Hadrik notes the worried expressions provoked by the living head and strides over to it, grabbing it by the lank hair.

"Talk, ye bastairt!" he shouts.

The head continues with eyes drowsily half-closed.  Hadrik whips out his dagger and in one swift movement hacks off its left ear.  The head opens its mouth and yowls in pain - then appears to control itself and talks in good Visic - "I'll talk, surely I will, no need for that, o mighty Thane."  If it had legs it would be grovelling.


"Right then, that's handy" says Hadrik, wiping his dagger on his trews.

"We hae at least three days afore my lads get back fae the Jarl at Castle Ely - let's use them wisely.  Cause after that we go north and we don't come back until we get some answers.

 Sir Campbell - would ye kindly organize some practice drills for all the fighting lads.  Sword against sword, sword against spear, spear against spear, I'm sure you can imagine the combinations.  The Keith, and Brejgun here shall help ye, if it suits.

 Beren and the lad Karl - see that everyone is stitched up and as well as they ever might be by the time we march out.

 Auld Brakkus - you and Bjorn are tae take this damn foul head beastie and kick whatever shite out ae it yous need tae, to find out all he knows about a' the wild stuff happenin' around here.

 Eldor and Harou - you shall train the fellows in woodcraft whenever they are not practicing the fighting".

[ooc: please each team agree between themselves (aka via PMs) and then post here summarizing what their tactics are.  Give me a 2d10 roll with that post and I will then decide how successful you are.

 In addition, the chance to have so much training from warriors and scholars of different backgrounds, plus the almost unfamiliar feeling of safety now that there are so many of you at the inn, allows everyone to hone his skills a little.

You may each add a few XP as follows: roll 2 separate d6s and take the HIGHER roll.  You can add this value to your XP total - just PM me the value so that I can note it down as well.]

Beren and Karl set to healing and stitching, Beren the more experienced warriors, Karl the rank and file.


OOC - 16:32, Today: Karl Borensson rolled 8 using 2d10. Success over the next 3 days.

Thomas growls at the head and smirks in some small satisfaction as the ear gets cut off from the abomination. He says to Hadrick in his limited Visic, "Good Thane, this thing stole my kit from me while I sleep. Ask it, where it hid it.

He nods about helping the Campbell but waits to see if the thing will cough up the location of his armour and arms proper.

Hadrik nods to Brakkus at Thomas' question - "aye then - ask the fiend that an a'!".
.

[ooc: so, Thomas, you will get your answer in a couple of days when the interrogators have finished]

Brakkus looks at the head with distaste, then marshalls his thoughts and put on a stern tone, laced with a touch of sympathy. "I have no wish to hurt you, but if you do not tell me what I need to know I will have to turn you over to people who will surely cause you great anguish before you die. Now, to show good faith, tell us where you hid the good knight's belongings"

Eldor and Harou set up a training system for the soon to be scouts. Eldor will go out into the nearby woods leaving a trail for them to follow.

The first few times he will make it simple for them to allow Harou, who acompanies them to assess their abilities. As the trails get harder they will be able to wittle the group down to the chosen few.

At the same time as this is going on Harou will impart his knowledge for wilderness survival to these men as both Eldor and Harou believe that following a track is only a small part of being a good scout. Independance and the ability to survive alone for long periods of time is important too.

Harou will also give lessons in treating wounds in the field while Eldor will instruct the scouts on herb lore.


20:27, Today: Eldor Leaf-fall rolled 2 using 2d10. for scout training.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:27, Mon 08 Mar 2010.

d10: 10
d10: 3
total: 13

"There is more to being in the wild than finding food and water," lectures Harou to the trainees.  "Especially if you have a town to provide it.  There are other things.  Making a soft bed of grass and leaves, for example.  Keeping flies away.  Removing ticks.  Which areas are important to keep clean, and which can be safely neglected.  All of these are important.  Less one: how to chew grass!"

 Well, either Eldor or me have royally screwed up by the numbers. ^_^
 13:28, Today: Sir Adonis Campbell rolled 20 using 2d10. Training the dudes.

