Arc 1 - Beast of a Thousand Knives (Completed)

[Ryssa Blackblood]

Hakka only needs to spend one surge.


Since the situation seemed to be diffused for now, Hakka was able to focus more on relaxing in her new friend's arms. However, once the actual divvying up of the beast's remains began, she jumped down and pawed at the girl's legs. She was in the mood to play some more now that the killing was out of the way, but she wasn't very choosy about how they played.  

[Kowsauni]

Ying and Corsica

Razorclaw's head is too well attached to be simply be pulled off, but with a few hacks with a good blade it is separated from his body. The head weighs about 40 pounds by itself.

Corsica admires the adventurer's work for a moment before she begins to flay the creature. Razorclaw's chitinous armor plates are too strong for her to pierce with her dagger so she cuts around the edges. Ying plays with the fox for a while longer until her sister tells her to collect firewood. Ying then goes outside and begins to collect dried pieces of wood from the clearing around the mound.

From the view outside the mound entrance, the sun is getting low in the sky. It looks as if there will only be a few hours of light left before it begins to get dark. The journey through the forest is long. How does the party plan to find their way back to Lupa?

((Everyone benefits from a short rest. I'm assuming Gloom and Kuori spend enough healing surges to get back to full.))  

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge would be willing to donate his longsword for the whole unseemly decapitation of the creature. Plus, it was probably the best suited (also, only?) weapon here for such a task. Though he would not do the deed himself, and seemed bothered by the sight.

"Corsica, Ying," Revenge would say after putting some thought on the matter, and standing up after his brief reprieve. "It seems like you'll be here a while. How would we best navigate our ways back to civilization?"  

[Kowsauni]

Ying and Corsica

Corsica would consider Revenge's question for a moment before beginning explain the convoluted way back to the pond. She waves her bloody dagger around in the air as she tries to describe the landmarks that indicate the points where the girls' own trail bisects the animal trails used to reach this deep point in the forest. In the end, the party feels that they have a much better understanding of how to get back to town, though it might still prove to be a little difficult to navigate on their own. Ying adds in if they ever feel like they are getting off track that they could climb a tree to get their bearings. Lupa should be visible from the forest canopy.  

[Ryssa Blackblood]

When the younger of the sisters had been told to go collect firewood, Hakka had left her to the task and returned back to the cave. There was a minor puff of smoke as she returned to her fully human form, petite as it was compared to the large goliath woman. Hakka was stretching when the smoke cleared and popped a few of her joints. "With how dark it's getting, we should probably spend the night. What about you girls? Will you be staying here or heading home?"  

[Kowsauni]

Ying and Corsica

Corsica would look at Hakka as she returned to the cave and answer her question. "My sister and I will be working through the night to try and cook and preserve as much of Razroclaw's meat as we can before other predators take notice of his demise and come here to feast. Please, don't take this the wrong way, but I would prefer if you did not stay here. Your group is too large and too conspicuous. You will draw the attention of the forest. If you leave now and make good time, you should have no problem getting back to your village before dusk."  

[Rain Yupa]

When Corsica recommended using a tree to help navigate, he frowned, glancing briefly at his full plate mail. Hopefully he did not become separated from the others.

"Thank you for the instructions. All of you, take care of yourselves," he would say to Corsica, Ying, and that fox girl. Or was she leaving too? She was a mystery and honestly, Revenge couldn't be bothered to puzzle it out quite yet. Best let the pieces fall where they may.

Revenge would wait until the others were finished getting a head in life, and then proceed to head out, attempting to navigate back.

Quote:

To navigate back, either Nature or Perception (same bonus) of 21! Stealth of 7, just 'cause.

 

[I Drink Blue Moon]

Gloom will head out.

Perception: 13
Stealth: 28  

[Ryssa Blackblood]

Hakke saw the others leaving and she walked over to Ying. "You stay safe,okay? I'll be coming back to play sometime," she told the girl. The fox girl then leaned in and kissed Ying briefly on the lips before running off after the others (well...after the tin can man). "Hey, wait for me!" she called out.  

