Rael shrug "The choice was taken from us, we are without water, hurt and wounded... we must risk the village... or risk death from exposure."

The young man seem sullen more then before, the meeting with the tree spirit did not help to ease his fears and he was sending cautious looks at Eldor.

" Risking the village or death by exposure could end up being one and the same..." He sighed lightly realizing he was thinking like an elf not a human and forgetting that traveling at night would be dangerous for his companions.

" I agree ... I will lead us to the village but be on your guard as we are being followed as it is." with that he slowly headed off in that direction.

 "No, but he could readily lead us over the least risky ground, and look you - if they have out sentries they are hunting for something, or someone." Sir Campbell points out, nodding towards the hills where Eldor and Rael have reported movement "We have little cause to be cautious of smock-coated peasants but there is little sense and less order in this land - But if you do insist, better then to have our fae companion scout the thorpe whilst we await news than stick our heads entire into the noose."

[Going with the 'majority' view]

The group lets Eldor move well ahead and then follows slowly behind him, keeping him just at the edge of vision.

Eldor approaches the village and seems to suffer no harm from the sentries who are themselves heading back to the settlement.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:30, Fri 11 Feb 2011.

As Eldor moved towards the village he pulled his hood up so as to not scare the children with his elven appearance.

As he neared "My young friends I wonder if I can ask to speak to the Vilalge elder, I have some friends that are in need of water and food to allow them to carry on their travels. We will not stay long but would be grateful of your help."

Rael kept his guard, he had little love to the fae but Eldor has proven himself time over time he was different from the fae in Rael homeland and so he had no wish to see harm come to the elf.

He had his blades ready to be drawn although he knew with his bad leg if things would turn sour he would not be able to act as quickly as may be needed.

The children appear to welcome Eldor but speak eagerly in a tongue which he cannot make head nor tail of.

[assuming from the lack of posts that no-one objects to following Eldor into the village]

The rest of the group cautiously approach and are ushered to the bonfire which is now leaping higher at the centre of the huts.  You notice that none of the folk around you are older than twelve or thirteen, as far as you can see in the starlight.

Except for the metal-clad Adonis and Thomas, who are treated with some reserve, you are offered crude cups of what appears to be fresh water scented with a few herbs - not alcoholic - while some of the children skip around the fire.

One of the older lads wears a crown made of flowers and stands before the fire, apparently oblivious to the sparks, as the others circle round him.

Eldor accepted the cup but made sur he didn't drink it until he had an opportunity to work out what herbs were in it and whether their sweet smell was disguising something else.

Rael sat by the fire, his wounds were aching and he was cold and hungry but there was something unnerving in watching a bunch of children talking gibberish. He could not shake the foreboding feeling from his bones but he did his best to look non-offensive and smiled and made sure he kept his hands close but not bluntly close to his weapon.

 For all of Sir Campbell, he would have pressed on around the settlement and taken advantage of the disappearance of the guards to march for an hour or so, putting the group out of their range and then settle in for the night - but while he'd have made it a demand (and just how far that would have gotten him is anyones guess) Sir Keith is nominally his social equal and opposed to the idea and therefore he was willing to go along with things.

 He keeps one hand often about his most potent weapon, the slim worn-smooth pendant of Gatanides harpoon (for the sharks) worn about his neck in sign of the Saviour as he watches the assembled children, muttering softly, "Autumnbreed mayhap?" to suggest that these are children taken by the 'kindly ones' for their own purposes.

Sir Thomas mimics the sign of the Savior and eyes the children "Mayhap though I question where all of the adults have gone to that they should abide here alone.""

The drink seems harmless enough and those of you who dare to sip it feel mildly refreshed.

The ceremony becomes a little more frenetic and suddenly you notice some flames jumping from the fire to surround the lad at the centre of the circle.  He does not seem to be harmed and in fact seems to smile more broadly.

Then he begins to stoop and writhe, finally turning to face the bonfire.

The dancers give a final clap and stop motionless and the flames subside once more.

Then the lad turns around, still smiling, and the other children ululate and snap their fingers together in delight.

At first you cannot see why - and then you feel an uneasy sense of surprise - for the boy standing before is no longer a human - but shows the exaggerated features and elongated limbs of a crafty, a boggin, a... goblin!  And yet he is still surely the same person.

