Monsters as PC's (IC, 3.P)

[DaOldeWolf]

The next morning, Luin decides to take the words at heart and look for a new job to try using the magic from a church after. Afterall, he didnt have any traces to find the statue and standing around didnt seem like a choice either. He goes downstairs ad starts to have his own breakfast.

[tonberryking]

Ellenallen nods.

"I'll go on ahead to talk to this scout and Jorbis himself. I wanna know more things and I think I may be able to get us a better deal..."

Having been gifted with speed, she eats a hasty breakfast and leaves for the Master's Hall in a clatter, at least assuring herself that at her size she won't be bothered by any crowd unless there are more centaurs than she's aware of in the area.

She eventually slows, figuring the others she's fought with will easily spot her, and tries asking around those gathered for any details the early-bird-heroes might have gleaned...

Spoiler: OOC/rolls

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I also have specific questions to ask, and maybe bids for more pay from Jorbis, but I have better windows to ask/RP these tonight and tomorrow

Gather information check to see if all these other adventurers are her for the job Jorbis offered, and or if we've missed anything:

(1d20+2)[12]

[Covenant12]

A small courtyard slightly to the left of the main entrance to the Master's Hall looks to be your destination. The far end is a long table, with three shield dwarves spaced widely, each with a large ledger and various inkpots and papers. They are late middle age or older, wearing finely crafted leather armor. A human is standing in front of the center dwarf and has bags nearer to him on the table.

Perpendicular to this are four very long tables, sparsely inhabited by around 40 adventurers. More than having half are an expected mix of humans and dwarves, bur there are several wood elves, moon elves and half-elves. Some of the latter two are similar enough that it is hard to tell which is which. Only one small-sized humanoid is there, sitting with a moon elf and a human. He is a rock gnome of similar skin tone and hair color as Jorbis, but clean-shaven and fairly different facial features. All three look similarly equipped with mithril chain shirts and outdoor camouflage. The four Rashemi barbarians sit together, now wearing studded leather interwoven with white and grey furs. One humanoid has light blue skin and hair, likely an air genasi. He is with a group of humans who seem to know each other well.

The weather is cold but cloudless with little wind. The courtyard is impressively free of snow and fairly dry.

The gather information reveals no knowledge of Jorbis's job, unless you ask the rock gnome above directly. Most here are adventurers. Some seeking payment of bounties, more hoping for jobs from the Master's Hall or meeting with other adventurers to head out. Many have some ranger levels, otherwise they are a very mixed bunch. There are groups or orcs still around, but any large groups have been found and wiped out. Caravans are not expected to leave today except in large numbers, and those well guarded. You overhear that the joint temple of Torm and Tyr has some need of adventurers, but for whatever reason the adventurers discussing this weren't interested.

Your approach and appearance elicits several mild stares, more inquisitive than rude. Roughly a third of the 40ish here were in the militia, some of which you recognize. One wood elf in worn leather and skilled camouflage stares at you for some time, then shakes his head briefly and continues listening to a conversation.

[JNAProductions]

Lassy eats quietly, a bit tired this morning.

[DaOldeWolf]

Considering his situation, he decides to look for possibilities of orking with clerics of Mystra. He begins looking for them. Even if there werent as influential for the región, he knew about their presence here.He only hoped that they wouldnt look at his situation as harshly as those from the prominent religions. "Lets focus" he tells himself.

[tonberryking]

Ellenallen ignores the stares And gives the staring elf a rude hand gesture in a flash but is quick to hide it.


She gets this treatment all the time, and thinks it little odd, so the dark centaur just navigates herself through the crowds, with some difficulty but eventually looms over the rock gnome.
"I come on behalf of Jorbis; he said you scouted the ruins and I'd like some additional information..." she shifts her weight around on her hooves before gesturing (not so rudely.) "Shall we talk here, or go someplace? I've a number of things to ask about what we're dealing with, and don't mind paying for breakfast from a street vendor." Away from all these prying eyes and ears goes unsaid...

Spoiler: OOC/rolls

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(1d20+10)[18] Diplomacy check.


Also, to keep things going along if he agrees Ellenallen will ask him the following:

What he can tell her about the people in the fort
If he thinks they're undead
Were there any signs of the fort occupiers hunting in the nearby land or where would they get food and water from the surrounding area if they needed it.

More Q's may be forthcoming...

