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Eljoy stares after Anor for a long time with his hand still covering the once wounded area of his arm. Reekis' complaints rouse him. "Quit belly-achin'. You didn't take an arrow in the arm." The fighter moves to examine the body and goods that Reekis had laid out beside it.
"Some of this is good stuff. It'll be useful now or we can sell it back in town. Reekis, there's a knife for you. Only an idjit walks the woods without a knife. Ady, what do you think?"
"We can't leave this thing where just anyone can do this again. Can we destroy it or throw it in the lake or something?"
"You're right. Bring it along we'll sell it in town too."
" Hmmm a hobgoblin from one of the northern tribes. I wonder what he was doing this far south."
The fox sniffs at Jasper warily, then yips happily and scampers off into the forest.
The trap mechanism has been damaged by Jasper’s acid cantrip and Oliver forcing it open; it is unlikely to work properly again, or to fetch much at market.
"Since we've stopped already and we have such a nice place to ourselves, maybe we can have an early lunch before continuing on to the tree. What do you think?"
With the exception of the detritus and corpses (humanoid and avian) that remain after the recent fight, this spot is quite beautiful. The water of the lake is a deep blue, reflecting the cold clear sky overhead. Reeds and waterplants grow close to the shore, and there is the occasional pop and ripple of fish or frogs feeding. Some distance from shore, several large black swans are floating serenely atop the water. To the west, the shore of the lake appears to run relatively straight as far as you can see, whilst looking east you can see that about a mile away the shore appears to begin curving to the north. While a clearing fronts the lake at this point, you can see this is not the case all along the shore – in many areas the trees come right up to (or in some cases into) the lake, their roots curling down the banks. In other areas the lake is edged by large moss covered boulders.
"Yes Jasper, that's a good plan."
Adalwin walks to the lake, washing his face and rinsing out his mouth. He rejoins the group as they settle in for lunch, and slowly the tension leaves his body.
At Jasper's amazement, Oliver offers a humble, "No, I'm hardly powerful at all. I'm just a simple cripple, whom the gods have seen fit to allow to help those in need. No greater than an acolyte that has devoted his life to the prayer of a single deity."
As the group recovers from their brief battle and sort through the dead hobgoblins belongings, Oliver says a little prayer for aid in times of struggle. Maybe he can find something among the belongings that can serve greater purpose. He offers some thoughts on Anor's question "My concerns are more related to whether he was here for us, or just here in general for any passersby. Or was he just a hunter who decided to attack someone going for his catch? We have no way of discerning his intentions."
Kira takes the rations, and starts sharing them out. "No need to let this go to waste and deplete our stores."
Jasper accepts the offered food and looks it over before taking an experimental bite.
He nods, "It's not really tasty, but it seems safe enough."
Realizing they won't have time to unload the mules, he does lead them to the edge of the lake. After looking for any lurking predators - he's heard of big ones that will attack a drinking creature - he lets them drink before moving to them to some luscious-looking grass and ground-picketing them so they can have a bite to eat, as well.
ShadowWing sits on the horn of Percival's saddle and watches this all, well, owlishly.
Adalwin thanks Anor for the food. Though he has little appetite, he forces himself to eat the bland food. After eating he returns tentatively to the body, looking at the lifeless creature. That could have been me lying dead instead of him. What was I thinking, rushing in without my armour on?
Decision made, Adalwin retrieves the armour that Reekis has set aside, and then the bow and arrows as well. He walks to the lakes edge, a little away form where the rest of the group are eating and using the lake for water, and sets to cleaning the blood and muck off the studded leather as best he can. He sets each piece out to dry and then puts on the armour, adjusting straps here and there until it fits comfortably.
After a break to rest road-weary feet, battle-weary muscles and to partake of a lunch of strips of dried meat of dubious origin, it is time to continue.
The group sets out towards the east, with Anor in the lead, following the lake shore. There is little chance of getting lost, but the going is no faster than the morning’s travel through the woods, as the group must contend with varied terrain – stands of trees, areas of marshy ground, and stone strewn shores to name a few. While the map shows the lake’s edge as a smooth curve, in reality there are many small coves and narrow inlets, some of which require minor detours to get around.
