Agromite lets out a sigh of relief as he silently dismisses the flame ehich is again in his palm. . "That was quite a surprise! What are these things anyway?"
With a quick hop he dismounts and moves to search the closest one for clues.
Stevron will take a breather after that fight. Sitting down for a bit he contemplates why it has been so hard to hit an enemy.
I've never missed so many times. What is wrong with me?
Pip sighs in relief. Agromite asks the only question on her mind: What on earth was that?
Is everyone ok? she calls.
"I'm fine. And I have no idea what these are. Maybe some conjured ally of the orcs."
The elf swings down from his horse. "Do they have anything that might tell us more?"
Search: Perception
They have backpacks with a waist strap that make it look like you could carry more that seem old along with what seems to be old but well made longspears and chian shirts They also have a winter blanket in the backpack and what appers 4 days total of trail rations.
At least we won't starve, Pip comments dryly as she looks over the gear that's all very much too big for her. You big folk sort it out and let me know when you're ready to head on to this cave.
"And the spears will be useful. Stevron, Anna, can either of you use these mail shirts?"
2 old backpacks, masterwork?
2 old spears, masterwork?
4 days of trail rations
1 or 2 blankets
2 chain shirts
While making weapons and armor is not something he is that familiar with, the craftsman in Agromite cannot help but notice the quality of the items as he liberates them from the corpses. Somebody will pay decent coin for these.
"So. They send us out into the hills to look for a small band of orcs, and we find ..... well, whatever these things are.....carrying far better equipment than you'd expect for roaming beasties. Anyone else getting the feeling that there's more going on here than we know?"
"And that maybe they knew that when they sent us out here?" The sheepish look on his face says he did not intend to say that out loud. He looks up at Maol.
"Are we close enough to where this place should be that these could be outlying scouts or something?"
Stevron looks over the chain shirt.
"I agree that this will help me out. I will put it on, but it will take a bit."
Stevron will take a few minutes to pull the chain shirt off of the creature, and put it on.
Pip picks a long stalk of grass to suck on and waits patiently, a first for the normally hyperactive oracle.
"Take your time, Stevron. You won't be happy if it is not seated properly."
"So. They send us out into the hills to look for a small band of orcs, and we find ..... well, whatever these things are.....carrying far better equipment than you'd expect for roaming beasties. Anyone else getting the feeling that there's more going on here than we know?"
"And that maybe they knew that when they sent us out here?" The sheepish look on his face says he did not intend to say that out loud. He looks up at Maol.
"Are we close enough to where this place should be that these could be outlying scouts or something?"
"It's hard to say. These creatures could be working with the orcs or displaced by them. Without a priestess who can speak to the dead, I doubt we will ever know. We should be vigilant in any event."
The winds carefully shifts position until the party struggles to the other part of the landslide and through it. The party does not seem to find anything. The party does run into a dead elk surronded by flies with the smell not as bad as usual from the recent cold weather.
Nimbus sniffs at the corpse, but recognizes it as rotting meat and doesn't eat any of it. Pip sticks relatively close to the party as they travel, but she still roams slightly ahead, behind, or to one side or the other. Pip is quiet during the ride. She keeps her head pointed into the wind, as if listening to something.
The party moves over a few more hills and finds what looks to be a cave but has and old and really stale smell still somewhat near the landslide.
Slightly more cautious this time, Agromite dismounts slowly, keeping his horse between him and the entrance to the cave. If nothing jumps out at him he slowly begins moving not toward the entrance but rather to the left of the party. He silently draws his shortsword as he moves. His head turns back and forth as he takes in his surroundings.
Something jumps out at me again, its in for a surprise
Pip slides off Nimbus and gives him a good rubbing between the eyes. She sees Agromite circle and looks to Maol, intent on staying behind the bigger Elf.
After dismounting his horse Stevron gets a bomb ready just in case they have some unwanted visitors.
This could be it.
