Last time on Crown of the Kobold King, Scarab the gunslinger kobold meets two bird folk,
Colonel Cobb and Jacques in the town of Falcons Hollow.
Scarab lost his wagon and pig and hired the two birds to help him find it.
They meet with the sheriff of the town and learn of a missing person and a possible werewolf in the forest.
Our heroes then head to the lumber mill to get more information.
After Jacques near death from deadly mosquitoes, the group decides to camp in the forest for the night.
Our story continues now!
Good morning to all- oh we're in a forest with things that try to kill us.
I'm sorry.
Oh.
Sonny, Sonny, no no.
Colonel Cobb walks up, puts a hand on your shoulder.
He like, he like just kind of like falls away from your hand.
I uh, I shouldn't have spoken over you Scarab when we went to go talk to the lumber people.
It was a mistake I made and I'll never, I'll never forget.
Have you been in battle before?
I had so many nightmares all last night.
I kept saying the wrong thing.
You did fine, you did fine, Jack.
It's shock.
Sorry.
Scarab wants to uh, find tracks to find the next path.
Yeah, re-examining the tracks from yesterday before the attack.
In the light now you can see a little better that the large paw print seems to be much older than the set of boot tracks behind it.
Heads off further into the forest and if you'd like you're more than welcome to follow.
Is everyone still feeling up to the chase?
I'm feeling fine as a daisy.
Good, brilliant.
A dying daisy.
Not anymore, but I was dying, but I'm not anymore.
Just like a daisy that's not dying anymore.
We will have to be careful.
More bugs may exist.
I think we got them all.
I hope you're right.
I mean everyone knows there's only three mosquitoes in Goal Erion.
Good!
Uh, yeah.
Uh, Scarab will begin to move.
Alright, roll me a survival check to track.
Ew, a thick nine.
Biggest one you've ever seen.
I wonder if I can get...that's with your hunt prey bonus?
It's not.
My bad.
New in town, new in town.
It's okay, buddy.
I'd say an 11.
Actually.
That got it.
As you're walking through the woods, Scarab with his head low,
you begin to lose the tracks for a moment.
Not wanting to let the others know, you continue walking forward
and luckily enough, they pick up again.
The tracks here are becoming more and more fresh
and you're even starting to notice small examples of something large
making an egress through the woods.
Snap branches here, scattered leaves from shrubbery,
and even a small tree snapped clean in two, laying on its side.
Oh damn!
Hush!
We may be getting close.
Close to what? I'm sorry, what?
The wolf.
Are we sure this is a good idea?
Of course.
I feel great, yeah.
Okay.
Just stay behind your stepfather.
Yes.
And I'll stay behind you.
Sounds good, I'll lead the way.
Starts walking in the wrong direction.
A little to the right.
To the right, alright.
To the left?
Left.
Ah, feel like I'm in the army again.
Yo la, yo la, la, ah, wha.
He's just shouting.
He is so loud.
I like it.
That's his dady, man.
Hi, Fang.
He's loud, obnoxious, and very...
doesn't hide his mood at all.
When he's happy, he parties hard.
When he cries, he cries hard.
I love that.
Do you want to take that card back?
I'm keeping it because it reminds me that I have one damage on my sword.
Go ahead and roll me a perception check.
Everybody?
Everybody.
Everybody in the club getting tips.
Seventeen!
Eighteen.
Is that your total?
Okay.
Twenty-five.
As you're making your way further into the forest,
you suddenly notice a suspicious pile of leaves on the path before you.
The footsteps that you're following seem to go around the path itself.
Halt!
Cob corn, halt, halt!
No, Lord, okay, alright.
Colonel, that means stop.
I should know that by now.
I've done did it for over twenty years.
Getting rusty.
I'm getting rusty.
Thank you so much, son.
Colonel, shut up.
Sorry.
Come this way.
He tells them to like come off of the path a little bit.
Does anybody see a rock or something?
Right there.
I'm sure I have one.
Yeah, if a rock exists, Scarab will attempt to toss it.
No flutter as far as the eye can see.
Colonel points at his bicep.
As it should be.
Suddenly Dwayne comes from behind a tree.
Yeah, you find a rock in the back.
Yeah, he just wants to toss it on the bed of leaves.
Immediately the leaves give way and they all fall into what appears to be a very deep hole.
Scarab would then crawl up to the edge of the hole and attempt to peer in to see if there's any remains in there.
Within.
Within the hole.
Gazing down in the hole, it's deep enough in fact that you actually have trouble seeing the bottom.
Well, if somebody is in there, they're long gone.
I don't think it's much of our problem anymore.
I can cast light to as far as I can see.
And he'll do that.
Just cast light to.
He's got low light vision so as far as he can see, he'll cast light on the side of the wall.
As the light begins to illuminate down the hole, you can see that the pit itself is roughly around 20 feet deep.
Quite impressive.
But more disturbingly, as the pit nears the bottom, jagged spikes of rock appear to be sticking out from the edges and on the bottom itself.
And even worse still, there appears to be some mangled corpse down at the bottom.
Silly fool dug a hole, didn't know how to get back out out of it.
Hmm.
Give me a survival check.
Twenty one.
You notice that next to you on the ground, the path leading up to the hole are those same boot marks.
You would guess he wasn't so lucky.
Hmm.
I fear this might be one of the traps that that barkeeper was talking about.
I don't remember her name, but she was definitely talking about traps from a wolf.
Well, then perhaps the boots following could be that hunter.
Ah, the one that the lumber man was talking about. I understand.
Is that the hunter down there?
Could be. You want a check?
Are you the hunter? Hey!
Colonel, I think that he's dead.
Colonel, you suddenly feel a push on your back. No, I'm just kidding.
Just like you.
Yeah, I...
