Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold

"Let's rawl!"

For the next half-hour the party rides on the King's Road to the west, before turning south and riding through the village of Tor's Hold. Most of the buildings in town are made of stone, betraying the predominately dwarven nature of the town. Indeed, most of the towns folks going about their business are dwarves, humans, or half-dwarves. The friendly folks among them wave to the party as they pass through, but most are content to ignore you. To pass the time up to this point, Hunter and Carlos both answer Ilyanna's questions about Tieflings and gold respectively. She furiously takes notes on Tieflings for later study and she makes Carlos promise to play a few rounds of golf with her when they both have some free time.

South of the town, you guys ride by trail, eventually turning west again to follow the course of the White River. Away from the speeding magics of the King's Road, travel slows down and it's not for another hour before you reach the area that will require caution. Hunter slows the party down to a normal pace and begins scouting ahead with just him and Noble (after a quick blessing from Zoe of course). Ten minutes into his scouting Hunter happens upon a bullywug scout, which he drops with one arrow. The creature never knew he was there. He takes the creature's spear, which he gives to John, but otherwise finds nothing else of value besides the crude hide armor the scout is wearing.

He eventually leads the party to a glen, the same glen his uncle used as a base while on that past mission to clear the cave. It offers a good place to hide and to leave the horses while you guys do your thing. Hunter then leads everyone forward on foot to the clearing that the Rangers used for the ambush.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fAaHfDFsod_BEa2qYLsRAn613QUIbCsl7zbxwznafMw/edit#gid=0

"What now, guys?" Zoe asks quietly.

Kat drops the smelly bullywug's body to the ground and grimaces in disgust. She takes a quick look around, draws her dagger and kneels next to the corpse.

"We're next to the river, so maybe we could ask a few naiads to help us?" she suggests. "You know best what to do Hunter."

She begins to cut through the monster's abdomen.

"Whoa, Kat, what are you doing?" Hunter covers his nose.

Carlos scratches his head - "Uh, Kat? Why are you doing what you're doing?"

"Covering myself in blood," she explains to her friends. A foul waft escapes the hole she's just made, which makes her retch. "They don't sound very courageous, so that should scare them a little... Ugh. This is disgusting."

She continues to cut the corpse open.

Inside the creature's stomach she finds its lunch: a collection of insects, a few fish, and four rats.

Zoe's ears twitch as she watches Kat dig into the body of the dead bullywug and her skin takes on a distinct greenish tinge as she tries not to hurl from the smell. Jojo also looks rather green. John tries to tough guy his way through but even he's coughing from the smell and trying not to look at it. Ilyanna watches with fascinated curiosity, wondering if the knight's plan will work. "I told you guys bullywugs are gross. That smell is part of their body's defense mechanism against predators. It ruins their body for consumption by most mammals, dragons, and some snakes."

"I'll try. Oh, this was a mistake..."

Kat stops cutting through the abdomen and goes for the thorax instead.

"Uh... you know you're gonna have to crack open a ribcage if you go there."

"Doing it!"

Crack.

Carlos sighs wearily.

Hunter explains the plan:

split into two teams...
Ranged team: John, Jojo, Zoe, Ilyanna, and Noble.
Melee team: Kathryn and Carlos.

- Melee team will hide closer to the cave entrance while the ranged team hides further away.
- Hunter will goad the monsters into following him right to the Melee team.
- Jojo will start by casting sleep, and then everyone's in free-for-all mode. John will start by throwing a spear, after which he may charge into melee with the other spear, or fire the crossbow, his choice. (Hunter knows he'll join the melee)
- Noble's job will be to bark ferociously to terrify the enemy. It's a very important job, says the Hunter of Tasty Food.

After he lays out the plan, he tells them that he might be able to add the naiads in, if they're willing. One or two might be watching the cave at the water's edge.

"Zoe and I will go down to the river and see if we can find the naiads."

"Hmm..." - Carlos strokes his beard pensively, occasionally glancing at Kathryn - "Zoe?"

"Yeah?"

"If Kat had asked to borrow your hat to make herself look all bloody, would you have lent it to her?"

She makes another sour face at the mention of the blood. "Gladly."

The young knight listens to Illyana's explanation with a grimace on her face. "Yeah, they don't look very appetizing either..." she says. She retches one more time—although she appears to be getting used to the foul smell—and shows surprise at Carlos' comment. "Oh, I didn't think about that... But the smell is important too."

Undeterred, she reaches with both hands into the bullywug's thorax and takes out its heart, which she then uses to spread blood all over her armor.

As soon as Kat reaches inside the corpse to yank out its heart, Zoe turns around and walks over to a tree, where she throws up.

"Well, Kat, you're sure having an effect on the party." - Carlos walks up to Zoe, puts his hand on her arm - "It's alright, just hang back and let us take point." - he then offers her his water gourd. She gratefully takes it and uses the water to wash out her mouth. "Thanks."

"Say, mind if i borrow your hat? It's for a good cause, now that we got Bloody Kat over there."

"Oh, sure. You'll need to attune to it though." She undoes the strap holding the hat on her head and then waits for Carlos to take off his helmet. She then puts the hat on his head, ties the strap, and then pulls the hat into the correct angle. "There, you look very pretty." She grins.

He chuckles - "Hehe... wait and see."

Carlos and his lovely new hat then make their way to Jojo and exchange a few hushed words.

While the party banters, Hunter manages to suppress his gag reflex, but not without retching once or twice. "The last time I harvested from a bullywug was ages ago. Can't say I missed it... Zoe, let's go down to the water."

"Okay," says Zoe, still trying to stay quiet but she's clearly pleased to leave the clearing and the smell. "Why are we going down to the river?"

"Right." The two friends do their best to sneak across the path. As far as they can tell, they are successful. Hunter and Zoe make their way down to the water's edge, passing through trees and brush. The river is flowing fairly steadily today and Hunter knows that in addition to being deceptively fast it's also very cold due to the snowmelt. "So, do you have a way to contact them or should we wait or what?"

"Give me second. My uncle and the Woodsingers taught me an expression. I hope I remember this right."

Hunter warily approaches the river, but not too close. With the assurance that Zoe will aid him if an enemy leaps out of the water, he falls to his knees and starts scratching symbols on the ground. When he's done, he begins praying.

"O Melora, goddess of the wilderness and protector of all who dwell therein. We, Hunter Thrul and Zoe Tahlavia, humbly implore you to mediate on our behalf with the White River, the great spirit of this channel. Affirm our sincerity and goodwill in our wish to communicate with her children, to receive aid in our service to rout a threat to their safety and well-being."

Done, he coughs awkwardly, a little embarrassed at how thorough he was.

"Wow Hunter, that was very thorough," Zoe says, impressed. "How do you know if you were successful?"

"Uh," Hunter stumbles, "I-I don't know that."

"Well, let's wait then. These things typically have a process." She goes back to keeping watch.

"Yeah." Hunter readies his bow in case there's trouble.

About eight minutes pass before a melodic voice calls out to the two. The Naiad has long green hair, turquoise eyes, and perfect unblemished alabaster skin. She has a nice figure, all curves and wild hair, which is on full display as she half-leaves the water to lay on the shore and talk to you. Hunter knows her name already: Gilly.

"Looks like it worked." Zoe checks out the Naiad and then gives her a double thumbs up and a nod of approval.