View source for Breaking the Mold, part 1

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== Log Info ==
*Title: Bold Mold, part 1
*Emitter: Faranmidahn
*Characters: Ashes, Burai, Lysos, Randolf, Rocky, Rumbo
*Place: Felwood, Ghost Town
*Time:  Wednesday, August 19, 2020, 7:35 PM
*Summary: The Roly Poly Party has been sent to assist a town near the Felwood. Upon arrival, it is deserted. Ashlee uses a 'Detect Thoughts' spell and finds some, but they turn out to be only regular field mice. She captures one and convinces it to stay in her jacket. Randolf discovers a dead half-orc, who is shrivelled and had a violent death. They determine Mindslave Mold is involved, and Rumbo who kicked the corpse with his peg-leg, now frantically burns it. Burai has discovered a trail while in jaguar form, and agrees to lead the party and follow it. Rumbo meanwhile, decides burning the forest is the only solution, and attempts to set fire to it. Everyone rushes to stop him, with Lysos and Ash dousing it with water. Tracking the villagers, the party comes upon an 'encampment' of sorts, several prisoners and with a moldy perimeter guard. Rocky moves to be a defensive wall, while the others consider their ranged options.</div>

<pre>-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  Appearing  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ashes        5'11"    177 Lb     Hobgoblin         Female    A somber arvec in grey clothes with a skull face
Burai        6'10"    280 Lb     Half-Orc          Male      Brawny half-orc, primal and uncivilized.
Lysos        5'6"     105 Lb     Human/Tsuran      Female    Completely black eyes. Kind of creepy.
Randolf      4'10"    280 Lb     Mountain Dwarf    Male      A burly, well-dressed Khazad in wizardly robes.
Rocky        6'8"     460 Lb     Sith-Makar        Male      A grey Sith in armor, bit like a statue.
Rumbo        3'2"     35 Lb      Goblin            Male      A gun-toting gobber with a wooden peg-leg.
=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  As the GM  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Faranmidahn  3'3"     35 Lb      Halfling          Female    Albino Lucht woman in black leather armor with a BIG spider
=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=</pre>

Near the border of the Felwood, some leagues from the capital, there was a letter sent to the Guild, describing a bizzarre madness claiming one of the elder's wives. She was driven off, but two people were left dead, and several more badly wounded, and several of the village guard trying to find her.

It's taken a couple of days of gathering and travel time to reach the settlement.

::To reach...

::::A ghost town.

Rocky shuffles a bit, muzzle raising into the air as he chuffs softly, taking in the scent of the place. "This One thinks we were to be met, yes? Someone should be here. Someone. Anyone."

Randolf glances around, a dour scowl on his bearded face and his hand resting upon his wand in its holster. "Och, is anyone -else- gettin' the collywobbles from this place?" he grumbles. "Fer a happy, thrivin' village, this place sure's hell dinne seem te be verra happy -or- thrivin'."

An ashen Arvec in faded clothes, once vibrant and now grey, with a skull for a face and riding a pale horse, is an appropriate visitor. A mourner of Vardama, collecting bodies and making sure spirits reach the afterlife is her calling, and like most mourners she's creepy enough she seems halfway there.

Perhaps that was why she was sent, some suspicion or expert reading between the lines. For most of the trip she has lurked near Lysos who seems to tolerate her presence well. She doesn't speak much, converses awkwardly, and stares almost all the time. These penetrating, intense looks have been lavished across Randolf, Rocky and Rumbo.

The sith'makar's question prompts her to say, "We still might be."

The Felwood holds great personal interest to Burai. And so here he is, looking around the empty village with a sense of unease. "I am generally uncomfortable amidst the trappings of civilization," he muses. "Abandoned civilization is even worse. Whether it was abandoned willingly or otherwise."

Rumbo hobbles along on his wooden peg-leg and keeps his muzzle also in the air as he looks around. "It looks like how we left a town when we raided it on the Golden Cockatrice." The muzzle of his dragonspitter lowers as the goblin points with it out into the village. 'Many people were here?' Rumbo's voice becomes rough as he speaks in Tradespeak. <goblin-talk>

Lysos blinks a few times when she realizes that the town seems empty... it's the lack of sound that likely gives it away. She squints, as though struggling to see more distant than the nearest house, then shrugs and gives up, turning her head sideways to regard Ashes with her black eyes. "I don't suppose you can do.." She pauses, lifts a hand and waggles her fingers.. "That thing you do to give us some clues, could you mourner?"

