Keith seems unperturbed by Julius's organizing the watches, somebody had to. Still there was more to it than just that, as Keith told them, "We should place the fire between each wagon, leave their brakes on and have the horses hobbled and unhitched. Makes it harder for anyone to just ride the wagons away, or scare the horses off. Also protects the fire in case of winds."
Keith pauses and then adds, "The hard thing will be keeping discipline up. They may not come tonight, they may not come tomorrow, it may be next week or even next month. This is a waiting game, we need to be patient. Game of cards anyone?"
"Hmm, that good night of sleep thing can be a problem if we want to start reasonably early tomorrow.
Let's see if this work:
First turn: Ashar and Shyr and Keith get to bed early to get 8 hours of sleep.
No card game for you, sorry.
Second turn: Ûzorgráng and Julius
Third turn: Thorgrund and Keith. Ashar get to sleep late while the others break the camp and prepare the breakfast.
Every couple of days we should exchange Ûzorgráng turn with Thorgrund turn and Julius turn with Shyr turn, so that it isn't always the same people that wake in the middle of the night."
Julius smile to remove the sting for his next comment.
"The arcane casters always get the better shifts.
It is agreeable for you, guys?"
"You suggestions are sensible, Keith. Someone has a spade to make a latrine? Or we go behind the nearest bush?"
"The Watch is agreeable to Ûzorgráng"
Keith's eyes twinkle slightly, the mention of discipline and a game of cards in virtually the same breath had been an ironic quip that apparently sailed right over Julias's earnest head. Keith shrugs with a half smile, "You'll have to loose another time then. Although I suppose you have a point, it is getting late."
"I have no problems at al with the watch schedule" Shyr said.
The cool breeze off the mountains brings a chill to the spring air the trees rustle and sway. Moonlight dances in and out of the clouds. Slowly after camp dinner and your discussion those not on watch drift off to bed leaving Ashar and Shyr to keep an eye on things. About midway through your so far quiet watch other than the friendly quiet banter to sporadically break up the monotony your fire begins to die down it is still burning but it's glow no longer reaches the edge of the camp.
Ûzorgráng you awaken to embers in the fire pit you see Shyr and Ashar slumped by the fire sleeping. Your heart races as you listen and look at your surroundings. Everything seems as it was when you went to bed a bit cooler, but moonlight still dances through the clouds and the woods alive with the night. Insects clicking rustling of a squirrel or some other small forest denizen.
Ûzorgráng hisses, in Orc, "WHAT THE F***??" and gets up, donning his armour and arming himself as quickly and quietly as possible.
Ûzorgráng isn't making a lot of noise, but the adrenaline makes it seem like every move he makes sounds like he's banging pots and pans together.
Julius heart race when Ûzorgráng wake him.
Donning the armor quietly and hastily is not feasible, let's arm myself at least.
J. get out of his bedroll and take up buckler and scimitar while trying to be stealthy. While doing that he scan the surrounding terrain.
(no armor and buckler modifier)
If there is the time and he can find a location to make it hard to notice him doing that, he will activate his Detect evil ability (spell like ability) and scan the area around the camp.
As you scan around the camp you don't notice anything out of place. Julius you get no auras in the radius of your awareness.Shyr and Ashar groggily come to with a little jostling.
Julius start donning his armor. His watch should be approaching.
Ûzorgráng will start his watch. He is still agitated and will whisper to Julius: "I do not like this, when TWO guards fall asleep. Worrisome! I will start my watch; I am ready for it anyway. I will circle the campsite to stay awake for my watch. I will try being quiet, but I am not good at that."
He will continually patrol the campsite perimeter: armed with Varguthauk, his Guisarme, sling and sling bullets. He will keep just outside of Julius' vision so he can use his darkvision to see what can be seen past the campfire's light and be near enough to respond to any trouble.
He will occasionally eat on his usual bone marrow "sweetmeats" to keep from getting hungry while walking circles around the camp.