Animal and insect life is abundant around the lake, both from aquatic and amphibious creatures to those drawn to the lake as a water source. Ducks, various species of wading birds and the majestic black swans are all evident, on the lookout for fish and frogs. Dragonflies hover about, and biting mosquitos make a nuisance of themselves. From time to time to time you disturb various animals drinking at the water’s edge – generally small mammals such as rabbits, and at one point several stout, small antlered deer.
As the afternoon wears on, the direction of travel once again becomes more northerly, as you find yourselves now hiking along the lake’s eastern shore.
You are picking your way across a boulder-strewn field by the lake when Reekis, walking near the rear of the group, but looking ahead, suddenly stops and gives a gasp of surprise or alarm. A second later, Jasper, sitting tall atop Percival, sees it too.
"Anor! Stop!"
Gesturing toward a boulder on her path, he says, "That's no rock on that boulder - it looks like some sort of very large snake. You may be too close already."
"What? Where?
"There, on that flat boulder. It may be asleep, I cannot tell from here, but it seems much to large to take a chance on approaching. Do you know what it is? Can we go around?"
Now that it’s been pointed out, everyone notices the large mottled green, blue and brown snake coiled apparently sleeping atop the rock. Anor cannot identify the species.
It should be very easy to avoid it – plenty of room to just skirt around it (either by a small or large margin).
"Oh! How in this world did I miss that? Thank you Jasper."
Anor will give it a wide berth, guiding her donkey around too, then continue on.
Adalwin considers trying out his new bow, but sees Anor start to move around the snake. He shrugs, and follows.
"Oh! How in this world did I miss that? Thank you Jasper."
"It was Reekis, way in the back. I didn't see it until he gasped - I imagine he hasn't seen anything that big in the city. I know I haven't."
"Either way, thank you both. That could have got me!"
You bypass the snake without incident.
A short way past the snake and the field of boulders, the trees of Darkmoon Wood once again crowd close to the eastern bank of the Droskmere. The land begins to rise, slowly by steadily, and soon you find yourselves picking your way between the trees on a raised bank some ten feet above the surface of the water. The terrain between this raised bank and the water below varies as you travel between steep slopes growing with vines and ferns, to low clay cliffs, held together by the roots of the trees growing atop them – which in some cases look as if they could easily topple into the lake should the banks below them erode any further.
The sun sinks towards the western horizon above the expanse of the Droskmere, and weary travellers begin to think about campsites and bedrolls. It is not yet dark when you hear the burble and gurgle of running water ahead. Soon enough you arrive at a steep sided gulch formed by a fast running stream from the west flowing down to meet the Droskmere. At this point, the gulch is about ten feet deep, and approximately twenty feet wide, narrowing to about ten feet wide at its base, its walls dotted with stones and ferns. Here and there, trees grow close to the edge of the gulch, their roots tangling down its sides, their branches arching high over head.
The wee sorcerer observes, "Crossing that as darkness falls, with mules, is going to be a problem. What should we do?"
Adalwin nods in agreement. "Maybe we could work out how we will cross tonight and then attempt it first thing tomorrow morning. I don't mind scouting a little way along the stream to look for a better place to cross."
"ShadowWing and I see well in the dark and shadows. We'll leave Percival here."
He starts to climb down from the saddle, then looks to hand the reins to one of the others.
Adalwin grins at Jasper. "Lets go explore!"
He starts walking along the side of the stream, away from the lake.
Another five minutes along the river …
The tiny owl flits about, but never gets more than a few feet from the little sorcerer.
As he walks along, Jasper notices something on a nearby tree trunk glimmer in the dying rays of the setting sun. Pausing to investigate, he sees that there are residual splatters of some sort of dark substance on the trunk and ground nearby – the dark substance seems to have a kind of sheen to it that catches the light.
Lying on the ground at the base of the tree, partially hidden under fallen leaves, are what appear to be three small wooden dolls, each about ten or eleven inches from head to toe, wearing bright clothing of silk and leaves. The dolls appear to be damaged or broken.