In reply to Dregz (msg # 147):

Oopses lays claim to some of the food stuffs, and will use the arrows to make kabobs, asking mimorc to get a second horse, and turning the guts into tasty meat arrows sticking out around the fire while the horses gets smoked.

Long spear each for the heart and lungs and 2 leg hunk deboned and hoofed for the orc and bugbear if able.

Minmorc will gladly cull and butcher a second light horse but when he sees Oopses trying to scorch masterwork long spears he'll swat the whatever size goblin and give him some regular short spears to use instead.

Moffdust emerges from the shaman's tent and dumps the loot on the pile started by Riza. Thats two bags of coins and another 4x50gp gems. She grins at Oopses trying to judge the length of his arm. When he's finished cooking she happily takes a kabob and wolfs down juicy horse guts until she notices Dregs' predicament.

"Oooh Dregzie. Glowey bonses! I'se seed peoples make dese, its craftses. An we goes snick snick snick..." she blithely chops the necklace apart with her sharp little knife and hands Dregz the black rod then pokes the glowing bones up Bully's nose. "Hes so handsomes, my big brudders."

When Bulldust leaves the leader's tent he has returned to normal size and put his potion vial away in his pocket.  His arms are full of treasure.  He adds to the pile the leader's very nice chainmail and shield from the western tent and more money bags, but he claims the leader's longspear for himself.  The plan (the dream) worked well - having the humans unarmoured helped a lot. 

As he saunters past the chained slaves and comments in common tongue "I's not really a giant, jus a bugbear.  Was any of youse keepin count?"  He reckons he may need witnesses if it comes to dispute with Min.  He retrieves his goose-hook and helps to search the tents, eventually arriving at the fire pit where Oopses is cooking.  He takes a slab of roast horse orally and glowing bones nasally.  This starts his bandaged nose bleeding once again.  "Ow Moffa!"  He looks sheepishly at Dregz again.  "Can yer do da stick fing again Dregzie?  Else its never gonna heal up wiv her around."

Dregz dutifully pokes Bully with the Magic Stick one or more times as necessary to cure what ails him, though truth be told, the little goblin is far more preoccupied with the other Magic Stick, eagerly accepting the piece once Moffa looses it from its ornamental prison, then settling down to attempt to attach it to the other pieces he already has.

Dregz finds that the new segment of black rod slides easily onto the end of the previous segment and immediately locks in place.

Bulldust adds another masterwork suit of chainmail and masterwork large steel shield and more money bags to the pile of loot.  When Moffa's and Bully's monetary contributions to the pile are added up the grand total of coin and gems in the pile now amounts to 800gp, 2000sp, 500cp, 8x50gp gems and 20x10gp gems.

The slaves cower away from Bully as he talks to them but one scrawny little man dares to reply.

"No, master. It was too many and too fast to count. Please master, don't eat us! Those wicked men you have slain were taking us to sell to the slave traders at Kester. Please master, if you spare us I can show you where to go. They will trade with anyone there, master. You can trade all those horses there, master, and everything else you have won from these wicked men!"

OOC: I will work out where everyone is up to with healing a bit later this week. I think everyone will be fairly well healed up

When the slave starts talking Minmorc will wander over to stand next to Bully. "Dis Kester, how far? How big, wots it like?"

"It fits ! It fits !" Dregz calls out excitedly, brandishing the new improved 50% bigger Magic Stick!  "'An," his excitement grows so much he can barely contain it, "I tink der's anuvver one !  Dat way !"  The priest gestures vaguely southwards.

"I'll 'ave to pray an' see what vision Bargrivyek sends when we sleep !" he very much relishes the prospect, "Jus' so we know what tah do next."

However ... there's still the here and now to deal with.  Bargrivyek may have just sent them to this place to find another bit of the Magic Stick ... or they may be here for another reason to.  Something to do with the yoo-mans they killed, or perhaps the slaves.  The little goblin listens intently to the discussion between Bully and Minmorc and the slaves.  Kester.  Perhaps they're supposed to go there ?

"Kester is a town, a big town, thousands of people, even some orcs there," the slave explains eagerly. "It controls the pass into Ull at the southern end of the Ulsprue Mountains. It was going to take us another week to walk there on foot but you would cut that to three or four days on horseback."

In reply to Wyrm of Wyrd (msg # 156):

Oospses starts parciling out the food when its done 5 arrows a goblin, meaty hooves for rog and part of minmorc's thign peice, a spear each for the bug bears, and 2 arrows a human.

Then he realizes I ain't gotz anyding to feeds the horseis"

"Heh, well, if ders Orks der den any fink goes. Hmmm... Well humie, easier fer us ter just kill der lot of yer an be dun wid it so yer job is ter make life real easy fer us. Der dead bosses, where dey keep der horsey food an where dey keep yer keys?" Minmorc is clearly dubious about keeping the captives alive but now that his primary life motivation (hunger) has been satiated his secondary motivation (greed) is stirring. When Dregz goes to feed the slaves Minmorc will grunt "Careful Oopsy, yer feeds der strays dey'll just come sniffin round fer more. Wot eva yer do, don't name em, it'll make yer start ter fink o dem as people."

