A Strange First Encounter

The four adventurers talked as they walked out of Verbobonc, getting to know one another and their stories. They also talked about what they were good at:

Masiry is good at things requiring dexterity since he has had training as a monk.

Rodin is good at living in the wild and tracking animals since his uncle started to teach him more about the ways of being a ranger.

Relord is good at making sure people are healed up after a fight or for giving courage when needed, since St. Cuthbert allows him to cast Divine Spells.

Kasas is good at magical energy and seems to have a knack for it, since he is a Sorcerer.

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At about 8:30, they stopped and decided to camp in a little place away from the main road. After deciding who was going to be on watch, they took turns sleeping and getting their rest.

However, at about 4:30 am, when Rodin was silently humming to himself, he suddenly heard something strange that seemed to be coming directly at the party. The fire was now only embers and even though his eyes had adjusted to the dark surroundings, he could not see anything.

He decided to keep a watch out, for it may only be a simple animal that wanted to get some leaves. He thus, did not wake everyone up.

Rodin carefully watched the nearby trees, for he thought he heard some branches moving or breaking, but he did not see anything. Then, almost as if they were standing there the whole time, three of the 'trees' started to move towards the sleeping group. In fact, they were coming quickly as well!



Rodin kicked his brother in the head to wake him up and Masiry quickly got to his feet as Rodin fired an arrow into the moving tree. It was a good shot and seemed to slow the tree down. But the other two 'trees' kept coming.

By this time, there was enough noise and commotion to wake up Relord and Kasas and they also started to get ready to fight the strange beings. Relord did not have any time to put on his armor though and fought defensively.

Suddenly, the 'tree' creature that Rodin had shot blew up and many sharp little splinters flew about in all directions. It did not hurt anyone, but Rodin guessed that if he were closer, he would get stung by many sharp needles. He decided to try to keep using his bow to hunt them down.

Masiry was doing well at hand to hand combat, using the monk skills effectively. One more tree creature fell, and Masiry quickly backed away from the flying needles. However, Relord was not as fast and caught a few on his leg.

Kasas primed a few Magic Missles at the creature and after Relord and Rodin's attacks, that one too exploded in a storm of sharp needles. Thankfully, no one got too seriously injured, and they went back to rest.

However, after a weird fight, could you really sleep at all?