[samduke]

lei after hanging about part of the morning. meetts up with the group the meeting hall as they go to meet Jorbis

[Covenant12]

Ellenallen ignores the stares And gives the staring elf a rude hand gesture in a flash but is quick to hide it.


She gets this treatment all the time, and thinks it little odd, so the dark centaur just navigates herself through the crowds, with some difficulty but eventually looms over the rock gnome.
"I come on behalf of Jorbis; he said you scouted the ruins and I'd like some additional information..." she shifts her weight around on her hooves before gesturing (not so rudely.) "Shall we talk here, or go someplace? I've a number of things to ask about what we're dealing with, and don't mind paying for breakfast from a street vendor." Away from all these prying eyes and ears goes unsaid...

Spoiler: OOC/rolls

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[roll0] Diplomacy check.


Also, to keep things going along if he agrees Ellenallen will ask him the following:

What he can tell her about the people in the fort
If he thinks they're undead
Were there any signs of the fort occupiers hunting in the nearby land or where would they get food and water from the surrounding area if they needed it.

More Q's may be forthcoming...

The wood elf looks puzzled. He briefly shakes his head, then returns to a conversation with the group he is in.

The rock gnome has a winning smile, and displays it. He seems youthful and vigorous, but even as dark as his skin is he looks weathered from the outdoors. "I've eaten enough for some time, but I could do for a walk. You may have to slow your pace a fair bit, however." He looks to his two companions and says simply "Agreed?"They both nod and he starts walking out towards the city proper.

"Jorbis said to expect a motley crew, I found success with that myself in my dungeon crawling days. But to your questions: I only saw two at the same time, but there could be a bit more. Humanoid in shape, lacking the bulk of orcs or stockiness of dwarves. Human, elven, or half-elven in general size and shape.
Undead....not my first guess, but not impossible. Certainly not skeletons or zombies. Once you've encountered them a couple times you notice a jerkiness that is apparent hundreds of yards away. Ghouls or Ghasts though, that could make sense. Most other undead aren't happy with sunlight, these two seemed fine with it. The fort is close to a river, I'm sure they have a good well. I didn't see overly many tracks, but I did see a path made by a sled or something similar. Perhaps something dragged. But otherwise few tracks, humanoid or otherwise. Either they haven't been there long, or they don't see interest in patrolling. Or both. Certainly no hunting. I tried to get a better look from a nearby hill, but could only see one of them. No detail, sadly."

"I'd be happy to lead you there, I need to head north before midday regardless. There is a road that leads right by it if you need more time, honestly hard to miss. Jorbis seems eager for these lands, I hope it works out for him."

[tonberryking]

Ellenallen nods and prompts him to answer things as she tries to herd the gnome back towards the inn she was stay at with the others, where she'll relay the information he gave to her to them.

"Being honest here," she begins, "I think this smacks of undead somethings holed up in there. Don't matter if we go by day or night if true, so we should head out as soon as possible an start causing a ruckus for Jorbis."

She looks down at the gnome and says something quite shocking. "You need a ride?"

[Covenant12]

Considering his situation, he decides to look for possibilities of orking with clerics of Mystra. He begins looking for them. Even if there werent as influential for the región, he knew about their presence here.He only hoped that they wouldnt look at his situation as harshly as those from the prominent religions. "Lets focus" he tells himself.

Asking around, what you hear about clerics of Oghma sounds less promising. The consensus is they focus on knowledge more than magic itself, and for unusual magics, a decent wizard would be better suited. There is a fairly powerful sun elf named Aenan, who is both a cleric of Mystra and a wizard. He is both well known for being a successful adventurer and having a flair for the dramatic. He is never seen without quite impressively detailed and ornate armor or robes, as suitable. And at least a full dose of typical sun elf arrogance. Elves usually follow their own gods, but Aenan seems devoted to studying magic in all forms more than worship precisely.

He is with a patrol group of Shieldsar roughly 80 strong. If nothing of interest is found they should be back in two days. Other than Aenan, you'd effectively be asking wizards and/or loremasters in general.

[Covenant12]

Ellenallen nods and prompts him to answer things as she tries to herd the gnome back towards the inn she was stay at with the others, where she'll relay the information he gave to her to them.

"Being honest here," she begins, "I think this smacks of undead somethings holed up in there. Don't matter if we go by day or night if true, so we should head out as soon as possible an start causing a ruckus for Jorbis."

She looks down at the gnome and says something quite shocking. "You need a ride?"

