"That's it, then," Bruenor huffs, speaking with an authority he doesn't have.  "We must see the caravan to Empty Horn, and come back to the baroness' lands before her house falls."

"Master Deyna?  Would you see us abandon the baroness and her people to their fate?  We are committed to your service for the moment, but I must admit their pleading pulls at me."

Dellas examines the letter carefully, and sees that the writing is hasty, the seal slightly worn.  The paper looks to be torn from the bottom of an old scroll.  He discerns no hidden message, but this was no carefully-crafted letter, but a desperate plea made in extreme haste.



The mushrooms are of a sort known as Dead Man's Blood, and grow where undead have fallen.  Eaten fresh, they are noxious, and will certainly make you will.  But dried and powdered and used on weapons, they harm undead.

The darkwood stakes looks like they might have been used, the corpses long gone, but the stakes remaining behind.

The wolf calls seem to be the ones a pack uses to identify each other in their hunting territory.  They don't seem to be unnatural, but they are very coordinated.



"If there are werewolves and undead in the wood, it's more than just disrupting my trade route, it's a bloody hazard to everyone around.  Lad, I can't pay you for this, but if you brave souls are willing to risk it, then I can only bless you for your bravery," Master Deyna says.



"Empty Horn isn't the name of the village, lad, 'tis an oath by those in Yondalla's faith," Sir Aberlayne says, unsheathing her axe and testing the edge.  "She represents the Horn of Plenty, and we'd be emptying it by not saving the Baroness and her people."

"Aye, the village's name is Thalkin, and the sooner we get the caravan lodged, the sooner you can come back.  I'm not carrying anything so crucial that we can't abide while you try to free the Baroness.  This is more bloody important than my trading schedule."  Master Deyna looks decisive, and with Haazheel's help, the caravan is soon packed up and ready to go.

You travel at a goodly clip, as fast as the horses and wagons can safely manage, and are in the small village of Thalkin before the sun is even at zenith.

"Will you leave your horses here, or take them?  Gavin and Maris will tend to them if you'll leave them here," Master Deyna asks you as the caravan pulls in.

"If we don't ride back," Lantamori pointed out, "it will be well after dark before we reach the Baroness' stronghold.

"I think it best we arrive before the sun falls.  They may not be able to hold out much longer."

Haazheel agrees. We should make all possible haste, slowing just enough at near the end to have time to assess and quickly plan.

Dellas looks at each of his companion and master Deyna “May the gods bless you for your words today.” He says to her but turns around to the others “Can we leave our animals in a land that’s in enemy’s hand? These creature eat horse and donkey, don’t they?”

Sir Aberlayne considers as she tightens the girth on Valiant's saddle and swings into place.  "Narthian, can you speak to the horses?  Have them stay out of sight?  Or perhaps tell them to come back here to the village?  Or Valiant is used to defending others, so I could have them lead the herd... though I'd rather have him at my side when we go against these werewolves."

Narthian harvests the Dead Man's Blood mushrooms, knowing that they will be useful when properly prepared. He plans for a method of properly drying them as they travel with the caravan (perhaps buying any necessary kit in the next village). Or perhaps selling them to an alchemist. Survival roll, in case it's needed for the harvest, is in the dice roller."

---

"I will have to prepare the proper incantation, Sir Aberlayne, but that should not be a problem," Narthian says. "Provided that we do not set out until morning. Otherwise I can ask Thunder to watch over the horses. He will intervene in any attack to give the animals time to escape. If these are normal wolves, however, I was thinking that he might challenge the Alpha and become the pack leader. How fantastic would that be?" A great grin stretches across Narthian's face at the thought.

"Morning?" Lantamori said in disbelief as she looked at the noontime sun.  Did the man really propose leaving them stranded for another night?  "We have to go now if our goal is to save as many as we can!

"We ride for the keep as fast as we can and break the siege.  If we break through and need to fight afoot, we'll leave the horses within for safety.  If we fail to break through, the horses will let us run and draw them away for some respite to those in the keep.

"I see no sane plan where we leave them in the woods and skip through the grasses to victory."

Done with this waste of time, the elf swung into her saddle and made haste whence they'd just ridden.

Dellas takes a look around and looks towards Lantamori "The nine of us against a force large enough to besiege a keep? Why not... let's all run to our deaths." With this he walks away to get his honeybee, muttering to himself.

They've not overrun the place; I have hope. As the saying goes, "A mustard seed can tip the scales."

"Lantamori is right, to delay now would be to risk more death.  I say we go before they discover the Baroness sent a message for help," Sir Aberlayne says.  "And little brother, it would not take so many to keep them under siege as you think.  With all of this rumor of 'plague', they could have been steadily picking off the Baroness' people for weeks.  If she were wise, she would have consolidated the rest of her people within her walls, but that would be mostly farmers, gatherers, craftspeople, and game hunters, not warriors.  And if this undead that leads them is truly some kind of vampire, even a lesser spawn of one, they are said to be able to charm and dominate minds with a glance.  With that, the Baroness could have been fighting enemies both from without and within."