Twenty feet deep hole. That's time consuming. Holy shit.
Yeah, I don't necessarily want to climb down that.
No.
Well.
You know what? Hey, I got 50 feet rope.
Oh?
Yeah, let me just... He walks over.
Colonel walks over to a tree, ties the rope to a tree, holds the rope.
I'll be right back, all right?
And he jumps into the hole.
Colonel, okay.
Oh, no, no, no, no.
Being a skyborn Tengu, I take no falling damage.
As he's falling, he's flapping his fucking arms like...
Does that protect you from spikes too, being a Tengu?
Probably not.
Oh, okay. Good to know.
But he takes no falling damage.
Oh, wonderful.
Can I...
Okay, let's see. Math.
Sorry, Cody.
Give me a hot moment.
Give me a hot moment, because you could die from this.
Possibly. Hope not, but possibly.
Let me see if there's a way.
So you flap your way into this hole with the rope? Is that your deal?
What are you doing?
Yeah.
Yeah. Holding onto the rope, or are you just taking the rope with you?
Through the rope down, so the rope's hanging there, so he can get back up.
And what's it tied to?
The tree.
Okay.
As he's falling, could Scarab grab Jock's attention and possibly brace the rope?
No, but you could look down in the hole and shoot him.
Will do.
Just end him.
Yeah, you know what? Both of you give me an athletics check. One of you primary, the other one aiding.
I will aid.
Okay.
I will call to you for help before I do not have strength.
That is a 21.
I do not aid.
So Jock will see him jump down and be like, oh, and then grab onto the rope.
Yeah, so as you rapidly approach, you can see the spikes more clearly, fully impaled through the body at the bottom of the corpse.
Oh, hang on a second. Oh, oh!
Just as you get close enough, you feel the rope tug around your waist, slamming you into the side of the pit, but avoiding the spikes.
And now you dangle a mere five feet above a pit of spikes.
Oh, well, these aren't just rocks. They're spikes. They're spikes.
Yes, you're very heavy. You didn't have to jump down there with all of your armor.
Can you make out who it is?
Oh, yeah. Let me play with it. Starts fumbling through the body while he's hanging there.
You have 10 seconds before I start pulling you back up.
All right.
It appears to be a hunter of some kind. You know, he's not wearing a name tag.
Hello, my name is Minglebaum.
But he's down there. There's just a mingle corpse of a hunter.
And cool shit.
If you fiddle around on him, it looks like the bow miraculously did not break.
And he has a quiver of arrows that are mostly shattered, but there's about eight of them still in there.
Snatch, snatch. And he grabs those, grabs a rope and starts walking up the side of the wall.
You know, it might have been a better idea for us to just shovel some dirt in there.
Maybe then it would be a little safer.
That's why I keep you around. That's a good idea.
Yeah, well, you should have asked.
Hey, there's always next time.
What did you find?
A bow and eight arrows.
Now, I have no business using these, so you want it, son?
It is a composite short bow.
Ooh.
These are a little more pricey than the regular ones.
No, Colonel, I don't need a bow.
Give it to me.
Let me have it.
Sure, here you go.
Something we can sell.
Get some money for food.
Food.
I have no money.
Yes, it would seem the hunter met a dreadful fate.
We should keep following the paw prints and keep an eye on strange things like this hole.
Great idea.
You got a good rock throw, so what if you go first and I'm right behind you?
Okay, that's fine.
Got a better eye than me.
See, he has dead black eyes.
That stare into the void.
I'm ready to continue.
All right, give me another survival check.
Keep tracking this bad boy.
Just scarab?
23.
Only because he's the one who had the track.
23, it's a big boy roll.
As you continue along following scarab's lead, eventually you find yourself into a more rocky area of the forest.
Near the base of one of the mountain's ridges, you find some kind of cave or large opening on the side.
This could be it.
This could be the wolf's den.
Could I do a nature check or something to see if it looks like a den?
Sure.
23.
Oh ho ho.
While the nature of the beast, at least as far as you've seen, has been anything but that of a typical wolf,
it does stand to reason that if there is any aspect of it altogether that still holds on to its wolfen nature that it would reside in something like this cave.
This does appear to be some sort of den, I think, based on the tracks and the fur and the stench.
Hmm.
Does anyone want to go find out?
Colonel's already walking in.
Perfect.
Right behind you.
Follow behind.
Going into the cave?
Yeah.
Wait. Stop.
What is it?
Colonel, I'm gonna need a check from you.
Okay.
Ha ha ha.
Welcome to the episode where I just apparently try to kill myself.
I'm sorry, I don't need a check from you. We're just gonna see if this hits you.
Oh shit.
Uh, does a 28 hit your AC?
That does.
Okay.
Not a crit, though.
As you step into the cave, you feel a snag at your foot, followed by a shk-z-v-v-v-v-v-v.
And a large lumber axe comes whirling through the cave and collides into your shoulder.
There's no reflex save that I could assist on by saying wait?