 ---

 The training of the guardsmen is a fairly simple process - quite early on in the discussion between the two knights and the northman they seem to agree that new weapons aren't going to be forthcoming and there's not much point trying to drastically improve individual skill, instead they work on teamwork exercises, splitting up the comfortable groups and working Athelstane against Hadrick, alongside them, against knights, in pairs.

 Eventually they settle on three basic combat routines, based on the possible scenarios that might face them when they march out:

 A shield wall formed of Athelstanes men with Hadricks light soldiers using spears over the top of it and his heavier men holding the flanks forms the basic tactic to a fight on the road or across any moderately crowded space, freeing the two knights and the Northman to form a small but extremely vicious flying wedge, with the added opportunity (put forth by Brejgun) to have the spearman fan out and either lengthen the wall or fall on enemy flanks.

 The warriors fighting in pairs in rough terrain - the sort of thick, tangled undergrowth that hampers sword-swings and breaks formations, each man keeping close in to his partner and the pairs doing their best to remain in support of one another, the pairs being selected by how well the men seem to operate during the skirmishes (done with fire-wood staves instead of live steel).

 And finally for anything that's somewhere between the two extremes, the two groups either remain in their original teams (Brejguns preference) or are mixed up a little (Sir Thomas's) in order to fight in two roughly-equal groups, covering one anothers backs or in more offensive operations.

By the third day after the slaughter of the wolves, Hadrik begins to get anxious waiting for the return of his men.

[ooc: still waiting for some XP roll values]

Brakkus reports on the information he has discovered, in front of Hadrik, Creldo and several others of you.
 .the head only took over the inn a week or two before the adventurer's first arrived
 ..it did kill the serving staff, whose bodies you found in the wood locker
 ...it really does not seem to know anything about the list of written names which you found hidden in the innkeeper's bedroom
 ....it also does not seem to know much about the recent escapades of wolves or goblins.  it seems to be very old and knows their species, but regards them as nuisances to be avoided wherever possible
 .....regarding Thomas' equipment, it says that his armour was buried in the ground somewhere around the inn, so as not to attract suspicion from visitors.  It can't remember where as it places little value on such things.  As for the sword, it cannot remember at all.

The head has gone almost grey in colour and got a parched look since you last saw it.  Its unnatural life seems to be slowly fading from it...

Eldor pulls Thomas to one side "if you would like I could look at the ground around the inn for any signs of desturbance to try and locate your last items."

Thomas is more than a little annoyed by this turn of events. His family blade is lost and his armour is buried in the ground somewhere close to the inn. He nods to the tall, lithe man. "It would be a boon if you would. I shall help as it is my legacy that this thing has stolen."

With that, he sets to looking around the inn grounds for signs that someone has dug in the ground, an irrgular raise in the ground, or a depression where the dirt has settled some.

Beren and Karl's ministrations seem to have some effect.
[ooc: any wounded person may roll 1d3 - that is how many HP they recover, over and above natural healing].

Thomas sets about digging up the grounds while Eldor follows a few paces behind him making strange gestures with his staff.

Eldor watches Thomas scratching about in the as he settles himself onto the ground.

Placing both hands to either side palms down and flat on the earth he closes his eyes. Taking a few deep breaths he gathers his essence into the middle of his chest. Feeling it build up into the familiar rush of power he lets it run down his arms and through his finders into the ground.

It was an unusual feeling connecting to the earth, he could feel the creatures that lived in it as his power spread out from him like ripples in a pond.

His mind concentrated on locating anything out of place within the earth in a bid to find the young warrior's armour.



After what seems like hours to Eldor he pulls his power back into his body. Frustrated that he was unable to help find the armour but realizing if he continued he would be putting his life in danger and thus possibly those around him he had to give up the search.

Getting to his feet, he staggered slightly with the strain of what he had just tried to do " I am sorry my friend" he side to Thomas " but my powers are not as strong as they should be with the injuries I have recently sustained. I will rest for a few hours to gain my strength and try again if you have not located your possessions by then."