Sir Aberlayne casts her eyes over the other mounts thoughtfully.  "With Mask, Cloud, and Demon, as well as my Valiant, we have four war-trained mounts, plus Thunder, of course.  Dellas' Honeybee, we might be able to count on her to keep the other horses, those without training, calm and out of the way, if Narthian explains things to them.  We've got a small division of cavalry between us all.  That might make the werewolves pause enough for Narthian to challenge them."

Dellas rides back on Honeybee and listens to his big sis’ lecture, he nods his head slowly and thoughtfully “Yes, that’s a way to do it... though they should have still called for help long ago. Anyway, let’s get going.”

Bruenor sits quietly listening to the banter.  While Lantamori's hasty departure seems a bit abrupt...they were arriving at a plan, even if somewhat slowly...he's certainly ready to ride out at a moment's notice.  Doing so alone just seemed silly, though.

To Sir Aberlayne, he says, "I think Demon would not forgive me if I deprived him of the battle to come."  He rubbed the nose of his midnight steed, and got a good-natured huff and a half-hearted snap of his teeth.  Demon was still a bit wild, but settling nicely into at least a partnership, if not full submission.

Bruenor swings into the saddle, and sits ready.

"I have some skill with good beasts and will do what I can to help them understand," Narthian explains to Sir Aberlayne and the back of Lantamori. "But I have no spell ready to use their speech. I prepared for danger and battle today, following the scare of the Greensward and the wolf voices in the night. Our best hope for the beasts not trained in battle is to set what guard we can, and let them free to flee at need. Should we survive, we can track them down later."

He turns his attention to Master Deyna. "Does this village have an apothecary, or an herbalist? I found no trace of wolfsbane along the road, and fear that we will need it."

Listening to the conversation, Averdante looks at his horse, then shakes his head and sighs. Looking at the others, he points out, "Charging in like cavalry is fine for those of you who are trained in mounted combat. My horse may be trained for that, but I'm not trained to ride him while he fights. What happens when one of us falls off in the midst of them?

"I agree we need to ride to get there quickly, but once close enough, I'm not sure I want to risk attempting to stay on and fight at the same time. I'd be willing to turn Mask loose to find his own way back, though."

As far as Thunder is concerned, he asks, "If these are werewolves, can they control wolves? The ones we heard last night seemed... organized. As if they worked together. Is Thunder protected from falling under that same control?"

His final question is, "How is the silversheen used? Several of you have indicated it's useful against lycanthropes, but how is it used, and how far in advance can we make those preparations?"

"My faith in the loyalty of my companion is undaunted," Narthian replies to Averdante with total commitment. "But we do not know for sure if these are werewolves. I merely encourage us to be prepared for that contingency. Wolf packs are organized by their nature. And it could be just as likely that any pack nearby is perhaps being lead by a dire wolf or warg."

"The silversheen?  You rub it on your blade before battle.  It lasts... perhaps an hour, less if there is heavy fighting.  Once you put it on your blade you can't sheathe it, and it won't last more than an hour exposed to air," Sir Aberlayne says.  "One of my trainers at the temple helped put down a wererat infestation during her youth, and told us about it.

"Once we get there, how shall we proceed?  We'll be getting there near sundown, and while some of us can see in dim light, you humans can't, and under full night in those trees, things will get tricky.  Haazheel, can your Mystique see if he can find the foe before we get there?  For fair, he is the most silent of us all."

Dellas has stopped and listened to the others. He nods along and puts his hand on the talisman he still wears around his neck, the one he got from the princess. A smile is seen on his face but he stays silent.

Farian, unexpectedly, was in a dour mood, and kept silent through the night from the Greensward to the safety of the town.  After listening to everyone's plans, his love for his god helped to revive him.

"We must help these people out as quickly as we can.  However, if we start off ill-prepared and with no plans we might as well not go."

Listening again to the others plans he says, "Whatever works for the group will work for me.  Will that silversheen be able to be spread out amongst all our weapons?"

"For my part, I am prepared," Narthian says. "For a fight, that is."

"It's better I use the silversheen, or something else, on my arrows," Dante points out. Rather wryly, he adds, "As Narthian can attest, I've no particular skill with the sword."

"Demon and I are prepared as we can be, but some silversheen would be welcome on my blade should we be able to acquire some."

Bruenor pats the horse's neck as he leans over from the saddle; and Demon lets out a snort, almost as if on cue.

"Sir Aberlayne raises a valid point, though...as the light wanes, it will become difficult to fight effectively.  I have none of the darkvision that some of you may sport.

If we can arrive before sundown, perhaps we can at least fight our way through to the keep to pass the night, even if we can't wholly dispatch the enemy?"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:17, Tue 14 Nov 2017.

Haazheel seems impatient to be off but realizes that the ongoing conversation, which will only take a short time, could be valuable.

"Indeed, I do not think we can plan much without knowing more of the enemy. If we head out now, we can use the cover of night to scout and plan accordingly."

While honeybee eats some of the grass, Dellas puts his elbow on her shoulder "I agree, let's get there first and we'll see more. Attacking as soon as we arrive would be foolish, let's get there and try to gather more intel before planning until these creatures have stormed the keep and then it will truly be tough to get them to leave."