A raised eyebrow quickly becomes a wide grin.
(Common)"Why yes, I do believe I could use one. I'm not sure some of my wood elf friends would believe me, but a good story for long nights of drinking. Before I leave I really just need to visit Jorbis, as well as an adjoining adventuring shop. But you want to gather your friends first, I assume?"

Loros then nimbly climbs on Ellenallen's back, with a modified horse mounting motion.

Spoiler

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No stirrups I'm guessing?

He does this with an impressive agility and speed for one his size.
(Common)"I'd occasionally wondered what it would be like to tall in a city, as much it would be a drawback scouting. Off to the inn?"
Loros stretches his shoulder back a fair bit, looking pleased.

[DaOldeWolf]

Asking around, what you hear about clerics of Oghma sounds less promising. The consensus is they focus on knowledge more than magic itself, and for unusual magics, a decent wizard would be better suited. There is a fairly powerful sun elf named Aenan, who is both a cleric of Mystra and a wizard. He is both well known for being a successful adventurer and having a flair for the dramatic. He is never seen without quite impressively detailed and ornate armor or robes, as suitable. And at least a full dose of typical sun elf arrogance. Elves usually follow their own gods, but Aenan seems devoted to studying magic in all forms more than worship precisely.

He is with a patrol group of Shieldsar roughly 80 strong. If nothing of interest is found they should be back in two days. Other than Aenan, you'd effectively be asking wizards and/or loremasters in general.

Considering his situation and analyzing the possibilities, he decides that it would be a good choice to wait for the return of Aenan. Meanwhile, he decides to look for a job to do around the area. He starts asking the locals for any tasks that he could assist them with, obvioulsy for a payment. A good way to pass the time and maybe gain some more coin out of it.

[Covenant12]

Loros and Ellenallen gather the bulk of the party and head to Jorbis's shop. Said shop is solidly medium-sized, with what looks to be a finely crafted weirwood door and a sign stating "Jorbis: Fine Woodworks". Inside Jorbis is speaking to another rock gnome, this one a fair bit older but very possibly related.

The shop contains 16 assorted display cases, ranging from 2'X2' to 5'X10'. Many more small display cases line the walls, with additional items simply hanging on them. Most items usable by humanoids (or near-humanoids) and primarily or entirely made of wood are represented. This includes weapons (bows, crossbows, staves, nunchaku and more), a wide variety of instruments, as well as many more common tools. Axes have a few representatives (tool and martial weapon), swords are not visible, for example. Many are clearly masterwork quality or better, it seems likely all are.

Jorbis breaks off his conversation and walks towards you, smiling and addressing you: (Common)"Welcome to my humble abode! I hope things went well with Loros, he has far better expertise than I in these matters. I took the liberty of preparing platinum of our agreed price. If you desire some of that in gold I have a fair bit, but not the full amount easily."

"I have a simple adventurer's contract I'd like signed. Both your agreeing to the task for the upfront fee, as well as my promise for the remainder for clearance of the property. Which is spelled out as just the fort."

Said contract is three fairly short paragraphs. It is fairly standard, your agreement to clear the fort and receive 2100 upfront. Said fee implies intent to clear it, failure to attempt means you are obligated to pay it back. There is a sentence about if two or more of you die you may abandon it and keep the upfront portions.
The second is requirements for the second portion. It spells out the two main buildings, three towers and any rooms contained therein.
The third is a common declaration by all parties that no intentional deception is made by either party. As well as a statement of informed consent.

Spoiler: OOC

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The following assumes agreement to the job, which has seemed apparent so far. Any disagreement I will attempt to handle in back-dated roleplaying, so to speak.

Loros buys some alchemy flasks and sunrods. He enters a changing room in the adventurer's shop and comes out partially in a mixed snow and woodland camouflage pattern, as well as white leather boots. After which he seems to easily keep up with the party's minimum 30' move speed in the city and overland.

You arrive at the Swordsgate (northgate) at roughly 10:00 AM. It is fully open, a guard of 8 shield dwarves in splint mail with a clear leader in full plate. All wear heavy metal shields and dwarven waraxes. The leader addresses you: (Common):"Adventurers, neh? Glad to see them, especially in these times.
The gates will close at dusk, but come openly with torches or brighter, and you would be let in after a few questions. 'Come back in glory, or back on your shield'" He stands at attention and raps his axe against his shield. The other eight echo the action and sound in unison, clearly a trained act.

