4:30 PM Moonday, 10th of Lamashtan, 4710

The path to Morast was a narrow, winding trail that nevertheless provided a relatively safe path through the shadowy depths of the Dipplemire swamp.  The trip was fairly uneventful, though the amount of clawed tracks and bear feces crossing the path kept it from being an entirely comfortable trip.  The pace set by the party was punishing, but allowed them to reach the tiny village with the sun still high up in the sky.

Morast itself was a miserable collection of 20 or so wattle-and-daub hovels, standing on stilts above the swamp and connected by soggy boardwalks.  Tiny fishing coracles float next to the boardwalks, laden with spears, nets, and other fishing gear.

The people of Morast themselves seem like an unusual sort.  Though clad in ratty clothes and reeking of poverty, the swampers seem uniformly strong and healthy, with broad shoulders, ruddy complexions, and mouths full of large, healthy teeth.  What's more, everyone seemed to have the same strangely proportioned faces:  Bulging, watery eyes and wide, thin-lipped mouths marked the features of everyone the party met on the way into town.

The party was quickly directed to Lazlo, the village elder.  The old man had the same broad build and fishlike face as the rest of his people, and was busy skinning a red scaled crocodile when the party found him.  As they approached, he looked up and spat a slimy glob of swampweed onto the boardwalk, then pointedly ignored them and returned to his work.

Kara seems utterly out of place in the swamp. The pale girl is dressed in fine clothes, with hands that lack calluses and skin that would burn in the sun. She looks like she belongs in a noble's solar, not out in the dirt and muck of the swamp village. But she doesn't seem uncomfortable about it. She smiles often on the trip, laughs never, and doesn't seem upset by the grueling pace - though she is sweating heavily.

Once there, she looks at Lazlo and nods politely. She rather doubts it will work, but she'll try polite first. "Good afternoon, sir. May we have a moment of your time?"

The village of Morsat was familiar to the Livi. She hadn't personally been here before but her work as a healer in training had brought her to plenty of other tiny little settlements. It had always amazed her how similar they all could be, although each place had it's own little unique charms. Unfortunately for Livi the unique thing for this village seemed to be the foul smell of a swamp.

By the time they had arrived the shaman had found herself exhausted. She was no stranger to the outdoors but she had keenly felt the weight of her armor as they had travelled the countryside. Before they had entered the village proper Livi had called everyone to pause. "Best to heal us before we meet the residents. Some of them do not approve of magic even if it benefits them," she remarked. She gathered everyone together before she focused her magic. A small pulse of positive energy swept over them to heal their fatigue.

As they were ushered to the village leader Livi stayed behind Lady Sweetwater. The shaman intended to let the noblewoman take the lead in the discussion.

OOC: Channel Energy Used - 1/6
19:45, Today: Liviana Preda rolled 3 using 1d6.  Channel Energy: Heal.

"Fuck off, city-girl." The village elder's voice was rough and unfriendly, and punctuated with another stream of his foul-smelling chew.  "If you wanna gawk and gab about the worst thing ever happened to me, you gotta wait till tomorrow like everyone else."

"What I want is to make sure that justice is done," Kara says in a low, intense voice. "Some questions have arisen about what happened. I'd hate for that to be a hole in the case and let the one that did this get off free." She doesn't specify who that is; some things are better left unstated. "I'm working for a powerful client who has an investment in the matter. If you can tell me anything about what happened, or point me to someone who can, I can make sure that it gets to the right ears."

OOC: Not sure if this would be a Bluff check or not.

The elder's curt reply was about what Livi had expected. Hospitality had never been a strong suit of Ustalav's people. Despite that knowledge the shaman frowned at the man's words. She held her tongue and stayed silent so as to not interrupt Kara.

Kara's demand was enough to make the burly old man stop busying himself with his kill, and give the pair his full attention.  Putting his skinning knife down, Lazlo wiped his bloody hands off with a rag and stood up to face Kara and Liviana.  He loomed over the two shorter women, glaring at them with his bulging, red-rimmed eyes.

"This is ridiculous," he growled hoarsely. "I been over this already with the city guards, about how my kin got butchered.  Then again with the investigator.  Then with the lawyer, then the other gods-damned lawyer.  I the morning I gotta  go tell it in front of a judge, the court, and every which cityfolk feel up for a laugh!"

"Who else?"  The old man demanded, throwing up his arms up in frustration.  "Which important, powerful, learned citizen has to hear this story now, before you people care enough to burn that murdering abomination?  And if he's so invested, why can't his lordship come out and ask me himself instead of sending his lackeys to listen for him?"

