Keth is surprised and confused that Dmitri had no reaction to the additional pain.
Maybe he isn't hurt as badly as I thought. Keth whispers to Dmitri Hey she hit you pretty hard back there if we get into trouble you would be in no condition to use your "lethal force" that you were hired for. Would you like me to fix that up for you?
At this point it's obvious that Keth is actually starting to worry about Dmitri due to his confusion of Dmitri's reaction.
Dmitri notes the interest in healing him, and while he does enjoy the pain that he's got as a sort of... trophy, the Oread had a point. Dmitri, without answering his question, shrugs. He removes the right side of his coat, and exposes his shoulder which... doesn't look too good.
His entire shoulder and shoulder blade have turned a stark black with plenty of green sections where the blood has nestled. It bruised him all the way to his ribs and down his upper arm. The joint at his shoulder blade has swollen, and a bit of skin was actually torn at the impact point.
Sane men would be miserable, as it looks horrific.
He looks at him closely, gauging his reaction.
While this isn't the worst bruise I've had, you're more than welcome to treat it if you'd like. I'd personally recommend we conserve our resources, as it would eventually heal over time. I'll let you choose.
Looking at the bruise, it's easy to note that his shoulder has probably been broken, and barely moving so much as a finger would be agonizing, though he isn't even showing a hint of pain from it. He doesn't even wince.
The expedition moves its way out of the open desert and into areas of tougher ground, sparse vegetation, and low hills. These are outskirts of the Brazen Peaks, informs Garavel. Imposing mountains loom in the distance.
Soon after the crossing, Garavel calls for silence from the crest of the next hill. "I've spotted the Sultan's Claw, but something is wrong. Come quickly."
As the rest of you make haste up the hill, you see why The Sultan's Claw earned its name upon cresting it. The Sultan's Claw is an immense, ancient tree with five huge branches splitting off of it, grasping towards the sky. Completely leafless and grey, likely dead, it looks more like a gargantuan talon than an actual tree.
Clustered at the foot of the tree are a group of wagons, camels, and one large and elaborate tent. The procession descends the hill and approaches the camp.
Suddenly, one of the wagons bursts into sudden and intense flame, the heat veritably shooting out of the windows of the wagon. A strong wind blows towards the group, and a half-singed Harrow card catches Sabeen in the chest. It is the Cyclone, signifying a force that tears through whatever it meets at the behest of an intelligent being.
The group is pushed out of its momentary shock by the central flap of the large tent flying open to reveal an emerging Katapeshian woman who can only be Almah. Clad in a long white robe that somehow manages to appear modest and revealing simultaneously, and adorned with golden jewelery, this woman adopts an imperious tone to say "Garavel! Arriving just a moment too late, as always. Find some way to help with the fire!"
Garavel immediately leaps from his camel with a "Yes, ma'am", and dashes to a nearby wagon, pulling it open to reveal a huge water barrel. H e calls for buckets, and the mercenaries are already there, having followed him and brought their buckets. Almah retrieves a bucket from her tent and joins in this task.
Four men dressed in the distinctive red chitin-plate armor of the
Pactmaster Guard tug on a wagon dangerous near to the one aflame, trying to pull it aside.
Two more mercenaries drag an injured woman out of the burning wagon, and lay her on the ground as far from the wagon as they can get before they collapse. The two men are badly burned, but not as badly burned as the woman, who is clearly close to death. An elderly, gray-haired halfling darts out of a wagon to attend the injured men. Swiftly reaching into a pouch at his belt, he begins intoning incomprehensibly.
A man and a woman, dressed in commoner's clothing, desperately try to corral a modest collection of pigs, goats, and sheep who are clearly unsettled and terrified by the burning wagon so near. Several of them have escaped their makeshift pens and bleat and baa while they madly try to dodge the humans to get farther away from the source of their distress.
Dmitri, in the middle of showing his arm to the Oread, immediately throws his arm back through his coat as fast as possible, causing a bit of a cracking noise to be heard by Keth. He jumps off his camel, though he doesn't run to the fire. He runs as fast as his breastplate would allow, straight to the gray haired halfling, under the impression his allies can deal with the fire.