[Kowsauni]

Ying and Corsica

Ying, who is carrying a small stack of sticks in her hands, is caught completely off guard by Hakka's kiss. She blushes furiously and and seems bewildered. "I'm sorry, but I'm--I'm not..." She stammers shyly before running back into the mound.

As the party heads back off into the forest, Revenge is able to spot the landmarks Corsica had directed them to, but his loud stomping attracts the attention of a young strangle vine. The carnivorous plant is easily defeated by the adventures but the battle does eat up some of their rapidly diminishing sunlight. The forest seems to get darker quicker than it should. Thankfully Gloom is able to lead the party the rest of the way out of the foreboding forest and stealthily avoid any other unpleasant surprises.

By the time the party breaks free of Tapana Woods, the sun is beginning to set. They find themselves on the road outside the Hopkins ranch which looks closed up for the evening. As the party heads further into town, groups of towns folk are heard heatedly gossiping among themselves, at least until they see the monstrous head in Kuori's arm, at which point they become quiet and move away or simply stare in curiosity. There is a tense feeling linger over the entire place.  

[Rain Yupa]

Sometime after the stranglevine incident...

"So what's your story?" the paladin would ask Hakka. "If I got it right, you aren't an agent of that dryad... but you aren't with those girls either? Just who are you, exactly?" They had been traveling in mostly awkward silence, and it seemed Kuori was being moody and Gloom was... Gloom... and of course, there was that dragonborn, and everyone knows you can't trust one of those... this mystery girl that seemed to be tagging along for no reason he could figure out on his own, was his best bet to lessen the aggravation of overland travel through dense forest. Might as well try to learn something about her.  

[Ryssa Blackblood]

Hakka had enjoyed Ying's reaction and watched her run off, giggling a little. She hadn't meant it in that way. The kiss had been more a way of saying goodbye than a profession of love or anything. Still, seeing the girl assume it was the latter filled Hakka with warm feelings. She was still feeling pretty "up" when the stranglevine attacked the party, and some time after that, the tin can man struck up a conversation with her. "Right on both counts," she replied, still chipper from earlier, "I was hired by the town just like you guys." She wasn't really sure what dryad the guy was talking about, but she definitely wasn't working for...whatever it was.  

[Rain Yupa]

"You... mean you didn't run into Poa? The guardian of this town? Or so she says, anyways. She met us at the gate, put on quite the display of power," Revenge would say. "She-" he would start, but stopped himself, turning his head to give a scrutinizing look into the woods. Then he wouldn't say any more about the matter for a bit.

"I apologize for earlier, when I pointed my weapon at you," he would eventually say to Hakka. "I was full of adrenaline at the time, it was the heat of battle, and you had just appeared out of nowhere. It was wrong of me to do so."  

[Ryssa Blackblood]

Hakka shrugged a bit as she strolled beside the tin can man, listening to his explanation and the other other tidbits. When he began to apologize, the girl just started laughing at him. "That's enough," she said, waving him off, "You really, really don't have to apologize for that. It doesn't bother me in the slightest. As for the Pupa-lady....I guess a lot of people don't pay mind to a cute little foxy!" As she said the bit about the "foxy" there was a puff of smoke and the tiny fox was trotting along where Hakka had been walking. She slid over and rubbed against Mr. Tin Can's leg while they walked.  

[Rain Yupa]

When Hakka would rub against the armor, she would feel it cool to the touch; no matter the time of day, it was always cooler than the ambient temperature.

"While I appreciate your help in freeing me from that stranglevine - I admit, it was my fault for intentionally not paying attention when Kuori started doing puppet imitations with her trophy there, unsettling as they were - don't think for a minute I don't realize you simply used us to track down the Razorclaw's nest for you."

Using the haft of his halberd, he would, somewhat gently, push the fox away from his leg. He didn't look too upset, though.

"Look alive, I think I see Gloom up ahead, he must have found the path out of the forest, which means we are probably close to Lupa. Whatever form you adopted when you were in town, Weird Druid Fox Girl, you may want to take at this point."

The tiefling walked in silence for a few moments more, looking forward rather than down. "Did I ever introduce myself to you? My name is... that is, I am called Revenge."