The halfling doesn't seem done. She raises the ickor colored blade straight up and brings it down upon the back of the hags neck hitting it with a solid thud and Riki ends up slicing its head off. Its head topples across the ground and lands near the oracles feet. Feeling satisifed the creature is dead, Riki sits down on a log and wipes the blade off.

Tukhirk looks at the dead monster in the water with a subtle look of disgust.
He and Trepa take the dead body and drag it out of the water into the shore.
"Trepa, smell the monster and check if we can find if it moved somewhere in the area..."
The man checks the dead body and then starts looking for long branches. He tries to build a structure to carry it. "We should make sure this abomination does not poison the waters and the land around the lake. Can we carry it back to the village? Maybe there we can burn the body."

The panther in the meantime starts moving in circles looking for a track that can tell them where the hag was going when leaving the water.

"Hmm.. I'm afraid I'll be of no help carrying the thing."

I mean, it was likely the halfling was strong enough to aid them, but Davmop knew his limitations.

Instead, he focused more on the tracks where the panther was looking.

(OOC, Survival or Perception test? And is it night yet?)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:34, Wed 23 June 2021.

Riki stares at the druid, putting the blade onto her back and putting her hands upon it sorta like a firemans carry. She doesn't try to help, shaking her head and she stands up. The barbarian spits at the ground, watching each of them one by one. Slowly, she heads over to the decapitated body and kneels down, dragging it further up the shore and dropping it in the woods as the druid grabs sticks. A moment later, she kicks the head over to where the body lies. Of course it bleeds upon the ground as its dragged.

As the druid checks the body, he finds nothing. Just scraps for clothing. For now all the panther finds are what the druid found before-scuff makes upon the ground leading towards the woods slightly. Same area from where the hag came out from the water.

The panther checks the area, with the oracle walking with him but they find nothing.

Walking up to the fighter, she grabs some dirt and muck from the ground and motions for him to get down to her level. She smears the dirt onto the face of Ralgar if allowed, grunts and heads ack to the small boathouse that she didn't go into as the hag made a appearance beforehand.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:44, Wed 23 June 2021.

"It doesn't look like there's anything else here. Perhaps we should report this to the town?"


Asked Davmop to the group as he cleaned himself up.

After a while Tukhirk has improvised a way to carry the dead body with branches. He sees how Rikki has moved it already far from the shore, and nods to her with gratitude.

"I'll carry the abomination somewhere else when we leave, but I think the building is still uninspected. Let's have a look."

He whispers something to Trepa and the panther starts moving around to go to the other side of the boathouse and indirect it from there.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:55, Fri 02 July 2021.

"Ah, yes, of course. Let me try again on that wound there..."

Davmop incanted a bit and cast another healing invocation to deal with that nasty wound the Hag had delivered. His first healing spell had been... inadequate.

21:57, Today: Davmop Zompubaros rolled 10 using 1d8+3 ((7)).


A quick study of his results, and he nodded.

Not perfect, but that should take the sting off it!

You can tell that, while Ralgar has seen Riki do this to others, she had not yet done it to him. He knew the procedure and quietly kneels down while trying to hide a slight look of unease. Once the ritual was done he nodded and stood back up and followed the group to the boathouse.

Ralgar accepted Davmop's second healing and sighs with relief. "Thank you much. I haven't been hit that hard in quite a while. Now let's figure out what's in here." Ralgar moves to the front of the group and takes point at the door. He listens at the door and will push it open if it seems safe.

23:21, Today: Ralgar Vandadin rolled 4 using 1d20+3.  Perception (Oof)

Percy was quiet and soft-footed even for a bookworm. Once everyone had a look about and got a sniff at whatever they wanted to investigate Percy pulled out a crest knife of the Mesmer family. With it he bent low and removed the hand of the hag quickly and deftly.

Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs
All on a midsummer's morn
Surely we'll sing of no little thing
In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn

He was quietly singing as he worked. He let go of the hag's hand letting it spin in the air between his hands.

