Cole wrinkles his nose.
"Too much drama: Its like a Taldorian opera here tonight. Let's sit by the fire, eat your fill of whatever this is, and then get some sleep. We can decide tomorrow what we are and will do from here, if you are all still serious about this. Cuddles? Get some rest buddy. You need to understand things tomorrow when we talk, and you probably think best after 10 or 12 hours of sleep. Right?"
At that, Cole pulls out a blanket roll from his pack, then adjusts some space to lay down with his feet only a few inches from the now larger campfire. Only his sheathed antique blade easily cradled in his arms seems to be his sole consolation for the meager bed. Some perceptive people may notice the flame jets and sparks seem to wrap around his leather boots, but never actually touch him. In only a minute or two his breathing is quiet and he's obviously asleep with little worry...or protections you can see.
"Pretty sure I'll still be a hobgoblin," Nozhe comments to district from the unasked question she poses to Iolandra as she arches a brow.
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Iolandra snickers at Nozhe's comment, considering the unspoken question. It was clear that Grx'tryn saw some sort of opportunity to gain power, and his longwinded speeches sought to convince the others that her deserved to have it, and their loyalty along with it. The druidess had always felt more comfortable on the outskirts of ‘civilized’ society at best, more in tune with the wilds and those who lived free than in a village or town, but at the same time she had delusions of how some saw humans, in some case with good reason.
The idea of creating a haven for those usually considered outsiders was, an interesting one, not that she trusted the ogre or half-ogre, and especially not the strange shadow-caster that spoke too softly and seemed obsessed with magic. As Grx'tryn himself pointed out, they barely knew each other, and for all she knew, despite the talk of dealing with bandits, any of them could decide to murder and rob she and Nozhe in their sleep, or worse.
”We should set up for the night, a little way from the fire. See what the morning brings.” she says quietly, clearly intending to say more later.
Nozhe gives the Druidess and silent and prompt nod.
Cuddles is just glad to be included in the conversation, even if it was only the tail end. He nods and smiles back at Grox, then at Cole. It's a truly terrifying sight, or would be if Cuddles didn't have the eyes of an innocent child. His teeth are yellowed and sharp, the very ideal of the savage stereotype most races thought of when they heard "Ork". What results is a kind of cognitive dissonance made manifest.
Sleep Good, Everybody! Nighty-Nighty night!
He lumbers over to a massive bulk shipping sack with a chain attached where a backpack's straps should be. He reaches inside and pulls out a crudely stitched blanket made from several thick animal hides. He lays down near his fire and pulls over a sizeable rock to lay his head on. As he drifts off, he starts singing a lullaby quietly to himself, but it's no in Ork. It's in Halfling?
Grx opens his mouth to reply to Nozhe's retort, but instead clicks his mouth shut. He looks at Dravox and shrugs, a smile on his lips.
Watching everyone prep their areas for sleep Grx'tryn sits next to Dravox. too much?
Grx leans back against against the log and tosses another timber onto the fire. you catch some sleep first, Dravox. I'll take first watch
The pale man is still focused on shadows and fire when the group begins to settle down.
He doesn't seem to shift his attention when Grx comes over to inquire about his first impressions. After a long pause, he finally lets out Hmph, it always takes much to do big things. Whoever wants to aim high will come along and see. Maybe it's not these, but we need both leaders and citizens.
He gets into his pack and extracts a rolled-up bedroll. Very well, wake me when it's my turn.
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As they move to an area within the clearing and settle in for the night, Iolandra hands Nozhe a few plump red berries, she plucks from a bush after uttering an incantation in druidic. By now a familiar thing to the hobgoblin, the fey touched human seemed able to find delicious and incredibly filling fruit with ease in the forest, often supplementing hunted game.
"So what do you think of all that?"
Nozhe eyes lit up, a rather noticeable trait on hobgoblin, when Iolandra worked her primal magic on the berries. Experiencing them had been quite the treat in her travels with the Druidess, to the point that she had to catch and admonish herself for fixating too much on the berries to the exclusion of everything else around her, including half of what the woman offering the berries had asked.
