After putting out the fire and setting back out on the road, Chip decides that Jimmy is a perfect name for her pet boar. Now sitting on top of the boar, she asks Saaya for some help in creating makeshift reins to attach to the tusks and make the ride easier for both the mount and rider. After an uneventful few hours, the group stops for lunch. Chip begins humming a song that makes everyone stop eating and just revel in the sound. Then, immediately after, she tries to shoot a bird and misses completely- but fetches it and attempts a second time successfully. Then she feeds Jimmy the bird. Not too long after that, as the group walks in silence, Saaya and Chip notice dark spots strewn about the path a little farther up.
“Why’d we stop?” Vall questions but Saaya just holds up her paw and shushes him.
Saaya bends down and points out the paw print she is looking at, which is surrounded by blood droplets and dwarven or halfling sized bootprints. Purot points out that the prints seem to go off to the west while the boots seem to follow the path before they seem to vanish.
“It must be some sort of mountain lion or black panther,” Saaya mumbles.
“Those are the same thing,” Purot blinks, “They’re just large cats classified under the same genus.”
“Okay, whatever, Purot.” Saaya rolls her eyes and returns her attention to the prints.
“I think we should continue to follow the path. It might be that dwarf that we heard about back in Mooren,” Vall suggests.
“I guess, but I think we should follow the cat prints. We’ll be more likely to find something.” Saaya counters.
“But our mission is to stop that crime and following the path seems more pertinent.” Purot cuts in.
“Yeah, I know what you mean, but that’s a dead end.” Saaya insists.
Purot blinks at her for a moment, “No. It’s a path,” He says deadpanned.
“This blood is relatively fresh,” Chip pipes up and draws attention back to the scenery, “Maybe only a couple hours old.”
“Path it is then,” Saaya begrudgingly agrees.
About two hours later, the group is still walking down the path but they hear rustling in the bushes behind them. A large cat with tendrils that end in spikes and seems to blur into two creatures jumps out of the foliage and comes at the group from behind. Caught off guard, the group needs to act fast.
“Get in there!” Chip calls out to Saaya while she runs around from the front of the group to the back and thunder waves the beast, which makes it flinch ever so slightly-but it only shakes its head.
“May the gone protect me,” Purot whispers as he places a hand upon his chest and a slight shimmer forms around him.
Vall charges the big cat and swings twice, with the first one being a slash across the beast's muscular frame and the second causing flecks of blood to spray across the dirt. He then backs up, which results in the cat taking advantage and slashing at him with one of the nasty tentacles sprouting from it. Vall takes the hit across his back and almost knocks him to the ground before he vanishes into the foliage.
A second cat emerges from the forest and launches itself at Saaya, one of its tendrils missing her entirely but the second of its tentacles slam into her and make her shuffle backwards a bit. The first cat does much the same but manages to get a good shot at Chip’s head and makes her see stars briefly.
Saaya tries to take a measure of revenge against her fellow felign and manages to slash its hide… but that only enrages it. The second slash seems to make it doubt continuing the fight for a second but it remains prepared to go on. She then proceeds to move so fast that the beast can’t keep up and she ducks behind a nearby tree.
Chip begins to glow and after a moment the illumination sinks into her and turns her skin a tint of gray before she whispers reaffirming words to herself.
Purot points at the catlike creature and whispers, “May the dead guide me,” and then launches pure rot into the beast but for the most part it shrugs off the effects, though it seems to still be suffering from the poison that had been launched at it. A surge of magic bursts from Purot and turns Vall, Sayaa, and a cat invisible.
Vall pulls out his hand crossbow and fires at the beast that remains visible and it sinks into the thing. He then turns visible and ducks back behind the tree he was at.
The beast in front of Chip lashes out at her again but the strikes slam into the ground and dust launches into the air while the other beast begins coming at Purot but doesn’t quite make it within striking range.