Yew that is old, in churchyard mould, he breedeth a mighty bow
Alder for shoes do wise men choose, and Beech for cups also
But when you have killed
And your bowl it is filled, and your shoes are clean outworn
Back you must speed for all that you need to Oak, and Ash, and Thorn

Salt was pulled from the air and ground as a vapor that begun to resurface the hand of the hag. From his side bag he pulled out a jar used to contain large alchemical components.

Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs
All on a midsummer's morn
Surely we'll sing of no little thing
In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn
Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs
All on a midsummer's morn
Surely we'll sing of no little thing
In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn

Once the Hag's hand was salted to extract moisture, contained, and protected he stowed it away for later proof of the kill and to likely see if there was something to be made. Monster parts turned into grand objects in folklore after all. He was a Mesmer through and through, balls to bone, so superstition was in his blood and you give back to what you take of a Fey. As distantly related hags are to Fey they are still related and it hurt no one to give a quiet little song.

With the extraction done he twisted his fingers again to give his eyes the ability to see magic and gave another look to see if he couldn't back Ralgar up with some kind of information. There was also a dancing lights spell on offer if he Ralgar needed light.

Excessive use of prestidigitation
This message was last edited by the player at 14:18, Mon 05 July 2021.

While Percy is working on the hag, Riki seems focused and not hearing Percy's rhyme, opens the doorway flanked by Ralgar. The smell is horrid as the door is opened. The barbarian winces and her eyes open wide. Ralgar probably looks into the room and she raises her sword up blocking Tunkirk and Dav for a moment. Inside the room are several dead bodies all lumped together. Some have their arms, legs and heads lying on a table. Bits and pieces hang from girders above. It looks horrible. The stench just reaks out from the small boathouse.

OOC
Everyone but not Percy as he isn't near the boathouse: DC 15 Fort save

Ralgar takes a step back at the physical repulsion from the stench.

11:35, Today: Ralgar Vandadin rolled 13 using 1d20+5.  Fortitude.

"This might by the hag's food storage," he says through gagging sounds.

"Oh! Yes. I believe you are correct. Stars, that's foul!"

He'd already wretched most of his breakfast in the earlier encounter with the hag, and his mostly empty stomach was able to withstand the fetid stench.

"09:59, Today: Davmop Zompubaros rolled 22 using 1d20+3.  Fort Save."

He forced himself to look inside, his normally irrepressible positive nature shattered by what he saw. He visibly paled.

"Those poor, innocent people!"

He removed his cap out of respect and began intoning various brief prayers to the Gods, hoping that their souls would be at peace, even if their ends had been horrific.
He had no knowledge of what they'd been in life, but they'd deserved a better end than this.

"I think perhaps we should report this to the town. Unless we are to separate the bodies ourselves?

His body language made it very clear he REALLY didn't want to do this, but felt duty-bound to offer.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:23, Mon 05 July 2021.

Putting her hand over her mouth, the barbarian stares at the dead bodies. She goes to close the door and goes down the plank to the ground and sits down. Putting her hands over her legs sitting crosslegged, her eyes close and she seems to be looking at the ground. The halfling speaks quietly.

Percy took a moment to write something in a book far too thick to be a spellbook. "If our druid friend here can talk to animals we may get access to her treasures. Green hags are very distantly related to fey so they tend to collect what they can. It will take a bass or carp to fetch their stuff."

"But we also gotta be careful. If there is one, then there are very often two more someplace near, not always but often." He made sure he was nowhere close to the water.

Tukhirk gets closer to the building to inspect it. The smell becomes apparent when he's still a few steps from the door. He recognises it immediately, the smell of the area where an animal picks to eat their prey. He's used to it.

07:09, Today: Tukhirk rolled 27 using 1d20+7.  Fortitude save

What he's not used to is the view. It's not dead animals what is rotting in here, but human bodies.

"We have to inform the town that here is the people that has been missing. It won't be good news, but it will give them closure and the opportunity to bury them properly..."

The druid looks at the odd wizard. "Are there more?"

Trepa is roaming around at the other side of the building, keeping an eye.

