"I say we roll out. Mainly because I'm bored of looking around this place. Plus, I'm ready to put an end to these stinking barbarians who have nothing better to do than to tick me off."
In the morning, Malswyn will check up on the children and pray for spells before leaving.
The preparations do not take too long, and you are ready to head out. The soldiers tell you that the area north-east of the fort leads to a vast expanse of foreboding hills. Nothing much is known about this area, except that it has a bad reputation. The place is quite dry and water is impossibly hard to find.
As you get ready to head out, one fo them asks, just curious: "Say, how do you plan on finding them, my Duke, will you fly after them?"
Malaswyn asks if the hostages are in the hills?
Malaswyn, you feel the warmth of the morning sun on your face. It makes you smile.
Malaswyn's heart thrills to the divine touch.
Within his continued prayer/chant Malaswyn asks if the Tiger Lord is with the hostages?
He then asks if the Tiger Lord has reached the tomb he sought.
If yes (to the tomb) has he reached the item(s) he sought?
To his every question, but the last, Malaswyn feels a warm embrace, but the last question brings nothing but a cold indifferent wind.
Mal asks if they are in the heart of hills
If they are near a river or stream?
If they should begin searching to the North
South?
East?
From the celestial responses he gets, Malaswyn is able to tell that the Tiger Lords are located in the heart of the hills, near a stream, both north and east of the Fort.
Malaswyn’s heart sings after his communion with Her spirit.
”Perhaps we can reach this Armag before he achieves his prize!”
Grinning like he just won something, "That's what I'm talking about! Time to clear out the trash scumbag and his fellow scumbags!" he says with excitement as he readies to move out.
Nodding, "You got it, Chief."
Kriger finds the trail with some ease, though all of you do not see a single sign for a trail. Seemingly, the ranger is either making it all up as he goes, or has the eyes of a dragon.
The trail leaves the village and the fort and follows a river meandering west. The flying apparati allow you to travel faster, but searching a trail a week old or more slows you down considerably. Nevertheless, the fact that the river seems to follow the river helps with a lot of the guesswork.
Around you the air is fresh and the wind bites cold. The softer Lamashan has succumbed to bitter Neth, and the dead of winter creeps nearer.
After a slow day, you stop for the night. Around you, slow rolling plains sweep in every direction but north-west, where the land slowly rise and become steep darker hills where the river seems to vanish.
The night rolls through without incident, though it gets pretty cold, near freezing at night.
The night passes like a whisper, leaving a thin blanket of frost for the rising sun to turn into a thick fog over the brown and black landscape.
Kriger points and winks, "I got this, Chief. These scumbags'll be sorry they walked right into my wheelhouse." Kriger leads the way, following the tracks like a tick on a bloodhound.
The monotony of the day is broken only by a sudden shower of cold rain and a few zombies quickly dispatched. That is, until you reach a fork where a ford allows for a safer crossing of the river.
There, the trail meets with a much wider trail that crossed the river and continues up the river and north. From the look of it, a small army crossed at that point and joined with the smaller force. The trail shortly leads to a wide area where they made camp. From the size of it and the trail they leave, the force is in the vicinity of a thousand men. In addition, Kriger identifies tracks left by giants, likely hill giants. Though it is hard to come up with an exact number, there seems to be close to a hundred of them...
As far as Kriger can make, the raiders use rudimentary equipment. This is not a modern army, but a band of barbarians. The ground is uneven, no ditches were dug, and what has been left behind is crude and of poor quality.
Except for a spearhead stuck deep in a tree. Upon closer examination, it has been thrown with impossible strength. More troubling, you recognize the head as one of your own. It is in perfect shape and seems to have been forged in the last year, showing little sign of usage, apart from its recent encounter with a tree. The haft has been snapped off.
The good news is that the trail will now be easy to follow...
Malaswyn raises an eyebrow, ”We must gope that cutting off the head will slay the beast. Or at least rend it asunder, to be defeated more easily.”
At the spear he says nothing.
Others will have a better sense of where it is from.
Raising an eyebrow, "A traitor? Let's hope not. If there is a traitor, he won't be one for long," the ranger vows. "Okay: hostages first, destroy plot next - got it." Kriger then continues on with the plan and leads the way.
With such obvious tracks, you are now able to move much faster and cover twice the distance of the previous days. The river steadily climbs up through the hills and the path is rockier and more treacherous, but it has no impact on heroes equipped with the latest household technology, namely the carpet and the broom...
At the end of the day, you reach the spring of the river, where a tiny lake sits quietly between steep cliffs. In the distance, you can make columns of smoke clustered to the north east. It is probably the raiders' camp, and it is about another day of travel away.
The night goes without incident, at least that's what Kriger says when you all wake up, though there are new and recent-looking blood spots on his otherwise filthyish tabard. Axe-working is a messy trade...
You can make it to the raider's camp with a day of fast travel, the columns of smoke serving as beacons. However, doing so also means you may be spotted as you fly over the hills.
The night goes without incident, at least that's what Kriger says when you all wake up, though there are new and recent-looking blood spots on his otherwise filthyish tabard. Axe-working is a messy trade...
Kriger ponders it all a moment but can only shake his head. "I am at a loss, Chief. Challenging Armag might be our best option. But if they don't honor that then we're screwed." Stroking his beard in thought, "The 'burial site' plan might be a good idea. Maybe set up some form of ambush. Of course, us against and army doesn't bode well for 'Team Us' by any stretch. I could always try and sneak up and see what kind of defences they've got set up. It's risky, I know, probably will get myself killed, or you know, worse, but it's an option," he offers, shrugging. "Maybe go in at night and attempt to sneak the hostages out and head for the hills. Obviously that's a tiny bit more involved and probably practically impossible, but, it's something," he says, simply throwing something else out there.
The night goes without incident, at least that's what Kriger says when you all wake up, though there are new and recent-looking blood spots on his otherwise filthyish tabard. Axe-working is a messy trade...
”It might be better to know what we face. Perhaps we can spy on this camp?”
Nodding at the group, "Sounds good." Rubbing his hands together, "Alright, fellas, time to see what ol' Kriger can find out." Kriger then moves a bit away from the camp and concentrates a moment, bringing forth a bit of the animal from within to aid him.
He then heads out, amazingly quiet for such a large man.
Ok, the group moves within what they assume to be about four hours away. The smoke from the camp make this a little easier. From such a distance, the raiders' camp seems very large and ominous. To the east of it, a large black hill looms.
Finding a suitable campsite proves hard though. There is very little water and the whole area is very dry, all rocks and dust, black and tan, with steep valleys between somber hills. Also, the temperature has dropped significantly since you've gained some elevation. It whistles as it blows between the hills.
You make camp using Kriger's divine help. The next day, the ranger leaves before dawn on his broom to scout the camp.
"Alright, fellas, off I go. If I don't make it back by at least nightfall... odds are they've probably killed me dead," he states as a matter of fact, shrugging while unable to hold back a wry grin. "Good luck to me!" he says with a wink and then takes off on his broom.
Before Kriger goes, as well as recieving endure elements, Kriger is also the beneficiary of a magic circle against evil.
Dot.