Every few minutes he will go back to the campsite to make sure nothing else has gone amiss with the worry of both Shyr and Ashar had nodding off.
Julius try to play bait, feigning to be a lazy guard that occasionally tend to the fire.
He know that looking at the fire will ruin his night vision, so he keep it low and avoid looking at it as much as possible.
He stay alert for unusual noises (beside Ûzorgráng).
"I do not know why I fell asleep" Shyr told Julius as she got ready next to him as she watched the edges of the camp.
Shyr realised what Julius was doing and pretended to hav some small talk with him. mihgt as well. "So the little thing gave me the most lecherous grin in my life, and I replied by throwing it into the oasis. Then the rest of tribe found out, and I ended up carryign twice my regular load as punishment for contaminating the water supply with it." she said, keeping her eyes fixed onto the perimeters of the camp as much as possible.
Julius you make small talk with Shyr while trying to stay alert you notice the momentary stop of Ûzorgráng's pacing along the perimeter before he resumes his trudging. The crunch of bone heralds his return to patrolling accompanied by the ever more familiar orcish profanity that accompanies the elusive last bits of marrow.
Ûzorgráng will casually walk up to Shyr, Ashar, and Julius. With his back to the opposite hill, he will motion with one hand to indicate he's lying and say "Still tired? Just as well. There is nothing to see out there!"
He will then motion them to be silent and then whisper: "Be alert! There is steel in the moonlight on the opposite hill behind me. Don't know how many. One of you announce you're going to use the piddle pot and quietly wake the others and alert them. Thorogrund especially, he sees in the dark like I can. You will hear loud Orc swears if I see more."
Then in his normal voice "Right! Time for more walking about! Oi! I'm knackered!" and with a fake stretch and yawn he will set out to resume his patrol. Paying special attention to the direction of the opposite hill.
Julius:
In a normal conversation tone.
"Dammit!, I should have gone at the latrine as soon as I waked. I will be back in a few minutes."
Whisper to Shyr and Ashar:
"I will go and wake Keith and Thorogrund"
He go and try to wake Keith and Thorogrund without alerting people watching the camp. He try to conceal his actions interposing the mules and carts between himself and the hill.
Urgent whisper to Keith and Thorogrund:
"Wake up. Someone is watching us."
Julias seems to have interrupted a dream for Keith murmurs, "No da, not the switch!" and thrashes weakly before coming to. He whispers grogily, "My watch already? Oh I see... Or more precisely I don't, the fire is down to embers."
Wide awake now, Keith almost casts his Mage Armor spell, but it occurs to him that 'Well our sharp eyed friend saw something, but we don't know when or if an attack will come. Best save it till battle seems imminent.'
After a tense ten or twenty minutes it seems no attack is eminent. It may be an uneasy night but it eventually passes. Now you once again have the light of day at your disposal.
Ûzorgráng, disappointed that there was no "action" last night, says to the others: "I saw steel reflect moonlight. Soon after people fell asleep on their watch. Those things together do not sound right at all to me!"
With that, he goes to the cart with his weapons. He arms himself with his great axe, his ever-present Varguthauk, a bag of caltrops, and his sling with 20 bullets. "I will go to that hilltop, ready to fight, to see what I can find there before we do anything else. Does anyone want to come with me to look, now that it is day time? There may be nothing there, but there may be more. Just one other person, if anyone comes. We do not want to split up more than we need to."
"I will come as soon as I have done my morning prayers. Please wait."
After a moment of thought.
"Sorry for my 'me, me' attitude. Thorgrund, you are way better than me at reading tracks. You want to go?"
The night's excitement over, Keith starts the kettle going to make some coffee. Soon you heat the phut phut of the peculator and that unmistakable smell that takes your mind's eye back to civilization. A bit later, Keith fills up a mug for anyone who wants one and says, "Well that was a bit of a disturbing turn of events. Now your common or garden merchants would take fright and high tail it. Do we want to keep up appearances or shall we scratch that itch and see where the tracks go? Both approaches have merit, but I can't decide which is best."