With that he walked slowly back to the inn to find a quiet place to sleep.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:49, Thu 11 Mar 2010.

In reply to Eldor Leaf-fall (msg #30):

 [ooc: sorry for the slowdown: having a horrendous week at work]

The soldiers have been trained hard by Adonis et al.  Perhaps too hard - in one of the practices a nose was broken, and there is some bad blood now between the Athelstanes and Hadrik's men.  Hadrik has to bang a few heads together to quiet them.

Now as the sun goes down, Hadrik outlines his plans:
"I cannae very well march right up tae Ettryck's keep.  But that wee village on the border - I'm thinking if I were tae take a nigght's rest there wi' my patrol - well perhaps anyone who has somethin tae hide might sneak out the back way! Now if you folk were tae take the Athelsham boys and cut through the moors round behind - we might just snag a few eejits.

Now' how is it yous will divvy yersels up? We need one lot to the east and one to the west o' the main road."
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:30, Thu 11 Mar 2010.

 You can't make an omelette without breaking a few noses, and Adonis at least encourages playing as hard as you mean to fight, but since he's also perfectly willing to be right in there giving and receiving some of the pumelling things probably could have gone worse...

 ...though it's hard to see how just at the moment, a valid note for the future would seem to be to keep the young knight busy working out tactics (which he has a gift for) and the hell away from training the soldiery.

 Just where he's going to end up seems to be almost a matter of indifference for him however (and he manages to disguise for at least the moment his confusion over the talk of a keep, which he'd largely either missed in the first place or forgotten about altogether), but he does rather amiably suggest that "I suppose we could draw straws or flip a coin or some such... for myself I'm not much of a one for subtlety I'm afraid, very much more the point and charge sort."

Brejgun is felling fully fit for the first time in days, and he's all chipper for it.

"Lord Thane, I can go the way of the moors. I tink that some of your lads are perhaps the most suited for that kind of march, so I could go with perhaps half of those - and perhaps ... Thomas and Harou? Beren or Brakkus might join us also ... ?", he finishes looking around to the others.

Brakkus watches over the head dispassionately, waiting patiently for the abomination to die but alert for any last minute trickery.

In reply to Brakkus the Hermit (msg #34):

"Well then, you shall take the left flank over the high moors where we found the head.  The Campbell shall take the right along with Eldor who took that way some days hence.   The rest of you split up as you see fit - a couple o' the Athelstanes will go with each party.  You must leave early i' the morning to get a start. On the afternoon o' the second day I will be arriving at the village  in all pomp and we shall see what rats come skiting out"

[ooc: please let me know who goes in which group]

As Hadrik finishes speaking, the sentry on the roof whistles a caution.  Riders are approaching from the east.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:11, Sat 13 Mar 2010.

Brakkus approaches Beren. "Perhaps the two of us should take some men and investigate the cave" he suggests.

Beren's ears would have perked up like a cat's, had they been able to. "Oh yes, with all those cuts and bruises and scratches to mend I had all but forgotten about the cave! Of course, we will investigate it, but I'd rather have some additional muscle, how many men do you think Hadrik would let us borrow?"

"Thane Hadrik. Shall we see who these riders are?"

 "Aye, well that strikes me as sensible eno..." Sir Campbell begins to reply before the thunder of approaching drumbeats upon the earth rolls out and he rises, turning his head towards the oncoming sound and reaching to lay a hand upon the hilt of his sword (though sensibly not drawing it) before moving to see what might be seen of the oncoming group (and to try and get a sense of their numbers).

Hadrik nods at you to spread out.  From the sound it seems the riders are indeed moving fast.

ELdor comes awake at the sound of movement around him and finding out the situation grabs his bow and heads up to his familiar position on the roof.

Out of the mouth of the Ely road bursts a single rider - it seems to be one of Hadrik's men.  He is urging his horse forward but it seems to be almost blown, its eyes rolling with fear and spittle foaming around its mouth.

He hails Hadrik "we are being chased my lord... the others... back there".