It's dawn of the 3rd Hedraday of Charder, 150AV, at Kratys Freehold. Stone is awake; his fever and sickness have passed. He comes out to find a great deal of activity. People are bustling around, but he finally catches the attention of a passerby and asks "Did we win". His is told that we did, and that Myrs is serving breakfast in the kitchen. He goes straight there and finds the rest of the party.
We tell him what has happened; he's sorry to have missed the big fight. Chuck tells us that when he woke up, he was covered in big nasty black blistery sores, and he feels weak and sick. Myrs looks at them and tells him that they are "corpse blisters," and that it's pretty common to get them when fighting dead eaters. Miriel asks what we can do about them. Myrs tells her it will take a cure disease spell. Miriel says she thinks she can do it, but she'll have to meditate. Myrs warns everyone not to touch the blisters, as that is how the disease is spread.
Miriel tells everyone that Madriel inspired her during her morning meditation, and she has now learned a Zone of Truth spell that we can use on Milo. She asks the opinions of the others about using it. Chuck says it's fine, it'll be a lot less trouble than carrying him around. Even though he's heard the story of the fight, Stone asks why we want to kill him.
Chuck: "He conspired against us."
Stone: "Conspired?"
Goldpetal: "He set the fire in the barn, then attacked us with the rat men."
Stone: "Oh, well then he should be killed."
Chuck: "I think he was under a spell."
Stone: "Oh, well then he shouldn't be killed. Let's go."
Miriel: "Wait, there's more, Madriel was very good to me this morning in the shower. She also inspired me to remember that we have not detected magic on any of the items we've found.
Everyone agrees that this is a good idea, and Chuck suggests finding a room so we can spread out the booty in private.
Miriel: We can go to my room.
Stone: Is there plenty of room for booty in your room?
We go back to Miriel's room to detect magic on the booty. Stone pulls out the rings from Eltron (a simple silver ring and a silver ring with a gold band) and a cheap dagger. Chuck has a violet gem, an ornate rat man dagger, a shield, a studded leather armor, a pair of dice, the whip sword, the vials of antitoxin, and two thunderstones. Miriel casts detect magic on it all. The antitoxins and thunderstones are not magic, but they have extraordinary effect. The silver ring doesn't show any magic, either. The silver ring with the circle of gold glows with magic. Miriel concentrates and determines that the magic is neutral and not that powerful, but it's clearly permanently spelled. By really concentrating, she sees that it's an abjuration. At this point, Miriel remembers the money we found and checks that out, but it's clean.
Goldpetal: "We should leave some of the gold with the town. There was a lot of damage."
Miriel: "That's a good idea, let's talk to Taryn about what a good amount would be."
Everyone agrees and we start to divide up the stuff. Miriel picks the ring up and takes a closer look at it - she sees some Slytherin writing around the inside. Miriel remembers that Myrs can understand languages, so she suggests asking her about it. Goldpetal takes the vials of antitoxin. Telryn takes the thunderstones. Miriel keeps the magical ring to talk to Myrs about it. Chuck keeps the rest of the things he had. Goldpetal and Paks take the money to talk to Taryn.
Paks: "When we talk to Milo, we should do it as a formal trial, with a prosecution and defense. Who will be the prosecutor?"
Goldpetal: "I can be the prosecutor."
Paks: "Who's disposed towards defending Milo?"
No one speaks. Finally, Chuck says: "You know, I could do it, but I don't see the point in having a whole trial process."
Paks: "If we're deciding life or death, I think we're a court."
Stone: "I think we're a lynch mob."
Paks and Goldpetal invite Taryn to be a judge, he agrees. We offers some of the 250 gold.
Taryn: "That's a fortune! You're not only defending us, but you're giving us money?"
Paks: "No, this is the loot from the fight."
Taryn: "Oh, the standard rule for dividing money from a fight is that everyone gets a share of the gold, so we all get 1/31st of it."