<pre>GAME: Ashes casts Detect Thoughts. Caster Level: 3 DC: 15</pre>

"Sure." Ash says, slipping down off her horse. The first thing she does is take out her holy symbol, which is a tiny set of scales, and shake it. It makes a tiny 'clink'. "Feiu of the Tears, let me find the minds." There's no visible effect, although her eyes are more penetrating now.

She walks towards the town, concentrating on the area in front of her. Her path drifts so she can pass close enough to buildings, fences, trees, and drag her hands along them. She walks without urgency, casually and quietly. If it wasn't for the tracks she leaves and occasional disturbed leaves, she would seem like a ghost.

The thoughts of herr partymates as she stares at them. Also, really basic ''bigthing! bigthing! hide! Hide from bigthings!'' from seveal sources.

Rocky takes a look around in a rather more mundane and slightly louder way. The armored lizard isn't what one might call brash, but he's not exactly subtle.

<pre>GAME: Randolf casts Mage Armor. Caster Level: 3 DC: 14</pre>

Randolf squares his burly shoulders, gulping softly. He lifts his hand and turns it away, palm facing outward. "Re ex re su scutus!" he incants softly. A sphere of softly glowing silver-blue hexagons whirls out from around him, locking into place before vanishing with a flash. "There. Now I feel a -wee- bit better," he grumbles, resuming is glowering scowl as he looks around the abandoned village. "But only a -wee- bit.

"There are presences," Ash says, louder than usual but still in her typical monotone. "Simple thoughts. They are hiding from us, the 'bigthings'. You are near some Rocky."

The village shows some signs of struggle here and there to more mundane eyes. Cookfires in huts allowed to burn themselves cold, meals scattered half eaten. As the large, scaled warrior overturns a bushel about in time for Ashes' advisory, there s a frantic squeaking and several well fed field mice scurry in a spray away from the bipeds. Fleeeeeeeeeeeee-squeak of Terror!

The village looks like it probably had about 40 some-odd people in it.

<pre>GAME: Rumbo rolls Perception: (2)+9: 11</pre>

Rumbo nods slowly at the Arvek Nar's words and mutters quietly, "Hiding. This is exactly how the Golden Cockatrice left small villages." Then as he hobbles forward on his wooden peg he speaks in his rough Tradespeak 'Looking better. Seeing maybe say it loud.' Rumbo's head turns slowly as he peers around with his beady yellow eyes, the dragonspitter in his hand pointing where he looks. <goblin-talk>

Rocky chuffs softly, unsurprised the 'presence' turns out to be mice... he's been called 'bigthing' before. "Does not answer what happened. An infection of some kind? Werewuff? Undead? This One knows not."

''Flee!Flee!Flee!Bigthing run! Flee!''

Lysos does her best to poke around, though she does her best to stick close to people, preferring not to get lost. "Are there maybe signs of people leaving?" she asks, concerned about the half-finished state of the meals. "Did they run?"

<pre>GAME: Ashes rolls stealth+3: (7)+11+3: 21</pre>

"I don't know." Ash replies concisely. She approaches one of the houses, letting her hand drift along the doorframe. "I'm going to look inside here."

Perhaps touching the abandoned meals, or utensils or things in the main room or bedrooms will give her more insight.

<pre>GAME: Burai rolls survival: (9)+12: 21</pre>

"I can change into an animal form and try to pick up their trail," Burai offers. "I won't be able to speak," he adds. Then he does so, changing in mid-stride and slinking around the edges of the area.

<pre>GAME: Randolf rolls perception: (10)+2: 12</pre>

Randolf glances over towards Ash, lofting a shaggy brow. "Bigthing?" He looks down at himself. "I'm no -that- big, am I?" He starts trundling around, looking this way and that, hither and yon. Something catches his eye, and he stops up short. "Eh?" He turns his lumbering gait towards the edge of the village. There, he stops by some shrubs. He squats himself down, peering down under the underbrush. He pulls his wand off his hip and gingerly pokes. "Oy! Anyone down there?" he grumbles.

