Ian blinks, looking up into the sky. "Isn't it morning right now?"
"Yep, that's what it's called when the sun peeks over the horizon," Daniil added as he pointed toward the east and looked down at Ian with a smile.
Ian nods seriously. "So... why not leave now?"
"I'm with Ian on this one, unless we have preparations to do or problems to solve I believe we should mobilize soon, we can rest at the camp if it comes to that."
:: Heading Out ::
With a direction decided upon the group heads out towards the Chernasardo Ranger camp a minute a head of the townsfolk, the other leaders being adamant that forward scouts are necessary.
As the day wears on, the forest becomes stuffy due to the lack of wind between the trees and the few openings that let sunlight through the canopy a welcome break from the overcast level of light the rest of the forest suffers through.
One of the few breaks from the monotony is the earth elemental's antics. It is obvious that the elemental has not seen or experience anything like this before in how it looks at everything.
As mid-afternoon approaches the group happens upon a clearing with a stone house in it. The stone of the house has vines and moss growing all over it, with the shutters long rotted away. The low stone wall around it is fallen in places and the three apple trees around it are long overgrown and in need of care. To the west of the house sits what was a field many years ago, but is now so over grown as to be a simple field of grass.
"Anyone recall who's house this might have been? Though it looks rather abandoned, we should probably check it to make sure. I'd rather not leave anything or anyone left behind for those hobgoblins to find."
Ian jogs up to the tree, jumps up high enough to pick one that looks nice and juicy, and begins eating it. With a mouth full of fruit, he says, "Alright, let's check it out!" Before running over to the house to look into the windows.
:: Approaching the Farm House ::
As Ian approaches the farm house he hears a loud buzzing noise and stops about 10 feet short of the trees. He can see a large mass of bees, wasps, yellow jackets or some other sort of flying vermin rousing themselves.
"Right, okay..." mumbles Ian, looking up at the growing mass of wasps. He lowers his hand to his pocket and pulls out the vial of alchemist's fire he recovered from the trade shop back in town before hurling it at the swarm.
After he hurls the vial he turns and runs back towards the group without looking to see where it lands.
Elyas steps back and looks for someone who is better prepared for fighting a cloud off insects, and will give them a bit of luck.
Falcon possesses no means of combatting this swarm, so he stays well clear, prepared to use himself as a decoy if he has to.
Sander trudges along near the rear of the group. He is still in a fog from his near death at the river crossing, and despite the efforts of the group's other healers, the wounds have taken a toll. He is further deflated upon discovering that his apprentice had not made it to the forest rally point, likely a victim or captive of the invading hobgoblins.
As the forward scouting party discovers the swarm blocking further investigation of the farmstead, Sander casts Bless on the party and hopes someone has a solution to clearing out the infestation.
----------
Olivia stands close to Ian, aiming to make the swarm attack her and not the kid.
:: Approaching the Farmstead ::
As the alchemist fire hits the tree it explodes, singeing both wasps and apples. Some of the leaves on the tree turn brown from the flash of heat.
Confused by the effect of the alchemist fire the wasps fly towards the house and vanish inside through gaps in the walls.
Some burning-hot liquid from the alchemist's fire spills on some additional wasps and ignites on exposure to air, killing some more of the insects.
Without any real expectation of what to do, Ian stands dumbstruck as the wasp swarm simply flies away. He turns to the adults. "Is that normal?"
"I guess it is.", Olivia says, with a sigh of relief, getting closer to the house. "But lets stay ready in case they come back."
Daniil steps back as looks down at his useless bow. He reluctantly agreed with Olivia, "I hope they are gone."
Ian searches his pocket and backpack for another vial, but comes up short. "Ready how exactly? I don't have another vial of fire."
"Ready to run, if it comes to that."
"I would not call it normal exactly. Still a swarm like that is not smart, I wonder... has it made the home it's nest? This could be too dangerous to leave unchecked as much as I would prefer to. I can probably damage it some but doubtful enough to disperse it."
My sword is not going to be much use in dealing with that many bugs, but I have another vial of alchemical fire if one of our more accurate member wants to have it
Elyas eyes the house hesitantly, not as enthusiastic about checking it out now that it is full of bees.
Maybe we could smoke them out? Or perhaps we should simply move on
Ian squints at the house, and looks around at the forest. "OK. I have a crazy idea. Feel free to tell me that it's stupid if you think that it's stupid. Okay?"
”I promise to tell you your idea is stupid, if it is. What is it?”
Ian turns to look at the group. "We wet the area around the house, clear it of stray debris and cut away deadwood. Then... we set the house on fire."
Elyas looks at Ian strangely. "If we don't need anything from inside this building, and are willing to burn it to the ground, why not just continue on our way and leave it be?
Ian shrugs. "Claus says it might be dangerous to let the swarm be, right?"
"I'm afraid the fire smoke would give away our position, perhaps we could just put up a sign telling them to stay away from the house?"
"It would take all day, maybe longer to burn the house down safely and make sure that it wouldn't catch the forest on fire. If we aren't willing or able to take care of the swarm head on, then we are better off to just continue on our way."
Daniil agreed, "Can't risk the smoke. Best we just leave if we aren't going to check the house."