This is quite reasonable, so we all take 8 gold pieces. Milo does not get a share, but Delonia does.
Miriel asks Myrs about the writing on the ring. She looks closely and says it's weird, it says "shield" in Slytherin. Mir asks if she's seen magical rings before, and if so, what does she think of it? Myrs says it might be the activation word, carved into the ring so the owner won't forget it. Miriel asks if we would have to say it in Slyterin. Myrs says yes, and teaches us all to say it. She also points out that in rare cases, someone puts a fake activation word inside a magic ring, as a trap. Miriel thanks her for the info and warning.
We all go off to talk to Milo. Paks explains the plan to Milo.
Paks: "We've discovered a spell to compel the truth from all people in the room. Under the laws of the town you've committed a capital crime, and we're going to hold a trial for you."
Milo: "But I didn't do anything."
Paks: "That's what the trial is for. Goldpetal will be prosecution, Chuck will be defense."
Milo: "Can I say something?"
Paks: "Let me finish."
Chuck: "I advise you not to speak."
Paks: "The rest will be the jury."
Stone: "Hi, Milo."
Milo: "Are you feeling better?"
Stone: "Yes, thanks."
Paks (interrupting): "If you pass, you can stay with us and come to the swamp freely. You can also ask each one of us one question while under the spell."
Milo: "How long will the zone last?"
Miriel: "3 minutes."
Milo: "I want a clock."
Taryn calls the guard to bring a clock. Miriel casts the spell. Paks explains the plan again under the spell. Milo asks if he can ask his questions in private or public, and Paks tells him it's his choice.
Goldpetal questions him and gets several evasions. Milo is clearly trying to waste the time of the spell. When the three minutes runs out, Paks asks that during the second invocation the defence ask more questions, but Chuck says he's satisfied so far. Everyone advises Goldpetal to ask the same questions again, since Milo might have resisted the zone the first time. Taryn suggests that we find out when he felt like himself again.
Miriel casts the spell again. Milo continues to be evasive, and starts repeating Goldpetal's questions before answering to waste more time. Miriel tells him to stop wasting her magic and Goldpetal tells him not to repeat things, but then he starts arguing about how he can't answer questions without repeating. After time runs out, Milo requests a private conference with Chuck for his defense, and he says we can't ask questions about his background before the fight. We say we can do whatever we want to with the questions. Milo asks to cross-examine himself. We say no, but we all go out to let him talk to Chuck. We discuss final questioning in the hall.
When we go back in, Milo asks how much longer this will be, and demands food and water. Miriel tells him we already told him how long it would be, that he had dinner, and that he'll get breakfast after the trial. Milo starts making conditions about his questions. Miriel says he can't have conditions, as we did not have conditions, and he did not ask for them when we all originally discussed the plan.
Miriel casts the spell on more time. Milo continues to evade, and nothing conclusive is determined.
Miriel suggests Chuck feed and water Milo while we're discussing the case.
Miriel: "I don't trust Milo at all, but I'm not completely sure he's guilty and deserving of death. I am completely sure we can't trust him to travel with us. He made every effort not to be honest with us."
Stone: "I think Madriel has shown that it wasn't his own free will, but I still don't trust him, and I don't think we should take him with us. I don't think we should kill him yet...I mean right now...I mean..."
Telryn: "I have the same feelings. I conclude that he was innocent of the crime, but if this trial was based on personality, he's quite a bastard, and I don't know why you would want him guarding your back."
Taryn: "I have to agree with what Stone says. From the results of the interrogation, he didn't attack the stronghold of his own free will, but he was definitely dissembling, and I don't know why. It was very difficult to get real answers out of him."
Telryn: "Halfling are like that."
Taryn: "Yes, that's true of any halfling, and I don't like him much either. I can see why you don't want to have him with you, but in my years of campaigning, I have found that having rogues and halflings with you is often valuable, and it might be useful to have him with you in the swamp. On the other hand, you might also wake up with a dagger in your back."