Now no reflex save you cross the threshold it goes it's against AC
Not bad only six points of damage. Oh, I'm sorry 12 points of damage
There is now a large lumber axe lodged into your shoulder
Lest we forget the wolf can lay traps. That's what I was about to say
Carl Cobb comes staggering out
Pulls the axe out of him. You're supposed to leave that in there it stops the bleeding
And he lays on hands
Oh, oh wow
I'm gonna sit here for 10 minutes
And if allowed he proceeds to hang out for 10 minutes catch his breath
Well as you sit down
You hear a low grumble coming from inside the cave as
Two wolves jump out roll for initiative here we go
Here we go
Well son I didn't get to teach you much before I die I apologize
Step son actually maybe I did teach you a lot don't just walk into rooms
Take a look around
Yeah, that was one away from a crit. Yeah, it would have been cool
It was 2d 6 plus 6 if it had been a crit it would have been 46 plus 12
All right, Jack
18
Scarab 17
And Colonel 14
Colonel's gonna die
Eleven hit points, that's what I have right now
Whoa, thanks and no shield
All stamina is gone
By the graces of Cody he let me get that
That lay on hands before this started
By the graces of Cody
Well, you might not think me for long one of the wolves immediately attempts to bite at your leg
Don't forget about your points
That I'm gonna use my
Amulet subience I
Didn't say he was holding his amulet. We were holding it before what's it do? Um
You forcefully per its reaction you forcefully present your amulet to turn away harm you or a target ally
Colonel cob corn within 15 feet
Gain resistance to all all damage against the triggering
Damage the resistance is equal to 2 plus your level. So 3 resistance. Oh
my god
All right. Well, that is a 28 to hit that's a hit
And it would have been 6 damage, but it'll be 3 thanks to your ally
Tell you
That's awesome. So you have your own little form of liberating step. That's so cool. Mm-hmm
yeah, so
jock just like throws out his amulet and it like kind of shakes and catches the light from the
Ray the beams
The Sun beams coming through the trees and shines on to
The colonel's armor and kind of makes it glow
Wow, the light makes it to where the wolf's teeth don't sink where they need to and so it goes for a second bite
23 to hit that's a hit
Four points of damage
And then the wolf after shaking its head on your leg will pull back and retreat
It'll move 25 feet away and spin around growling
Up next is the other wolf
Who will then also run up to cob corn and take a bite it's two actions to do that
20 to hit. Damn. Yeah, that's a hit
Three points of damage
And then it will run 25 on the opposite it almost looks like they're attempting to circle
Actually, it's 35 i'm gonna move it 35 feet instead and next is jock
Can't believe the colonel's still standing right now one hp
I can't believe the colonel's still standing right now one hp
This would be a fun story for him to tell when he's level 20
Okay
well
He'll start off by unsheathing his
cane sword
He gave me the amulet, but I will do that
And he is going to exploit
vulnerability on this guy
I roll an esoteric lore
Against the standard dc for its level I rolled a
23
success
so
I recall an important fact about the creature learning its highest weakness
or
One of his highest if it has multiple of the same value
um, but not other weaknesses resistances or immunities
you can
Exploit either creatures mortal weakness or personal antithesis
So they don't have weaknesses or resistances
Uh, so rather than just giving you nothing
Uh, i'm going to give you
useful information
Uh, you notice as they're moving that they seem to want to stay close to the cave's opening
As if they're just here to guard
Also my weapon becomes magical against them
Whatever. Um, I mean that's great for you know, when you get to like a three-year-old creatures and stuff
They appear to be protecting the entrance of the den
um
I would step away if I were you colonel
It's very observant. I didn't know you could do magic
It's the power of observation
I'm a keen observer. How long have you been this boy's father?
Honest question a couple of weeks
Feels like my whole life he says as he's spitting up his pants
He says as he's spitting up blood and almost dead
He will
Just like yesterday we were at the bar together sipping on drinks
Just move a little closer to the white one. So hopefully they don't just both run directly
At the colonel again
Okay scare him
I
Play smart i'm gonna hold an action
For
If a wolf is to attack
How many district how many uh, how many things can I hold the action for because I know what it's really what I really want
Spend two actions for one action with condition so you set a condition if this then this
Yeah
I'm gonna hold an action for if I see my prey, okay
Uh colonel
Colonel will
Lay on hands give himself six hp which brings him up to seven
Draw his
hughan dao
sword and
I'm gonna hold a third action move 20 feet right next to jock
Keep your eyes open son. Don't know what they're gonna do
That's his turn
As you move back the wolves each in turn
Move towards the mouth of the cave and sit on either side of the entrance
growling
I would like to offer them rations
Okay
So could I toss it
to the side
Like uh, what's your plan like just to try to lead them away from the cave with the rations or
Yeah
Yeah, uh sure
I'll just spend an action to pull it out another one to chuck it
How far can I throw uh 20 feet by default?
I think
Yeah, I mean that's a regular bomb throw
You can't throw 20 feet should be an adventure
Sure, two feet's not that far. I've killed the dragon
Yeah, so i'd like to do that uh scared
Delay
Colonel
Recall knowledge. Do we already recall knowledge? We found out that they're actually wolves or are they just dogs?
Uh do a check we need uh nature
Damn
Uh, it's a waste
He'll just ready in action. I did actually have one more action
Go for it you can do now retroactivate retroactively just stop in the middle of my word retrobot
13 you think they're wolves
So
So with my three actions, I would like to yell into the cave
Anybody home? We're just simpler. So
I can't talk
I was attacked by your dogs, but
We're just simple travelers
Looking for a cart maybe a pig a world perception to see if he hears anything inside the cave
For an 18
Uh, no response and he will ready in action. That's it
Okay
uh the wolves continue to
snarl and growl
as jock takes out the
Ration and throws it aside both of their attention is drawn to it for a moment
And it almost looks like they really want to go but they stay in place still growling
Um
I might as well take my turn at this point. Um
They're staying at the front of the cave can I see
any
More fresh paw prints perhaps coming out of the cave. That's what I would like to look for
Give me survival or perception
I use perception that'll be a
24
You do see those big paw prints several tracks going in and out
What you would surmise to be the freshest of them is currently coming out of the cave
I don't think he's here. So they keep watch
Maybe we should
Back away slowly
I like that notion
Okay
And yeah for uh final actions scarab will
Walk away from the cave
You guys do the same oh, yeah, I I think that
um
Jock will first walk to
Where you threw the ration?