Composing herself she shrugs as she takes the offered berries. ”Dunno, too sudden, too out of left field. A half-ogre with delusions of grandeur. A shade being shady. A pyromaniac. And... the orc. No stability. No cohesion. No trust. You?” she rolled out a stream of consciousness, before popping a berry into her mouth.
”Mmmmm,” she let out in delight as she slowly let the berry get crushed in her mouth to savor the enhanced tastes. ”You have got to let me try vinting these some time.”
Cuddles, Dravox, and Iolandra you all awaken to the sound of something heavy nearby. Sitting up quietly you all quickly spot the sound of the noise. A very large Bear is sniffing and investigating the hole you dumped the bandit body in Cuddles. It glances you direction but does nothing instead going back to investigating the hole.
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Sitting up, Iolandria holds up one hand, signaling any if the others watching to hold off on acting. Vocalizibg a series of sniffling sounds, grunts and low growls, she tries to communicate to the bear, that though they shared the same territory, they were no threat to it's search for food.
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Cuddles's get big as saucers when he sees the biggest puppy. He doesn't rolls to his feet, massive grim plastered all over his face. It looked like he was trying to get at Mr. StabbyMan's bed. He must be dead asleep if That didn't wake him.
He obeys the Forest Lady and stays mostly still, though the urge to go pet the cutie was slowly rising.
Cuddles's eyes get big as saucers when he sees the biggest puppy. He
Cuddles obeys the Forest Lady and stays mostly still, though the urge to go pet the cutie was slowly rising.doesn'trolls to his feet, massive grim plastered all over his face. It looks likehethe big puppy is trying to get at Mr. StabbyMan's bed. Mr. StabbyMan must be dead asleep if That didn't wake him.
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The bear stares curiously torwards the much smaller druid. It was clear he understood the noises she was making and in a strange way that confused him. She was the weirdest bear he had ever wandered across. The Bear continued to dig and paw at the hole with the bandit for a moment before it decided that the effort to pull the bandit out of the hole was'nt worth it. With one more series of series and a chuff it continued its trek to the east away from the camp.
Cole snores loudly, then rolls over, his sword still clutched carefully in his arms.
Grx dreams of the color yellow and how it can impact the process of adding 2+2 to get 4
Chuckling lightly as the bear shuffles off, Iolandra goes back to sleep until awakening near dawn, to commune with nature at sunrise as she normally does.
Cuddles doesn't snore. He doesn't even move. Only a very gentle reuse of his massive chest traits you that he's still alive. He awake with the dawn, as any worker with his salt would. Within an hour he has wandered into the woods and brought back enough wood to build a robust lean-to and more than enough for the morning's cook fire.
Good Morning, Friend! he greets anyone he finds awake.
Getting up with the sunrise, Cole swigs water from his pack and then cuts off a small bit of dried-charred meat for a quick and easy breakfast.
He then sits carefully, chewing the jerky-like meal and watches the others carefully as they wake and perform their various early morning activities.
The dawn breaks and at first the day looks clear. Dark clouds far on the horizon however speak of trouble.
Those clouds look like a thunderstorm with possible hail will be rolling in soon, your best guess is it will hit in about four hours.
Dravox seems to instantly shift from sleeping to awake and alert. Within five minutes he's broken down his little sleeping area and is strolling about the area as if he'd never settled down.
The mage proceeds through the morning in a leisurely manner, watching the others and pondering on them from time to time. While at first some of them seemed quite malcontented, there seems to be some manner of potential among the campers they'd stumbled upon.
Frowning at the horizon, Cole speaks out loud pointing at the clouds.
"That storm looks nasty and we don't really have any shelter to speak of. I heard once back in the river kingdoms that there was an old fort nearby that might offer us some shelter if we ask politely enough. The owner is named 'Oloff' or something like that...Oleg? Yeah that's it: Oleg."
Cuddles nods. Elfy friends say Olaf. They think we stay there for looking and mapping and making friends and stopping no-good bandits.
Grx'tryn wakes up and looks around, rolling his head around, and then his shoulders. Dravox. remind me to get yellow and purple thread when we hit up a store. Dream i had he says, tapping his head.
