The voice Asheru hears seemingly comes from the corpse, but at the same time seems to come from somewhere very, very far away indeed.
Humans...attack...the four of us...while eating
Asheru has the sense of a veil closing again, and then there is only the cawing of the ravens.
Moklik crouches near the bodies, studying the tracks and which way they went. His brow furrowed, he bends down and sniffs the tracks carefully, then rises up and sniffs the air.
The tracks are hard to read, with many overlaid footprints whose shape has been distorted by the continuing rain. Moklik can see a mixture of light elven prints, and heavier ones, possibly human. From the shape, he can see that there were at least 3 humans, possibly more.
What is clear is a trail of the heavier prints leading away to the east, with a single set of elven prints amongst them. The latter are short and unsure, possibly indicating that their maker was bound or hobbled in some way.
Asheru lays the head back down and stands.
"Humans, not orcs, did this," he calls out. He stands up and wipes his hands off on the corner of his cloak. "Unprovoked, it seems. These four were eating when it happened."
Asheru shakes his head. "I do not understand."
"That makes two of us."
Their race is impulsive, but not usually so destructive. We shall see where the tracks lead us.
The Bonewright tries - unsuccessfully - to conceal his shock
"Did you speak to them? Talk to the Dead?"
So confident in my own superiority as shaman, and then this unassuming one casually rips asunder the barrier between Life and Death. The First Great Power, and a hint at the Last Secret.
I should see this as a lesson in humility, I suppose
does Bonewright see the tracks? Can we see how long ago they were made, and how fast they were walking?
If roll needed;
Augment self for +1 wisdom for 1 round.
On a separate note, I would like to turn the Smilodon skull into a headdress (so it matches the avatar)
6 days away
"This no good, but we have mission. We still almost week from goal. Can't waste time looking for bad men right now."
"We should at least send them in Elven Fashion..."
"But I say when this is done we hunt down the ones responsible. They might end up being a threat the the safety of others. I will scout out and double check that they were humans and not an Orc Scouting party."
"Do we know when this happened Caedmon?" the Bonewright kneels down by a track with Caedmon, carefully measuring the distance between two tracks "And how fast they are travelling?" Putting a hand on Caedmon's shoulder he adds "We need your wisdom"
On the last word one of the tokens on Caedmon's necklace glows quietly and faintly in the light.
"It was not much of a conversation," Asheru tells the Bonewright, somewhat sheepish in the face of the other's amazement. "I could only recall the spirit for a few moments, enough for a few words..."
He shrugs; he had never had to explain his affinity with the dead before.
Caedmon can confirm Moklik's findings, although he thinks that there are more like five or six findings. They are heading east in no particular hurry and making no effort to conceal their passage. The attack seems to have been the previous evening.
None of you know how the elves dispose of their dead.
Wheatbeard did not much like this mud. Normally, he wouldn't mind if the soil want damp, but they were far from home now. Clearly, something - or someone - had ambushed these wanderers, and it had walked off alive. While the mud did leave tracks to give them an idea of where their enemeies were, the wet soil also made for a difficult escape were they to be caught off-guard...
None of you know how the elves dispose of their dead.
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Moklik stands, looking down at the dead elves. "We should... Be careful of these killers. They may find us."
Seeing Moklik searching.
"Can you gather their things? Their stuff might just save our lives later on down the trail."
Moklik nods and makes a pile of the elven belongings, leaving small clothes and shirts and pants, but taking any cloaks, hats, hoods, etc.
"Perhaps we can glean something about them from what they carried," Asheru offers, then hunkers down to assist Moklik.
"Shall we make camp nearby? Someplace where we can get an advantage against any foes that may come our way?"
Moklik and Asheru sift through the belongings of the three corpses, much to the annoyance of the carrion birds, who give up a great croaking and cawing as they are shooed away.
They get the impression that someone has already half-heartedly searched them - a stray amber bead indicates that someone wrenched away a necklace in a hurry.
Two of the bodies appear to be those of warriors, slain with spearthrusts. Their weapons still lie beside their bodies, their tips unbloodied. They have travelling furs, simple knives, and basic rations. The only thing of interest is that each wears an armband of soft deer leather, painted with an emblem - a wolf-headed winged stag.
The third corpse is perhaps that of a shaman or seer. He was slain by two flint arrows. He too wore furs, and carried rations and a wooden staff. Tucked in his belt is a small pouch, highly decorated with small coloured stones stuck on with bone glue. Inside are three tighly-bound fetish bundles, consisting woven twigs and moss around a central seabird's feather, and a supple piece of leather that has been tightly rolled. Unrolling it reveals that it is covered in strange painted squiggles.
The Bonewright casually inspects the goods
While he pretends nonchalance, the Bonewright is just a little too fast reaching for the scroll
Looking at the scroll he looks for patterns
"It feels wrong to leave a captive in these hands."
