In all the battles that Jargon Hooves had partaken in, she had never once showed fear. This thing was more than bad news if it struck fear into a battle-hardened steed. And it brought a surge of fury into the heart of Frodrick at thought of his own mount being disgraced.
“Damn you friggin’ bastard! You ain’t goin’ nowhere but back to hell this night!” With axe in hand, the dwarf barrelled in after the creature. He had seen that everyone’s steel was not effective against it - it must be of powerful magicks in order to resist steel so hardily. A new tactic would have to be employed. His weapon was not designed for such a maneuver, but Frodrick swung is axe low. If he was lucky, he would be able to hook it onto one of the creature’s legs and trip it to the ground. There were a lot of factors involved in thsi gambit, and one of the most prominent was that he had little experience in the ways of undertaking this maneuver. It also didn’t help that he didn’t have much in the ways of strength.
Frodrick prayed to Gorrum, Erastil, and any other gods that might be listening - hoping that one might guide his axe fair and true.

-move action: 5 ft. step
-Standard Action: Trip attempt

28 Pharast
Hex B1
Northern Grasslands
As the monster tried to go around Kyrie to get away from the others, Miguel ran around the other side to cut it off. It tried to shake him, but he was a match for it this time, and struck at its scrawny bony body. As before, the creature's supernaturally strong body protected it from most of the damage but it was beginning to wear down, now bleeding thick dark red ichor from several wounds. (-4dmg Bloodied)

Miguel's manoeuvring left Kyrie in an ideal location at the centre of her group. She summoned forth her powers of judgement into a protective aura around her. The bubble encapsulated almost everyone at once, thanks to the dense fog and the single target requiring short range and close combat fighting. Only Krii behind her stood outside the range, though he was the least likely to need it at the moment.

Zeran stepped back from the monster. This time he'd prove that felling Happs was not a one-time deal. He spared a second to check his aim, willed his shot to hit, and fired. With an alchemical bang, the ball struck the monster in its back, where the feral head met with the frail, grave-clothed body. This elicited an angry howl of pain and frustration, though Zeran knew the shot did not go nearly as deep as he hoped—probably for the same reason that everyone else's attacks did not penetrate so far (-5dmg Red Status).

Despite his protected vantage Krii was finding more and more difficulties getting a clear shot off. He turned to his electric spell in case the frost on Kyrie's cuirass indicated an affinity for the cold that may reduce the strength of his own attack. Unfortunately, aiming for a small child between so many moving bodies proved to be a challenge. Once more the plains grass suffered the brunt of his arcane energy, blackening with the surge of electricity.

Frodrick stepped in front of Zeran before the creature thought to retaliate. He saw his axe, while mighty indeed, was likely not the strongest weapon that could be brought to bear on the creature, so ever thinking in terms of strategy and throwing the advantage to his allies, he scooped his axe behind the monster's leg. Startled, it clawed back at him, but Kyrie's protection reduced it's efforts to leaving a scant glazing of frost on his beard and a slight chill in his bones (-1cold Frodrick).

Frodrick scarcely hesitated as he swept the small monster off it's feet, knocking it onto it's back (prone). It writhed for a second in an uncannily child-like tantrum, then concentrated. Before the party could recognise what it was doing, it evaporated into a thick, dense cloud, clinging to the ground like the fog surrounding them. The small body of vapour drifted upward slowly, passing Frodrick and away from Kyrie and Miguel.

Frodrick 12/13 – K-Aura
Jargon 13/13 – Calmer, but still ansy and not moving any closer, thank-you very much.
Krii 8/8 – Mage Armour
Kyrie 7/13 – Bastion of Good +3 deflection AC
Miguel 9/9 – Dancing Lights (5/10), Combat Expertise +1 dodge AC, K-Aura
Zeran 10/10 – () 32 bullets, 3/4 Grit, K-Aura

Beastie: Red Status, Gaseous, 5' Altitude*

(Now's the time to press the attack! It only took a 5' step into the air, but otherwise it'd have triggered AoOs. You -can- still attack it (it has discernable location) though it's anybody's guess now how useful that would be. For the record, 'anybody' means “Miguel might have a pretty good guess, having studied the arcane for several years”.