The main road north is surprisingly cleared, though only 10' wide is mostly clear or snow. The sky is nearly cloudless with little wind. The latter you are thankful for, as midday it hovers about freezing.

You cover something over 10 miles without incident. Shortly after that you see a female wood elf sitting relaxed on a large gray rock, 10 yards to the west (left) of the road. She looks to be in a chain shirt, impressively camouflaged in white and brown for the environment. You safely assume she sits on the rock for contrast intending to be seen. She has a composite long bow sitting next to her, and a longsword at her hip. She looks at you calmly, reaching for neither. At around 60 feet she addressses you as a group:

(Common)"Hail and well met, adventurers! I request your aid. I have tracked a leucrotta just over the river to the west. It has a small lair, but I don't expect it to remain long this close to the city. As reward, I could see at least two dead orcs with gear, in addition to the reward for the thing's death. I will add arrows to help, but will claim no share of either. Frankly, I'd pay more than that not to touch the vile creature."

[tonberryking]

Ellenallen signs the contract with a huff.

The centaur doesn't seem quite certain of what to take or buy, leaving only with horse blankets and warm clothes intended for larger beings, muttering about the hassle it presents.

"Do you have any holy water, or should we see a priest?" she asks dryly.

Beyond settling her affairs, she's quick to leave and canters literal circles around the others as they travel, glad to be finally outside of the cramped and too tight city. So of course, she seems a bit surly at the appearance of the elf maiden and her proposal...

"What in hell's a leucrotta?" she asks, to any who'll answer her.

Spoiler: OOC/rolls

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Paying 16gp for a cold weather outfit. Willing to also pay 25 gp for holy water in case this really is an undead issue

Also, I forget if we have a bank, if Jorbis will hold her share, or if she'll need to leave it at the Inn, but Ellenallen isn't going to take her money with her.

Also... sense motive against this lady: (1d20+1)[8] This smacks of a bandit trap.

[Covenant12]

"Do you have any holy water, or should we see a priest?" she asks dryly.

(Common):"The shop next to mine keeps a small stock of holy water, I don't have a use for it. To my knowledge all holy water is created by clerics, both temples generally have very large amounts."

Beyond settling her affairs, she's quick to leave and canters literal circles around the others as they travel, glad to be finally outside of the cramped and too tight city. So of course, she seems a bit surly at the appearance of the elf maiden and her proposal...
"What in hell's a leucrotta?" she asks, to any who'll answer her.

Spoiler: OOC/rolls

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Paying 16gp for a cold weather outfit. Willing to also pay 25 gp for holy water in case this really is an undead issue

Also, I forget if we have a bank, if Jorbis will hold her share, or if she'll need to leave it at the Inn, but Ellenallen isn't going to take her money with her.

Also... sense motive against this lady: [roll0] This smacks of a bandit trap.

Spoiler: OOC

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There is a Bank of Sundabar. Run by dwarves, it has extensive magical protections. Most successful merchants in the city use it to some extent. Adventurers tend to keep their wealth handy, but some use the bank as well. Jorbis will keep your share until payment in full if requested, but that is an ususual arrangement.

A Know(nature) or Know(local) check of DC 10 reveals basic knowledge about leucrotta. All of which confirms the greater detail below. Even those who fail the check have occasionally heard it used as a curse word.

Sense motive reveals nothing worrisome. Details of her appearance seem normal for a wood elf, and those unfriendly to humans/dwarves likely wouldn't be anywhere near the city.

(Common):"A recurring menace to these lands, thought extinct until a few years ago. An odd hybrid creature mixing hyena, stag, badger, with a lion's tail. Which sounds like an interesting animal but they are anything but. They detect as moderately evil to such spells, and are atrocious in appearance, smell, and behavior. A leucrotta kills for food, for sport, and because it likes to cause harm, including torture. When they were more numerous, a bit more than 50 years ago a meeting of the archdruids was unanimous: leucrotta deserve a quick death. They are blight, not natural creatures. No carrion eater or insect will touch a creature killed by leucrotta, much less the vile things themselves. The have glowing red eyes, and ooze an awful musk all over their bodies. They are quite durable, but I don't see it being a real threat to you if you are all alert.

Spoiler: Short conversation in Gnomish

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(Gnomish):"Do you follow the Forest Queen?"
Loros nods. "I do. Godspeed on your journeys."
"And yours, friend of the forest."