Pick it up
Throw back on the ground
Uh, and then throw it closer
It's soiled now anyways, and then he too will
After
Around start making his way back. Yeah as you all begin to back away
You can still hear their growling though it begins to lower
And as you are just at the point where the cave would be beyond vision
And you see the two of them look at each other before running over and eating at the ration be left behind
Good lad jock good lad
Cobb cohen, let me see that axe there pulls it out of his shoulder
Yeah detect magic yeah scarab scarab wants to see if there are any identifying marks I don't take magic
Outside of it looking like a lumber axe
Neither of you detect magic
Looking over the axe you do find a small insignia on the end of the handle reading lc
This axe is from the consortium
It's of the town
What does that mean to us?
Do you think that maybe?
this wolf
May not actually be
May not actually be a wolf after all I never thought it was now. I'm thinking it's a dwarf now
I'm thinking it might be one of the lumber
Chaps
I think that we should go back
Well, you pointed out some fresh tracks leaving the cave maybe we should follow those
After a 10 minute 20 minute break of course
30 minute 40 minutes 50 minute
I realize I have two focus points not one need 20 minutes
now I I understand
That if a fresh set of tracks
may seem
exciting to some
But that is not our quest. Is it not?
Our quest is not to find a wolf
Our quest is to find some man that went to some place that we don't quite know where it is
Is so maybe a man that meant missing
A man of the town. I think this could be him
It's quite possible
I think maybe if we take this back to the lumber camps that we might be able to get more information on somebody that may be missing
I don't think it's the man that went missing 10 10 years ago
I think it's a man that maybe went missing not too long ago that used to work for the lumber camps
How aged does this axe look?
Relatively new. I mean it's uh got some like bite marks in it
But it's not it's not ancient or anything like that definitely not 10 years old
Well, if that's what you wish
Just as of right now, I don't see us really getting anywhere out here other than chasing down our own deaths
It's uh
If you're afraid we can leave I am i'm not afraid to admit it
Probably should have brought some different people with me
This isn't going well
I'm ready to do anything as long as I hang out for 30 minutes
10 20 30 this is terrible
Uh, we just woke up i'm bleeding
Yeah, the scarab uh scarab will do what you guys wish
30 minutes go take a 30 minute rest. Yeah, go for it
Fantastic
All right, i'm good what were we doing going after the big werewolf
Wolf
That is what I would like to do
And what I would like to do is go back to the lumber camps. It's up to you
Why are you putting this on me? I think we should go after the wolf. I don't want to get spit on again
I'd rather get ravished by a wolf then spit on it
All you have to do is change a letter
But my sir is illegal not here it isn't
This town is rough and tumble rather brave or you're a coward
Okay desperate for
dogs
So what's the plan?
You had your 30 minute rest. You're not too far from the cave
To keep looking
You have a good idea now of where the cave is you feel like you could return if you needed to at a later time
They like the tracks are fresh
the trap was set by
someone with intelligence that we can actually talk to
Exactly
Because this is not a normal wolf
Now
We can talk to the wolf
Sounds
Sounds fun
We have different ideas of fun
Oh son put the hand on your shoulder don't touch me
The last two weeks have been hell for us. Let's have a little excitement
Shakes your hand off your shoulder
Here, okay
And we travel to our deaths
So are we gonna look for the wolf?
Yeah, yeah those those tracks where are we going back to town?
It seems that searching for the wolf seems to be the majority consensus
So we'll do that
Uh scarab will uh
track
We may be knocking out two humans with one stone right here
I prefer the saying stone two birds with one
hit
I like to keep birds out of it
Hurry up
I like
Herbs, okay
I said herbs
Stone two birds with one hit
Stone two birds with one hit stone two birds with one hit why do you want to stone birds? We're birds
Oh smoking
No, that's really bad shouldn't do that bad, but you know what you've got the freedom to do whatever you want
I'm being loud again. I'm sorry
Yes, could both of you just
I can't see when you're talking
Please take us real quick. Where are you going? What do you want to do following the tracks further along? Okay? I got you
Sorry, I was like waiting
I tried to tell them to stop they wouldn't
Once again following the trail it's not long before you begin to hear the distant sounds of
Something whimpering
Perception efforting. Oh, no sure
15 same five
well, uh
Colonel was
Most likely regaling you with another charming country anecdote
The two of you pick up on the sound and can kind of gauge its direction
But it sounds like the whimpering of some small creature coming from the undergrowth ahead
undergrowth
can uh, can I
Keep a lookout for traps sure
Putting three and four together. I believe something has been caught
or said a trap
Be careful good math colonel. Thanks. I'm gonna look for traps, too
I assume that's perception found one
11 perception traps
22 perception thank god
You're able to pinpoint the source of the noise and peeling back some of the undergrowth
You don't find any traps aside from the one that appears to be around the ankle of a small fox
The creature appears to have been snared inside of a cruel and crude iron trap
Does it does it look like if we free it that it'll be okay
Or does it look like it's done for?
Uh, you think you could help it escape
If you were able to either disable the trap with thievery or pry it apart with athletics
Don't be too hasty
Colonel's about to be hasty
Stop, okay
But look at him
Who set these traps? He's pretty cute
uh
Oh man the wolf we would presume
From the stories we've heard a trap within a trap
We can just wait, but you said you said there weren't any traps
I didn't I said that there is a trap right here
Oh on the fox. Yeah, but it could be a trap within a trap a trap used to trap
Hmm, look at the little fella. He's suffering. I gotta do something. What uh, what ideas do you have or i'm just gonna go over there and let him go
Yeah, looking closely you think that the creature
Even if freed might only last a day or so on its own unless it were to receive aid of some sort
I gotta help
Are you gonna go put your hands on it and colonel starts crying?