Paks: "On the basis of what we have heard here, and the assumption that he was indeed under the truth spell, he is innocent, but I have been able to resist the spell all three times, so I'm not sure he was. If the story he told in Southport is true, then I have more reason to trust him than any of you."
Miriel: "Yes, I'm afraid it's relatively easy to resist the spell; I'm not that strong yet, but I don't think he is, either."
Telryn: "Well, the worst case is that he kills all of us. The best case is that he's trustworthy and helps us. It seems simple to me."
Stone: "Hedrada has said it's better to have an enemy under your sword than....I forget the second part...but I think it has something to do with what we're talking about."
Paks: "So it's four to one for innocent? Miriel?"
Miriel: "No, I don't say he's guilty, I just don't trust him. I think he's probably innocent."
Telryn asks why Miriel doesn't trust Milo. Miriel explains at some length the history of Milo's association with the party.
Stone: "Okay, so, do we take him with us or leave him hamstrung by the side of the road?"
Miriel: "Well, we certainly can't release him."
Chuck and Goldpetal rejoin us. Paks tells them that we've unanimously decided Milo was innocent of the attack on the freehold. However, Miriel points out that we really can't trust him.
Paks: "But if his story was true, I has a great deal of reason to trust him."
Miriel: "If his story to me was true, I'm not sure he's behaved consistently with me."
Paks: "His behavior has been consistent with the story to me."
Miriel: "Well, I can't say for sure one way or another, but he's given me quite a bit of reason to doubt him."
Chuck: "If we're expelling because we can't trust him, and he can hide without us finding him, what assurance do we have that he won't catch us?"
Paks: "I'll ride with him far north and drop him."
Stone: "Leave him tied up with a dagger some distance away. Or cut his hamstrings."
Paks brings Milo back unbound. Miriel asks Taryn if he's safe in the freehold; Taryn says he's not safe, and one of us should stay with him. Miriel goes to sleep, to recover her magic. Milo goes around the town with Paks. Telryn goes to study with Myrs. Chuck practices his quick shot skill with Llewyn, then makes some arrows and tends and repairs his weapons. Taryn asks for help rebuilding the town, and Goldpetal and Stone agree to go with him to help. Goldpetal stops to ask Myrs if she's ever seen lights or activity up at the standing stones.
Myrs: "Funny you should ask that - about four months ago there was some activity up there, but most of the men were out on a hunting expedition so we didn't go check it out."
Goldpetal: "Do you have any idea who it was?"
Myrs: "No, who would go up there at night?"
Goldpetal: "True, that's probably best."
Myrs: "That place feels full of an ancient evil; we tell the children not to go up there."
Goldpetal: "Do you get a sense that it's haunted?"
Myrs: "Haunted, I don't know about haunted. You've felt the magic there, right? It's falling down, but there's certainly power there."
Goldpetal: "Do you know how old it is?"
Myrs: "Who can tell? It's certainly older than the titan's war."
Stone notes that it was Hedrada's day when we held the trial, which is a good sign.
Paks and Milo come back from a long private conversation and Paks ministers to Chuck.
Once Miriel is awake, Milo starts the questioning with her, but rather than questioning her, he starts an argument, claiming that she didn't cast the spell. She goes back and tells the party that Milo has chosen not to ask the questions. He argues that he doesn't trust her and that he was guaranteed truthful answers. He is told that this is not true. Stone says he swears by Hedrada that he'll tell the truth. Milo now argues that he doesn't know that Stone is really an examplar of Hedrada. Telryn offers to give Milo a lecture on the way spells work. Milo accepts. Milo tries to debate with Telyrn, but Miriel points out that he accepted a lecture, not a debate.