Sir! Help me attend this woman before these men. I don't know what relationship you have with any of them- He says angrily -but this woman is in worse condition than they!
He makes it a point to lift the woman up, carefully making sure to not injure her further. He immediately remembers that Keth was offering magical healing.
Angmar rushes up to the caravan wagon through the chaos and as he has maide his way towards the wagon begins to summon water down to sooth the falems asnd put the fire out swiftly.
Apollo leaps from his mount, and seeing that the Dwarf is dealing with the fire, noticing the tree seems to be fine and the wagon is the only noticeablething ablaze, he calls Keth over.
Keth, the animals! he says quickly.
Apollo runs over to the animal pen with Nom assisting to herd them back together, while he tries to calm them down.
As others rush about to tasks, Kori notices the fool men rushing off toward the minor tasks, dumping water, tending injured, or corraling the animals. She decides that it's up to her to do the real work. She moves quickly up to the wagon that the men are trying to move away from the fire. She moves behind it to push, allowing her to add more than pulling does. She'll brave the flames for the sake of success.
Kori puts her back against the wagon, plants her feet, and pushes with all her might.
Sabeen watches the "horseplay" between Kori and Dmitri with some fascination although she reacts not at all as the man takes the tremendous wallop.
Though she seems to draw into herself for the rest of the ride to the claw.
------------------------------------------------
At the sign of the fire she just nods sagely as if at an old friend. When the card hits her and bounces she plucks it from the air and looks at it briefly.
Ah it begins as it will end. In fire.
Not moving from the camel and card still clutched in her hand she begins to chant in a thick gutteril voice that doesn't possibly look like it could come from such a small frame. Her pupils and iris go completely black as she summons her magic.
The elderly halfling takes a short glance at Dmitri while he instructs the men to lie down, and angrily says to him "If you're so concerned about her, heal her yourself! Or has Nethys not seen fit to gift you with the ability to do so?"
Seeing no healing energies proceed from you, he says "I thought not. Now do not bother me, I am busy." With that, he intones a simple spell, and light energies flow from him into the chest of one of the men.
Apollo runs into the flock of animals, waving his hands and yelling to try and corral them. He is obviously too flustered to approach this calmly, and his presence does nothing good for the calm of the animals. Suddenly, three of the four panicking animals slump to the ground, leaving just one terrified sheep attempting to dodge the three humans still trying to grab it.
Angmar's steady flow of water does much to speed the extinguishing of the fire, but it will likely be a significant portion of a minute before it is out. Fortunately, it looks as though the adjoining wagon is out of danger as Kori, with a heroic bout of strength, pushes the wagon out of danger.
Keth clumsily jumps off of his horse with a heavy thud, and then slowly runs to Dmitri's side, healing magics at the ready.
will save 2:
will save 3
will save 4
strength assist 1
strength assist 2
strength assist 3
strength assist 4
Wow.
Dmitri was not pleased at all by the halfling's choice, but he didn't have time to exact vengeance. He was preparing to ruthlessly scold the half-ling into healing her when Keth came up behind him to heal the woman along with him. Still, very much worried about the woman's condition, he removes whatever is blocking the way to do so and attempts to stabilize her.
While doing so, he looks the half-ling in the eyes, slightly wincing as his arm's condition has worsened. His glare is piercing, though only for a moemnt. His rage toward the man's decision and insubordination is very apparent. With one, deep crimson eye focused on him, tearing up, he makes a point to say:
"You tend to your men... Lilith may not have blessed me with the abilities to save those of her domain, but... know this... should this woman die due to your decision I will make sure... you join her..."
A tear drips from his eye as a bit of blood drips from the corner of his lip as he strains himself to stabilize the woman in question. The mere decision the halfling made just then should have warranted instant murder from Dmitri, but there was no time for it and his condition wouldn't allow him to do so. He resolved to wound himself in apology later.
Realising his attempts to calm the animals has brilliantly failed, Apollo turns around, only to find Nom slumped on the ground with the rest of the animals.
