Ngilop's campaign IC

[wkwkwkwk1]

Frustrated at the beasts' resilience, Luriel looses another two arrows, aiming for the deer.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Attack 1: (1d20+10)[21]
Damage 1: (1d8+4)[10]

Attack 2: (1d20+5)[17]
Damage 2: (1d8+4)[10]

[dantiesilva]

"Tarik you should fall back." Leoroar says worried as he slashes out twice with his longsword as he uses his shield hand to fend off the deer attacking him. Thankfully his allies were easily weakening the deer, however not quickly enough given how hurt their leader was looking.

Spoiler: Attack

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If the bear is still standing Leoroar attacks the bear, if not he attacks the deer that attacked him

Full Attack
Attack 1 (1d20+15)[25] (add two if flanking for bear still) (+2 Favored Enemy, +2 Spirit Pouch, +8 Melee attack bonus, +1 Magic Weapon,+2 Furious Strike) Damage (1d8+7)[9] + (1d6)[2] (+2Str, +1 Magic Weapon,+2 Favored Enemy, +2 Enemy Spirit Pouch, +1d6 Furious Strike)

Attack 2 (1d20+10)[22] (+3 Melee Attack Bonus, +1 Magic Weapon, +2 Favored Enemy, +2 Spirit Pouch, +2 Furious Strike) Damage (1d8+7)[14] + (1d6)[5] (see above)

1 Holy Fury point Remaining (but given they recharge every encounter we are good)

[zlefin]

Alaina's flames burn one deer, and it falls onto the ground.

Tarik's blade once again inflicts a shattering blow upon the monstrosity, and at last it collapses.

The remaining deer lasts but a moment, as Luriel's arrows and Leoroar's slashes leave it broken.

Victory!

[ngilop]

Tarik sits down, a bit exhausted from the skirmish. "Well, it seems zom-bears are a bit tougher than I had originally estimated" He collects himself for a few moments before standing up.

[dantiesilva]

As the last of their enemies fall to arrow, blade, and fire Leoroar takes a seat besides his friend Tarik. "It is all good my friend, if they were your average enemy we both know our roles would have been reversed." Leoroar reminds their leader. Pointing out that while they fought undead they were dealing with something he had trained to destroy most of his life unlike Tarik who was better suited at fighting all kinds of evil. "Just next time be a little more careful, we still haven't hired ourselves a priest to tend to our wounds after battles meaning those are going to hurt for a while." he explains as he looks over the wounds Tarik had suffered in their last battle. It would hamper him if they were to do battle again this day meaning they had to be more careful, no mistakes.

"Alaina, Luriel, thanks for the support back there. Had those undead been alive, or at least slightly more intelligent they would have had us flanked and out maneuvered. We couldn't have done that so easily without your help." Leoroar says as he stands with Tarik. "Do either of you think you could track their trail for a bit, so we can investigate where they came from before heading back to camp for the night? Their might be some kind of clue onto how they are becoming undead if we find where they died."

[Simba]

Alaina

"Sure I can track them, no problem" Alaina says, looking around to make sure no other threat presents itself. ""Can anyone bind his wounds better than I can? And do you have any bandages with you? I could forrage for the right leaves but I am not sure if that is wise right now.

[dantiesilva]

"I gave up the healing arts to be able to focus solely on fighting evil in all its forms, its why I have always suggested we hire a priest to travel with us or at the least spend some of our gold to buy a wand to do the healing for us." Leoroar says gently to Alaina gently. "As for the leaves, I think we should wait until we return back to camp for such healing. A simple bandage for now may be the only thing we have time for if we want to try and track where these undead came from before making it back to camp before nightfall." Leoroar adds, looking to see if Tarik agreed with the statement.

[zlefin]

A preliminary search indicates that the undead had been coming from elsewhere near the cursed zones perimeter. A more thorough search would be a track roll, and risk encountering further foes; are you going to search further now to trace their route, or go back to camp and heal?

[ngilop]

Tarik nods at Leoraor "Yeah, I am not too banged up.. just need to be a bit smarter in the next fight I feel. Or maybe let you two have more time to attack from afar before I go rushing in to fight the biggest one I can." Tarik dusts himself of and hefts his sword on his shoulder, ready to follow Alaina as she tracks the origins of the undead animals.

[dantiesilva]

"It's okay Tarik, I was thinking of doing exactly as you did, however it was only my knowledge of the enemy that held me back. It is always best to encounter an enemy and deal with them in the most advantageous way possible. If we were fighting a more intelligent foe that would have stayed out of range, or had their own way of dealing with us from a distance your method would have been the correct path." Leoroar assures their leader as he turns to the groups two trackers and bows his head for them to lead on, trying his best to help where he could.

Spoiler: Aid Another

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Rolling to give the other two party members a +2 to their rolls (1d20+7)[21] Survival check (+3 from Wis, +2 Favored Enemy, +2 Enemy Spirit Pouch)

[Simba]

Alaina

Seeing the others ready to go on, Alaina turns to concentrate on the tracks that might lead them to their ultimate target, the source of the undead problem.

