Eberron's Kin IC

[MandibleBones]

Between the luggage and the debris, there's plenty to gather - the gnome starts welding it over all but one of the openings to the coach with the wand. It doesn't look like it's very sturdy, but it might keep the wind out.

Caleb reaches the face-down figure, and it seems to be the gnome's partner at Conquerer. He's breathing, but appears to be unconscious.

Spoiler

Show

Caleb, make a spot check.

[Fax Celestis]

Caleb helps the prone figure to his feet, if possible. Otherwise, he'll attempt to carry him inside.

Spoiler

Show

Spot (1d20-1=5) Blind as a bat-thing, apparently.

[Valairn]

Wildmane

Wildmane looks at the hunter and his hand falls quite close to his weapon, but his demeanor doesn't change in the slightest. After a short moment passes, he speaks, "You know nothing of me, and I know nothing of you, your insult is baseless, seeing as I regularly clean myself and am fully aware of the effect of fur upon how I might smell and I take measures to fix that. While its nice that you feel free enough to speak your mind, a random desire to insult strangers is probably a poor trait in a person, if not outright idiotic."

"I don't know if you noticed, but these weapons I carry, have been used and used properly for quite some time, to do what they do best, ceasing the life of whomever I choose. I have no particular inclination to cause you harm, but if it comes down to you or anyone else in this tram, you are at the bottom of the list of people I would help if the situation were to become dangerous. Trust me when I say, this would have been different if you had shown a bit of restraint and a modicum of intelligence in the way you have chosen to speak to me. When you sit watch, I will sit watch, I don't trust you for a second to do what's right for anyone in this tram other than yourself."

[MandibleBones]

Caleb helps the dazed man to his feet, and turns to watch the argument develop. As Wildmane gets to "Other than yourself," a flurry of snow and light brown fur bursts from the treeline and leaps at Caleb.

Spoiler

Show

Mountain lion bite attack; mountain lion grapple assuming a hit with the bite (Free action due to improved grapple) (1d20+6=24, 1d20+5=7) Bite damage (1d6 3=4)

Surprise round is over. Everyone who wants to be involved roll initiative. Mountain lion goes on 12.

[Valairn]

Wildmane

The words he speaks are lost as he moves into action. He rushes forward, drawing his kukri's as if they had already been in his hands anyway, he says nothing and his expression doesn't change for a moment. He draws extremely close to the animal before unleashing attacks upon it.

Spoiler

Show

Wildmane drops into the stance Blood in the Water. He uses a move action to draw near to the mountain lion, and draws his weapons during the move. When he closes he uses Wolf Fang Strike to attack with both weapons at an additional -2 penalty to attack roll.

All of this is accounted for in my rolling.

Initiative: (1d20+4)[24]
To Hit with Main Hand: (1d20+2)[16]
Damage with Main Hand if Hit: (1d4+4)[8]
To Hit with Off Hand: (1d20+2)[15]
Damage with Off Hand: (1d4+2)[4]

[Jacob Orlove]

Tam

Linnea shakes her head at Caleb's explanation, putting it out of her mind. It is too much like something out of a wonder-play. She strains to get a good look at the fallen figure, but the flying snow makes it difficult.

Then the mountain lion springs onto the dragon-man from the trees. Linnea's hand moves calmly to a puch on her belt, and she scans the trees for any further threats as she prepares to cast a spell.

Spoiler

Show

Initiative: (1d20+4)[15]
Free spot (1d20+7)[18] and listen (1d20+7)[11] checks (from Quick Reconnoiter).
How close is Tam to the grapple?

[Fax Celestis]

Caleb successfully manages to not let the beast pin him, though he is bitten in the process.¹ He moves away from the beast² and speaks a word of power³.

Spoiler

Show

Initiative (1d20+1=18) Remaining HP: 20.
¹Grapple (1d20-3=13)
²5' step. Caleb draws his punching dagger as he moves.
³Caleb is casting Power Word: Pain. No save, SR Yes.1d4=2, 1d4=2, 1d4=4, 1d4=2 Less than 50 HP: duration is 10 rounds. 51-75 HP: duration is 4 rounds. 76-100 HP: 2 rounds. First four rounds of damage (1d6=4, 1d6=4, 1d6=3, 1d6=2): 4 now, 4 on my next initiative count. Anyone who speaks Draconic recognizes his utterance as the Draconic word for "pain".

