I don't know who they are, Quim, what do you think about the idea of visiting this camp and stealing some more stuff, or do you think it could be a trap?
After grabbing the small leather pouch of gold, and ruffling through the leather satchel for the two vials of alchemist's fire, Sadira spies the wand nearby, in the cracks of the cobbled stones of the ancient elven road. She walks over and picks it up as well.
Kaze o walks over to where they are interrogating Martiz and answers his question, making sure that he sees his pearly white and extremely sharp canines. They are dead, now quit your whining or I might just kill you because I'm annoyed. He then turns to the rest of the group, If he comes with us, he rides tied next to Quim up front. I'll ride on top with my sword at his back if he tries anything. What a pathetic creature, no sense of dignity whatsoever. All the more pleasure when I cut his bonds and stick a sword through his ribcage...
Quimkithe eyes never leaves the prisoner's, How soon will it take for him to reach your camp? And how long would it take for us to get there?
Hey Quim, this might be useful to you, why don't you hold on to it. She hands him the wand, then shouts to everyone Guys their is also a healing potion over here if anyone wants it, it may be useful in case I can't get to you in time.
Sadira's constant ability to detect magic directs her right to the wand, and she uses her knowledge of arcana and spells to determine that the wand casts the spell Sleep from the enchantment school. Alas, this means that she won't be able to use the wand, and she's pretty sure no one else in this group can either. Though it still could be valuable if sold.
Martiz looks from Kaze o to Quimkithe and back, and confusion begins to settle on his face. How soon will who reach my camp? Is somebody still alive? That's Ergon's body over there, are Tigg and Breron... are they both dead too?" Martiz's panic looks to be subsiding a bit, as Fire and Ice have kept him alive for now. "If anyone's alive I'm guessing they would have headed straight for the camp, cleaned it out and left. We left our horses at the camp, so they'd be able to load up and haul out. On foot it's about an hour east to a small tract of forest. Most of the loot was buried, but it wouldn't take them that long to dig it up. It was buried pretty shallow."
Well guys, shall we go now?
Lets get moving now, if all else fails, we let them dig it up for us then we catch up to them and take it all. Sadira grabs Martiz, and attempts to drag his body to the carriage.
Sadira realizes she's going to need someone with a lot more strength to help her drag Martiz to the carriage.
Quimkithe grabs ahold of Martiz and attempts to drag the body the driver's seat with her.
Between the two of them Quim and Sadira get Martiz back to the carriage. Once there they give Kaze o, Tamarelle, and Imfazl funny looks, wondering why, with all this muscle around, they were left to do all the heavy lifting.
Did you say potion? I'll take it! If you guys don't mind, I actually prefer driving the horses. This way also allows Quim to shoot anything far off while we continue to move.
raexv raikt Quimkithe then suddenly remembers the archer she killed. She quickly dashes over to the dead body and riffles through the archer's belongings.
Quimkithe searches through the dead man's belongings, and though she has to wipe some deep-crimson blood stains from some of his things, she finds a decent little haul: two tanglefoot bags, two tunderstones, 48 gold pieces, and an obviously magical potion. The potion looks very similar to Martiz's healing potion, and she guesses it is much the same. In addition to the, now snapped in half, longbow he was using to fire piercing death at them from above, he also has a longsword sheathed across his back, that is none the worse for wear.
Quimkithe, happy with her haul goes back to the carriage, looking carefully for her lost arrows.
After finding what arrows she could, Quimkithe heads down the road to the dead robber's body, and searches it for valuables.
After traipsing the almost 200 feet to the arrow-riddled corpse of the camouflaged robber, Quimkithe searches for anything of value, and is, again, glad she did. She finds a smokestick, another healing potion, a set of thieve's tools, two vials of alchemist's acid, and 25 gold pieces, not to mention his shortsword and a bandolier with five daggers in it, which was hidden on his back, underneath his cloak.
Quimkithe puts both potions in her pack along with the smokestick, gold, the tanglefoot bags. She then walks back to the carriage where she gives the vials of alchemist acid and the thunderstones to Imfazl and the thieve's tools to Tamarelle. Nak daeb, rav 'g I laeqo rak gausakkor aervkl'rs... alright, here you go. Now everyone, let's go. Quimkithe hops onto the driver's seat where she accommodates the prisoner such that there is room for them and Imfazl. I heard you wanted to drive, Imfazl. Well, let's go.
Thankyou Quim! You are full of such grace and power. With that, Imfazl cracks the reins and the carriage begins to move. Alright, you guide me where to go Quim. I heard something about a bandit hidey hole? Time for me to show you why I am truly feared!
Quimkithe, bow in hand, looks at the prisoner, guide us.
since we must give 1/6 of our loot to Temerlyth, should we start collecting now and store it all in the carriage, it's just an idea. Sadira gives Imfazl the two alchemist fires before they head out.
Let's start compiling it, here take these Quimkithe hands the daggers, shortsword, and longsword back to Sadira.
