Eirvit wrote:

Gundrabu will heal himself and ask Kondor if he wants some too.

D8 for Gundrabu- 8!

I believe he’s good for now, plus we might need your spells if things go sideways. Thanks, though.

Iron Ranger wrote:

Gundrabu follows Kondor out to the trail. It leads east toward the hills and west back to the sanctuary. The drag marks are visible across the trail toward the log and toward the pine needles bed clearing.

The aroma of cooked meat noticed twice by the barbarian is gone. As is the fire light play on the distant treetops to the east hills. 

The wind has stopped, and though still at very cold 5 degrees, it feels much warmer than before. The woods are deathly silent.

Kondor expected as much, but he leads them to the place where the fire was, and picks up the trail.

D12- 10

“You smell that, Kondor? Smoke.”

Gundrabu pauses in his tracks. He opens wide his capacious Esquimaux nostrils and slowly turns where he stands, scenting the breezes at each gradient, until he again stands in his original orientation.

He is trying to determine the direction of the smoke.

D12: 7 plus whatever he gets as a hunter or barbarian.

Iron Ranger wrote:

Both adventurers pick up the scent. It is smoke, but there is no cooked meat aroma, this is burning wood and a faint undertone of oil. The wind blows softly from the east and carries the smoke down from the rocky hills.

Kondor leads the way, cautious but hoping to see this hunt to conclusion.

Kondor and Gundrabu climb the trail through the hills. Switchback after switchback the hills rise. A light snow begins to fall and the temperature drops even lower. Their furs pulled tighter. Their labored breathing coming out as clouds, ice hanging in their beads, frozen snot icicles that constantly need removal.

Then the trail ends in a small level valley nestles between two hills, the rear rising abruptly as a nearly flat stone face, save two large cave openings, from which thin wisps of smoke escape from within. There is no light so the source fire must be deep.

The lantern beam shines across the valley floor in from of them. It is littered with footprint indentations. A directionless chaotic mess. Then in the center is the remnants of a large bonfire. Large cut logs stand upright at each edge and a long thin straight branch hangs between them in cut grooves.  Ashes below gone cold. 

Beyond, there is a mound of red and orange fabric on the ground.

fireinthedust wrote:

So there's two different caves, and in front of them is the ashes of a bonfire that folks were dancing around, and in a pile on the other side are red and orange fabric bits?

As I see it, yes.

fireinthedust wrote:

1)  Do the footprints look like beast men?

Without a doubt.

fireinthedust wrote:

2)  Was Igrest wearing Red & Orange fabric?

After he put on the ring in the sanctuary you recall he suddenly threw off his tattered winter furs and ....See pg 110, #2190....

fireinthedust wrote:

3)  Do all the footprints go into one or both of the caves?

Impossible to tell from this distance. The rocky hill face is 60 ft away and the 2 openings are maybe 10-20 ft up off the valley floor.

fireinthedust wrote:

4)  (sigh) Did the beastmen eat Igrest and we're in front of their caves?

As the mighty magic 8 ball used to say - Reply hazy, try again.

fireinthedust wrote:

4a) Because if that's the case, I lament poor Igrest, but this is so on brand for this game. Lol.

It is decidedly so!


 

Last edited by Iron Ranger (5/03/2020 7:25 pm)

Eirvit wrote:

Gundrabu intently watches the barbarian askance. If the fighter shows signs of wanting to investigate the demise of his friend, Gundrabu will sigh and cast Bless. Then he will keep within 25’ of Kondor whenever possible.

"Okay, so this doesn't look great. However, we know they have a fire, shelter, and probably other supplies we could use. Plus they did try to kill us unprovoked, and they have a taste for human flesh, and they know where we are. Right now they're sated on Igrest, so there's a chance they're exhausted and maybe drunk. There's a good chance everyone is sleeping or distracted. We go in there, get rid of the beast men, and when they're all gone we can rest up for the return journey. We should probably find any lookouts or guards they left outside, but after a victory dance like this they might have left their guard down and he could be asleep on the job if we're lucky. If not, we take out this threat and then proceed inside. Sound like a plan?"

ooc: I should note I'm very much in the "orcs are inherently evil, and that's okay because that's their role in the game" group of RPG philosophy. If it was an all human group I'd feel bad about doing this to Esquimaux or Kimmerians, but these are beast men, and they just ate Igrest. I'm not a fan of racial stereotypes, which is why using inhuman species as foes is important so we can just get down to business.   
Admittedly, I do want to know if Igrest tasted like BBQ because he was a pyromancer, or like fish because he's Atlantean. Salty or smoked? These are important questions for science. The temptation to discuss this with them is real. But the immediate threat of these beast men cannot be ignored. I don't like it, but we're going to have to take these guys out.

“But something still burns within those caves. Let’s inspect the garments beyond, friend, then we shall investigate the cave.”

Gundrabu mumbles and casts Bless, lest there is a watch inside the caves. He hopes Kondor does not take long in this clearing, though Gundrabu kicks the cooling ashes as they pass, wondering if any trinkets fell from Igrest’s flesh as he charred.

Gundrabu keeps within 25’ of Kondor, for the maximum benefit of the spell.