Faced with either agreeing to the priest's peace or battling the Dane, the old warrior opts for the former.
"The King is in Armagh," he confirms. "He's making sure the ghost of MacLochlain doesn't come back to haunt us!"
He chuckles, revealing rotten teeth, and allows them to pass. The heroes ride through Enniskillen, and into the forests beyond the River Erne. If all goes well, they should make good distance today...
"Lets hope the weather is kind and the road stays clear. Well aside from our follower. Though at this point he may as well just join our group. Be easier on him that is for sure." Aoife comments as they move along. Picking up a free things she had learned from Padraic years ago she does her bet to keep them going the right way.
Thorun takes a rest as Aoife leads them, paying attention to the birds and game signs in the area. His stomach has been rumbling for some fresh meat and his companions would probably enjoy some as well.
Although his mood is perpetually ruined by the presence of the rider behind them. He keeps glancing back, no longer hiding his disdain since the rider had already sniffed out their game.
Kass rides in quiet contemplation though he is aware of the surroundings.
They make good time, riding North of Eshrack Bog, and finding a safe spot to cross the Blackwater River near its source, in the evening. Tomorrow, they will need to chose between following the long winding river South East, or heading East into rolling hills and risking a more difficult second crossing of the Blackwater River.
Never once during the whole day do they see their pursuer. Is he still following? Has he gone? They can only speculate... Nevertheless, it is a pleasant ride on a rare sunny day.
They set camp, and eat most of the provisions that remain. There was plenty of game on the way, but hunting would have slowed their journey, and so they must be content with dried meat and root vegetables.
Tired and sore from the long ride, they lay for the night.
Thorun volunteers for second watch, also keeping an eye out of any game wanders too close to their campsight.
"I'll take first." Aoife said as she picked a good spot to sit watch.
"Excellent. Thorun, please wake me for third watch."
After a long day's ride, Aoife's attention wanders. While keeping watch, she thinks about the last days, about how all this began... Until recently, she had never left Tuaim. Now, she is travelling to Armagh...
Aoife's reverie ends abruptly when an arrow strikes her thigh!
Aoife screamed as the arrow bit into her thigh. Honestly the reaction was more one of shock than of actual pain. However she was sure her shout was enough to awaken her alias, thus she stood with sword in hand and made her way to where the archer was.
"So you're the one who has been following us huh? You made a grave error."
Thorun rolls over, dagger held up for a moment before realizing no threat is adjacent to him so he grabs his axe and stands. "The f#+~ is going on?" He shouts.
Ó Máille scrambles to his feet as he regains consciousness. "Aoife?!" He immediately mutters a prayer and looks around for their attacker.
"Our stalker has made himself known." Aoife called out. "Which was a mistake upon his part, because I'm gonna kill him!" The young half-breed shouted. "Shoot an arrow into my leg will you? Don't expect to live long after that!"
The challenge is met with perfect silence as the attacker moves back and disappears into the darkness.
Kass whispers a spell for Luck.
Though groggy, he begins to move into the darkness to try and find this stalker.
Stealth
Luck re roll
Perception
Kassidy heads into the darkness, stealthily making his way through the woods, but he finds no one. All is quiet. The attacker seems to have disappeared after having fired a single arrow...
Ó Máille rushes to Aoife and examines the arrow lodged in her leg.
Aoife sat down as the Brother came running over. "It's not as bad as it looks." Aoife tried to joke as he looked at the thigh. "It isn't that bad right?" She quietly asked him.
Brother O'Maille tends to Aoife's wound, which proves to be only a light cut, and they return to the night's watch.
Thock! Another arrow shot from the darkness beyond – this one narrowly misses Thorun, who chose the second watch!
This time Kass does not wake unless prompted by Thorun, after all, he is on the last watch and has had little sleep already.
Thorun roars, trying to find the source of the arrow.
The Dane's voice could wake the damn dead and despite how dead Kass feels, he wakes up.
Once more, he takes to the shadows and keeps his eyes peeled for their attacker. He parys to God once more to catch this damned Bastard!
.
.
Encounter distance = 140'
Again, Kassidy moves into the darkness, pursuing the elusive warrior who has been following them since they left Tuaim. And again, given the distance, he is unable to hunt his prey down. He stops and closes his eyes to better listen. He hears the sound of a horse galloping away...
Kass considers charging but as he lacks a bow he knows it is pointless to pursue.
He heads back to camp, "Damn, came close that time. I think it's time to set up our dummies once more and see if we can't catch this stalking rider..."
Exhausted and having guessed at their pursuer's intent, Brother O'Maille mutes Thorun's loud complaint, and remains fast asleep, dreaming... He may yet get a fair night's sleep despite his being the next watch.
"Maybe we should just ride through the nights." Aoife said as she had sat up from Thorun's shouting. "He seems less like an actual agresser and more like a bug sent to annoy us." She pointed out. "I saw we pack up now and leave."
"I say we track the bastard down. But if we can get to our destination without getting exhausted from lack of sleep lets push through."
"That's why I think the dummies again. I saw him or her just ride off. They'll need to regroup giving us some time to reposition ourselves for a possible ambush".
Taking advantage of the rider having ridden off, the heroes quickly prepare an ambush, assuming that the attacker will return in time to continue to interrupt their sleep. They will get no rest, but perhaps they will catch their mysterious pursuer...
They set up decoys around the campfire, hoping that from a distance, their pursuer will not notice the subterfuge; and then they sneak into the darkness.
Ó Máille will wait close to the decoys with the intention of invoking the name of the Lord to prevent the stranger from attacking.
"We should spread out a bit but not be too far away from each other that we can rally together if needs be".
Perception .
Stealth .
"I'm fine with that." Aoife said with a nod before taking her place.
"I agree Kassidy." The big Dane nods.
Success! The pursuer approaches from the right direction...
Aoife
distance to encounter 70'
As soon as the man hesitates, Thorun treats him to a full-blooded Viking ambush. He breaks from hiding and heads full tilt at the man, screaming like a madman. It's a lot more intimidating with a whole host of Danes, but the effect is still there.
Kassidy will flat out run in a direction he thinks the pursuer is going to try and cut him off from (presumably) his mount.
Aoife jumped when she heard Thorun charge towards their stalker. She couldn't help but follow his lead, running all the way to cut off the stranger from being able to run away or at least not without facing her and her blades.