"They may just think we got lucky. We coudl possibly pretend to be overconfident in our own abilities. Bandits tend to be a little overconfident themselves, knowing that they can overwhelm must other people they meet." Shyr suggested as she drank her coffe.
"My stomach is too delicate for coffee. I will have more bone marrow later, when I am more hungry." Says Ûzorgráng. "But anyway… people falling asleep at the same time while on watch cannot be an accident. But I also don't know why nobody attacked us when they could have. That puzzles me."
After a thoughtful (for him) pause, he stretches and says: "You can all finish your breakfast and I will see what was shining in the moonlight on that hill," he says, pointing to the spot he saw steel glistening…" shan't be long. You'll hear a lot of Orc swears if something goes wrong before I come back.". And without another word, he shambles off, armed to the teeth still, to see what he can find. Of course, he'll start tucking into his usual bone marrow "sweetmeats" as soon as he's just past the camp perimeter.
Ûzorgráng clangs off down the hill with the grace of a pissed off rhino. You still hear him as he begins to rise the next hill, yet the distance has dulled the sharpness of the clanking.
Ûzorgráng comes back much quieter than when he left and casually puts away his great axe in the cart it's normally in. "Well! I was partly right. There a concealed campsite on the other hill that overlooks this campsite. There are a lot of boot-prints there, but nobody belonging to them. Perhaps we can get Thorgrund to see if he can follow those tracks? He is better at that than I am."
Then he just sits down and has some breakfast as if he had just talked about the weather.
"I am all for trying to follow the tracks.
It could mean abandoning the carts. "
In all the confusion Ashar seems to have slipped of and spent an extended time behind a bush.
Ashar quietly addresses the group, My apologies friends, it was certainly enchantment that lulled us from our watch. Never before, have I failed to retain my wits while in the company of a comely women! Ashar smiles at Shyr in a friendly way.
It seems that there is more to these bandits that we believed. If the guides among us can locate where the filth are hiding during the day we should set out for them directly. Otherwise, I suspect we will need to continue on and hope they still believe us unprepared for them.
Where nobody can see him, Keith rolls his eyes at Ashar's casual flirting, 'It's just a figure of speech but I'd be uncomfortable about that in her shoes. Still I think she can handle it, the look she gave me the other day would curdle milk. All I suggested was that in battle it was often impractical to give quarter...'
Keith turns back to the group, steepling his hands, something he often did when in deep thought. "Something definitely happened last night. We'd be foolish to believe moral deficiency means The Bandit is incapable of a certain low cunning. Perhaps they saw the rather striking figure of friend Ûzorgráng by the moonlight? Being honest meeting him on a dark night would give even me pause for thought!"
Keith pauses to grin at Ûzorgráng, before adding, "We need to make a decision soon, normal merchants wouldn't stick around debating. I'm beginning to think we should send a party out investigate the tracks, although we probably shouldn't leave the carts. Would be most embarrassing to find them gone on our return."
"Following the tracks is best. Our 'friends' cannot be far. Strange that they did not attack when they could have." Ûzorgráng scratches his chin and continues: "Their hideout might be big enough for carts. A place to hide loot. And lots of it. Their hideout be near the road in that case. If so, maybe two of us follow the tracks and the rest travel along with the carts. And signal if the bandit tracks do not stay near the road."
"I can't figure out why they put some of us to sleep and then didn't do anything.
Putting Shyr and Ashar to sleep speak of a spellcaster, and not a weak one."
Julius try to remember anything he know about the sleep spell.
If that is enough, Julius will say:
"Sleep is a powerful spell but generally strong minds are capable to resist it. Ashar can cast spells and Shyr is a cleric. Both should have some capacity to resit it.
To get both of them with a single casting of the spell is difficult unless the caster has a strong gift for magic.
I would suspect some kind of creature with supernatural abilities instead of a spellcaster.
A pause for thinking.
"That could even explain why the bandits don't have attacked: they don't control the creature, they only follow it and benefit from tis actions.
