Coordinated Crag Cats

Freelancers Tavern felt both more and less crowded, this morning.  Dryali, Fine Branch, Terrance, Tahu, and Tuala had departed the day before on a mission to the thalassa Kizil, and three new persons had joined the guild.

A well-dressed young human woman was holding forth; her name was Mia Taumata, and her accent and demeanor certainly showed she was not from Duquesne.  It clearly hadn't crossed her mind that the others surrounding her could possibly be her equal, a sure sign of being a new Freelancer.  She was 5'4", and if one looked closely at her excellently applied makeup, they'd see it was hiding a black eye.  She rubbed Ana the wrong way, and the two were arguing over the relative worthiness of their houses.

A Cloud elf entered the tavern, of average height, impeccably dressed, with a chain shirt and bow as long as she was tall.  She sized up the tavern layout, eyes resting briefly on the symbol of Rohe over the doorway into the front, and then sat along a wall, resigned.  Her name was Glesni Bōhatei, and her stride had that bounce indicating she was from a skylith further out, and Tai realized she was likely from Coldstream.  He approached her and asked about his son.

Glesni's eyes softened as she looked at the familiar sight of a Silver dragonborn in the bearskin cape.  "I am sorry," she said, "I know what happened, although I was not involved with helping the refugees.  I hope you find him."  She added, almost to herself, "This is why city walls are important."

Mia and Glesni were sideshows, though, to Ondar Thundercaller.  The big quinametzin had also just joined Freelancers, and his 7'6" tattooed self drew everyone's attention when he entered the room.  He was clad in leathers and had a longsword.  "What is there to drink, here?  Ondar is wanting drink," he declared.

Osric and Quelenna were off to the side, and decided these new Freelancers should be put through their paces.  Tai and Ana were game, and all 7 of them ended up in Arnari's office.

Arnari's office had large maps on the wall, and her mahogany desk; there were shelves with various musical instruments.  Chairs of a variety of sizes were arranged in a semi-circle around the desk, and the floor they surrounded appeared to have been cleaned more recently than the rest.

Mia sprawled gracelessly across two of the chairs, which drew a look from Ana.  Ondar didn't trust the chairs to hold his bulk, and Glesni did not really want to sit in them either, because of her bow, she said.  Glesni moved to stand without having her back to the door.

The three of them had talked to Arnari the day before, and all were closed-mouth about how it had gone, but today Arnari looked at them anew.  She looked at her papers, then stated, "I have three missions you can deal with, with a little bit of planning."

• House Aldous still wants hippogryph eggs.  They will pay 100gp/egg, or 1 gelding for 10 eggs.  Note, they will pay more for destrier hippogryphs.
• Check out the Pirates Dream river.  There was some pollution there, which has maybe gone away.

Glesni asked, "What kind of pollution?"  Arnari replied, "Magical pollution, which is affecting the wildlife.  The last mission there encountered a goose the size of a hydra with 4 heads."  Someone murmured, "No bees."  Quelenna murmured, "No frogs."  Arnari said, "Maybe froggoths," and continued.

• Orderly Stones is having a problem with their goats going missing; maybe mountain lions this time.  Goatherds are going out in groups so they are not getting attacked.

That seemed to be the mission list.  Ana said, "Most interested in magical pollution; but would also do goats."

There was a silence as more than one person raised an eyebrow at her declaration.

Glesni asked in spite of herself, "What are we supposed to do?"  Arnari explained, "The wizard supposedly stopped polluting, but things are still showing up."

Tai declared, "Not interested in pollution; it doesn't sound fun."  Glesni replied sharply, "We should confirm the wizard has stopped polluting."

Arnari was obviously starting to have doubts about sending this group out to do anything but inspect the storm doors.  Quelenna noticed and assured her confidently, "I'll keep an eye on the new folks, keep them out of trouble."

Glesni was visibly offended, and Osric noticed.  He backed up Quelenna by stating mildly, "There have to be some responsible adults."  Mia sat up, exclaiming, "I'm an adult!"