Concerned, he runs over and places his head next to the Baby Dinosaur.
Phew, he's still breathing!
As he lifts his head from Nom's resting body, he looks towards the other party members before speaking aloud.
WHO PUT MY DINOSAUR TO SLEEP?
After healing the first man, the halfling meets your gaze as you speak, noting the wickedly sharp scythe on your back and the blood coming out of your mouth. He remains motionless for a moment before mumbling something that cannot be heard over the roar of the flames, and sheepishly moving to the woman's side.
Positive energy flows from his hands into her body, and several of the worst-burned portions of her body (some of them, in fact, to the bone) close up and lighten, transforming into healthy skin areas. Her breathing becomes easier.
"I hope you're happy now, you freak.", the halfling says as he moves back to the second man.
Dmitri winces at that name, as he'd learned of it far too many times. He doesn't care though, as he looks at the woman in question who is now more than stabilized. He stops for a moment realizing that the situation is just about taken care of...
He looks over at apollo, holding his lizard that apparently fell asleep in all of this ruckus. Some of the animals were knocked out, apparently, so that was almost done.
Looking at the inky black skin of Kori as she pushed the wagon away from the rest with help, he felt of his shoulder. The pain had reached all the way down to his elbows and it hurt to so much as breathe, let alone get angry. He was okay with it, though, as he knew it would heal.
The man he had just intimidated into healing the women was obviously a cleric, though the name of the god he used was relatively different than what he'd expected. What was the name? Nethys? He swore he'd heard of her before.
Watching all the chaos, Kori decides that the crew doing the menial bucketing should be fine. She has more of an active plan. She decides to try and catch the last errant animal. Trying to wave them down or enspell them, too much. She goes for a simple rush and grab.
Nethys... The patron deity of all arrogant wizards and sorcerers... Neutral, no less! He knew he'd remembered the name, because it left a bad taste in his mouth. Dmitri was well aware that the 2 gods, his, and nethys, shared similarities when it came to placing certain people above others, but... at least Lilith stood for something.
Dmitri clutched his shoulder, sending a sharp twinge of pain through the rest of his body, savoring the moment. Looking at the halfling he couldn't understand why the man had attempted to heal the men before the woman... and then it hit him...
This woman... she can't cast magic, can she...
As he said the words, his silent anger was still apparent, and cut the air in front of him. He didn't look at the halfling while he did this, making sure that the woman was most definitely ok.
The flames of the burning wagon are finally guttering out under the weight of so much water. The wagon is certainly ruined, but nothing more will harm the rest of the caravan.
Kori's heroic feat of strength was not without consequences. When she sidled up to the burning wagon to get leverage on the one she wanted to push, the flames scorched and seared her back, dealing damage.
Unfazed, however, she takes a running leap at the last escaped animal, catching the small beast easily in her arms. It bleats and swings its legs helplessly.
The halfling cleric tends to the last man, casting a third spell, before moving back to his wagon. He returns a moment later with bandages, and begins to patch the three injured people, including the woman, up.
The immediate threat over, the group can now stand back and take stock of the camp and its inhabitants. The camp consists of one large and ornate tent (sleeping arrangements for Almah), two large wagons (sleeping arrangements for the mercenaries and soldiers, respectfully), and two smaller wagons (one burned and ruined). Additionally, there is one small tent that stands off to the side of the camp.
The expedition, combined, consists of 17 visible people. The four red-plated Pactmaster's Guard, eight mercenaries, Almah, the halfling priest, Garavel, and the two animal herders.
The stoppage in the action also allows you to get a closer look at Almah. Clad in a flowing robe of the finest silks, (unfortunately somewhat soot-coated) with hanging golden earrings and necklace, the woman stands proudly. Obviously very beautiful, she looks more of Varisian descent than Katapeshian, although her skin is tanned darkly. A scimitar rests on her belt, and sweat from the exertion of the past minute and the heat of the fire beads on her brow.
The pair of animal herders, an elderly man and woman, approach the pair of you with wide smiles on their faces after they carry their sleeping animals back within the corral.