There there colonel he does kind of a an air pat behind you doesn't actually touch just
Look
You can't just you catch a fish with a small fish
And you use that fish to catch a bigger fish
That's where we're at right now
You're right
But this fish pointing to himself is too big to handle and he walks over to the fox
Okay
Uh athletics to pry it open I guess go for it
It's okay little buddy, I got you I got you
18
Well 16 because I don't have a crowbar
With a creak and a groan you snap the trap into freeing the fox. Hell yeah
And before it decides to run away, he's gonna reach down and lay on hands for six hit points. Okay
the
Fox begins to run but feeling your healing touch it turns back and very sheepishly and skittishly
Will run between your legs back and forth rubbing against your legs. Oh look at him
Look at him go. Oh
This is
the second best day of my life
at that moment
You hear a whistling noise
As an arrow flies through the air
and lodges
into colonel
If it is can't catch this big fish
Might be might be able to
No, it's pretty good
The arrow
Hits your armor with a loud clang and bounces off
Roll for initiative show yourself
Here we go
What if I were to roll stealth what if that uh, I think the two of you can roll stealth as an option if you'd like
Thank you. Yeah, just kidding
You know what you have to use stealth. I'm sure it's higher than the exception
Jock 17 rolling with stuff scarab
13
Colonel 15 nice
And I'm taking ten pieces away from everybody else.
Alright Colonel, another arrow whips your way.
This time it finds purchase and a gap in your armor with a 26.
Yeah, yeah it does.
Oof, you take eight points of piercing damage.
Oh!
I'm sorry, that would not have been a 26, it would have been a 21.
Okay, still a hit.
And a third arrow goes completely wide into the brush.
Roll me a perception check since you've been fired at three times now.
Okay, natural 20 for a 23.
Looking from the direction you think the arrows are coming from, you notice a small platform
ten feet above the forest floor in a tree.
And you can see standing on top of the platform is a hobgoblin with a bow.
Oh, interesting.
Oh boy.
Up next is Jacques.
Up there!
There's a green man!
Big ol' ears!
I was gonna try and sneak, but I imagine...
With all the yelling.
No, no.
Oh, Colonel's the one yelling.
Yeah, he's the one not giving you a better stealth bonus.
I'm alone, but look out!
What did you roll for initiative?
Matt, did you roll sneak, or did you roll perception?
Regular.
Okay, so yeah, you're good.
Matt's not hiding.
Scarab's not hiding.
Yeah, can I try and stealth closer?
Go for it.
Half speed.
Yeah, that's what I was gonna ask.
That's what I was gonna ask.
So send me back.
Half speed, and if you don't end in or behind something, you become seen.
I will say if you follow along that perimeter that's drawn on the table there, we'll count
that as a tree line.
So if you end behind that green line, you'll still be in stealth.
That's it.
Okay.
Colonel.
I understand that you're hungry.
I don't know if you speak common or not.
Do you speak common?
I would love for another arrow to just go through the air.
He opens his mouth and an arrow flies out.
He speaks violence.
Cursed.
That was a free action.
What are you doing?
Just waiting?
I don't know.
I mean, he doesn't respond.
He's just gonna fire again, probably.
So if I'm standing right here, will a 30 foot range hit him?
Probably not.
No, you need to be 10 feet closer.
Okay.
Yeah.
Colonel will lay on hands on himself.
That's one action.
He will cast shield, a cantrip, which creates a magical shield around him.
And run.
It's probably not covered within 20 feet.
He'll just run toward it 20 feet.
Same as with Jacques, if you hug the perimeter, you can hide behind trees.
It's a clearing itself, but it's just a big circular area of trees.
So anything on the outside of what is already drawn in green is considered behind a tree
line.
Okay, cool.
So yeah, his movement's 20 feet, so he'll get into the getting as close as he can staying
on the outside, staying in the tree line.
Close as he can to where?
Close as he can towards the hobgoblin.
Yeah, right there.
That works.
That's his turn.
And skip.
We're not here to hurt you.
Blammo!
Scare of fires.
Let's see.
We're not here to hurt you.
Bam!
What was it you said last step?
Dragon's fire!
That's gonna be a 15 to hit, a 17 to hit if it's my prey.
Neither of those will hit.
Damn.
Okay.
Would I be able to know if it's my prey?
Yes, you would get the bonus.
I would just let you know you get the bonus.
Also, you can hunt prey for an action, and I think you can have two.
It replaces the last one.
But you could pick it up again after.
You can only have one creature designated if you use hunt prey against a creature when
you already have one designated, the prior creature loses designation, and the new prey
gains it.
It lasts until your next daily preparations.
So yeah, I guess that would be another action though.
Since you're only gonna get one shot off next round anyway, you could...
I can get another shot right now though.
That's what I was gonna say, and then you could reload hunt prey and then fire on your
next round.
Yeah.
Possibly.
Not to play your character.
Sorry.
No, but that...
So sorry.
That was a thought.
Yeah, I'm going to do the Rockin' Tours reload and attempt...
Yeah, I'm gonna attempt a deception check as I reload.
There are more of us behind you!
Oh.
That's going to be a 23.
Deception.
Success.
Okay.
So what happens when he is deceived?
You become flat-footed to me.
Ooh, huge.
Nice.
I'm gonna take another shot as he's like turned around.
I'm gonna fire again.
Minus five, plus eight.
Stay.
Well, I just screwed up the mass in my head.
My bad.
There's an easier way to do this.
It's a 21 to hit.
That's a hit.
Oh!
Damn.
Two damage.
Oh.
Rolling ones on damage.
Fuck.
Yeah, that's my turn.
Alrighty.
As the bullet grazes over his shoulder, he whips back around, realizing your deception
and quickly fires an arrow back.
Ooh, almost a fumble.
12.
Thought I missed.
Another arrow.
22 to hit.
Hit.
Oh no.
Four points of piercing damage.
You're tied.
As the second arrow collides with you, he moves further on the platform to see if he
got you or not.