Saaya misses her first slash, not having expected to become visible, but in the upswing she manages to slash across the blurry beast’s chest. Then she tries to uppercut it only to be batted away by a paw.
“You’ve also got this!” Chip yells to Purot before she takes out her rapier and attempts to skewer the beast. She manages to dig her blade into one of the creature's tentacles despite seeing double.
Purot throws a cold, dead wisp at the cat but it lands into the ground instead and proceeds to hide behind Saaya, who is a much more experienced combatant.
Vall fires at the cat coming after Saaya and Purot and manages to sink a bolt into the creature’s back hide.
The second cat tries to fight through its poisoned state of mind but Saaya nimbly dodges out of the way. The first cat misses Chip once again- but tired of its failure it comes back with a ferocious might and slams with all of its might one of the tentacles onto her head, with Chip remaining strong and standing.
Saaya attempts to slash at the poisoned beast in front of her but instead has the shortsword lodged into a tree and is knocked out of her rhythm but still manages to slam her fist into the side of this non-panther.
“Are you guys doing good?” Chip yells out to no avail. She once more tries to make the creature back off with a thunder wave but while it is pushed back it remains steadfast.
Purot throws caution to the wind and charges into the fray, throwing his hand downwards and summoning a blade of shadow into his hand before striking at the beast by Saaya… and nothing else happens. The beast suffers a headache.
Vall uses his hand crossbow and tries to shoot the one closest to him but completely whiffs, which causes him to flee nearby the river and try to hide in the foliage again.
One of the beasts lashes out its tentacles at Purot and Saaya but manages to hit absolutely nothing. The other beast attacks Chip and slams into nothing but the ground as well.
Saaya manages to punch the beast in the face and hears a crack, the thing’s nose fracturing but she doesn’t stop and follows it up with a blow to the side of its head. Prepared for the third blow, the beast ducks and Saaya almost punches the tree.
Chip uses her rapier and cuts up the cat in front of her once again but it's still going strong.
Purot reaches out and sends electricity throughout the body of the beast by him and it drops to the ground, which allows Purot to begin moving to help Chip.
Vall sits up and runs around the tree and tries to shoot the remaining beast but the crossbow itself jams, so he then retreats into the water and hides.
The final beast slams both its tentacles into Chip’s chest and the spikes on the tentacles sink into her chest.
Saaya rips the shortsword out of the tree and woodchips spray across the forest before she storms towards the beast and waits patiently for it to strike.
“Get in there, you got this!” Chip yells, still holding onto the tentacles, at Vall. She throws out a thunderwave that slams into both the creature and Saaya- though they both remain up and engaged in the combat.
Purot points at the last beast and sends a bolt of pure death into the thing and rot takes a bit of a hold over it. Even still, it rages on.
Vall runs up to the thing, having jumped out of the water, and brings his blade down onto the beast’s back before retreating. The feline lashes out at him but misses as Saaya and Chip continue pressing in to attack.
The beast, laser-focused on Chip, slams the tentacles into Chip’s head and she collapses, blood pooling around her despite still breathing.
Saaya pierces it with a renewed vigor after seeing the thing down Chip and slashes both of its tentacles off and then buries the shortsword deep into its throat with almost ballerina-like grace.
Now that the threat is dealt with, Saaya and Purot begin scouring the nearby area for the Dwarf that couldn’t have gone too much further. Saaya manages to find not only the Dwarf’s prints but the Dwarf himself!
“Take… take this to Whitestone. It’s with great grief that I leave this world today.. I- I was able to escape the assassin… but it was the beast that ended me…” The Dwarf, which is not Hemlock whom they were looking for but rather a royal guard from Kraghammer, whispers while he presses a letter, which has the same essage as the one we found on the dead knight, into Saaya’s hand and the Dwarven Lord’s Hammer falls from his grip. Then he was gone. The only difference in the letter is who it was addressed to: Ironkeeper Gradim Greyspire.
Comments