"Ondar too can watch over.  Riff raff," the big quinametzin declared.

Arnari had made up her mind.  "Go get prepared, you will go help with the goats," she said.  Glesni, who'd been convinced the pollution was the mission responsible persons would take, blurted out scornfully, "Goats?!  Sounds like Holder dwarves."  Osric turned to look at her, surprised, but Arnari shooed them out of her office before anything else happened.

Glesni wasn't sure what this mountain lion hunt would involve, so she stopped by the Freelancers quartermaster, a female Maker gnome named Waywocket, and bought a mess kit, 6 days' rations, a tinderbox, and some silk rope; after some thought, an extra 20 arrows.  Ana also visited the quartermaster, but Glesni did not linger to find out why.

Mia and Ondar went back to the tavern.  Ondar put a gold piece on the bar, and told Soren, the Green dragonborn barkeep, he wanted "One of every drink this will buy."  Soren looked surprised, then took the coin and started with the cheapest beers, lining them up in front of the quinametzin.

Mia watched, amused, as Ondar drained each tankard of beer like a shot, considered it, and then moved to the next one.  When he finished, he declared, "Ondar is disappointed."  Mia was so delighted by this she also paid for drinks, getting Ondar some glasses of wine, and "the closest thing to moonshine."

Soren shook his head, but complied, and Mia matched Ondar this time.  Ondar thanked Mia, but remained disappointed.  By this time the others were there and ready to go, and wondered what Ondar had been trying to achieve.

They left the tavern, heading north to the Orderly Stones Monastery, with Mia tipsy, and Ondar buzzed.

The seven Freelancers arrived at Orderly Stones Monastery after dark, and the doors were shut.  Ondar knocked politely, and a monk, after looking out and seeing them all, opened the door to admit them.  Another ran across the courtyard, quite fast, and returned with Taleisin, a human man the same height as Glesni, with black hair and black eyes, and Fuifui, a slighter Rain sagani with a white do-rag on his head, locks of blue-green hair showing underneath.

"Welcome Freelancers!  You are just in time for our evening meal," Taleisin said somewhat stiffly, then added, "You are here to help with horrible mountain lion?"

Fuifui was less reserved, "Guys!  It's so good to see you!"  Mia reacted with delight, and declared, "I like this guy!"

Taleisin directed, "Fuifui, show them to the dining room."  Fuifui turned to the Freelancers.  "Dinner is good tonight!  Leave your stuff here," he indicated, then started walking across the courtyard, "we'll see it gets to the right room."  They followed Fuifui as Taleisin had a couple monks gathering gear and heading into an adjacent building, to see up rooms for overnight.

Glesni looked around the courtyard, which was lit by lamps at regular intervals.  It was entirely enclosed by buildings and walls.

Dinner was solid but plain fare, about what one would expect from a monastery in the foothills.  The only drinks were goat milk and water.  Ondar again asked about what drinks were available.  They brought him a bowl of fermented goat milk, and he dutifully tried it, but set it aside.  "This is not what Ondar is looking for," he declared.

Fuifui shook his head,  "That's too bad, man," he replied, and drank it himself.  "Ahhhh," he sighed happily.

There's not much to do after dinner in a monastery, although some monks were doing katas in the courtyard.  The Freelancers retired to their rooms and slept, especially Mia, Glesni, and Ondar, who were certainly unused to walking for a full day.

The next morning, after breakfast, they spoke to Fuifui and Taleisin again, to get directions to the likely place of cats.  Northeast, it sounded like; further into the mountains and closer to the leading edge of the skylith.

Glesni:  are the herds there now?

Taleisin:  no, we moved them west.

Ana:  how many mountain lions are we looking at?  Or did you only see from a distance?

Taleisin:  not sure, maybe 3?

Fuifui:  there could be soooo many

Glesni:  have you considered an enclosure?

Taleisin:  yes, but they need to graze.

Glesni:  erect a boundary around the grazing area.

Taleisin:  it would help, but … too big to patrol.

At this, the Freelancers departed, following a goat path around the monastery and turning north.