Telryn lectures Milo for an hour while Miriel heals Chuck and herself. We're all extremely impressed with Telyrn's scholarship, as well as his ability to talk on and on. Milo leaves the room with Paks, saying he's packing some provisions. Stone says he wants to leave right away, Miriel says we should leave in the morning because she has to rest, but tells him the ale here is excellent. Stone goes off again to help repair the freehold and drink. Miriel goes to rest again. Telryn lights up at the chance to study a higher-level mage's spells, but Goldpetal says that he doesn't understand the studying thing; spells are gifts of the gods.
Telryn: "Don't I know that! I've heard so many lectures on that subject. The person who looked after my sister and I was a high cleric of Hedrada, a very wonderful man, but I'm glad not to be part of his household any longer. I chafed under his restrictions."
Goldpetal: "The order that Hedrada attempts to impose is as unnatural and harmful to the world as the evil perpetrated by the Titans."
Telryn: "I don't know if I'd go that far."
Chuck is bored by this talkand goes to rest and make more arrows. The freeholders are quite amused by Stone's capacity for ale, as well as his trick of driving nails with his forehead. They become very friendly with him, no longer distrusting him for being a half-orc.
Freeholder: "So, if you pound the nails with your head, do you saw the wood with your teeth?"
Stone: "Occasionally."
Freeholder: "I'm glad we live south near the rat men, not north near the orcs!"
Stone notices that neither Paks nor Milo nor the horse are in the compound. The watchman comes and talks to Taryn to tell him that Milo and Paks just took off, going north. Taryn says that makes a certain amount of sense. Stone says he saw them too. Rumours spread throughout the compound, but Stone says to wait for Paks to return. Chuck asks who was riding in front, and is told it was Milo. Goldpetal is training his birds. An hour later, Paks returns alone.
Delonia shakes her head: "I know you guys had a trial and all, but I can't believe you just let him go like that. It's going to be trouble."
Stone: "Where'd you let him go?"
Paks: "North, a decent ride from here."
Stone: "You don't remember?"
Paks: "Just in some rough country."
Stone: "Did you take his hamstrings?"
Paks: "No, but I took some other things - do you want some darts?"
After the evening meal, Taryn says hey, if you guys are going to set out after the rat men, I'd do it soon. We say we're setting out tomorrow.
The next morning, Chuck feels a little better. Paks works on him again, and he feels completely cured. We prepare to leave the compound. We leave the cart, askind Taryn to look after the horses, which he is happy to do. The freeholders give us a week's worth of dry rations.
As we leave and everyone is saying goodbye, Delonia comes up and says: "It's been nice traveling with you, good luck, may Enkili shine his light on you. I feel we may meet again, but I hope not! I give special thanks to you, Paks, you've been nothing but fair to me, more fair than perhaps I deserved."
Paks: "It was no problem; the blessing of Madriel on you."
Delonia: "Don't mention me to Grilliam."
Paks: "Of course not."
Taryn: "You will always be welcome here. You will always find a place to stay, train, and get whatever you need."
Chuck: "We'll be back soon."
Taryn: "Yes, but not just soon, anytime you need us you can come to us."
Llewyn (comes up to Chuck): "You're incompetent, but I don't want you to die."
Chuck: "Thanks. I'm used to hearing that"
She gives him a 10-foot pole" "This should be useful to you in the swamps."
Stone offers to carry it and Chuck accepts.
As we leave, Chuck starts tracking the 100-rat-person army. Goldpetal sends the hawks ahead of us. As we travel south, Chuck keeps an eye out for signs that anyone ran off the main path, or anything else unusual. He spots their campsite, with the ruins of the catapult. Further south, he sees where a couple of bands had regrouped and fled south; it's hard to see their tracks since the majority of tracks went north, for the attack, but it seems they fled down the same path they came up, after the rout.
