Although it was a cold winter's day, the weather wasn't too intolerable. It looked worse over in the east, where menacing rain clouds looked set to ruin some poor bugger's day.

Hu and Itzal had been travelling for the best part of the morning. Itzal's knowledge of rambling had proven invaluable to the land-lubber Hu, as the halfling showed the best ways of clambering over the undulating coastline, avoiding the perilous cliffs and treacherous bogs. The pair hadn't seen another sign of intelligent life since leaving the village they'd stayed overnight in.

They topped a rise, and saw below them a small estuary where a minor river emptied into the ocean. Half an hour or so brought them to the banks. There floated an overturned boat, with two arrows stuck out from its sides. Plenty of brush and a few clumps of trees lay round about.

Hu suggested they should take a look - at the least it seemed an odd place to abandon a boat, and at best, they might be able to use it to speed their journet along.

Hugging himself, chilled a bit, the little one looked at Hu with a bit of apprehension. "We kin look if you wanna, but I can't really be counted on to do much pullin of the boat." It was a self-deprecating comment about his lack of strength. But the halfling was uncomfortable. Hu seemed OK, but the biggies often turned on his type. Itzal wanted nothing more than to keep the larger Hu pleased with his skills, so that Itzal would have someone to follow around. The neediness would eventually irritate, Itzal knew, and so he tempered it as best he could.

"So, ya really want to get it outta the water? Empty it an mebbe use it?" Itzal looked around, seeing if there was an ambush. The cold was beginning to bother him, and he couldn't stop from thinking about the weight of the boat.
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OOC:
spot = 10 (natural 1, groan)

Hu paid no real notice to Itzal, the little one seemed kinda jumpy anyway.  Perhaps it was a trait for his people to worry, when they were so much more fragile than him.  He carefully peered at the boat to see its condition.  The arrows sticking out of it worried him a bit.  Still, the boat would save them some time and he didn't mind the paddling.  That's what one comes to expect on a boat, hard work and ale.  He went to one knee and questioned Itzal:

"Well, should we take the boat?  I don't know much about this area, but it might save us some time in the future."

"Maybe, but whatever shot it up..." The halfling was leaning away slightly, and still looked about, knowing he wasn't going to find anything. "OK, let's get it out." He huffed his chest, as if he had great strength, though he hadn't. He took direction carefully, and thoughtfully, helping to get the vessel righted.

As Itzal approached the stranded boat, the bushes to the right of it rustled. With a shout, out rushed two teenage lads brandishing makeshift clubs. They looked to be no older than 13 or 14, and as alike as brothers.

Seemingly keen to attack, they hesitated slightly at the sight of Itzal, as if he wasn't what they'd been expecting.

Itzal jumped back, rather nimbly, short sword appearing in his hand as he did so. He was frightened, aware that humans, even immature ones, have happily tortured those of his kind. He was probably nothing more than a curiosity, a frog whose legs might be sacrificed in the name of juvenile experimentation. And so he said not a word, merely held the sword point low, ready. He'd run if he thought he could outrun them.

There was an awkward moment of silence whilst the two groups considered each other. Then, seeming to make their minds up, the two boys raised their clubs and made to attack. At that moment, a female voice called from behind Itzal and Hu:

"Stop, stop! Boys, leave off. Can't you see these are no bandits?"

As she spoke, the woman made her way around the two onlookers and began slapping the boys round their heads. She was of middle-age, tall and thin in a blue dress. Oddly, she carried a loaded crossbow in one hand.

"I'm sorry about this. The boys are jumpy, with good reason I might add. But - who are you, to go so armed?" She spoke more to Hu than to Itzal, though she did seem to include him in her questions.

Hu relaxed and stood up.  He puffed out his chest a bit and faced the woman.

"We are two travelers on our way to distant lands.  My name is Hu Sit, and my friend is Itzal.  Our business is our own and we mean no harm to anyone."

He quickly glanced at Itzal and motioned for him to put his sword away.
He returned his gaze to the woman.

"We saw this boat overturned in the water and decided to investigate.  This boat could save us some good time on our journey, but we were wary of an ambush.  Both me and my compatriot 'ave found this region can be somewhat dangerous so we came prepared for travel and, if fortune holds such, battle."

