Session 14: B-bandits pwease?

As the adventure begins, the reins are handed over to Willow, who decides that we'll be heading north along the road towards the same fishing hamlet we'd passed by earlier, her ranger's expertise enough to keep the journey somewhat safe. As we traveled, we discussed tactics. From her time spent observing them in the past, Willow knows that they don't really have any super set meal times, instead eating throughout the day and dispersing in small groups.
 
Willow doesn't know that the bandits have a leader, or she'd have already tried to take them out, and she seems just a little out of it to Vorach, but is very good at concealing whatever emotions she might be feeling inside. The plan, tentatively, becomes to have her sneak inside of the camp with an accompanied Zeal shifted into the body of a raccoon, with Vorach and Zeal both making plans to help her escape through means of darkness and...weird fiery echo ladies, respectively.
 
As we begin to pass our way through the hamlet, we see that in the hamlet there's a strange new woman: instead of the mostly hearty fishing folk, there is a new silhouette! A woman in a mostly featureless mask (with tears appearing to stream down its front) is standing there talking to a resident outside of their house. She is a member of the 'Path of the Last Journey', part of the same cult that Zeal is a member of! They're dedicated to a morbid aspect of life, which is the ending of life, and act as executors of people's last wishes.
 
Serafina seems somewhat put off and suggests we keep moving, a slightly lighter reaction than Vorach, who almost goes catatonic upon seeing her. Willow asks who that person is and what they are, but Sidna clamps her hand over the halfling's mouth and hisses a quiet, "Later."
 
Another two hours later, and we're near the place where we found Beans, and where the group previously found Svenna, too! Zeal grabs some mistletoe from his pack and manifests some goodberries, passing them out to the party (Vorach gives his extra one to Willow for Mr. Nibbles). We discuss corpse logistics, trying to figure out the how and why, with Sidna helpfully showing off her botany journal and the page within that describes bloodwort: a healing plant which grows and flourishes in the presence of blood and meat (plus some dragon blood helps, too). We get to hiding the bodies from people and animals alike, with Willow moving the cart into the bushes on the forest side to be less visible and hiding it in the brambles.
 
Making our way into the woods, Willow takes the lead with Zeal and Serafina close behind, Sidna and Vorach just a little bit behind as they are the least stealthy of the group. Willow gets a little lost at first, but thankfully regains herself and keeps Zeal from getting ruined by walking into a trap at the last minute. The two decide to stealth ahead, looking to the party for assurance but instead only seeing Serafina watching Vorach and Sidna loudly discuss how poor the construction of that trap was. Unfortunately, betting that it didn't even close, Sidna took up a branch and set off the trap at its edge (which made an enormously loud snapping noise). With Willow and Zeal gone ahead, Sidna and Serafina hide as Vorach carefully places himself beneath the trap as though he was ensnared.
 
Unfortunately, Zeal managed to make a loud enough noise to scare off something nearby, and the two quickly gave chase; Zeal morphing into a raccoon while Willow stealthily gains ground. Thankfully it's just a boar, and not a goblin, and the two turn instead towards the camp. Sadly, they seem to have gotten turned around and the camera turns back to the others.
 
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"If you can understand me, do a little dance."
'.....'
"I knew you could understand me, I just wanted to see you do a lil dance. :)"
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Two goblins approach the trap, where Vorach appears to be unconscious, and the goblins try to put him out of his misery. Unfortunately, he misses his shot, and instead Vorach knocks the two out with a spell. Sadly the cleanup isn't as nice, as we roll min damage and don't just immediately get them in the head. Sidna smashes one's head in as it attempts to crawl away, Serafina stabs the other through the throat, and Vorach is pretty. We cut off their hands, with Serafina and Sidna looting them. Sadly Sidna only gets poo finger beyond necessities, wrapping the hands up in a piece of leather armour instead, but Serafina finds a hidden pouch with a ring! We pile the bodies in a nearby bush and hide again, hoping things are going well for Willow and Zeal.
 
Loot: Two shortbows (dubious), two daggers (mismatched, slightly rusted), a simple silver ring, a pouch with 2 silver, 5 copper.
 
Deeper in the forest, things are not going well for Willow and Raccoon-Zeal (Racceal): they are lost. Racceal uses his cute little fingers to climb up a nearby tree and try to look around, but is only really able to offer their general direction to Willow, scratching messages in the dirt after clambering back down. Willow turns to Nibbles and asks if he can smell the orcs, to which he begins sniffing and snuffling before picking up a scent. Willow grabs Racceal and lets Nibbles take the lead, heading out.
 
As they travel, they notice a druidic style shrine, mostly guided by their nose, which appears to be what may have drawn Nibbles. It smells like...pee. It appears someone's been defiling this shrine, and the raccoon takes off!! Willow carefully follows behind as he trails and carefully manoeuvres, following his nose for the terrible smell that shows alongside some bootprints and bare foot-prints until they start to hear noises. Here, Willow slows Racceal and carefully begins to make an arc to try and intercept/view those who are speaking.
 
Sidna and Vorach take the lead, their shared survival and travel experiences have them thinking they're...mostly on the right track. As Serafina is keeping her eye out, though, Serafina feels something scratching and tickling her back, reaching back to find an enormous (read: tarantula-sized) on her back. She strangle-screams and spins, trying to get it off, and Sidna grabs her to stop her from moving. Vorach reaches out to stop her from smashing the spider before gently taking it off (he almost gets bitten but the spider can't get through his mage armour). It hits the ground a little rougher than it should, and it turns to hiss at the party, but Vorach's shadow springs up behind him like a standing bear and he successfully intimidates the spider away. Serafina thanks Connie, and the three continue on their way.
 
Deeper in the woods, Willow and Racceal have found their way to the camp, and begin approaching from the east, with Racceal carefully sneaking through the brush to spy. He notices a cliff-like drop-off, and sees the bandits gathered around eating. Carefully, he scopes the place out, making sure that there's nothing wild and finding guard positions as well as an overly large orc shouting at a group of goblins on a ledge over the camp. Thankfully, he's a stealth MACHINE as a raccoon, and manages to make his way towards the food supplies, looking for a good place to slip his drugs and ground up glass. Willow manages to find her ground, approaching from the west instead, stealthing about until she hears the same hot, giant orc yelling at the goblin group.
 
At this point, she exits from stealth and walks out into the open, confronting the orc and taking out her shortsword, demanding to know the location of his partner. He asks if she's a comedienne, and she gets angrier, asking if he remembers her at all and demanding a duel with him. She throws a hunter's mark on him and swears when she's through with him he'll remember her, before charging forward and slashing. He manages a lucky strike at her chest with his mace, while she shoves her swortsword into his thigh. The goblins, strangely enough, seem to be respecting the duel. Racceal draws closer, watching as the orc continues to smack Willow about with his mace. Having had enough, he jumps up and throws out a gout of fire, doing major damage to the orc and setting a bunch of their tents on fire. The rest of the group sees the pillar of smoke and start to hurry!
 
Fortunately, the distraction is enough, and as the orc turns to smack into Zeal, Willow rushes forward and headbutts him in the solar plexus, sending him tumbling off the ledge of the cliff into the burning tents below.