”Let’s stick to the plan. Eyes sharp for more nasties, though.”
The Sharp End continues exploring in a northwest direction, and at the end of the day makes camp.
As before, Goggeck grants ease of sleep for those wearing heavier armours.
The group finds a sandy spot amid an acre of towering stone pillars carved from the cliff faces from eons of weathering wind and rain. These canyon lands grow dark quickly as the sun sets behind the canyon rims. Although the sky is still relatively bright with shades of soft purple and pink, Toulbe gets a fire going so that dinner can be served before they lose the light.
Just as the last of the crepuscular rays reach across the evening sky, a howl can be heard echoing across the canyon. Soon it is joined by another, and another, and another. The coyote pup nips at Toulbe’s ankle and whimpers desperately to tell him something of great importance.
Goggeck turns to Toulbe.
"The pup looks like he wants a word."
Hezekh glances to the coyote, then he stands up and loads his crossbow, just in case.
Toulbe goes about his work getting camp ready til the pup started trying to get his attention. At first he though a scrap of bacon might be what the pup wants but he remembered telling him to do something along these lines to get his attention.
He called upon his innate magical reserves and let his mind fill with the sounds of animals.
"Something wrong pup?" he barked curiously at the coyote.
The pup tells Toulbe, "Something big and very dangerous is coming! Up in the sky!"
Being so informed, all turn their eyes skyward. Indeed, a large winged creature is circling high above the canyon ridge. An awesome screech, like that of a giant raptor, echoes throughout the canyon. Bistro and the two donkeys begin acting nervously.
Adu stares up at the sky, eyes wide. "What is that?! Should we try to get to cover or something?"
She wrings her hands for a second, then decides that foresight is much better than hindsight. "Um, I'm going to go ahead and bless you all now. Just in case." She clears her throat and brings her hands together for a quick prayer. "Oh Tjasse, god of giant birds, please don't let this one eat us."
Toulbe looked skyward. This was new. He scratched his head a bit before getting out his speaking trumpet real quick. "We are not food! Please leave and I will provide you with some delicious meat!" he yelled skyward, hoping his spell would last long enough to broker away this creature.
Glor scowls as he watches the huge avian circle. It does seem big 'nough ta carry a full grown dwarf off, it does. he gathers his element about his and prepares to fire at the creature should it come to close.
Goggeck says nothing but takes out his heavy crossbow.
Ingrahild looked up at the bird and whispered an enchantment, causing the runes on her bow to glow.
Toulbe's offer is met with another screech. Toulbe may feel this is a positive response, although his magic doesn't seem capable of interpreting it. The large winged creature begins to descend into the canyon in slow nonthreatening circles. Nonthreatening, but the pack animals are surely freaking out, pacing back and forth and making a ruckus. Toulbe can tell they are asking to be set free so they can run!
As the creature descends, it becomes increasingly clear it is not a giant raptor, as such, but has the body of a large lion, with wings and head of a giant eagle. Without needing to think on it, it is easily recognized as a griffon, majestic, powerful creatures often identified on the iconography of noble houses.
Toulbe watches curiously for a moment then recognizes what the creature is. "Oh my, a griffon!!!!" he said out loud. He looked around a bit "Guard the horses, Bistro." he said while his spell lasted. He at least wouldn't need it for this creature he was pretty sure.
He looked at the others "Don't let it near the horse, I'm gonna grab some meat and draw it away from them. These guys are super smart." he said as he clambered up into the wagon quickly and found some of the dried meats.
He rushed as much as he could, watching the sky and then moved away from the pack animals. "Over here Mr Griffon!!!!! I have your meal over here!" he shouted as he made his way a little ways away from the animals.
Hezekh is careful not to point his crossbow at the griffon, but he doesn't put it away either.
With new information, though still distrustful, Goggeck does similarly to Hezekh.
”Great. Just bloody great.” She mumbled. She had her bow in one hand and an arrow in the other, which she kept conspicuously far apart.
Toulbe runs off with the group’s supply of cured meats and sausages loaded in his arms. The griffon does a flyby over the camp, startling Bistro and the donkeys who are already pretty spooked. The pack animals pull and buck at their leads, trying to free themselves and runoff.
The ropes hold, for now.
The griffon lands on top a large boulder ahead of Toulbe. It raises a paw as if to signal the gnome to stop, then cocks its head from side to side, assessing the amount of meat being offered.
Toulbe looks up at the gryphon and stops in his tracks when he notices it's attempt at signalling such. He carefully places some of the meat in little sections on the floor.
"You can have it all if you need but we'd appreciate it if you only took some. I bet your family used to run into the dwarves all the time around here, we are trying to get rid of all the Orcs...err the green angry ones and such so that the more down to earth.." he snorts a bit at this joke, having not meant to make one. "Yes, err so that myself and those like the others over there can work with the land more peaceably." he said nodding.
He hoped that this worked as a bit of hunting to restock his supplies was hardly the price to pay for making a new friend or at least not killing such a beautiful and intelligent creature such as this one.
The griffon screeches its approval of Toulbe's offering. It lowers its head and spreads its wings in a formal bow. It waits for Toulbe to back away from the meat before climbing down off the boulder and snatching the offering up in beak and claws. With a mighty leap, it takes once again to the air, taking the groups total supply of meat with it. Looks like some hunting and gathering will be needed to replenish the food stores.