The woman speaks up, "Thank you so much for helping us, I don't know what we would have done without you.", "We would have lost our animals, that's what." quips the man.
The pair share a quick laugh before turning back to you, beaming. "Anyway, thanks. We owe you a lot."
The halfling man stands up from his charges after they are bandaged tightly, and walks over to Dmitri.
He is an old man, with tanned and wrinkled skin from the sun, a white and black robe (split vertically), and long grey hair and beard.
Stiffly, he says "Well, I have to say that you were right. Kallien was much more badly injured than these men here, and in my haste I did not see that. Thank you for compelling me to act, although I have to ask you to do so with fewer death threats next time." And with that, he turns on his heel before walking back to the unburned small wagon.
One of the red-plated men walks up to you, hand outstretched. He says "Name's Keldon. Pretty impressive feat of strength you got there. It's gonna be good to work with you."
While Almah retreats to her tent, presumably to clean herself off, Garavel walks up to you. While he portrays no outward emotion, he says "Glad to have you along, Angmar. That fire would certainly have gotten much more out of control without your water conjuration." He reaches towards you for a handshake.
Handshake completed, he walks away and into Almah's tent, but is replaced by a series of grinning mercenaries who all good-naturedly elbow Angmar in the ribs, rub the top of his head, or attempt to high-five him in a series of congratulatory gestures.
From the other side of Almah's tent strides a large, dark-skinned man with long black hair (parted in the middle) and clad in filthy leathers. The man has a pair of curved blades belted to his hip, and as he draws closer his powerful scent arrests the senses. Clearly this man has a loose relationship with hygiene.
He loudly proclaims, "What's happened to the wagon? And where's Eloais?"
Angmar takes the handshake in stride... Tis nothing. he is a bit uncomfortable at the mercenaries congratulations but plays along as best he can not wanting to show how unpleasant the attention is to him. then when they have finally left him alone he checks out the wagon trying to find out what might have caused the fire.
An examination of the charred interior of the wagon reveals sooty ashes, a few broken bottles or potion vials, a cracked nonmagical crystal ball, and several pools of melted wax where candles must once have stood. A charred and skeletal corpse lies near the back of the wagon, hands outstretched towards the entrance, its food entangled in the space between a shelf and a blackened table leg.
Several burned Harrow cards lie in the sands around the charred wagon.
It appears that whoever lived here (Eloais, presumably) was performing a Harrow reading for the injured woman directly before the fire.
No problem, Apollo says as he is greeted and thanked by the elderly couple.
It seems my baby Dinosaur was put to sleep in all of the confusion as well!
Apollo laughs a little.
If there's anything else you'd like me to do for you, don't hesitate to ask. I'm here to help lower the Gnoll count around these regions, but I feel we'll be staying here for some time. If you need anything, just give me a shout. My name's Apollo. I'm pleased to meet you.
Apollo smiles, as he helps the elderly couple carry the last of the animals back to their pen.
Dmitri stands, satisfied with the situation finally. He looks over at the halfling, who makes a stark point that he may not have noticed in the commotion, having been so close to the situation. He bows, respectfully, thinking that atleast he followed a religion.
[b]My apologies. Much like Nethys holds magic above all things, I hold the safety of women in high regard. I worship Lilith, Exiled sister of Daemon lord Zura. The friendlier of the 2, I assure you, but... we of her flock are not privy to morals when it comes to dealing with transgression. I do apologize for the threats."
He finishes bowing, and looks at the elderly halfling.
Had I not asserted myself, the only choices I would have had would be to kill you, or wound myself as a martyr for you. If it makes you feel better, I would have wounded myself.
While he says this, the heat has of course managed to get to Dmitri, and his face is pale as a result of the wound from Kori. Blood, at this point, has managed to snake it's way out of the other side of his mouth in the intensity of the moment.
He removed his shoulder coat to examine the situation, and the blackness of the wound had reached all the way down a point on his back. It had began to bleed as well, though only a little.
Earlier this day I received this from our Drow as a result of my own transgressions. Your first idea may be to heal it, and that would be fine, provided you hold no ill-will towards me. I do sincerely apologize.
