The other camp isn't that far (Cyrielle would have it set up by now) but it's well past dark by the time things are settled ferrying horses, prisoners and treasure to and fro. By the time you settle into camp nestled into the roots, under the old high trees, it's quite late.
Cyrielle seems quite put out that she missed the fight and instead had to listen to Chick and Wilbur prattle on about some complicated sport they play down south involving numerous participants with unusual names.
"Thanks for setting this up." Scarlet nods to Cyrielle. "We should spar sometime."
"I can take the first watch."
Zokon busies himself with noting what is where and that the little things are done .. the prisoners are secured, where the loot is and everyone knows their assigned watches. He'll then goto sleep in his bedroll.
Alia spends the remainder of the evening mainly talking with Scarlet(thanking her again for freeing her) and Celyne.
When she attempts to find sleep, she finds herself unable to relax sufficiently, always remembering the last night the very moment she would drift off into dreams, causing her to jerk up and be wide awake again.
It is a good idea to bring some civilization into these lands. It is necessary. These people have the right idea. How could these lands have become home to such...depravity. If these are the cultured and civilized humans of the current age, I shudder to think what human beasts our ancestors had to fight off. I should definitely see what I can do to help these folks cultivate these lands.
Eventually, she will give up on sleep and join whoever has watch for the rest of the night, using the time to get to know them a bit better.
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"We can divide the night into three four-hour watches, with two of us awake for each watch. Those of us who need to recharge magic abilities should take either the first or the last watch... I know I need to sleep 8 hours in a row to get my magic back."
"Whoever is on watch can take one of these thunderstones; that way they can wake everyone up quickly. In the meantime we should ensure that at least one of us on each watch can see well in the dark. Scarlet, I am not familiar with your people; do you possess this ability?"
"By the way, when should we give our customers the bill for our services?"
"Four hour watches sounds great everyone can get enough rest that way... I can see well in near dark conditions so first or last watch would be best for me... But I can do midwatch as well if that works out better for the rest of you."
"Also, I have some spells remaining for the day, want me to heal the injured captives til they are awake so they can move under their own power on the morrow?"
"Kressle seems to be a handful we may not wNt to heal her. Keep her unconscious til we are ready to hang her"
A wizard's level limits the number of spells he can prepare and cast. His high Intelligence score might allow him to prepare a few extra spells. He can prepare the same spell more than once, but each preparation counts as one spell toward his daily limit. To prepare a spell, the wizard must have an Intelligence score of at least 10 + the spell's level.
Rest: To prepare his daily spells, a wizard must first sleep for 8 hours. The wizard does not have to slumber for every minute of the time, but he must refrain from movement, combat, spellcasting, skill use, conversation, or any other fairly demanding physical or mental task during the rest period. If his rest is interrupted, each interruption adds 1 hour to the total amount of time he has to rest in order to clear his mind, and he must have at least 1 hour of uninterrupted rest immediately prior to preparing his spells. If the character does not need to sleep for some reason, he still must have 8 hours of restful calm before preparing any spells.
Recent Casting Limit/Rest Interruptions: If a wizard has cast spells recently, the drain on his resources reduces his capacity to prepare new spells. When he prepares spells for the coming day, all the spells he has cast within the last 8 hours count against his daily limit.
Preparation Environment: To prepare any spell, a wizard must have enough peace, quiet, and comfort to allow for proper concentration. The wizard's surroundings need not be luxurious, but they must be free from distractions. Exposure to inclement weather prevents the necessary concentration, as does any injury or failed saving throw the character might experience while studying. Wizards also must have access to their spellbooks to study from and sufficient light to read them. There is one major exception: a wizard can prepare a read magic spell even without a spellbook.
Spell Preparation Time: After resting, a wizard must study his spellbook to prepare any spells that day. If he wants to prepare all his spells, the process takes 1 hour. Preparing some smaller portion of his daily capacity takes a proportionally smaller amount of time, but always at least 15 minutes, the minimum time required to achieve the proper mental state.
Spell Selection and Preparation: Until he prepares spells from his spellbook, the only spells a wizard has available to cast are the ones that he already had prepared from the previous day and has not yet used. During the study period, he chooses which spells to prepare. If a wizard already has spells prepared (from the previous day) that he has not cast, she can abandon some or all of them to make room for new spells.