Moklik will take one of the bone daggers, unless anyone has a reason he shouldn't. He then begins to divide the rations between everyone amd offers the rest of the things to anyone who can use them.
Suddenly he stops. "If we are found by the elves, bearing these things, the armbands, they will think us the killers. Should we leave them?"
"We can't wear them but we could carry them and return them to the Elves."
Caedmon seems to search for something on and around the bodies.
One of the hunters has a small wooden token in the shape of a leaf woven into the braids of his hair.
It takes Bonewright a few moments to focus on the flowing script on the scroll. He is much more used to angular script, with straight lines cut into stone or bone. He has to squint, but the flowing lines are definitely Draconic arcane script.
Caedmon collects the wooden leaf and takes a length of leather cord and weaves the Leaf into a loose necklace that he then dons right next to the Smilodon Necklace.
Nodding at Moklik, Wheatbeard adds "The hunter is right. They're probably on guard as it is if this party was expected somewhere. A hodgepodge group like us arriving with their items?" He shook his head. "No, that would not bode well."
He looked at the design on the armbands. A strange creature, many animals in one. The elves were known for their artwork, though their jewelry was too easily damaged - as evidenced by the stray amber bead - for most Dwarves' liking. The worrisome thing to Wheatbeard was the face some object of obvious value had been left behind. Thievery was not the motive here.
"This was no robbery. They wanted more than whatever was being carried. This captive of theirs must be the real prize." He did not like how accurate his words sounded. "So he will be guarded. But if our trackers can find their way, we will know where our enemies lie." Though do I want to follow them?..
"It would depend on how you would present the Items."
Looking at Wheatbeard.
"Sounds to me like you wish to hunt down these humans."
"Whoever the survivor is, it is someone of importance. The armbands belonged to the Moisu, who accompany the elf king." Asheru adds.
He holds out the fetish bundles. "But these will be useful should we encounter foes stronger than a starved cat."
"Potentially their captive is the king himself?" Bonewright sounds pensive
"Our mission is urgent, but should we delay it to pursue these raiders? What were these important elves doing here, and why were they attacked? Coincidence or is it related somehow to the Orcs?"
Bonewright looks expectantly at Asheru.
"If it is the Elven King and we rescue him we might make a very valuable ally."
Stopping to think to himself... He suddenly Smiles.
"Bonewright! Do you have a Familiar we don't know of? If you do I have an idea."
Asheru shrugs. "Why would a king be out in the wilds with only three other companions, only two of which were warriors? I do not know much of the ways of elves, but I would think a king's retinue would be larger."
He points to the scroll. "Maybe they were escorting message-bearer from the king?"
"Even then a Royal Envoy could be worth some credit. And you never know. It could be a member of the Royal Family or such. And they could have been travelling while keeping a low profile for some reason. Maybe even the reason they were taken."
Wheatbeard nods at the ranger. "An valuable ally indeed, so it may quicken our cause in the long run to delay a bit here. Perhaps no delay is needed; if it is Orcs for certain that did the capturing, we can kill two birds with one stone." Dwarves liked their stones and killed many a creature with them, but he hoped the group took the cultural expression.
"We could always split into two groups. One going to complete our mission and the other going after the Elven Captive."
Thinking over the Dwarf's saying he covers his face while chuckling.
"You dwarves and your stones..."
Suddenly he shoots upright as if he just came to a realization.
"We know the attackers were Human. But what if they are working with the Orcs? That could pose a major problem for us in the future if they are. I mean Humans and Orcs alone are formidable foes. But together they could become even more of a Threat than Orcs with Iron by themselves."
"A familiar what?" Bonewright asks, confusedly.
"Splitting the group is dangerous. This force took on four elves, two of which were well trained fighters and one was a shaman. Our group might be hard pressed to take them on while whole."
"But they also ambushed the Elves while they were eating. But do you have a Companion with you? Something that can Scout for us? Say that Giant Raven that has been following us."
Bonewright blinks "Ah. Several Ravens have been following us. It is an excellent idea though"
Bonewright is surprised someone knows about this sort of thing, and has some sort of relationship with the big Raven.
Walking into the crowd of Carrion Birds Bonewright turns to the first one
"Who are you?"
"Death." croaks the bird.
Bonewright turns to the next
"Who are you?"
"Death." croaks the bird.
And to the large raven
"Who are you?"
"Nosoi" croaks the bird.
"Nosoi. I have offered you hospitality. I ask that you fly to the east where those who killed these elves have gone. Tell us how far they have gone and if the captive lives."
"If they please could, any identifying marks on the captive."
The raven surveys each of the party with a steady, penetrating gaze. "Find elf" it finally croaks, before lazily flapping into the sky, circling twice, and then heading off to the east.
It is now late in the day, and the gloom is starting to creep into the valley.