A large razor crow flutters into the branches of a nearby tree and caws as it observes the party below it.
Rall picks up a stone and tosses it casually at the crow ... 1d20+2=3 ... "Carrion eaters!"
[ooc]I fumble on a 'casual stone throw'! ... Rall can't do anything right![/url]
Arla stares quietly for a moment at the battered body of the girl. "The beast was just a young girl..? We didn't know.." she trails off, before moving over to Aeryn, a little unsure of how to console the other woman.
The razor crow caws, as if laughing at Rall and flutters over to a branch over the body. It eyes the corpse like it is just waiting for a chance to have at the carcass.
With eyes of steel Bowen calmly puts his scimitar away, "Would someone help me take this girl back to the shack? I don't feel the need to let the carrion take part in the butchery.... And who knows what may happen with a taste of this beasts flesh."
Bowen moves methodically as he goes to pick the girl up.
"Bury her" Aeryn whispers.
After a moment of silence, Arla nods at the tall man. "You're right.. The crows are not to blame for what they are, but they should look elsewhere today. I will help you.."
Arla calls Ash to heel to ensure that the large dog keeps out of trouble for now. She then moves over to assist Bowen.
"My name is Arla, by the way.."
"I'm called Bowen, and we will hope that our luck is not caused by our meeting." Surprised at the ease they are able to carry her he turns towards the second new comer.
"Though she deserves better we do not have the time. We have choices giver her a funeral pyre or board the shack up. It looked to have stayed empty from other beasts."
1) The hour, in game, is getting late. It will be night within an hour or less.
2) Travel within the Darkwood Vale requires a light, such as a torch, in order to follow tracks. The first party was getting close to being out of a workable light source, though as Fee is still with them and we are using the Alpha ruleset, the light spell is constantly useable. But if anything were to happen to Fee, that light source would be gone.
"What about the other children!?" asks Rall helplessly "We were after them ... we promised to find them!"
Nodding in agreement with Bowen Aeryn introduces herself to the group.
What about the other children!?" asks Rall helplessly "We were after them ... we promised to find them!
"Other Children?!"
This is getting to be a bit mush for Aeryn, she decides if they are leaving the girl in the shack she'd like to check it for herself first.
She walks towards the shack then pauses for a moment, "Is it safe in there?"
Arla glances back at Rall for a moment. "Other children..? Do you mean there are more like this girl..?" She hopes that this is not the case. Afterall, they believed that there was only one large creature to track when they left this morning, and there was no mention of anything to do with children..
Bowen shakes his head, "We will not give up on the other children that is what we came out for, but I refuse to leave this one to the animals because of what we have done to her."
Bowen's eyes look far away for a moment until they refocus on his companions around him, "I'm up for traveling much of the night if need be. I still remember the direction the girl told us the lizards are located. It should not be to hard... And if need be we can use some of the things inside this shack for a light source since we are so low on them."
"Leave her body in the shack and block the door. We will return in the morning for her."
"Give me a few minutes to rest and I shall be ready to move on, that fight was rather draining." Taking another long pull from his waterskin, Balnar leans back against a tree and closes his eyes, apparently trying to get his heavy breathing under control again.
Arla glances at the men questioningly.
"Lizards, children... what is going on? Aeryn and I were only out here to track the creature that was stealing livestock..
Is there something else we should know about out here?"
"Balnar, Bowen, ... I've been as useless as teats on a bull out here in the country. I'll defer to you when it comes to where we should be going. But I say we don't sleep until we find those children."
"And Aeryn and Arla ... if you would join us in this, we might have some better luck. After all, within seconds of meeting you we were almost torn apart by a 7 foot tall child with fangs and hairy paws. Almost. I'd say you've brought us some luck already."
"If we must travel through the night, then so be it. But first I must ask Fee something," turning to Fee and looking him in the eye, "do you feel that you could keep up with us? Or would you prefer to hitch a ride on my back? Either way is OK by me, but do be aware that if we do travel on by night, we will want to move as quickly as we can afford to to get to those kids."
"I can walk," says Fee cheerfully. The halfling had been very quiet following the death of the girl, uncharacteristicly so. "I think a walk through the woods at night will be exciting. Do you think there will be ghost? I've always wanted to meet a ghost. One of the lay brothers at the temple lived in a haunted basement but I never saw a ghost before. Besides which it is going to be dark and our tracker will need to be careful so I don't think we'll be moving all that fast. How fast does a ghost move do you think. I wonder what it feels like to be a ghost. Not that I really want to find out you understand. Its not really right to linger around after you're dead. Dead people should move on. That's what I was taught. So when are we moving on? How many lights do you need to track by? I can make as many as you need! Do you think there will be goblins? I hate goblins..."
"If his feet move half as fast as his mouth, we will be trailing him," smiles Rall trying to put the recent events in the back of his mind and move forward.