When preparing spells for the day, a wizard can leave some of these spell slots open. Later during that day, he can repeat the preparation process as often as he likes, time and circumstances permitting. During these extra sessions of preparation, the wizard can fill these unused spell slots. He cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared spell to replace it with another one or fill a slot that is empty because he has cast a spell in the meantime. That sort of preparation requires a mind fresh from rest. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if the wizard prepares more than one-quarter of his spells.
Daily Readying of Spells: Each day, sorcerers and bards must focus their minds on the task of casting their spells. A sorcerer or bard needs 8 hours of rest (just like a wizard), after which she spends 15 minutes concentrating. (A bard must sing, recite, or play an instrument of some kind while concentrating.) During this period, the sorcerer or bard readies her mind to cast her daily allotment of spells. Without such a period to refresh herself, the character does not regain the spell slots she used up the day before.
Recent Casting Limit: Any spells cast within the last 8 hours count against the sorcerer's or bard's daily limit.
Also
"Whoever is on watch can take one of these thunderstones; that way they can wake everyone up quickly. In the meantime we should ensure that at least one of us on each watch can see well in the dark. Scarlet, I am not familiar with your people; do you possess this ability?"
"Hmm? It might be better for me to take the second watch, then so you can study your books. I can see a bit into the darkness just fine."
Scarlet spends most of her watch observing the various rocks and pebbles in the camp. She also watches over the campfire and builds sculptures using mud and dirt.
Noticing Alia is still up, Scarlet breaks off patrol to humor her. "Heh, no worries about freeing me, Alia. You hired me to protect you, right? Wish I could have done a better job helping the other two."
She sighs. "Then again, my brother would say, Now Scarlet, don't be blaming yourself for everything. Just get strong so you don't fail again. He had a good point. Only by gaining strength can you protect people. I'll make sure I can be as strong as I need to to protect you all."
"We may have hired you to protect us, but still, you saved my life there. I feel I owe you, and need to repay that debt. You may be my guard, but until this is over, let me fight alongside you, so that we both grow stronger, as strong as we need to be to achieve our goals!"
Alia smiles at Scarlet and in a clumsy motion puts her hand on Scarlets shoulder:"With todays events, our fates are intertwined, let us be Sisters of Battle, if you will!"...with the words, Alia blushes.
What am I doing...she will take me for some kind of freak. Damn girl, get your act together...
"Four hour watches sounds great everyone can get enough rest that way... I can see well in near dark conditions so first or last watch would be best for me... But I can do midwatch as well if that works out better for the rest of you."
"Also, I have some spells remaining for the day, want me to heal the injured captives til they are awake so they can move under their own power on the morrow?"
[dice=clw Faeria]1d8+1
[dice=clw Golden Boy]1d8+1
Faeria barely regains consciousness.
Pinned
A pinned creature is tightly bound and can take few actions. A pinned creature cannot move and is denied its Dexterity bonus. A pinned character also takes an additional –4 penalty to his Armor Class. A pinned creature is limited in the actions that it can take. A pinned creature can always attempt to free itself, usually through a combat maneuver check or Escape Artist check. A pinned creature can take verbal and mental actions, but cannot cast any spells that require a somatic or material component. A pinned character who attempts to cast a spell or use a spell-like ability must make a concentration check (DC 10 + grappler's CMB + spell level) or lose the spell. Pinned is a more severe version of grappled, and their effects do not stack.
Casting Spells while Pinned: The only spells which can be cast while grappling or pinned are those without somatic components and whose material components (if any) you have in hand. Even so, you must make a concentration check (DC 10 + the grappler's CMB + the level of the spell you're casting) or lose the spell.
"We may have hired you to protect us, but still, you saved my life there. I feel I owe you, and need to repay that debt. You may be my guard, but until this is over, let me fight alongside you, so that we both grow stronger, as strong as we need to be to achieve our goals!"
Alia smiles at Scarlet and in a clumsy motion puts her hand on Scarlets shoulder:"With todays events, our fates are intertwined, let us be Sisters of Battle, if you will!"...with the words, Alia blushes.
Scarlet smiles. "Hehe. I definitely want you and I to fight together- can't improve yourself without some practice, right? I'll skip the theatrics, though. Posh may be better at that."
