Brakkus gives an eloquent shrug. He clearly has no idea.

You reach the high point of the rising ground after about an hour, and soon after passing the crest you can begin to make out the edge of some hills in the distance - perhaps the tallest is fifteen hundred feet high.

First, though, the terrain slopes gently downward again and the forest gets thicker.

At first Rael is ready for a grim fight with the new comers, yet when he see the reaction of both group he clearly relax. When Kjaelos speaks it is hard for him to follow although Rael think it has to do with some sort of feast and preparing some sheep.

Shaking his head he speaks in broken Visic "No eat now, we go or capture we are."

 Stepping out from the scrubby bogland tree behind which he'd taken modest cover, and with his hand still on the hilt of the short, old-fashioned blade slung at his hip (but with no immediate intention to draw it), Sir Campbell offers the group a smooth nod and a resounding, "Gods blood it's good to see friendly faces once more!", the knight seeming to be about to say more when Brakkus speaks up to explain the need for haste, earning him a grimace and the group as a whole a 'come on' motion of one arm, the knight once more taking the lead (since his was the group in front) and holding the position as legs are stretched until the forest comes into view...

 "There! - they'll not be able to bring the horses into that, so it'll be footmen and dogs only we've to take account of... And the more that follow us the less to follow the others. Come lads, push on and with enough distance we need not have a cold camp tonight!" the indefatigable knight declares, quite plainly far too limited in his imagination to realise that he ought to be sitting down and resting around now.

Unused to such strenuous exercise, Kjaelos is soon reduced to ragged panting and fatigue trying to follow at the knight's blistering pace. Once inside the shade of the forest among its thick undergrowth, he pauses for a brief moment to catch his breath. Leaning wearily on his staff, he glances back up the path where the party had come over, eyes peeled for signs of their purported pursuers.

Struggling to speak, Kjaelos calls out to the party inbetween his pants, "This... vegetation should... afford us... cover... Makes... our pursuers' bows... ineffective... And conceals... our strength... We ambush here? And... find out who... pursues us?"

"Well met sir Adonis it does my heart good to see you all well and alive" Said Eldor as he entered the circle of friends having been at the rear covering thier retreat.

Turning to Brakkus " I think we will be fine for a while I followed those that we were running from and made some false tracks for them to follow. When they came to the wood cutters cottage they pulled out our ex prisoner and persauded him to talk. Then one of them placed the limp body over his shoulder and they headed back towards the village."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:45, Wed 08 Sept 2010.

Rael frowns at that looking at the elf for the first time without a shudder "They killed tied man?" he asks.

Eldor put a reasuring hand on the young warrior's shoulder " No I believe the beat him and then took him back to the village."

Rael is so weak from blood loss that the mare touch make his knee wobble and he stagger, taking a step back he bite his lower lip and nods slowly.

"No honor in killing peasants..." although what did he knew about honor, he killed for gold or even copper nowadays.

Seeing Rael stumble Eldor quickly placed an arm round him and half led half carried him over to a fallen tree.

"You are brave and strong to have come so fare with those wounds but it would be folly to continue without them being treated."

"Master Brakkus we have a friend here in need of your assistance if at all possible."

With that Eldor started digging through his backpack for herbs his mother, the old witch of the forest had given him for the trip. Tehy would not help heal the wounds but would aid in giving the young man some much needed energy.

Kjaelos helps Eldor ease the injured Rael down into a resting position against the tree. Bringing out his waterskin, he offers it to the injured warrior. "In small mouthfuls..slowly." Doing a quick examination of the warrior's injuries, Kjaelos manages to identify the most severe wound. Holding his left hand above the wound, he whispers a few words in the arcane tongue, calling upon his eldritch powers to stop the bleeding and knit the wound back together.


"My powers are limited. This is about all that I can do..." Looking at Rael for a moment, Kjaelos takes the herbs from Eldor and with some strips of cloth torn from his own shirt, begins dressing Rael's wounds.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:40, Wed 08 Sept 2010.

Brakkus wanders over to Rael, but when he sees magical healing is on offer he sits back and lets Kjaelos take over.

 "No ambushes I think. We've got a lead, best to maintain it..." Adonis decides after a few moments, not seeming to think there's any need to offer the decision around for consultation, not with heavy cavalry, dogs and archers somewhere on their back trail and a vital message to deliver across demon-haunted moors, though even the redoubtable Albish nobleman slows when Rael falters, turning his eyes to their back trail while the healers work their arts, "Will yon lad be able to travel, or do we need to carry him?" he asks after a moment, plainly wanting the healers opinion rather than that of the warrior (whom the knight naturally assumes is going to be possessed of more courage than brains, an assumption so breathtakingly ironic coming from Sir Campbell as to run the risk of bending space and time itself).

Eldor looks at the knight "he is of strong bady and stout mind he will make it and if he were to faulter and slow the rest of you then I will stand with him while you all go on."

It was said as fact rather than as a suggestion. Eldor liked the young man and would not see him left to fend for himself.

Turning back to the matter at hand "so Sir Adonis what is your plan? when we spotted you you were in quite a hurry I take it you are on another mission. If I can be of service then you only have to ask."

[ooc: Nice interaction... a pleasure to read!]

Rael feels much better after Kjaelos' intervention and is able to stand up and get moving almost immediately.

