Chapter 5: Reunions and Rebuttals

[Pulpatoon]

Just as Marcus and Gizzy get ready to head back down the stairs, Bürd and Simon emerge from the darkness!

Re-entering the Grove, Bürd and Simon see a small crowd. Along with their two friends are:

Eighter: a tough old veteran. He's not the most inspiring sight, in his decades-old armor which rattles loosely on his withered frame. Armed with a halberd and a short sword. Eighter grins to see Bürd and Simon, calling out, "There's th' boys! Fit 'n fiddle."

Ebba: a brawny, middle-aged woman who lives deep in the woods. Carries an stout axe, and a hunting bow.

Maya: An aging retired mercenary. Still spry, with hard muscles from doing the brunt of the chores around her homestead. Carries an impressive sword.

Hake Glennross: The town blacksmith. Short, strong, and a terrible father. Armed with a hammer and a shield. Hake is standing over the buckets of metal trinkets. His expression is dark. He makes no immediate move to greet his son.

[MonkeyWrench]

Marcus strides over to his two friends as they emerge, somehow grabbing them both in a giant hug as he cheers, even lifting Bürd up off the ground as he does so. I releases them both and steps back, even though his face is split into a smile the others can still tell deep bags under his eyes and the exhausted expression coming from his entire body, it seems as if he has yet to actually sleep since they last saw him. He tiredly states, "I'm glad to see you two are alright! I was worried." he points to the adults/elders, "I brought back help after getting gizzy to safety."

he then looks back to Bürd and Simon, "I found someone else too... But we can see her back at the village, what did you two find? We're you able to destroy the black ooze?"

[KingOfCowards]

Simon is uncharacteristically silent and stone-faced through the brief period of merriment, even through Marcus' embrace. He finds it hard to listen as he stares intently on his father, as if he is expecting an attack at any moment.
But he catches just a hint of what Marcus said, "Her? Who did you find?"

[MonkeyWrench]

He steps forward, speaking softly, "I found Larea, She had Smokeys sword... She tried to kill me so I. So, I knocked her out and then dragged both her and Gizzy back to the town. I brought them to Helga for healing, I waited just long enough for him to wake up before grabbing who I could and rushing back for both of you." To show him proof Marcus motions to the sword now resting in his belt, the very same Magical sword that went missing under the tree.

Marcus grins a little before continuing, "I didn't have any rope so I tied her up using a tent and it's rope strings, made her a nice little cocoon Hehe"

[KingOfCowards]

Not trying to out-muscle mb for face time. Just getting things moving, possibly.
"She'd be the only thing left alive from this place then, she might have the answers that we need. Bürd has finished off the ooze, but we believe there is still some evil presence that is corrupting the grove. The heart of the tree looks even worse than yesterday."

I'll wait for Bürd or Gizzy to chime in before our next step. But going to town and interrogating Larea sounds like the next move to solving this mystery. Any other ideas?

[Pulpatoon]

Ebba pipes in: "What's this about the heart of the tree?"

[KingOfCowards]

"My apologies ma'am. I don't believe we've met." As Ebba hurries him through an awkward introduction, Simon goes on to explain. "We traveled down there and found the heart of the great Guardian Oak. It's now corrupted and covered with a black, oily fungus and overgrown with mushrooms. I could sense it's magical life-force, waning as the corruption takes over. Whatever has happened to it, the tree is dying."

[MonkeyWrench]

Marcus tacks on, "That was when we were attacked by a giant black ooze, nothing but sunlight seemed to do it any harm..."

[mb.]

Bürd looks as exhausted as Marcus, with a fresh burn streaked diagonally across his face, "aye lads but it's good t'see y's. An aye, we done fer th'ooze," he gestures at his face, "but not afore it prettied me face up. Cain't be goin' back t'th'mountain without no scars no ways. Pa'll be proud I reckon."

"We're safe now every ways, now Eighter's with us." He grins at his old friend, then nods to Simon, "An' yer right lad, naught else t'do but see what the lass is knowin'. I'm seein' no other way forward."

[mb.]

Noticing and nodding to everyone, Bürd eventually scowls at Hake without a nod, "an' y'can step away from the sparklies there Hake. I climbed down a well meself t'get 'em, an' they're belongin' t'me, yer brave son here, an me friends." Bürd wiggles his axe on his shoulder with a toothy grin.

[Pulpatoon]

Maya, the retired swordswoman, steps up and inspects Bürd's face. Her manner is matter-of-fact to the point of brusqueness: "It's a burn, not too bad. Simon, did you treat this? Good work, doesn't look like it's going to fester. How are you otherwise?" She glances over Simon as well. "You're both a mite dinged up. We have one draught of Tatter Helga's tonic. Could go to either of you, although I'm inclined to give it to Marcus. The boy is, as usual, more will than sense, and really shouldn't have made the hike back here."

