The World of Athema (IC)

[dyslexicfaser]

Edgar

Edgar frowned thoughtfully. "He left his meal to burn? He can't have been too long gone. Did he know we were coming and flee?"

He added, "If he knows these woods as well as I suspect he does, I do not know if we could find him. Perhaps we should search his hut."

[Threeshades]

"I be in fer that!", Kilbain grins and walks over to the hut while drawing his axes. He enters through the small opening and takes a careful look around without waiting for further comments by his companions.

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Search check: (1d20+3)[9]
Searching for anything that might give a clue on where the huts inhabitant might be, and how and why he went there. Also on anything that might be of use, in case he has no need for his equipment in the future anymore (means: if he might be found dead sooner or later, or right now)

[Proven_Paradox]

Sage stands outside the hut, keeping a nervous eye out for anything out of place.

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Spot: (1d20+1=6) (Can't see s**t, captain!)

[TheMeanDM]

Kilbain:

Inside the hut you find that it is a single room. A woven reed mat covers the dirt floor. A thick pile of furs seems to serve as a bed, on the right side of the hut. A large black bear skin lays on top of it. Hanging on a peg looks to be a leather belt and some extra pairs of breeches.

Sage:
You notice nothing unusual. It looks like a normal campsite.

[fendrin]

Hekesh

"Something is not right."
Hekesh looks around for anything out of the ordinary, like signs of a struggle.

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spot - (1d20+0)[7]
search - (1d20+4)[17]

[TheMeanDM]

Hekesh notices an impression in the dirt near the fire.



It's quite large, about half-again as long as Hekesh's hand, and perhaps twice as wide.

[Seribro]

Bresk grabs the end of the spit and lifts the rabbit out of the fire. Still smouldering and smoking he takes the thing to the creek and holds it down into the water for a few seconds. When he pulls it out again he sits down and begins to peal the burned skin off to reveal the well done meat beneath it. Anything to burned or to raw he throws aside while enjoying the parts that are still good. He also decides that this is the perfect spot to refill his waterskin in order to evade the necessity to drink the poison humans dare to call ale. He had to admit though, if they could actually live on that stuff, then perhaps they weren't as weak as legends said they were.

While he sits there, enjoying lunch, he looks around a bit to see if there are any signs around from this Redfern guy. After all, the lodgers did say he liked to sneak around in the shadows. Perhaps seeing the party invade his territory and eating his meal could anger him enough to lose his caution so he might give himself away

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(1d20+1)[2]spot

[Sxoa]

Miyuki calmy takes the burning meat of the fire. She examines it to see if anything can be salvaged, taking out her knife and clearing away the totally charred inedible bits. Once done, she puts it near the fire to stay warm, but not so close as to reburn.

Miyuki scans the trees and everything else, seeing if she can spot anything living besides them. She calls out again, Mr. Redfern! Please come out! We just want to talk to you!

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Rolled a 20 in OOC thread

[TheMeanDM]

heh..do we need to roll initiative to see who gets the meat first?

Bresk's attention is quite focused on the task at hand: dismantling the charred remains of the rabbit(?).

[Zimmia]

Paggan too walks carefully around the camp, eyes open to anything that might be out of the ordinary.

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Sorry to be gone for so long - my car is dead and other calamities

SSL's for good measure:
Search: (1d20+2)[19]
Spot: (1d20+3)[13]
Listen: (1d20+3)[8]

[fendrin]

Hekesh

"I have found a track here. It is quite large."

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Check to identify: Knowledge_Nature - (1d20+6)[26]
I'm probably going to fumble when it really matters.

OOC: is that picture a track or a plaster cast of a track? It looks like it is sticking out from the surface...

[TheMeanDM]

Miyuki looks toward the tree line and sees no signs of movement. She looks toward the sky and only sees the clouds passing by. Her gaze follows the small creek north, and then south...and she sees nothing. No animals appear to be in the area.

[TheMeanDM]

For Hekesh:

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That's not a casting, it's an actual track.

During your slave days, you once went with your mistress to the market. It so happened that there was a traveling 'show' setup in the bazaar that day. They had a myriad of performers: acrobats, fire eaters, contortionists, 'magicians'...but they also had animals that were being exhibited in cages. Your mind recalls peering into a huge cage where a massive brown-furred animal sat on its haunches. It was twice as tall as you were at the time--even when it was sitting down. One of the animal handlers noticed you looking at it, and told you it was a "Great Kodiak bear, from the northern forests of Almeric." He described them as great hunters, able to track a man over an entire forest and when roused to anger--one of nature's fiercest and most deadly fighters.

The picture in your mind is very vivid:

Paggan:

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You also notice the large track, just before Hekesh mentions it.

Your ears hear...nothing...just the trickling of the creek. There are no birds chirping, or other noticeable sounds that a forest would tend to have.

[Sxoa]

As Paggan points out what she notices, Miyuki calls out again, "Mr. Redfern, we truly mean you no harm. We just want to talk. What would you like us to do so that you will come and speak with us?"

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Diplomacy check? [roll]1d20+11

aaaand I apparently am incapable of using the roller...
OOC gave me an 18 (I wish I rolled like you Hekesh)

Oh and might I suggest using the Diplomacy rules listed on this site?

