Camillo frowns as he strides up with the paladinly oracle, "Well, I had briefly considered even one as stupid as he might have had information we could use." He brightens immediately, however, as he turns to the ranger. "But we have your feline friend, if you can still speak to her. She's probably smarter than he was, anyway."
Sayniek chuckles and returns Cam's jest:
Even Kithian is smarter than the ogre, and that is a pretty low bar. Obviously the cat is smarter.
When she arrives after the battle has ended, she looks at the others.
Anyone have a clue where he came from? Perhaps there are tracks we can follow. With an oaf like him, I doubt that stealth was his goal in trapping cats.
Kithian grunt and spits on the ground next to the dead ogre and bends down to clean his blade on its clothing...the barbarian stops and thinks beter of that idea and whipes his blade on the grass instead.
On the off chance that the brutish creature possesses something of value, Vidar casts a quick Detect Magic.
It may have stolen something of value at some point.
Kithian turns to the deminitive paladin and frowns. The barbarian then shrugs and turns back to poke at the dead ogre with a stick. "Great. Now the little boy has jokes also..... Some one needs to make sure he dosent spend so much time with our bearded Ulfen archer. It is his formative years and we dont want him growing up all confused..."
Vidar snorts loudly.
"Fine talk coming from you!
After you fall deeply into your cups, the absolute nonsense you begin to spout would melt the brain of the wisest person."
Kithian chuckles and tosses his ogre poking stick into the forest. "Deep in my cups is the only reprieve I seem to get from your yammering. Hells i never drank a drop until our first conversation. Was the only way to get the ringing out of my ears."
"Hmmmph, no wonder my attempts at educating you have born so little fruit.
Not only are you naturally a truly horrible pupil, you manage to destroy what little there already is for me to work with."
"Lamentable, an artist like me forced to work with sub-par equipment.
But fret not, I shall mould you into something...approaching worthwhile yet!"
Kithian frowns and sticks a finger in his ear, grimaces, and appears to be attempting to actually scratch his brain. "There it is again! That damnable ringing! If you spent as much time learning to cast your so called magic as you do making up words and pestering me, you may end being of use as a mage!"
Vidar merely smirks.
"And if YOU were less drunk, you might one day be able to swing that penile enhancer you carry with something almost approaching skill.
At the moment, a butcher would be ashamed of the way you fight."
Kithian shrugs and lightly kicks the dead ogre. Not sure wwhat a "penial" is but as for my skills with my sword...they apear to be affective. Didnt hear you complaining any where from behind me when I was killing things and you were attempting to talk them to death....though i must say your skill at that has greatly increased in the last few months."
It means he thinks you have a small manhood! Pinocchio interjects. Then he sucks out of the cross fire and gently edges his way around to the two not engaged in verbal combat and whispers, Do I need to make them friends? I have a spell that might work...
Vidar raises an eyebrow and tilts his head to one side.
"Oh? YOU were fighting as well? Imagine that, I did not notice you contribute much.
In fact, I was more or less convinced I HAD talked them to death.
Tsk tsk, attempting to steal credit for my work, for shame master Darlock..."
Kithian cuts his eyes at the talking pupet then back at Vidar before adjusting his weapons belt. " Well there are plenty of fat bottomed servingmaids from Sanpoint to Magnimar that would strongly disagree about the slander of my manhood. As for not noticing my combat skills, that is easy to explain, when your vision was blocked from the tree you were hiding behind...though i am sure our dead friend here would thank me for the merciful salvation from the agonizing death of your conversation....hells I am begining to wish we could change places so I could finnaly escape you piercing voice."
"If I didn't know you like I do, I'd think you didn't like each other."
Looking at Shalelu, he asks, "Where did your four-legged friend say her ranger was? Did she say he was in trouble?" He points at the dead village idiot with a quizzical expression. "How many of these would it take to threaten the fort?"
Sayniek stands next to Cam listening to the others, simply shaking her head and rolling her eyes as the verbal jousting continues between the two big men.
Vidar grins saveagly at the large Barbarian.
"I KNEW it, you have gone soft on me!
Offering our enemies the mercy of a quick and clean death are you?
So, you conspire to steal the pleasure of verbally flaying their skin from me are you hmmm?"
Shalelu and the cat continue to exchange information and then the Ranger's eyes move on to the surrounding ground, He lives near here. there are others. They have his master... the elf seems puzzled for a moment and then brightens in satisfaction as she kneels on the ground then points to the northwest, This way.
The ogrekin is bereft of much of anything save for a simple knife, a spiked club, the leases for his now dead or missing dogs and a few dried chunks of meat. A particularly close exam of the creature reveals a silver pieces that bypassed a seam at some point and was floating around in the folds of the creature's clothing...
"How pathetic, this creature did not posses so much as a smidgeon of magic.
I fear that his companions will be as badly off.
However, this also means they have nothing to use against us."
Vidar takes his position next to Shalelu, muttering a little in irritation at having found nothing to replace the magic he had expended.
Pinocchio isn't in the least put out. He seems to have enjoyed mimicking the light elf and takes to whistling a merry tune as they set off. How exactly he manages this without lungs is a mystery.
Kithian shoulders his sword and slightly bows as he grins and extends his arm in the direction of the trail. "After you Miss elf. And do not worry, I will keep the ulfen archer from accidentally shooting you. Though I must say his skill with a bow exceeds his skill at wagging his fingers and making strange sounds."
Camillo looks at the patches on the blanket with concern. "It's probably too late for the men or women that these belonged to, but there are hopefully others we can provide aid or rescue. The question is, do we follow the half-wit's trail? Or do we make haste to the fort? I doubt this one was smart enough to have this much success against the Black Arrows by himself - there are others. Shalelu, do you know how many would normally have been defending the fort?" He holds up the grubby piece of patched fabric, "This can't be all of them, right?"