Noticing and nodding to everyone, Bürd eventually scowls at Hake without a nod, "an' y'can step away from the sparklies there Hake. I climbed down a well meself t'get 'em, an' they're belongin' t'me, yer brave son here, an me friends." Bürd wiggles his axe on his shoulder with a toothy grin.

Hake scoffs, adjusting his grip on the handle of his blacksmith's hammer. "A bunch of children playing cutthroat in th' woods, killing neighbors and kin f'r a handful of trinkets? This ain't yer treasure, dwarf. This belongs t'th' families of those you killed. It's a short stay in th' stocks an' a long one at th' gallows for you lot."

[MonkeyWrench]

Marcus shakes his head, "We brought that for them, I'm fine; really. As long as everyone is safe." Marcus shoots Hake a glare as he hears him threaten his friends and himself, "If it weren't for us the whole town would be overrun with cultists and evil spirits!" He strides towards Hake, his hands clenching into fists, "What were you doing when the river overflowed with rotten fish and blood? Where were you when we found the corruption in the very land itself? Or when people came in the night and strung up one of your own neighbors?! Where were you Hake?!?" He calms down only slightly, continuing on with a lower tone, "Oh, that's right. You weren't there, just like always. But the so called children were, we were here to stop the town from falling, You can thank us by getting the hell away from that treasure."

[KingOfCowards]

Simon will step in as a peacemaker, trying to put himself in between Marcus and the well-muscled blacksmith. He puts a hand on Marcus's shoulder and speaks in a calming voice, "Peace, friend.".
"We're not here for treasure. We're here to help. If this coinage can heal the pains of our suffering town, then so it should go. For myself, I'll take no share, and I'll let it be passed to those who lost someone in this terrible event."

But then he turns to Hake and the others, "But we're no criminals. Tatter Helga and Bris Miller will vouch for us. They saw the effects of this curse, and unless your blind you can see for yourselves the effect its had on this grove"

I know how dwarves love their treasure, so I cannot speak for all of us. But it seems out of character to go back to town like rich men after an event such as this.

[mb.]

Bürd thinks his axe into the ground and strides towards Hake, pulling up his gloves, "child I ain't Hake, an' if y'had half the sense of a goose, y'd know it. I've killed far better 'an you with this axe of me ancestors, so it'd surely be sad t'nick it on yer fool skull. Drop yer hammer if yer a man, or keep it an' have yer ass whipped like a wee girl. Makes no never mind t'me. Y've had this comin' fer years y'prick." Bürd take a swing at Hake's balls.

How's unarmed combat work in BtW anyway?

[KingOfCowards]

[facepalm]Epic failure at peacemaking....

[Pulpatoon]

BtW doesn't have specific rules for unarmed combat, but it's easy enough to houserule. Especially since it's not as though nuanced wrestling is expected to be a big part of the game (but if any of your characters decide to get into wrestling in a big way, let me know; I'll come up with something).

So: unarmed combat. To-hit as per normal attack. A warrior could take unarmed combat as a weapon specialization.
Damage: 1d2 + STR bonus.
Grappling and such is usually handled the same way other combat maneuvers are: state the effect you want and roll to hit. On a 20, you get what you want. On a success, your opponent chooses between taking damage as normal or allowing the maneuver to succeed.
In situation where that is not appropriate, we can use contested STR checks.

Let's see... we had a conversation awhile back about subdual damage. I kinda hate keeping parallel tallies of hit points, but for now, let's go ahead and say that if you beat Hake down to zero hp, he'll pass out.

That should be enough to get us started, and if that proves insufficient, I'll make up something more.

[mb.]

Bürd takes a swing... [1d20+2] = 1+2 = 3

Kinda assumign that's a miss?

[Pulpatoon]

Embarrassingly, Bürd's kick swishes through empty air as Hake effortlessly steps away from it. Hake sneers, "The lil' rock-bunger's gone rabid!" Looking at Simon, he continues, "Well, at least he had the stones to try. Not like my watery milksop of a boy."

Eighter swats Bürd on the back of the head. "Would you lot stop squabbling? There's good folk lying dead, an' we ain't stopped what did 'em. Howbout you show us what you found down there?"

[KingOfCowards]

Simon shakes his head, once again ashamed of his parent. "I wear it as a badge of honor, that I am nothing like you."
The young acolyte sighs at Eighter's words, yet anxious to oblige if it will calm their suspicions. He turns towards the stairs, keeping some distance between him and his father, "Then follow me."

[mb.]

Bürd scowls at Hake, gathers up his axe, and follows Simon. He calls over his shoulder, "dinnae think I'm not knowin' exactly every piece that's in them buckets Hake."