So he moves up five feet.
You can see him like lean over the edge with a hand over his eyes to try to see.
Jacques.
Roll me a perception check.
Jacques moved closer to the tree.
Oh yeah, sorry.
I moved 35 feet closer.
And that is a 15 perception.
As you stealth your way closer and closer, you can see this platform is mounted on a
large tree and behind the tree is a ladder leading up to the back of the platform.
Ooh.
That's what I was hoping for.
Alright, that's my turn.
Colonel?
Let's run along this tree line at a 20 foot movement speed.
Let's go all the way up to the tree.
Well, you're not stealthy.
No he's just, I'm coming.
I'm coming.
I don't want to hurt you, but you're shooting at my friend.
His head whips around watching you run around as you make it to the back of the tree.
You can see that ladder now too.
Is it closer to Colonel or closer to Jacques?
Closer to Jacques.
Okay good.
That's very good.
That's all of his actions.
Just want to talk.
We don't have to be shooting at each other.
I've got food.
Shut your mouth tasty human.
It is.
Oh you're in for a surprise with this one.
Scarabs turn.
Oh.
That tastes like chicken.
I'll have you know.
Say it with disgust.
Tsu.
Ugh, it tastes like chicken.
Actually I think chickens are cannibals.
They are.
For sure.
You really should have listened to me.
He's going to reload his gun.
They are behind you.
He's going to mark prey and fire.
Get him.
How long does he remain flat footed to you?
I was trying to find it.
It might just be for that.
I don't remember where.
Might be for that attack.
So if I was to try one thing.
If I was to try again on you, you'd get a plus four bonus to the diversion.
Even if I was trying to hide from you I would become hidden.
But I wasn't trying to hide.
But that also, like me hiding from you makes you flat footed to me.
So it's just for that.
Just for that guy.
Yeah.
Basically I could do it and be in the shadows.
But nah.
Yeah.
If the creature remains flat footed against the attack and then you become observed.
If you do anything else you become observed just before you act unless the GM determines
otherwise.
Okay.
Yeah.
Fire!
Good freaking shot.
25 to hit.
That's a hit.
Wow.
Six damage.
Joe was food.
Right?
So yeah.
Six damage.
That is all my actions.
Scarab is done.
You can see that your second hit was much more effective than the first.
He appears to be a bit shaken.
And he begins like almost scrambling.
He fires a shot back in your direction.
24.
Hit.
Damn.
Seven points of piercing damage.
He did.
That was bad though.
He then begins to spin around in place and he runs to the back and looks off the back
of the platform and he sees Colonel and takes a shot at him.
Hi.
So second shot is at a minus five.
And he misses completely.
We've got him scared.
Jacques.
The ladder is about 10 feet in front of you.
With 30...
35 minutes.
That's my whole movement.
Well I mean.
If you're moving at half speed.
You could drop.
Are you trying to end in sneak or are you trying to get some stuff down?
I was trying to get a sneak attack but...
Well the attack...
What is it?
Like I think you'd be fine.
You just can't end there and expect to be hit.
Oh yeah I know.
There's no point in me doing that.
So you could like make it up and if you had the action to hit I think it would work.
I wouldn't.
So I think I am just going to...
The ladder is only 10 feet in front of you.
So 20 to get to the top of the platform.
Oh 20?
And just put yourself next to him.
It's a weird shape.
So that's one action to get up to him.
He is then going to...
Yeah he'll just go to swing.
Is tumble behind just a move action?
I think so.
Tumble through it's an acrobatics.
Single action.
I have tumble behind.
Yeah the rogue move it lets you tumble through and then they're flat footed to you when you
do so.
He has not observed you.
I don't believe you.
Actually do me a favor and roll a stealth check as you pull up to him because you may
still be hidden.
20.
He doesn't notice you.
Cool.
So um...
Is that DC 19?
So yeah use tumble behind is tumble through but you add the things if you pass.
Whatever the things are.
I get a sneak attack.
Correct?
I have sneak attack.
I can use an extra die for my sneak attack.
That is a 14 to hit.
No it doesn't hit.
I will try again.
No!
Uh oh!
You're gonna blow it.
I'm fatigued.
From all this crouch walking.
Rolling a ladder.
That's what I get for rolling my damage first.
Okay that's my turn.
Alright Colonel.
Oh son no!
How?
You're 20 feet from the ladder and it's a 10 foot ladder.
Okay and I've got 20 movement speed so that'd be two actions to get to the top.
Are we doing half speed on ladders?
Uh I don't remember what the rule is.
For ladders.
I can find it.
Athletics.
Climb.
I'll tell you on mine I was just ignoring it unless it was like someone trying to climb
a wall but that's entirely up to you.
It's just because I didn't want to deal with looking up climb every time.
Yeah you were doing a difficult terrain for climbing a ladder like half speed.
Not for climbing a ladder.
Oh just full speed?
Yeah because it's a ladder.
For like climbing up something then yeah.
Just because I didn't want to deal with all of the other BS.
Like climbing a tree, yes half speed.
Because I didn't want to have to worry about what the difficulty of the climb was.
It's all... but.
Oh you gotta do a climb check for an action.
Okay so I need to do that too.
Yeah that's okay.
Yeah.
Climb check.
Here we go.
Twelve.
Yep you can move five feet plus five more.
So you can get up there in one action.
But I have to... so one action to get there the other action to climb.
So I have one action left.
Yep.
Okay.
So he's up there.
That's all that matters right now.
How far is the goblin, hobgoblin from him when he gets up there?
I mean the top of the ladder is technically where Felicia is standing.
Because I'm using a weird shape platform on the table you can assume climbing the ladder
puts you up next to Jacques, i.e. next to the guy.
Okay.
Tried talking to you, tried to be nice.
