The bugbear turns slightly as something catches his eye about 20ft away to the southeast of the gate. He caught a brief glimpse of a dark shape about 5 feet tall before it ducked out of sight around the outside curve of the palisade.

Before the bugbear can react the mysterious figure reappears, stepping back out into sight. It looks like a large black bird, complete with a sharp beak almost a foot long. However, it is dressed in some sort of hooded robe with a half-cloak draped from its shoulders.

The bird stopped and looked at the bugbear, first with one eye, then the other, snapped its beak a few times nervously, then ventured a harsh "Hello." It took first one jerky step forward, paused, then another step.

Just then a male orc came into sight as he walked out through the gate beside the bugbear. He wears only a kilt with a chain shirt woven into its fabric and a heavy pack that appears cobbled together from multiple bags. He has a greatsword in a scabbard slung across his back but carries a greatspear that is a solid piece of black iron masterfully worked and capped with a huge and vicious blade.

Then just a few steps behind the orc comes a minotaur! A young one by the look of it, not yet fully grown. It is wearing studded leather armour and carries a backpack, a pitchfork and a greataxe.
This message was last updated by the GM at 12:00, Sun 08 June 2014.

She jumped backward with a squawk and considered running as several others came out the gates. She fluffed her feathers up to look bigger, stretching her neck up and raising her "shoulders" as well. At least these fellows looked slower than she was... or so she prayed!

The nap is forgotten by a much more pressing impulse. Minmorc shoots forward with a staggering burst of speed, looping in a fifty foot arc around the new arrival to stand with a five foot gap between him and it, his spear pointed at its back. "Bully, Grakk, whatcha fink, is it food? Looks like food to me."

 She jumped again at the things speed giving a startled squawk! She hopped to the side so she could watch both front and back, holding her hands up.
 "Not food! Not food! No eat me! I not taste good!"
 She looked at them all, back and forth, one black beady eye at one, then turned her head to look at the other with her other eye. She flexed her claws and snapped her beak sharply and prepared to defend herself if need be.

Minmorc glares at the bird thing trying to make up his mind. "Taste is important... If yer a bird, but yer not food, what are yer?"

Just then an orcish voice shouts from inside the settlement.

"Yes, that's it! Go long! Go long!"

Seconds later a spikey ball comes flying out through the gates between the bugbear and the minotaur.

OOC: It passes close to the minotaur and bugbear but is at least 25ft away from the orc and the bird.

At the exact same time a female reptilian voice shouts "Wilson!!!!.." and the small form of a poison dusk lizardfolk hurtles through the air to catch the spikey ball just as it passes the bugbear and minotaur. One of the spikes jabs the little lizard girl's hand and she curses against all orcs in general but manages to hold onto the spikey ball. She lands on her feet and comes to a stop about ten feet past the gate.

She looks around in some surprise that the orc isn't quite where she expected him to be. Instead the orc is 25 feet away to the southeast facing off against a 5-foot tall, black female bird that she hasn't seen before.

 She jumped again as the small female reptile came running out yelling something strange, but began to laugh softly as the female seemed confused by what she saw. She too was confused, but if there were females here, maybe all was not lost.
 "Kah kah kah kah! Hi Hi Hi. Raven I am, not Wilson."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:30, Sun 08 June 2014.

Bulldust lowers his longspear and steps closer to stare down at the talking bird girl.  "I'm not Wilson eiver.  I'm Bully.  My sister is Moffa, she's in ve O-baddy hut, and she's even shorter van you.  If we can't eat you ven what have you got for us to eat?"

Minmorc will also raise his spear, the laughter putting him at ease and separating this new creature from his comfortable food pyramid of forest critters, horse, man flesh and leafy greens. With a twirl he sinks his spear, Vera, head first into the ground and uses his fingers to start counting party members. "So, err, clever Riza, Bully, Grakk, Nursey and me is outside. I can hear Moffa and Wolfey Goblin coming. Oy, Gobby wid der book, time to put out der cat, time ter gets a password and go! Alright birdy raven fing, we finks der fight against der horsey men and der watchers is stupid so we's going dat way. Worts year story?"

Shortly afterwards four goblins and another orc come out through the gates, as well. The orc, obviously an archer, pulls the gates closed behind him.

The four goblins are all obviously from different tribes. There is a red-skinned male goblin riding on a large dog, a green-skinned male goblin clutching a flail and a book, a white-haired, dark-skinned male goblin with a cat riding on his shoulder, and a very small female green goblin clutching a crossbow. All of them are loaded up with backpacks, sacks or other bundles for travelling.

It takes a few moments before they notice the 5-foot tall, black female bird talking to the other orc and the bugbear 25 feet away to the southeast from the gate.

 She was trying to decide what they might like to eat that she had, which wasn't much to begin with. Seeds and nuts didn't seem right, but maybe worms might appeal to them.
 "Gots seeds n nuts, but maybe me can find you some nice juicy worms if that sound okiedoke? Oh, lookie see others with dog, and a ... CAT!!! RAAAAWWK!"
 She turned and took a kindasorta running leap toward the nearest tree and scampered right up (if able) all that is left to be seen are quaking leaves. Muttering and snapping of beak can still be heard though.

[Private to Wyrm of Wyrd:
07:39, Today: Secret Roll: Raven rolled 25 using 1d20+6. reflex.]
This message was last edited by the player at 12:40, Sun 08 June 2014.

A wooden thud sounds from the other side of the gates. The locking bar has been dropped into place by someone inside. A brief scrabbling noise indicates someone is climbing up inside the palisade then a kobold’s head pokes above the top of the palisade.

"That'sss good, very good. Good work fixxxing the wallsss! Now yousss goesss away but yousss can comesss back another daysss maybe? Xander Xalusss letsss yousss ssstay here again sssomeday, yesss? Now I givesss yousss the command word for the wand, yesss? Command word isss Gettup! Now yousss goesss, comesss back another daysss. Goodbye."

OOC: Main game map updated.

Seeing that Nurzhan has stepped up and gotten blooded Minmorc will grab up Vera, pull out the new Healy wand and will jab the other Orc in the bleeding bit and will say "gettup!" Then will take a good look at Nurzhans hands to see if anything happens.

"Ow!"

Nurzhan holds up his injured hand and watches as the hole caused by Wilson's spike slowly closes up and heals over. In about a quarter of a minute his hand is completely healed.

"Dat is a bird-man," Dregz says knowledgeably, emboldened as Raven flees up the nearest tree.  "See - it flies !"

"P'rap's it can tell us if der forest is safe ?" the little goblin postulates.

"Maybes it can." Jurz nods wisely to the green goblin's observation as he watches the trees leaves shake like there is a storm blowing.  "But I tink it don't like Arlein, de cat." he adds shaking his head slowly "Even dough Arlein de cat is a lot littler den de bird man." he adds sagely.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:04, Sun 08 June 2014.

Bulldust was about to reply to Raven, "Yuk to seeds and nuts, but worms ..." when the bird went up a tree.

When it becomes apparent that the wand distribution process is complete, and there was no wand for him, Bulldust peers through the gaps in the fence to watch the kobold departing.  He scratches the post with one long claw then shrugs and turns back to the group.  "Let's get going now.  Want a ride Moffa?"  He heads into the forest in the direction Minmorc had pointed earlier.

Minmorc looks where he was pointing and jogs over to Bully, will tap him on the shoulder and will admit "errr... Not actually sure where we's going next. I fink wolfey gobbly has der plan..."

Jurz nods sagely and steps away slightly from Rog.  Then he makes a point of looking up at the sky and all around before he points the way the group should take. 

"But whats abouts your friend?  Is da birdy-man coming wid us?" he asks Minmorc.

"Weez decided it's not food, dunno if it's a friend, fink its a birdy-chick..." He'll peer into the tree Raven disappeared into. "Oy, are you a friend? You staying in der tree or comin wid us?"

The direction that Jurz (the goblin riding a dog) points is directly past the small settlement that the group just left. They approached from the north yesterday and he indicates they should continue southwards, deeper into the forest.

