Drake draws his blade slowly, making a show of admiring its sleek death dealing edge. His voice comes out in almost a whisper, languid and soft, even mild. But the menace and steel just beneath is unmistakeable.

"And you did nothing, said nothing, to the lad. Or lass. How...inconceivable that is..."

He looks up, first at Jon, then Hull. "I'll not ask again. I want to know everything..."

Jon raised an eyebrow at Drake and his jaw set firm, " Like we said...we walked out. Sat watch for....well, not long. Then we see this figure coming from...well, I guess this direction. Then I woke up with you getting all affectionate."

Seeing the determined look on Jon's face, Drake decides there is nothing more the man is hiding. At least not much more.

With a curt nod to the two men as a sort of apology, he glances around at the party and sighs heavily. "This is a riddle I have no answer to. If we cannot find anything in this place that might hint at the motivation for the bewitching, I must assume that whatever motive the lass or lad had, has already been fulfilled. And this could be information about us, our intentions, and our destination..."

Drake's lips are tight as he considers the situation for a moment. "If there is nothing more anyone wishes to add, I suggest we get on with our respective journeys."

He turns to the older Erewornian and nods his farewells. "Thank you for the shelter. Be safe. And may you find whatever peace there is that still exists in these lands."

Just before he turns away, he looks up at the older man, a shrewd glint in his eyes. "Whereabouts is Gullet Hollow, good Sir? Is it near where we are?"

Dann shrugs, silently agreeing that there is nothing else to obtain from this place. His body language makes it clear that he does not like the way the two 'bewitched' companions have been interrogated. He will see to it that this kind of thing does not happen again.

" Aye....we won't be lingering here. Fare you well."

" The Hollow. Tis a long way south, most of the way down the Ereworn coast..."

In reply to GM (msg # 137):

The companions make their own preparations to depart, with both Hull and Jon noting that they do feel a little light-headed but well rested regardless.

Brannon looks to the forest that borders the mountains, it should be barely half a day through there to the lands of Clan Hewell. Then it was just a matter of finding this Blaine Lyssen, and the Dell of Lalliwick....without attracting too much attention.

There should be a cattle trail somewhere nearby for when the kings share of coos are brought down to market....perhaps higher ground would help...

"Brannon, you know these lands best. We will follow your lead my friend. And let's keep alert."

Drake shoulders his pack, takes one more concerned look at Jon, then falls in behind Brannon. Cattle trail or otherwise, he trusts Brannon will know the best route, or find out as he goes along.

"Right enough!" Brannon packs away the notes he was making of the altar, and duly takes the leas. He is a keen outdoorsman, and clearly in his element, though the armed comrades following him no doubt help his mood in the wild landscape...

In reply to Brannon Darrow (msg # 140):

Shouldering his pack and bow, Lann takes his position and pushes on with the companions. He also keeps a lookout for Jon and Hull.

Dann falls in line and follows his companions, silently.

In reply to Dann of Clan Valin (msg # 142):

Brannon stepped beneath the trees of the ancient forest, though there were signs of human hands in the form of scattered stumps and strippings from logs there was still something primeval about these woods.

The companions began to climb through the rough undegrowth and stony outcrops towards the upper part of the slopes beneath stands of pine, birch, rowan, aspen, juniper and gnarled oak.

Capercaillie rattled somewhere off in the distance and curious crossbills watched them from the branches.

Dann found signs of both roe and red deer and many smaller animals, after sometime the group came across a broad eroded path bearing the marks of many hooves....but the cattle had not been driven down this path for quite sometime.  Seeing little other option the companions followed the stock trail up through the forest.

Suddenly Drake called a halt, his keen ears had picked up sounds ahead beyond a jutting boulder before there was a levelling out of the trail.

"Sounds like a bear in distress. I'll take a look..."

Drake crouches low to the ground as he creeps stealthily to the boulder and peers out from behind it to whatever is in front...
This message was last edited by the player at 14:20, Wed 08 Nov 2017.

Dann unsheathes his sword and spins slowly around, to make sure no bad surprises is coming his way.

Brannon unslings his bow and readies an arrow.

In reply to Brannon Darrow (msg # 146):

Lann readies his bow and arrow.

Before Drake in the clearing is a great bear, larger by half again than any he has seen before....its brown and grey pelt is slick with blood on its right hand side and a broken off spear projects from its right shoulder, another from its right flank....the bear is huffing heavily and rocking back and forth.

Drake notes blood and broken trees to the west of this clear area and judges that the bear came through that way. There is a sudden change in the wind, and the great beasts ears suddenly prick up as its nostrils flare to catch whatever scent the breeze has brought to it...

OOC: The bear is currently 30m away from Drakes position, but cannot see him...whether it can smell him.....

Drake backs away quietly. While the bear looks like it has hunters on its tail, and that it is having a bad time of the fight for its life, Drake is all too aware of the propensity of wild animals to attack ferociously at the slightest provocation when in such straits. He can do nothing about his scent, but he can behave in a unprovocative manner...

In reply to Drake Taubron (msg # 149):

It is only the years of intense training in the mountain holdfast of [REDACTED] that allow Drake to silently retreat the 10-15m or so towards the other companions.

The bear has ceased bawling and has gone silent, its great heavy head swinging back and forth but eventually turning back towards the trail it came down....it sat down heavily on its haunches and glowered in that direction.

Having withdrawn several meters back from where he first spotted the injured bear, Drake squats down on his haunches, quietly remaining in place. He turns and signals his companions to approach his position slowly and stealthily. He turns back to the scene before him, watching the bear, as well as the path of broken trees, expecting its hunters to appear anytime soon...

OOC - Drake is not making any overtures to the bear, but do feel free to do what you have in mind.

"Let's try to walk around the bear, and make ourselves unnoticed. No need to enter into an unprovoked fight at this stage." proposes Dann, seeing the size of the bear and wondering if it is really natural.

Without taking his eyes off the behemoth, Drake replies. "Unless you mean taking a wide detour around and totally avoiding the animal, there's no way we can get around it without it detecting us..."

His voice turns thoughtful. "It does look rather too big for a normal bear. And the Erewornian said this Strawberry is a witch...Let's watch for a while and see what comes out of this?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:01, Wed 15 Nov 2017.

Dann emits a short grunt, but does not otherwise react.

In reply to Dann of Clan Valin (msg # 154):

As the companions wait they hear sudden activity from within the woods nearby and they note a number of plaid dressed forms moving stealthily through the trees. None of them seem to have seen the companions yet as they are focused on the bear in the clearing above.

Drake continues watching quietly, hidden in his place of cover. He strains his ears to catch any stray words or conversations between the forms.

OOC - Any words or language he recognizes? Ok basically at this point, Drake wants to establish:
1. What's happening here.
2. Who are these plaid-dressed forms.
3. Is there more than meets the eye for why are they hunting the bear.

He will observe carefully to pick up any hint to the above questions.

Brannon nocks an arrow to his bow, but keeps it lowered. He watches warily. "Let these strangers take the risk..." He murmers. "If it goes badly for them, we can always step in... or run..."