OOC: A bluff check makes sense, and you passed.

Kara listens, but her attitude shifts slightly - less investigating, more casual. "Abadar's ass crack, you think someone like that tells someone like me why they do the things they do? I'm not half important enough for that. People like that treat me like a mushroom - kept in the dark and fed on bullshit. All I know is that apparently there's some question about whether the Beast is to blame or not that have arisen, and they want to know as much as they can to make sure the noose doesn't slip off." She shrugs. "I don't even know why my boss wants me to do this - they aren't the type who normally gets their hands mixed up in this kind of thing. Not really the type to take sides about who stands in front of a judge, if you catch my drift."

Seemed like sympathizing and trying to cast herself as being a put-upon worker rather than someone rich and powerful was more likely to win him over. Obviously difficult with how she's dressed, but hopefully she can at least come across as frustrated and tired. It's a bit of a continuation of the earlier lie, making it seem like she's working for someone invested in the Beast's execution rather than her actual employer.

Kara's nonchalance took some of the fire out of the village elder's words, but resentment still smouldered behind his eyes.  Maybe it was the obvious difference in wealth and status between him and the well-dressed dhampir, maybe he was just used to being a big fish in a small pond, or maybe Lazlo Pescar was just simply a very stubborn man.  Either way, it was obvious he wasn't in a mood to just answer questions for some mystery benefactor.

"I asked you a question, girl."  He responded, spitting another glob of swamp-weed from the seemingly endless supply tucked into his cheek. "I weren't being rhetorical about it, and I ain't interested in 'catching your drift'.  You come to my home unannounced and expect me to give ya a little song and dance without even knowing who I'm supposed to be talking to.  Either you ladies can do me the simple courtesy of telling me who you are and just who the fuck sent you out here to bother me, or you can just keep on walking."

OOC: The bluff was enough to bring him from unfriendly to indifferent, but the diplomacy I rolled on your behalf wasn't enough to make him friendly.  If you want anything out of him, you'll have to provide a more tangible reason to cooperate.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:47, Tue 23 Nov 2021.

"Fine. You need to know, so be it." Kara shoots a glance at her companions urging them to let her finish. "I'm Kara Sweetwater, a sort of independent troubleshooter. To be blunt, I'm a mercenary. And to be blunt, I don't really know who's paying me. I was contacted by an aide working for the court with a significant sum of money. They refused to even say who was paying them or where the money came from. The person I met with didn't say much either, certainly didn't explain where this sum of money came from to hire me.  All I really know is what I've told you - there's some issue with the legal case and they want to see if there's more proof. Look, is there any way I can make it worth the time it takes to help me with this? Promises, payment, anything?"

OOC: Sorry for the delay, life got very packed for a bit there. I figure this will either go very well, or very poorly; I look forward to finding out which.

"Yeah, no volunteers.  Not too surprised either..."  Harald barged in on the ongoing conversation, pausing in surprise as he noticed the pair of fresh faces.  "Eh?"  The big man looked between the two ladies, "Well you two aren't from this village, that much is sure.  And by the look on Lazlo's face you must be asking about the Beast too."

"What do you say we bring them along?"  Harald asked the village elder, pressing a thumb towards Liviana and Kara.  "I'll fill them in with what you told me on the way, so you don't have to go through the story again."

"Assuming you're investigating the Beast anyway.  Don't know why else the two of you might be out here."  He addressed the ladies, "Lazlo's offered to take me out to where the villagers chased the Beast when it was jumped by a blood caiman.  Supposed to be dangerous though, and he wanted to bring a few more bodies.  Sounds like a good place to get some clues if you ask me; if you're willing to come along."

"I'm Harald by the way."  He introduced himself.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:26, Sat 27 Nov 2021.

The old man made a sour face at Harald's suggestion.  "You sure, big man?  They're sellswords, and shady ones at that." 

The village elder spat contemplatively, then shrugged.  "Eh, fine.  Can't stop you from telling them if you want to.  I'd rather not head out to that part of the swamp with just the two of us anyways, and at least this way I can keep an eye on 'em."

He turned back to Kara and Liviana with a trace of weary resignation.  "I was about to show the big guy here the boneyard where we thought we killed the Beast.  You can come too, if you want.  Long as you don't try anything shady."

Livi had watched silently as the conversation unfolded. As Kara continued her charade the shaman decided to keep her mouth shut and avoid attention. Her mentor had often stated she had a horrible poker face. Whether they were making good progress was hard for her to judge but the appearance of a large man seemed to bring a conclusion.

