DF Soaring Phoenix, Session 108 - Hunt for the Manticore

      This session picked up with the party about to camp at the end of the first day after leaving the village...

Session Date:    Tuesday 14 January 2025

Party roster:

Erizax Ofaris, human wizard, 343 points (PC) 
Ben, half-ogre barbarian, 255 points (PC) 
Merrill Tangled Tail, cat-folk monk (martial artist), 314 points (PC) 
- Dagne Timar, human priestess of Metallys (cleric), 221 points (NPC Ally) 
Maximilian "Stout" Grupher III, goblin cleric of Ishtanna, 231 points (PC) 
Violetta, human warrior (barbarian), 238 points (PC) 
Hartwin Bertelot, human monster-hunter (knight), 169 points (PC) 
Randall, human veteran (knight), 215 points (NPC Ally) 
Lannet, halfling adventurer (thief), unknown points (NPC) 
Fendrin, human farmer, unknown points (NPC)

Campaign Date:    24 to 26 February, Year 647 of the Vycenaean Empire. 

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-- Ben steered the party northward into the forest to camp. He picked a spot for line of sight rather than comfort, and the party's rest suffered a little (-1 FP) as a result.

-- The next morning Dagne said that while she was on watch, she thought she had heard something, but then the noise stopped, so she didn't wake anyone. Violetta found fresh tracks of what looked like a bear. No doubt that the party was saved from an unpleasant night time encounter by the Mystic Mist spell which Erizax routinely casts to protect the campsite. 

-- Ben decided that rather than return to the Strider Barrens, that they would instead head westward through the forest and more directly towards their destination. This woodland was not heavy, and the progress was not too slow. 

-- Violetta found humanoid boot prints, which she identified as multiple human (or orc) sized people; the group was 3 or more in number. The direction of the footprints indicated the others had recently come from more or less the direction that the party was going. They proceeded onwards.

-- They came to the edge of the forest after a few hours. In the distance was the expanse of the Strider Barrens. However the party was confronted with a vast canyon or valley blocking their progress. The drop looked deep, and the width of the gap was wider than could be crossed without a bridge. Ben could see to their right that the valley went as far as he could make out, getting wider as it do so (perhaps as much as a mile across). This must be the Big Rock Valley of which Violetta had heard; orcs had once lived there, she had been told. To his left, Ben could see where the valley appeared to end (begin?) about a mile or so in the distance. 

-- Ben decided they would have to double back through the forest, and onto the plain, in order to loop around the end of the valley, and head across the Barrens along their original vector toward the distant mountains. 

-- Giving the valley a wide berth, the party made progress across the Barrens for several miles without incident. When it became time to stop for the night, they had to camp out on the plains. Ahead of them (NW) the hills were getting closer, and to the southwest was another forest. However neither was within reach for that day. Ben looked for the most comfortable spot that could be found, rather than trying for a strategic location. Erizax cast Mystic Mist as usual. 

-- While on watch during the night, Randall spotted a shape in the night sky. Ben identified the distant silhouette of what was certainly a winged quadruped. He watched as the creature flew to the SW, over the forest and out of view. This was not expected, as Ben had understood manticores to prefer hilly or mountainous terrain. 

-- Ben opted to stay up longer, and sacrifice some of his rest in order to see if the creature returned. His vigilance was rewarded, as some time later Ben saw two such silhouettes in the distance. These circled for a while as if hunting, before both descending out of view. 

-- In the morning, Ben decided to lead the party SW towards the forest where the creatures had been seen flying to/from, rather than continue NW into the hills. They encountered a lone tree ahead of the main forest, from which skeletons were hanging. They cautiously inspected the tree and skeletons, and found other torn or cut ropes on the branches, more bones scattered around the tree, and footprints of various creatures: humanoids, horses, big cat (manticore?), strider, and large lizard (dragon?!). 

-- The party debated whether to wait for the manticore(s) by the tree, but decided against that plan, considering that so many potential predators seemed to visit that spot.

-- They continued on SW toward the forest, but didn't get far before spotting people on horses in the distance. They fell back to the tree rather than risk a fight against cavalry in the open. The approaching cavalry turned out to be centaurs. Merrill stepped forward to talk to them. 

-- Through a broken conversation, Merrill learned that the centaurs did not want the party to come any closer to their forest. They were not actively hostile, but they were not friendly either. The seemed not to know what creature Merrill was; he wanted to assure them that he was not a "two-legged monster". They told Merrill to leave and to take their "baby giant" (AKA, Ben the half-ogre) with them. Merrill tried to explain that the party was only looking to hunt the manticore. The centaur in response said that the manticore was in the hills. The party must have seen "eagle-lions" (Erizax presumed these were gryphons), which the centaurs said do live in the forest, not manticores.

-- Armed with this information, Merrill encouraged the party to leave and head toward the hills. Erizax grumbled that the party should not be denied access to the forest, when it did not "belong" to the centaurs, in his opinion. Ben led the group into the hills.

-- While paused at the summit of a hill, they surveyed their surroundings. To the south was forest from which had flown the "eagle-lions", and trees covered hills to the west. To the northwest a mountain loomed, and to the north were more hills. To the east was the edge of the Strider Barrens. Violetta found evidence of big cat prints - probably a manticore had stopped here. As they were looking around, Stout squeaked excitedly that something was flying towards them. It was indeed a manticore. Everyone hurriedly prepared for its arrival.

-- Instead of flying straight at them, the manticore turned and flew clockwise around the hill from a safe distance. It circled about 270 degrees around the hilltop, then it landed on the flat lower down the hillside, not far from the base of the summit. Fendrin fired a hasty arrow at the manticore, and at that it took to the air and flew off. The party watched it fly westward unit it disappeared behind a hill.

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Here is a partial hexmap showing the wilderness as discovered by the party so far. The map was created in Hexographer, and then a screenshot of that is lighted edited in Paint to produce the player-facing version.