It would give us the ability to setup camp not out in the open. Yeda offers.
"How far are we from the goblins?" Tamm asks.
Loxley had chided herself the entire time they had been prepping the wounded man for transport. Why hadn’t she thought about the possibility of another attack on the man if they had just sent him back with Dewdrop. It was only a few hours travel but the possibility should have occurred to her.
She had been relieved when the guards came into sight and had come to aid the man. After reassurance that he would get the aid he needed the group had moved to make up for lost time.
As they reached the spot of the attack again Loxley was sure to have an arrow readied as the proceed on. When they spotted the side passage she had to agree with Yeda. ”It couldn’t hurt to look. And if we can find a suitable spot to set up camp for the night, the better.”
She glances at Sazzat and thinks for a moment as she attempts to refer to a mental map of their travel.
"Everyone look sharp. This is goblin territory." Tamm says.
"I know they aren't very dangerous on their own, but a mob of them taking us by surprise could cause us problems."
He looks at Yeda and Corrin:
"Does one of you two want to lead, or do you want me to scout?"
Yeda rolls her eyes, and gives a derisive Pffft. Troublesome goblins. I think we can knock their heads together just fine if they come around.
The warrior turns to answer Tamm. Sure, I don't mind taking lead with my sword and Corrin's well-trained eyes. Let's find our spot then.
"I wonder how often Miss Shalelu travels through here. She sure is pretty"
He asked no one in particular. After a moment it was clear he was speaking to Dewdrop. He nodded and patted Dewdrops shoulder as he moved to take the lead on the trail spear in hand.
”If we head Northward, we should find some hills. I think they might offer a suitable spot for the night.”
Loxley adjusted the scabbard on her belt. She tested her bowstring and drew an arrow before nodding to herself.
”Lead on.”
She followed behind Yeda, Corrin and Dewdrop. Staying near Zeldana in the middle of their traveling formation, letting Sazzat’s sharp eyes watch their backs with little Bandit.
Yeda nods and agrees to the change of course.
Hills? Sure, that sounds fairly secure too.
His lips twitched for a moment and his shoulders slumped just a tiny amount.
"Dewdrop likes hills."
He said and shifted the direction of his pathfinding.
"I'm more a fan of inns and taverns...." Tamm says.
you proceed into the woodline in single file, sticking to the narrow goblin made trail as it winds through the woods. The going is slow for most of everyone, as the height of the trail is only 3 feet high, and the branches and leaves hang low, casting dark shifting shadows not only upon the trail, but throughout the tree filled horizon as well. Equally acting against the group is the heavy presence of thorns and vines that crisscross the trail, seeking to point and stab at the unaware, the unlucky, or just unfortunate.
Corrin pushes slightly ahead, sticking within ear shot to perform scouting within his preferred element. Dewdrop slips through the brush with equal ease, his thick fur protecting him from the pointy branches and thick vines with pointy thorns.
Within 30 minutes, Corrin finds the tall hills, that loxley spoke of. yet, looking at them, even the word hill is too much for these meager rises from the forest floor. From a quick guestimate, they only rise about 25 feet above from the forest floor, covered with trees and thick shrubs.
Standing still for a moment, corrin faintly hears the sound of waves crashing upon the shoreline.
"This underbrush is a real pain." Tamm says.
"Maybe it doesn't bother the goblins much because they're so small."
OUCH... yeah... these damned brambles! Truly, nature rejection of humanoids at its finest.
She pauses to look up ahead to where Corrin is, yelling up to him.
Have you found a good spot yet Corrin?
"Brambles? I didnt notice, there is a spot up here, should be a good spot, not the easiest to get to."
He paused and cocked his head to the side.
" I hear what sounds like waves."
"So are we going to spend the night, out here?" Tamm asks.
"Like, on the ground?"
"Well, unless you want to sleep in the trees, yes." Zeldana said with a half smirk and chuckle.
"But brambles would a poor bedding make." Zeldana said with a nod. "Waves? Could be the sea side. We are close to the cost."
Yes, hopefully it's a sandy beach and not a rock one. While sand is coarse, and gets everywhere, it makes a better surface for bedrolls and tents. It could be a little more open again, but there are less angles to sneak up on us from with the water on one side.
"Are we looking for a place to camp or a trip to the beach?" Tamm asks.
"I think we should stick with a place like this where we can hide."
"We don't know what else is prowling through these woods."
"We wont be able to make the goblin stronghold, fight the goblins there, find the dead man Tsuto without having to sleep out somewhere now. We know there are goblins in the woods, not so much beach goblins."
He paused and tilted his head then frowned.