 She stuck her head out from about 20 feet off the ground, watching the cat with first one eye, then the other, turning her head this way and that. Seeing as it doesn't seem too interested in her, she slowly climbs back down then shakes her feathers back down, somewhat embarrassed she had reacted so to the cat. Instincts were hard to fight sometimes, and left you up a tree before you knew it.
 "I be friend if you want me be. Not much around close but beasties. Theys orcs, goblins and wild dogs to the northwise or westwise of here, and theys wood elves eastwise.
 Maybes something south a ways in thick woods mmmmm 20 miles southwise but didnt go in there. Don't borrow troubles my momma taught us, she did yes, Rak!
 "And alls I gots to eat is seeds, but maybe me find fat wriggly worms if wants me to."

Dregz is entirely uncertain about the newcomer, but is willing to give anyone that seems less than homicidal or plague-ridden a chance.  Besides, the priest has it on divine authority that there's safety in numbers (at least if you're still numbered amongst the living when the dust settles).

Raven's information regarding further trouble west and east only goes to show the wisdom of Jurz plan.  "We goes dat way," he confirms for the benefit of all, adding his finger to that of the druid to show the path of hopefully least resistance.  "Let's go den ..."

 "Where you from? Is there news from where you been? Not much news where I been, all woods and trees, and scarcely any food ceptin worms and seeds and nuts. I could use a good plate of stuff from a good Inn, Yes, I could!"
 She bobbed her head up and down on her shoulders, looking at them all from one eye then the other, before grooming a feather back into place. She hopped a time of two without thinking, then settled in to walk beside the goblins with the dog.

Minmorc will approach Dregz and will give him the wand of cure light wounds. "Dis is my Healy stick, if deres a fight you heals Riza if Riza gets hurt and you keep der fighters fightin or yer will have a chat wid Vera. Weez heading south? I'll go on a bit an try ter catch some food, stay back a bits an follow." Minmorc will stash Wilson in his backpack (away from the pack that holds his water skins) and with Vera at the ready will head south.

Dregz recoils from Minmorc and the healy-stick. Screwing up his face, the little goblin stares up and up at the big orc, scanning him for signs of plague.

"Show me yer hands !" he demands, bravely, needing to satisfy himself that Minmorc isn't suffering from any disease before he accepts the healy-stick.

"Are dey believers ?" the priest demands, worried about Vera, of course, but moreso over his standing in his god's eyes.

Nurzhan moved closer to Raven as they all started walking south.

"Have you really eaten at a proper inn?" he asks her. "I thought I must be the only one. That's one of the few things I miss from my time among humans. Since I left them and came to join the battle against the Knights of the Watch here in Geoff I haven't eaten anything half as well cooked as that. Not that I don't enjoy a good slice of meat from a fresh kill as much as the next orc, of course, but I do like a bit of variety every now and then.

"Maybe, since we've all seen how futile the battle against the Watchers is, at least in terms of our own personal survival and we turned away from that fate yesterday and headed south into the forest, maybe we can find something like a proper inn when we get out of this forest?"

Minmorc flares his nostrils in disgust and puts the Healy stick back in his sporran. With no further time for goblins that look gifts orks in the mouth he will head south.

She bobbed her head up and down as Nurzhan spoke to her, glad to know she was talking to someone who had also had civilized food as well.
 "Yes, I have had inn food. It was better than worms and seeds, mostly rak! No fur in the food either. I travels with you if you like, yes? Maybe can even help you find shinies too? Tired of being alone, sleeping with one eye open all time. Been avoiding Watchers too. Maybe we even find inn to sleep in sometime Kah."

Once the introductions are complete, Jurz (riding Rog) leads the group to the south.  However, once the journey is under way, Jurz lets the riding dog slip back until it is alongside Raven.

"Youse said dere was thick forest to de south and dat it was dangerous." he reminds the birdy.  "What makes der forest thick dere?" he asks "and what makes it dangerous?"

 She hopped sideways when the dog showed up, and looked at the goblin with one eye, cocking her head sideways as she does.
 "Not know if it dangerous, just too thick to travel into. Didn't want to get trapped in theres with no ways out, rak! Don't know why it so thick, but not natural like to see woods that thick round here. Might be safe, but I not know sure."
 She bobbed her head up and down, then bobbed herself up and down briefly then strode alongside the dog as she waited for a reply if one was coming.

"Dats good." the goblin nods sagely.  "Wes can go around it, but I's might goes in dere and  looks around." the brown goblin says with a glint in his eye.  "Its might be de forests druids, or it might be de O Baddy men ...." he says as he appears to think it through.

Just as night falls Jurz points the way southwards deeper into the forest and the group heads off once again. Minmorc announces he will go ahead a little way and see if he catch some food. The rest of the group follows about 60 feet behind him at the limit of vision in the thick forest.

The group travels for half the night and covers about 10 miles before they finally do see something that Minmorc recognises as 'food'. He nearly passed right by them but a sudden movement 60 feet to his left (and 60 feet diagonally ahead to the left from the rest of the group as well) caught his attention. Then everyone else could just make them out too.

It is a small herd of boars, about 4 or 5 of them that had been resting or foraging in the undergrowth between the trees. Now the boars have seen the travellers too. They snort and stamp to show their anger at these intruders.

OOC: Main game map updated.

Minmorc roars his delight at having found food but knows that in front of those delicious chops and rashers of bacon are a pair of deadly tusks. Holding onto Vera like its a weight lifters bar he will begin to stretch his arms and legs and will mutter under his breath. Within seconds he has stretched well beyond his normal size, the now large sized ork crouched behind a huge sized Vera set against a charge.

Noticing the boars and seeing Minmorc's delight at more food Riza curses herself silently for not hiding as she normally would... But a chance at food is a chance at food.

Riza moves to stand just in front of raven, sights along a fresh arrow and let's it fly hoping for a kill.



OOC: rolled 24 to attack on boar3 , rolled 5 for damage

She reached down and steadied Riza, using her sleeves to block off the breeze if there was any [Private to Wyrm of Wyrd: Great Ally: When aided on a skill
  check or attack roll by an ally, add +3 bonus] hoping that she would get to share in any meat they managed to get. She would grab her sling and ready it if she needed to once she saw if Riza had any luck.

If anything, Dregz is even more suspicious about Minmorc's likely infection with plague, and ensures he's nowhere near the big orc on the treck south.

The discovery of the boars is a mixed blessing - while he's as fond of meat as the next hungry carnivore, those things have big tusks and bad attitudes.  But while the safety of the nearest tree is most tempting, he can't let the tribe face the beasts alone (not to mention that those who don't fight don't eat), so with much trepidation, the priest readies his sling and advances towards the boars.

All the while keeping an eye on which ones Minmorc goes near as he's not going to be eating tainted meat !

Nurzhan reacts as soon as Riza shoots at the middle boar. Seeing that the boar doesn't fall immediately he fires off two rapid shots at the same boar that Riza shot at.

OOC: rolled 21,19 using d20+5,d20+5. Rapid shot: 2 arrows at boar.
rolled 7,9 using d8+4,d8+4. Damage: 2 arrows at boar.

Partial update for round 1.

Riza and Nurzhan's arrows all hit and injure the middle boar (b3). It is grievously wounded but that just seems to make it madder than before.

The boars stand about 3 feet tall and about 4 feet long. They obviously can withstand quite a bit of punishment.

OOC: I'll wait for others to post their actions this round before determining what the boars will do.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:43, Mon 16 June 2014.

Jurz shrugs.  Left to his own devices, he would have gone around the boars, but everyone needs to eat, and boars are fair game.

Shrugging his shield round to the right position, he draws his scimitar and nudges Rog round to a position that gives him a clear run towards Minmorc, and towards the rest of the party, then prepares for the charge.

 She readied her sling, pulling a bullet out of her pouch and putting it in the sling, she winds it up and lets it fly toward the wounded boar, while still trying to protect Riza's shots by blocking any wind coming from behind her. Tries not to hit an ally.

Grakk surveys the gathering of boars and snorts, not very appealing for a minotaur, he weighs up his axe and prepares to defend his allies should things turn bad.