Loros nods during the exchange, looking pleased.

"Pardon the digression there. The thing's lair is roughly 2 miles to the east. Again, I'd appreciate the help, as would the Silver Marches. I know Silverymoon still maintains a bounty for leucrotta ears, I suspect Sundabar does."

Note: I changed the wood elf's color. Though a very different number it was too close to Loros's.

[Covenant12]

Loros: (Common)"Much as I'd like to participate, I have to be a ways north before dark. You should be able to make out the fort from here, just to the west of the road. A bit under three miles to our north. But a ranger of Mielikki should guide you true. A bit far from the High Forest, though."

Wood Elf: (Common)"Yes, and traveling much of late. My pardon, my name is Fiellel Bonearrow, or that's as close as I can say in common. I've been assigned close to an errand-girl really, running messages between the cities of the Silver Marches and the High Forest. Wood elves try to encourage our young to travel a fair bit, otherwise we tend to stick to our own for the most part. Both trolls and orcs have been more active of late. Orc hordes are well known, but smaller bands have been found where they shouldn't be. At any rate, I'd also like to be in Sundabar by dark, orcs are more active at night."

There is a trail heading east, but with the snow it is hard to see. Other than Fiellel's footprints heading west to where you met, there doesn't look to be much recent. You are approaching a fairly dense grove of trees, evergreen for the most part and roughly 500' wide from north to south. At around 300' you hear what sounds like a woman screaming in agony. You think you hear a garbled "no" on occasion but otherwise make out no real words. This is quite loud and looks to be coming from directly in front.

Fiellel: (Common)"Though those screams could be real, this is more likely a trap. Leucrotta are energetic and skilled torturers, but they are better sound mimics. The actual screams could have been weeks ago. Stay alert and have weapons ready."

You approach slower now, screams getting gradually louder but no less intense.

Spoiler: OOC

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The next post will be rolls for perception/stealth. I'm still learning better ways to do this but I will likely need more posts since I can't edit once made.

[Covenant12]

Encounter checks:

Spoiler: ooc

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Luin Whitefur: (1d20+7)[15]
Hobbes: (1d20+9)[13]
Zarakiel: (1d20+8)[9]
Lassy: (1d20+1)[8]
Ellenallen: (1d20+1)[11]

Stealth: (1d20+5)[23]

[Covenant12]

Fiellel attempts perception check as well

Spoiler: OOC roll

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(1d20+8)[15]

[Covenant12]

Roughly 20' from the treeline, you hear a sudden shriek, still sounding like the same woman (Common)"No, please No!" followed by a hoarse chuckle. A quadruped drops from a 15' high branch and charges you. It has the head of a large, but warped badger with glowing red eyes. It drools excessively as it charges. As it gets closer, you see it has an oily coating over it's entire body. Up closer it smells quite rancid. It emits a high-pitched whine as it attempts a bite attack.

Spoiler: OOC rolls

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Bite target is 1-Hobbes, 2-Zarakiel, 3-Ellenallen: (1d3)[3] To-hit: (1d20+11)[25] Damage: (1d8+6)[11]

Initiative checks:
Luin Whitefur:(1d20+2)[4]
Hobbes:(1d20)[18]
Zarakiel:(1d20+3)[8]
Lassy:(1d20+2)[10]
Ellenallen:(1d20+4)[11]
Fiellel:(1d20+2)[14]

Leucrotta:(1d20+1)[17]

[tonberryking]

With a bellowing yell, Ellenallen rears up on her hind legs and lashes out at the thing that hit her. She doesn't have time to summon it with any level of finesse but instead just attempts to blast the thing point blank before attempting to get away from it, dark, stormy energies swirl around her hand like blackened clouds before arcing out in a wail of energy that lightens into a pale green arc.

Spoiler: OOC/rolls

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Two hoof attacks, and then a PB EB with MB (mortal bane) thrown on top:

Hooves-(1d20+3)[17] (1d20+3)[14] Damage: (1d6+2)[7] (1d6+2)[4]

EB- (1d20+6)[15] Damage (4d6)[7]

[Covenant12]

Hobbes yells, entering a rage while stepping 5' forward. He attacks the Leucrotta with Earthbreaker and bite.

Spoiler: OOC Rolls

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Earthbreaker: (1d20+10)[24] to hit, damage: (5d6+12)[28]
Bite: (1d20+6)[9] to hit, damage: (1d6+5)[9]

Rage is +2 hit/damage(all attacks), and +1d6 damage to Earthbreaker(but not bite).

