"Aaah.. yes. Coin. Always welcome but with the trophy come the bragging rights my friend." Berrin gives Verik a wink and a sagely nod.
"Well, we can see how many people turn up. It is a good opportunity for charity in disguise - if there is enough interest for enough events, I can offer masterwork tools and a small pouch of coin. If we even have a big enough festival to attract a bunch of children, I'll offer them a prize kiss." After seeing Verik's reaction Jemini adds, "No you!"
'It is a pity that you have so grown up Verik. Your fear of women readily expelled, you are a regular philanderer and cad. I'm sure however that you can overcome your constant thoughts about kissing girls to organise the festival,' Tandlara says with grave expression on her face, as if genuinely worried that Verik would be too distracted to get the festival together.
Their conversation about a potential festival goes late into the night. The fire burns out before Zander returns from first watch. He hands the duty off to Berrin, who later turns it over to Verik, who wakes Jemini for the final bit of the watch. She enjoys the sunrise over the plains, coming from the east where Oleg's is. The others begin to stir as the sun comes up, though the long night imagining a potential tournament has them resisting the siren call of waking up.
Reggie suddenly sits up from his spot comfortably at the foot of Berrin's bedroll and looks pointedly at the east. He begins to whine loudly, which causes Berrin to start waving at the thylacine to be quiet. When Berrin doesn't get up, he begins to nudge the big man with his nose and lets out several yips. Reggie sounds decidedly worried, a message his barks can only somewhat get across.
Jemini looks at the houndlike creature, registering that it feels something is amiss. "Berrin! Wake up! I don't understand barkspeak!" She shakes the big man til he stirs.
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The young cleric glances heavenwards wearing a put upon expression, and says to nobody in particular, "Give me maddened bears and zombies anyday, at least I can understand what they want - even if it is to eat me. Women are never like that, I mean easy to understand, not keen to eat me..." Verik's brain catches up with his mouth and he turns a vibrant shade of pink and begins to stammer something largely unintelligible, "Not eating like... sausage... Stop talking!...
Verik is as always setting up for his dawn prayers when Reggies begins acting up.
"Aw, Reggie its too early top be yipping and yapping and flapping, don't you still have a bone to gnaw on." Turning to scowl at the dog - he's just a dog to Verik who has mentally slotted Thylacine in next to Poodle - his brow furrows. "You see something boy?"
He snatches up his shield and morningstar and prods the other men in turn with his boot, "Plain enough I should think Jemini, animals are pretty simple, danger, food, or something to have s.. to breed with." He gives Reggie a dissapproving look, "Quite possibly all three. Wake Tandlara will you, just in case..."
Tandlara snorts loudly in her sleep and jolts into awareness, Riddleskin sent flying from his position on her chest as she sits bolt upright. The rat squeaks his displeasure and charges Tandlara, biting her finger. She lets loose a long stream of swears in several languages, many of them exceptionally long lyrical elven curses. When she is done she roughly crams Riddleskin into his pouch and flattens her dishevelled hair with one hand, throwing her belt of fetishes on as she stands.
'Hmmm... Whats going on? Why is the thyalacine yipping?'
"Alright, ALRIGHT! I'm up! Gods!" Berrin gives up covering his ears with his blanket and sits up with a thunderous glare at Reggie. "What!?!"
BLinking the grogginess from his eyes Berrin sighs as he gains his bearings. "What is it boy? You see somthin'?" Looking around Berrin grabs his sword and shield as he rises.
Zander rises from his bedroll with a start, looking around for signs of danger, "What's going on here Regge?" Grabbing his bow, he stands up and scours the plains for trouble, holding his hand over his eyes to block out the rising sun.
Taisper is attempting to grunt through more pull-ups than he's used to, making use of a conveniently low tree branch to do so, when Reggie begins barking and he hears significant noise at the camp. Not wishing at all for a repeat of the "pajama battle" he immediately lets himself drop to the ground and sprints the short distance back to where his equipment is. Picking up his shield and morningstar, he performs a quick incantation in celestial, wreathing himself in the protective energy of the Keeper.