*Also, for the asterisk on the altitude, a altitude of 0' is ground-level, thus 5' is the cube above where you're standing. If this confuses you, I can switch it so 5' is ground-level, like I was originally going to have, and it would be at 10', the same way people adjacent to you are considered 5' away.)

“It's not dead!” Miguel called. “It's transformed. It's body is too vapourous to land a good hit, but it can still be harmed—use magic if you have any.” Miguel ran under the dense cloud body to the other side opposite Kyrie and Frodrick.

“Zeran—See if there's anyone still out there while you reload.” With that he cleared his throat and released a clear tenor that even the ambient fog could scarcely dampen, reinforced with power of his magical performance. Meanwhile the lights zipped several yards in the direction the monster attacked from, accomodating Zeran's search while not removing illumination from the battle.

Kyrie took Miguel's advice. It could still be hit, even like this. She wished she had her shovel rather than her shield on her—the latter wasn't doing much and she could hit harder with the spade. Nevertheless, she moved in to envelop as many as she could with her aura and lashed out with her sickle.

As she expected, her weapon passed through the dense cloud hanging just over the battlefield with almost no resistance. Exactly as Miguel said, though, Krii's electrical shock struck the gaseous monster just as well as it might have struck the physical. Though it was hard to discern body language or injury on a mobile cloud, it seemed to be affected (-2elec).

At the same time Krii moved to strike, Zeran jogged off deeper into the fog, becoming practically invisible except as a faint outline within a few seconds. He peered into the fog, searching for any sign of life in the night. He couldn't be sure where the original scream had come from, but it couldn't be more than a few more yards off.

Frodrick saw the effectiveness of Kyrie's attack and forestalled. He would rather wait to see if the cloud monster returned to physical form before he went swinging his axe at puffs of fog. This decision, of course, was completely uninfluenced by the fact that the cloud in question was floating more than a foot above his head.

The monster-fog in question meanwhile reversed it's original trajectory and wheeled around back toward Miguel's lights—and Zeran. Miguel tried to strike it as it fled, catching only empty air without striking the cloud itself.

While it might have seemed it was chasing for Zeran, it couldn't move nearly that fast in it's present form. Instead it settled behind Kyrie and resumed corporeal form once more, with the girl between it and Miguel and the spell lights fully behind it. No sooner had it's body taken solid form once more than Kyrie felt the hair-raising effect of being caught within it's shadow. As all times before, there was no apparent effect.

Frodrick 12/13 – K-Aura, M-Aura
Jargon 13/13 –
Krii 8/8 – Mage Armour, M-Aura
Kyrie 7/13 – Bastion of Good, M-Aura
Miguel 9/9 – Dancing Lights (6/10), Inspire Courage 1/~7, K-Aura
Zeran 10/10 – (loaded) 32 bullets, 3/4 Grit, K-Aura, M-Aura

Beastie: Red Status

(It's hard to say whether you've got it on the run or it's just giving you the run-around >.>)

Detemined that the monster should not get a chance to harm either Kyrie or Zeran, Miguel hurried to chase it. His foot came down in a hidden foothole in the grass as he rounded on the monster and he stumbled. The acrobatic bard caught his balance easily, but he paid the price for the distraction, as he thrust to smite down the monster and found it had jumped back from him just as he spitted the earth with his dueling blade.

Kyrie refused to give the beast chance to rest with evading Miguel. She struck it while it's attention was drawn to avoiding the man's sword, scoring it once again across it's bloody body with the tip of her sickle, it's hide avoiding worse damage (-2dmg).

The ground near Kyrie's feet threw up a clod of dirt as Zeran's aim was forced away from it's target by necessity of avoiding harming his allies. He had the satisfaction of one good shot already this round, so he turned not dwelling on the particulars and continued his hunt to see if anyone else had actually come out this way.

For Krii the small monster proved especially effective at getting around his aim. It had retreated far enough into the fog that he could barely see it anymore, much less shoot it through Frodrick's back. He strafed to the right until he could see it clearly once more. He fired his minor jolt again, proving to have more luck with this spell than the other. He burned another patch of clothing with his magic and brought the monster one step closer to destruction (-1elec).