"Liviana Preda," she said with a curt bow at the newcomer. It appeared that they weren't the only ones that had been hired to investigate the incidents. Whoever this man was the elder seemed to tolerate him. "A pleasure to meet you Harald. As you suspected we are looking for information about the beast. I assure you we can pull our weight." She commented, the last part directed towards the elder.

"An excellent compromise. And yes, we are more than ready to do our part." Kara smiles. It's a tight smile, restrained, and sharp. "We are ready to go immediately."

"If they're sellswords, they'll be able to look after themselves."  Harald shrugged as he answered the villager, then nodded as Liviana shared the same sentiment.  "What's important is to have some more hands when we go out into the swamp, aye?  Besides, I couldn't find one other person from Morast who was interested in going out where we're headed."

"So, you have the boat ready?"  He asked.

Lazlo shrugged.  "Not surprised nobody else is up for the trip.  Between the Beast's tainted blood and whatever it was up to out there, that old boneyard is bound to be cursed somehow.  We'll need a second coracle if we're taking four people.  Gimme a sec."

The old man wiped off his bloody hands again, then went to approach his neighbor.  "Hey, Ivan!  Too chickenshit to row out a mile into the swamp?"  Before Karl could respond, Lazlo continued.  "Tell you what, let me borrow your boat and we'll call it even.  And keep an eye on the dead Caiman for me until I get back."

---

It was a short trip through the Dipplemire, even for those with no experience traveling in such a small boat.  After fifteen minutes of rowing, the party found a tiny, miserable island rising from the swamp, a tangle of trees covering its dour, reed-choked surface. Hundreds of fetishes hung from the trees—simple, roughly humanoid figures made of sticks and bound with twine. Larger fetishes were planted in the ground on various parts of the island, leaning drunkenly in the soft mud. A large nest built of sodden swamp wood sat high in the boughs of a trio of tangled trees on the northwest side of the isle.  In total, the island was about 100 feet from end to end.

Pulling the coracles up onto the muddy shore, Lazlo spat one last spurt of swampweed into the cloudy water.  "Right, here you are.  Do what you came to do, just be respectful."  Sparing a glance at the large nest on the other end of the island, the swamper checked his crossbow, adding.  "And, uh...be quick about it too, maybe."
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:55, Fri 10 Dec 2021.

"Here's the meat of the story then," Harald began retelling the witness testimony as he rowed one of the two small boats out into the swamp.  "First people started going missing out in the swamp; which Lazlo says isn't too unusual in and of itself.  This isn't exactly a safe place to go wandering.  But the number of folk disappearing made everyone start going out in groups, and as armed as they could."

"Folks stopped disappearing out in the swamp after that, but then folk got nabbed right in the middle of the village.  A young couple; a bunch heard them scream but no one saw anything but blood by the time others made it to the scene.  Then after a couple nights Lazlo's own kin were taken; his son, daughter-in-law and grandaughter.  No one heard anything this time; he said he went to visit and there was nothing but blood all over his son's house."

"That was when folk started setting up around the village to watch for the monster coming back.  Everyone armed up with crossbows and keeping an eye out.  Lazlo says they saw the Beast come into Morast and they started shooting.  First time anyone alive in Morast saw it too, I figure.  The Beast ran and they gave chase, tracked the Beast all the way here."  Harald looked out at the island they had rowed to.  The fetishes covering the place definitely spooked the swampy area up a notch.

"Anyway,"  He returned to the conclusion of the story, "They caught up to it just in time to see a huge blood caiman jump the Beast.  Caiman dragged it down into the water while the Beast was cursing; ripped the Beasts shoulder open even.  Everyone figured that was the end of the Beast right there, and it wasn't seen again until its capture in Lepidstadt by that scholar fellow."  Harald helped pull the small boats up to shore.

"So that's why we're here."  The big man stretched, "I gotta say Lazlo, those coracles are cramped.  Anyway, if this was the last place the Beast was seen after such a killing-spree; until it got captured so much later, there might just be some evidence for us to find."  Harald's boots squished deep into the mud as he stepped away from the boats, making a sucking sound as he pulled them out.  "Well, we're not getting out of here without getting dirty."

"Oh, Lazlo; do us a favor and give a shout if you spot something big and nasty coming our way, eh?  We'll try and make it quick."

Harald Goldtooth rolled 24 using 1d20+10.  Perform: Oratory.

Lazlo snorted as Harald asked him to keep an eye out, as if amused that the blond giant even had to mention something so obvious.  The old swamped remained by the boat, crossbow in hand as he looked out over the swamp.