Rumbo stares as the jaguar, that had moments before been his half-oruch traveling companion, prowls off. The comments from the Khazdul wizard draw the goblin's attention though and a smirk appears on his wide mouth. "Plenty big!" Rumbo exclaims in the common tradespeak, then gesturing to his sides with both his empty hand and the dragonspitter he holds, "also plenty fat!"

Burai paws at a few spots as he circles the village. He growls a bit to show there's something there he's not happy about. At each of these spots he circles in place a few times and then makes a small diversion to go further out from the village.

Ash is exploring a house. Maddeningly, she's still hearing thoughts although there are fewer of them. Some singe targets, concentrated around spilled food, the same thoughts as earlier, 'flee', 'hide bigthing'. Attempting to be quiet as a mouse, to catch a mouse, the mourner sneaks up on one of them.

<pre>GAME: Ashes rolls perception+5: (17)+3+5: 25
GAME: Faranmidahn rolls 1d20+1: (1)+1: 2 (EPIC FAIL)</pre>

''Happy! Happy! Bigthing not see! Safe! Happy!''

Randolf looks up at Rumbo with a harrumph. "Och, I'm not fat!" He looks down at himself, running a hand down his hefty middle. "Not -that- fat, anyroad," he grunts, before turning his attention to the underbrush. Reaching out with his free hand, he lifts the shrubbery to get a better look at what's underneath.

"I wonder if he could have changed into a mouse and asked the little squeakers if they saw anything," Lysos says after watching Burai shift into an big cat... "Though.. if they were afraid of him before, I think they'd be downright terrified now."

Rocky isn't fat, he's just heavy... very heavy... and moves towards the edge of the village. Whatever happened, the people are gone. "Little squeek are not smart. Quick, maybe clever, but not smart."

Revealed as the undergrowth is pushed aside is a dead half-orc in humble peasant garb, fingernails torn away, and mouth ringed in blood. It looks like he was hit a few times with some kind of narrow bitted axe, probably a logger or hand axe, and he's kind of shriveled, body caked with a dried out moss.

<pre>GAME: Ashes rolls cmb: (15)+2: 17</pre>

''EEEE! Fear! Escape! Bigthing has! Fear! Fight! Flee!''

"GYAAAH!" Randolf drops the shrubbery and skitters back, landing on his rump and scrabbling away on hands and feet. Eyes wide as tea saucers and his face white as milk. "Beards o' me sweet tapdancin' -fathers-... what in Reos' name -happened- here?!" He points towards the shrubs with a trembling finger. "D-dead... he's bloody -dead-!"

Burai returns to where Randolf is and then changes back into his normal shape. "I smell scents going off in this direction," he reports, pointing off to the southwest. "A few days old, and also something else. Fungal. And blood."

<pre>GAME: Ashes rolls handle animal: Trained Use Only: 0
GAME: Ashes rolls charisma: (19)+0: 19</pre>

Zeroing in on some thoughts, Ash is able to creep up a mouse, confident it is completely unawares. Surprisingly quickly, she darts her hand out and catches it. Tiny thoughts fill her mind with panic and fear. She attempts to calm it, even as she hears more complex versions of the same emotions from Randolf's discovery. "It's Ok." She tells the mouse, heading outside.

"It's Ok." She tells the others when she gets close.

<pre>GAME: Rumbo rolls Knowledge/Nature: (1)+9: 10 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Randolf rolls knowledge/nature+2: (12)+5+2: 19
GAME: Burai rolls knowledge/nature: (11)+6: 17
GAME: Ashes rolls knowledge/nature: (19)+10: 29</pre>

Rocky snorts softly. "Ghost town, madness, at least two killed. Corpse is not a surprise." The lizard shuffles closer to the body. "Though this one does not recognize that type of rot. Is it common in these lands?"

Lysos's shoulders slump as she lets out her breath when the dead body is discovered. She doesn't look Randolf's way.. she doesn't really want to see. But she does brush her hands off on her skirts and pick up her staff so she can join up with them once Burai returns. "I don't know anything about it," Lysos admits of the rot, still avoiding looking at the corpse. She holds her sleeve up to her nose. "Are we... following then?"