Goggeck keeps his gaze focused upon the griffon, even as it departs but a stray piece of grit is blown into his left eye by the wind. He blinks, and it troubles him but a moment.
Once the griffon is gone, he turns to Toulbe with a curious expression on his face.
"That is something I have never seen. Anyway, let us resume moving."
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”Well done. I have to admit, that the beast was pretty majestic it. It-“
She looked up and her faced flushed red. ”-reminds me why it’s best to stick to the ground. Let’s get going.”
Toulbe scooted back when it seemed the creature demanded a bit of space. He watched with some awe as it scooped up all he had offered and took back off. He put a hand over his brow to shield his eyes as he watched the creature disappear.
He turned back to the others and waddled happily back.
"Quite a beautiful creature. Poor thing must've been hungry. Very smart creatures they are." he said before noting Brunhild's flush. He hadn't seen what would've caused such a flush so perhaps he though her embarrassed for imagining riding it soaring through the air. That had to be a dream a dwarf would be embarrassed to admit right?
He suddenly realised that he'd perhaps offered too much and rushed back to the wagon looking it over. He let out a small groan of disappointment. "Sorry everyone, I got a little overzealous I think...I did ask him to leave us some, but well...I kinda accidentally gave him all my stores of meat." he admitted begrudgingly.
"But! We have ample land to hunt and such and that'd give me a full night to smoke what we catch. Hopefully it's a boar. Good ol smoked boar, I can take some of the fat even and fry the skin for some road snacks!" he said forgetting that he was apologizing and now simply daydreaming about the foods they might find.
Adu stays back as Toulbe talks to the griffon, figuring her friendly cousin would be better at talking it down than she would be. She watches with satisfaction as it flies away.
"Huh. Looks like the primary sexual characteristics for griffons are more similar to mammals than avians, despite the wings and the beak..." She quickly pulls out her notebook and jots that down.
(Not that she has any particular interest in the physiology of griffons, but it's something she didn't know before, and therefore it's worth remembering.)
"Nicely done Toulbe." She gives her cousin a warm smile. "I'm sure the griffon needed the meat more than we did, and it's nice we didn't have to fight it." She pauses as a thought occurs to her. "Maybe Tjasse helped by making the griffon be open to diplomacy instead of by giving us the strength to kill it? That would make sense, he does like giant birds so maybe he wouldn't want us to kill the griffon, although if griffons are more similar to mammals than birds perhaps Tjasse wasn't the god to ask after all..."
Lost in these theological considerations, she completely forgets about the missing meat. Toulbe will come up with something tasty regardless, he always does.
Aye, Glad I am that we did not have ta put that creature down. I'd bet a week's ration o' ale that it will bring fear and more ta any of our enemies in the area. Its like havin an ally in the sky, almost.
"Cheese sandwiches for a while then, I suppose." Hezekh grumbles, as he watches the griffon fly off.
The griffon disappears out of sight down the canyon, as the last of the sun’s rays crest the canyon’s rim. Darkness falls over the camp quickly, and Toulbe is forced to whip up supper using only flour, potatoes, and cheese. The resulting biscuits are good, I guess, for an elf. At least there’s still beer.
The stars at night are big and bright, and it’s easy to get lost in the cosmos. Stories are told around the campfire, some old as legend, others reminiscent of just yesterday. Through the victories, and losses, of the past few days and weeks, morale stays high. When the first of the sun’s rays crest the eastern ridge in the morning, the Sharp End breaks camp and moves further into the heart of unknown territory.
Adu happily munches on the biscuits, then takes up her usual place on the wagon to write in her journal.
Feeling full, but not satisfied by the trail rations, Brunhild was not at her most alert.
Glor looks about with a critical but less than ideal eye. Sun's too dang bright. he quips.
Whenever exploring a hex, Glor can make a Profession (Miner) skill check to search for veins of metal ore or clusters of gems. The GM will determine the success of the search, what materials are discovered, and the value of the materials obtained based on the roll and environmental factors. Using the Prospector's Eye ability requires a full day of exploration.
Goggeck keeps a keen eye on the group's surroundings.
Hezekh looks around as he group checks out the area.
Glor and Hezekh can literally smell the iron pervading these hills. Goggeck, Toulbe, and Brunhild work together scouting the land, and with the confluence of old wagon ruts in the area, conclude the abandoned iron mine must be in the area. Toulbe confers with the coyotes and learns the giant ants faced the day before are prevalent here. Adu compiles this information, but feels it isn’t quite enough to complete her gazetteer.
"There is iron in these hills. We must find it!", declares Goggeck!
”Well worth it to spend the day searching this place. An iron mine will certainly draw more settlers.”
Aye. Glor nods his strong agreement with his brother Goggeck.
Hezekh sniffs a couple of times then pauses to look around. "We're close. It can't be far. I can smell iron on the air."
Toulbe looked a bit at odds with the Dwarves as they sniffed out the iron. He certainly wasn't smelling anything in the air. Were Dwarves just that in tune with metal and the like. He wondered.
Toulbe scratched his head looked to the pup "Is it alright if I call in the wolves and hunt then once we get closer?"
"Fine by me."
Brunhild did her best with the search. Sadly, she was more adept at working gems already mined, rather than finding where they hid.