"I would agree, a rest would be good. I am getting more limber again but still I wear out easily."
As he walks, Alezandu asks Jorge and Jayreln,"So if you aren't originally from Gristledown, where did you come from? Where you already at the village when it was attacked?"
When the group debates whether to press on, Alezandu concurs that it would be better to make camp.
Solace will agree to making camp, but will make the obvious comment about sentries being needed in case any hobgoblins come across them in the night.
"Yes, we should rest.", Olivia nods. "I can take a watch but I'm not exactly good at seeing things in the dark."
:: Rova 27 - Late Afternoon - Gristledown ::
Jorge quickly responds to Alezandu's question, "The eight of us were headed to the Molthuni border on our way from Longshadow, thinking of making a name for ourselves raiding." Jorge sighs a little and shakes his head, "Not sure I want to do that any more after Gristledown. It's not nearly as... I don't know. It's just not what we were expecting." Jorge sighs again. "Anyway, we came across Gristledown during one of the hobgoblins skirmishes. We surprised them by hitting them in the flank. It was more noise than anything really, but it scared them back and they let off for a while. Then it was, two or three days of rebuffing light skirmishes before we tried this plan."
.
:: Rova 27 - Evening/Night - Chernasardo Forest ::
The group sets watches and settles in for the night. Tense and expecting the enemy to show up, the watches pass slowly. But morning dawns and everything is fine. With nothing else to do you head out to Veld's.
.
:: Rova 28 - Morning - Veld's Hut ::
The group sets out, following the trail left by the fleeing townsfolk. After a few hours you come to the river. Taking your time everyone crosses with out incident.
After a bit more walking you hear the sound of voices up ahead. A few minutes later, a small cabin in a clearing is visible, with maybe twenty or thirty people around it, some working and some not. An old woman, long face drawn in a severe scowl and frames by dreadlocks threaded with rings, looks up as you ever the clearing.
"How can there be more of you!" She yells at you. "This is my home, and I didn't go asking for trouble!" The woman scowls for another moment before asking, "Well none of these folks claim to be in charge, so it must be one of you. How are you going to deal with this rabble here!"
Alezandu steps forward to address the woman he assumes is Veld. "Don't worry, ma'am. We're scouts from a larger group of refugees down south, and we're willing to take in these people if they're a burden to you here. However, even if you aren't asking for trouble, the hobgoblins will come eventually. We all need to work together if anyone's going to survive this disaster free from their domination. Do you have any supplies, expertise, or other resources that might help us survive and fight back?"
Evening of 27
"It is good that you have given up on raiding but are willing to defend. I fear we are going to need strong hands like you, particularly as you have seen battle already. We seem to be becoming a sort of resistance so you are welcome with us."
Claustipher will try and get as much sleep as possible, this is taking a tole on the his not young body. If possible he does not take a shift on watch but does get up extra early.
Rovar 28
Claustipher approaches holding his had.
"My fine lady, we do not wish to bring trouble. Like yourself I would rather be left to myself in the twilight of my years but the world never seems to allow us to rest does it? Now for myself I have dabbled in the arcane arts and in this time of crisis have decided to lend these good people a hand. Have you heard of what has been going on?"
Falcon accompanies the others silently. He's glad that most of the people seem to have survived the attack on Gristledown, though annoyed that another town has been lost, and that they didn't get a chance to kill any hobgoblins and lessen their numbers.
He senses that the hermit woman is already testy, and so refrains from adding his own way with words to the conversation.
Elyas is surprised at the number of people hiding around one little cabin.
He joins with the others as the woman starts yelling at them
Pardon us ma'am. We do not wish to burden you any further. We thank you deeply for the aid you have given to these folk who have lost their homes.
We too have been chased from our town by the hobgoblin armies, and are trying to find a location to fortify ourselves better. We will happily take these folk with us, as our mission was to find and rescue them.
If you please, we would take you as well. We could use someone with your knowledge of the land, and you may fare better with a small militia than you will on your own against so many goblins!
Olivia stays back and watches as her friends speak with the woman.
Solace stands back and lets the others speak, she doen't want to intimidate the already overwhelmed old lady.
:: Rova 28 - Morning - Veld's Hut ::
Veld listens to what you say, as her scowl remains in place. Her voice is just as irritated when she replies, "Starting a resistance, eh? Well these people will definitely be better off there than here."
"And of course I have supplies, expertise and resources that might help you. But you won't be getting any of it for nothing." Veld continues. She seems to think for a moment, then barks an order at you "You lot go into my hut and get the food supplies. I'll get my things. Then we can go to where ever your gods forsaken resistance is. That's the least you can do for leading a hobgoblin horde to my poor hut and saddling me with these people!"
Veld turns around and walks into her hut, slowly and with a bit of a shuffle due to her age.
"Well, she's a piece of work, isn't she" Jorge mutters.
"At least she's with us now.", Olivia shrugs and goes inside to help the old woman pack her things.
"I appreciate we have inconvenienced you my lady but I am sure you can see that this threat would have reached your doorstep on its own."
he gestures to the elemental
"My young friend here can help carry things as well."