Having hobbled over to see what caused the Khazad-Aul to cry out Rumbo peers down at the dead half-orc. Perhaps not quite sure that the half-orc is dead he pokes at it with his wooden peg-leg before speaking in his rough tradespeak "So.. dead maybe?"

Burai holds out a hand towards Rumbo. "Don't touch it," he warns. Is it your imagination or is that a shadow of a smirk on his face. "It may be mindslayer mold."

The ashen Arvec has no animal handling skills, though she does her best to calm the mouse by stroking it and making small noises. She also has some food, easily snagged from a plate as she heads out, and holds it for the rodent to eat. Perhaps it will enjoy riding in her pocket, she tucks it into her jacket.

She congregates with the others, looking at the dead orc. The lack of fingernails and lips is interesting, as is the detail that it was under the bushel. Why was he hidden?

She stares at the corpse, thinking over what these signs might mean.

Randolf slowly gets to his feet, still looking quite shaken. "Aye, tha's mindslaver mold a'right," he grunts. "Question is, wha's it doin' -here-? How'd it get all over this poor lad?"

Rumbo hops back away with his wooden leg kept lifted up, his eyes bulging as he stars to Burai. "MINDSLAYER MOLD?!" is shouted out in gobber-talk before Rumbo calms, just a little, 'Uhm. do what mindslayer mold?' and he gives his wooden peg-leg a tiny shake as he asks the question. <goblin-talk>

Rocky shrugs. "Slays minds, this one thinks. have not heard of it before, but land of softskins have many new dangers."

"Might be a good idea not to touch..." Lysos says apprehensively, taking an unconscious step away from the corpse and those gathered around it. "That name... that sounds awful."

Burai says, "It can release spores on contact, that spread over the creature that touched it." He's also peering at Rumbo's wooden leg now. "Perhaps we should burn it."

Randolf nods his head. "Aye, keep yer distance. If i's still alive, it can move about," he grunts. He looks down at his hand, turning even whiter, if that could be believed. He hurriedly wipes it off on his kilt.

Rumbo shoves his dragonspitter into the holster at his side as he begins to grumble. Giving Burai a glance the gobber then begins to release a strap around his waist that holds the wooden peg attached to the stump of his thigh. "Stupid," He mutters roughly in tradespeak "Burn leg good... again!" 

With those complaints the leg is popped free and dropped to the ground leaving the small Gobber wobbling atop one leg.

<pre>GAME: Ashes rolls 1d20+6: (18)+6: 24 (Concentrate Check)
GAME: Ashes rolls heal+3: (19)+8+3: 30</pre>

''Food! Safe! Warm! Happy! Bigthing nice! Safe!''

Chippen... probably smells lunch. Hopefully he is well fed.

Ash is moving slower than normal, as she's concentrating on her 'Detect Thoughts' spell while trying to take a device out of her satchel. It's a thanatopticon, a sort of portable 'autopsy engine'. She turns it on, aims it at half-orc, and waits as it sends out several small beams of light. After a moment it click, and gives her some results.

<pre>GAME: Rumbo rolls Perception: (7)+9: 16</pre>

"Wait!" Lysos says. Possibly confused about the little goblin's intentions. "You don't need to burn your leg! We can burn the body without that. Besides, the mourner is still... doing something.. with the body." And then she sees it. And gags. Trying to hide it with a series of coughs, Lysos quickly turns back away from the thing.

"He'd Dead." Ash delivers the obvious, then adds additional details from her device. "He's empty. Drained. No fluids. The blood around his mouth suggests he was trying to gnaw on someone. Fingernails were likely torn out trying to claw someone. The axe blow killed him quicker."

She adjusts a few dials, "I'm seeing if this will tell me about the mold."

Randolf grips his wand in a white-knuckled grip. "Was... was -this- what drove the first lass crackers?" he mutters, looking around furtively. Scanning every nook and cranny for more signs of the mindslaver mold. "Och, it could be -anywhere-. Be on yer guard, you lot."

Rumbo hops away from his discarded leg and retrieves the broken end of a hoe out of some brush where it appears to have been discarded. The gobber eyes it for a moment and then, leaning against it as some sort of makeshift crutch, he hobbles back awkwardly to the wooden leg.

