[Game Thread] The Encampment

[Explosionguy]

Dice Evade the splodey man:

d20+2

(6)+2

Total = 8

Ouch.

"Well, look at that. He disintegrated."

He sighs deeply.

"Since he cashed out, what do we do with the other guys? I doubt they'd know as much as he did."

[DraconigenaArma]

"They're also less likely to blow up." Thomas adds. "Talking to them would be less... problematic."

[Angarato]

Angarato takes a step back as the negative energy blasts hits him hard. Taking a moment to center his thoughts and feeling the pain of his wounds, Angarato makes a slight

Dice Cure Light Wounds:

1d8+2

(4)+2

Total = 6

motion of his hands and says "Irisv Ezoukeic"

Instantly feeling much better, Angarato has come to the conclusion that dealing with these cultist will yield nothing of value. He marches out front and grabs the conscious cultist and marches him to the living garden and throws him into the middle. Cautiously moving around the side of the house, Angarato proceeds to carry the remaining cultist to the garden and deposits them for the living plants to do with as they please.

As he walks into the house, he looks at Thomas and says, " If they had known anything, the priest would of taken them out when they were together. "

Heading toward the kitchen, Angarato searches out Maggie and Sergie to thank them for their hospitality upon seeing them a warm, appreciative smile adorns Angarato's face and he says, " Thank you so much for sharing that wonderful meal, it was unfortunate that the Raven lunatics decided to intrude on our get together. Thankfully, nothing too serious happened. On a positive note, your garden will be well "fertilized" for a little while. Thank you so much your your hospitality. I, however, have taken a room at the Green Duck Inn, I suppose I should be getting there so I can rest before our journey."

[Valistar]

The plants quickly work on "composting" the men tossed to it. Fortunately, the plants are pretty good at figuring out what is "edible" and what is not. Most the things the men had on them are left on the ground untouched, though the uniforms are shredded. The intruders are now dealt with and everyone is a bit safer.

Maggie and Sergie have moved themselves to the living room now and Maggie has cast a mass cure spell on the party, healing them completely of whatever damage they may have taken. "Well, I'm glad they are all gone so we can stop hiding, at least for a while. Before you go Angarato, I've got a present for you." Maggie pulls out an ornate cedar rod with a fiery orange gem mounted at the top. "While I suppose you could try to use it as a mace or club, I have imbued the staff with a produce flame spell. It should work about 5 times a day for you. Have a good rest, though you are welcome to stay here if you desire. I'll give Basementicus some cookies in the morning." Maggie hands the rod to Angarato and then sits back down in her arm chair. The couple seem mostly undisturbed by the events that had happened this day, continuing on as if nothing had really happened.

Important OOC OOC: In your personal thread roll a 1d6. The number you get is the ability that you will gain 1 point in (so if you roll a 3 you would get +1 con, if you rolled a 6 you'd get +1 cha). These ability point gains will often be used by me as rewards for encounters that I'm not giving you a level for.

[Explosionguy]

Basementicus decided to assist in ridding the premises of the thugs and collecting their belongings. He took all but the scraps of clothes. He finishes helping and joins the rest inside where he leaves what he collected on the couch in the living room.

"That's that then. I suppose we'll be seeing you in the morning. There might still be a few things we could pick up for some odd jobs we could do around the mission area; like a pickaxe or a hammer and chisel for example. I think I recall hearing of valuables embedded in the library, such as gems. Oh, and maybe some more rope since we used some tying those guys up."

He yawns and considers something carefully. He was going to ask Maggie something.

"Hey, mom. I wanted to ask you about those plants outside. The ones that cause paralysis. Those things are super potent! I don't suppose you could distill me some kind of poison from them? It's just that I have these chambered darts here and nothing to fill them with."

[Aarroun]

Being bent over, retrieving a piece of silverware that had fallen under the table, Reynard is able to avoid the full effect of the priest's self immolation. Standing back up, he listens to the voices from the other room but doesn't hear any cause for further alarm. Relaxing, he sits down with the scrolls he received earlier and begins to study them.

