Yolandachu Zonda

Yolandachu Zonda, a female centaur traveler, approached the hamlet of Eastmere on the Starview Plains, where thatched roofs, smoking chimneys & a small marketplace surrounded a village square & a rickety notice board; the air smelled of wildflowers & recent rains. On the road outside the village, a farmer named Osric struggled with a wagon stuck in deep mud, its burlap sacks of grain spilling onto the road, while children giggled and a small crowd gathered toward the notice board. A young blacksmith named Kella arrived at the scene, apron smudged, hammer in hand, & argued with Osric while watching Yolandachu approach. Yolandachu trotted up, passively stroking her hair, & offered to lift the back end of the wagon; Osric estimated the load at around 800+ pounds. Yolandachu planted her hind legs, lifted the wagon, freeing the rear wheels with a loud sucking noise; Osric urged his ox “Bessie” forward & the wagon was pulled onto firmer ground. Villagers applauded & Osric shook Yolandachu’s hand, grateful and in her debt. Kella introduced herself, praised Yolandachu’s strength & mentioned villagers’ concerns: Old Man Yearquest (a trapper) has been missing since last night; his daughter Louise is offering a reward. Osric & Kella warned about the Whispering Woods—people avoid it after dark—saying strange scraping sounds have been heard, tree bark gouged with deep, unnatural scores, & Yearquest’s snare box was found smashed to splinters as if something huge stomped it. Kella suggested the notice board crowd near Louise was the center of the village’s worry. Yolandachu offered to help the village more practically by gathering flat stones from a creek bed a half-mile east to create a makeshift cobblestone patch where wagons get stuck; Osric confirmed that pile of stones would help & that the creek bank is the nearest source. Yolandachu hardened with concern & volunteered to search for Old Man Yearquest, saying she’d confront whatever menace was in the woods; Kella & Osric reacted with a mix of grim fear and hope. Yolandachu then trotted to the notice board & introduced herself to Louise Yearquest, a young woman in her late twenties with red-rimmed eyes & a worn shawl, who had been wringing her hands & posting reward notices; the villagers fell silent & watched as Louise recognized Yolandachu. Locations: Eastmere village, village square/notice board, the stuck wagon spot on the road, the Whispering Woods (dangerous at night), & a creek bed about half a mile east containing flat stones; NPCs: Osric (grizzled farmer, owner of ox “Bessie”), Kella (blacksmith), Old Man Yearquest (missing trapper), & Louise Yearquest (his distraught daughter offering a reward). The immediate choices facing Yolandachu are whether to gather stones for the road, investigate the Whispering Woods to find Yearquest, or pursue other local tasks; villagers report unnatural gouged bark, scraping sounds at night, and a smashed snare box suggesting a large, possibly nonnatural creature. Yolandachu arrived in the small village & spoke with Louise, who tearfully but defiantly explained that her father, Old Man Yearquest, has gone missing along his trapline about a mile into the Whispering Woods along the Gurgling Creek; Louise produced a single coarse, mottled grey hair found on a thornbush as physical evidence and warned the party that the searchers found the trapper's smashed box near the woods & would not go further because the woods "felt watched." Louise offered 20 gold from her savings & implored Yolandachu to go; she added two important facts: Yearquest always carries a bone whistle carved like a songbird that will signal him if he is able to answer, and the searchers reported the creek water looked oily in places with a metallic smell. Yolandachu checked the time (sun still a few hours from setting) patted Louise on the shoulder & rode at a gallop into the Whispering Woods; entering beneath two gnarled oaks, the atmosphere shifted to cool, damp, dim green light with an unsettling metallic tang & trees whose bark bore deep gouges like stone claws. After about ten minutes following a faint game trail, Yolandachu found a small clearing with a demolished lean-to and scattered trapper gear including a waterskin, rusted traps, and the intact carved bone whistle (songbird) described by Louise. In the clearing, an 8 ft tall stone/earth/moss/mud humanoid creature held the limp, unconscious Old Man Yearquest in one massive fist; the creature's head had two dull red pinprick lights; it was examining its captive & had not yet noticed Yolandachu. The creature is approximately 30 feet away. Yolandachu declared the special maneuver "Galloping Dropkick": she took a running start & used her charge to make an unarmed attack. Hooves struck the creature's chest, causing rock & earth to chip away & drawing the creature's attention. The creature was not knocked prone or pushed back. The creature reacted with a grinding, boulder-like growl. Old Man Yearquest remains unconscious but alive, clutched in the creature's fist; the clearing, demolished lean-to, scattered gear, the songbird bone whistle, the coarse mottled grey hair (now in Yolandachu's possession earlier). Yolandachu is currently grappling a Stone Creature in a forested area where Old Man Yearquest, an unconscious trapper, lies on the mossy ground nearby. Earlier, Yolandachu used a powerful hoof attack & removed surprise, then the Stone Creature dropped Yearquest & counterattacked. The Stone Creature made a Claw attack & Yolandachu became grappled. On Yolandachu's turn, she decided to use Hoofstorm Barrage (a Flurry of Blows) & to make two extra unarmed strikes as part of that; Because both Flurry strikes hit the same target, the creature had to make a DC 14 Constitution save; its Con save was 21 (17+4), and it succeeded, so it was not knocked back. The Stone Creature was left heavily damaged with spiderweb cracks and flickering