"Xelelqeln lrielht sel
Al I tu zuon funx
Fray il niwry
Al fray il haf"
"Whatever the mutt has been picking up - it hasn't charged out at us yet. Maybe he's just suffering from the heebeejeebees."
"I'm not sure. These beasts have a nose for trouble." Berrin says hesitantly, staring in the direction Reggie is looking.
Things are pretty easy to see for quite some distance on the plains, but the expedition sees nothing. The nature-savvy members of the expedition quickly realize that they are downwind from the direction that Reggie pointed to. Whatever it is, it must have a scent that he is picking up on.
Considering the situation, Zander begins to pack up his bedroll. "If Reggie smells trouble, we'd best be ready for it. Everyone suit up in your armor and get packed in case it's too much for us to handle and we have to split. Whatever's out there, it's right in our path to the East so we'll have to find out about it one way or another." Casting a sidelong glance at Jemini, he adds in, "I hope you're glad we brought Reggie along now. If it weren't for him, whatevers out there could have caught us unawares."
'Well. I guess we should mount up and investigate, but lets be cautious. Reggie doesn't like whatever it is he is sensing.'
Tandlara smoothes out her attire and hair, then calms Riddleskin down. She then kits out Avansatra and mounts up. By the time she gets on to her horse she seems to have woken up a bit more and returned to her typical demeanour.
"Riddleskin probably picked up the scent too - Tandlara is just too sound a sleeper to realize when he pokes her," Jemini suggests as she mounts Wildflower. "And you? Big horse, big snout, you aren't worried about what you smell?"
"Yup. I'm up." Berrin moves to his chainmail and starts unstrapping his studded leather. "Help would me much obliged." he says as he removes the leather as fast as he can and starts on the chain.
Taisper continues stealing glances back in the direction Reggie seems concerned about as he quickly gears up and gets things ready to move out.
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Verik shrugs off his chain shirt, for once foregoing modesty to do so in front of his companions, only blushing slightly as he pulls on his breastplate. He swiftly tacks up Virtue and says a quick IOU one prayer to Abadar, who he feels sure understands his desire not to sit about with possible danger nearby.
"So are we going to explore? Or will we skirt the threat and have tales about the one that got away?"
The group creeps towards the east on horseback, continually wary about the potential attackers that Reggie warned them about. He trots along behind Berrin, looking much healthier than when the expedition first came across him. The group is uncharacteristically quiet atop their horses, the only sound the soft beat of hooves on grass. After a mile or two, the group comes within sight of the edge of a forest set upon the rolling foothills of the mountain to the southeast.
"I think I see movement over there, nearly visible, but I can't make out anything specific," although where she points is miles away, she subconsciously speaks in a quiet, subdued voice.
'I don't know,' Tandlara whispers back. 'I can't see anything, maybe we're overreacting.'
Despite this she does not raise her voice and both her and Riddleskin keep their ears and eyes peeled, tense with anticipation of danger.
Berrin keeps a wary eye on the bushes close by, worrying about a possible ambush, glancing frequently at Reggie for any signs of discomfort or a warning. Although having spent more than a week ntop of Bessie he is only barely getting used to the motions of a riding horse, wich provides many distractions as Bessie neighs or tosses her head. "Willfull beast." he spits through clenched teeth at one time when Bessie gets ready to turn of the trail.
"I'm not seeing anything." he says finally after a mile or two of riding. "Anyone see anything?" he glances suspiciously at Reggie, wondering if the beast is smart enough to be playing a hoax on him.
Taisper just shakes his head. "Nothing. At least not yet."
Zander scours the countryside, but comes up just as empty as the others. "I don't see anything either, but if Reggie thinks there's something out there, I think we're best off getting a move on. Let's ride North for a couple of miles before turning back to the East to be on the safe side."
The expedition rides north to avoid whatever it was that Reggie warned them about, tracing the edge of the forest. By the late morning, they swing eastward and make it into the forest, its tall evergreens showing signs of spring. The hills are fairly mild, evening out the peak to the south and the plains to the north. An hour into the forest, they notice a small cabin tucked into a clearing. It looks well-kept and maintained, suggesting that someone lives there.