[Covenant12]

The Leucrotta takes a solid hit but remains focused on Ellenallen, snarling and drooling.

Spoiler: OOC, rolls

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Bite: (1d20+9)[25] to hit, damage: (1d8+6)[13]

[Covenant12]

Fiellel grimaces at the leucrotta's appearance. She moves 25' to her right and fires an arrow.

Spoiler: OOC, rolls

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Composite Longbow, (1d20+7)[23] to hit, damage: (1d8+2)[9]

[Stevesciguy]

With a mighty flap of his wings, Zarakiel takes into the air, then charges straight towards the creature at full speed. As he gets close, he brings his mace towards the creature in a swift uppercut.

Spoiler: OoC

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Full-Round Action: Charge the monster

Attack is made with a full power attack. Furious Focus means that I don't take the penalty on my first attack this round.

Attack Roll: (1d20+12)[14](gets +2 from charging, already added)

Damage Roll: (1d8+16)[22]

-2 to AC this round

[Covenant12]

The mace solidly hits the beast's torso with a loud crack, and the Leucrotta collapses to the ground. A moderate amount of blood has come out, even from bludgeoning damage. It does not appear to be breathing.

Fiellel still looks alarmed and angry. She moves adjacent to the Leucrotta, and fires two arrows into the thing's chest. They sink deep but it does not twitch. (Common)"Sorry, they can be crafty at times, and are deceptively smart. More, I really hate the things. Without hands or even paws, they rarely carry treasure. Aside from the value of their ears. But they do sometimes keep it in their lairs. If not I saw humanoid corpses near the lair, maybe 200 feet into the copse of trees. I'd like to examine the tracks nearby. It looked to be solitary, but I'd like to be sure. You can keep anything you find, I'd rather not touch anything it did."

The corpse gives off a very strong musk that is not at all pleasant, likely from the very oily fur. A small amount of recent snowfall only shows this beast's tracks heading into the trees.

[Covenant12]

Fiellel slowly makes her way along the Leucrotta path into the grove. While somewhat dense, none of the trees are overly tall and are very evenly spaced. After 50' or so you have to assume they were planted. The Leucrotta's tracks are similar to oversized deer, and fairly easy to spot in fresh snow. 150' or so in, you spot two dead orcs outsides what looks like a small burrow.

Careful examination of the lair finds that the burrow contains what you suspect is a goblin, dead for two days or more. Only suspect as it is missing a head or arms. The stench from the Leucrotta is overpowering, thankfully the burrow is small with a wide opening. There are some bone fragments scattered in the burrow, but not many or large ones. The corpse is wearing small-sized studded leather armor, with a fair amount of mud and blood on it but in good shape. Also on the corpse are 5 days hard rations, 2 waterskins, 20 crossbow bolts (small light crossbow), and 2 daggers at the waist. A coin pouch contains 40 gp and 100 gp in small gems. A nearby amulet is solid black with a purple border. Also nest to the goblin is a well-worn wand and a scroll case, sealed.

The orcs are wearing a breastplate and hide armor, respectively. The breastplate has specs of rust but looks sturdy, the hide armor is rotted in places and has several holes. By comparison, the two great-axes near the bodies are in fantastic shape, though with some blood and dirt on them. The handles have detailed and well made leather for grip, and the blades look quite sharp. Both masterwork, at a guess. They have 50 gp between the two of them, and each carries 2 days hard rations, 1 waterskin, and a dagger. A small-sized light crossbow is several feet from the orc corpses. The one wearing a breastplate looks like he had his throat torn out, the one in hide armor dozens of small cuts. The one in the breastplate has a stone necklace with a crudely shaped eye in the center, the one in hide the same black/purple disc as by the goblin. You think the black/purple discs may be silver but its hard to be sure. The orcs look roughly a day dead.

Fiellel circles the clearing twice, then addresses you: (Common):"As I suspected, the Leucrotta looks to be alone. They do often travel in pairs or small groups but never separate for long. When you are done, I'll walk with you to the fort but there I must leave you. I hope to be in Sundabar by nightfall, and I have much to report."

[Covenant12]

Uktar (November) 27, afternoon.