Ondar and Tai led the Freelancers along the path, with the two elves in the rear.  Glesni carried her bow loosely, blatantly unenthusiastic about the entire affair.  Tai did most of the tracking, with Ondar's help, but the goat tracks were not hard to follow.

By mid afternoon, they were in some nice alpine meadows, and the Freelancers managed to remember this might be where the monks had seen some of the cougars.  They all started looking around, and found some cat tracks.  Not excessively large, really, although some nearby trees had claw marks.

The trail from the meadow curved around the mountain, and they were now in sparse woods with the trees scattered about.  They saw some more tracks, but the Daystar was sliding down the western part of the sky, so they turned their attention to seeking out a place to camp.  They succeeded and set up for the night.  Everyone prepared their bedroll, but Ana produced a tent sized for two full-sized persons, newly acquired from the quartermaster, and set it up on her own, with some fuss and judicious use of mage hand.  She did not offer to have anyone share it.

Once they'd eaten, Ondar declared, "Ondar sleep," and cast himself down and slept.  The others set up a watch order:  Mia & Osric, Glesni & Quelenna, Tai & Ana.  Then they settled for the night.

Mia & Osric saw a family of owl gryphons flying to the north, hunting.  A short while later, they heard a giant elk go down.  Osric told Mia, his voice full of wonder, "The gryphons we have back at Freelancers Tavern are going to be just like that one day!"  Mia nodded, uninterestedly.

Glesni & Quelenna heard small rustlings in the nearby bushes.  Quelenna said to Glesni quietly, "Hear that in the bushes?  Just wait!"  Glesni looked where Quelenna indicated, and an owl pounced!  It caught a fat mouse.  "Look, nature in action," the Child of Āhua told Glesni, who said nothing, but lifted an eyebrow, then resumed contemplating her circumstances.

Tai & Ana took the last watch.  Tai kept his eyes open, but enjoyed all the small creatures surrounding them.  He tried to point them out to Ana, who was unreceptive.  "I don't care, I hate it!" she told him, "I don't want it to climb up my leg."

The next morning they arose and packed, and looked around for tracks again.  Tai found cat prints and started following those.  It was not too long until they got to a muddy part, and Tai realized the tracks had split apart.

Looking around hastily, he realized two big cats were in the trees!  But by then it was too late, there were 4 more on the ground all around the Freelancers.

Quelenna pulled out her fans, and leapt to her right, at the nearest cat[2].  She attacked it, and followed up with a flurry of blows.  The cat seemed nonplussed.

• Ana cast mage armour and hid between Osric and Mia, both of whom were larger than her.  "I hate nature," she said, between clenched teeth.
• Ondar looked down at Ana indulgently. "Ondar will protect little mouse," he said, then turned to the cat[6] nearest him.  "Here, kitty kitty," he cooed, then jumped 15' towards the cat, swinging his longsword.  He missed.
  • "Ondar has a worthy opponent," he declared.
• Tai moved to the cat[1] in between the two Quelenna and Ondar had engaged.  He raged at the cat, and flowers & vines grew up around him for 15' in all directions.  It looked difficult to walk through.  He slashed the cat with his axe, slowing it.
• Glesni turned so her back was to Ana, and loosed an arrow at the cat[4] nearest to her (diametrically opposite of Tai).  She missed!  The embarrassment was almost too much.
• Osric saw a cat[5] in the tree next to the cat Glesni had missed.  He cast thorn whip, which struck the cat and then pulled it off its branch.  The cat landed with a thump, injuring it.
• Mia picked up a nearby rock out of the mud, and moved next to Quelenna.  She made to smack the cat[2], but the muddy rock slipped out of her hand.
  • Quelenna took pity, and said encouragingly, "It will get better."
  • Mia laughed scornfully, then asked, "Are you my life coach?"
  • "I was once impotent against frogs!" Quelenna cried.

The cats weren't really there to let people kill them.  Quite the opposite.

