CH. 9: Road to Tu'Valie

[Breila]

Ouragana looks at Val, surprised. "You mean ignore that puppy and go back to the road?"
She looks at the webs, do they look like the ones she can cast?

[BishGada]

Baeros closes the distance to the dog and encourages him saying quietly, "Good dog, are you leading us to your owner? Is he trapped in these webs? Don't worry, it will be fine." To the others he says, "Don't worry, I can easily find the way back to the camp, just be ready, with all the huge insects we met so far, I wouldn't be surprised to meet here huge spiders. Don't forget to look up, spiders might live on the trees." And he chops the web with his swords as he clears the path in front of them. With an afterthought he adds, "Anybody has a torch ready? It might help to keep spiders at bay..."

[Breila]

"I have flint and steel, but no torch" Ouragana answers.

[BishGada]

"That's OK, I'll just have to chop them quick enough before they do the same to us." Baeros smiles at Ouragana sarcastically.

[JadedDM]

Ouragana gives the webbing a closer look. Unlike the webbing she can cast, this webbing has a strange silver sheen to it. As they travel, they seen more and more of them. Sometimes something will be caught up in the webbing, all wrapped up in a cocoon. Mostly animals, but every now and again the remains of a person is seen. They find dead and cocooned deer, lizards, and birds, among other local wildlife.

Up ahead, by a large tree, they see another dog. This one is larger--an adult. She is lying on her side, weakly trying to crawl forward. She has a nasty bite mark on her side; two bloody puncture holes.

The puppy, tail wagging, vanishes and then reappears next to the older dog. The adult dog whimpers in pain, but can barely move.

[BishGada]

Baeros stops abruptly... "All of you stay put! All signs here points at huge spiders. Arie, cover me with your crossbow. I'll make a run for it to get the wounded dog and return back here." Baeros waits a moment to make sure everyone understands him, then runs toward the wounded dog looking up along the way to see if there is a spider coming, and slashing at the web to have a wide path. As he gets few steps from the dog he slows down and tries to calm it. "Come with me... good girl... don't bite uncle Baeros..." Then he tries to grab it and runs back towards the company where the web is less thick.

[HorizonsDream]

Jocelyn looks around, fidgeting a little bit as. ~I wonder if anyone else has that horrible sinking feeling in their stomach right about now,~ she thinks to herself as she remains on guard.

[Nuke]

Val says, "I supposes it's too late know." She nocks an arrow and scans the area in 360 degrees, paying close attention for movement in the webbing.

Val tosses a pouch to Jocylen, "Find a stick and wrap the end of it with that linen string around the end."

[HorizonsDream]

Jocelyn catches the stick and follows the instructions she was given. "Why?" she asks.

[Breila]

"Let's make a torch, quick!" Ouragna says to Jocelyn and helps her.

[JadedDM]

Areilon nods to Baeros, pulling out her crossbow and locking a bolt into it. Val likewise, readies her bow. Takit remains where he is, as do Ouragana and Jocelyn.

Baeros moves to the wounded dog quickly. The puppy wags his tail and looks from Baeros to the wounded dog.

When he approaches, the wounded dog lifts her head weakly. She starts to fade away a bit, as if she was going to vanish, but then becomes solid again. She seems to be too weak to teleport like the puppy can.

The ranger bends down to grab her, and suddenly a creature drops down from the nearest tree, landing just behind the wounded dog. It is bipedal and about the same height as Baeros. It's a hideous thing with short, spindly legs and overly long arms. It rears back and gives an ear-piercing shriek, spraying spittle from its spider-like mandibles.

Ettercap.jpg (83.27 KiB) Viewed 6503 times

As a forest ranger, Baeros has seen these creatures before; an ettercap. They are smart, evil, devious and extremely poisonous. Anyone bitten by one becomes paralyzed until the venom reaches their heart, at which point they die rather painfully.

Whimpering in fear, the puppy vanishes and reappears behind the rest of the party, his tail between his legs.

[Breila]

"Come back" Ouragana shouts and runs forward, behind the tree SE of the ettercap, with a sight of the monster. If Bearos manages to separate from it, she will cast a web to entangle it.

[HorizonsDream]

"Run!" Jocelyn calls out to Baeros. "Oura, get back here!" she calls out to the mage, thinking that the woman might be a tad bit insane to start running towards the dangerous spider thingy.

[Nuke]

After waiting for Baeros to exit the line of sight, Val unleashes two arrows in rapid succession.

init, hit, damage, hit and damage (1d10,1d20,1d8,1d20,1d8=[7], [17], [8], [9], [5])

[BishGada]

Half ready for the attack, Baeros throws his short sword, he just used to chop web with, at the ettercap's belly hoping to distract it and slow it. Without waiting for the result he grabs the wounded dog, then quickly moves back, trying both not to leave his back completely exposed to the monster and keep out of the line of sight of his friends. "Shoot it quickly!! Cover us!"

=======================================
(OOC: Three questions. 1. As Baeros knows ettercap, does he knows their vulnerabilities too? 2. Does he know a natural cure for their poison or how long until it reaches the heart? 3. Does he knows about priest abilities to cure poison?

Initiative, Hit (for the short sword), and Damage, which is wasted: (7,3,6))