Spoiler: Tracking

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Survival (Tracking): (1d20+21)[39] +2 from Aid another
Please add or substract all external modifiers to the roll ;-)

[zlefin]

The tracks prove reasonably easy for an expert tracker like Alaina to follow, they skirt along the edge of the cursed area, always staying just inside of it, as one can tell by where the ill feeling becomes apparent. As the tracks are traced further, they continue that pattern, eventually leading to having done a full circle of the area and back where the fight started. Some of the signs indicate that route was probably circled by the undead many times before you found them.

[ngilop]

"Hmm, seems they were just meandering abouts, what that tells me is, they lack purpose... and if they lack purpose then i would wager that, at least these, have no leader...?" He end his statement with an inflection more typical to a question while looking at Leoroar for his own take on the matter.

[dantiesilva]

"I agree, from what we know any animal that go's into this area dies and is reanimated. I would normally state that a necromancer that has found a way to prolong their life could easily do this without being noticed, however the fact that these animals seemingly were just wandering around aimlessly they were either told to guard the area and do patrols, which is not impossible, as until given a new direction they would keep doing so, or something in this land is forcing them to stay nearby. My sense can see the aura like barrier between the normal land, and where the taint of this land begins, however it is consistent and shows not greater strength at any singular point from what I have seen then the rest of the area." Leoroar explains looking at the tracks a little confused.

"What troubles me is the fact the entire walk around back to this point we didn't encounter any other undead which makes me lean more into the patrol theory slightly. For a good patrol to work their would have to be more then one however this way if one failed another would pick it up. We could wait here a while and see if another similar group arrives in a timely manner, or we could walk counter clockwise to try and intercept it if there is one. My only other guess would be that whatever power reanimates the bodies keeps them away from its boarders for the most part. Why though is beyond me. Would one die if dragged to far away from the tainted area for example? If not what is keeping them contained within besides people like us clearing them out every once and a while? Honestly I don't have enough information to give you the kind of answer that I am confident in at the moment Tarik. There are to many things to consider, and I don't have any paper to write down what I know to try and connect the pieces together. My suggestion would be to walk in the opposite direction and look for another patrol, if we don't find one return to camp and write down what we do know and ask around camp for anyone who has been on one of these jobs before. I'm sure the locals must have their own stories about this. And come the morning when we are well rested and healed up we can try delving deeper into the forest and thus test my second idea that the undead simply stay away from the barrier, this would mean the closer we get to the center however the more dangerous it would become." he warns, making it clear a straight path to the center would be unwise.

[zlefin]

I'll assume you're doing as Leoroar recommends since noone else has posted a plan. You go in the opposite direction, circling around the perimeter. You do not encounter any more undead as you do so.
(I don't want to push the action any further as the stated plan then has the choice point of either going deeper, or going back to rest)

[ngilop]

Tarik sighs, a bit disappointed in no further combat. But, also grudgingly agrees to Alain's silent look that he is pretty beat up and further violence is not the wisest of decision. "Well, I think that is all we are going to encounter today. Lets head back to camp and rest up and head out fresh tomorrow."

[Simba]

Alaina

Alaina nods and quietly leads the party back to their camp.

[zlefin]

The trip back to camp is uneventful. Nothing notable happens during the night;
Calc your overnight healing/refillings/whatevers.


Asking the local guides about the undead doesn't yield anything of note. One of them was previously a guide for another expedition; they just kept watch over the base camp as they're doing this time. He remembers talk of fierce fighting, the importance of caution, and taking advantage of the undead's stupidity. He doesn't remember talk of any of the undead having any intelligence or there being any known plan or leader to them; just that they sometimes form clumps.

Feel free to add any specific questions you want to ask them.

[dantiesilva]

As they finish their rounds going in the opposite direction he looks to Tarik and shakes his head. " Not controlled, there would have been another patrol meaning that whatever is making them either has no control over bringing them back to life or has no idea it is even doing it. Or the barrier between the planes may be weak here." he explains seeing no other options besides it either being a natural weak spot between the planes which was beyond his capabilities and would require someone who specialized in the planes and how they interacted, or something else that is unaware of what its doing. "Honestly it could be either, best to deal with it in the morning with our wounds healed. We can ask around at camp, and come morning simply go through and try to clear the forest out slowly so we don't get overwhelmed."

Once back at camp Leoroar makes the rounds, looking for anyone who had been here the last time something like this had occurred while also looking for the oldest person here hoping they might know more about the land itself as well as the history here. Hearing from one of the former guides that they sometimes formed clumps and that it was best to use the fact none of them were intelligent enough to form plans gave Leoroar a few ideas, however each would be difficult to perform without destroying a great deal of the forest on accident if a lose flame caught anything on fire they didn't wish to burn. Thanking the man for his time he gives him a gold piece for his time before sending him on his way.

With the oldest figure he can find he begins asking about the land and the stories about it, if people had ever once called this place home, or any thing that had ever occurred here. If even there was a time before the undead were here and the place was normal like everywhere else.