• The cat[1] Tai had axed bit him on the shoulder, but missed with its claws.  The Silver dragonborn's rage reduced the injury.
• The cat[2] Quelenna had attacked bit her, but slashed at Mia and missed.  Quelenna snapped, "Fine," but was obviously feeling defensive about it after having just told Mia it would get better.
• The cat[3] nobody had attacked, jumped down from a tree behind them, then ran up and tried to bite Ana.  It somehow missed the Maker gnome, so it slashed at Glesni, who avoided it easily.
• The cat[4] Glesni had missed was pissed.  It also ran up to them, and bit Ana, then took Glesni out with one swipe of its claws.
• The cat[5] Osric had pulled out of the tree was no fool, and ran up to Osric, biting and slashing him.
• The cat[6] facing Ondar slashed at him and missed, then bit him.  Ondar did some quinametzin thing, stone's endurance, to rebuff the bite.

Quelenna attacked the cat[2] that bit her with both fans, and the precision strikes killed the cat.

• Ana was unhappy to have two cats[3][4] larger than she in her face, and cast thunderwave to push them away.  She sculpted it to go around the unconscious and bleeding Glesni.  The cat[4] that down'd Glesni was pushed away as the boom echoed throughout the trees.
  • <Narrator voice:  Shari exclaimed, "you can do that?  Dryali just went ahead and hit people."  Casey said, "Ha!"  and everyone laughed.  Grace said, "Only evoker wizard.">
• Ondar made a mighty swing with his longsword, overdramatically trying to cut the cat[6] in two.  While he failed to bisect the cat, he did wound it with the longsword.  He moved next to Osric, and got slashed by the cat[6] for his effort.
• Tai crit the cat[1] he was facing, then moved next to Ana, and also got slashed for his effort.
• Glesni was bleeding out; that cat[4] caught an artery.
• Osric ran up to Glesni, checked her, then paused.  He summoned a unicorn totem, the spectral unicorn rearing, and not-quite visible sparkles seemed to float around it in a 30' radius.  Then he cast cure wounds on Glesni.  The sparkles intensified, healing himself , Ana, and Tai as well.
  • Glesni regained consciousness, blinking at the sky, and Osric's bearded face.  "Thanks, Mr Dwarf," she said gracelessly.
• Mia stepped closer to cat[1], and threw the rock she still had in her hand, missing the cat entirely.  Then she stepped back next to Quelenna, and pulled out her own fan, and used it to fan herself.

The cats were undeterred by the Freelancers grouping together.

• The cat[4] which had down'd Glesni, unhappy with this turn of events, backed up, then leapt on Osric.  It missed with its bite, but the slash from its claws and the pounce knocked Osric prone.
• The cat[5] that bit Osric before bit him again, moving away from Ondar, who whiffed with his longsword as it did so.  
• The cat[3] who had failed to bite Ana before, failed to bite Ana again, and also failed to slash Tai.  Perhaps it was younger than the others.
• The cat[1] that Tai had slashed, was moving slowly, and could not get to anyone to attack.
• The cat[6] Ondar had moved away from, pounced on him, biting and slashing with its claws, taking Ondar out.

Glesni, thinking about trying to use a bow with cat[3] there, said to Quelenna, "If you can do something about this cat, I can do something useful."  Quelenna replied, "Okay," and slashed it twice with her fans.  It was still hale, though.

• Ana was also annoyed at this cat[3].  She opted to make more noise though, and cast shatter so that it would injure the other three nearby cats, but not Ondar and Osric.  The sound was still loud.
• Ondar, though out, wasn't bleeding out as badly as Glesni had been.
• Tai swung his axe at the annoying cat[3], and critfailed.  His barbarian wild magic activated, and the unicorn sparkles turned into daggar shapes, stabbing everyone.  While it didn't hurt, they all realized they were extra vulnerable to piercing damage.
• In that case, Glesni did not want to get bit.  She rose up from the ground, drew her daggar, and stabbed the annoying cat[3].  "Take that," she murmured, more to herself than others.  Then she picked up her bow and moved away from the group.
• Osric cast cure wounds on himself, and the unicorn sparkles reacted by healing those around him.  He then cast healing word on Ondar, who jerked a little, then lay there blinking as the unicorn sparkles healed him more.  Osric then stood up, and dusted himself off.
• Mia moved next to the cat[4] which had pounced Osric, closed the fan in her fist, and punched the cat, hard enough to hurt.  Then she got some notion of grappling the cat, but critfailed and fell into the mud.