But you didn't want it.
I'm gonna use a peepee and shove him off the platform.
Believe athletics.
Come on.
Do it.
That's an 18 and that's even better.
23 to shove.
Success.
And so you shove him off the platform and he falls 10 feet.
In which direction?
So yeah, which direction did you want to shove him?
Towards scarab.
Okay.
So he falls off the platform landing flat on his back and he takes five points of fall
damage.
We literally have the upper hand.
Are we done now?
That's his turn.
Okay.
Scarab.
There's a prone hobgoblin in front of you.
About 55 feet away.
Slaps another bullet in the chamber and fires.
Beautiful.
23 to hit.
Okay, 23 is definitely a hit.
Yes.
Had to check the rules for being prone.
You get cover from ranged attacks.
You have to take an action while prone to take cover.
You can hunker down and you'll receive greater cover, which is a plus four to AC against
ranged attacks.
But it's not his turn so he can't.
Three damage.
Bit by bit.
Final action to reload.
So you reload, shot reload.
Okay.
He's going to stand up looking up at the two of you on his platform.
Stupid humans!
And then turn around and fire a shot at...
He's going to fire a shot at Scarab.
And miss completely.
And then whipping his head back and forth staring at y'all.
He begins to run.
Remember he only has one action left.
I do remember.
I'm trying to...
Okay.
He begins to run towards the way that you came from.
Oh, he's fast.
I'll never catch him.
Jacques?
Jacques will run and jump off and being a skyborne tango.
Yeah!
Taking no damage.
Remember that if you're doing a leap you can actually go horizontal so you can go out.
Oh, you're right.
You just need to get a running start first.
Which there's ten feet on the platform so you can definitely do.
Okay.
Another skyborne.
We might actually be related.
Athletics long jump.
That's so gross.
It's athletics?
What's the difference between leap and long jump?
Leap is straight up, I believe.
It says that you need ten... or fifteen feet.
Oh, fifteen?
Wait, wait, wait.
You can leap up to ten feet horizontally if your speed is at least fifteen feet.
Or up to fifteen feet horizontally if your speed is at least thirty feet.
And what is your speed?
Twenty-five.
Okay.
So you can jump ten feet.
Oh, okay.
So he's gonna jump down taking no damage.
Run right up to him.
And I'll use it.
My deal.
My PP.
And take a swing.
Of course, I got a nineteen on my first.
So that's a twenty-five to hit.
That's a hit.
Roll for damage.
He takes ten damage.
Ooh, wow.
A devastating spray of blood comes from the back of his armor and he cries out in pain.
He will attempt to swing again.
As you raise your arm, he holds his up.
Wait, please, wait.
Spookyness, spookyness.
He walks up, slashes at him with his sword cane, raises up his cane to hit him again,
and he says stop.
And he just like swishes his cane out and then stabs it into the ground and says, you
should have stopped before.
All right, the goblin falls to his knees and you're out of combat.
Unless one of you wants to take your turn to shoot him, in which case, Colonel, it's
your turn.
Yeah, Colonel will just.
Two-hand hurl your sword at him.
Yeah, Colonel will just jump off the same way.
He's clucking as he's waving his arms, runs up next to him.
All right, what's your name?
What's your name, my friend?
My name is Colonel Cobcorn, retired.
He spits blood out of his mouth, wipes it away.
Name Grung.
Grung Knife Tongue.
Nice to meet you.
Do you own a pair of wolves by a cave by chance?
No, no wolves.
Who does?
Who lives near you?
I don't know.
You hungry?
I will remind you that he tried to kill you.
Yeah, but he missed.
I guess he hit me once.
He didn't miss me.
Yeah, Colonel takes all his weapons.
What you got there?
Let me see.
He just starts fumbling.
No, no, no.
Give it to me.
Give it.
Mine.
Give it.
No.
Lay down.
Slapping your hand.
You disarm him.
What are you doing out here?
Hunting.
Want tasty man flesh.
God's stupid little fox.
Yeah, it's not a man.
We ain't man either.
You're calling us man.
We're not man.
I'm a man.
Yeah, I guess.
All right.
Male.
Yeah, we're male.
But are you looking for human?
What are you looking for here?
Yes, human.
Jabs at your armored shin.
Not a human.
That's a chicken leg.
God not stupid.
Chicken small.
You're human.
Just looks at you with his chicken face.
What are we doing with him?
Are we letting him go or what?
I don't.
Yes, let him go.
Yes.
He got blood on my shoe and I'm not quite happy about it.
He takes on a cloth, wipes off his blade and shoes.
See any strange folk running around here?
Just stares at all three of you.
Besides us, all right.
Grung not no strange.
Grung, give you what you want.
You let Grung go.
See any dogs walking around on their hind legs?
No.
How long you been out here?
I don't know.
Fair enough.
Aren't you part of a tribe or something?
Where's your tribe?
Maybe we just kill him.
He seems like he's of no use.
No, we don't have to kill him.
Grung is proud member of Knifetongue.
I don't care about Knifetongue.
I don't know what that means.
You don't have any information for us on the werewolf perhaps?
It's his people.
Or on this guy's cart.
Have you seen a pig around?
Pig, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig.
He's rubbing his forehead trying to think.
No, Grung no.
Oh, Grung no.
Grung, Grung, Grung.
In ground.
Big strange hole.
Ah yeah.
Stay away from those.
Bunch of spiky rocks and stuff.
Oh no, no, no, no.
Small fat human hole.
Oh, can you show us?
Grung not go there.
No, no.
But Grung can tell.
Okay, where is it then?
Yeah.
Let's hear it.
Let's hear what useful information you have because so far you've given us nothing except
I guess those weird weapons that you had and bow and whatever.
Let the man speak.
Well Grung was walking wanting tasty man flesh.