If no response is forth coming, she turns to her companions, "Well perhaps we should try tracking? Bresk?"

[TheMeanDM]

Only silence responds to Miyuki.

[Sxoa]

"Well, this is outside of my realm of expertise then. I'm afraid I will have to defer someone else's tracking skills."

[Proven_Paradox]

Sage looks to the track with wide eyes, frowning as he says, "And I've no divinations that could help us know what this is... Mother would be ashamed."

[fendrin]

Hekesh

"I am no tracker, but this is a bear track. From a big bear. A man-hunter. I once saw one. In Masinyane."
There is something dark about the way he speaks the last two words.

[dyslexicfaser]

Edgar

Edgar frowns and looks around the area. "And my mind-reading magicks need a target that is actually present." he mused aloud. "So, bear tracks and Redfern missing."

He paused. "Bear tracks in Redfern's camp, and two men dead from odd claw wounds believed to be inflicted by Redfern. Combine these two facts..." he trailed off ominously, his mind making what seemed - to him - to be the obvious leap in logic. "Perhaps Redfern and the beast are in league."

"Whatever happened here, is obviously over. Perhaps we should return to the logger's camp to see if anyone has seen such a creature?"

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OOC: Are lycanthropes known at all in this part of the world? Or perhaps I'm just getting too deep into 'suspicious!Inquisitor' mode.

[Sxoa]

Miyuki muses, "...or one and the same. I have seen men in my travels, learned druids, who could take the shape of beasts."

[Seribro]

As the tumult reaches his ears, Bresk comes walking from by the creek with a rabbits leg still in his claws. He looks questioningly as he notices the group surrounding something on the ground.
Whatsss going on? Gwhat are you all looooranthorsh nasjkry! What on... Ghow we misssed that?!
He kneels down at the pawprint and places his own hand in it for comparison. Bresk is big, even for a lizardman, but compared to the print in the dirt... Suffice to say that what ever left it, he wouldn't like battling it one on one.
Ghremmm.... Whe follow the tracksz, yes? Ish better then sitting here.
Carefully, Bresk begins to follow the direction that the paw prints point in

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take 10 on survival to follow the tracks, which would give me a result of 12. I have a rank in it, though since I'm not a ranger yet, we can only follow it across squishy mud. As soon as the DC becomes higher then 10, only rangers, characters with the track feat or creatures with very keen scent can follow the tracks. I guess we are lucky there aren't any mountains around and that the creature we are following is pretty big and heavy...

[Threeshades]

I din s'pose he be gonna need this anymore. If'n I be wrong, he can have it back later.
With a grin Kilbain takes the belt of and wraps it around his wais. Ye ne'er know when yer gonna have use fer one.
He leaves the hut. "Nothin' inside there, 'cept fer a sleepin' place an' some spare clothes!" he calls out for the rest of the group.

[TheMeanDM]

Bresk circles the camp for a few minutes, crouching low to the ground. Now and again he spots one of the prints. He also notices, now, that the grasses growing around the area have been disturbed by the passage of this thing Hekesh called a "bear".

The tracks lead upland for about a quarter mile before turning to head into the forest.

Bresk can see the trail from the edge of the forest. They are very apparent to him, and he is confident he can follow.

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I rolled for you when they changed grounds, and you passed--easily, I might add :)

1d20+2=22

[Sxoa]

Miyuki looks at the dwarven berserker, Master Kilbain, perhaps we should engage in looting when we are more certain that Mr. Redfern is dead? If we do find him alive and well he may not be partial to our having... procured... his equipment.
After Bresk comes back and begins following the tracks, Miyuki smiles, Well done my friend!
She begins following him a short distance behind so as to not distract him from his task.

[Threeshades]

"Let's jus' say I be keepin' it fer 'im. Of course he can have it back anytime."

[Sxoa]

Miyuki shrugs, "as you will."

[Proven_Paradox]

Sage sighs as theories about the ranger and the bear are stated. "I'm no nature expert, but wouldn't the simpler solution be that there's a man-eating bear out here eating men? Or, our ranger may well be another victim of this creature, or perhaps trying to lead it away from civilization. To assume the worst from the start is just as dangerously illogical as assuming the best."

As the lizardman follows the tracks, Sage gives a meek smile. "So... we're following it? You do know that means we'll eventually find the thing that left those tracks, right?" A moment of nervous consideration follows, before he mutters, "But I suppose this is our only clue..." With that, he nervously follows the lizardman.

[Sxoa]

Miyuki contemplates the gnome's words, "Your name is an apt one, Sage".
She smiles at the conjurer, "Fear not though, you are surrounded by strong warriors, and I would think a bear would find any one of us a more filling treat than you."

[TheMeanDM]

I need a few things, if you folks don't mind :

1) marching order (I am assuming Bresk to be out front, since he's tracking)
2) space between party members
3) any special formation you're walking in (line, diamond, etc)
4) 2x Listen Checks, 2x Spot Checks

[Sxoa]

Miyuki follows ten feet back and ten feet to the right.

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or if Sage prefers, next to him as a guard, though my fighting style involves running at the enemy and close combat so I'd prefer not to be much of a bodyguard for long.
Listen
(1d20+2)[8]
(1d20+2)[12]
Spot
(1d20+2)[20]
(1d20+2)[18]