The halfling's eyes widen at the sight of your wound, and he exclaims "I'm surprised you're still standing after that-it looks absolutely horrendous. Allow me a moment to treat you."
He lays his hand on your shoulder-eliciting a sharp pain that shoots down your arm, and begins chanting in Celestial.
The blackness that covers your arm and chest recede towards his hand while white energy flows into you. Your bones reknit themselves into their proper configurations, and your ruptured veins begin to flow properly once again. There is still a dull pain, likely from still-cracked bones or the fact that even as he removes his hand, there is still a wickedly dark bruise on your arm.
"There, I hope that's better. Can't have you working for us if you're on the verge of unconsciousness, can we?" The elderly man gives a little chuckle and bids you goodbye to return to his wagon.
Dmitri feels of his shoulder, half-thankful. The pain of the wound going away was rather intense, but it soothed rather quickly. Lilith didn't give her clerics the ability to heal, rather, to wound. They could still heal, but their energies were dark and painful. He grinned at the thought of it.
As the man walks away, he can't exactly feel any malice coming from him. He turns to see Almah, just as charismatic as he'd hoped she'd be. Quickly he checks to see if his scythe is still strapped to his back, and as it should be, it is. He bids the halfling goodbye and approaches the Varisian woman, glad to see female authority.
So you're the leader of this excursion, dear woman?
He bows, obviously satisfied with the situation.
Noting your strange lizard, the woman, identifying herself as Hadrah, says "That's quite an interesting animal you've got there...much more exotic than the pigs and sheep we've got, to be sure!" She laughs, a sleeping sheep in her arms.
In the meantime, the man is anxiously examining his animals, checking the faces of each before dashing a quick lap around the corral. Coming back around to Apollo with an anxious look on his face, he says "Well, as long as you're offering...D'ya think you can find my goat, Rombard? He's my favorite goat and I can't seem to find him! Where could he have gone, you think?"
Sabeen blushes at the attentions of the herders but seems pleased.
Still holding the harrow card absently against her side, the woman ignores the rest of the people bustling around to watch the tree continue to burn.
The cyclone. Yes I can see it.
Ha, yea. I found him when he was merely an egg, then brought him back to my home. He's been with me ever since, though his Mother was killed by Gnoll's and his Father last saved both of our hides from the Carrion King. I called him Nom, purely for the fact he eats anything I allow him to, Apollo says, in response to the woman.
Turning to the man who seems to be accompanying Hadrah, Apollo places his hand on the old timers shoulder.
I'll have a look for your prized Goat. Although I can't promise anything due to being unfamiliar with this area myself, I'll ask one of my travelling companions if he'd accompany me. I wonder, have you ever lost Rombard before, or know of any clues or favourite places he likes to visit? Anything to go on would be a great help.
Apollo smiles at the man with a friendly, reassuring look.
Emerging from her tent, Garavel in tow, in fresh white silks, she sees the bowing white-haired man and addresses him. "Yes, I command this expedition. Please, do not stand on ceremony around me, there's work to be done." She bids you to rise, giving you an appraising look from head to toe as you do so.
"I will have to ask you to address me in a more formal way. I have not known you nearly long enough for you to be calling me 'dear'.", she says, although something tells you that she is merely jesting with you, and not truly upset.
She walks to the door of the ruined wagon, and shouldering past Angmar to peek inside, She re-emerges with a sour look on her face. Yelling to the entire caravan, she says "Eloais is dead! The cause of this fire WILL be found or I swear we are not moving an inch from The Sultan's Claw until we run out of water!"
Beaming at the little lizard, the elderly woman exclaims "How fascinating! I'll have to test that sometime, maybe. Just...try not to let him near the animals, okay? I'd prefer that they stay intact."
About his goat, the man puts his arm around Hadrah's shoulders and says "I dunno...He's never run away like this before, and we've only been here for a little bit while Almah was waiting for Garavel. Dashki over there he says, indicating the filthy long-haired man, always talks about the risks of camping in gnoll country, but there's no way it was gnolls, I'm sure someone would have noticed em..."