When close enough, Dregz swings his sling, loosing the stone with a snap of his wrist.

Minmorc readies himself with a prayer that pumps him up to twice his normal size then sets his greatspear against the expected charge by the boars.

When Riza and Nurzhan's arrows injure the middle boar (b3) Raven and Dregz attack the same boar with their slings. Dregz hits it right on the nose but even that isn't enough to put it down.

Jurz moves Rog into position where he can charge toward either group when needed and Grakk readies his battleaxe to cut down anything that gets close enough to threaten the group. Bulldust, Moffdust, Oopses and Arlein are a bit slower to react.

The grievously wounded boar is the first to react, squealing in pain and rage it charges straight at its tormentors. As soon as it moves out of the way the boar (b2) to its right suddenly sees the giant Minmorc for the first time and charges straight at him instead. The other three boars shuffle a few paces one way or the other, obviously undecided which enemy to attack or whether to flee instead.

The wounded boar charges straight at Nurzhan, hitting and goring the archer with its tusks.

The second boar charges at Minmorc but his giant-sized Vera is ready for it. The boar literally impales itself on the greatspear, its momentum carrying it halfway along the length of the greatspear before it finally collapses to the ground, dead.

OOC: Main game map updated.

Rog leaps forwards, charging directly at the boar which attacked Nurzhan.

As Rog drives them into the fight Jurz suddenly screams, hoping the sudden noise will scare the rest of the boar away, before he too strikes the boar in front of Nurzhan.

ooc:

17:39, Today: Rog rolled 17 using 1d20+5. Charge to hit boar.
17:40, Today: Rog rolled 5 using 1d3+3. Damage the boar.
17:38, Today: Jurz rolled 25 using 1d20+5. Charge to hit the Boar.
17:39, Today: Jurz rolled 3 using 1d4. To damage the Boar.

Minmorcs eyes narrow as the Boar charges and with calm focus allows the boar to impale itself on his mighty spear. The last of its twitching stilled Minmorc will pull then boar off his spear with one hand, hold it in the air and slam it to the ground beside him and will roar "touch down!" Feeling the eyes of the gods upon him Minmorc will quickly perform the dance of victory, known in some circles as "the running man" and will once more set his beloved Vera against the charge.

Partial update for round 2.

Minmorc wrenches Vera free from the body of the boar and sets it ready if another boar charges.

Jurz spurs Rog forward to attack the boar that gored Nurzhan. Rog bites the boar and Jurz slashes it with his scimitar. Both attacks open wounds  that spurt blood with every heartbeat but the enraged boar still doesn't fall.

Jurz's scream as he rides into battle definitely spooks the other three boars and it looks like they are about to run, but which way they will go is anyone's guess.

OOC: Main game map updated.

The druid's scream definitely scares Dregz, who looks as if he too might bolt ... but to do so would betray his faith, and so the little goblin priest holds firm, scrabbling for another stone which he hurls at the badly wounded boar.

Seeing that the boar has gotten past Nurzhans defences Grakk will bring his great axe to down on the neck of the wounded boar.

Dregz whirls his sling and lets fly a bullet that narrowly misses Riza in front of him and misses the boar by a wider margin but scores a direct hit on the tree beyond, where the bullet lodges in the bark about 4 feet above the ground.

Grakk lunges forward beside Nurzhan and brings his greataxe down in a perfectly placed blow that any executioner would be proud of. The wounded boar's head is completely severed, blood spurts from the severed neck to soak Grakk and Nurzhan and the boar finally collapses to the ground.

Two of the other boars (b1 and b5) turn and charge away through the forest because of Jurz's scream but it has a different effect on the last boar (b4). It was ready to charge into the main group but veers aside after the scream and charges at Minmorc instead. It suffers exactly the same fate as its leader, ending its life impaled halfway along the length of the greatspear Vera.

OOC: Main game map updated.

Minmorc has barely finished the dance of victory and braced Vera when he finds another boar on her. He cocks his head to the side, then shrugs and has a look to see where the rest of the food has gone. Seeing the ham has legged it he'll give chase, kicking the boar off his spear then moving 50ft to the East and picking up speed, completely focused on bringing home the bacon.

 She jumped sideways as the bullet from the other sling buzzed past her head, so wasn't in place to get another shot off at the two retreating wild boars. She wasn't upset though as she looked around to see what happened to the other boars, because from the looks of things, there was plenty of boar to go around. Maybe even smoke some to travel with. She hopped up and down, turning her head this way and that to take it all in.
"Well done! Good hunters, rak! Plenty plenty!"

"Dose two will need prayin' over before we can eat them," though still puzzled as to how he could have missed, Dregz takes his responsibility to prevent the spread of plague very seriously and upon delivering the caution, immediately wanders over to where the two beasts Minmorc slew lie to conduct the necessary rituals, a litany of rapid fire and completely incomprehensible supplications to Bargrivyek to ward off all dangerous diseases.

Although the warm blood feels good as it hits Grakks face in the cool morning air, he quickly wipes it off then cleans the blade of his axe on the boars hide.

Jurz backs Rog away from the body of the pig, and makes a fuss of the big dog, promising him a share of the dead animal for dinner.

Riza shoulders her bow and thanks raven for her assistance. "We should get the big ones to drag the boars a way from here we don't want anyone else following the smell of blood... We should make a fire to smoke the meat but let's see if there is a way we can move all this meat easily".

Riza will look around to see if there are any decent sized branches that can be used to make a makeshift sled to carry the meat

 "Oh, that good idea! Make a drag to move meat Rak! I help look for branches. They gut meat here and we move it, right quick!"
 She helps search for limbs or saplings to use for travoise.

"Smoke it?" Jurz wonders at the eating habits of the lizard and the bird.  "Hows long does dat take? Hourz?  Dayz?" the druid asks.

"De meat tastes good like it is, and de smoke is gonna  bring de Yumans if deys sees it." he adds with a shrug.  "Wes is best to eats what wes wants, and take de easy to carry stuff wid us.  Den hunt some more when wes need it." He adds nodding "Just like de wolf and de hawk does."

As soon as he has pulled Vera free of the dead boar, Minmorc dashes away eastward after one of the fleeing boars. The sound of them both crashing through the undergrowth is clearly audible after they both disappear from sight. About 20 or 30 seconds later the sounds change to squeals of pain and ferocious shouts in orcish.

The rest of the group busy themselves with cleaning themselves , butchering the three dead boars and, in Dregz's case, praying away any disease the boars might carry. The three boars will each yield over 100 pounds of pork, so there will be plenty of food for everyone in the days to come.

 She helped with the pigs while trying not to get all bloody, discussing smoking vs raw.
 "Smoke it keep hungry bears away, and make it stay eatable long time. Is good raw, Rak, but smoke good too! I find herbs and wild garlic and onions and roots maybe, roll some inside and cook over fire for tonight, Rak! You like, you see!"
 She looked around the area for herbs and such while the pork they want to smoke smoked.

The sounds of the fight in the forest doesn't last long, then all is quiet until (normal-sized) Minmorc soon comes striding back into view with a dead boar draped over his shoulder to add to the collection.

Nurzhan might be moderately wounded from being gored by the charging boar but he doesn't pay much attention to his injury. He laughs out loud when he sees Minmorc return with another dead boar.

"Ha, ha, ha! You're like a big bad wolf! You killed the three little pigs!" he exclaims.

He may be a little bit confused about how that story actually ended

"Smoke is very pleasin' to der gods," Dregz agrees with Raven's assessment.  And keeping away hungry bears is most definitely a bonus.

"Youse fought bravely fer der good of uz all," the goblin priest shuffles up to Nurzhan.  "I will prey ter Bargrivyek ter mend yer wounds."  Taking his own Bargrivyek approved magic stick he mutters the suitably religious words and pokes and prods the orc till he's better.

Minmorc will sling the boar down in front of Nurzhan. "Der wolf ate der pigs moved on, ate some umans den one a dem gutted it en traded her red hood fer a nice fur coat. So why ain't yous guttin an skinnin pigs?"