Frodrick stepped up with his axe in hand. He saw that Miguel was having trouble landing the finishing blow on the monster—with his sword and his music and his magic he made the likeliest to deal the finishing blow to the accursed beast. “Miguel, have at it!” He roughly prodded the monster off balance with the haft of his axe.

The monster hissed angrily at the dwarf as it stumbled back. It coughed and let out a low, crying moan. Seeing itself practically surrounded on one side, it took a step back. Recognising the need to retreat, it concentrated and became one with the fog again, this time ascending straight up and away as fast as it could. Miguel lashed out with his empowered sword—true to his advice, the cloud had no protection against magical weapons and the sword seemed to tear through the cloud like a knife through a sheet (-3dmg Near Death?). Unfortunately, the ragged fog monster drifted up only slightly hindered for his effort.

It was already far enough that it was beginning to be obscured by the fog—by the time Zeran finished reloading it would likely be long gone.

“Oh bother.” A sudden, ethereal voice from quite near Krii's head, causing the tall sorcerer to jump. A ball of light burst into existence floating several feet in the air over the ground next to Krii. “A good accomplice is so hard to come by.” The ball was no more than a foot across and glowed with violet light all over it's body, casting light like one of Miguel's spell lights.

“I don't suppose I could convince the lot of you to kill each other, no?” The airy voice sounded half-hearted, but with a hint of hopeful curiousity. It was exactly as Frodrick had said, a will-o'-the-wisp, or jack-o'-lantern, called by many names all referring to the same deadly monster.

Frodrick 12/13 – K-Aura, M-Aura
Jargon 13/13 –
Krii 8/8 – Mage Armour, M-Aura
Kyrie 7/13 – Bastion of Good, M-Aura
Miguel 9/9 – Dancing Lights (7/10), Inspire Courage 2/~7, K-Aura
Zeran 10/10 – () 31 bullets, 3/4 Grit, M-Aura

Beastie: Near Death?, Gaseous, Altitude 10'
Will-o-Wisp: Golly!

(Guess which of these two monsters is the one I actually rolled on the encounter table?)

Frodrick, seeing that the mist creature had retreated once more, dove forwards to the Jack-o-lantern. The dwarf waved his axe at it menacingly to ward it away.
“Begone with ye spirit of malice! Ye ain’t goin’ to get no blood shed from none of us this night! Back to the grave with ye before I send ye there me self with an axe to the front of ya and a boot from behind!”
The threat was only half-hearted. Frodrick had no idea what he would do if the thing decided to fight them. He had heard that ghosts were not affected by metal weapons, and that they ignored defensive armour as well. Frodrick felt an anger foam up because he and his friends had in fact been duped by what seemed like a goofy pair of monsters. But another part of him was freighted: he did not like facing foes he could not face off against with his axe and shield. He was hoping that the thing would just float away now that it knew that they knew what it was.

Though Krii had been brought up around magics and monsters, it was clear to anyone looking that upon hearing the voice in his ear that the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and his already ghostly skin grew a shade whiter for a moment, Krii's assaults on the creature seemed no more effective then asking it nicely to go away but the sorcerers determination out weighed his logic of reserving his strength and perhaps in a fit of rage he began yelling at the wisp in gnomish, though no one (to my knowledge) could understand what he was saying it was clear that the words were not of the kind and calm variety that Krii normally exhibited.

28 Pharast
Hex B1
Northern Grasslands
The faceless ball of light sighed audibly at Frodrick and Krii's vitriolic responses. “Typical mortals. Always thinking about themselves first. 'Oh, stop eating her!', 'Help, I don't wanna die!', or 'Mommy says it's not nice to scare people!' well you know what else isn't nice? Selfishness.”

The will-o-wisp grumbled to itself for a moment, seeming to forget the group was even there. Overhead, now beyond sight the shadow-fog-child silently fled to some safe place to lick its wounds and recover, or else fall prey to something hungrier and meaner.

“Very well, then. I suppose if I can't get you to lay down and die here I'll have to wait for it. It's only a matter of time now, you know.” The ball of light winked out with a distinctly miffed fizzling.