Apollo laughs at the womans statement and responds to the old guy.
Okay, well I'll go over and see what Dashki has to say. Perhaps he would have sighted Rombard. In the meantime, try not to worry. I'm sure you'll see your Goat again! Apollo says cheerfully.
Come on Nom. We're going to see this man over here!
Apollo pats Nom on the head and then marches confidently over to Dashki.
Dashki I presume! I travel with Garavel's team, but I hear you're one of the sharper eyed members of this encampment. Would you by any chance have seen Hadrah and her partners Goat, Rombard anywhere?
Wow, this guy really needs a bath.
Dmitri grinned, happy to oblige authority. As he raises up, he says: My apologies, it's a habit I've had for plenty of years.
He looked over at the wagon, wondering what could have potentially caused it. The woman he had forced the halfling to heal had been dragged out of the wagon that had burst into flames. Realizing this, he looked to Almah pointing his hand toward the bandaged woman.
Though I apologize for the words I had to use to get him to do so, there was a woman you may be able to inquire to, although... she is badly wounded. She was pulled out of the same wagon as this "Eloais" you speak of.
As he said this, he was rather happy with Almah's assertiveness, and was very glad to be of assistance. He thought magic, or alchemy could be in play, but, he didn't know anything in particular of their prior group.
Kori hands the wrangled animal over to the handlers, and shakes the hands of the red-plated man Keldon. Her response tinged with her usual friendliness. "Yes, I'm sure. You and your men should work your muscles more, so people like me won't have to do all the heavy lifting." She turns and walks away from the man.
She walks over to where Dmitri and the woman in charge, Almah, are speaking. She is a little pleased to at least see a woman in charge, even if she isn't a drow. She looks over at Dmitri, notices he's carrying the arm a little less gingerly, and figures it's worth asking "How's your arm?" she inquires, while flexing her knuckles as if loosening them.
Dashki seems surprised that someone is talking to him, and when you mention his sharp eyes begins looking particularly shifty-eyed.
He says "Um, no, I didn't see a goat with my sharp eyes because I was not watching a goat. Did you think I was watching for a goat? Because I um. Wasn't. Besides, he begins, building in confidence, "This is gnoll country. Was probably gnolls or pugwampis what made off with the goat."
"Yes, she responds, Kallien had gone to Eloais for a Harrow reading to divine her future. He was here to consult with me, but it seems that she wanted his services as well. I will ask if she saw anything once she awakens."
She looks to the ground for a moment before snapping her gaze back up to meet yours and continuing, "Eloais' loss will be a setback. I hope your arrival can make up for it. I shall have to speak to you all later, over dinner, to divine your group's usefulness to me."
And she strides away towards the three injured mercenaries and the halfling cleric who had returned to continue tending to them.
Dmitri looks over at Kori, obviously happy to see her. His arm ached as soon as he made eye contact, though it was a good ache. He grabbed his shoulder, a little disappointed that he couldn't show her the true bleakness that it had just recently been.
My arm is fine, fortunately. I would have preferred it healed naturally, but, the Cleric I just forced to heal the burned woman fixed it up just a moment ago. He said, sounding oddly dissatisfied.
I do my deity a service, saving that woman's life...I believe her name was Kallien.
Looking at Dmitri, his shoulder is adequately fine, but he's yet to wipe away the blood that trailed out of both sides of his mouth from the earlier internal damaging to what was probably a lung. He doesn't seem to know, or at the least, doesn't care.
He turns, looking over at the body of the woman, Kallien, curious as to her involvement in the fire, rather concerned about her condition. He didn't take the time to look at her once she'd partially healed.
Kori, hearing that the shoulder is healed, grabs Dmitri by the front of his collar with her right hand. She pulls him down so she can whisper in his ear, her lips just close enough he can feel them graze his lobe as she speaks. Before she starts though, she grabs his injured shoulder with her left, and squeezes, pressing her thumb hard into where she struck.
She turns back to Almah, asking her "So when do we eat, so I can tell you I kill things? Then I can kill what needs killing, and earn my freedom."