 "We keepin da bears away. And savin some fer later too. Case there no wild pigs down da road."
 She frowned a bit as she was picking up the other's accent, but then shrugged her wing bones...err shoulders. It was part of her heritage to pick up accents and stuff easily. Even if it did bother her sometimes to sound a bit less cultured. Ah well, not every creature could be as sharp as her kind.
 She stopped and turned her head, first this way and that, then pounced upon a pretty shiny rock! SHINY!

Minmorc grins in anticipation "hur, I like bears, dey puts up a good fight and deys taste good too, and dey come wid porridge." If no one comes up with a better plan Minmorc will skin a boar keeping as much of the skin intact as possible, then will put one of his sacks inside out, will cut off the four legs and the head and will put them on a second sack. He'll then remove the hips, spine and ribs as one whole piece hopefully leaving himself with a good skin, lots of meat in a sack, a nice tusky skull for decorating things and all the dead weight left for the scavengers.

In reply to Minmorc (msg # 67):

Jurz will set to skinning and butchering one of the other boars and he,  too, does his best to keep the skin intact.  However he cuts a piece of the heart to eat now and throw Jurz  (And Arlien if she is interested) some of the bits that arn't easy to carry.

If no one else does,  he will quockly butcher the rest of the boar as well.

 After pocketing her shiny stone, she helped cut their pig up into strips and spread them over poles to place over the fire, only close enough they smoke but not close enough the sticks burn. She also dangled some in the fire so the fat sizzled then popped it in her mouth, sharing some with Riza and anyone else who liked sizzling pig fat. Raw was well and good if one had to eat it that way, but her momma always said people got worms that way from pigs so she liked hers cooked. Besides, sizzling pork fat was the best ever!
 "Ummmm Good good! Crunchy sizzly good!"

"Dat will take agez" The goblin says as he sees Raven start collecting wood for a fire, "And wes is running away . Dere is orcses and ogres and maysbe even a giant chasing us.  Wes can't just stop when wes wants to.  An der pig is good like it is." Jurz says as he thows more bits to the animals and continues packing raw meat in his bag.

Once minmorc has finished with the first he'll start on a second, going for pelts, meat and skulls. He scratches his head and stops what he's doing to run some thoughts. " Dunno if dey are chasing... We's was at der baddy huts fer a day. Woulda caught us. And dey had lotsa watchas ter fight... An I don't fink Wes needs ter smoke der meat, gobbo wid der book an me can make der meat better if it goes bad, der gods like me an don't want me ter get sick. Hey, yous a bird, I want some eggs wid my bacon!"

The mismatched troop of humanoids (and others) all pitch in to help, one way or another, and the four boars are fully butchered within 10 minutes. Those who can stomach it have a good feed of raw pork during the process and the rest of the meat and boars' heads are quickly packed away in various sacks and backpacks ready for travelling again. Raven dreams of starting a fire to roast or smoke the meat but sadly that dream will have to wait until the group stops to rest again. For now they are ready to set off once more.

 She stomped out her little bitty fledgling fire and packs her bits and pieces away the way the others did, but with a sigh of regret. She gnawed instead on some dried jerky and shouldered her pack in such a way as not to bind her arms in case she needed to fight or something then headed out with the rest of them.
 "I don't lay eggs, so find ya some birds nests to raid, Rak! Or lizards nest mebbees."

"Hur, hur, hur. Eggs an bacon is der best, except fer man and horse flesh or juicy elvses on dere giant chickens!" Minmorc will spread a boar skin over the top of his packs wet side up to dry and will tie it down. When everyone else is ready to go he will take the lead again though this time only thirty or so feet ahead of the party, and will attempt to hunt down the boar that headed South unless the party has a different plan.

The rest of the night passes relatively quietly as the group travels about another 10 miles further southward into the heart of the forest. Much to Minmorc's disappointment they do not catch up to the fifth boar, which had fled southward ahead of them.

Shortly before dawn the group comes to the very thickly overgrown area that Raven had mentioned. The vegetation is so densely grown it looks virtually impenetrable. It stretches away to east and west as far as you can see (sight distance is restricted to 60 feet in the normal forest but you can only see 5 feet into the overgrown area. There are lots of sharp thorns that would make it very painful to try to force a way through by brute strength alone. It would be possible to hack a way through but it will be slow going. Or you could try to go around it.
This message was last updated by the GM at 15:31, Tue 08 July 2014.

Minmorc will have a good look at the thicket "pffft, don't wanna go through der scratcher stuff. I's gonna go West cause sixty posts ago Raven birdy said deres beasties an orks to der west an we's could trade dees skins, if we's goes to der East we's has to kill lotsa der Elves den we's still gotta carry der skins." If there's no objection Minmorc will lead the party to the West.
This message was last updated by the GM at 15:32, Tue 08 July 2014.

Jurz is happy to head west because that will eventually lead to the Hornwood, but before thay leave, he examines the tangle of undergrowth more closely, and eben attempts to step into it.

Jurz looks closely at the densely overgrown and prickly barrier for a few moments. Then he climbs down off Rog's back and simply walks into the dense vegetation as though simply going for a walk in the woods. He seems to effortlessly find a way between the tangled vines and thorns and branches, although nobody else can see the way to do it. By the time he has walked 5 feet into the vegetation he is completely lost to sight.

Dregz doesn't like the sound of either Elves or Orcs, both of which would probably be only too happy to take goblin skins !  But the forest looks to be an impenetrable barrier ... or does it ?  With some surprise he watches Jurz step into the the tangled briars, and steps forward, stopping on the edge, trying to peer through the thicket to spot his kinsman.

 She watched in amazement as Jurz calmly walked into the tangle of briars, thorns, creepers and woods! How had he done that? She hopped closer and stared at the place he had entered, to see if there was a way in, or if it was an illusion. Even though she turned her head this way and that, she had difficulty spotting anything but tangles, briar and brambles.

Minmorc snorts in derision, "pffft, tree hugger." He'll start heading off to the West.

Riza is surprised at the goblins ability to walk so easily through the briars. Curious she will try and walk through some of the undergrowth, only a few feet to see how easily she can move through it. If she cannot move through easily she will come out, blend into the woods with her bow drawn, and follow minmorc west.

Jurz looks around.

Minmorc shows his opinion of the prickly barrier and Jurz's insistence on exploring it in typical fashion. The big orc grunts an insult and heads off westward around the barrier.

Dregz, Raven and Riza show more interest and try to see where Jurz went through the tangled vegetation but are unable to find a way to follow him. Riza is the most determined and only stops when it becomes painfully obvious that trying to force her way through is going to be very painful indeed. Finally she abandons the effort and follows Minmorc instead.

Jurz looks up

Minmorc is quite confident that if he lost the party he could find them again fairly easily so he will head off to the West of the briars then will continue South at half speed, as always on the look out for more food. It should be understood that if the party needs his assistance they will call out things like "aaaaargh it hurts" or "it's eating my face."

Minmorc has disappeared from view in the forest heading southwest around the densely tangled area and Riza is following close behind him. So far, the rest of the group has remained near the point where Jurz walked into that dense and prickly area of vegetation.

Jurz sighs

"Youse alright in der ?" the goblin priest calls out in concern, though that must be attributed to the lack of any indication to the contrary as it is doubtful he heard that sigh.

 She backed from the briars and follows Riza instead, weapon also at the ready. It was easier to follow the big guy around to the west than it was to go into the tangle! She kept her eyes peeled and her ears alert for anything of interest, or of danger.
"How he do dat, going into the tangle?" She mused aloud to Riza. "You ok? You look bitten up."

Nurzhan also grows tired of watching the same bit of impenetrable, tangled forest for so long. He decides to follow Raven who is following Riza who is following Minmorc. Maybe they'll find something else he can use for target practice.

Nurzhan is back less than a minute later.

"Minmorc, Riza and Raven have found an easier way in through all this overgrown stuff. Riza says there is a clearing inside. They've gone in. Come on, it's this way. Follow me."

He heads off westward around the tangled patch of forest again expecting the others to follow.

As you head west you realise the tangled vegetation curves away to the south. Nurzhan leads the way around the outside of that tangled patch, travelling about 150 feet west and 150 feet south from where Jurz had walked into it.