Following Adonis' blunt instructions, the party start moving again, at a slightly slower pace.  After about another hour the incline shallows out and the the trees get denser, it is quite an effort to get through them.    Still, the party eventually reach the bank of a small river, flowing northwards across your route.    The distant hills are now much closer and have grown to fill the horizon.

Behind you, the sun is low in the sky and not far from its rest.


[ooc: additional rules, please see msg #490 on this page link to a message in this game ]

 He's not precisely what anyone would call bright, but on the other hand it's rarely a mistake when there's trouble in the offing to go with Sir Campbells instincts - he is, as they would say 'good with his hands', and right now all those instincts are saying 'get some distance opened up'.

 "No need for that master fairy, if yon lad can't maintain the pace then we'll carry him to the edge of the wood where we can fashion a stretcher. I'll not leave any to yon witchfolk." - this last said with a glare shot in the direction of the town somewhere along their back-trail.

 "As for our plan..." - here something of the knights certainty fades away as abstract concepts and preparing for tomorrow start to raise their ugly head, but he ventures on through the unfamiliar terrain as best he can, "Yon horsemen and suchlike are proof of treason or some such, and we're moving to spread word of it before their riders can move out, crossing the moors while they take the road."

Thomas has followed along keeping watch for ambushes but mostly keeping himself for the non. He nods in agreement with Sir Adonis and continues to follow the group so that they might escape. He keeps his newly acquired bow and 3 arrows out and one knocked.

Karl silently follows along keeping an eye out for the pursuers.

Rael face is still pale but he is a felt a lot stronger. Oddly he did not seem to flinch from the use of magical healing and seem to accept it with ease, oddly more consider his reaction to the fey.

He bowed his head to Kjaelos speaking in broken Visic "Thank you... heart ... Rael soul..." then switching to his native tongue he continued speaking rapidly""

He then turn his attention to Eldor lowering his gaze muttering "Shame I brought... " he take a deep breath life his gaze to meet the fey eyes and speak again in an odd language "" He offers his hand to Eldor.

He looks at the new faces and nods slighty "I am Rael" he says planting his fist on his chest "I will go on leg and not be carry like an old hag." he smiles an odd smile "I can scout ahead or back... if you need me."

[Will you move on?  Or set up camp by the river.  The forest stops on the near bank]

Bjorn stands with his hands on his hips, catching his breath as he stares up and down the stream rather intently.

 Rael's offer receives a gruff "No, it's well enough sirrah, conserve your strength for the night ahead.", then looking up at the sky Sir Campbell tilts his head and rumbles, "I'd guess to an hour or so of light left... enough to reach the edge of the woods but not enough to get us up onto the moor... A cold camp then." before looking back over his shoulder and frowning, then examining the river with a grimace, his ill-spent youth of hunting almost anything that could be hunted coming into use for once, if from the wrong side of the spear "Not enough water to turn the dogs off our scent however, we'll need a watch all night. Two men, minimum."

 "But we can use the time nonetheless - upstream a ways, until we find a good camp-site. It'll take us off the direct path of our escape and we can find our path readily enough when we start out at first light." he goes on to add, giving each member of the group in turn a measuring look, as if assessing whether any of them are likely to need support before the day's march is done.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:39, Fri 10 Sept 2010.

Arriving at the small river that cuts across the party's path, Kjaelos stops to catch his breath. Leaning heavily on his staff, panting raggedly, his eyes closed in exhaustion, Kjaelos struggles to speak, "Sun setting...soon...Better cross...river...1st...then camp...upstream...to throw off...tracks..."

Pausing for a moment to catch his breath, he turns to look hopefully at Eldor. Pointing at the elf, then gesturing at the ground, he continues, "Make false tracks...as before?"

Recovering his breath slightly, Kjaelos elaborates his plan further, "Unless our pursuers have elven trackers or magical means at their disposal, they can't track us easily through the night. That leaves their hunting dogs. And we can throw off our scent by crossing the river then moving upstream. We use the remaining light to scout out a good place for an ambush, then make camp there tonight under double guard. Eldor should make false tracks to mislead the pursuers as he did before."

Pausing, he looks around at the party, "Well?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:14, Fri 10 Sept 2010.

Karl nods in agreement.  "It sounds like a good plan to me."

After catching its breath for a moment, the group turns south and heads upstream for half a mile, keeping to the west bank and occasionally wading through the shallows.   The stream gets gradually narrow and steeper-sided and when you reach a small waterfall you decide to call a halt.

You make camp and set a watch in pairs, throughout the night, which passes peacefully enough.  It seems your pursuers are also not keen on the dark.

The first glimmers of dawn are lightening the sky above the Downs when you awake.

 It's cold, it's dank and it's early - all reasons to quite thoroughly despise the young Albish knight for his demonstration of the principle 'no sense, no feeling' as Sir Campbell drags his half-armoured carcass to his feet in the morning and - after a vigorous campaign of stretches on the spot - starts to draw on the limb-pieces of his armour, testing their fit and repeating the stretches when everything is in place, before stooping once more to break cold trail rations out of his kit, "We'll eat and then get underway gentlemen - but it seems to me there'll be scant firewood on the moor, so if every man takes up a little as we walk we'll have enough for a warm meal and maybe a tissane once or twice on our trip." he advises to the group at large.