"Thank you!" Alezandu calls after the receding woman.
"We should move quickly," he continues before striding off towards the hut to gather the provisions.
Seeing no reason not to, Solace follows the old woman's instructions and begins fetching food stuffs from the hut to be divided up amongst the other survivors to carry.
"Best to get everything divvied up among as many as possible. It always is bad news to loose the one person carrying everything."
Elyas overseas the splitting of resources and checks for any injuries that need attention. did all of these get out of town before the fighting started or did some take some injuries from the hobgoblins?
We should get back to our people as quick as possible now that we have so many new folk. we need to figure out our next move with the help of the town council
:: Rova 28 - Morning - Veld's Hut ::
As everyone start's helping carry Veld's provisions, Cyne and Reuben come over.
Reuben speaks first, "How is everyone in the main group? We had planned on coming back sooner, but decided staying to help fend off the hobgoblins would be best for everyone."
.
:: Rova 28 - Late Afternoon - The Refugee Camp ::
With everyone helping Veld move the supplies, the group moves on. After several hours of searching through the forest you hear a cry of, "Who goes there?!" from Taerus. When you declare yourselves and the new refugees he quickly usher's you into camp and tells you the council wants to see you as soon as possible.
Moving into the camp you see people starting to come back from the days foraging. When word gets out that you have returned the council quickly gathers and meets with you, inviting Veld along as well.
They start with a brief overview of their current situation. The food supplies are okay, though Veld's supplies are very welcome. In addition to Celeste Flynn and Avalien, Tam Barten, Kips Fellowmire, Micah, and Ionela Pavelenco have fallen ill. Celeste, Tam, Kips, and Ionela are currently doing better, but the other two are very sick.
"We have some disturbing news." Aubrin starts with after the basics are covered. Continuing she quiets her voice "Drulish Wintrish has gone missing. She was out with her foraging team when she went off on her own to widen the search area. We sent out a team with Kining heading it and we are currently telling everyone that we couldn't find her."
Kining speaks up then, "The only problem with that is that we did find her. Well... most of her. She had a few knife wounds through her lungs and heart, but her head had been... taken." Kining closes her eyes for a moment, remembering. "She had a poster pinned to her chest with another knife. The poster was a bounty for refugees, alive or for heads. And there's at least one hobgoblin out there hunting us that knows where we are."
Lorne Evenstride speaks up, "We need to find this hunter and put an end to them."
"We should head to the hunter's cabin or anywhere else that we might actually find defensible. We can't keep our people safe out in the forest like this." Father Shamus says.
"I agree that we should find this hunter as well as find a good defensible position, as our number increases we'll become too easy to find."
Alezandu sighs and bites his lip, considering the news. After a minute, he says, "How long ago did this happen? And when you say you sent a team out, do you mean to try to track and eliminate whoever killed Drulish? In any case, we definitely should move northwest, further into the forest. Our only hope for survival at the moment is to stay hidden. And we need to tell everyone about her death. Secrecy will only breed distrust."
"Also... I do find it odd that Drulish's killer would leave the bounty poster on her body. Anyone have ideas on that?"
"It would seem that the hunter's cabin is a good idea for a goal. It is further from Phaendar which is probably safer for the group. This hunter needs to be dealt with though, Drulish's death is very disturbing."
He is quiet for a bit.
"An investigation is not in my wheel house but maybe we need to go check things out. See the scene of the crime so to speak."
Elyas frowns at the news
I suppose it was only a matter of time. the hobgoblins we ran into knew of our group but not where we were located. We should find this hunter before our location is revealed to the entire army.
And then we need to find a better location. I know people aren't going to like moving again, but we're not safe here.
To Kining, Elyas asks: Where was the body found? We should start there in trying to track down the killer
:: Rova 28 - Late Afternoon - The Refugee Camp ::
"It happened yesterday when we were on our move here. The team we sent out was only myself, and Taerus Daernik." Kining said "We were only going out to find her, assuming she was lost. We didn't try to track the hobgoblin."
"I suspect the poster was left to intimidate us. It shows they aren't here for our land, they are here for us." Aubrin states. "As for not telling anyone else, Kining and Taerus built her a cairn and carried out her burial rights. We didn't want to cause a panic."
Kining describes the location where they found the body. It's on the far side of the river about 1-1/2 to 2 miles back the way they came.
"It's unlikely that we'll be able to find Drulish's killer at this point, but we need to try. The same group that went to Gristledown should go investigate the site of the incident and hopefully stop news of our location from reaching Phaendar. Everyone else should get on the move and look for the hunter's shack to the east. We should also make a public announcement explaining what happened to Drulish and our plans for remaining hidden."
:: Rova 28 - Late Afternoon - The Refugee Camp ::
"That sounds like a good plan." Aubrin comments after Alezandu finishes.
"Yes I agree, we should go and check out what happened. While not at first blush something that my skills will help with it is always worth a look. Better that then to miss something."
Were there other leads we had at this point to track down? We've now found the 2 towns, the ranger outpost and the hermit. we still need a good place to get some defenses set up and get a more permanent camp set.