As we get further south, about half a days travel, we can see the swamp. We can also smell it! We're in the middle of a heat wave, and it still hasn't rained. The swamp looks like a lot of mud and tall grass. As we regard the swamp, Chuck munches on his rations; Stone drinks some more ale. It's about noon. Miriel asks for advice for traversing swamps, since she's never been in one. Paks says look for firm ground and don't stop walking or you're likely to sink. Goldpetal looks at the swamp carefully to see if he sees anything meaningful. He sees lots of wildlife and some stands of trees, mostly to the east. The grasses are very tall, six feet or more. There are some little meres visible, and some small pools of of water. A lot of vines. Goldpetal asks the hawks what they see. When they come back, they just say they see lots of food; one comes back with a mouse in its beak. We head in single file, Stone first, carrying the 10-foot pole, Chuck next, Goldpetal at the end. Goldpetal sends the hawks ahead to warn us of any signs of rat men.
Paks and Goldpetal whisper to each other as we walk through the swamp. We follow the rat men's path. Within an hour we're up to our knees in mud. Since it hasn't rained, we're lucky that sometimes it's hard packed, but often it's still wet and very sticky. We're glad we didn't bring the horses, but we're moving very slowly. Suddenly Chuck points something out, and we all realize we should have noticed - some of the tracks definitely go south (as opposed to the army going north).
We can see tracks of 10-15 rat men heading south. They move off to the west. We also see some huge tracks - they might be those of the mauler we saw - Chuck says it's just one mauler. Goldpetal checks to see how old they are and says they look to be about two days old.
We discuss which set of tracks to follow. Paks says to follow the main body - that's the group we decimated. Chuck says kill all rat men. Paks says go to the source. We decide to track the army back. Goldpetal suggests that t hey might double up behind us, and Miriel says we should all keep an eye out for that.
We continue to travel south. It's still marshy. Insects start biting us ravenously, especially the mosquitos. The smell is overpowering, it's humid, we're sweating. Paks smears herself with mud to protect against the insects. The hawks come back and say they saw a flock of rat men to the west, just a couple miles as the hawks fly. Telryn sends his owl to scout. He says they're not too far away, about two miles west, and they're on a grassy knoll, a dry spot, in the lea of a ruined human nest (wall). The owl saw 10-15 of them, one really big. They're sleeping. Chuck urges strongly that we go after them and kill them. We all agree. We head back to the point where we saw tracks branching off. We follow the branching, and we realize that it's actually an old path, firmer than the surrounding area. It's very overgrown. Goldpetal says that it's an ancient road; every once in a while we see cobblestones. Goldpetal looks for ruins along the way, but doesn't see anything that would tell him what kind of people built the road.
Occasionally, as we walk, the path disappears under water. We travel until we know that the rat men are nearby. We can't see them, but the birds say we're close. We can see a little smoke. Telryn asks the owl if they're still asleep. They are, but there are one or two awake, probably sentries. One of them tried to shoot the owl, but missed. We hear him cursing. Miriel suggests using the entangle spell again. Chuck says that if we do, we can't get at them. We ask why this is bad.
Stone grabs a bunch of grass and ties it together, pointing across the road, then goes off the path and puts his stuff down. His boots are even more covered in mud. Paks suggests just leaving it on the path instead, and he realizes this will work, so he retrieves it, getting even more muddy. All the fighters drop their extra baggage. We head up the path, moving as quietly as we can. Goldpetal is in front, with the fighters behind. As we move forward, we get to a break in the grass. Goldpetal stops us and we peer through the grass. We see a little rise, the highest point we've seen in the swamp, maybe a foot over sea level. To the south is a small pond, to the west, an L which was formerly the northeast corner of a building, now ruined. The rat men are about fifty yards away. Two sentries are sitting boredly. The mauler lays back against the wall with its tongue out, snoring. There's plenty of low vegetation all around, so the entangle should work perfectly.
Goldpetal casts Entangle, as the fighters ready their bows. Three rat men are definitely out of range of the spell, but one is stuck in the inside corner of the wall and probably can't get through. Many of them manage to escape the initial attack of the plants, which wakes them up. Telryn waits to see what happens. The hawks try to attack the nearest rat man, and both claw it. Miriel waits to see what happens. Stone shoots the same rat man attacked by the hawsk and kills it. The owl continues to watch from high up. Everyone else runs forward towards the knoll.
