5punk

Okidoki,

While I'm waiting for Bits and Roman to catch up or contact me, let's do Thor.

The Traveller's Camp is a sprawling mass of tents, marquees and makeshift shelters that covers the land either side of the city, behind the protection of the river to the north. The population is mainly halfling at first glance, but there are all manner of races here; elves enjoying the hospitality of the locals, tieflings and dwarves sitting beside one another enjoying hog roasts - there are even a group of human hunters who lead expeditions into the wilds of the north.

Central to the west camp is an enormous big top tent, easily four stories high with bleachers inside forming an oval in the centre for weekly circus performances. By way of a youthful halfling acrobat called Seraphina, you're directed towards a squat, red-faced Dwarf called Damon Ristwhite, the ringmaster.

He's yelling at a group of jesters for their last performance when you find him, waving a black cane in the air, sweat from his forehead dribbling into his short, curly beard.

Damon Ristwhite wrote:Yer' a bunch'a pathetic, useless, money-wastin' shams! The lot'a ya! You call that making funny? You couldn't even make-- Tasha laugh! Get yer' act together or I'm hirin' the guy with five legs an' no arms!

Damon wipes his beading forhead with a handkerchief, brushes his blue felt jacket down and polishes a few brass buttons. Breathless, his demeanor changes to that of a welcoming host.

Damon Ristwhite wrote:Oh, hail stranger! Welcome to Ristwhite's Splendorous Circus! Best n' only circus in town! We ain't got a show on right now fella, rehersals and all, gotta get the acts down perfect, right? But if you come back at the end'a the week--

As you explain your yearning for a fuzzy ursine riding companion he swaps in to shrewd businessman mode, and he stuffs his handkerchief back into his jacket pocket.

Damon Ristwhite wrote:A bear? Oh, well. We have those, we have a whole box'a bears, but they're performing animals, y'see? Tame. You give them something to bite and they'll just nibble, all sweet like. Rosy an' old Jake are probably the best for ya', big things you'd have no trouble ridin', but I'm not just gonna give 'em up for free.

Unnn~lee~ss you do me a favour in turn?

I'll try and pick this up at the weekend, Thor is intrigued by the offer.

Thor tips back his hat and gazes at the Ringmaster, his brown eyes positively twinkling with interest.

Thor wrote:Welp, tame is just what I'm after. It's a long story I won't bore ya with, but there's a kinda family tradition around bears and let's just say that we yall reckon the tamer, the better.

Uh, what sorta favour did ya have in mind? I'll do what I can ta help you fine folks.

He leans in towards Thor and taps the ranger's stomach with the top of his cane, smiling up towards him with a sly grin.

Damon Ristwhite wrote:Tamer the better, absolutely. Can't agree more.

Only tame doesn't draw in the crowds like it used to, no Sir. They want action n' violence now! They wanna see a performer risk life n' limb, go head-to-head with a big, burly brown bear!

See, I usually rent a few fellas to go north in to the Ironshade Forest and grab me some fresh stock, wilder the better, but one'a them's gone and.. Well. He got in to an unrelated accident. Lost an arm, I heard. Point is, I'm a ranger down and you're a bear down. I got a stock of tame ones, and you've got the skills to nab me a new one, right?

He looks hopeful.

Thor wrote:Uh, well I aint got no problem going in the forest and getting animals out, but I...err, well I mean say that umm...I don't usually bring 'em back with all their insides uhh...inside. D'you have any ideas about a way I could bring one back in jus' the one piece? Maybe put him to sleep somehow?

Damon extends his cane and brings it down mid-air as if fighting an imaginary ursine.

Damon Ristwhite wrote:Yeah! Just bop 'em with the flat of your sword, or I suppose in your case.. Heck, can't you buy some blunt arrows or something? Knock-out potions? I don't know. You look like a smart fella, you'll figure it out.

Thor wrote:Okay, if I manage to knock him out cold, d'you have some guys that can come in and pick him up? The uh..empty ones are a bit lighter to carry back.