OOC: Everyone give me a perception check, as well as a quick description of how you search, where you're focusing your attention, what you're looking for, etc.

Livi lifted her cloak as she stepped off the small rivercraft. She stretched her legs after she planted her feet on solid ground. Although the trip was short the ride in the cramped little coracle was what she would consider a pleasant experience. She examined the island they had arrived at. The small strip of land seemed to be covered in the odd fetishes. "So this boneyard, did the villagers erect these effigies or was this the work of the Beast?" She asked as she examined one of the larger sculptures on the island.

Once her question had been answered she slowly paced her way towards the nest on the northwest side of the island. As she advanced she kept an eye on the branches in the trees for anything that had gotten stuck. She also checked the ground for anything stuck in the ground. As she approached the nest she drew her knife as she looked for a way to see inside.

17:13, Today: Liviana Preda rolled 22 using 1d20+16.  Perception.

For her part, Kara barely seems invested in the search at all, glancing around and making a token effort to look under some leaves, but in general seeming more aware of the nest and of her fellows than of anything related to searching the area.

2 on perception.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:35, Tue 07 Dec 2021.

"Right then."  Harald said as Liviana directed her search towards the scraggly nest on the island.  "I'll check the shoreline."

Stomping through the mud all around the shore of the boneyard, Harald kept one eye on the waterline for threats and the other on the lookout for anything that could be evidence.  Admittedly, he didn't know exactly what form evidence out here might take.  But Harald was inclined to believe that it would at least stand out from the mud and gloom.

Harald Goldtooth rolled 10 using 1d20+6.  Boneyard search (perception).
This message was last edited by the player at 03:25, Wed 08 Dec 2021.

5:30PM Moonday, 10th of Lamashtan, 4710

Liviana examines the wooden fetishes, quickly realizing that they mark the position of graves from the mounded earth below them.  She's not completely sure what tradition the fetishes come from, but her best guess would be that they belong to an obscure branch of Gozreh worship.  Either way, they're old:  Some of them have almost completely rotten away, putting their origin well before the murders happened.

She notices something else about the graves: They don't all have the mounded earth that suggests a body.  Quite the opposite; six of the graves sag into the ground, as if they've been dug up.  Judging from the state of the fetish markers, these were some of the most recent graves in the boneyard.

The nest to the northwest is a more recent creation.  It's impossible to see inside without climbing up, by Liviana can tell it was made by some sort of large flying creature.  Large enough to be dangerous to humans, probably.  Coming close to the nest, Liviana notices the distinct smell of rotting flesh: something up there died, and fairly recently.

Meanwhile Harald makes his own discovery:  The remains of a camp, hidden in the brush of the south end of the island.  Around a small firepit, he discovers an old waterskin (still half-full of wine), a rusted cooking pot, and a small vial still containing a trace of green liquid.  Examining the potion, Liviana is able to identify it as an alchemist's extract of darkvision.

A short distance away from the camp, Harald also notices a small fishing coracle hidden in the reeds along the shoreline.  Inside the coracle lies a pair of sacks filled with various supplies: An old set of clothes, a thick cloth apron, a rusted lantern, a length of rope, a shovel, and three large knives, all covered in about a year's worth of rust.  There is also, shockingly, what looks to be a severed human face.  The face has clearly been carefully removed from it's previous owner and preserved somehow, though it's purpose is unclear.

OOC: Dealing with Lazlo, traveling to the island, and conducting your initial search took about an hour.  Taking 20 on a thorough search of any one area (such as near the nest, boat, or camp) would take about half an hour for one person.  Climbing into the nest requires a DC 15 climb check, but only takes a round or two: It's 20 feet up.

"This is a hell of a place to camp."  Harald said as he came across the campsite on the island cemetery.  He rummaged through the campsite, "Old, but not too old.  Wouldn't be surprised if this camp was here right around the time of the murders."

"And a boat too."  Just a short distance from the camp, and there's a boat.  Like the ones they had come here in.  "Looks like whoever rowed out here to camp never left.  At least by their boat.  What in the hells..."  Inside the boat was a face.  Harald looked around at the swamp and then at the rotting supplies.  Then back to the preserved face.  "Well if that isn't a suspicious piece of evidence, I don't know what is.  Wonder if you're one of the missing locals...?"  Harald took the face.

Returning to the others, Harald mentioned his findings.  "Looks like someone set up camp here a long time ago.  And I don't think the Beast could use the small boat either.  Also, I found this there."  He showed the preserved face.  "What do you make of this?"