In a single fluid motion, Maoldrurra swings down from his horse's back and lands lightly on the ground. He loops the horse's reins around a nearby tree branch, slings his glaive behind his back, and strings his bow.
Seeing Agromite start his flanking move, and Stevron's precautions, the elf smiles. They won't be caught unprepared. Good.
He begins to walk forward, taking an arrow from his quiver and fitting it to his bowstring, but not drawing. About 50 yards from the cave, he begins his approach to the cave in earnest, keeping to cover and trying to move quietly.
Perception
Stealth
Pip stays close to and behind Maol. She loads her crossbow as she moves, taking her cues from the big (to her) fighter.
Stervon pip and Maoldurra do not notice anything but dust from the landslide but still some older dust underneath.
The elven warrior drifts to the right edge of the cave so that Agromite can cloae on the left side. He waits for the gnome to get into position, then stretches his neck to look around the corner and down the length of the cave.
Seeing the group smoothly moving into position, the gnome follows Maol's example by approaching the cave entrance on the opposite side. Agromite does his best to keep out of sight - let the elf warrior draw the attention of any waiting enemies, if they do not notice the sneaking gnome until it was too late, too bad for them.
Agromite noticies that the dust from outside seems to vanish and into non disturbed dust that smells ancient.
Are you seraching for tracks?
And a casual look into the cave? What do we see or does dust completely obscure our view?
Deeper in the party sees what looks like 2 sets of tracks coming out of the cave. You can attempt knowledge to figure out what they are.
Spying the tracks inside the cave, Agromite makes sure that the warrior elf is covering him with that wicked polearm, then crouches down to examine the tracks.
Agromite recognizes the tracks to be the same kind as the last two creatures he fought.
Down on one knee, Agromite points out several tracks in the dirt. "Looks like they match our 'friends' from the road. Wonder if this was their lair? Wonder what kind of goodies they've collected...."
The gnome moves further into the cave.
Agromite finds a very corroded old copper piece of origin he cannot make out but does not look like a lastwall coin.
We're rich! Pip squeals playfully.
"Well that's.......disappointing. Fancy well-made armor but not a coin of treasure? This is why I stick to the cities."
If there is nothing else to see, Agromite remounts his pony and prepares to continue onto their destination.
What's Disappointing, Agromite
Stevron shrugs.
"You get some, you lose some."
The gnome turns his head to the half-elf as if just realizing he had spoken out loud. "I was hoping that if those creatures had such nice gear they'd have some interesting things in their lair."
He looks back at the cave. Either this wasn't their true lair, or they had absolutely nothing besides the chainshirts on their backs."
"I guess Im getting a little antsy now that we're getting close to the orcs we're here to find."
"We are close, right?" he says to no one in particular.
"Can't be far now, but who knows how many caves are in these hills?"
Maoldrurra lets his glaive rest across his shoulders. Only a slight frown betrays his annoyance and frustration at the prospect of a long search.
Pip sighs, releases the tension in her crossbow, and remounts. She stays close by Maoll now, not wanting to be caught without her Big Person.
The party leaves the cave and finds some more hills. Over the top of the next hill seems uneventful but the party crosses down into a low spot and the sound of crows can be heard and there seems to be a humanoid footprints sitting out in the mud that were not wearing anything on their feet and look fairly large.
Pip sighs, releases the tension in her crossbow, and remounts. She stays close by Maoll now, not wanting to be caught without her Big Person.
Maoldrurra looks down at Pip and smiles at the smaller warrior-druid on her dog.
The party leaves the cave and finds some more hills. Over the top of the next hill seems uneventful but the party crosses down into a low spot and the sound of crows can be heard and there seems to be a humanoid footprints sitting out in the mud that were not wearing anything on their feet and look fairly large.
Hearing the crows, Maoldrurra scans the treeline for a murder perched among the branches or swirling in the sky.
Perception
Pip is growing more and more nervous. Crows. A bad omen. Whether is bad for the Orcs or us, however, I can't tell...