Shelelu continues to stare at the tattoos as Camillo speaks. Slowly, her mouth moves but no words come out. It's clear that something about this discovery has her very bothered.
Finally, she softly clears her throat before responding, "No, their numbers ebb and flow, but on any given day, they usually have around 50 members, with another 10 or so in training. That doesn't include the staff of the fort, probably another 20 or so... people like cooks, smiths, carpenters."
She glances at the firepelt, then back to the group. "For lack of a better option, I say we follow this creature."
Pinocchio shrugs. Sound good to me. Your the one who knows.
"Agreed. Let's not waste any more time. We may save some of them yet."
"All in agreement? Good, as master Duin said, we are wasting time."
This tears at her, even her normal stoic demeanour (outside the bedroom at least) is failing.
I...I think she might just need me now.
I shall have to be her rock, until she regains her footing.
With that sorted in his mind, Vidar gives Shalelu's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
The normaly loud and boisterous barbarian looks at the blanket and frowns. He sheathes his sword and draws his bow, placing an arrow to the string and nods his head at the others. "Let us go and bring theses monsters to justice...and by that I mean kill every last one of the martha faukers."
Seeing the blanked of skin, Sayniek says a silent curse before going to her knees and looking to the sky. As she does so, she draws her bastard sword and lays the flat of the blade against the blanket.
Lord Ragathiel, grant your servant the power to bring vengeance upon those who committed this evil deed.
She then looks to the others, and in particular Vidar.
Who knows where the remains of these rangers might be, but we must burn this horrid blanket so that those who gave their lives may have some measure of peace in their passing through Pharasma's realm and on to their final resting place.
"I'm not too up-to-date on my retribution rituals. Do we burn it before or after we send those responsible to the Abyss?"
Sayniek looks up at Cam:
Now, so that the souls may begin their journey, while we bring vengeance upon the ogres and anyone else responsible.
The bard holds his hands up in mock surrender. "The question was not entirely serious, you know. I can try to light it with a flint, but surely someone has a more effective means of creating a fire." He is very obvious about not looking at the mages in their midst as he says this.
Alrighty. Just keep the fire away from me. We don't get along.
Shelelu looks at Sayniek, "With respect, if there are Black Arrows still being held prisoner by more of those," she says pointing at the dead ogre, "then we should make haste. Every second we delay brings them closer to torture and death. Once we have finished our task, I swear I shall not take another step until your god is satisfied, but I beg you, let us not wait here any longer!"
She glances at Vidar, her eyes pleading for support.
"Of course, we cannot delay.
The gods have the advantage of immortality, we have to believe they are patient enough to afford us the delay until after we have made sure there is not anyone who require our aid."
Hmmm, I am intrigued, but there is no time for an interrogation either.
Just point me in the direction and I'll be off! We can burn the blanket later.
Sayniek looks up at Sheielu (she actually looks up at almost everyone except Pinocchio) and nods.
So be it then, lets make our way to this fort and see what we can find there.
With that, the tin can Paloracle stands, sheathes her sword, and begins to follow the ranger.
Camillo collects the grisly blanket and respectfully folds it, treating it like a cherished relic rather than the grisly trophy it is. As his hands work, he quietly sings a song. It is almost hymn-like and certainly more fitting in a church than a forest clearing. Casting prestidigitation multiple times.
When he is done, the fabric is actually clean of blood and grime and other unmentionable stains that had decorated it. His eyes moist, he whispers, "I don't believe I knew any of you, but I hope and pray the Song of the Spheres is the music you hear in your eternal rest."
He carefully tucks the blanket into his pack, takes a deep breath, and sets off after the leaders. "Lady Shalelu, what can you tell us of the fort? We may find ourselves needing to enter a defended location, so foreknowledge will be most helpful."
Shelelu shakes her head, "Not going to the fort, going to back track where he came from." she says pointing at the ogrekin.
Seeing the group readying for travel, the firepelt begins bounding around excitedly, running away, then hurrying back. Shelelu follows the creature as it sprints away, only to return moments later, A path! There is a path here, with recent prints, almost certainly from this ogrekin and his dogs. Let us follow this and see where it takes us!"
Shelelu turns and begins to push ahead, the firepelt following after.
Shelelu sets off, asking that you allow her 50 feet before following.
After approximately 20 minutes of travel through the dense forest, Shelelu holds up a hand signalling the group to stop. She crouches down next to the firepelt and gently lays a hand on its back as she leans around a tree as the path twists to the right. After a moment, she turns and comes back to speak.
"There is a clearing up ahead with two buildings and a small field. This path is the only easy way in. We can continue on and make ourselves easy targets, or we can try to sneak through the forest. If we do that, it's going to be slow going, and knowing ogres, they've got traps all over this place."
She waits to see how you want to proceed.
Perception: <-- so close
Quietly: I prefer the straight forward method. No need to get involved with traps.
Pinocchio taps Sayniek's thigh. What's that? I think I saw something...
"Normally I would advocate the safer route...
but at the moment, I am not sure if we have time to spare.
And, our enemy might not be strong enough to truly warrant such caution."
Perception:
Kithian shakes his head and points towards the house. "I say we charge them. Archers and ..uhm...mage..pfft....take out that guard . Me and the boy will clean up whats left."
"Good eye, I missed him. Big bruiser - might be hard to take him out quickly. I doubt he would fall for my sleep spell, but if someone can incapacitate him briefly, I can take him out of the fight for good."
I can cast something a little stronger than sleep, but it tends to make things laugh uncontrollably, so it won't be the quietest method.
Looking down at the firepelt, "Maybe you can use other skills to create a lure... Do you think this one would follow a wild cat into the trees?"