"I sort of wish Shalelu had been about, we could have asked her the safe places to camp. We took too long with the batman i'm afraid."
He began sort of glancing about the slightly uplifted area they were on trying to decide if it was a good enough spot to camp and keep hidden.
Very well, we'll just have to cut through the brambles here and make space.
Yeda draws her greatsword and gets to work, asking Corrin for a bit of direction here and there, to carve out a safe space for a fire and bedrolls.
"Right, none of you are from Sandpoint!" Zeldana reminded herself. "There is a thing known as the Sandpoint devil. I myself have never seen it, but it likes the coast if the stories be true."
"The Devil? I've heard of it, part of what drew me to this region was to find it and capture it originally."
He said as he scouted out the best way to keep their spot hidden directing Yeda to her bramble cutting. He kept a lot of the dead branches using them as a natural deterant and camoflage.
Yeda stakes out the two shallow declines between the whitecaps, thinking they can build a fire in the middle of one of them and sleep around it.
What do you all think? Maybe we don't build a fire right at the peak.
"Dig a small hole, will hide the light of the flames to those beneath us."
He offered while almost hidden in the underbrush. He thought about setting a few snares but those were mostly for rabbits... goblins were bigger than rabbits. So instead he just made a pile/line of brambles off to the east and west to sort of deter attacks from those sides.
"Let's just be careful. I'd rather surprise the goblins, instead of them surprising us." Tamm says as he lays out a blanket and shifts some sticks and rocks.
"Upon this, we agree!" Zeldana said as she did her best to help set up camp before getting her own sleeping things out.
Loxley looked around from the top of the hill, shading her eyes as she did so. She was half listening when Zeldana brought up the Sandpoint Devil. This peeked her curiosity and she looked back at her. ”Sandpoint Devil?” Loxley tried to remember if she had heard any stories about the the creature while she had been traveling with the caravan to get to town.
Loxley’s eyes sparkled with delightful enthusiasm. ”You are going to have to tell me the stories about it.” She said with a grin. ”preferably around the fire tonight.”
She looked back up at the sun. ”We still have hours before that though. We should sweep the area for signs of goblins trails or other possible threats. Maybe we can catch some dinner and save on rations.” She added in a more serious tone as she checked her bow again.
Tamm and Bandit are warming their hands/paws by the little fire.
"Maybe in the future we could get one of those caravan wagons that the Varisians travel in. Outfit it with bunkbeds and a little stove in the corner." Tamm suggests.
"That would be much more comfortable than sleeping on the ground."
He wondered if they might run into Shalelu. It was strange to him how his mind kept wandering to the somewhat locally famous elven maiden at least. He needed a distraction like that. His Sister Ameiko and his problems with this Tsuto was a heavy weight on his mind, more than it should be really. He found himself humming as he found a dead branch that he just started carving on mindlessly only pausing on occasion to listen to the darkness for a moment. Man everyone was so quiet, it was very nice and peaceful.
A few hours pass, with Corrin and some helpers help him gather up brambles and build to the east and west, along the bottom of the hills, a line of thick, heavy brambles as a makeshift barrier against potential intruders.
Sazzat digs a hole, and sets several small sticks and twigs on fire inside said hole. The ambient light is greatly reduced by the submerged fire, yet provides the party with an ability to heat up the otherwise boring trail foods that can be consumed cold.
The sun begins to set, slowly lowering over the horizon, bathing the sky in dark and brilliant hues of reds, oranges, while streaks of final sun rays pierce the floating clouds overhead.
In what can only be described as a series of comedic events, Corrin, while tending to Dewdrop, manages to stub his toe on an unseen rock, forcing him to yelp in surprise and stumble slightly. The sudden noise causes Zeldana to roll to her feet, only when she puts her hand down, it buries a small thorn into the heel of her hand, making her cry out in pain. Yeda, holding her armor that she had just removed, begins to laugh at the hilarity of it all, a loud, belly laugh that flows over and through the trees before everyone, realizing what they had just done, suddenly clamp up, in fear of having been discovered.
Only, everyone's fear is quickly realized as the sounds of several loud things begin to move quickly from the east, along the trail the party had been following earlier in the day, towards the group. the sounds of hooting and yowling rises up into a loud crescendo, removing any doubt that they may not have heard you.
He made a wincing face at the sound of noise coming from the woods. This could be bad, who knew how many goblins there were out there. He directed Dewdrop to stand back and he glanced to the nearest tall tree and moved to climb up in into the lower branches were he could drop down and surprise the goblins when the closed with the fire.
Tamm lays low on the ground and casts Mage Armor.