Hu carefully glanced around to see if anyone else was about and eyed the woman carefully.  He raised his eyebrow, and questioned the lady.

"Now that we have introduced ourselves, may I ask whose prescence we are currently occupying?"

Itzal stepped back, water sloshing as he did so. The sword was put away, but the skittish nature of the halfling made it hard for him to hold still. He didn't speak, knowing it wasn't his place to do so.

The woman narrowed her eyes a little at Hu's response, but began to relax.

"Dangerous indeed. My family was travelling north. My husband was accompanying a historian who wished to look into a cave in the area - this was their boat. My sons and I took a detour whilst the men went upriver."

She shook her head and gathered her boys close, her eyes displaying great worry.

"They didn't come back when they were meant to, so we came this way to look for them, and found the boat like this. We heard you coming and hid, fearing you were the attackers."

The woman seemed to see Itzal and Hu in a new light, looking them up and down with a somewhat calculating expression.

"Please, can you spare us your assistance, good fellow?" she said, addressing Hu.

"I'm sorry - my name is Melia. Whoever took my husband can't have gone far, we could find him before sundown!"

Hu furrowed his brow and took a second to look the family over.  He wasn't sure what to do.  On one hand he felt that it was right to help the unfortunates.  On the other he didn't want to put himself out for anymore risk than he needed to, especially if he was doing it for free.  He also needed to worry about  tiny Itzal.  He might be quick, but his little blade wouldn't hold up to a group of bandits.  He pondered these and finally looked directly at the woman.

"I want to help you out, Melia," he began, "but I don't want to risk someone's life that isn't my own."

"Itzal"
He loooked directly down on the little Halfling
"I think we should help this family out.  What is your honest opinion of this whole thing?"

Itzal looked to Hu and nodded, answering "OK." He was obviously still nervous, not willing to speak outright.

Melia's eyes grew wide.

"So does that mean you'll help us? I...I don't want to risk anyone's life either. But you two look like you're tough. Maybe my boys can help out?"

The two youngsters nodded vigorously, brandishing their clubs as they attempted to look fierce. The effect wasn't actually too bad - though you know they wouldn't be any match for you, their anger at the vanishment of their father might just make them useful in a fight.

Itzal wasn't sure. Were they responding to the authority exuded by Hu, or were they actually including the wee one as a tough fellow, willing to help? He could barely contain himself as he spurted "Of course we will!" He so surprised himself that he bounced back a step in reaction.

The woman smiled, her eyes actually filling a little with tears.

"Oh thank you, thank you! Let's go right away - the gods know what's happening to them!"

The older of the two boys began to tug at his mother's skirts. She batted him away a couple of times, resulting in an exasperated glance shared between the youngsters, before she finally turned to him.

"What?!"

"Uh..Ma, we don't know where they went. The boat's here, but they coulda gone anywhere! 'cept maybe back south, or the men here would've seen 'em."

Melia's face fell as she realised the wisdom of the boy's words. She looked at Hu and Itzal imploringly.

Itzal simply shrugged. THen he looked to Hu. He didn't want to usurp the position that Hu held, but he did whisper "So look for the cave, or look for the people?"

"We Look for the CAVE"

Without further ado, Melia gathered up the somewhat reluctant little group and led the way upstream. Her sense of urgency was a little infectious. so Hu and Itzal pushed hard to make fast progress.

After a little more than an hour of walking, one of the young lads called out that he'd spotted what looked like a cave opening. Sure enough, there it was - just on the other side of the running water, peering out from beneath a ridge. Itzal nervously pointed out that - hang on, didn't there seem to be two people over there?

---

Dimble and Julien had finally found the blasted cave they'd been searching for at Dimble's insistence. Something about ancient artifacts - whatever, Julien had gone along for want of anything better to and some vague promises from the gnome about treasure. And after all, gnomes were trustworthy, right?

Just as the pair were about to start their exploration, they heard a sound from the opposite bank. There stood two excited looking boys accompanied by a lady who appeared to be their mother, a swarthy-looking man bearing a strangely shaped sword, and a worried looking halfling. Maybe they were treasure hunters too...

Hu drew his sword in anticipation of a fight and loudly exclaimed

"Halt!  State your name and business now!  Why are you in this cave?"

He tried to look serious and stern while not overtly threatening