Grx stands up and walks around, working the blood through his body and swinging his arms around, pausing to stretch down and touch his toes before stretching his arms up high and leaning back slightly. He looks from cole to the clouds in the sky. Do we have time for breakfast? or eat and march at the same time?
"No idea. I would rather eat and walk than assume anything however."
Dravox looks at his friend curiously. Yellow, purple? Oddly specific, but sure thing! I'll have to hear more about this dream sometime.
He mills about, with his pack on ready to depart at a moment's notice.
Completing her morning ritual of communing with the world around her, Iolandria looks up at the sky, assessing the weather. "That's a strong storm coming this way, rain, thunder, lightning...maybe even hail. It will likely hit within 4 hours."
Grx stokes the fire up a bit, getting the embers to catch the logs back into a small fire. Reaching up, he cuts off several larger chunks of meat and lays them upon the rocks surrounding the fire. May as well reheat the meat while we pack up, so that we at least have one meal of the day be warm.
suiting words to action, Grx'tryn rolls up his bedroll and blanket and secures them to his backpack. He then takes the time to stack up and secure the backpacks of the dead elves.
Standing, he unfurls a large olive drab poncho and draps it over his shoulders. Its a bit frayed at the edges that fall onto the ground, but overall it is in decent shape. olive drab in color, padded with a crisscross diamond pattern to it, it hangs comfortably over Grx'tryns large frame, even with the addition of the two extra backpacks.
Amry poncho liner
Dravox looks at his friend curiously. Yellow, purple? Oddly specific, but sure thing! I'll have to hear more about this dream sometime.
He mills about, with his pack on ready to depart at a moment's notice.
Something drew your attention south, torwards where this supposed fort turned trading post was located... but only for a moment. The wilds were strange.
Cole easily gets up and packs his stuff quickly, chewing his meat-jerky with a grimace of effort. He faces south and waits patiently, sword riding his hip easily in its makeshift scabbard.
"The sooner we leave, the sooner we get there."
"Then it would be best to get moving as quickly as possible." Iolandria says packing up her gear.
Dravox stares intently towards their intended direction for a moment. After he is unable to recapture what caught his eye, he sighs and gives up.
Yes, we should. But let's keep alert as we go. Something caught my eye that way, a quick movement. I don't know what it was and I can no longer see it.
Nozhe stretches and pops her limbs as she makes sure her armor is properly equipped. "Adverse weather does the mind and body good, it draws one back to the world."
Cuddles waits patiently for the rest to be ready, then sets out. His massive gait makes for a slower pace for him, but he seems to not mind in the slightest. He sets out heading straight for the outpost. Rain OK. Hail Hurt me head. Gods like throwing big ones at Cuddles. he comments once he realizes that the others are talking about the incoming storm clouds.
Cole shrugs.
"Rain also reduces our smell my friend. That's a good thing I think."
picking up the heated meat hunks, Grx'tryn walks around to everyone and hands out the reheated meat. It's not much, but it's better than nothing. after giving everyone the meat, He steps back and says We take 5 minutes, eat the food. then we get going. and suiting words to actions, he pulls out his large knife and slices it into smaller chunks and stuffing it down his throat in a rapid fashion.
Cole takes off slowly while the others wait with the half-ogre.
"I'll scout ahead a bit. Should be easy enough to follow me."
fair enough. Grx says as he chews his food.
You can just see what appears to be a large wooden walled fort in the distance when the storm breaks above you heavy sheets of rain come pouring down. The first thing you notice is five horses just outside what appears to be the main gate of the fort whinnying nervously at a peal of thunder in the distance. As you close to within 100 meters you can just see what looks to be a man hand gripping what appears to be a sword in a scabbard slip inside the walls.
Moving quickly back to the others, Cole will warn them while looking back over his shoulder.
"I'm afraid our target location for safety from the storm may be under attack. Bandits is my guess? This 'Oleg' guy is not doing well. The fort's entrance has already been forced open. We don't have many options. We either face the storm or face the situation at Oleg's place. Either way, it could be dicey."
Dravox listens to Cole's report, and ponders the information for several moments.
Hmm, if cleaning out bandits is to be our claim to legitimacy, we shouldn't shy away from it now. Time for a test, no?