Kree walked over to the  Two  newcomwers , as the others  rested.. Ivy  climbed Kree's  tree to  keep an Over  watch on the   damaged  Village.

 He Pointed to Justin and  Myra.....if you want?   take a quick look at the   center , where the leaders  made thier  stand.. bring back that   other  Humanoid's body, or  its head.. so i can see what manner of creature  it was...If you do not wish to chance it.. that is  fine as well...either way.. we leave here in an hour... By the  Second Sister... he points to the trailing Moon,

 ..we have   2  Hours  before she  hided   behind the mountains and  the Sun awakes...

  Turning  his attention to the two, he says,..these  small  hairy folk.. what the Sand Folk, call   Tree people, They are little more the animals.. but  they do  have a structure ,  and they have  the ability  to  speak common. ..least..some of them do...

  ..we  killed   small skinny...winged.. demons that had  slaves  trying to  uncover, whatever that  finger , beloned to.... slaves were also used  in  trying to uncover a section of a  burie d city..., that's were the freed slaves  came from.... The  treefolk we allowed to escape... lived at the very end of the tunnels.. there was  a  city   dug into the walls.... there is no way..in any of the 9 hells.. those creatures  made that city The Tall ones.... they ruled over them.. and  had  sacrifices to a 'god'..using a Stone  Idol to  crush and  Kill  prisoners.. and fed the small ones   blood and flesh

 ..The Trace  Wood Elves, and the High Peak Dwarves are   The Black Timber's strongest, friends and allies..... They stood with is in a war against Ironmound , when the City sought to take our  Ironwood Trees, and Black walnut for thier ship building... Unlike the  Elves of Ironwood, that sold thier Forest out..allowing  humans and such to  Cut  at will?... The trace wood, and  Black Timber, harvest   certain trees... and  our Wardens watch of   the cutters that are permitted  with in the forest... The City pays   a great  deal for the trees...but they have  learned...  some elves  do not sell out thier homeland.

 He nodded slowly,we are treated, well enough  in  Ironmound, and are  sworn  allies , unless they break their Pact  with    the Dwarves or the  Trace Wood...... but... other forces  out there  tend to try to weaken one side or the other... I have seen it in the Court of Ironmound... I have  recently  seen it, in the undermining of the  Arrows.

 ..Because of this.. we have much  to do.... we must return to  The Black Timber... make our  report, then Move against the   dark Arrows  in the  Trace Wood.... shoudl this  work out, we will  return to Ironmound  and  report to the Walk The Plank, and see if Reedrick has   anything of real import?..if there is nothing , that will shatter the realms, we will see about   Justin's   hunt  for the  Temple, in the High Peaks.

 he take s a  Drink from his water  skin and Offers it around to the others,..The Choice  is yours...of  course... and whether  you have a team that you need to report to?..elsewise... I do not think any other Unit of Arrows  will challenge  my accepting you into   my unit?

"My family and kin are far from here.  I need not worry about them.  No danger can touch them.  Peace and stability is a wonderful thing, to work towards such a goal would be honorable.  If that is your goal I am with you" she said calmly  "I also know such a path is and can be dangerous and deadly.  I am prepared for this" She looked with soft amber eyes at those about to see if any others would also be apart of this.

Justin nodded to Kree then glanced at Myranda chinning in the direction of the smouldering buildings. Striding forward he headed towards the point Kree had mentioned. Moving as warily as he could he quickly reached the outer buildings which were checked for threats as he passed by.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:29, Tue 18 Dec 2018.

 Justyin and Myr a  could see  some Hu7ddle    small ones .. trying to hide,  they  tried to shrink  back as the  two   approached...

 the fires that were burning cast soem light,   , the  Fires  that were  dying   cast odd shadows   about.

   they Couls see where the  4  leaders   Made thier  stand.. Two tall one   were chredded.. the   other HUmanoid  was  Crushe d by  Hammer s bloaws  and slived  by Luthien's  Blade..

 The  Main  building was burning in side, though the  wall were slowly  falling in  as they weakened from the  fires.

In reply to Ju-Myra (msg # 935):

Previous attempt at assisting these pathetic creatures was unsuccessful.  Justin ignored them moving to the larger secondary buildings, glancing inside he checked for signs of paperwork or items of intetest.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:25, Wed 19 Dec 2018.

 The Buildings  were  pretty messed up  as the   creatures that were in it scrambled , when the attacks  started.

   Ther e was  a  crude   craved   rocks  that looked like  a  Grinning   big headed   humanoid.

 there  was a a  small sack of  coins  of various types

  "Kree" Orlin says earnestly "I'm not moving very quickly.  If we are to make good time I should probably get started.  It won't take you long to catch up."

