Moths and Flames

Game Master Signore di Fortuna

"Safe travels, Evert. Thanks for all your help." Lysithia adds with a smile.

Astoria reaches down to give her furry friend a scratch. With a hint of amusement she asks. "Where did you find that Teeko?"

Kelda nods, "Yeah, we're going to miss you, but we understand. Are you going to be okay traveling alone?"

The weasel glances towards Anselina briefly before turning his attention back to Astoria.

"I'll be fine," Evert says. "Aletta wants to come along. Duncan might give her some work and the dwarves will keep things quiet back there."

Kelda nods and gives him an understanding, but sad looking smile, "True, it would probably be good for her to be somewhere she could possibly rebuild her life. Good luck, stay safe, and hopefully you find some helpful information. I'm not sure how long it will take us in Cooperton, but I think we're gonna head to Varota after that to see how things are going there, and how my family is doing. I think the Kharans and the gobblins are working together, I....I just don't know how to stop them." She says, looking down at the ground while kicking at a small rock with her boot.

"I'm glad that Aletta is going with you, at least she'll have you to keep her safe."

Evert nods. "Best of luck to you. Maybe the threads of fate will intertwine and we'll meet again."

She smiles, "Hopefully under better circumstances next time. Safe journey Evert, I'll keep you both in my thoughts."

Turning to Lysithia, she takes her by the hand. Giving it a gentle squeeze she says, "Come on Love, let's get back to Astoria and check on breakfast. We should be going soon."

Lysithia joins her love as they head back to their friend, and breakfast.

Anselina is scraping the bottom of the pot of potato curry when you approach. "Looks like I'll have to make something else. Have any requests?"

Kelda shakes her head, "Not really, just whatever is easiest for you. We do have trail rations still, we wouldn't want to cause you any extra trouble."

Anselina laughs. "Don't be stubborn. Just tell me what you want."

Kelda thinks for a moment, "Do you have any eggs and fruit? I also like cheese and bread, but I'll eat pretty much anything....as long as it isn't something gross like lizzard, any kind of bugs, snails, or brussel sprouts. I'm not sure what type of supplies you have, or how much you have...so, I'm not sure what to ask for." She replies honestly, not wanting to deplete their supplies since she wasn't sure how self sustained they were.

Lysithia can't quite suppress a grin as Kelda inquires about their options for breakfast.

"It's not a famine," Anselina says with a smile. "We have plenty of everything. For fruits, I've got apples, apricots, cherries, melons, strawberries, peaches and plums."

Kelda's eyes get a little large at the mention of all the different fruits, "Oohhhh....those all sound good. Could we have some of the strawberries and peaches? I just didn't know what you had available, since I know some supply routes that we use have had issues, and merchants haven't been as plentiful as they once were."

"Being self-sufficient has its advantages and farmers are especially generous when we can help," Anselina says, rummaging around in some boxes.

She produces a few handfuls of strawberries and peaches. "I'll get some eggs, cheese and bread for you."

Kelda smiles, "Well, that's great. I'm glad the trade issues haven't affected this area as much as others. Thank you again for your generous hospitality, we really appreciate it."

"Thank you so much!"

Anselina hands Kelda a few hunks of cheese and a couple of loaves of bread. "For what you have done for us, this is nothing. I only hope that you are successful in dealing with this goblin problem."

"So do we. We'll definitely do our best, and thank you again." Lysithia replies at the woman's generosity.

Kelda nods in agreement with her love as they take the bread and cheese. Kelda tears off a small piece of bread, and nibbles on it while looking thoughtful. She knows that Evert is right,and there's more to this than just some crazy goblins....but they had to make it to Cooperton before they could look into other problems.

Kelda sighs as they wait on the eggs, nibbling on the bread and fruit in the meantime.

Anselina brings a bowlful of eggs to you before going back to start cleaning up the camp.