The brief walk through the wooded section is eerily quiet, you don't see any tracks besides yours or the Leucrotta's. The sky remains mostly cloudless, what little wind there is makes it fairly chilly. The sun does melt some of the snow, but any in deep shadow can get quite deep.

At roughly 4:00 PM, you approach the fort along the main road, and see a motley crew of three individuals. (which could easily describe yourselves)

Largest in overall size is a giant owl. Somewhat hunched over while speaking on the ground, it has an assortment of white, brown, and dusty gray plumage. He wears studded leather barding and apparently has been watching you since before you saw him, even with his size.
Close behind is what looks to be a gray-skinned troll. He wears oddly designed leather armor, and carries no apparent weapons. But his claws look especially dangerous.
Last is more human-sized and shaped, but looks either a muscular air genasi or actual Djinni. He has long blue-white hair and beard, and looks finely dressed, both clothing and studded leather armor. He has the traditional scimitar at his hip and has some sort of longbow.

As you approach they seem to watch you calmly, until around 100' distance. At this point, Fiellel calls out: (Common):"Hail, Orthon!!" and then continues in Sylvan.

Spoiler: Sylvan

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"Greetings, and well wishes to you and the Forest Queen. You are far outside the forests I'd expected to see you next, but I suppose I could say the same for myself?"

She then address those closer to her. (Common):"My apologies, that was rude of me. I speak Sylvan far more than common lately, at least near my home. The giant owl's name is Orthon, and I'd trust his acquaintances better than most random travelers. I've never had an interest in outright adventuring, but I've known several well. Three is not a great number for that. Safety in numbers, and some monsters can incapacitate instantly. A few more and hopefully you'd recover in that case. Sundabar has surprising wealth, hopefully you can all profit from this? I can stay a few minutes, but I will have to push to reach Sundabar before dark.

[Xenopax]

Tark took a deep breath of the air around him. It sounded somewhat like an angry huff of breath but it was really just him memorizing the scent of everyone here. From the feathery scent of the Giant Owl, to the Flowery scent of the Faeries. He gave off a slight growl that was his way of saying hello, and strode forward. He walked different than most trolls. They usually hunched over and looked somewhat shifty, losing a few feet off their height from posture. Tark didn't do any of that. Well atleast not much. He was still a troll after all and old habits died hard. So his top was a tiny bit hunched over, something they could see him try to correct but just kept shifting back into the set posture. It had the effecct of making him waver from 13 and a half feet to 14 over and over again.

He extended one hand to shake with whoever would take it. Getting to know each other was important! His claws were set in a way so that if a little un tried to shake his hand, he wouldn't have touched em with the claws. That'd have been bad blood to injure someone already after not even an hour of meeting them! "Iz Tark. Just Tark. Troll," He said in broken common. The fact that he was a troll should be obvious but that didn't stop him from saying it. After all someone might be blind and they had to think of everyone. His eyes were covered by the mask but he was scanning everyone here, seeing how much of a threat each posed. He wasn't meaning anything bad by it, but being careful was good and knowing what you're dealing with was even better. He was still a predator after all.

[Anachronity]

Orthon offers a brief bow, spreading a wing out in front of himself.

Spoiler: Sylvan

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Greetings to you, Fiellel.

(Common) "And greetings to your company as well." He offers, his large eyes seeming to settle in particular on the unearthly Zarakiel. He was not familiar with such beings in an academic sense. But the Order was quite fond of portraying the likenesses of angels and benevolent gods, and so the sight of the archon brought back memories.

The large owl, though relatively kempt, still shows signs of a life lived in the wilds rather than a city's confines. He remains quiet yet tense while the menacing Tark makes his own introduction, ready to interject or intervene if the troll's heritage led to misgivings.

[Covenant12]

Fiellel looks concerned for a time, then approaches and shakes the (rather comically larger) hand.
(Common):"Greetings, Tark. I've heard of few trolls outside the Evermoors, although I know of at least one troll adventurer. Or perhaps mercenary-for-hire is more accurate, but he's been loyal to those who pay him for several yours. He tends to heavy armor, though. I can attempt to give word to Sundabar that a troll is about who isn't hostile, but at best it will take time for that word to spread fully. I hope you have some tolerance for hostile statements and attitudes."

(Common):"That said I wish you the best, and may our Lady of the Forest guide your travels."

She faces the three of you behind her, and addresses you:

(Common):"I can relay a message if you like, as thanks for ridding the area of that menace. Or was there something you wanted the authorities in Sundabar to know?"