"By the way, when should we give our customers the bill for our services?"
Early on in the evening, as things are settled in camp, with Wilbur and Chick helping with the set up, Wilbur goes to feed the trussed up Verdigris who grits his teeth and growls at the man.
Wilbur simply puts on airs and jams a bit of bread in the bound man's mouth effectively muffling him. "Well that's what you get for going against the Stag Lord."
Zokon obligingly goes wherever he is needed in the watch order mindful of his lack of darkvision
Faeria barely regains consciousness.
Zokon approaches Numalar and says in a whisper
"5 seconds after we have them tied up which should be soon as they will talk together and figure it out"
Zokon proceeds to each party member and whispers them the same message
After an uneventful night, and a quick breakfast, Alia takes only a few minutes to pack up her equipment and be ready to depart:
"Well, shall we head to this 'Oleg' of yours? Lets go on the direct path so we're fastest, shall we?"
Zokon does not seem to be fully awake his grasp of the logistics seem off...
As the party starts to travel, Scarlet takes a look at how thin the road is. "Wait, wait. I don't think the travois is gonna fit on this road. With all the bumps and hills, it would take forever. I say we follow the Thorn River south. We can travel along the wide open hilly plains and get to Oleg's place without trouble."
After helping in no way Zokon is going to stop helping and keep an eye on the prisoners and Chick and Wilbur
Scarlet grabs her rope and...ties a knot with it. Done!
Wait, not done.
Alia inspects the knot Scarlet makes and thinks that it will work splendidly for transporting prisoners. Once, you know, the remaining parts get added.
"That is quite tiring work. Do we still have some herbal wine left? I could use a break now..."
Seeing everyone else making a shambles Zokon rouses and tries a different approach.
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"I say we follow the Thorn River south. We can travel along the wide open hilly plains and get to Oleg's place without trouble."
"Yes, that sounds sensible. It is the long way around so we may take two days to get there, but I see no problem with that. We are not in a hurry. Though we should make a point of stopping at the Benzen's later on; I feel we should tell them the news that their son was not at the camp. Perhaps we can head that way the day after we reach Oleg's."
Numalar watches the others struggle with making the travois, and joins in.
After the travois are finished, Numalar looks over the prisoners, and stops in front of Chick and Wilbur .
"Well gentlemen... by now you may have realized that we do not in fact work for the Stag Lord." Numalar pauses a moment to let that sink in.
"The Stag Lord has a number of bands like yours. Each one is led by a lieutenant who carries one of these pendants." Numalar pulls out the pendant again, and holds it aloft. "We have been hunting down the Stag Lord's groups, and this," he holds up Kressle's pendant "is our third such pendant. Not only that, but I am told that three other groups have been assigned with the same mission as we have. In short, the days of the Stag Lord are numbered."
Numalar stares at the two intensely.
"Perhaps your leaders said you would be like wolves. Well, that is fair. Wolves are fierce and dangerous. But in the end, while wolves may take a few sheep, sooner or later the shepherds band together, and they hunt the wolves down or drive them out. That is happening now. So it is time for the two of you to think about the future, and what your place in it is going to be."
Numalar turns away, and says over his shoulder, "Take your time. No need to answer right away."
Zokon has his bow in hand and quiver over his back
Zokon calls out "Chick.. Wilbur I'll need some help hunting join me so can make a plan"
When they get close he draws his longsword
"Now lads stay where you are until your safe and tied up, run and I have my bow. Don't run and you have a chance of a good and prosperous life "
Zokon looks at the other party members
"Come tie them up
Chick and Wilbur do not seem inclined to fight six battle-hardened adventurers and submit peacefully though Verdigris snarls at them when they join him.
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The night passes without incident. In the morning (after a number of false starts--the attempt, where--with Celyne's help, Scarlet managed to tie herself to a figure-4 frame being one of the stand outs) Zokon and Numalar put the final touches on the travois and about midday the party sets out along the river bank, with their prisoners in tow.
For their part, the conscious enemies stay more or less silent.
The going is slow The forest parts slowly as the white waters of the Thorn River widen, breaking at last upon the rugged hills of the Kamelands--hills that go on forever it seems . The sun, draws even with the hills casting long shadows in its orange light as you make the turn to head east along the dark forest's edge.