Any unusual track around the camp?"
plus appropriate skill.
Shyr blushed lightly at Ashar's comment, but also gave him the milk-curdling stare that Keith had noticed. I know he likes acting that way, but if he tries anything beyond flirting, he should understand he may not enjoy the experience. she thought to herself. She then nodded at Uzgorgang's words "There should be more than enough of us to be able to guard the carts and track the bandits." She also tried to remeber as much as she could about the sleep spell.
Ûzorgráng notices Shyr giving Ashar a withering gaze. "Better him than me! Ha!"
Like the others, he'll try to reflect on what he knows about spells and how the camp fire could have causes Shyr and Ashar to nod off.
Ûzorgráng's eyes light up and blurts out the Orc version of
He looks at the others and says "Acould have caused magical sleep using a fire."
Then he furrows is brow, and thinks aloud "But if bandits are using a witch's magic, why now take advantage of it?"
He then shrugs. "Does anyone else like the idea of two of us trying to follow the tracks while the rest go on the carts? But only if the tracks are not far from the carts on the road, of course. We don't want to split up and do the bandits a favour!"
"Sleep is a powerful spell but generally strong minds are capable to resist it. Ashar can cast spells and Shyr is a cleric. Both should have some capacity to resit it.
To get both of them with a single casting of the spell is difficult unless the caster has a strong gift for magic.
I would suspect some kind of creature with supernatural abilities instead of a spellcaster."
A pause for thinking.
"That could even explain why the bandits don't have attacked: they don't control the creature, they only follow it and benefit from tis actions. Maybe it is some kind o fey.
Any unusual track around the camp?"
Julius go to check for tracks around the camp.
You find no unusual tracks around camp.
Shyr frowned. "It's a possibility Julius, but it's best to keep the other possibilities in mind. It wouldn't be good for us to exclude any others because we jsut assume that the first one is it."
Keith frowns, saying "A sleep spell sounds plausible, although I wonder if it's effects might not have been disappointing for the caster. Perhaps they where expecting Ûzorgráng to have succumb as well?"
He paces for a moment before adding half in jest, "We should probably get going, I don't want to be stuck here for anther night! Still we need to decide who follows the trail."
Ûzorgráng speaks to Keith: "I was asleep and woke up for some reason to see Shyr and Ashar asleep. Lucky for us I woke when they fell asleep. There were signs several people could have been watching us from that hill. Either they were too cautious or too weak to attack us. But they probably have friends who are less shy and retiring."
Breakfast done, Keith carefully puts out the campfire with the now cold coffee dregs. He then starts packing so that he'll be ready to move when the word to get going comes.
Ûzorgráng will prepare to follow the tracks, near the road. He won't go far enough off the road to lose sight of the cart and the others with it. He will arm himself "lightly" (for him): Varguthauk, his four daggers, twenty of his sling bullets, one of his four bags of caltrops, and his great axe.
"Thorgrund is probably the best to follow the tracks. I will follow him as he tracks and keep both him and the carts in sight when there is trouble."
He will also place a bag of caltrops with each cart, and instruct everyone on how to open the bag and toss them between themselves and any attackers. "These will slow down bandits. Make sure you don't put them in the way of the horses, though."
Varguthauk
daggers (4)
sling bullets (20)
bag of caltrops
great axe
Well Ûzorgráng let's get to it daylight is burning. Thorgrund heads off with Ûzorgráng to the outlook and begins to see if he can learn anything useful.
Thorgrund studies the area. Hmm, three I'd guess. They headed that way. Pointing off down the trail with his axe.
Let's head out. Keep an eye peeled their obviously crafty buggers.
Ûzorgráng slings his great axe over his back, makes sure Varguthauk is ready at a moment's notice and follows Thorgrund. Making sure he keeps himself between Thorgrund and the road the carts will be on.
He talks to Thorgrund, in Dwarven:
The trail parallels the road for a couple hours before it cuts west. It is time to decide to follow the trail or stay on the road? Split up or stick together?