red eyes, but it maintained its grapple on Yolandachu (she has used 2 Ki points total). It then made a Slam attack on its turn: attack roll 24 (17+7), which hit Yolandachu, and the DM asked for 3d6+4 bludgeoning damage to be rolled. Current tracked mechanical values: Yolandachu AC 14, Strength modifier +5, Constitution modifier +4, grapple escape DC 15, Stone Creature attack modifiers +7, Stone Creature Constitution modifier +4, Hoofstorm Barrage/Flurry cost 1 Ki point (used this turn as part of two Ki used total), Old Man Yearquest is unconscious and nearby, and Yolandachu remains grappled. Yolandachu engaged and defeated a stone creature that had grappled her and abducted Old Man Elric Yearquest. During combat, the creature smashed Yolandachu with a fist, dealing 21 bludgeoning damage (17 roll + 4 modifier), reducing her HP from 60 to 39/60 while she was grappled (Escape DC 15). The player confirmed that escaping a grapple requires an Action and that Yolandachu's relevant skill bonuses are Strength (Athletics) +8 (Str +5, prof +3) and Dexterity (Acrobatics) +7 (Dex +4, prof +3). The player chose to use their Action to attempt to escape the grapple using Strength (Athletics) and their Bonus Action to make an unarmed strike. Yolandachu rolled a 20 on the Athletics check, producing a 28 (20+8) and breaking free; the Bonus Action attack roll was an 11, which, with her +5 Strength modifier, equaled 16 and hit. The damage roll for the unarmed strike was a 10 on a d8, for 15 bludgeoning damage (10+5), which shattered the stone creature's core and destroyed it; its red eye dimmed, and it collapsed into rubble. After the grapple ended and combat concluded, the player searched the creature's remains and found a palm-sized chunk of raw, unrefined ore described as deep glossy black with veins of faint crimson energy, oddly heavy and humming with dormant power, identified as "Gleaming Black Ore" and likely the source of the creature's animation and the pollution in the nearby creek; no other valuable items were recovered. Old Man Yearquest (Elric Yearquest) lay unconscious but alive; after the fight, he stirred, groaned, and when Yolandachu approached gently and spoke, he woke confused, calling for his daughter Louise, then recognized that Yolandachu had killed the creature and expressed awe, gratitude, and pain from injuries as he introduced himself as Elric Yearquest and accepted help sitting up. The immediate scene is a quiet forest clearing with the inert pile of stone rubble, and the Gleaming Black Ore in Yolandachu's possession, Old Man Elric recovering and grateful, combat ended, and no other threats present. Yolandachu rescued Elric Yearquest, an older hunter/trapper found injured in the Whispering Woods; she carried him out on her back using her Indigo Caparison for him to grip. Elric is light and grateful, coughing and wounded but lucid; he has trapped the woods for forty years and immediately suspects the creature that attacked him was unnatural. Yolandachu discovered and later showed Elric a pulsating, black ore with crimson veins that hums and seems to poison the earth; Elric identified it as likely a "heart-stone," a cursed ore from miners' tales in the Iron Ridge foothills that can give semblance of life to stone and mud. Elric and Yolandachu agree the ore was placed deliberately and that whoever planted it could do more harm; Yolandachu intends to find and punish the perpetrator. Emerging from the trees toward the outskirts of Eastmere, Yolandachu is greeted by an anxious village crowd; Louise Yearquest, Elric's daughter, rushes forward and embraces her father. Elric publicly announces Yolandachu's deed, saying she faced the Whispering Woods' beast alone and saved him and the village; villagers cheer, and Louise gives Yolandachu a cloth purse containing 20 gp as promised for saving Elric. Kella the blacksmith, Osric the farmer, and an elderly shawled woman speak up: Kella describes the ore as cold and wrong, Osric calls it dark magic, and the old woman reports that Old Conrad the tanner mentioned strange lights to the north near the Iron Ridge foothills and a cloaked figure. Elric notes the northern crags are wild and hard to search. The village turns to Yolandachu as their only hope against the hidden threat. Yolandachu asks for rest; Louise directs her to The Stumbling Stag inn and says Mara the innkeeper will host her, with the Yearquests covering the room and board. Mara, a stout, motherly innkeep, offers a ground-floor back room with its own entrance to a small paddock so Yolandachu won't need to use stairs; the common room smells of baking bread and stewed meat. Kella offers to draw a hot bath; villagers escort Yolandachu to the inn where Mara greets her and shows her the room: a clean, spacious ground-floor chamber with a large bedroll on fresh straw for Yolandachu, a normal bed against the wall, a basin and cloths. Yolandachu bows and thanks Mara; Mara insists she be called simply "Mara." Yolandachu decides to wait for the bath and rests on the bedroll, feeling fatigue and bruises from the stone creature's blows. Kella arrives shortly with two boys carrying a large shallow metal trough cleaned and repurposed as a tub; Mara and another woman pour steaming water, cool water, lavender, and healing herbs into it. The makeshift bath is left for Yolandachu alone in the room; the villagers have not yet located who placed the heart-stone, and the threat of more heart-stones and animated stone abominations, possibly originating from the Iron Ridge foothills to the north, remains unresolved. The ore is currently in Yolandachu's possession and she has not revealed any knowledge of ore origins beyond Elric's hearsay; Elric, Louise, Kella, Osric, Mara, Old Conrad (reported sighting), the Iron Ridge foothills, Eastmere village, The Stumbling Stag inn, the Indigo Caparison, and the 20 gp reward are all important details to track moving forward.