:: Rova 28 - Late Afternoon - The Refugee Camp ::
With the decision made to go after the hunter, while the refugees relocate deeper into the forest and another group scouts, the council adjourns for the night while everyone prepares to move out in the morning.
.
:: Rova 28 - Late Evening - The Refugee Camp ::
As night falls, clouds roll in quickly. Those with knowledge of the weather realize a severe thunder storm is rolling in quickly and everyone begins to try and shelter themselves as best they can.
With the storm wall mere moments away, you notice that a few aggressive looking boars have entered the clearing. They seem to want under the tree the majority of the group is sheltering under.
One of the boars has multiple arrows sticking out of its hide, and an oddity on one tusk.
"I guess we found some food.", Olivia says, charging at the nearest boar.
Elyas sees the boars entering the clearing and jogs closer under a large tree, drawing his sword as he moves.
"I hope we have time to smoke some boar meat before we move on. I'd say take out the one tusked boar first."
:: Rova 28 - Late Evening - The Refugee Camp ::
Elyas moves out into position while Olivia charges, narrowly missing. One boar steps up and tries to gore Olivia but misses.
The boar with the tusk oddity charges at Elyas, but he nimbly redirects the attack.
The other two boars charge at the crowd, but luckily Ngithembekile and Alezandu stand in their way.
Alezandu strains to get out of the way and feels a muscled get pulled as he does so
Ngithembekile simply raises his arms in a cross in front of him and braces for impacts. With a loud crack, fragments of rock go flying from the impact. Ngithembekile is hurt, but doesn't seem severely injured.
Alezandu grunts in pain and hastily draws his short sword. He jabs cautiously at the boar, ready to guard against its next blow.
Alezandu then yells to those beyond him, "Get back! If you can't fight, run!"
"I could use some help over here!" he continues to Solace.
Claustipher's eyes go wide as the boar charages towards them. He is briefly relieved when Ngithembekile steps up and takes the hit but then his face grows concerned.
"Zivikele umngane wami. Ungakhathazeki ngokulimaza, empeleni sicela uyenze."
"Protect yourself my friend. Do not worry about hurting it, in fact please do."
Moving back to get a little space Claustipher launches a force missle at the boar.
"We may need a little help over here."
Elyas sees the two boars rush past his position towards the townsfolk, but his attention is held by the single boar that came at him. He swings at the boar with his longsword.
Falcon snaps out of his daze at the terrifying sight and moves up to the boar attacking Alezandu, his staff swinging.
Olivia steps away and swings her bardiche a second time.
:: Rova 28 - Late Evening - The Refugee Camp ::
Claustipher and Solace fire at the boars, Solace's arrow missing and Claustipher's missile making a small impact on the boar. The rest of the group swings their weapons, to no avail as they miss or have their weapons bounce off the boars thick hide.
Ngithembekile raises his arms and brings them down on the boars head. Blood sprays from the force of the blow, and the boar looks quite injured. Ngithembekile then melts into the ground.
The boars continue to attack those nearest them, squealing fiercely as they try to get under the trees. Elyas takes a stiff hit from the tusks , but the other attacks miss.
The storm wall bears down on the group. You can see debris being thrown by the wind at the front of it, but there's too much rain to see any further. It feels as though the power of the gods themselves thunders into the land with the storms coming.
Falcon tries again, swinging twice in quick succession.
Well struck my friend. Maybe I can finish this off."
Preparing to cast he sees the blow struck by Falco on changes his target. Instead he launches the force dart at blue.
Solace fires again at the one-tusked boar boar.
Alezandu continues shouting at the crowd behind him, "Move! Get away from the boars!"
He then turns back to the animal in front of him and recklessly hacks at it in frustration.
Olivia sighs and takes another step back before trying a third swing.
Elyas cries out as he gets gashed by the boar, and tries his best to return the favor
:: Rova 28 - Late Evening - The Refugee Camp ::
Stepping forward, Falcon hammers the boar. An audible crack is heard as its spine breaks. Solace's arrow and Claustipher's missile strike home, wounding the boars. Unfortunately, Elyas, Olivia and Alezandu all attack fruitlessly.
Ngithembekile erupts from the ground near the dead boar opposite Falcon, obviously trying to flank. Seeing his foe dead he moves over to beat on the one by Alezandu. The boar collapses under the onslaught.
The remaining two boars have tunnel vision as they continue to fight. Both boars become more desperate as they continue to miss.
The wind wall almost upon the group. The townsfolk huddle closer to the trees, safe from imminent injury now.
Falcon double move charges the reddish boar, ending up in the flanking position opposite Elias.
Alezandu relaxes slightly and nods his thanks to Ngithembekile. He then switches to his bow and steps over the boar's carcass. Eyeing the approaching storm, he tries to get off a shot at the boar facing Elyas before it arrives.
"Wenze kahle umngane wami omncane. Wenze kahle kodwa qaphela, ngifuna ukuthi uphephe futhi."
"Well done my young friend. Well done but do be careful, I want you to be safe as well."
Thinking things are well in hand Claustipher moves closer to the remaining conflict, ready to act if anything should go wrong.