"Poked dead." He speaks to Lysos but keeps looking down at the prosthetic. "Maybe mindslayer mold catch. Better safe." With that Rumbo slips a tindertwig from his pocket, strikes it against the broken hoe he has now, and then drops it onto the wooden leg.

<pre>GAME: Rumbo used a Tindertwig.</pre>

Burai eyes the wooden leg as it burns. "I may be able to grow a new one for you," he offers. Then he seems to remember something. He glances around and then focuses on the trees of the Felwood. "Not here," he amends. "But when we come across more untwisted trees."

Lysos takes a few deliberate breaths with her eyes closed. When they open again, her face is more composed. Her jaw is set, too. "This... this stuff spreads," she says, more in a manner of ticking off an inventory than informing people. As they already know it spreads. "And it's killing people. We're going to follow a trail, right? You found a trail, Burai? There might still be people we can help. And this.. fungus.. to burn."

Ash turns off her thanatopticon and slips it back into her satchel. She takes a good step back, quite glad she didn't have to touch the corpse to determine what was going on. She adjusts her short jacket, the fieldmouse seems comfortable in the pocket, and Chippen is happy chilling around her neck. She sounds like she's reciting by rote. "Mindslaver Mold eats at your mind and uses you like a puppet for a defense mechanism while it feeds on you. The mold is smart, however it can only communicate with other mold patches. An infestation could take a good chunk of the village. It can be killed like any other creature, with the host taking the abuse first."

She pauses, then adds, "It could take days to drain a victim completely. It can be torn loose, this will damage the host significantly." Another pause, "Although they will probably be OK with that. So we should follow the trail."

Rocky chuffs thoughtfully. "How stop spread? Spread by bite? Touch? Air?"

Randolf looks over at Ash, listening with wide eyes. At the mention of tearing it from the host, he shakes his head, making his beard wag. "Och, I'm no touchin' that stuff!" he grunts, looking back at the dead half-orc with a gulp. "But... if it -burns-... we should probably burn it, nay?"

With the broken hoe clutched tightly to his left side Rumbo hobbles back to the group slowly, leaving the burning wooden peg-leg behind. He approaches Ashes more directly than anyone else and, when close by, salutes with his free hand and asks "Orders?" It appears the gobber believes the Arvek Nar is leader of the group.

Ash stares at Rocky, "It's immune to cold, resistant to acid. Fire and impact will work, slicing should also. It mostly spreads by touch. Wash after, should be fine."

The mourner gazes at Burai next, "Will you lead us?"

"We should expect the remaining hosts to coordinate."

Burai turns to face the northwest, where he indicated the trail led away from the village. "How can we tear it off without being corrupted ourselves?" His gaze is drawn back to burning prosthetic. Then he continues. "If there were a way I would be willing to try it, but if not, fire is the only option I see."

Rocky considers, and nods, spleaking mostly to himself. "Cut, burn, rip free, don't lick fingers."

Rumbo glances from the dead body, back to the burning wooden peg-leg, an then to Burai. "Good idea. Very smart." He says in his rough Tradespeak. Using the assistance of the broken hoe Rumbo begins hobbling towards the forest edge as he pulls another tindertwig from his pocket.

<pre>GAME: Lysos rolls perception: (12)+6: 18
GAME: Rocky rolls perception: (20)+4: 24
GAME: Ashes rolls perception: (11)+3: 14
GAME: Burai rolls perception: (8)+12: 20</pre>

"Scrape it off with a knife. If it is in the skin too deeply we'll use fire and the blessings of the Feiu of the Tears to fix that damage." Ash says, staring at the body, contemplating whether it's worth touching to get some solid answers. She decides not, and is ready to follow Burai.

<pre>GAME: Ashes rolls sense motive: (3)+7: 10
GAME: Rocky rolls sense motive: (13)+2: 15
GAME: Burai rolls sense motive: (6)+3: 9
GAME: Lysos rolls sense motive: (7)+1: 8
GAME: Faranmidahn rolls 1d2: (1): 1</pre>

Rocky chuffs, and slaps his tail against the ground, eyeing the hobbel-goblin. "Forrest not in good shape, but easier to explore as is. Best not change until sure of trouble."