I saw you grabbed some theives tools Quim i'll take those if they are no use to you
Martiz does his best to stay seated next to Imfazl as the wagon accelerates north, but, as tightly bound as he is, it's rather difficult. "If you could just loosen these ropes a bit, I would feel less afraid of falling off, and I could direct... Imphazel, is it? Clearly I'm not going to go anywhere, and you've already proven I'm no match for you." Martiz looks to Quimkithe with question in his eyes. "It will be awfully hard for me to direct your driver without the use of at least one hand."
Quimkithe roughly grabs Martiz with one hand, I will hold on to you so you do not fall off, as for guiding my friend here, use your voice. And if you have trouble with that point with your chin. Oh, and if you cause us any trouble, I will not hesitate to throw you off the carriage with an arrow in both of your eyes. As she says this Quimkithe strokes her bow with her free hand.
"Fine, fine. Not a problem, just asking, is all. You'll need to go north for about another five-hundred feet, then you'll see a break in the hills to your right. I don't think there are any wagon ruts there, but you'll see a fairly used animal trail. We'll follow that east for a bit." Martiz' eyes show him innocent, and willing to help. Clearly he'll do just about anything at this point to stay alive.
Quimkithe is still doubtful.
Sadira puts down the weapons. what if it is a trap guys? Did we not think of this?
Though both Quimkithe and Sadira doubt the sincerity of Martiz' words, their intuition corroborates that he is being genuine. Wherever he's taking you, in his mind, is what he thinks will please you. Imfazl sees the game trail to the right of the path after the hills slope down to meet the road. He turns the carriage to follow the game trail, but has to slow the pace, as the terrain is uneven, rocky, and marked by frequent dips and rises. If the archer came this way, he'll most definitely have a time advantage, as it would be a lot easier to cross this terrain on foot, or riding a single horse, not pulling a huge carriage behind a six-horse team.
Imfazl, stop the carriage. We are wasting time. I propose that we ride horseback the rest of the way, otherwise the archer will be long gone by the time we arrive at the camp
Imfazl stops the horses and dismounts Does everyone know how to ride a horse though? If a horse starts bucking it would waste more time than we'd save. I think we should start running there and just put Martiz on a horse. I'll hold the horses reins and have him run behind me. We just gotta make sure he's tied on tightly... And gaged, don't want him making any noise!
I still believe it is faster to keep the carriage than to run, and I have never ridden a horse before I say we stay on the carriage, stopping and discussing is what is slowing us down let's get moving.
Kaze o quickly does a head count, Quim, Sadira, Tamarelle, Imfazl, me, and the one stupid enough to get caught... We have six horses, but Martiz get his own horse. The fool will probably turn tail the second he gets the chance, he saw what we did to his friends, and he'd be a fool to think that we won't do the same to him. It's been too long since I felt blood rush between my teeth...
How about those who know how to ride go on ahead, and the rest stay back to guard the carriage. This would be the fastest way. Quimkithe then glances at Martiz, and I will take Martiz with me.
After all, there is only a solitary archer there. We should not be afraid of him.
Quim has sound logic, Imfazl you know how to ride correct?
I will stay , but just remember you won't have me to heal you in case something bad happens.
Quimkithe frees two of the horses. Here Imfazl, can you ride bareback? she asks as she gives one of the horses to him.
guys get back on the carriage we just wasted our time let's get moving, this is a bad idea lets all stay together
Hold on, Quimkithe looks around for tracks leading towards the robber's base.
Quimkithe spends some time examining the ground for tracks. The ground is hard, but her keen senses still pick up several distinct tracks. There are a lot of humanoid tracks, some of those are small in proportion, meaning goblins, halflings, or the like. A few sets of humanoid tracks are larger than the others, which could mean ogres or giants. In addition there are tracks from large dogs, could be wolves, or perhaps worgs. One set of tracks looks draconic in origin, perhaps a hill-drake, or wyvern. This trail is obviously used by many of the hill country's denizens. Amongst the humanoid tracks there are several that are recent, moving in both directions, with such a myriad of tracks, it's impossible to pick out one set of humanoid tracks amongst the lot.
Quimkithe growls with frustration. She quickly hitches the horses and ushers everyone back on the carriage, then jumps onto driver's seat with Martiz. Let's go
"You still want me to lead you to the camp?" Martiz asks with not the smallest amount of fear in his voice, realizing that if he can't lead you to a cache of treasure, his life is about as meaningful as those of his two buddies back on the road. Lives whose sole meaning now is to feed the carrion birds that have no doubt descended from on high to eat their fill.
yes let's hurry guys, it may already be to late because of this silliness here I was right Quim is definitely like all other half orcs.
Imfazl walks a bit into the foliage and proceeds to relieve his bladder. While doing so he says back to his companions Aren't we supposed to be a bunch of clerics on a pilgrimage? Let's just kill this fella, toss him in the bushes and get back on the road. We already wasted WAY too much time bickering. Imfazl finishes his business, draws his greatsword and walks over to Martiz. I volunteer to kill him. Any objections?
Martiz starts to visibly tremble in fear. "Please! No! You don't have to kill me. Just let me go, what possible harm can I do now, alone, out here? Please."
Well, I already killed him once, I suppose you can do it this time.