Before long he points out a small opening in the western side of the thick barrier of tangled vegetation. When you reach that spot you find it is a passage through the vegetation. It is only about 2 or 3 feet high and wide and looks like it is partially burrowed below the wall as though something has scraped its way through to form this passage. The soil is marked by numerous scratch marks as though something comes and goes fairly regularly but the only footprints that you can recognise are those of Raven, Riza and Minmorc.

Everyone has to take off their backpacks and drag them and any large weapons behind them to squeeze through. The goblins are able to bend down and walk through fairly easily but Nurzhan, Bulldust and Grakk have to crawl on hands and knees. Everyone manages to squeeze through the passage for about 10 feet then break out into a cleared space about 200 feet in diameter. There is a colossal oak tree growing right in the middle of this clearing, its trunk at least 20 feet in diameter and its branches stretching all the way out across the clearing to form a canopy above it, completely concealing the clearing from view from above. The branches start about 20 feet above the ground. The ground is covered in a thick mulch of fallen leaves but you see all sorts of mushrooms and toadstools poking up through the leaf litter in various places. You hear the buzz of bees high in the branches but a deeper pitch and much louder than normal. You also spot movement in a couple of places among the exposed roots of the oak tree, much closer to its trunk. You can't see them clearly but the movements make you think of something about the size of those boars you met earlier, scavenging among the leaf litter.

Minmorc, Riza and Raven are all nearby but you can't see any sign of Jurz at the moment.

Turning back to the wall of vegetation around the clearing you are able to make out two other dark patches that look like the openings of two more half-burrowed passages leading into and possibly all the way through that wall of thorns. The one you squeezed through was on the western side of the clearing. The other two are at the northeast and southeast sides of the clearing.

OOC: Main game map updated.

You hear a soft thud from around the western side of the giant oak tree and hear someone exclaim, "Ooof!"

"Dis does not look at all natural," Dregz laments, gaze continually returning to the shadows at the base of the huge tree.  "Can anyone see Jurz ?"

Hearing the oof from the other side of the tree Minmorc will take off at a dead sprint, will hug the outer hedge and will try to get to the south east tunnel spear and javelin at the ready.

"Oooh, arrgh" jurz moans softly  as he mentally tests out all of his extremities  just a little bit of damage he thinks as he starts to struggle to his feet.

"I's here." He calls out softly in response to Dregz's question.

As soon as he hears the thud and 'oof' from behind the tree Minmorc sprints around the clearing to the southeast passage. It really is very impressive how fast he can run when he has clear ground in front of him.

Rog the dog thinks this is great sport. He dashes after Minmorc at great speed as well, but halfway to the other passage he hears his master's voice from the other side of the tree. He swerves and runs straight toward the sound but finds himself corralled between two huge roots when he reaches the trunk of the huge oak tree. He barks repeatedly as he jumps up trying to leap over the great roots in his efforts to get back to Jurz.

OOC: Main game map updated. Jurz's position is now known and shown on the map.

"Watch out !" Dregz calls out to his kinsman, relieved to hear Jurz, even if he can't yet set eyes upon him.  "Dere's some big bees buzzin' aroun' an' somefings lurkin' in der shadows."

"Shhhh Rog" Jurz instructs the great dog, as he makes his way around the roots to mount the animal.

"Dey is giant beetles." Jurz calls back the the cleric.  "Youse is all best to stay dere." He cautions, and starts to make his way towards the group.

"Dese giant beetles... Dey taste good?" Minmorc will move twenty feet north and will set Vera in case anything with too many legs tries to eat him first.

"I's don't tink so ..."  Jurz replies after a moment's thought. "Dere is giant wasps and giant bees as well.  I tinks a big strong druid has made dis place.  I's don't tink he is here at de moment, butz, I wouldn't wants him chasing us as well as de humans and coalface ..." he adds thoughtfully.

"Does dese tunnels lead out den?" he asks pointing at the route the party used to get in.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:19, Tue 22 July 2014.

The giant beetles seem to be happy enough few just foraging among the leaf litter under the huge oak tree at present. The few glimpses of the sky that can be seen from beneath the oak tree suggest there is a hint of lighter grey creeping across the sky. Dawn is not far away.

"Too crunchy," Dregz decides after a bit of consideration on the culinary merits of the carapaced beetles.

"I tink dey all lead in," the priest replies to Jurz, eyeing the sky worriedly.  "Gettin' light out der - reckon we could rest up here fer der day ?  Not sure about dem bees, though.  Need a nice hole tah hide in."

Minmorc will continue to follow the hedge around and will peer into the leaf litter looking for anything shiny. When he gets back to the group he will say "I'll stay if we kills der bugs. If not I gunna go outside, build a fire and eat some pig."

"Deres too many bugs." Jurz Nods at Minmorc, "And whos knows what will come out in der day?" he asks.

"Lets go find a camp somewhere outside." he says, with an almost anxious tone in his voice.

 She comes back clicking her beak, and joins the others, looking quite pleased, though she doesn't say why. She cocks her head as she listened to the others, but has nothing much to say.
 "Bugs?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 02:37, Wed 23 July 2014.

"Jurz says there are giant beetles, giant bees and giant wasps in here," Nurzhan explains to Raven. "The giant beetles are out of sight over there between the roots of that huge oak tree. You can just see a bit of movement sometimes. They must be as big as you are."

Minmorc's idea seems to be the one he likes best.

"Yeah, let's go outside, build a fire and eat some pig! That sounds like the best way to finish off the night. So, which way do you want to go? Back out the east passage 'cause we know what's out there or try somewhere new? The northwest passage would be sort of doubling back the way we came but the southwest passage is more like the way we were heading, 'cause it has got some south in it. It's all the same to me. Someone else can decide."
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:05, Sat 26 July 2014.

Minmorc will shrug and will drag his gear back through the East passage. He'll then scout around and will try to find a bit of a clearing within 200 feet of the entrance where he will use his crowbar to clear the area and will start making a fire pit worthy of a succulent piece of pork. As he works the others will hear him arguing with himself " der udders don't wanna piss off der obaddy peeps, on der udder hand it's fun killing stuff, ain't never killed giant bugs before and if I killed der bees I could has a honey glaze on der ham. Mmmmm... Honey glaze..."

Minmorc leads the way back out the eastern passage and finds a convenient spot to camp about 120 feet southeast of that passage. Not quite a clearing but at least a level bit of ground free of too many rocks and roots. It offers a good ten-foot clearance to the closest trees so a camp fire can be built without risk of starting another forest fire. The surrounding trees are big enough for anyone to climb up if they would rather not rest at ground level.

Visibility out here is back down to 60 feet so the campsite itself cannot be seen from the thick wall of tangled vegetation, and vice versa.

Minmorc sets to work energetically clearing a space for the fire.

Minmorcs goal is to have pig roasting over an open fire while the boar skins dry around it. If no one objects to this plan he will politely recruit others (his preferred victims being Nurzhan and Bulldust) to help him by gathering fire wood and building a good solid spit to roast the meat on.

Riza will assist with the fire pit where possible until it becomes clear that she is more nuisance than help. She will then ask raven and minmorc for assistance in finding the right materials and creating a little divider in her quiver, a little unsure how to do it herself. Once the divider has been made she will move to a quiet corner and busy herself with the vial of poison minmorc gave to her earlier, carefully applying it to one arrow and storing the arrow in the new divided section.  Once finished with her work she will see where the others are before deciding what to do next.

once they are outside, and away from the encircled tree, Jurz appears happier.  Minmorc seems happy organising the camp, so he leaves that to the large Orc, just taking the time to glance across, occasionally, to make sure that things are going properly.

As he realises what Riza is doing, he frowns for a moment and then shrugs.  Bees, wasps, scorpions, even some lizards - it is in their nature to use poisons after all.  However, he makes a mental note to only eat the food that Dregz has blessed.  Especially if the little lizard girl is involved in the hunting.

Then ha takes a few moments unloading Rog, piles his gear up  and messes around with his water skin.   Then he sends to great hound off to hunt, play and relax for a while, although he makes it ckear that Rog should stay in earshot.