The cat[4] Mia punched was eye to eye with Ana, who wailed, "I'm too young and pretty to die!"  Tai, amused, said, "I know a cook who thinks so!"

• The cat[6] who took Ondar out pounced on Tai.  Ondar, who was still prone, tried and failed to slash it with his longsword.  The cat slashed Tai but Tai kept his feet, which is probably why it critfailed to bite him, and instead bit Ana, who was lower to the ground.
  • Ana's mage armour rebuffed the bite.
• Anyhow the cat[4] didn't like being punched, and bit Mia, taking her out.  It turned and slashed at Osric, but missed.
• The remaining cat[5] attacked Osric again, but completely missed.
• The cat[1] Tai has slowed still tried to get to the group of Freelancers.

Quelenna drew her daggar, moved to the cats attacking Osric, and stabbed cat[4], killing it.  She turned to the other cat[5] and struck it with flurry of blows.  She tried to knock it over, but couldn't.

• Ana pivoted, and cast burning hands outward from the group, catching cat[6] and cat[1] unprepared; the latter cat died.
• Ondar leapt up with his daggar in hand, on top of the burned cat[6], and stabbed it to death.
• Tai crit on the last cat[5] with his axe, taking it out.
• Glesni nocked an arrow, and looked around, but didn't see any more cats.  She found herself unable to relax.

Osric cast cure wounds on Mia, the unicorn sparkles again helping everyone.

After helping Mia up, Osric checked on the cats.  He told the others, these were "crag cats," their pelts were particularly valuable for creating mantle of spell resistance.  Also, "It is unnatural for them to 'pack' like this, as if they were wolves."

"Last time, it was because of gnolls," Ana said.  "Kobolds," Tai corrected her, and she waved her hands airily.  "Whatever," she responded.

"Well, these pelts are valuable, we should not let them go to waste," Osric said.  He, Tai, and Ondar set to the gruesome work of skinning a bunch of cats.

Glesni, who knew nothing about how to skin a cat, stayed off to the side, arrow still nocked.  At some point she wandered over to retrieve her lone spent arrow.

When they were done, Tai took the heads of the cats using his axe.  Osric, Tai, and Ondar decided the pelts would probably fetch 200gp each.  Osric and Ana figured they could be used for 2 mantle of spell resistance.  

They packed up the heads and pelts, which Tai and Ondar carried between them, and headed back to Orderly Stones.  Glesni was standoffish from the others.

When the Freelancers arrived at Orderly Stones, Fuifui was super glad to see them, and said so.  Taleisin marvelled at the number of cats, and Fuifui remarked, "See?  I told you so, man."  Taleisin begrudgingly admitted that Fuifui was right, but did not let the Rain sagani count out the 600gp fee for the Freelancers' fee.  As he was counting it out, he admonished them to remember the Freelancers cut and pay Arnari.

They headed back to Cliffshadow the next day, still talking about the pelts, and got to Freelancers Tavern by evening.  "Glad you all made it back!" Arnari said, rather heartfelt, which was even more so at the 60gp cut she received.

They immediately drew her into talking pelts.  Tai wanted to combine cloaks, the cat pelt mantle of spell resistance with his bearskin cloak of billowing.  Arnari made a face, "Those are hard to combine," she told him, "even non-magical cat pelt and bearskin.  But the way the magic is infused, it might not work."  Tai looked thoughtful at this information.

• Glesni lvl 2 fighter!
• Ondar lvl 2 fighter!
• Mia lvl 2 barbarian!

Later that evening, still in the tavern, Arnari was sitting with Osric, Tai, and Ana, and mentioned to them some of the missions she'd been asked for needed the party on flying mounts, and she was getting worried about filling those contracts.