[ZeroNumerous]

Hunter

The man jumps up at the cat's attack. He assumes a different stance, but doesn't seem armed. A blade--curved and long as a shortsword--leaps into his hand as he puts himself between the lion and the rest of the people in the tram. He's certainly not going to jump the thing when everyone else is already doing well enough, but they can't bury someone tonight. He keeps a close watch on everything around them, ready to move the moment something presents itself as a threat.

Spoiler

Show

Move action to move to the broken area, he'll draw his longknife in the process of moving. Swift action to change stance to Island of Blades. Ready action to stab an animal that gets within 5 feet.

Initiative - (1d20+4)[9]

[MandibleBones]

As everyone swings into action, Wildmane bursts toward the cat, quickly turning it from a raging ball of fur into... well, not living. Definitely not living.

Tam:

Spoiler

Show

Though you cannot hear much over the din of the quick combat, you scan the treeline easily enough. The cat seems to have been alone, though you can't see more than 10 feet or so into the woods.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Rose hears the screams and shouts, but by the time she's leaned forward to peek through the debris being shoved into the roof's hole the combat is already over.

"What's happening out there?" she attempts to call above the wind.

[Valairn]

Wildmane

He draws his kukris out of the animal, before he cleans the blades in the snow for a moment and sheathes them again. Looking at Caleb he asked, "Are you alright?"

[Jacob Orlove]

Tam

Linnea shouts back to Rose. "Some kind of wild animal attacked. It looks like we've got something to eat for dinner now."

Satisfied that there's no further threat from the beast, and nothing else about to jump out of the woods at them, she nevertheless begins the gestures and incantations of some kind of spell, then goes back to examining the wreckage.

Spoiler

Show

Casting Detect Magic to examine the blast site a bit more, then check out the inside of the coach (casting it again as necessary). Still looking for clues, or anything else suspicious.

[Fax Celestis]

Caleb

"I'm a little scratched up," he says, indicating a small gash on his arm, "but I think I'll manage. Damned thing caught me by surprise. Ah well. Waste not, want not," he continues and starts dragging the corpse inside.

[ZeroNumerous]

Hunter

The dark-skinned man takes a moment to re-focus himself. Then motions toward the cat-man. "Guess it was that cat I was smellin', not you. And it's a good thing you don't trust me, 'cause I got no obligation to get you out of here alive. But think about this rationally. If you don't trust me, then how can you trust my little dragon-friend there? Or the city-slicker for that matter?" Hunter jabs a thumb at Caleb and Linnea in when he remarks about the dragon and the city slicker. "It's not like either of them is all up in arms to protect these gnomes and girly back there. In fact.. I seem to be the only one who stayed back here to protect 'em."

Hunter slides the longknife back into it's sheath, a small leather holder attached to his right hip, and turns toward the little girl. "Are any of these people in danger if we move them? Will any of them be able to move in the mornin'?"

Spoiler

Show

He re-assumes the Hunter's Sense stance.

[Valairn]

Wildmane

Wildmane looks at Caleb, making sure he is as fine as he says he is, before he helps him drag the corpse. He looks at the hunter and says, "Its not a matter of trust, its a matter of conflict, your choice of words alarmed me, as they were hostile towards me and if you are willing to be hostile to a complete stranger who's done nothing to harm you, then you are not far off from running at the first sign of trouble. You have proven to me otherwise, and so the matter for me is done, if you care to end it then I will act as if the exchange of words never occurred."

[ZeroNumerous]

Hunter

"Well now that we're all on the same page.. We need to talk about some things. First of all, we can't bring that corpse inside. Corpses attract predators, which we don't want to deal with when we're sleepin'. My suggestion is a simple fix. We cook most of it but we cut off a leg. Then we leave the leg outside the cabin as bait for tonight. A carnivore goes after the easiest meal, and a cluster of two-legs isn't as easy as a foot danglin' on a rope."

[MandibleBones]

Though the detect magic spell reveals little beyond a glimmer of magic-that-might-have-been from Caleb's nearly-cast defensive spell, a closer inspection of the blast site reveals something odd. It looks like the snow in the site itself is hard and packed, whereas the snow around is like powder. Something truly cold may have caused this break in the line.