And Grung see tasty men.
Not too many, too many.
Big axes.
So Grung wait.
And then Grung see Hunter and follow him.
Grung is better Hunter.
Show him Hunter.
Yes.
But stupid Hunter fall into a hole.
That way.
He's pointing not in the direction of the pit that you've already seen.
That way.
Big hole in ground.
Stairs go down.
Now let Grung go.
Okay buddy.
Okay.
I don't know if we should here.
Just find new weapons and attack us again on our way back home.
Don't worry son.
I'm going to roll sense motive right now just to see if he's telling the truth.
It's all right.
13.
Sorry I want you to roll sense motive.
Do you want to?
Yeah.
Plus three.
13.
I did roll a 13.
Wow.
I mean he looks like he's really fucked up right now.
So if he thinks he is lying or if you if it doesn't make sense for him to lie unless he
just doesn't care about dying and it doesn't look like he cares about that over you know
he's not trying to throw his life away for a meal.
Listen buddy.
You shouldn't be attacking you know things that walk on two legs.
We're all civilized.
You're civilized.
I'm civilized.
These two here civilized.
What about chickens?
Not me but.
What about ostrich?
What the hell is an ostrich?
Anyway I've got food.
Human sized chicken.
Listen.
I've got food.
Please take this.
It's a week's worth of food man.
Come on.
You two are terrible survivalists.
Just handing out weeks rations to everyone.
Well I thought it would help us and then it was already soiled.
I'm not going to eat it when it's on the ground.
You giving him our food isn't going to help us either.
Yeah I don't see the point in this one.
I was actually trying to do something with it.
This guy's already ready to go.
He's confused and hungry.
He's running away with the tray.
Wait you forgot your bow.
Oh well.
All right.
Poor little bugger.
He's just hungry.
He doesn't know what he's doing.
Scarab is in his head.
I made a bad choice.
I made a bad choice of losing my cart.
It's much easier alone.
Listen my friend.
Oh yeah you said that to yourself.
Never mind.
He's dusting himself off wiping blood out of his holes.
That hurt pretty bad.
Colonel Corn in your hands you are now holding a long sword and a short bow.
Wow.
Another bow.
I can't use these things.
Anybody want a bow?
Just take it with you.
All right.
Do you know how to make money?
At all.
He doesn't.
My characters don't know how to make money.
You sell that.
Or just hold it for me to sell please.
Does anyone have a bandaid?
Do I need to rest to use the resolve?
I can.
Ten minute rest.
Yeah I'm gonna have to rest.
I can treat wounds on you.
I'm down five HP.
If it's.
I have six HP basically.
Can I do treat wounds on him Bob?
Yeah give it a go.
And you're trained in medicine?
Yeah.
He is a doctor after all.
Nice.
That's a fail.
I rolled an eight.
Well what's it mean?
I don't think it means anything.
Only if I critically failed you take damage.
But you are immune for an hour.
It's all right friend.
And Colonel will lay on hands.
For six points.
Thank you.
I'm glad you did that after you already rested so that you can't get the focus back.
That was cool.
Yeah I'm at zero focus right now.
Love it.
Wonderful.
Just then.
Just kidding.
Well you guys want me to do that again.
We need 20 minutes.
I'm also fatigue.
Oh no.
How long does that rest?
Last?
Until I get a full night's rest.
Yeah it's full rest.
Big oof.
So I guess you guys aren't ready to go face to face with a dwarf that might be a wolf
as well.
I'll be ready in 20 minutes my friend.
20 minutes.
I'm just a little tired.
I could go for some sleepy time tea.
It's 10.30 in the morning.
You've been awake for an hour and a half.
I just could use a nap you know.
We can take a 20 minute nap.
That's totally fine.
I don't want a 20 minute nap.
Until I want to go to bed.
What are we doing?
It's fine if we don't.
His AC is down by one and his saves are down by one.
Remember what you did to Niren?
I did a lot to Niren.
I had that but two.
I don't remember.
It was the spectral skeleton made him fatigued too.
Took forever to get that away.
He just got it away before our last episode.
I don't remember.
It was two days.
Well I'm down to let Cobcorn rest.
Scarab would attempt to refine the path or just go the direction of the hole if those
don't intervene.
Should we rest for 20 minutes?
Then go to the hole.
Sounds good to me.
So yeah we'll hunt prey on our quarry again.
Once again you forge a path deeper into the woods following along these large paw prints.
For what feels like hours you continue to traverse further and further away from civilization.
More and more now the trees begin to thin and you see more and more of the rocky crags,
the basin of the Five Kings Mountains.
And ahead of you lies a large stone structure built into the ground and partially into the
wall with large symbols carved stone and from it emerges a great wolf.
Easily two to three times the size of an adult male this wolf is absolutely massive and all
of its body is covered in scars, open wounds and even a few embedded axes.
A great gash goes across one of its eyes as it looks at all of you and slowly lumbers
forward and in your minds you hear, why have you come here?
And that's the end of our tale for today.
We're gonna die.
This is a bad idea.
Hey man, it talked to us first.
Just don't say anything stupid.
We can talk to it maybe.
I believe this axe belongs to you Colonel Crozias.
Scarab is nowhere to be seen.
Maybe don't show him the axe right away he's got a bunch of other axes stuck in him.
Poor little fella, he's probably hungry.
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Thank you for being a traveler on the Cursed Caravan.
Oh, you know what that means.
I kept mine over here.
Thank you.
Here, get this shit out of my face.
Sorry.
It was supposed to go a little towards you.
I didn't mean to drop it straight down.
Put it in the back.
I need to reduce.
Reduce, reduce.
Reduce.
Recycle.
You guys ready?
Hell yeah.
Scatter.
I agree Felicia.
We should play some Smash later.