He does however search out Moffa and Dregz and waves the two goblins over towards him, then speaks quietly to them.

The little goblin priest bemoans leaving the shaded glade, but bows to the wisdom of giving the creatures within a wide berth, and is quick to join the exodus.

Outside, Dregz watches the cooking carefully, muttering more blessings under his breath and making the appropriate gestures as the food preparation continues, until Jurz calls him over.

After some quiet discourse, the goblin reaches into the sack he found the day before, fishing around inside it ... ,

Minmorc enlists the aid of Bulldust, Nurzhan and Grakk to help clear the campsite, place stones for a fireplace and collect wood for a fire. Before long they have a nice little fire going that doesn't create much smoke at all. While the fire has a chance to burn down from its initial fierce blaze they organise a spit to slowly roast a boar carcass over the fire then Minmorc hangs up the boars' hide to dry out by the fire.

Jurz calls the goblins together so naturally Oopses joins them as well. There is a bit of discussion about what to do with the miniature bonsai tree in a silver pot that they have discovered but the only result so far is that Jurz makes sure it is watered.

At Jurz's urging Dregz pulls out a little grey sack that he found earlier. He reaches inside and pulls out a small, furry, grey ball and tosses it toward the clearing. Before it hits the ground it seems to unfold and darken into the shape of a small, black bat that flutters about for a few moments before swooping back to flutter around above Dregz.

Jurz has also sent his dog Rog off to hunt / explore / play nearby in the forest to the west, so Arlein the cat heads off in the opposite direction, back toward the tangled wall of vegetation around the clearing with the giant oak tree.

Riza focusses on applying a dose of poison to one of her arrows for future use.

 She settled down to help around camp, if camp you could call it. It might not be wise to be so close to the bees and beetles, with raw meat, but with fire maybe they would be ok...if the insects weren't drawn to the light. She gathered up sticks and twigs to supply fuel for the fire, and hopefully some for all night just in case.
 Once the fire was going, she pulled out some meat from her bundle, seasoned it with what she had, and set it to roast over the fire to heat it through, smoke it somewhat and season the meat just right. Once that was done, she hung up some strips of meat over the smoking fire to cure so it wouldn't spoil.
 "I hope the bugs sleep at night, yes, rak! I don't want to wake with bugs on me!"

Minmorc will help Riza to make a section in her quiver using a cut slit of a leather sack and his handy mending spell to repair some of his awful craftmanship. After eating a substantial amount of pork Minmorc will launch a satisfied belch and curl up to sleep.

In reply to Minmorc (msg # 117):

Oopses is anxious without his companion and nervously tends to the fire try to keep his mind off the bugs bigger then him he can hear.
20:45, Today: Oopses rolled 24 using 1d20+4. Profession Cook.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:50, Sat 02 Aug 2014.

Dregz cackles delightedly as the bat flutters around him. "Land on my fingin !" he tells the little creature, holding up his hand.  "S'name's 'Robber'" he informs the rest of the would-be tribe. "I'm trainin' 'im to do der tricks."

.  Jurz watches with a smile as Dregz gets the bat out of its bag and gets it do tricks.  "Yeah.  dat's Robber." he echoes the other goblin's comment.  "Can it talks to youse?  or can youze get it to go  look at stuff for youse?  or will it bring you berries?" he asks trying to work out what use the bat might be.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:04, Sat 02 Aug 2014.

"Berries !" the goblin exclaims delightedly.  "Fetch der berries," he instructs the bat hopefully.

The campsite quickly takes shape and the delicious aroma of roasting meat soon fills the campsite. Daylight slowly lightens the scene as the new day breaks and the bigguns settle down to rest through the day after travelling all the previous night.

Dregz's little bat flaps around a moment longer before settling on his outstretched hand. When Dregz instructs it to fetch berries it flies off in the direction he indicated then returns a few moments later with a tiny twig clutched in its claws.

"Dat water de tree makes?  I tink its a sort of water, but it is green and has a faint magic aura of Transmutation.  Buts I don't knows what it is ..." the brown goblin muses aloud.  "Mays bes its O Baddy's holy water ..."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:34, Sat 02 Aug 2014.

Minmorc has learned a new appreciation for oopses, the pork being amongst the best he's ever eaten. When he hears about the tree he's quite impressed. "Ain't never seen a tree dat needs ter pee before. Yer not finkin o drinking dat are yer?"

"Good bat !"  Dregz greets Robber's return with enthusiasm, if puzzlement, accepting the twig and chewing on it speculatively.

"C'd l'k 'n d'r H'ly B'k 'n d'r m'n'n' ?" he suggests to Jurz as convern over just what the green water is hots up.

Moffdust thinks about what Jurz had said then finds she agrees with his guess.

"There's a priesty spell called Bless Water, isn't there? That's how to make the Holy Water, isn't it? I think that's a Transmutation spell and it needs silver to make it work, doesn't it? Holy Water is used for getting rid of ghosties and other undeads. When I was little, whenever I used to say nasty things about my brothers my mother always said she would wash my mouth out with holy water to drive away the evil spirits that she said I was possessed by. So, I'm glad she never really had any holy water!"

In reply to Moffdust (msg # 126):

"I know it smells better then this wine" Oppses says emptying out his dirty wineskin.

 She sat smoking the meat as best she can, while turning her bit of roast. The smell coming from the cooking meat made her mouth water. She listened to what the others were saying, but most of it made no sense to her.
 "Yours smells good."

Nurzhan pulls out two small flasks from his backpack. He pulls the stopper from one and sniffs it suspiciously.

"Tree pee? I don't want none of that! Here take it back," he demands of the gathering of goblins. "Yous can't offload your surplus tree pee on me!"

He dumps the two little flasks on the ground beside the goblins and stalks back to the fire. He empties the load of boar meat he was carrying as well and copies Minmorc's efforts although he takes a bit of a shortcut and uses his own greatsword as a spit for roasting the meat over the fire.

In reply to Nurzhan (msg # 129):

Oopsies stcks his finger in it, waits then puts his finger in his mouth.

Jurz shrugs and is happy to take ownership of any tree pee that isn't wanted any more.

Bulldust wanders over to the goblins after Nurzhan storms off.

"Peas does grows on trees. Little baby trees. I've seen vem, vey's wrapped up in little green blankets, snug as a bug in a rug. Nurzhan is right. Green peas is yucky!"

With that settled he heads back to the fire where Minmorc, Nurzhan, Raven and Grakk are cooking or smoking the boar meat.

"Hey, look at vat boar head. Vem tusks looks a bit bike ve spikes on Wilson. Which one you vink be more easy to catch, a boar head or a Wilson?"

"Hur, Wilson is a gift from der gods, shows der gods is funny bastards, fink I'll pray fer a practice Wilson. So, we gunna kill some bugs or we gunna keep walkin?"

"Sleepz first." the brown goblin says "Den walks again when der sun does down.  De sooner I is back in der Hornwood der better!"

In reply to Jurz (msg # 134):

Not that Oopses could recognize the taste but it was sweet like honeyed mead.

OOC: All food oopses prepares is cleansed when he is cooking. His cooking skills and small magical gifts awarded him a shamanistic position in his old tribe.
Not that he talks about his tribe.

Nurzhan shoulders his bow and backs up to the edge of the trees around their campsite.

"Oo, oo, toss it to me!" he calls to Bulldust.

Dregz is happy to trade his nasty stick for some roast boar, and is particularly approving of Oopses hygenic magics.  "You is der believer," he notes, nodding with satsifaction at the cook, marking him down as someone definitely worthy of Bargrivyek's curatives, should they be required. "Dat is very good !"

The game of 'throw and catch something else' doesn't really appeal to the little goblin priest, who prefers to sit in a quiet corner studying his Holy Book and muttering mysteriously.

 She listened to the others talk about peas and trees and pees and other strange things. She wondered what that was all about as she pecked at the bit of meat she took from the smoky fire. Once she'd finished eating, she took off the smoked meat and put more on to smoke then nestled down to sleep. She tucked her head under her half cape covering her arms and fell asleep, though now and then she looked out to see if anything was happening then tucked her head back.
"Wake me when it's my time to watch."