Exploration & Mapping
(28-29 Pharast)
Hexes: B1 +0XP Each (B1 already accounted for in XP)
Frodrick 13/13 –
Kyrie 9/13 –

30 Pharast
Hex C1
Northern Grasslands
The first night arriving in the southernmost area of the grasslands Kyrie began to notice she didn't feel quite so well.

At first she thought that the unpleasant warmth she was experiencing was merely a combination of the warm weather and her recovery from the mild frostbite leftover from the monster's attacks. By the evening of the thirtieth, however, there could be no doubt what she was feeling. She was feverish.

As night fell, general fatigue set into her body and her muscles and joints began to ache. Given the few days since the encounter with the will-o-wisp and its minion, there could only be one logical source for the contagion.

Kyrie 9/13 – Diseased, Ability Damage: -2 Dex, -1 Con, -1 penalty to dex-skills, init, ranged, reflex, AC, CMD.
---without intervention, healed by next morning to:
Kyrie 10/13 – Diseased, Ability Damage: -1 Dex, no penalty, will fort save again at camp

(Since I know you'll ask anyway, the disease she has contracted bears striking resemblance to filth fever, despite the apparent lack of polluted or contaminated environment commonly associated with the infection, or open wounds by which it might gain entry.

Frodrick saw that the farm girl was starting to get the shivers. He didn’t know how bad it was, so he decided to inquire.
“Ya ok there lass? Should we camp out and let yer body recover from the sickness? It might just be a passing fever, but in this day and age, and in these parts, we should take every precaution...”

Kyrie was no stranger to ailment. What was strange was that she was the one who had it this time, as opposed to others when cold or fever more often than not passed over her. Still, as uncomfortable as it was, it did not feel very threatening to her. Her body felt a bit less responsive than normal, but only slightly. Kyrie had felt a slight sense of fatigue earlier, but that had since faded. Sweat beaded at the edge where her face met her hair, and she occasionally felt her body shiver, but these were the only symptoms of her condition that she would allow. Kyrie would not allow more than that. Not while she could help it. She was stronger than that. Much stronger.

At least, that's what she told herself.

“Ya ok there lass? Should we camp out and let yer body recover from the sickness? It might just be a passing fever, but in this day and age, and in these parts, we should take every precaution...”
Kyrie looked over and gave a smile to the dwarf, "I'll be fine. Might have just caught a small cold. Sudden chills can do that to a person. Or so Mah'r said."

She closed her eyes a moment and steeled her resolve. There was no doubt that the others could notice her minor symptoms, but that didn't mean she would become a hindrance. 'I'll be fine.' Coming from some people, it could just be a shrugging off of concern, trying to alleviate worry. Coming from Kyrie, it was a promise. She would see to it.

Kyrie opened her eyes and nodded, "I'll take steps to make sure it doesn't get worse." She knew how to take care of sick or injured people. That being said, she never would've guessed she'd be the one that was sick, but well, that was out of her hands it seemed.

((When you have only 3 skill points, you make them count XD Heal checks away!))

At Kyrie's insistence the party continued on their exploration and mapping project. Throughout the day the girl felt under the weather, but the hardy girl kept up her good-natured attitude, and maintained that she would be fine. The day passed with little disturbance, but that would change come that night.

While Kyrie's symptoms did not worsen, Zeran found himself taken with a case of the chills. Soon the same muscle and joint pain and general fatigue experienced by Kryie showed up in him, accompanied with an equally high fever.

Zeran: 9/9 – Diseased, Ability Damage: -2 Dex, -2 Con, -1 penalty to dex-skills, init, ranged, reflex, AC, CMD and -1 penalty to fort, max HP

1 Gozran – Vernal Equinox
Hex C1
Northern Grasslands
(Morning)
The first day of spring arrived with strong winds and good weather. Despite the pleasantness of the day, Kyrie and Zeran met it with bags under their eyes. Kyrie's symptoms were lessened, but still present, while Zeran was still suffering the full grips of the illness. While the girl felt she could go on despite the illness, it was quite another matter with Zeran, who did not have quite the same level of physical health as the farm girl.

