Logger's Peril, part 9
Log Info
- Title: Logger's Peril, part 9
- Emitter: Whirlpool
- Characters: Aimarra, Jozi, Randolf, Rumbo, Smuldur, Vespasian
- Place: Alexandros - Somewhere in Mythwood
- Time: Thursday, November 19th, 2020 11:00AM
- Summary: After escaping the grasping tendrils of a nasty tendriculos the adventurers have found an isolated cabin at the end of the trail that had been hard to follow as efforts had been made to cover it up. Have they finally found where the loggers of the abandonded camp ended up?
- APL: 2-5
- Encounter 1: People in an isolated cabin deep in the Mythwood.
-=-=-=-=-=-= At a glance around Staff: Room of DoooOOooooOoom! =-=-=-=-=-=-= Aimarra 5'1" 128 Lb Half-Elf Female Brown hair and eyes, breastplate, leathers, pointed ears. Jozi 5'8" 148 Lb Half-Orc Female A brunette half-orcess with a sunny disposition. Randolf 4'10" 280 Lb Mountain Dwarf Male A burly, well-dressed Khazad in wizardly robes. Rumbo 3'2" 35 Lb Goblin Male A gun-toting gobber with a wooden peg-leg. Whirlpool Lb Otyugh I am stinky! -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
"I doubt they want visitors." _Tough,_ Aimarra's voice says without words as she examines the place with a frown and touches her cheek, where a healed scar across it is still more than a little nasty-looking. "I say we surround it and make sure there aren't any nasty surprises behind it before we go knocking."
Jozi brings up the rear of the enterprise, her bow nocked as she scans the trees for more unruly salad or 'twisted ones', still looking pretty rough. "We should set up to cover the entrances just in case... Anyone want to try and knock?"
GAME: Rumbo rolls Perception: (9)+4: 13
Rumbo spends some time eyeing the cabin through the woods in the distance and then nods agreeably with the others. "Alright," He squeaks out gruffly in his rough tradespeak, "Rumbo knocks. Ask borrow cup sugar please. You others eyes open and peeks in!"
Vividly remembering the last time she approached a potentially hostile house, Aimarra chimes in with a shake of the head. "If they open the door with a sword in hand, the wizard won't want to be the one standing there. And not everyone should be in sight of the door. Are there any other exits?
Jozi frowns, "Lemme go check." and, with that, the half-orc decides to creep around in a low crouch to see if there is another way into/out of the cottage for her to cover.
GAME: Jozi rolls stealth: (7)+-2: 5 GAME: Aimarra rolls stealth: (12)+6: 18 GAME: Randolf rolls stealth: (6)+1: 7
Rumbo bobs his head agreeably and gestures to their Khazad companion. "Yes," He states simply, "Elf is correct. Fat dwarf not seen, Scary elf and also giant hiding and peeping too. Just handsome gobber knocking at door, smiling. Say hello neighbour. Me friend!" Then as he gestures around cheerfully, "Everyone loves Rumbo! You all hide and watch!"
If they're paying attention, Jozi probably got noticed. That said, there is no response from the odd cabin... yet.
Randolf harrumphs. "I am not -fat-," he grumbles, scowling dourly at Rumbo. He goes to secret himself in the shrubs off the path. Wiggling and twisting his heavyset frame into the undergrowth. "Urk. Oof. Gah." He reaches out to shove some shrubbery aside, only to grab onto a lovely stalk of something nice and thorny. "YEOWCH!" He jerks his hand back, shaking it out as he glares angrily at the offending greenery. He decides to settle where he is, hunkering down and peering towards the cabin. Stealthy dwarf is stealthy. Yes sir he is.
Sometimes, when someone is hell-bent on their own destruction, the only rational thing to do is get clear. After a long, skeptical look at Rumbo, she turns and disappears into the brush, on the side opposite from where Jozi is, remaining quiet and hidden to the casual observer.