Looking up at the nest that was being examined from the ground, Harald offered to let either of the ladies carry the face.  "I can climb up to that to see what's inside.  If whatever made it is like a normal bird, it could have carried all sorts of things into its nest.  Could even have a clue or two."  So saying, the big man started on his way upwards.

OOC: I can take a 10 and beat the climb DC of 15 easily.  Unless you would prefer I roll?
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 12:27, Sun 12 Dec 2021.

Livi had not been sure what they would find, but the fact that they did discover disturbed her. Several recent graves, a large monster's nest, and a campsite that contained among other things... a severed face. "Spirits protect me, Harald what is that?" she whispered when it was revealed. When the large man offered it she reluctantly grabbed the flesh. She carried it back to show the evidence to Lazlo. "Yes, well we seem to have uncovered... this." She said as she showed the face to the elder. "Do you recognize who this is? Also has there been any deaths in the town recently? We noticed that the dirt around half a dozen of the graves had been disturbed. We might have a case of someone who is grave robbing."

Kara stared for just a moment at the face before commenting, "Bit of a peculiar thing to find. Very careful in how it was flayed - not something I would expect of a Beast."

The sheer, callous lack of emotion she displays is almost disconcerting. As though a flayed humanoid face were nothing to worry about, just a potentially important footnote.

"I can scan all of this for magic, if no one objects." Her mention of magic seems almost deliberately understated.

Kara didn't find any magic about the camp or the boat, aside from the faint traces of alchemist's extract they had found.  Lazlo recognized the severed face, however.  "Nan Kleben."  He answered grimly.  "A hunter.  Not a local, but she would come by Morast from time to time whenever she had some meat that was, uh, hard to sell.  Last time we saw her around these parts was...well, right around the time people started disappearing.  Guess it got her, too."

Harald reaches the nest with ease, quickly finding the source of the smell:  A dead dwarven man lay in the huge nest.  The corpse was recent, less than a week old.  He was dressed like a traveler, with a colourful patchwork coat and gold jewellery woven through his beard.  He still clutched a decorated crossbow in his hands, but it looked like he had never gotten a chance to use it:  A strap on his quiver was still tight, holding the bolts firmly in place.  Half a dozen long spines were lodged in the dead dwarf's chest and neck.

The source of these spines quickly presented themselves, as a bestial roar sounded out from the sky.  A large winged beast swept over the trees, howling with rage at the party's presence.  The creature had the body of a lion, the head of a woman, and a long tail bristling with razor-sharp spines.

"Manticore!"  Lazlo yelled, running for the nearest tree.  "Take cover!"

OOC: The Manticore is flying 40' above the ground.  Everyone acts before it.  Harald is 20' up in the nest, which provides partial cover.

As Lazlo explained what he knew Livi couldn't help but give a confused expression. Could a severed face of someone have survived for a year in this swamp? Before she could ponder how something like that happened she heard a fearsome roar. She looked around in time to see something move overhead.

At the elder's warning she dropped her knife and the face to the ground. She dashed towards the trees herself as she pulled out her crossbow. With her back to a trunk she took a moment to load her crossbow. "Harald if you can make your way here I can give you an easier time fighting this thing," she shouted over her shoulder.

---

Free Action: Drop Knife and Severed Face
Move Action: Move from O10 to L10
Free Action while moving: Draw crossbow
Second Move Action: Load crossbow

Kara clenches her fist. Always with the distractions.... Fortunately, it's at least simple enough to pull from that irritation, letting anger turn to flame in a sort of magical alchemy. An orb of scarlet flame appears directly between her and the approaching manticore.

Casting flaming sphere in square L7.

"Guess we know who made the nest."  Harald glanced towards the roaring manticore and then down at corpse in the nest with him.  "Looks like it shoots spines, sorry to see."  He scooped up the dwarf's body along with the crossbow and bolts, to take everything important out of the nest all at once.

"Sure thing!"  Harald called back to Livi, "I'm on my way!"  Without hesitation, the big man leapt from the top of the nest to land upon his feet at the soft ground beneath it.  Then he used his momentum to close the distance to the two ladies; skirting around the flaming orb that appeared quite suddenly.

Once next to Livi, he dropped the dead dwarf.  "What do you have in mind?"

Move Action: Pick up dwarf and his crossbow
Move Action: Move to L9
Free Action: Acrobatics for jumping down from nest (negates fall damage)
Free Action: Drop dwarf corpse

Harald Goldtooth rolled 20 using 1d20+9.  Acrobatics DC 15: Jump down from nest.

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.