It was up to him (or anyone else who would think now to object) whether he wanted to call the expedition short to seek shelter and recovery back at Oleg's, or to tough it out with Kyrie's ministrations and keep exploring.

Kyrie 11/13 – Diseased
Zeran 10/10 – Diseased, Ability Damage: -1 Dex, -1 Con, no penalty

(As of this morning it seems like all the people who might have gotten sick have gotten sick; if Zeran answers that he wants to continue I'll not bother you again until either someone else falls ill or a significant change occurs in either of their conditions for the worse)

Despite being ill Zeran was determined to continue. "If I'm going to die I'll die on my feet not in a bed. We keep moving." He stated firmly.

((Don't got the will to post big.))

Exploration & Mapping
1-5 Gozran
Hexes: D1, C2, B2 +75XP Each
Over the first five days of Gozran (month dedicated to Gozreh, two-fold god of nature) the team worked their way back north along the edge of the Narlmarches. Kyrie's health took a turn for the worse the first night, but after that steadily improved until she woke up the morning of the fourth feeling in perfect health.

The windy weather on turned nasty on the third, blowing in an early spring thunderstorm. The inclement weather didn't last long and dumped most of it's rain over the forest before it even passed overhead.

Partway through the day on the fourth the party encountered a hunter coming from the direction of the forest. He warned that he had just earlier had a close encounter with a massive monster made of rotting vines and slime. After he delivered his warning he traveled south in hopes that the forest to the south would be a little tamer with this great monstrosity roaming the north.

Meanwhile Zeran's health waffled and wavered constantly throughout the five day period, neither getting substantially better, but under Kyrie's care, not getting much worse.

Zeran (Morning on 5 Gozran) – Diseased*, Ability Damage -3 Dex, -1 Con, -1 penalty to the dex things.

While exploring the final planned area of plains in the grasslands in the north, the party made sure to keep a fair distance from the edge of the forest, heeding the hunter's warning though not really expecting to run into much trouble.

It was so much the better, then, when Krii turned back to look at the forest during one of their passes near it's edge and noticed a hulking mass of vegetation, easily larger than an orc and twice as wide, almost perfectly blended in with the backdrop of the trees. It stood almost stock still for several moments, seemingly watching the party depart. In one of it's arms (it was impossible to say rightly if among the tangle of vines it possessed actual hands) it casually held the body of a wild boar sow.

After a couple moments the faceless creature turned back, lumbering into the forest, half dragging half carrying it's prize in one hand, to enjoy the freshly slain meat in the privacy of the trees.

Despite that excitement, though nothing further prevented them from their task. The party found that they had only spent half the day by the time they had completely mapped out the section of grasslands. They had the choice now to cut directly through the forest on their way back to Oleg's (mapping that as they went) or to take the safe and quick route around the northern edge (and thus get Zeran to shelter, where he might have greater success in recovery—and the option of a trained cleric, if his condition worsened).

Frodrick 13/13 –
Jargon 13/13 –
Krii 8/8 –
Kyrie 13/13 –
Miguel 9/9 –
Zeran 10/10 – () 31 bullets, Diseased, Ability Damage: -3 Dex, -1 Con, -1 to dex related endeavours (Point Blank Shot feat not lost yet)

(Also, I forgot about the horse training, but if my math is roughly correct we can call this the last day of training before Vilify is considered fully combat trained. This would put the other two at 10/21 each, one day before we get to find out if they're being good students)

The encounter with the whisp still sat uneasy in Krii's mind, fear replaced by curiousity and worry to the sheer strength of the creature, Kyrie had fallen ill seemingly due the the encouter, and this only raised more questions then answers in his already cluttered mind. Still they ventured forth exploreing the vast landscape each morning brought both new and familiar scenery as Vilify and the other horses continued their training, Krii himself had taken to doing a bit of jogging around the camp as well as a simple work out routine to try and build his strenght in a attempt to make up for the weakened farm girl, but it wasnt long till Zeran also took ill with the same desease as Kyrie it was at this point Krii somewhat worried about his own health, wondering if even with his unnatural body if the creature could have had the same effect on himself.