   There was a Look at Orlin, the a Look at the  Second Sister as she reached  for the tips of the mountains., turnign to  the opposite  Diretion.. the  DArk black of the night, was   still unlit..the sun was not stirring yet.

 ..Ivy?>. You  wait  for Justin and Myra.. if  something happens ,  give  the signal, And I will return with those  who are still able to fight..

 ..Aye, Good  Cousin... Get  the large  Fellow  going, before   we needs get him warm  Milk and a blanket... The   Other Dark Hair  Elf  grins.

 ..Let us  go.... anyhtign we  encounter, that is not  an Arrow,, we kill or  drive off... We seek the Drow's Vale  for  one more  favor...

 He sets   Lucy and Diana off into the Lead,   Kree will be  rear  guard.

.........................

 Justin and  Myra   are ore or less  finished  with the house they searched.

    Orlin smiles good naturedly and starts walking leaning heavily on his staff.  It isn't a travelers pace but it isn't too bad "Sorry to be a burden.  I do hope the old one was enough of a help to bring balance."

"<Elven Sidhelin dialect: I applaud the elves of your land who didn't sold out their homeland. This is a wise choice, for my kin and foolish me welcomed human refugees with open arms. Their grandchildren repaid it with more greed and devastation, in the name of their comfort.
Used the power of their gods to fight my kin and spread more of their predation.
Later ... the Evil One they escaped from several decades earlier, caught up with them and it became even worse. Some of my kin allied with the Evil one, for they suffered too much from the hands of the humans and Evil one had glib tongue and wove his lies expertly. Evil one fought against six human gods on Mountain Desmaair and was winning and bragging so loudly that every mortal within leagues could hear. This is when majority of my kin lost faith on his lies and moutain exploded. I don't know what happened afterwards because Mists of Magic acted like flood and threw me into those lands.>"

The redhead recalled a short and sad tale, apparently shaking his head over folly of people. He smiled up towards Stardancer.
"As a species, humans are awful. Alas some of them are great friends and reliable allies. I think that this whole Ironmound kingdom will do what Anuiren did, in two to three generations, what they were denied they'll try to take by force. The elves who sold out their homeland? Will flee from the cut down forest turned into fields to feed more humans. Or die. I witnessed human nations acting like that. I will help your quest Kree. Hopefully I will manage to grow stronger though. My current magic is very limited, basically like Magician and not a proper Sorceror. Lets forget about War Magic or ... do any of you know about Dragons? Are there even Dragons here?"

    The staff in orlins hands glows and the old one's voice is heard.  It is tired but amused. "They tend to keep to themselves so it is hard to know if any are around.  The best way to find them is to fly to the nearest mountain top and shout you can beat any dragon at shinosk.  Many species will respond immediately to the challenge.  Surviving it is another story."

   The walked through the darkening  night.. Ironmound... was built  with the    joinign of the High Peak Dwarves.... Black Timber Elves  and Humans  who , not only lived in that area.. but  flowed from the  coasts to  live there... Bowshot.. was the ehad  quarters  at that time.....in over the Next 50 years or so  the  Walls of Ironmound Grew... straddling the   Storm River.. and  thus.. cutting off  free passage   for  slavers, red Elves  and the   Damnable Halflings  of the Red  Isles

 The   Biggest hammer  in  Ironmound's  arsenal , is its  Navy, Both River  navy and  Sea goign ships... our allies on the Coast off them berths  and repairs.  as they scour the   ocean around  Laynak, looking for   enemies...

 .The Navy relies  on Ironwoood trees and out Black walnut Trees... Strudy , yet buildable...     The  Dwarves  that  started to Mine  that Mound,In IronMound, became  a  race unto themselves... Just as the Ironwood  elves took pride in the horsemen who  Rom the  planes to the north and west of the City... The High Peaks.. and trace  wood..never   faultered in thier    friendship  towards  my people.. nore have we  forgot them....That is why, i broke   ranks to  try and  find out the  reason  this band of  Arrows  was  missing.....and   I have a good  idea why.. we  will take  care of this, before  we seek other   quests..., because  thier Arrows  need to be cleansed....If they are to be able to defend themslevs...

Justin moves from large biilding to large building searching each in turn. Reaching the bodies of the enemy they gathered what they needed and headed back to the others.  Reaching Kree Justin produces a small stone figure which fits in the palm of his hand, handing it to him. Captain yon creature be an oddity
This message was last edited by the player at 23:17, Wed 19 Dec 2018.