"Oh wow. Have a look! This place looks like it has a woman's touch." Jemini and Tandlara both exchange glances with surreptitious winks behind Verek's back, then both begin laughing.
"How can you tell?" Berrin asks as he squints at the cabin, looking for tha tell-tail signs of the womans touch. "Let's be waty though, remember the last neighbour we visited." He says in quiet tones, spurring Bessie on toward the cabin.
"Well - few guys, who fend for themselves, go out of their way to keep their place in such a pristine condition. It usually requires the loving touch of a woman to say now go and line up the firewood in neat stacks to get it looking quite like that."
"Whadaya mean?" Berrin says furrowing his brow at Jemini. "Maybee the guy just likes to keep things in their place. No sence letting a cabin rot if you ask me. It needs to hold out rain and wind, an' it won't do that if it aint well built and well maintained."
"Sure, there are all sorts. I'm just saying that I wouldn't be surprised at all if we found a woman staying at the cabin too."
Around the cabin, there are no farming implements beyond what is necessary for the small vegetable garden in the back, suggesting that the inhabitant is not a farmer. That might mean the owner is a hunter or trapper, or perhaps a crafter. It's really not easy to tell without speaking to the person in question. Oleg might know, as they are less than a day away and there can't be remarkably many local residents.
"Shall we camp here then?"
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"No point wasting the day lets explore this area and head back here a little before dusk." Verik suggests. "I'll leave a note so that we are expected, it might be a little alarming to have a group of armored personages turning up otherwise."
Taking pen and paper he writes a short letter in a practiced painfully neat hand, and shows it to the others before folding it and carefully pushing it beneath the door.
Dear Householder,
We are exploring the region, hoping to bring an end to the lawlessness and banditry and hope that we might call on you this evening if it is convenient. I am Verik Jarrow Priest of Abadar, and my five companions are all men and women of stout and good heart.
The nature of our work has us armored, please be forewarned, but we have no hostile intentions at all. We hope to explore the local area and return shortly before dusk.
Yours faithfully Verik Jarrow.
As Verik walks away after placing the note, the expedition hears a young voice from inside. "Mommy! There's someone at the door!" It is accompanied by the loud steps of a light child too young to control his feet.
After just a few moments of shuffling around inside, an adult female voice comes from within. "We already paid tribute to the Stag Lord this month! I'll have you know that I'm armed and not going to pay anything more!"
The woman is quite scared and most likely not armed, or at least not well-versed in the usage of weapons.
Leaning forward in his saddle Berrin leans on his arms, hoping to seem unthreatening. "Urrm.. G'mornin mam. We're eh.. not with the Stag Lord. We're agents of the Sword Lords of Brevoy mam, comisioned by Lord Mayor Ioseph Sellimus, regent of Restov, to explore and map the area and put the bandits to the sword or hang 'em mam. We don't mean any alarm mam, but we've been over a week now out from Oleg's now and it would do us well to see a friendly face, if you would."
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"Indeed M'am we have been dispatched to deal with bandits. I am Verik Jarrow Priest of Abadar, might we trouble you to tell us about this tribute you have been paying. I assure you we would never tell anyone you told us anything and we will deal with those harassing you." Verik calls, quickly getting over his surprise at the house being occupied.
"We are also planning a festival at Oleg's for Taxfest, and we would love to extend and invitation to you and yours."
"Given the proximity to Oleg's... - madam, we've already killed Happs and his men and have apprehended Kressle, their leader. We expect no more trouble in this area in the foreseeable future."
To Verik Jemini adds: "See? I told you this place has the well kempt touch of a woman."
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"Implying men are unkempt? You were right, but not for the right reasons. A man can be just as tidy as a women even if it might not be quite as typical." Verik says, slightly huffily. "Besides it probably owes more to someone being at home all day, rather than the only occupant being out trapping or the like. I will have you know my office back home is immaculate, with everything in exact alignment - I used a protractor."
All of Verik's reasoning do not manage to make an impression on Jemini's I-told-you-so smirk.