In reply to Minmorc (msg # 158):

Arlein settles in to get pampered to thin slices of raw meat.

"They fed the horses the last of their hay this evening," the slave admits. "But there's a watering place, an oasis with fresh grass about 20 miles further along the trail to Kester. We can reach it tomorrow."

"Dats enuff Dregzie." Bulldust says after just one more healing jab.  He peels the bandage off revealing his slim straight green nose.  He touches it gingerly and seems pleased, muttering an explanation to Dregz "I ad some work done."

"Fanks Oopses."  Bulldust tears meat off his steaming spear with his teeth.  He examines his new longspear.  "Jurzie can you tell if dis ones magic?  I hope so, da magic ones is better."

He's puzzled by the names of towns he's never heard of.  And Dregs is looking south across the empty sand whereas the slaves are looking east towards Kester.  He gestures to the sand as he asks the slave  "Wots dis place called?  An wots souf from ere?  How far is da Owtwood from ere?  An Gorna?"  .

"I don' know where 'ere is," Dregz admits, though he is pleased that Bully is feeling better now.  "I don' know where Kester is eivver."

"And all I know about der next bit of der Magic Stick is dat it is dat way," again he gestures southish.  "Could be near, could be far ... but der Magic Stick will take us der anyways, so dat's not important."

"I 'spect dat Bargrivyek will show us more visions," he nods fervently.

The slave is eager to show his worth by answering Bulldust's questions.

"This place is known as Two Rocks Well. All around us are the Dry Steppes, part of what some call the Plains of the Paynims. Hundreds of miles to the south the Rumikadath River empties into Lake Udrukankar with the great town of Kanak upon its shores. Then south again to the Sulhaut Mountains that hold back the dreadful Sea of Dust where no man can live. Those other names you spoke are unknown to me. Perhaps they lie beyond the great mountains to the east?"

"Der Humies dat ran, any udder place dey could go or would dey goes ter der watering place too?"

Riza helps distribute the loot while the bigguns talk to the slaves. She will rummage through the tents looking to see if she can find anything like dye or paint, ink. She will take a horse kebab when offered, then she will see if she can use any of the arrows found, if not she will look through and see if she can find any small knives she could keep on her person for cooking or cutting ropes

Sadly all of the equipment is human-sized, so nothing is the right size for Riza or the goblins to use. Of course there are plenty of ordinary items of other kinds that are usable by small people as well (a lot of them are designed for human children, actually) and Riza finds a good assortment of small knives around the camp.

The talkative slave considers Minmorc's question for a moment before answering.

"Some of the foolish ones will probably flee out into the desert. They will probably die of thirst within a few days. A few might manage to catch some of the horses that escaped. They would probably keep going eastward to the last place we camped. Most probably will not have gone far at all, just beyond these dunes or the next ones, where they will probably hide until you leave. Then most of them will probably return to this campsite to salvage anything you have left behind, for these are all their worldly possessions."

Minmorc will give his head a good scratch to help the thinking  and will start listing the options as he sees them. "Right, so's wees takes der horses an der humies to der tradin town or wees use der stick ter get der next stick. An we gots ter eyda rest up ere or do stuff now. I reckon we rest den go ter der tradin town an trades all dis stuff fer sum real good magic stuff."

"Bargrivyek would not want us to waste dese gifts he has given us," Dregz pronounces wisely (perhaps moreso that his interpretation of divine will coincides nicely with Minmorc's favoured plan).

"Das not a magics spear." Jurz tells Bully trough a mouthful of roasted horse bit, "But the swordses is both magical." he adds helpfully, half imagining a huge bully dual wielding scimitars.

He doesn't have too much of a view on what to do next, although new magic stuff is alaway good.  Whatever happens, he intends to stay close to Dregz, who has the magic stick that can whisk them away from this parched and seemingly nature forsaken place.

Rog lies quietly by the foire gnawing on the hooves he has been given and eyeing the remaining uncooked bits that Oopses hasn't used.

"Yeah, lets sleep all day den go ter da town.  Kester.  Dose horses can carry all da stuff, den we can sell em."  The Bugbear seems pretty keen on this plan too.  "Only dis time lets not get stitched up by ogres.  Hur."  He speaks to the man again, seemingly interested in learning more about his life as a slave.  "What's humie like you worf at da market anyhow?"

The bugbear is a little disappointed with Jurz news.  He puts the masterwork longspear back on the pile with the other weapons.  "OK, fanks Jurzie.  Dese are heavy, an I already got a good one."  He helps Riza organize the valuables into loads that can be carried or pulled by the horses.  He keeps an eye out for any returning humans, and sniffs the breeze occasionally to detect any enemies approaching.  At daybreak he'll sleep in a tent until its his turn on watch.

Later that night the sleepy bugbear suggests "Lets put all da money togevver and get a flying carpet."

In reply to Bulldust (msg # 171):

"I don't wanna fly, da ground hurtz nough from my hieghts.