After the noises from the garden have died down and Angarato returns inside, Reynard hears about the grizzly spectacle in the living room. He offers Maggie and Sergie an apology for the mess and leaves to go clean it up.

Making use of the prestidigitation spell makes cleaning up the remains of the priest easy enough and the dust is collected in a pouch which Reynard casually hangs from his belt. After, he takes the robe outside to shake out, ensuring no clinging pieces of dead guy are left over.

Giving Angarato a friendly smile as he's about to leave, Reynard says, "Walk safe out there, it's getting dark. We'll come find you in the morning." Reynard walks with him to the edge of the property to see him off, waiting in the shadow of the hedge. As, Angarato turns a corner out of sight, Reynard finds himself alone except for Isabel, who seems to have followed them outside, "Hey there girl, think you could find where that raven fell?"

[Valistar]

Isabel makes the canine version of a shrug and wanders outside. After a moment she wanders back in with the dead raven in her mouth and drops it on the ground in front of Reynard looking at him with expectation. Despite being only a red wolf, she was very large (about 320 lbs), so the bird looked very small in her mouth.

[Aarroun]

Reynard accepts the bird and thanks Isabel with a scratch behind the ears. He goes back to the old couple and explains that he wanted to find out how the birds' ability to drain strength works, "I'm wondering, is it a disease, a poison, a curse perhaps, or some other supernatural power that they've just acquired from long exposure to negative energy. I feel like you might have an easier time identifying the source of this unnatural ability that I would."

[Valistar]

"We have studied the birds during the last rise of the cult. Most of the modifications that the cult does to living beings is with negative energy. The bird's attacks sap a person's strength through these modifications. Unfortunately, the ravens can reproduce now with this modification. This terrible magic also has a tendency to make them resistant to negative energy, but also positive energy. Raven cult members tend to be harder to heal than most because of this. But at the same time, they can also survive with no problems in places like the wastelands where negative energy lingers. These modifications also make them a lot easier to raise from the dead, which is why Cid Civid keeps coming back so easily. But to answer your question more directly, think of it as more a combination of long exposure to negative energy mixed with a curse." Maggie answers grimly. She had dealt with far too many of the cultists when she was younger. "We don't know for sure where the main temple is this time, but regardless I recommend avoiding the mountain range to the south. Historically speaking that is where the temple tends to appear, though it does move around. When we assaulted the temple we found that they were using molten lava as a natural moat."

Maggie smiles and then wanders back to the kitchen and hands pie to everyone for dessert. Then she hands a small wooden case to Basementicus. "These are the cookies I baked earlier. The box should keep them from crumbling. When you leave tomorrow I have some food to send with you as well. Basementicus, I do have some poison already made from the plants, and I'll even fill your darts for you. Just... just be careful with them. I'm immune to the poison, but you are not. In any case, you all have a long trip ahead of you and should get some sleep." Maggie gestures to the stairs. "There are four bedrooms up there, choose any of them. We'll be down here, we don't really sleep upstairs anymore in our old age."

[Explosionguy]

Basementicus is at the table with a plate of the pie. The prophecy of dessert had been fulfilled.

"Thanks, mom! I have been missing your baking. Also, I do have a knack for applying poisons, but here's the set of darts. Just as a precaution, do you think I could get some antidote for the poisons? I'd hate to slip up."

Basementicus hands her the small bandolier of darts and the wad of herbs he collected and pauses as he remembers something else.

"Oh yeah, I was introducing one of the cultists to Hubert the squash. He said he wanted a sandwich. I figure I owe him one for a job well done."

He finishes his pie and goes to the kitchen.

[DraconigenaArma]

All this talk about the raven reminds Thomas of the bounty, and he takes a moment to break the bird's beak off its corpse and stow it in his backpack.