There's no immediate answer for the first moment or two. Then there is a rustling sound and the door slooooooowly open.
A figure, unavoidably humanoid, peeks down at Rumbo.
"The hell are you doing here?"
Jozi somewhat more stealthy than a corroded brass band rolling downhill in a quarry.... maybe, manages to take up a spot at the back, eyeing the place and sighting down her bow. Hmmm.
Rumbo gestures around with the battered old compass in his hand, the dragonspitter holstered for a change at his side and his other hand is empty, and smiles up at the humanoid that answers the door with a wide gobber smile. "Hello!" He says with some attempt at cheeriness, "This place is way out in the woods. Lucky thing I found it. My name is Rumbo, by the way, Cogz Rumbo. How do you do?" <low common>
"The hell are you doing all the way out here?!" The voice is distinctly male and probably belongs to a human if generally visible body shape is anything to go by. There's a pause and the figure half turns to look back inside.
"Yeah, it's some weird add goblin. Alone! Yeah, it's..."
Rumbo watches the probably human at the door speak over their shoulder to, presumably someone else inside, before offering to answer. "I'm just trying to stay ahead of Gunahkar's wrath. He can kill anyone at anytime you know, got to keep your eyes open... ah, maybe you have some food? I can do some chores, maybe chop firewood or such, if you got some stew and maybe a nip of whiskey?" Hopefully the others can see more than he can with the big probably human blocking his view. <low common>
Jozi continues to observes from her position, not sure what's going on out front, but, so far, back here is quiet.
Randolf continues to hunker down, his beard bristling as he scowls towards the cabin. "The hell are they sayin'?" he mutters under his breath. The shrubbery crackles as he shifts his hefty weight, trying to get comfortable.
GAME: Rumbo rolls Perception: (15)+4: 19
"Slow down, I'm only getting about half of waht you're saying," says the man at the door to Rumbo.
There's whispering from the interior behind him. HE waves his hand over his shgoulder, as if to hush them.
"...look, no. You can't come in. Sorry. Find some tree to bury yourself under or something, all right?" He starts to shut the door in Rumbo's face.
Rumbo sighs as the door begins to close and says simply, "Logging camp abandoned, no work here either. I'm a gunsmith you know, I could make you a great firearm. Oh well." If that doesn't stop the door closing in his face Rumbo would walk away from the cabin. <low common>
Jozi maintains her position, making sure no one scurries out the back as... things proceed up front.
The man hurriedly shuts the door and you can hear a bar being slid into place. Sharper ears can detect several uttered cursewords and harsh whispering from inside, but htat's about it.
Randolf boggles a little bit as the door gets shut. "Och... did I just grub under this bloody foliage fer no bloody good reason?" he grumbles. It's about that time he feels something tickling on his shoulder. He looks to see a large spider skittering over his robe. "EEYAGH!" He scrabbles out of the brush, frantically slapping and scrubbing at his shoulder as he staggers out. After making good and sure he's arachnid free, he clears his throat, giving the lapels of his robe a solid tug. He looks back up and around at his comrades. "Are we -done- here?" he asks.
Rumbo slowly walks away from the cabin to where he left his companions hidden and gives a shrug of his shoulders to them. Gesturing back towards the cabin the gobber tries to explain, "Some men inside. Probably loggers. I saw trousers over chair, shoes on floor. Loggers probably naked. Maybe sex cabin? They abandonded camp to have fun." Then with a smile he declares, "We find loggers. We tell Guild of Adventurers about fucking loggers, we get paid. Hooray!"
Jozi blinks and relaxes her bow. She frowns a bit and emerges from her, admittedly terrible hiding spot and starts to make her way back to the front to see what's going on.
"Wait, the *loggers* are inside?" asks Ivy.
"But.."
The dryad perks up. "I get them to come outside and back witn us and then they leave forest alone?" she seems excited.