Randolf swallows hard. "If we're goin', then le's go," he grumbles. "Sooner we're done wi' this, the happier I'll be." He shudders, making a sign against evil. "Wicked mind-eatin' mold... Reos' flamin' beard, who -thinks- o' these things?"

Burai gives Rumbo a glance and then looks back at the trail. "I can carry you if you are willing. You won't slow us down that way." He concentrates for a moment and then changes again, this time into a wolf. He sniffs the ground a few times and then follows the trail for a bit. But after only a few dozen steps he turns and returns to the party. This time he only turns so that his nose is pointed in the direction of the trail.

Ash looks over at Rumbo, fixing him with a stare. Her eyes glitter in the dark sockets of her skull face. Her words, as always, are in a monotone. "Rumbo, what are you doing?" <goblin-talk>

Lysos rubs at her eyes, then nods resolutely while clutching her staff and sets to follow. She sticks close to Ashes for... reasons. No stranger to outdoors these days, the Felwood still manages to give her the creeps. She almost doesn't follow Ashes's gaze back to Rumbo, and she certainly doesn't catch what the Arvec says.

Rumbo strikes the tindertwig on the makeshift crutch made from a broken hoe. "He said that Fire is the only option so fire it is." Rumbo replies in gobber-talk before he smiles to Burai and speaks in his rough Tradespeak, 'Fire only option.' then tosses the tindertwig into which ever bush at the edge of the forest he thinks is most flamable. <goblin-talk>

<pre>GAME: Lysos casts Hydraulic Push. Caster Level: 5 DC: 16</pre>

Lysos's eyes widen. Yes, the lighting isn't ideal for her.. the brighter light makes it harder for her to see. But she's getting used to these black eyes, learning to interpret the different signals they're sending to her brain without having to think about it. So when she sees the extra dark object lob into the bush, and then the bush itself erupt into darkness.. she has a pretty good idea of what Rumbo just did. "Soakus!" It's not a yell, exactly, though there is a note of panic to the word as she flings her hand up, two fingers extended towards the bush.. and a line of water bursts forth from a point beyond her fingers, spraying into the bush.

Rumbo frowns and just stares at Lysos while the incantation occurs. "WHAT?!" He cries out but doesn't take any other action. "Fire only option?!"

<pre>GAME: Ashes casts Create Water. Caster Level: 3 DC: 13</pre>

Ash, shouldn't have asked. She hears her old drill sergeant's words, 'Gobbo's first, last, and middle solut'n ta errry thin, is Burn it! Burn it! Burn it! Yew, as ta hobbo, yer job is teh stop 'em when they gets squirrelly, Stopp'em before it gets firesplodey!'. That old Arvec had some scars to back up his words, looking like a half-melted candle on one side. She wasn't on Smuldur-watch, but perhaps she should have been.

"Don't burn the forest while we're in it. We can burn it after." Or never, depending on what is found. Lysos however, seems very quick on the draw, soaking the area. Still, more water can't hurt. Ash moves up, drawing her holy symbol and giving it a shake, "We need your tears." She points at the bush and the Tinderstick, and more water appears, dumping on it.

"Everything works except Cold and Acid. The mold can be scraped off." <goblin-talk>

Everyone else hears, "woo 'splode woo boom aha deto boom wee burn bam woo big," as Ashlee ironically proves her old drill sergeant right by using goblin-tongue.

Burai walks over to Rumbo, then shakes his wolf-head solemnly. He turns back in the direction of the trail and trots a few feet in that direction. Then he stops again to look at the party.

Randolf startles as Rumbo drops the match. He's already moving his hands and preparing to throw a spell of his own, when Lysos and Ash beat him to the punch. He lower's his hand, rubbing his face. "Reos' blocky bollocks, laddie, are ye off yer tit? May as well jus' spark us -all- up while yer at it!" He turns to start trundling towards the trail with the others, muttering under his breath.

Rocky saw that comming, should have acted faster, but is used to dealing with small children. They're slightly better behaved. With the flames stuffed, the warrior just sighs in pointed disappointment, and joins the line to follow the trail.