Kelda shares the food with Lysi and Tori. After they've had their fill and returned the bowl to Anselina. Kelda wraps up the left over bread and cheese, packing it into her bag for them to have with their rations later.

Looking at them both she asks, "Well, are we ready to try and make it the rest of the way to Cooperton?"

"As ready as ever, hopefully, we'll be able to make decent progress before we have to stop." Lysithia says, hefting her pack.

Nodding she looks over at Astoria, "Are you ready to get going?

Astoria, are you coming with us?

Okay Bubba, I'm just going to assume that Astoria is coming with us for now. If it gets to be too much or whatever, please just let us know. I'm gonna move us ahead for now so that we can continue on.

Making sure that everyone has their things with them once Astoria confirms that she's going with them, they leave and head back in the direction of Cooperton.

It takes a couple of hours but you manage to find your way to the main road. You see several fires burning to the north.

Let me guess, in the direction of Cooperton?"

Seeing the fires in the distance, a growl comes from somewhere deep in Kelda's throat, "Son of a motherless goat! I really hope that isn't Cooperton. We better hurry." Without a thought as to what they would be facing, or how they would handle whatever was ahead of them, Kelda picks up her pace as much as possible. Her steps and body language speaking of the anger and frustration she feels.

You're still a ways off from Cooperton, so no.

Is North the way we have to go to get to Cooperton though? Like, we're heading that direction anyways right?

Yes.

"Damn it!" Lysithia utters, picking up her pace as they head toward the fires.

You see several fires burning in the fields, but you don't see anyone around.

Kelda stops and looks around confused, "Okay...this isn't at all creepy." Looking over at Lysithia and Astoria she asks, "Should we try to put them out? Is there anyway we could put them out if we wanted to....or should we just keep moving? Without anyone to stop them, the fires could do a lot of damage....I'm just not sure we can actually stop it." She says, a note of defeat and tiredness entering her voice for the first time since they set out on this journey.

Knowledge Nature (wildfires): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13 What are the odds anything we do can make any real difference?

"With that many fires burning the fields, and no one else here, I'm not sure anything we can do will be of any use." Lysithia says, looking at the fires in dismay.

Kelda just stands there quietly for a moment as her whole body shakes from trying to hold in her feelings.

After taking a few minutes to try and control herself, Kelda sighs as her shoulders droop.

Shaking her head, "I suppose not. We all better keep moving. For all we know this could just be a distraction to keep us from reaching Cooperton."

Continuing on, you see a group of three goblins walking down the road, lighting torches and tossing them in the fields. They do not see you as they seem to be enjoying their activity.

How far away?

How far are they from us? Should we just go balls to the wall, or do a little prep first before smashing their ugly heads in? Just rushing in hasn't worked out too good for us in the past, but Kelda is sick of them getting away with their foul deeds. I just want some feedback before acting.

That's why I asked. If they're close enough I can open by at least putting out the torches. Or if they're in range for any useful spells. Announcing that we're there is just going to give them a free attack.

Yeah, you got your question out before mine, cuz I was thinking of doing something rash, but thought better of it. So, it took me a while to pose the questions in my head. Henry is pretty much passed out now. I was also thinking that if they were close enough, that Astoria could try her sleep spell on them. I was also thinking of casting bless on us, but wanted to make sure we were close enough to engage.

If close enough for sleep that's a good way to start. Even if only one of them fails the save, it's still one taken out of the fight.

Yes, yes, my thoughts exactly.

About 200 ft ahead.

I'm guessing that's not close enough for us to do anything? I don't think we can reach them if we just rush forward. Do we just move back into the brush a little and wait for them to get closer then? I'm not the best at strategy, but I don't think rushing in with hammers a swingin' is gonna work, and none of us use ranged weapons. Kelda wants to stop them before they do any more damage than they already have, but we have to be smart about how we approach this.

They're heading north, so they're moving away from you.

So, should we just try to move toward them stealthily, or what? Stealth doesn't seem to be one of our strong suits unless someone has a way of making us quieter. Lol