"Leaving it is not a bad idea. If they have made a home they will not bother us and they may delay and perusing us. Lets go around and move on shall we? I do not feel we are equipped to fight them anyway."
:: Heading Out ::... a stone house in it...
Let us move quickly then, and make our way forward. Any more time wasted worrying about an abandoned shack is time we aren't spending establishing a camp for our friends and families.
Elyas begins backing away from the clearing, looking to see if others follow him or if there are any who wish to stay and fight the bees
Ian nods and shrugs. They can continue onward.
”There may be supplies we can use, but we can come back for them. We should leave a warning for the others not to try to go inside, though.”
:: The First Day Winds Down ::
The group marks the area by the house to warn the others not to enter it and continues on their way. After a few more hours of travel it is early evening and you begin to search for a decent place to camp.
After searching for a quarter hour, Daniil and Solace find a sheltered clearing. Along the north and west sides large piles of dead fall can easily be dug into to provide shelter.
After a while longer the rest of the townsfolk enter the clearing and start going about setting up camp. As they do so Aubrin gestures you over to join her, Rhyna, Jet, Lorne, Kining, Father Shamus, and Vero.
"Thank you for marking the house, we would have tried to look in it immediately. We watched the house and saw the wasps, they probably would've stung us quite a bit." Aubrin says.
"We could use the apples though. Another two days and we will be out of food for sure, even tomorrows going to be close." Jet said.
Kining chimes in, "And I can't spare more people to forage, fifteen of us is barely enough to keep watch all the time."
"And I need all of my group to make sure everyone is in good health." Rhyna says.
"Either way, we are still leaving it up to you to guide us to the Rangers, or whatever goal you chose for now." Vero states.
to forage for medicinal herbs
”Just because we didn’t find the Chernasardo outpost today doesn’t mean we won’t tomorrow. There’s no reason yet to change our plans.”
food is definitely a priority right now. What can we do to aid you in foraging while still taking point on gettong us out of here? It seems to me that we could reduce the number of healers on standby to increase our food supply in the short term.
Elyas is quite rested, and did not use his spells today, so he will use his allotment of spells and channels for wp healing
"It shouldn't be long before we reach the outpost. Are you sure you can't be more strict with rationing food for one or two days before we're able to stop and resupply?"
Looking at the others and for once in his life without much function knowledge Claustipher shrugs.
"Yes, staying the course is best. Perhaps we can scrounge some more edible items in the area. Nature tends to be good that way sometimes, edible roots and mushrooms. I will have a little look around, I did not get stung or anything."
:: The First Day Winds Down ::
The main problem you are having right now is collecting enough food for this many people while travelling with adequate scouting.
"Taking a risk to get those apples probably would've helped us plenty" Kining grunts at Elyas as he asks what he can do to help.
Aubrin glares at Kining as she replies, "More constructively, yes we could reduce the number of people looking for medicinal herbs and creating curatives, it will just hinder the recover of people if something happens during the day. We shall move the people around."
"We could go to half rations, but people will get irritable and worse off at their jobs." Jet states. "We would live an extra day or two though, so its worth thinking about."
"By our reckoning, its still about two days to the outpost, so will live even if we are hungry." Lorne says. "The main problem with reaching the outpost is that tomorrow we will have to cross the road."
Father Shamus clears his throat and cuts in, "Having the whole group, all sixty or seventy some of us cross that road is a bad idea. The bulk of us should probably head deeper into the forest once we hit the river while you eight turn and go check out the outpost. We can set up a bit of a camp and wait for you."
Claustipher, after spending some time in contemplation, draws himself up with his staff and clears his throat partially to get attention but mostly because he has been outside for too long.
Well, it has been some time since I had to forage for food and realistically I am not the one to do it but..... if we were to make a temporary camp there is food enough around that we could stockpile."
He pauses, not for effect but for a deep breath.
Along the river, which should not be that far if memory holds, a plethora of edible plants grow. Now I know you are all use to meat but needs must people... needs must. Some, again not me because of my knees, could go gather that while others hunt for some small game. I could even help with the hunting, I am pretty good at sitting quietly and if I see something... pow."
He smiles at the thought of his most minor magics providing food. He looks at his elemental friend.
"Why this young lad I am sure will help with watches too wont you my boy? hmm you didn't understand a word of that. Kungani lo mfana osemncane enginesiqiniseko ukuthi uzokusiza ngamawashi futhi akuthande umfana wami?"
"Sorry about that. We need to be a mobile town I guess."
He sits back down on a rock and slumps his head. The decision is left with the youngsters but he did what he could.
"I agree with Claus. We need to remain mobile, but perhaps we can get ourselves a bit of a stockpile before pressing on towards the ranger station. If we can stay here for a night or two, we can get some simple shelter built and have everyone focus on finding food. then the 8 of us can go check out the outpost and return. That way everyone is working towards our long-term survival
"Then I'd say we move some people from gathering herbs to searching for food, and we keep moving. I'm sure we'll get to the outpost quickly enough that we can stop there to stock on food. We'll do it! We're gonna be fine!"
"We can't afford to let our food stockpiles get to low," Daniil suggested.