Where's a good place around town he can maybe ask about "sleep arrows"?

Okay, I want to get this miniventure running soon so I'll skip over some of the tedious business talk and characterisation

Damon suggests a few people you can talk to regarding sleep arrows, there's a section of town called the Magic Mile which is lined with all sorts of magic shops. On further investigation you find you can pick up a sleep arrow for about 132gp each.

Blunt arrows cost 5sp a piece, which are considerably cheaper than magic ones, and do subdual damage. (Page 5, Arms & Equipment guide).

(I've been getting a headache looking to see the price of enchanting arrows for the past couple days now, fortunately Sleep arrows are explicity listed as costing 132gp, but I think if we need to make any other kind of arrow with a particular spell I'm gonna have to overhaul the magical item crafting system. See if you can make any more sense over estimating costs or Enhancement bonus costs. My brain hurts.)

A few people with rope and a wagon are enough to pick a bear up and haul him back to the circus, and we're talking maybe a couple of gold pieces for the privilege of all that labour for a few hours.

As for company, you can go solo, team up with the other rangers that go out hunting, or call on your friends.

I guess buy ten of each type of arrow and head out with the rangers if they know good locations, after checking with some guys to do the hauling.

Split the topic as I wanna kick this thing back off soon :D

FJ and I discussed arrow prices and came to 5gp for the ten blunt arrows, 264gp for the two sleep arrows, they are 'spensive.

FJ, when's good for you?

Saturday evening, 8 or 9 ish?

Yes! Tonight is good. We shall hunt bears.

I forgot about this and have have two laptops I promised my Mum's neighbours I'd fix - sorry to mess you about Mr G.

Later on, or tomorrow?

Still messing about with them, hopefully be free tomorrow.

Following his little chat with Damon Ristwhite, Thor chose to go and find a bear without the aid of the party, setting out the day after they arrive in Siriath. Exposition and stuff follows!

The Ironshade Forest is about a full day’s trek from Siriath, but the local Hunters guild has weekly expeditions to the woodland, and with a kind word they allow you to travel with them early next morning. Hunting etiquette dictates that if you see another hunter moving in for a kill before you sight their target, or see them staking an area out you should give them space to do so. The expedition arrives at 10am and leaves at 4pm.

On the cart to the forest are four other hunters
* Cornel Grigore (M H’Orc Barbarian/Ranger, dresses in grey fox hides, carries a belt of throwing axes and a large sling, hunting deer today)
* Bryce Aylmer (M Human Ranger, dresses in muddied leathers, wears a crown of ferns, carries a longbow and a two quivers of arrows, hunting Black Bear today)
* Faith Emery (F Human Ranger/Rogue, dresses in a navy blue cloak, carries a pair of hand crossbows, hunting goblinoids for bounties today)
* Alexis Heidrun (F Elf Ranger/Monk, dresses in a black gi, carries a pouch of shurikens and a butterfly sword, hunting rare game fowl)

The Ironshade Forest bristles with towering pine trees that stretch up into the sky. Silvery bark rots underfoot in a dense autumn mulch, and a cool, fine mist clings to the ground this morning.

Chatting to Bryce briefly as the hunters step off the cart, Thor gets a pointer as to where the three main dens of Black Bears lie in the land, mostly so that they don't overlap. Thor heads off in earnest towards the north west den and starts looking for tracks to follow. Within minutes he's found a vague trail consisting of at least three bears heading in the right direction and starts to follow it.

Some time in the smell of fresh woodsmoke begins to drift through the forest and Thor comes across a clearing. Approaching quietly, he spots two human figures and a halfling woman across a large camp built for ten or more people, roasting meat on a spit. In the centre of the camp is a tall, elegant white pine which seems to sway and creak its branches despite the lack of wind. The camp seems otherwise deserted. Thor identifies them as "probably druids" and approaches with a casual "Howdy."