"I've not run into many goblins on my tracks but I think after this one we shouldn't worry to much about the ankle bitters... I mean the short fighters very much"
Looking around Bowen finishes the make shift baricade to the inside of the hut.
"Well I think we should be leaving soon. Lets keep our weapons at the ready since we will be bringing our lighs with us."
"It does not bother me to travel through the night. I will follow and help in any way I can" Aeryn says as valiantly as possible.
Arla looks at Rall and nods. "If you need my help, then of course I'll do my best. Night travel is fine for me."
She looks down at Ash, who has sat down next to her as the group talks. Ruffling the fur on the large dog's head, she then glances back up at Rall. "If you need to find somebody, then we could help with tracking. I have some experience in following a trail. Ash has a keen nose too, but he still only follows what he wants to." She smiles slightly at the dog.
Bowen with only a gesture begins rushing off looking for the tracks.
As the wilderness types track, Rall makes helpful comments like "Was that a bird? I think I heard a bird." and "Moss grows on the North side of the tree, right?"
Bowen picks up the children's trail first and working together, he and Arla are soon leading the way through the vale. Fee provides some light, delighting in casting light on everybodies weapon, often multiple times, keeping up a line of chatter the whole time.
"I think you're right Rall. That was a bird. What kind of bird do you think is out at this time of night. I hope our trackers don't get sleepy. Do you think we'll be sleepy when we get there? Oooo Listen Rall, another bird!"
For four hours, the party presses on, the trail eventually swinging from a north-easterly direction almost straight west. Around them the darkness of the woods is absolute. Beyond the small lights of the party, there is just the blackness of an empty void. The trees begin to feel like pillars in some ancient cavern deep below the earth. By the fifth hour, the party has to slow down, for the trail becomes a little harder for the two trackers to follow, whether because they are getting tired or the simply because the forest floor is harder here, with more roots.
The queit sounds of the forest are suddenly broken by the sound of arguing to the south. The deep voices are not speaking the common tongue. They are arguing instead in goblin.
"That wass Gripcut! I wants the eyes this time!"
Bowen stops and turns to his companions with his fingers to his lips in a hushing motions. Then works at trying to give hand signals to the party about a plan. But since Bowen has rarely traveled with others his hand signals make little to no sense.
Balnar shakes his head when he realised what Bowen is trying to do. He waves his hand to get to get everyone's attention, then holds up one hand.
He silently counds down from three on his fingers then makes a punching motion, waiting to see if the others understand before jerking his head in the direction of the goblins.
Rall nods confidently and uses a stick to scribble in the dirt "three goblins -- punch them".
The arguing continues,
"You were too loud! I wantss the tonguess... So ssweet their fear. It wass over too ssoon."
"Iss your fault. You killss the firsst one!"
Bowen smiles and pulls his scimitar clear as well as buckling his katar on and making sure Rall notices.
Then swipes 'punch' out and added slice as well as full rush.
Rall draws his sword in advance and then creeps towards the creeps.
Rall draws his sword in advance and then creeps towards the creeps.
Hefting his axe, Balnar starts moving towards the goblins with surprising stealth.
If needed, Initiative Check: (1d20+2=14)
Bowen begins moving towards and slightly to the side of the voices.
Gripping her spear in one hand, Arla nods to her companions to show that she has understood. Silently, she motions to Ash to come to heel, hoping that the large dog will be quiet if she keeps him close and moves slowly.
Unfortunately, the druid is not really used to moving soundlessly, and accidentally steps on a twig which snaps underfoot.
The party climbs the hill, moving silently.
It is unfortunate that they are carrying such obvious lights in the dark depths of the forest.
The arguing stops abrubtly and suddenly everything is quiet ahead of them.
Rall stops tormenting himself about the girl and remember what he's here for: perception (1d20+4=20).
With the sound stopping suddenly, Balnar knows the element of surprise is lost and makes an attempt at bum rushing the first opponent he sees.
If he is able to get an attack in:
Attack Roll: (1d20+5=22) (-2 if he cannot get a charge in)
Damage Roll: (3d6+6=13)
Balnar rushes ahead, weapon at the ready, but there are no foes to be seen. Two bodies on the ground have been badly mutilated. There is, however, no sign of the arguers.
A wind rustles through the leaves of the trees somewhere above, but on the dark forest floor itself, there is no breeze.
Rall rushes to catch up with Balnar. Are the bodies those of humans? Children?
Rall incidentally heard nothing before he rushed forward. The bodies appear to be those of human males. One of them is still gripping a woodsmen's axe. His eyes are missing and his tongue has been cut out. Besides this there are numerous wounds all over his body. The other appears to have had his head crushed in.
It seems Aeryn was to preoccupied with scratching the dirt out from under her fingernails, when she sees Balnar run off she realizes somthing is going on and follows.
As more details become clear, one can see that the woodsmen with the crushed head has had both of his ears removed. His hand has also been sawed off.
Somwhere to the west, a branch creaks.