Heading back to the join the others Myranda  kept a wary eye out for ambush

   Myra   studied the Bow... it  is   an odd  wood, more like metal. the bow is  as  tall if not a tad  taller then her, and feels   as heavy as a longsword.. she can draw the  string back, but  3 inches  or so... she  saw the Tall  ones, bend  it back to thier  ears, with ease.

"So you believe this other group of Crimson Arows still live?" she asked as they walked.  To her the pace was extremely slow.  Yet she did understand as to the why, If for no other reason than she was on 4 legs not 2.  "You believe them captured or enslaved?"

  Kree stooped... he looked at Stardancer  for a second,..we  found one of them..in the caverns..who was still  whole.. he died in one  of the skirmishes  we  fought... Ahead of us , Brie  took the free slaves to the Drow's Vale....there is a mageling..her mind and spirit  are broken... the rest.. were  either   crushed   into meal, but the great stone Idol.. or  eaten out right..there was also  a Pit of  bodies , that spawned  some  Undead.. but  we   killed and burned the  lot.. then covered it  with  dirt and rock

  He began to walk again,... for all intent and Purpose.. that unit of arrows  is dead.. we will take the Mageling back with us to  the Black Timber..once she is healed  she  may return to the  trace Wood, but we will not know, if she will be of any use, in the field.

 ..Thus?  I  will speak to the Elders, and inform them of what we will do... they will protest , of course... but  they cannot  stop me  from carrying out  my will.. this matter  is a blade too deep in out guts, to allow to remain... we must pull the balde out, and kill the wielder..

Feyamir sighs upon hearing the situation, shakes his head sadly and follows after Stardancer and Kree while admiring the rising sun.

   Orlin does not abate his steady pace but it is not hard to catch up with him.  He travels until Kree calls a rest.

Myranda strolled along flanking Kree as the Arrows headed away from the Crater. Despite her current inability she'd eventually be able wield her newly acquired bow. She considered the other one the asked Kree or Ivy if they cared to have the third.

  Kree Looked over the Bow, he   spun it  around a bit to  get the feel,..The   workmanship is good, But  I will wait Until I nearn an Ironwood Bow... That 'feel' is not to my liking... thank you though...

  Ivy looks lover the  Ball he  draws   Back the string.. and it shakes  a bit  as it Bends  to wards him.....I could use that, only  to ..maybe   send  shafts  down range... if i  want to hit some one , I'll stay with  a wooden bow... and?  for  my tasks in the street, its a bit too big.... I thanks you for the thought , though..

The pace was slow for her, her natoral stide was long.  She would often move quicker than most, it was just what it was.  She listened to thier banter.  "I have found metal does not have proper 'give' for a bow.  You would need a very great strength for the pull.  one so great th line might snap from the tention.  A good wood would be stiff, yet pliable enough.  Both strenth and flexibility...A deadly combination" she added her voice in.

  As the  Marched  through the trees... Kree  said,  Ironwood, at least in these lands, are the best wood  for Bows..followed  By  The Black Timber Walnut, and   Yew?..  they shoudl be ahrd to come by, as the wardens  and Druids  search the forests  for dead and  dying treess to get  wood  for such purpose..much as they do ship buiding...howvere.. When the   Ironwood Elves  sold thier  Trees  freely.. alot  of  smart bow makers, looked for the   right   bits off  wood... and  now , certain Humans  and  shut can walk around with Bows , that only should have been in the hands of elves...

 ..Both the Black Timber  and Trace Wood  Award  Black  Walnut  or Ironwood  Bows  to heros  of thier lands, to use in its  defense.. I only have this  Yew Bow..but it was iparted  with a slight  bit of magic...

 ..Even the Dwarves  of  our  lands, do not make Metal Bows?....

 ..indeed,,, that would make the ..makers?.. Not of our lands...

In reply to Kree Quickshadow (msg # 954):

    “The little ones say the tall ones came from the sky.  I’m not sure I believe that but the hole the village was set in looked like a place in our mountains where a star fell from the sky long ago.  I wonder how that legend got started.”
    “Black walnut is probably the strongest wood we have but it doesn’t flex well.  We tend to stick with Yew and Aspen.

"I saw humans making bows out of animal horns once. It was made in honour of their ancestors who lived in place where everywhere was grass sea. Arrows were more precious than those bows to them, for wood was very rare. A dwarf weaponcrafter I met, said that those composite bows were crude but translated your strenght better. And broke down faster, requiring more maintenance than yew. My brethren, when they needed bows ... asked druid for assist, so the tree wasn't hurt. Or grew apopriate tree themselves, and unlike humans, made also use of everything else. But you had to wait till the tree grew as big as the bow you wanted first, too."