The little boy who Rose healed earlier approaches Caleb, and after peering precociously at the upper-arm wound (it looks like the cat was aiming for the neck and missed) for almost a full minute, solemnly presents the winged creature with a wooden sword.

"Don't die, okay?" he says, pushing the wooden thing toward Caleb hilt-first. "This keeps you safe."

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Rose, grinning from ear to ear, gives Caleb an 'awwwww' look as she checks over the wound.


OOC: Don't even think about making Rose the band-aid of the group

[Fax Celestis]

Caleb smiles in as non-frightening a way as possible and accepts the child's gift, sliding it into his belt at his hip. He ignores the wound, ruffles the kid's hair and nods to Hunter's idea.

[MandibleBones]

The kid smiles and walks contentedly back to his family. You can see a matching wood sword strapped to his back; an empty rope sheath across it where your new weapon must have been stored.

The sun has nearly set, and the gnome throws the wand down in disgust.

"That's about all of that," he grumbles. "It should keep the wind out as much as possible, but we might think about getting a fire going or something outside if we want to eat tonight."

[Fax Celestis]

Caleb

"Fetch me some wood, then. I have many talents." He breathes a short gout of flame to demonstrate.

[Jacob Orlove]

Tam

Linnea walks back to the others in time for Caleb's fire-breathing demonstration. Curiously, she seems unimpressed, but sends a wary glance towards the trees. "Fetch wood? From the forest? I don't like the looks of that place. There could be more wild beasts waiting to ambush us. Or worse, whoever caused this wreck could still be around. And speaking of that, the snow at the blast site is packed solid, and there's no scorch marks anywhere. This was no ordinary explosion."

[ZeroNumerous]

Hunter

"I'll do it."

The man crawls out the front of the cabin and stretches abit. He looks back in case anyone follows him. Regardless of whether anyone does, he sniffs the air and then scans the forest edge for any sign of movement. If he doesn't see or hear anything, then he'll slowly make his way to the forest edge and gather up some wood.

Spoiler

Show

Spot/Listen - (1d20+8)[24] / (1d20+8)[25]
Hide/Move Silently - (1d20+9)[21] / (1d20+11)[25]

Searching for adequate wood - (1d20+11)[29]

[MandibleBones]

Hunter slinks off into the woods, making no sound and seeming to blend into the shadows themselves. The light footprints in the snow are the only mark of his passing.

About ten yards into the clearing, dead branches begin to line the ground, half-covered in snow. In a windy forest such as this, it takes Hunter little time to gather the needed wood - and yet, he can't shake the feeling that someone is still watching him, but every time he catches a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye, it's gone when he turns to look at it.

A sniff of the air tells him that none of the cats are near, but the smell of blood is stronger here, a trail leading to the base of a large tree perhaps twenty feet away, where something that looks suspiciously like a body sits.

[ZeroNumerous]

Hunter

The dark skinned man drops a bundle of sticks just outside the cabin door before pulling it open and sticking his head inside. "I'm back and I got your sticks, dragon."

He turns his hooded face toward Rose. "Hey, girly. How much do you know about dead guys?"

[Fax Celestis]

Caleb

Caleb smiles, stacks the wood into something that'll burn easily in a place that people will want to be around, and ignites it with an exhalation.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Rose goes a little pale and her expression is of dread.

"Oh no, who's died?" she says quietly, glancing at the children nearby and seems to be counting before turning back to the hunter.

[ZeroNumerous]

Hunter

"It's not a gnome. I found a guy--human--little ways in the forest. Looks like the lion got him pretty bad. We gotta move the corpse away, or we'll get predators comin' round for a free meal. I figure you know a prayer or somethin' to keep bad luck away. And hey, catguy, I might need help moving the fool."

He guides Rose and anyone else who wants to come along to the body.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

"Quickly then, lead me to where you found him..." she says, running for the exit. She pauses at Hunter and looks him in the eye before she passes and points a finger up at him.
"And it is Rose, not 'girly', got that?"

[Valairn]

Wildmane

Wildmane smiles a bit, catguy... its actually a bit funny. "The name is Wildmane, and I don't believe I caught yours, if you don't mind telling me, it would be easier than saying hey you, guy who can smell stuff."

Wildmane wastes no time, he picks the body up and takes it to wherever the hunter indicates.