Jumping at Shadows
| Jumping at Shadows | |
|---|---|
| Date | 10/19/24 |
| Storyteller | Tire |
| Tier | Expert |
| Player Characters | Amber May, Jovial Guts, The Lord of Carnage, Melfyra |
| Rewards | 250 xp, 1000gp |
| Result | Success |
| Author | Zoro |
| Downtime | 9 |
Log
In summary, this mission was to find the cause of a logging companies disappearing workers, and stop it. The cause was a creature called a Nargacuga, and proved a fierce opponent.
After the associates traveled to the Moorwood Logging company's land we met the owner and operator, Leland Moorwood. He was a dwarf, and despite the company having a poor reputation from before the current kalpa he had turned it around. He had worked quickly after the nocturnal logging camp was attacked by evacuating what workers remained there and only allowing work during the day. We spoke with him, and asked him to gather what workers he had sent home, including the night foreman, at the day work camp.
We began our investigation by moving towards the nocturnal camp, gathering clues from the environment as we went. Winter was still present in the area, and a layer of fresh snow made tracking the creature difficult. The following are signs of a Nargacuga, and should be noted if another is encountered:
- The presence of large quills, about a meter in length, driven in to the ground or into prey. The creature can launch these quills long distances with accuracy.
- Paranoia and the feeling of being watched in the night. The creature stalked its prey for several nights before attacking.
- A reluctance to enter industrialized territory. The creature is an animal, and possess no magic of its own. It doesn't like areas with a lot of activity.
Once the creature is identified, it will need to be ambushed, as it has no home base that it can be tracked to.
- Its quills naturally conduct electricity, and its keen hearing makes it vulnerable to spells or attacks with those propensities.
- If it is traveling with its young, which it probably is if it is predating on humanoids, they have not developed the weaknesses of the adult, but the oils in their fur makes them extremely flammable.
- The creature's black fur makes spotting it in the dark nearly impossible. Relying on darkvision is ineffective, instead use a large, or multiple, light sources.
- Poisons and other methods of attacking the body directly are effective.
- As an animal, it speaks no languages, and cannot be reasoned with.
- Lastly, when damaged severely it can refocus itself to regain a large amount of fighting prowess, but it leaves it weak. Strike hard at this point to bring it down.
Most important of these is to employ light, as it relies most heavily on attacking and then retreating back into the shadows.
The two loggers who were missing were Ztall, a tripkee whom we tracked to his hiding spot and escorted to safety, and Pector, an orc who was eaten by the beast. We were able to recover his skull from the creature's stomach. I think I would have liked Pector. He was in a one sided sexual relationship with a doll. I can sympathize, as I am a sort of doll myself, but have not yet had the occasion to take a lover.
In my opinion, the beast, whom was with its young, had only arrived in the area within the past three weeks. It had only turned to hunting the loggers due to their work, and the winter's chill, driving out the local fauna of the area. It is good that we were hired when we were, as the creature would have proved far beyond the company's ability to drive off.