Bulldust turns at Nurzhan's call. He grins - at least you think that's what he is doing but it is always hard to be sure with a bugbear - and tosses the boar's hear straight at the noisy orc!

"Catch vat one, Nurzhy-Orc!"

Nurzhan barely has time to react as the boar's head comes flying straight at him. But his reactions are superb this time and he catches it cleanly. He grins back at Bulldust.

"Now it's your turn. Go long!" he calls.

Bulldust bares his teeth back at Nurzhan in just the same way the orc boy is doing.

He picks up his shovel and retreats to the other side of the campsite directly across the campfire from where Nurzhan is. Then he raises his shovel in readiness.

"Come on, Nurzhy Orc! Show me what you got!"

Nurzhan grins back at Bulldust again. He draws his arm back and hurls the boar's head as hard as he can, straight at Bulldust's head!
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:58, Sat 09 Aug 2014.

The throw will go straight over the campfire and anyone who is still there cooking the meat over that fire. That would include Minmorc, Grakk and Oopses, at least.

In reply to Wyrm of Wyrd (msg # 143):

Oopses is glad for the warning so he has time to duck before the missle whistles through the air.

 She squawked as the boar's head flew overhead jumping back and down to avoid whatever it was. Once she saw what it was, she fluffed her feathers out and tried not to show how startled she was. Things flying overhead were not things she was comfortable with!
 "Rak! Watch it ya nutters!"

Grakk ducks then snorts with laughter as he watches the boar head flying at Bulldust.

"That's a fun game! We should make a team and find another team to throw stuff at like that. Hey, maybe that elf has got some friends who would play?"

He points into the forest behind Bulldust.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:42, Thu 14 Aug 2014.

Minmorc will leap to his feet, Vera in hand. "Elves! Come out yer pointy cowards!"

In reply to Minmorc (msg # 147):

Oopses tries to position himself on the other side of the boar roast.

 "What? Elfes? Where?" She looked around but smoke got in her eyes and she couldn't see a thing.

Engrossed in the discussions about trees and tree pee, Jurz doesn't react until Minmorc shouts and starts upright.  Comprehension takes a moment or two longer before  he swivels quickly to look for the 'elvses'.

Riza, lounging a little ways off from the group suddenly jolts awake at the mention of elves. She draws her bow and immediately moves to some Forrest nearby where she can hide before scanning the patch of Forrest the Minotaur pointed at..... Going to kills some elves.

OOC: rolled 23 to hide and 13 to spot

Strangely enough, the elf in question realises immediately that the game is up. It was probably the minotaur pointing and the orc and kenku shouting that tipped him off. He doesn't wait for an invitation to join the game - probably not much of a team player anyway - instead he dashes away as fast as he can run. He is no longer making any effort to hide as speed is obviously more important right now. Everyone gets a clear view of him just for a moment before he vanishes from sight in the forest.

OOC: The campsite is 120 feet west of the wall of thorny, tangled vegetation. The elf was halfway between the campsite and that wall of thorns, right at the 60 foot limit of visibility in the forest. He has run away back toward the wall of thorns and would be able to reach it in a single round, if that is where he is actually going. Riza is the only person with bow readied, so could get a shot as a readied action if she wishes too. Everyone else reacts after the elf has moved out of sight.

 She made a grab for her weapons as the elf ran away as fast as it could go. She pointed the direction it went and squawked loudly for the others go get it!
 "There it goes! Get it! Ketch it fer it gets aways!"

Riza let's fly at the retreating elf with the easiest arrow to grab, her new poisoned arrow. Her hate for the elves is only rivalled by her hate for humans... Or things that just annoy her. She liked to use poisons and she'll find more somewhere else, but if she could get this elf she has plans......


OOC: rolled 25 to hit elf with the poison arrow, rolled 3 damage have already removed arrow from character sheet

Riza's arrow catches the elf moments before he vanishes from view in the forest. The elf yelps in pain and definitely moves more awkwardly and slowly after being shot but still moves out of sight in the forest. Unlike your own typical progress through the forest, you can't hear any sound of him brushing through the undergrowth either.

OOC: Now the elf is not moving fast enough to reach the wall of thorns in one round. Anyone trying to follow him will need to be within 60 feet of him and make a spot check.

While it might seem counter intuitive, Jurz heads straight for the wall of thorns, but trying to keep the Elf in sight as he goes.  With Rog away hunting in the woods, he feels vulnerable, so hiding is a good option and that wall of thorns is perhaps the one place he can go, where others can't.

Except maybe that elf, he realises as he notices that the elf doesn't crash through the undergrowth like the others around here do.

"I'll catch up." he calls, hoping that between himself and Rog he can track the others down.

---

06:49, Today: Jurz rolled 5 using 1d20+3. Spot the elf

Riza moves quickly... she does not want to loose this elf as it seems her poisoned arrow has affected it. She nocks another regular arrow this time and makes a bee line for the elf. "Quick Minmorc, Raven, everyone he cannot escapessss!"

OOC: rolled 17 to spot elf

"Hey, where'dit go? It was heading toward the thornybush."
 She squinted past the firelight then hopped toward the far side of the fire trying to get her eyes adjusted for the darkness.

The elf was 60 feet from the campsite before he moved and is now further away. Visibility in the forest is only 60 feet, so nobody in the campsite can possibly spot the elf.

Jurz and Riza are the first to give chase and head for the place where the elf disappeared into the forest. They both reach the spot 60 feet from campsite where the elf was hiding.

Riza readies her bow and calls out to the others "I have found the elf!" She moves carefully to the elf, ready to fire a shot if the elf tries to run or attack.  She gets to within 30ft of the elf and speaks in common "follow me or I kill you now" she will motion with her bow towards the camp incase the elf does not understand her...

Minmorc will move to stand behind Riza, leaning on his spear and scowling. "Yer want to talk to it Riza? Elf, choose die now, I dares yer."

The elf scarcely pays any attention to Riza's words but Minmorc's orcish accent triggers an angry response.

"Go to hell, you filthy orc!" he screams. He struggles to his feet, obviously in pain, and reaches for an arrow to fit to his bow.

In reply to Wyrm of Wyrd (msg # 162):

Oopses continues to cower and watch the trees

Knowing that he is unlikely to affect the outcome of the meeting between Minmorc and the elf, Jurz continues on towards the Wall of Thorns, and steps into it.

From that safe haven he will turn and survey the situation.

Minmorc will roar and charge forward. Just before reaching the Elf  he'll yell "Vera's too good fer yous!" And will sink the spear into the ground before leaping and aiming a punch at the pink things pointy face.

Riza sighs inwardly.... Orcs and elves will always try to kill each other, but she did not have the patience to see how the brawl would finish. The elf ignored her, the pathetic excuse for a life.

She let's loose with another arrow at the elf


OOC: rolled 23 to shoot elf (at +3 due to being within 30ft, normally at +7, and taking the -4 for shooting into combat) rolled 5 for potential critical, rolled 7 damage.

The elf easily evades Minmorc's awkward punch but has absolutely no chance of dodging Riza's arrow. The arrow thuds deeply into the elf's chest and he collapses to the ground, already unconscious and probably close to death.

Minmorc paces backwards and forwards a couple of times, clearly on the verge of losing control yet somehow dragging himself back to sanity. With a shake of his head he focuses and sees the elf down with a pair of arrows as the victor. He will draw out the wand the slowly heals and will jab the elf and say "gettup." He'll then grin at Riza. "How long yer reckon til he tells us evryfink we wants ter know? Yer reckon he's got any decent stuff for you, rules is rules, you took him down deadly, clever little riza!"

In reply to Minmorc (msg # 168):

Oopses seening no other movement looks around at Dregz,  Grakk, Moff, Nurz, and Raven.

"Are's we safe?"

 She ran toward the elf, hoping to see if it was still alive. She wanted to ask if there were other elves around. It looked in pretty bad shape, and unless it was healed, they would probably lose it.
 "He needs healed if ya all wants answers outta him."