The hawks fly up to see if they see anything. The shaman attempts to break free of the entanglement and succeeds. Miriel runs forward to join the rest of the party. The mauler is still not entangled, so it charges the party. Stone charges to the edge of the entanglement. The owl flies up over the area. Chuck moves to the edge of the clearing and fires at the nearest rat man, putting an arrow through it and killing it. Paks runs forward with her sword drawn. More of the rat men get entangled, but one of the entangled ones breaks free. The free rat men draw their short bows, and those who are able move out of the entangling area. One of them shoots at Chuck, but it's a long shot and it misses. Another shoots at Stone, but misses. One that was never entangled moves and reaches the edge of the entangling area. Goldpetal moves to the edge of the clearing and shoots at the rat man that shot at Chuck, putting an arrow through it but not killing it. Telryn moves to the edge of the clearing and shoots at the rat man that was about to escape the entangling area, getting a double critical hit with an arrow throw its eye, killing it.
The hawks dive down and claw at the rat man that Goldpetal shot. One hits, scratching its eyes out and killing it. The shaman remains free and moves towards the edge of the entanglement, then starts casting a spell. He succeeds. Swarms of bugs and bees appear, making a wall around Paks and Stone. Paks resists them, but Stone is injured. Miriel holds. The mauler is still free, and continues to charge towards us, moving slightly off course to get around the wall of bees. Stone steps out of the wall of bees, which moves him towards the mauler. He drops his crossbow and holds until the mauler comes within flailing range. The owl continues to watch from above. Chuck moves foward towards the end of the ruined wall, then shoots at the mauler, but misses. Paks steps out of the wall of bees, also towards the mauler and behind the low part of the wall. She waits for the mauler with her sword drawn. Two of the entangled rat men break free, one is freshly entangled. The one which was never entangled shoots at Stone and hits him. "Ow." Goldpetal heads around the clearing the other way to shoot at the shaman, but misses. Telryn moves to the wall and casts sleep at the shaman, but it fails.
The hawks fly over to claw the shaman, but both miss. One gets entangled. The shaman remains free and steps out of the entangled area. He casts a spell and suddenly his skin, which was previously covered in fur, is hardened and bark-like. The mauler gets entangled. Stone picks up his crossbow, loads it, and shoots at the mauler, scratching it. It roars. The owl continues to hover. Chuck shoots at the mauler twice, missing. Paks shoots at it and misses. One of the entangled archers breaks free, one free one is entangled. The rest maintain status. The free rat man climbs the wall next to him and escapes the entangled area, shooting Stone. "Ow! Hey, stop that!" Another shoots at Paks, missing her. Telryn fires a Lesser Fire Orb at the shaman, hitting him. Goldpetal shoots at the shaman but misses.
The entangled hawk tries to break free. The other flies out of the entanglement and tries to claw the shaman, but fails. The shaman takes out his flail and starts flailing at the hawk. He hits it, but it's still alive. Stone shots at the free rat man inside the walls, hitting it. Chuck steps around Paks and shoots at the rat man that went over the wall, hitting it with both shots, one critcally. It dies. The mauler breaks free. Paks shoots at the shaman with her short bow, but misses. One of the unentangled archers is entangled. The one who is still free in the corner shoots at Stone, but misses. Telryn shoots another fire orb at the shaman, but misses. Miriel blesses everyone.
