Boared To Death?
The first day of summer dawns with our intrepid party starting out on their task of mapping the Untamed Wilderness region for the Great Maw, Bragor the Tyrant. The ogre has charged Okay the Wise with exploring the region to the north of the Tyranny of Bragor, documenting any findings and returning to him as soon as possible. With few ogres to spare to help in the task after the Great Maw’s forces conquered the eastern region of the Protectorate of Dyss, Bragor has given Okay a rag-tag group of assistants; Braak the urrok prophet, Fetor the dwarf who is sworn to protect Braak and spread the word of Merrogoth, along with Rat the human and Orson the gnome wizard.
Having reached the edge of Bragor’s new domain the group wake on the second day of their expedition, or at least all but Okay wake, the ogre having overindulged the evening before now lies in a food and drink induced stupor, refusing to wake at dawn, leaving the rest of the group to wait on him.
Braak decides to head out with his bow and hunt for some game to take with them on their journey and Fetor takes Rat to forage for some food while Okay sleeps. Orson, the diminutive gnome sorcerer lies trapped under Okay’s great bulk and is forced to wait until the great sage awakens, or at least shifts position on the ground.
Braak sets off and after a while, spies a lone boar, snuffling around for some food itself. Taking out his trusty bow, he nocks an arrow and lets fly… Only to see the arrow go wide of the mark and alert the boar to his presence. Of course, boars are renowned for their combative attitude and the boar takes exception to Braak’s presence and immediately charges towards the urrok.
There ensues, what can only be described as a grudge match between the boar and it’s would-be hunter and part way through the urrok priest considers unsheathing his holy sword of Merrogoth, something he’d sworn to do only in the most dire of situations (and to be honest, it was a pretty grim predicament he found himself in) but he resisted the temptation as a sworn priest of Merrogoth would and decided that taking on a boar bare handed was the way to go…
The fight went back and forth, with the boar goring Braak and the urrok landing punches that sent teeth flying from the boar’s jaw. Both combatants wore each other down in a battle of attrition and in a scene reminiscent of the final round of the Rocky Balboa vs Apollo Creed boxing match (courtesy of Braak’s kin talent of Grudgeborn Fury) both broke each other in a bloody grapple where the boar gored Braak’s face while he simultaneously ripped out the boar’s throat, sending blood splattering over the pair as they lay entwined in a deadly embrace, grass and mud stained with their life blood.
Meanwhile…
Fetor, clad in his dirty, stinking animal hides and Rat, the young thief from Otras (the former name of Kassl Bragor) had set out to forage for food at the same time Braak embarked on his ill fated hunting trip. Things did not go to plan for Rat and Fetor either, with Rat being such a city boy, he soon found himself out of his depth, mistaking rabbit droppings for blueberries, much to his chagrin. The young man complained bitterly as he fought with brambles and stinging nettles almost every step of the way, mumbling to himself about ‘scratches.. itching, how was I supposed to know that’s what rabbit poop looks like… why me, why…?’ ending up simply following Fetor’s lead, tears streaming down his young face. Fetor meanwhile, managed to find some wild potatoes, picking as many as he could find while being distracted by Rat’s borderline hysterical state of mind. (Unfortunately, in his distraction Fetor didn’t notice the potatoes were well past their prime and in fact were rotten, totally unsuitable for eating… effects to be felt later in the day. Even with the extra dice from Rat helping, Fetor failed his Forage roll.)
Returning to their camp, Rat slumped down to the ground leaning on the back of the still sleeping ogre. Fetor noticed that Braak hadn’t returned from his hunting trip and immediately set out to look for him and to his horror found his urrok patron slumped over the body of the boar, the blood covering the prophet of Merrogoth a mix of his own and that of the boar, it’s fur and flesh still in his mouth. Though he’d no real expertise, Fetor tore some makeshift bandages from Braak’s robes and bound his wounds, managing to revive his stricken companion. Fetor carried the boar over his broad shoulders while Braak recounted his tale, much to the amazement of his dwarven champion. The pair returned to the camp, dumping the dead boar at the feet of Okay, who only now, late into the day had begun to wake. Braak proceeded to regale the group with the epic tale of how he defeated the mighty tusked beast, boaring (boaring - boring, get it…?) everyone half to death with his story.
Starting a fire, Okay skinned and prepared the boar and took the potatoes (whom Fetor had inexplicably named Humphrey), preparing a hearty stew with the meat and vegetables. Braak took the boar skin hoping to have it cured later should they come across a tanner and the group sat and ate the stew… Unfortunately, the bad potato proved to be too much for poor Rat to take and for the second time today, he ended up being Broken by the effects, shivering, sweating and suffering terrible stomach pains from the spoiled potato, throwing up while everyone else cleared up and broke camp.
Okay decided it would be best to explore the regions closest to Bragor’s new territory, so the adventurers headed in an east-south-easterly direction intending to explore rumours of some cave system on the way to Three Peaks Hold. It wasn’t long before they caught sight of what appeared to be a small camp, tents set up near to a small wooded area a short distance south of the larger forests. Catching sight of human activity in the camp, the intrepid group went to investigate, wondering if Rat could turn his day around and act as a go-between for the Ogre’s group.
TO BE CONTINUED...