The trio are startled and don weapons, but cautiously keep them by their sides. The nearest, a man in leathers carrying a shortbow begins to approach, and the two awkwardly exchange greetings and intents. Thor explains he wants to know where the local bear dens are so he can avoid them, omitting that he only wants to avoid them so he can get the jump on them. The druidic huntsman falls for the ploy and warns of a lone male to the north-west, roughly outlining his territory. They warily part ways, with Thor heading south before doubling back to pick up the trail.

A short while later, Thor happens upon a hunter's lodge secluded in the forest, though it appears to be unlit and abandoned. The interior is still in tact, but leathers left to dry on tanning racks have long since peeled off and begun to rot in the undergrowth, and the fire around back is completely burnt out. It looks cosy enough inside, and there's even a nice bow and a set of arrows hanging on the wall. Not one for breaking and entering, Thor heads around and continues his journey.

The sound of rustling from the rear catches his attention, and two particularly wiry thatches of branches and thorns appear to be following. Taking a closer look, it's obvious that they're living creatures rather than people hiding in bushes, and both lunge towards the Ranger. Not wanting to fight unless absolutely necessary, Thor takes flight and runs away, outpacing them easily. After a solid ten minute chase (which, in hindsight I could have made more interesting with some dice-rolls for trips and hazards and such, sorry) they give up and turn back, lost in the foliage.

Picking up the trail again, a single set of pawprints gets singled out and Thor follows them to a sparser part of the forest with denser undergrowth, finding the den. He spots the lone male at the entrance and makes a tactical approach. While he's almost impossible to spot crawling around on his belly and moving from tree to tree, the big Black Bear does hear something a-rustlin' and moves out of its cave entrance to find out what it is. Thor attempts a pot-shot with one of his pricey sleep arrows and fluffs it, losing the magically imbued arrowhead in the den's interior. His next shot (after backing up a little) is more successful (after Grimmie realises he accidentaly had FJ targeting against HP instead of AC, to Tandino's amusement) and he gets a good minute to hog-tie the bear with his handy 100 meters of hempen rope.

Helpless, and unable to break free once the spell wears off, Thor moves in and bashes the Bear on its head with the flat side of his rapier till it gets knocked out, and proceeds to drag the damn thing back through the forest towards the caravan.

I'm amused by the mental image of Thor repeatedly swatting the bear on the head with the flat side of a rapier.

Go to sleeeep! *Thwack* Go to sleeeeeep, sleepy bear! *Thwack*

Right, okay. With his black bear secured in tightly bound ropes, Thor is able to get a message back to the hunting caravan using a free signal arrow (totally forgot to mention that, whoops) that trails sulphur yellow smoke through the air when launched.

Four of the organisers approach the flare a good thirty minutes later, carrying with them ropes and sturdy wooden poles. The bear gets neatly bound between them and carried along on their shoulders back to the meeting point with our heroic ranger covering their retreat.

Alexis, the woman who went to hunt in a black martial-arts gi, is already there with a string of gamefowl to her side, messily plucking feathers from their bodies to toss over the side. The organisers help to load the bear onto an open-topped but tall-sided wagon at the back of the caravan and lock it up safely.

Bryce and Cornel arrive next. The massive half-orc barbarian drags two bedraggled fawns through the undergrowth behind him in one hand, and clutches a bundle of antlers in the other. Bryce doesn't appear to have bagged any bears, but takes great interest in the catch Thor was able to make.

Bryce Aylmer wrote:Heavens! He's huge. Great catch there, woodsman. Fella's still breathing though, what are you planning to use him for? A wild one like that's quite a handful to tame.

The hours draw on and eventually the autumn sun starts to dip in the sky across the plains, painting the sky and clouds pink and orange. Faith, who had been hunting goblinoids today, has still not returned. Having waited an extra hour for her to show, the caravan has no choice but to roll on back to Siriath.

5punk

D&D Adventure #4.5: Bear Hunt

D&D Adventure #4.5: Bear Hunt

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