Through a covered mouth, Ralgar agrees that they should secure the area then bring a higher-up from town to see if they can identify any of the bodies.

The barbarian opens her eyes and stares at the wizard. Her eyes narrow and she stands up, moving towards him and dragging her blade. She stands in front of him, curious. Riki hoists the blade up and glances at the druid "Trepa stay. We go to town?" The blade rests upon her back and she walks over to a log and sits down. Riki and water is probably a bad idea. She likes being muddy and she just met Percy "Ask the mayor. Deaths has response." The druid and the warrior knows some of what she does but how she deals with the dead remains to be unknown. Its her past she kept a secret, and the druid and the fighter were accepted-the whole 'painting of their faces' part of it. No one knows of her past, and she doesn't reveal it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:14, Fri 16 July 2021.

Percy kept his hands in some easy position so she could see them. "Worst case there are two more so we come back at night fall or some other time they hunt. Best case she was running solo and we can, later, come back to find her stuff. I am all about that more treasure life, Sorry boss."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:51, Fri 16 July 2021.

Tukhirk nods. "Let's go back to town and inform the mayor. I'll ask tries to stay put here and one we come back she can tell me if there are more creatures like this one we just killed."

The druid makes a sound and the panther Congress by his side. He whispers something at the beast and it leaves and climbs a nearby tree, hiding on top of it.

"We can leave now, Trepa will look if something else comes out in this area, but it won't engage. We can later track them down."

"I swear, the damn panther is smarter than me, sometimes. Let's get going. We should be back here before nightfall." Ralgar agrees to leave at once and leads the way back to town, looking for the Mayor first.

Leaving the panther behind, they find the mayor in the square talking to a few others. Riki glances at the others, holding her sword and starts to move towards them. Glancing over, the mayor crosses his arms "Things going alright? Was the beast stopped? So much to do. I wish I had more to off..." The blacksmith approaches and whispers something to the man who nods as well as several others. He pauses and goes up to the group "The smith can give you something so just ask. And you have my thanks-free board as I mentioned." He looks crestfallen and sad "We had a mage but he left some time ago. Been ages. I can unlock his abode? Anything inside you may have. He left with a decent amount but never know."

Percy closes a book with a snap. "Why just unlock it? If this mage had a lab I could absolutely make use of it. Perhaps even establish a connection to other loremasters around the world." He nodded once, "Every good town needs a good mage but you'll have to make do with me."

"So, care to sponsor a new mage for your town? I may have to do a fair bit of fieldwork so the odd things like research of elder curses would be slow but given enough time I'd hopefully have scrolls, potions, and casting services for you."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:14, Fri 23 July 2021.

The mage watches the newcomer "Of course if you want to look inside but much was taken with him and I don't believe there was a lab. Elder curses? What are you talking about? And I have been to other villages and towns that seem to be doing just fine without a mage. Not saying having you live here would be a burden. Just a obvservation." He seems to be rather taken back by Percy's up front approached and by stating 'we'll have to make do with me' seems to be a hindrance to a degree "Like I said, anything of value he probably took with him. And we have little money so that sounds like you need funding. We're just a small village..." He sighs "We do have a healer but not here. Comes in and helps out but doesn't stay long. Been some time. So much to do so much..flying creatures. Something in the woods. It just keeps getting worse I say...."

Tukhirk explains the mayor about the dead aberration and the dead bodies in the building by the lake. "You should recover the bodies by the lake. It will not be nice, but those people deserve some rest. We can go with you in case you feel is still unsafe..."

The druid heard about the smith and the mage. "That will be a nice motivation for my colleagues. I'm very fond of covering my body with iron or steel, and the magic I do little has to do with the one a wizard does. But I'll stick with my team wherever that decide."

Hearing about the offer, Ralgar nods in appreciation at the blacksmith. "I'll be visiting you tomorrow to get this armor tweaked." When Tukhirk mentions retrieving the bodies, Ralgar agrees. "Yeah, we can't leave those people there to rot. They need a proper burial. We'll lead the way."