Goldpetal tries to shoot the free rat man in the corner, but misses. The entangled hawk tries to break free, but fails. The other hawk flies away, back towards the party, and goes behind the wall of bees. The shaman hides behind the taller part of the wall. Telryn asks the owl to watch the shaman. The mauler remains free and moves to the edge of the entangling area to engage the three fighters. He attacks Paks first. He claws and bites, hitting her with both claws. She is still conscious, but cries out for healing. Stone does a flurry of blows at the mauler and hits it very hard with both hands. Chuck shoots the mauler, but fumbles and misses, getting tangled in his bows. He falls to the ground. His bow flies out of his hand and goes fifteen feet into the entangled area. Paks tries to hit the mauler with her sword, but misses. Two of the entangled archers break free. The one who is free shoots at Goldpetal, hitting him. Telryn shoots his crossbow at the mauler, but misses. Miriel runs over to Paks and heals her. Goldpetal shoots at the free rat man in the corner, hitting it and killing it.
The entangled hawk breaks free. The shaman runs away into the swamp. The mauler gets entangled. Stone does another flurry of blows, hitting hard with one and killing the mauler. Paks pulls out her bow and shoots at one of the entangled rat men, but misses it. One of the entangled archers breaks free, one of the free ones gets entangled. The one who started free moves out of the entangled area and shoots at Stone, hitting him again. Telryn asks his owl to follow the shaman, but it says he's in the marsh grass and it can't see him. Miriel stays close to the ground behind the fighters and the wall. Goldpetal shoots at the new rat man in the corner and hits it. Chuck stands up.
The hawk is re-entangled. Stone picks up his crossbow, loads it, and tries to shoot the rat man who shot at him, but misses. Paks moves down the wall to the outside of the corner. The free rat man gets entangled, one of the entangled breaks free. The guy in the corner climbs the wall and jumps down in front of Paks who swings at him, but misses. He attacks with his claws and bites, injuring her with the bite. Telryn shoots at the rat man that broke free, but misses. Miriel backs up closer to Telryn. Goldpetal shoots at the free rat man, but misses. Chuck runs over to where Paks is and flanks the rat man she's attacking.
The entangled hawk remains entangled. Stone steps into the entangled area and punches the nearest rat man, but misses. Paks swings at the rat man, but misses. One of the entangled rat men breaks free, while the free one is entangled. The one fighting Paks and Chuck claws and bites at Paks, but misses. Telryn shoots at one of the entangled archers and hits it, scratching it. Miriel waits. Goldpetal shoots at the one Telryn shot, but misses. Chuck swings at the rat man with both swords, fumbling and missing with the short sword, but hitting with the long sword, killing it. He trips and falls again, flinging his short sword off towards the edge of the clearing.
The entangled hawk remains entangled. Stone remains free, punches at the rat man, and misses. Paks moves past the wall and shoots at one of the entangled rat men, hitting it. One of the entangled rat men breaks free. The free one gets entangled. Telryn moves up and shoots at one of the entangled rat men, getting a critical hit and killing it. Miriel runs towards Chuck's short sword. Goldpetal shoots an entangled rat man, hits it, and kills it. Chuck stands up.
The entangled hawk remains entangled. Stone gets entangled. Paks moves over and shoots at another entangled rat man, killing it. The rat men are both entangled. Telryn shoots at one of them, but misses. Miriel picks up Chuck's sword and moves back towards Telryn. Goldpetal shoots an entangled rat man and hits it. Chuck follows Miriel to get his sword.
The entangled hawk remains entangled. Stone is still entangled. Paks moves around to shoot the other entangled rat man, but misses. The archer by Stone breaks free. Telryn shoots the other one. Miriel gives Chuck back his sword and waits. Goldpetal's skin suddenly turns to bark. Chuck moves over to the wall and waits for the free rat man.
The entangled hawk remains entangled. Stone breaks free. Paks shoots at the entangled rat man and hits it, scratching it. The archer by Stone draws his dagger and attacks Stone, missing him. Telryn shoots at the entangled archer and misses. Miriel waits; Paks calls to her to go get the stuff. Stone stays free and punches the rat man, hitting with one and killing it. He fumbles with the other and trips. We kill the last rat man. We wait for the entanglement to go away (in few minutes) and get the bow and the hawk free. The wall of bees goes away. We grab our stuff and discuss whether to follow the shaman or the path of the attacking force.