Minmorc will wave the wand at Raven. "Dis one heals slow. We got a little while before der soft pink fing wakes up." Minmorc will then look over at oopses. "One elf, no proberlemo, many elves, lots o arrows means lotsa pain den death. We'll ask elfy all nice like when he wakes up."

Nurzhan follows closely behind Raven as she runs to join Minmorc and Riza beside the unconscious elf. Grakk and Bulldust follow after just a few more moments and Moffdust follows more slowly, tut-tutting about unwelcome visitors. Now Oopses and Dregz are the only ones still at the campsite.

The elf is a male wood-elf dressed in studded leather armour, dark green tunic, brown trousers and soft leather boots. He is armed with a longsword, dagger, longbow and a quiver of 20 arrows. His belt pouch yields 6 small gems and 50 silver coins. He is not carrying food or water or other gear that might indicate he was travelling far. He is unconscious from his wounds but Minmorc's application of the wand obtained from the previous stop at the haunted settlement in the forest is already slowly starting to heal his wounds. However he still looks in pretty bad shape and it will obviously take several rounds before the elf regains consciousness.

Moments later everyone hears Jurz coming back from the direction of the spikey wall of tangled vegetation.

"Der ring wid der tree is full of de elveses" he calls as he makes his way towards camp.  "we's need to go now ..." he says with conviction.

His dog Rog hears his voice and comes bounding through the undergrowth to meet his little goblin master.

"Lotsa elves means lotsa arrows." Minmorc will grab Vera, will coup de grace the elf and will head back to the camp to grab the rest of his gear. "Riza, sorry I stole yer kill but we gotta go."

Riza says nothing much when Minmorc finally slays the elf, she does smile an evil grin and say "only good elf is a dead elf, let's move" she will make herself busy collecting everything of use from the corpse, she will take the arrows if she can use them, she will also bring the elf's weapons back to the others, if no one takes them she will dump them on the fire. She will also pocket the silver and gems.

Then with her bow at the ready she will move off with the others at speed.

Bulldust looks at the dead elf for a moment then shrugs and trots back to the campsite. He quickly starts shoving the partly-cooked-but-mostly-still-raw pork back into the various sacks and bags that people had carried it in before.

The elf's arrows are too long for Riza's little bow so Nurzhan decides to add them to his collection. Riza pockets the coins and small gemstones from the elf's belt pouch. Grakk takes his dagger and its scabbard. Nobody has much use for anything else of the elf's gear so Riza tosses his sword and longbow on the fire.

In reply to Wyrm of Wyrd (msg # 177):

Arlein leaps out of the brush at Jurz's shout and walks up to rub Minmorc's leg as hes looting.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:42, Sun 24 Aug 2014.

Arlein the cat comes back. She rubs up against Minmorc's leg and sniffs once at the elf's corpse. Yes, it is just as dead as those boars were last night. It is a bit weird though, as its wounds are very slowly healing up again.

Meanwhile, back at the campsite, Nurzhan curses loudly in Orcish when he pulls his greatsword out of the large hunk of boar meat that he had spitted on the sword over the fire. He burned his hand on the hot metal of the greatsword!

In reply to Wyrm of Wyrd (msg # 179):

"Arlein!" Oopses states relieve as the group returns to the camp.

 "You said there were more elves? Wincing as Nurzhan shouts.

 She too went back to the fire and started stuffing meat into her packs. She grabbed the meat that was smoking too, then grabbed her bedroll and her pack, ready to light out of there as fast as she could go, with the rest of the group.
 "Hurry hurry, don't needs feathered sticks poking into me! Rak! Go go go!"
Once done gathering stuff, she readied her handiest weapon to defend herself and her new friends.

"I will stay at the back of the group," Nurzhan offered. "If any elves chase us I can fill them full of arrows as soon as I see them."

"Dere is loads in de tree ring.  I blocked up dis entrance but dere are still anudder two ways out of dere." Jurz says as he loads stuff onto Rog.

As soon as his mount is loaded and ready to go, Jurz will climb up onto Rog and settle himself in the saddle.  He turns the riding dog in the direction they were originally heading, looks back over his shoulder and starts his mount walking  ...

"Lets roll ..." he says squinting slightly.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 16:12, Mon 25 Aug 2014.

Moffdust helps pack the meat so they can get out of there faster.

"How many elfs is lotsa elfs?" She asks Jurz. "Is there more of thems than us?"

"Dunno.  I'se didn't waits to count de elves.  One was coming for de tunnel befores I blocked it and der is many more in dere as well." he says over his shoulder as he continues riding.

 She stalked along with the others in that peculiar gait that her kind had, which was a lot like a crows, or a rooks. She kept bobbing her head and looking around, trying to spot elves in the darkness. She hated to think of feathered sticks flying through the air toward their backs. Her shoulder blades itches at the thought.
 "You thinks we ken get away from them? They ken see good in darkness too cain't they?"

 "Its getting light soon." he reminds the bird woman.  "Den everything can see." Jurz continues as Rog keeps walking away. "I's don't knows ifn we's can outrun them.  I knows we can't if we's don't try ..."

In reply to Jurz (msg # 187):

Oopses just cradles Arleen and waits for the party to make up it's mind.

The group consensus rapidly becomes clear. Waiting around to face an unknown number of angry elven archers doesn't seem like a very good idea to anyone, so the group quickly packs up and heads south as swiftly as they can. Initially, Jurz and Rog have a bit of a head start and lead the way south. Nurzhan appoints himself as the rear guard and makes sure everyone else is ahead of him, or at least level with him as they travel south.

OOC It takes about ten rounds (1 minute) for the last of the group to pack up and join the exodus. By now everyone has been travelling all through the night and everyone was looking forward to resting through the day. Most have not had a full meal yet as they were busy starting to cook the boar meat. Undoubtedly fatigue will start to slow the group down before very long, while the elves are probably comparatively well fed and rested. The daylight in the forest is not bright enough to bother anyone with sensitive eyes, so at least that is not a concern. Jurz and Rog are out front, Nurzhan is at the back, and everyone else is in a loose group between them. Does anyone want to choose a different position, specify distances between different groups or make any other preparations as you all head south?

The little goblin priest had been trying his best to ignore the brief encounter with the lone Elf.  As he muttered to Oopses, "Dey'll jus' cut of its 'ead and' throw it aroun' !"

But news of more Elves, possibly already en route to the group's present location was bad news indeed.  Quickly Dregz stuffs the Holy Book back into his sack, for safekeeping, and gets ready to run, calling out to the more muscularly brained in the group, "Can' youse make it look as if dat Elf killed 'imself ?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:22, Fri 05 Sept 2014.

Riza will keep herself hidden as best as she can, but will stay near minmorc for protection if things go bad. She knew she would be getting tired like all the others, but hopefully they would be able to find a safe place to hole up

Jurz slows a bit and while the others are catching up he reaches around for his bag that still contains some of the raw meat.  "Anyones want any of dis?" he asks holding chunks of the food out to people.  "We's can eats dis stuff as we walk." he adds hoping that the extra food will stop them tiring quite so quickly.  He makes sure that there is enough left for him and Rog to each have a share of the meat.

While meat is sorted he relies of Rog to be aware of any potential threats to them from the front, but once the meat distribution is completed he settles down to path-finding and watching out for enemies - particularly elfsies.

In reply to Jurz (msg # 192):

//The raw meat was nothing new, it just didn't have the crisp of cooked meat. still a lot better then bugs.


Oopsies grabs a chunk to niblble on with one hand.

Nurzhan answered Dregz's question to get the little green goblin moving.

"The elves won't believe he shot himself with arrows or stabbed himself with his own sword, 'cos he shouted out about filthy orcs. If they heard that they will know about us anyway, so we just gotta get away quick as we can."

When Jurz starts sharing out meat Nurzhan takes a few bites of the meat he is already carrying and stays right at the back of the group.

Bulldust stays close to Moffdust in the middle of the group as they hurry south. He is carrying some of the boar meat too, so he tears off a chunk and shares with Moffdust.

"Or died playing 'Wilson' ?" is Dregz last attempt before joining the moveable feast that is the group's retreat.