Krii offered what assistance and supplies he could to his weakend companions and lost more sleep on restless thoughts and ideas of the days to come.
......


When Krii saw the creature he stared at it for a moment not sure if his eyes were simply playing a trick on him of if there was infact a living mass before him, favoring the latter he called to the group to look at the creature. Krii stared at it till it when back into the forest never had he seen such a thing and the adventurous youth in him that longed for knowledged almost got the better of him as he took a step forward toward the forest catching himself at the last minute before he burst into a full sprint toward the wood where the creature had vanished into.

"Expect the unexpected I suppose heh"

Krii spoke to himself outloud before turning to the group and streaching

"Well I suppose this is a good as time as any to decide if were going to take the easy road or the hard way through the forest back to Olegs, Im all for the forest myself but then again my concerns ofcourse arnt for myself but for you two Zeran and Kyrie, if your both feeling up to it i see no reason we shouldnt get alittle more work done before we return, but if your illness as the better of you there is no shame in wanting help, I think its for the betterment of the group that we dont end up loseing members to foolhardy ideas of strength and putting on a brave face when there are betters ways to die surrounded by the cry and blood of battle"

Krii walked over to Vilify petting him lightly on the nose

"We have come to far to fall now besides -krii mounts his horse and turns his gaze to Zeran and smiles- if you die how am I ever going to get my money back"

Krii laughed hopeing that Zeran would know that he was joking trying to keep the mood light.

Exploration & Mapping
5-8 Gozran
Hexes: B3 +25XP Each
The ogrish vine-monster long since gone, the group decided to go directly through the northern horn of the forest rather than backtrack around to the north. There was still half the day left of daylight, so the party made good time entering the forest before dark fell for the day.

In the closer forest setting it wasn't as easy to keep watch for miles. The first night was a little more on edge than usual. The first time they'd entered the forest they'd heard the tales of danger but had not actually seen anything more dangerous than regular wild animals and the packs of bandits. Since then, they'd been ambushed by a giant arachnid, seen corpses of deadly predators turned prey, been lured out intentionally by intelligent monsters, and watched silently from afar.

The night passed without remark, and like a bad dream, foreboding thoughts vanished with the morning light. Indeed there were a great variety of deadly things living in the forest, but working together they'd proven more than able to handle threats greater than most others would dare, and surely the dangers of the land could not be everywhere at once, especially if the trappers and hunters still frequented the area.

It was not more than a few hours that they proved themselves right about the trappers, but not in the way they'd have hoped.

After a few hours traveling the forest, slowly and laboriously compared to the easy, unobstructed mapping of the plains, Frodrick suddenly called to Zeran to halt the wagon.

He urged Jargon ahead several feet to where he caught the metallic glint of something half-buried in the leaves and dirt. He dismounted a safe distance away and selected a fat branch fallen over the winter from the treetops.

Frodrick tried to brush the leaves aside from the carefully hidden object only to have his suspicions realised and the branch jerk in his hand violently as the large steel bear trap snapped shut on the limb as it would a bear's foot or an unsuspecting traveler's leg.

The dwarf suspected the trap when he noticed the glint in the pile of leaves positioned directly where an animal or traveller following the path might tread. Whether it was laid intentionally or by neglect, some careless trapper had placed and hidden his traps in the area without first making sure that they were adequately marked for others trying to use the game trails and paths in the forest.

They cast the spent device to the side for the disappointed hunter to discover his efforts would bring naught this time, and perhaps as a warning to mark his traps.

Late in the afternoon it became readily apparent that covering the entire section of forest would be impossible before the day's end. At the same time, though, they realized the trap earlier would not be the last they would find. Frodrick destroyed the second trap as he did the first, and hardly an hour later did the same once more.

With no sign of the giant plant monster they made camp for the second day and slept a little easier than the first night had gone. Zeran's condition, which had been on the upturn the last few days took another turn for the worse. [-4/-2, reduced by rest to -3/-1 in the morning]

7 Gozran (post to follow, if you want to respond to events, do so as you wish; I just decided to toss this much at you while I had time to write rather than make you wait until the whole block was done who knows when)