Aeden rejoins her fellows the next morning, freshly scrubbed (a bit unexpected for a half-orc, but she seems to be full of surprises).
"We need to go pick up the supplies that Lord Feather mentioned," she says as she joins the team for the morning meal. "Then... I suppose it's the road for us."
"Good morning, all. I had the strangest dream last night." Jared says as he joins the group for breakfast.
"You two? Sounds like all of us had a little dream-dust. I had a pleasant dream, myself," says Aeden.
"I saw myself at the head of a huge army of mounted Magi. My Standard-bearer held a flag that had an Eight-pointed Star above a sword crossed with a lightning bolt. We were charging Goblins and ... I want to say Demons, but I'm not sure."
At least we were doing good things and not bad things, the halfling reasons.
Goldus waddled down the stairs to join his comrades, trying to eavesdrop on there conversation.
I had quite a delightful dream myself, had a wonderful library, no Demons though I’m afraid. Not that I’m particularly keen to dream about demons.
So what do we leave?
Asked Goldus rather excitedly.
We just need stuff for the trip, then off we go!
Goldus begins nibbling on a piece of bread, and what exactly constitutes the necessary essentials for a Goblin hunting expedition? I confess this isn’t really my area of expertise.
Flouncy scratches his head. Food, maybe? Bedrolls, tents. That sort of thing? I brought a shovel... Ale... We need to bring ale.
Flouncy will get a donkey to carry the load, if we can find one.
Dex is quiet in the afternoon and the morning as he and his new found allies gather goods for this "quest".
He remains quiet as the others talk of their dreams. He does look thoughtful though.
"Aye, a donkey is a wise idea, no need to tire ourselves out. We'll need to cover our tracks though, we want to be the hunters not the hunted".
A rather scruffy bulky looking human in scale mail, with his wavy brown hair unkempt, clad in scale mail and smelling none too good, clankers his way down the street.”A guy called Aeden told me you guys might need some help with hunting goblins. I’m a fair hand at tracking. I could help, if you give me my fair share of the promised rewards. More people makes for easier hunting trips.” He answers gruffly. ”My name is Tassadar.”
"Yes, Thank you." says Jared. "We were wondering how we were going to find them without a tracker."
'Hmm,does that mean I could push for double shares?' Tassadar thinks to himself, then decides not to press his luck.
"Well, there's always getting a hunting hound. Bloody persistent buggers." Tassadar swears, "The last time I was hunting some nice deer on some too stuffy lord's land, he sent his hounds after me. I had to cross and stream to lose them. Heck, I still have bite marks to show for it."Tassadar rolls up his pants to show a rather unattractive, hairy shin, with bite scars on it.
"Anyway, the day is not getting any younger. The sooner we get moving, the sooner we'll be done. Where was it you last saw those goblins?"Tassadar asks the party.
Once being told on where the goblins/their tracks are, he starts leading the party to them/tracking them.
"Ah, we fought off a group that attacked the town here, but our information indicates that they are part of a tribe that lives several days' travel north of here. Lord Feather funded an expedition so that we could head into the wild to try to find them and put an end to their constant raids," says Aeden.
”How many days travel north of here? We should provision adequately in case we can’t find anything to eat in the wilds.”He then ensures that the party is adequately provisioned for the trip, while buying a suit of leather armor to sleep in at night. ”Can any of you create water? If not – we’ll need to bring sufficient water as well.”
"We've already laid in provisions. We have two pack donkeys and a large quantity of gear for survival and exploration."
"Let's move then."
"There, there and there."Tassadar points out the tracks. "Keep moving, we've got critters to catch."Tassadar urges the group as he leads the way with his glaive pointed.
Flouncy takes one of the donkeys and leads it down the trail.
C'mon, Daisy. Let's go for a nice long walk.
Jared adjusts his pack and follows Flouncy, using his Quarterstaff as a Walking Stick.
Oh good, a tracker, how exciting! Goldus watches what Tassadar is doing intently, he would have had to stoop, were he not so short. Goldus was wondering if perhaps he might pick up some of the what his mother would have called more “earthy” skills. He did rather hope he wouldn’t pick up the scent along with it.
I can manage a little bit of water should the need arise
Aeden takes the reins of the donkeys and leads the stubborn animals along behind the party.
"This is going to be a long trip."
Tassadar loses the trail once, and when he finds out that he has lost the trail, starts swearing violently. He then backtracks to pick up the trail again, but more or less manages to get the party moving in the right direction.
And then he loses the trail again, and begins to swear that the goblin dogs had hamsters for fathers and their mothers smell of elderberries.
I need my 8 hours of- Goldus paused, he sensed adventurers probably didn't get beauty rest ...sleep...to errm gather my powers to there fullest, so if at all possible I'd like to take first or last watch
Goldus patted himself on the back internally. Embarrassment avoided.
"First watch it is, then." Jared says as he begins to pitch his tent.
Tassadar does his night watch in his scale mail, but changes into his leather armor to sleep in.
"I can take a middle shift," says Aeden. "I can see in the dark and I can survive some split sleep."
"So how much is Lord Feather paying us all for this, anyway?" Tassadar asks Aeden to pass time as he watches.
"I get the impression that depends on how pressing the goblin threat actually turns out to be," says Aeden as she scans the darkness slowly.