Spoiler: OOC

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Basically,
At any point in history was this land not plagued by undead?
Do you know of any settlement that once was here, or perhaps druidic order?
Are their any stories you heard as a child about this place?

[zlefin]

Answers to the enquiries:

It's been that way for as long as any of them know. One of them remembers a family story: "Someone a long ways back was lost to these undead. It was, lesse, my mother's grandfather's greatuncle, or maybe it was twice-great uncle. So that's, uhh (counts on his fingers), 6 generations back."

None of them know of any other significance to the site, no former settlements or anything. There haven't been any known settlements anywhere near the area. People tend to stay well clear of it, especially anyone looking to settle.

They don't know any stories about the area either. (realistically I know there should be some stories circulating that are false, simply because people tend to speculate and tell stories, but it doesn't seem helpful to make some up knowing they wouldn't yield anything; if wanted I could make some up anyways)

[ngilop]

Tarik nods as he listens to the stories and frowns a bit that really no one knows much about anything that is going on. "If i remember correctly.. it was mentioned that there has been expeditions to the center of this...zone. None have actually brought back anything or any knowledge of what may be causing this."

[Simba]

Alaina

Alaina listens to all that is being told, then looks at her mates: "Maybe there is nothing we can really do here."

[dantiesilva]

At the end of the day Leoroar seems to be grimmer than normal, as he paces back and forth, seemingly on edge. As Tarik and Alaina state the obvious to him he seems to stop for a moment and glare before shaking his head, after all it wasn't their fault, they were simply dealing with the information in a more constructive way. "It's just not right!" the paladin eventually speaks up. "There has to be something behind this and yet all the evidence says the exact opposite. My bones tell me their is more at work here however for the life of me I cannot deny the proof we have been given from the locals as well as what we have seen firsthand." he explains as he lets out a big puff of air trying to calm himself.

"Once we are done here we will have to move on, while we are away though, with your permission, I would like to come back in say a year to check on the amount of growth that has taken place. Even if I cannot figure this out, perhaps if I write down everything we collect someone else in the future may be able to use such information to find out what is really going on here and stop it." he says accepting that whatever was at work here was clearly beyond his own skill, but perhaps one day someone would be able to figure it out if he simply kept detailed notes of what he learned.

[zlefin]

The next day comes bright and sunny, with persistently clear skies, quite a contrast to the task ahead. The party treks to the dread zone uneventfully, and verifies that what they dispatched yesterday remains as it was; then the party slowly starts spiraling inward.

Spoiler: monster rolls

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(1d20)[7]
(1d20)[4]

(1d20)[11]

After having worked through several spirals, Alaina's scouting notes something about 130' ahead: A single skeletal deer can be seen standing there, with nothing else apparent.

[ngilop]

Tarik looks to Alaina then to the lone deer skeleton, and back to Alaina. "Well it seems to be alone." He syays as much of a statement as a question of suspicion.

[Simba]

Alaina

"It is." she answers "Let me see if zombies can lay a trap."

She walks on, seemingly unconcerned, closing in on the deer from a slight angle, as if she meant to pass it by on one side. She checks for tracks and other unusual things and keeps her distance from the deer, enough to run should it attack.

Spoiler: senses

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Spot: (1d20+15)[19]
Survival for tracking: (1d20+21)[38]

[zlefin]

(are you staying hidden, or intentionally revealing yourself to see how it responds? it wasn't clear so I assumed you're staying at least somewhat hidden)

A careful, slow approach. The deer remains motionless, simply standing there. Tension builds;

no other foes can be seen, there's a good enough view that there are'nt others imminently nearby, or they're very well hidden. There are no signs of tracks of others; though properly detecting the finer details of tracks would require a closer examination than can be done safely at present.

[ngilop]

Tarik begins to walk towards the deer cautiously while unsheathing his sword. his eyes dart about looking for anything that may be out of place

Spoiler: ACTIONS

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Spot: (1d20+5)[8]

WrBl rdy M	SwSg rdy M
Steel Wind, Sudden Leap, Bonecrusher, Iron Heart Surge	Mountain Hammer, Stone Bones, Cloak of Deception, Shadow Jaunt

Stance: Hunter's Sense

[zlefin]

Tarik slowly creeps forward. The deer continues to stand there.

(1d20)[17]

Once Tarik has gotten within about 60 feet of it, it charges toward him!

Spoiler: suspense! read this part.

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It is struck down by the party and Tarik as it charges in. All eyes dart around, looking to see what else may come; all ears perked up for any noise. But nothing else comes; the part waits, and watches, but still nothing comes drawn by the short noise of the swift battle. An examination of the tracks show that the deer had been alone, and mostly just stood in one place or another, occasionally moving, then standing again for a long time.

[zlefin]

The party then continues its purge, slowly spiraling deeper and deeper in.
5 more times the party encounters a lone undead, trivially dispatched.

Then the party finds another large group about 180' away; this one looks to be mostly, perhaps all, skeletal. It numbers at least 20, quite possibly more (it's difficult to get a clear count of the ones further back until you get closer). All you can see so far are deer and wolves.