I didn't speak to offend, Apollo says loudly with pride. His tone shifting from loud and happy to stand off-ish and irritable.
This man is annoyingly sarcastic. No wonder he stands alone.
No matter. I'll go and search for the Goat myself. It's unlikely anyone else around here saw such a thing, what with the loss and destruction surrounding us. See you around.
Apollo walks off with Nom trailing behind, and searches the area for anything that may pass as hoof like tracks.
As Dmitri starts to walk away, he is suddenly pulled down to the ground from behind as a thumb tries to force it's way into his shoulder. He was surprised, until Kori whispered something into his ear and a grin appeared across his face. When she let go of him he got back to his feet, turning around and shot Kori a bit of a smile with a raised eyebrow.
He walks down to the wagon, going near the woman with the burned body, kneeling down and taking note of her features. He started to gently nudge her face, hoping she would wake up. The damage she'd sustained wasn't much, but he wasn't even sure if she was conscious.
Having impassively observed the actions of his comrades fighting the fire, including the halfling's efforts at healing the burned men, he becomes more interested when the fire is extinguished and conversation begins.
Keth sees that the female mercenary is still unconscious when Almah moves to approach her. Would you like me to heal her? I am capable of bringing her to wakefulness if you'd like to speak to her.
Keth turns to Dmitri and lays a hand on his good shoulder. How are you feeling? Did the Halfling fix you up well enough, or should I tend to this girl?
Dmitri stands for a moment, looking at him. He looks down at the woman.
Her. I'm fine.
Dmitri was a bit lost in thought, but he certainly was fine. He looked down at the woman, curious about what could have caused the fire again, but he couldn't come up with anything and he wasn't perceptive enough of worldly things to come up with anything on the charred wagon.
The halfling soothed my arm shortly after I forced him to heal her, though I apologized for my brashness...
Examining the campsite, you manage to find the crosscrossings of many small pawed tracks around the campsite (although many of them are obscured by the larger footprints of those dwelling here). Additionally, while searching, you find a set of dragging hoofed tracks leading away from the corral.
It seems as though Rombard the goat was dragged away.
At Keth's offer, Almah haughtily replies "Of course I would prefer her conscious. I don't know why you wouldn't have simply done that immediately on your own."
Returning from the burned out wagon none the wiser Angmar looks down at Apollo who is following tracks in the ground. Clearly the Dwarf is a tracker as well or has very good ears.
What's all this fuss bout the goat about? One man dead 3 badly injured and you'se fussin round cause of a goat?
Humans... so weird, but not as weird as black elves...
After spotting the tracks of the dragged away Goat, Apollo seeks out Keth, realising the others are busy tending to the wounded.
Finding him in conversation with the woman he believes to be Almah, Apollo first speaks to the woman and then asks favour of the man.
You must be Almah. I don't usually compliment those around me, but you're truly a beautiful woman. Apollo smiles charmingly towards the woman before continuing. I'd like to get to know you better and if the feeling's mutual, accompany you on the coldest nights.
Apollo smiles, still confident but unsure of what kind of reaction he should expect, and realising that now is not the best time to be talking about such things, the dark haired man apologises; I'm sorry. Now's not the time or place to express such feelings, but at least now my feelings have been made clear. However, I came here with the intention to seek this Man's aid Apollo pats Keth on the shoulder as he looks at Almah.
Keth, I've been asked by the nice and harmless old couple over there, to find their goat Rombard. I've discovered tracks, but it looks as though something's dragged the animal away....most likely Gnoll's.
Apollo pauses as he mentions the word Gnoll, with a slightly excited and joyous grin on his face, before continuing.
Judging from the loss and destruction around here, I feel it'd be pointless seeking the aid of those we travelled here with, when there are still people who need medical attention.
Apollo turns his back away from Almah and Keth, still peering at Keth from the corner of his eye.
Will you accompany me on this trip? It'd make an old timer happy, and who knows, we may even... Apollo swings his hammer up onto his right shoulder find a few Gnoll's to smash along the way.