."

Without another word, Lazlo brought his axe down on the back of the creature's neck to make sure it was dead, then drew a skinning knife and crouched down to with clear intent to gut and field-dress the slain manticore.

Combat ends!
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:25, Mon 10 Jan 2022.

OOC: Apologies for the delay.

After the monster collapsed Livi let out a huge sigh of relief. It seemed she had survived, although she noted that she was the only one who seemed to come out unharmed. "Indeed! You all were amazing." After she stored her crossbow she approached Harald. She chanted a few words before she touched his wounds. As his wounds started to close the shaman continued to chant, waves of healing energy swept over the party.

Once everyone had been patched up she moved towards the dwarf body that had been tossed onto the ground. She wasn't sure of the religious preferences of dwarves but she offered a few words to honor his death. After she finished her prayers she started to search the corpse. It seemed obvious the cause of the dwarf's demise but perhaps they could find something of interest on the body.

20:42, Today: Liviana Preda rolled 25 using 1d20+16.  Perception to search dwarf corpse.
20:40, Today: Liviana Preda rolled 14 using 3d6.  Channel Energy: Heal x3. (Heals everyone)
20:39, Today: Liviana Preda rolled 11 using 2d8+4.  Cure Moderate Wounds on Harald.

The dwarf had been killed days ago, and was bloated with decay.  Aside from the elaborately decorated crossbow, Liviana found a number of golden armbands and beard-clasps, as well as a purse full of gold coins.  In the many pockets of his colorful coat, she also found a magical potion, an alchemical balm, and a wand engraved with the image of a disintegrating skeleton.

Lazlo paused his work to check the dwarf with Liv.  After a quick glance, the burly hunter shook his head and spit.  "Don't know him.  Rob 'em if ya want, long as I get the manticore.  Monster body like that fetches a good price, if ya know how to sell it."

OOC: Loot is as follows:
1 Masterwork Heavy crossbow
362 GP in coins and jewellery
1 vial of Bodybalm (Provides +5 alchemical bonus on 1 heal check against poison, disease, or long-term care.)
1 potion of Heroism (CL 5)
1 Wand of disrupt undead (22 charges)

The various potions and other items were noted before placed in her pack. Livi had not found any sort of identification or proof he was tied to the Beast incident. It seemed it was merely an unfortunate soul in the wrong place at the wrong time. With a few words for the corpse she backed away from the body.

"Well, now that the monster has been dealt with. I guess we should return to the investigation? So far we've found the face of a poacher. I would still like to investigate some of these graves. They seemed as if the bodies had been removed. I believe there was a shovel somewhere? Would anyone want to volunteer?" As she asked the question she glanced several times at Harald.

If after several seconds no one stepped forward she retrieved the tool herself and started to dig at the most recently disturbed grave.

"Not my strongest suit," Kara said dubiously, but she picked up a shovel and started digging as well, tossing shovels of loose dirt onto the heap as she worked to exhume the bodies.

Lazlo simply watched the pair dig with a sour expression on his face.  He made no move to help exhume the body, but he didn't stop it either.

After a bit of work and sweat, Liviana's suspicions were proven correct: The sagging grave was indeed empty.

After a decent amount of digging Livi confirmed her suspicions. It seemed someone or something had removed the corpse from the grave. The shaman wiped the sweat from her brow, cursed the humid swamp, and lifted herself out of the shallow hole they had dug. "Lazlo do you know who this grave belonged to?" She asked after she checked if there was any sort of name on the grave marker.

While she waited for the answer Livi started to comb the ground for any tracks. It had no doubt been a while since the body had been moved but she hoped the mud had preserved something for her to find.

12:10, Today: Liviana Preda rolled 10 using 1d20+8.  Survival Roll.

Lazlo simply nodded in response to Liviana's question, but didn't seem in the mood to elaborate.  There was no name on the wooden fetish used to mark the empty grave, but the fetish itself was relatively fresh and free of rot.  It was a few years old, at most.  If the condition of the markers were any indication, the empty graves coincided with the most recent burials in the boneyard.

Any tracks in the mud were long gone, but taking a closer look near the graves proved not to be a complete waste of time.  Wedged under a tree root and half-buried by the mud, Liviana discovered a leather-bound case.  Within were a number of fine tools, made of silver with amythyst handles.  Liviana's knowledge of medicine allows her to quickly identify the tools as part of a surgery kit, and her keen eyes spot a maker's mark on the handle: a small stylized bird.