<pre>GAME: Lysos spends ONE use of TOUCH OF DESTINY.
GAME: Randolf rolls survival: (10)+2: 12
GAME: Ashes rolls survival: (6)+3: 9
GAME: Burai rolls survival+4: (4)+12+4: 20</pre>

Lysos lets out a breath of relief when it looks like there will, indeed, be no conflagration. "Gobbers," she says to herself, shaking her head.. but leaves it to the others who do a much better job of explaining why, in this case, fire might not be the best idea. Instead, she picks her way towards the wolf-Burai.. uttering words like, "It's okay boy, don't bite me please." Clearly she has little understanding of how druiding actually works. SHe reaches forth, tentatively, touching wolf-Burai's shoulder. "We need to find these people.." And in doing so, she imparts.. something.

Rumbo salutes the Arvek Nar at her words. "Aye Aye Commander!" He barks out in gobber-talk and then, after pulling a compass from his pocket, he begins hobbling after her with the air of his makeshift hoe-crutch and his eyes on the needle wobbling in his compass. <goblin-talk>

The trail, though days old, is discernible to the druid's canid senses, especially through the assistance of Randolf's advisory on certain types of terrain that might work better for a group of bipeds and Lysos' mystical gift.

The trek carries the group over several miles through some woods that could stand more rain, or perhaps the soil is strained, but in either case, there are patches where the ground cover is a little more sparse. Eventually, however, a group of humanoids rests in a small cul du sac at the base of a cut in the ground, visible at some distance from the small overlook some quarter mile from there. Others are scattered about the area, prone and thin, while yet more dot a sort of perimeter about the area, sentinels, armed with various tools and weapons and dotted with the filthy green mold.

<pre>GAME: Ashes rolls perception: (20)+3: 23
GAME: Randolf rolls perception: (15)+2: 17
GAME: Burai rolls perception: (5)+12: 17
GAME: Rocky rolls perception: (5)+4: 9
GAME: Rumbo rolls Perception: (20)+9: 29
GAME: Rumbo rolls Knowledge/Military Theory: (3)+12: 15</pre>

Burai looks back a few times as he begins, to see if Rumbo needs a ride - or is going to set anything else on fire. But after the party begins moving he seems to focus more on the trail they are following.

Rumbo draws his dragonspitter with a flourish, twirling it around his trigger fingers as it slips free of the holster, then points it towards the group. "I see ten in a picket-line surrounding the captives. It's a loose formation but they're all close enough to be alerted if we attack one. Fire from afar with thunderbelchers and dragonspitters is my advice, aye commander?" Then as an afterthought he adds, "Eight prisoners it seems. Not so good for them, lucky we're here." Then he smiles with his wide mouth and looks around the group. <goblin-talk>

Rocky peers back blankly, having gotten lost at 'badda big bang boom'.

Ash follows along. She can't assist with the tracking. When the party reaches the overlook she crouches down, then does what she does best, stare at people. She carefully picks each one out, making a count and determining their grouping and layout. Saving them will be a challenge, maybe now is the time for fire. She thinks over what she knows about the mold, and Rumbo's report.

"Attacking one with alert the other patches. I don't know the range or if they can relay."

She finishes her count and double checks it, adjusts her jacket, then her satchel strap. Once again she reads from the textbook, "Confirming his numbers, the Cul-de-Sac has eight captives, battered and bound. There are ten sentries on the perimeter, and the scattered number eleven, are dessicated and likely dead, no mold."

"Rumbo recommends ranged fire with thunderbelchers, dragonspitters and any other archery or spells we have." The mourner looks at the group, then the granitescaled sith'makar, "Rocky, you should stay close and be prepared for them to rush us."

"Thanks Rumbo, that was an excellent report." She adds. <goblin-talk>

And they take a moment to strategize further and organize their attack.

{{LineSkulls|300px}}

==Combatty Stuff==

<pre> ===================== Current Initiative Order - Round 1 =====================
 ---Init--Name------------AOO-Notes--------------------------------------------
     18   Lysos            1  Flat-footed (0 rnds active)                  
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     18   Rumbo            1  Flat-footed (0 rnds active)                  
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     16   Ashes            1  Flat-footed (0 rnds active)                  
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     15   Burai            1  Flat-footed (0 rnds active)                  
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     10   Randolf          1  Flat-footed (0 rnds active)                  
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     6    Rocky            1  Flat-footed (0 rnds active)                  
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ==============================================================================</pre>