The children chatter excitedly amongst each other and cluster around the transformed lad.

Rael was lulled into a nap by the warmth and drinks, he paid little attention to it until its very end.

Then when he saw the boggin he jump on his feet startled one hand on his blade.

"What kind of fae glamour is this?" he called

 Grimacing inside the confines of his helm Sir Campbell continues to cradle his injured arm close through the course of the 'festivities'. On other days he might well have gladly gone amongst the dancers, for while the ceremony smacks of pagan days there is no honest follower of the True Faith who would begrudge bonfire celebrations as the year turns and he's seen in the longest night with prayer and dances both before now.

 But the appearance of the boggin..?

 Well now, that drops his good hand to his sword-hilt but mindful of the fact that they're under hospitality here he does not draw it forth, though his teeth gnash behind his helm and he responds to the nearby Rael with a growled, "It matters not if one or more of them wear human seeming. Only that they do no harm thereby and we have much distance to make up on the morrow."

Eldor was watching the proceedings and as soon as Rael jumped to his feet he was moving too.


Quickly he put his hand on the young warrior's sword arm " Hold you hand my friend" he whispered in the man's ear. " put down your sword" While he spoke he smiled at the surrounding children.

" If you wish to add child killer to your titles then by all means attack the creature but I hazard a guess that you will have to go through a fair few of them before you get to him." He gently patted the lad's arm " put it away but keep your wits about you... let us see how this pans out before we make any rash decisions" This last he said in a soft and gentle voice.

"Very well..." Rael grumbles and move his hand away from the hilt of the blade slowly sitting back in his place.

Your muffled conference and the narrowly-avoided explosion of violence is not noticed by your hosts, gleeful as they are at their oldest brother's transformation.

After a few more moments they lead him towards the entrance to the settlement and stand around him, looking eagerly to the east.  Some of them pull at Eldor's sleeves and point excitedly into the distance.

After a few moments, adjusting your eyes away from the firelight, you can make out a line of faint lights, as though from torches burning moonlight, ascending towards you through the slopes to the east.

[The lights are moving at walking pace so you still have at least 15 minutes before they reach here].

[Another 5 minutes pass since no posts]

The line of lights draws closer and you make out at least a dozen.  As they approach, the children grow quiet, you can feel that their elation is slowly turning to serious purpose, whoever is coming is important in their lives.   The children seem almost to have forgotten the presence of armed strangers in their midst.

 What quickly grows apparent to Sir Campbell is that the approaching host is not something that contributes anything to their plan to rest and move on with the morning and could well represent an danger they're simply not equipped to deal with, so touching Rael and then Sit Keith on their arms, the tired and battered Knight rumbles, "Let us draw back into one of the huts. There's no monster here to slay 'nor villain to oppose and I would lief as not intrude upon these uncanny festivities."

Eldor over hears the knights suggestion and nods agreement. keeping his sight on the approaching party he slowly moved back into the shadows of one of the huts crouches down and waits to see what happened next.

Karl nods in agreement and hobbles back into the shadows as well.

The suggestions of the others made sense and Rael quickly followed hiding in the shadows of one of the huts

The party moves into the shadows and the children pay no attention.

After a tense wait, the torches arrive at the entrance of the village and you count almost a score of crafties armed with wooden spears.  They appear to be herding a long string of cattle.

They are obviously pleased to see the newly transformed youngster and there is a lot of singing and and excited chatter.  Then he is handed his own spear and sent out with several others to the west, driving the cattle.

After this, things go wrong and the remaining crafties move into the settlement to stand around the fire.  One of them obviously senses your presence as he turns towards the huts where you are hidden and calls some of his pals to back him up.

He approaches your location suspiciously, spear held at the ready.

 Hidden is perhaps an over-generous term for the process Adonis has led the group on, which basically consisted of finding a spot in the shelter of the huts out of the way and settling down for a comfortable wait, and with Eldor standing the watch it'll be their elfin guide who's the first to treat with the approaching local.

Thomas holds his peace as the crafties start to approach them. Mayhap this was not such a wise idea but now they were commited. this could get very ugly in a short period of time. Though, these monsters are likely to not like the taste of steel or sir Adonis's weapon should it come to bloodshed.