Rumbo pats a hand upon one of the glass orbs he has attached to his belt, the greasy liquid inside sloshing about, "Want loggers leave forest? We burn down sex cabin. No more loggers. No more logging." Rumbo favours the dryad with a wide Gobber grin.
Randolf just... stares... at Rumbo. "No. No, no, -no-, damn it. We are -not- burnin' down the bloody cabin!" He rubs his face wearily. "Ye know, if those -were- the loggers we were lookin' fer, ye'd think they'd be a wee bit more upset. Considerin' their mates got took by these dark fae things."
"Or /did/ they?" asks Ivy after a moment, glancing towards Randolf.
"I've had enough of this nonsense. Why don't we just kick the door in and have words wih them?"
Jozi massages the bridge of her nose with her fingers and sighs, then, "Lemme try. If this is them an they're all... resigned, we can go back and tell the guild someone needs to hire new guys."
Rumbo agrees with a simple, "Rumbo said that. At abandoned camp. We say Camp Abandoned, need more lumberjacks."
Jozi slips her bow oround her shoulder as she turns to approach the house, sticking the arrow back in the quiver along the way. Deep breathe, patience, then... a gentle, but insistant knocking on the door. "Excuse me?" she calls sweetly.
Randolf holsters his wand and lumbers up the path alongside Jozi. He clasps his hands behind his back and does his very best to look presentable. A bit of a challenge, considering his rumpled and torn robes, and the twigs tangled in his beard. He forces a cheerful smile to his face as he waits alongside Jozi, to see if any answer is forthcoming.
"Go away! We're lonely old hermits here! Go away!"
That's the answer you get. Immediately. They're... not very good at this 'deceit' thing.
Jozi draws her lip over a fang for a moment, looking bemusedly at Randolf then sighs, knocking again, "Hello? We are looking into some loggers that went missing, and we'd really like to be sure than they aren't dead. If they ran off the job, that's on them, but their families really deserve ta know if they're alright or not, don't they?"
"...shit, they're on to us."
"We were supposed to staqy low."
"SHH! I"ll handle this!"
"Go away! We don't have anything you want! Thieves! Brigands!"
".../that's/ your idea?"
"SHH!"
Randolf boggles a little bit. Looks up at Jozi. Back at the cabin. Back up to Jozi. He clears his throat. "Ha-hem! You lads best come out here an' start talkin'. Else I'll fling a fireball at this wee little shack o' yers," he says in a loud tone. He looks over his shoulder towards Rumbo, reaching up to tap the side of his nose and toss the gobber a wink. Looks like he might just get his wish after all.
Rumbo keeps his dragonspitter aimed towards the cabin door, all steady like.
Jozi rests her forarm against the door and her frame sags, forehead against the limb as she unleashes a long suffering sigh, "I been tryin' ta head off burnin' an' tortuer an all other wickedness since we took this job, fellas! Half of us done got chomped on by a killer damned plant gettin here an I ain't much longer fer patience! I'ma ask ya nice like ta come out an we work this out like civil folk, or... well, you just think on how else that can go." That said, the half orc pushes off and starts to drift unhurriedly away from the shack.
"...fuuuuuck."
"Fuck!"
There's a lot of swearing and then finally the door opens.
"Okay. COme in. Don't set us on fire, okay?"
Rumbo keeps the dragonspitter aimed on the cabin and will stay outside to set it on fire if the others who, presumably will go in, don't come back out.
Ah, so we're going to be reasonable, after all.
Jozi turns, then as the door opens, and she starts to approach, throwing a tired smile, "Thank ya, sugar." There's a quick look to her fellows, and a wary step inside...
The door opens and you're invited inside. All of you. Hanging out with a LARGE stash of empty liqour bottles (and more full ones) are a handful of men. The 'lumberbacks'.
Ivy follows you in, but the dryad elects to stay outside. "They said this would be easy," grumbles the lumberback that was talking at the door. "We staqy here, and, our families get a fat payout through the companies, and then we turn up alive in a few weeks, 'charmed by the fae..."