Hennys mother turned to him, still colouring from the silver and the attention she was being paid by Lord and Priest.

" We will draw south with my husbands brother and his wife. Perhaps there will be a man in Hallowhall who has lost his wife, perhaps I will stay a widow."

" Henny will marry when she comes of age.", she seemed resigned more than happy but she smiled nonetheless.

" Say goodbye to the borderer, Henny."

" Thankyou, Milords."

"We will let the salt take this place again.", she said indicating the farm.

" Where will you go? Where are from?", she said suddenly.

"You are going South?  I believe the Black Knight came from the South, from Ereworn maybe." Mused Finan.

" Aye.", said the older man as he came forward. " Hallowhall lies on the border. But theres order in Ereworn now."

" Theres a lord again in Hallowhall. He's a green one; Sir Garth and his young wife Clothilda."

" But we've got a town guard now. She won't be troubled by such filth there."
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:02, Tue 07 May 2013.

"A Green Knight did you say!  Sir Garth of Hallowhall..." Finan seemed suprised.  If the peasant was correct this surely was good news.  To have such a lord on the border would strengthen security considerably.

Turning to Dann and Yamousou, Finan continues;
"If this is correct, it may serve us to visit this lord soon and pay our respects.  First we should get Guillaume back to the city.  The Priest in the True Faith church there can bury him, as Guillaume was of that faith."

"Haven't we a boat to catch? Maybe we should not take too much time going around... or has the loss of the chaubrettan ended this plan?" asks a wary Dann, not sure if he is willing to go around visit noble princes any more.

In reply to Dann of Clan Valin (msg # 470):

"Well, theres a higher chance I'll get to meet some 'dead' princes if we leave this damned place!  You'll find conversation more soothing, they either invite, nay, 'demand' you go where they came from or they rest in peace for eternity...  Either way, it makes for excellent conversation!"

The remaining members of the family embraced, there was no attempt to reclaim anything further from the wreckage of the farm.

The rescuees climbed onto the wagon, the young man came back from inspecting the farm and embraced Henny while regarding the companions dubiously.

They were thanked again, Henny waved goodbye to Dann and they departed south.
....................

The companions began their long trek north with their wounds, Guillames body and heavy hearts.

Some hours later, as they made their way back they noted a large flock of gulls circling over a field to their left..

Yamousou trudged along the dirt track. Carrying a body was hard work over a long distance, even if he was taking shifts with the others. When someone else pointed out the circling birds he commented, "Back in my homeland we have many large carrion birds that circle like that above a kill site. They harass the predators until they leave, then go in to feast. They can strip a rhino to the bone. But these birds look more like sea birds."

Thinking he needs the exercise, Dann proposes: "I will have a look". Without waiting for approbation, he makes his way swiftly but lightly towards the circling birds.

In reply to Dann of Clan Valin (msg # 474):

Kores is agitated, drained, burnt out and impatient for the night to come....

"Well, don't spend too long underneath them, else you'll have to clean up!"

As Dann gets close a horrendous smell assaults his nostrils, and great clouds of gulls squawk angrily at the former Reaver as he approaches.

There is a dead pilot whale lying in the field, it has a large number of holes in it from the gulls activity but there are also several massive gaping holes in the creatures body.

Dann looks past the creature seeing a long drag mark through the field from the edge of the sea cliffs to where it now lies.

Bael turned to Dann, "Well unless the whales are very different over here, he didn't walk here.  But why would someone abandon good meat?"

Yamousou looked over from his vantage point on the road as a flock of gulls took to the air. He guessed that they were feasting on something, but what it was he couldn't tell from this angle. He went to call over to the two warriors but restrained himself. If they needed assistance then he was sure they would call.

OOC - I assume that Bael followed Dann and that Kores, Finan and myself are still on the road for the moment.

Seeing Yamousou move a little, Bael turned and held his hands up next to his mouth and shouted "Don't worry!  It's only a whale!  And it's dead!" before gesturing for them to come over.

In reply to Bael Haywardson (msg # 479):

"Well!  Don't look up or you'll be wiping 'whale' out of your eyes!!!"

"Come, there is probably more to it than a dead whale here. Let's be extra careful." Without making his approach too obvious, Dann slowly comes close to the whale from the side, and tries to understand how it could have been dragged all the way where it now lies.

Dann knelt in the grass and noted there were tracks leading to and from the whale carcass towards the edge of the seacliffs...very large tracks.

He also noted what appeared to be a harpoon wound on the dead beasts back.

In reply to GM (msg # 482):

Kores is pale and exhausted.  Carrying all this iron doesn't help but he's burnt out.  He looks up awkwardly, trying to avoid getting hit with 'recycled whale'...

Still standing a little away, Bael craned his neck and called over to Dann - "Why is there a whale in a field?"

"Bael, if it is what I think it is, we might be nearby creatures which are not at all human. Stay where you are." says Dann in a breath. He then very slowly and very quietly approaches the cliff to have a look, ready at all time to run in the opposite way if needed.

The cliff plummets straight down for 100m or more to a tiny beach pounded by the surf, there are skuff marks on the rock as if something had recently climbed it.

Bael stood stock still with one hand gestured back to the others to tell them not to move.

Dann looks, smells and listens around to try to understand what could have climbed the cliff.

"A whale?" He paused for a second, processing the word in his head. Did he really mean a great sea beast?

He gently lay the body on the ground, then cautiously approached the others. Noticing the giant carcass in the field he tilted his head sideways and nodded. "Mmmm, a whale."

He unslung his bow from his back and nocked an arrow, then proceeded to scan the area with his eyes.

Dann deduces that something carried the whale up the cliff......something incredibly strong and very, very large....

And then it went back down the cliff again...