Itylus stood there, watching the caves, while the others caught up with him. It was too quiet in the entrance of the boarmen's lair for his liking. Where were the boarmen? Deep inside the caves? Hunting somewhere?... Or waiting to ambush them?  He didn't liked the muddy ground neither. It would be difficult to move through all that mud, which made the entrance of the cave a perfect place for an ambush...

He saw the human footprints in the mud and a sudden thought came to his mind: was that what had happened to the first group Lord Joris had sent here? Had they been ambushed in the entrance of the cave?

"This is a too good spot for an ambush for my liking." he said quietly to the rest.

Itylus' eyes fell then in Joris' man's pale face. How was possible he hand't remembered to ask him this before? Approaching the man and putting a hand in his shoulder to soothe him, he asked: "You were part of Joris' first rescue party weren't you? Tell me exactly how you were ambushed."

"My master had sent us, a small band, to save the fair lady Veda." He said mournfully as he looked ahead at towards the cavern entrance. "We made great haste, pushing ourselves as quickly as we could until we had found the spot where she had been initially overtaken by the boarmen. From there, we made our way here."

He pauses a moment, swallowing hard. "We were united in our purpose, and our morale was high until we discovered that the tracks led to the cave. Many, including myself, wanted to wait before we ventured in. The caverns are said to be cursed, and to enter them will invoke the wrath of the Furies, but others in group demanded that such fears were nonsense, and that the Gods favored our mission."

He shakes his head. "As we argued, a horrible, inhuman bellowing began to come forth from the caverns themselves. I do not know how to describe it, save that it was an unearthly hollow sound that struck fear into our hearts and made our veins run cold. It frightened at least half our number, who began to scatter in all directions. It was then that the boarmen came out from the cave in great numbers. In our panic, they overwhelmed us within seconds."

He continues "Those that fled were all killed, at least, I think they were. On my return journey I saw many struck down throughout the woods. I think that the boarmen had snipers, or were just waiting to ambush those others who ran off in panic."

He concludes "I was nearly killed myself. I had taken several blows upon their initial attack and was knocked over by a comrade who had been struck by an arrow. I only survived because my head had hit something that knocked me unconscious...

By the time I woke up, it was dark, and all around me were dead and the boarmen were nowhere to be seen. I do not know how I made it back alive, without being killed by the boarmen or worse, but by the grace of the Gods I made it back to my master"

Tears fall down the guide's face now. "Please ask me no more of this."

Itylus pondered about the words of the woodsman for a moment, then turning towards the two magicians he asked: "Is there anyway you can find out if there is really some sort of curse in this caves?"

Arthanos stared intently at the caves, his mind ticking through possibilities. As the man recounted what happened to the last group, Arthanos nodded to himself.

"Itylus, can you check this area quickly? If they have watchers and we haven't seen them, I'd hate for them to hit us in the rear if we were fighting near the cave?" he said before looking at the two magicians himself. "On top of sensing curses, can either of you start fire from a distance?" We could try to smoke them out. If not, we could try to bottleneck the cave mouth. It's only two people wide, so me and Petracles could seal it. If we make some spears from trees, others can also hit the boarmen in front.

Aleta looks at the others "If the first party waited too long, they got found and the boarmen surrounded them. Which probably means that there is another exit. If there is, they could be moving around us now. So lets make a decision and do it. "

Petracles had nodded along with Arthanos' assessment, adding "While we prepare, we should have others scout out the enemy position if possible." he gestures towards the cave entrance "Perhaps Aleta or Itylus could enter the cave just far enough to see how far back they go. If they can keep quiet, perhaps they could even get an accurate count of how many boarmen are inside, or if the lady Veda is present with them."

He then points to the woods around them "The other, or both I suppose, could scout the woods to see if our enemy lurks out there, and see if there might be another entrance to this cavern. I somehow doubt that there is only one way in and one way out." he says with a smile toward Aleta.

Agmund had been staring at the cavern for some time, listening to the others speak. He then says "Those gifted with magic might be able to tell if the cavern is cursed, but I for my part... I can feel a darker power radiating." He nods slowly "Death." he mummers softly.

"I cannot tell if there is a curse, specifically.  And might have written off the sound the first expedition heard as something produced naturally. To frighten.  But the Norseman's feeling would seem to say otherwise," she glanced briefly toward the barbarian.  "Hopefully Eurnomes may tell more. And flame is not my element.  But I say this --  I agree time is likely against us, and I very agree it is still worth the risk to know the situation better. I vote for sending one afield and, maybe, one into the cave.  The latter could take and wear this belt..." she held it up again.

"I cannot say what it does yet.  But I believe it consecrated to Apollo. And surely magical. It should offer protection, though I don't know how, exactly."  She shook her head.  "It's a risk, with what Agmund has said. But probably wiser than several going in, with no protection, not knowing what the source of it is." 
This message was last edited by the player at 19:20, Fri 22 Mar 2013.

Itylus watches silently while his companions talk, taking in account their arguments, measuring the risk, evaluating the situation. To Arthanos and Petracles' suggestion he answers: "Yes, myself was already planning on doing just that. I´ll scout the area surrounding the caves, and try to find signs of the boarmen and what they are up to. I also will see if I can find a more discrete way in to the caves."

He pauses then for a second, as if debating with himself, an then, as if reaching a resolution, he continues:"If I don´t find anything... then I will be the one to scout this entrance. It is already bad enough to go in to the lair of a creature one knows so little about, but if there could be some dark magic at work in there, then entering blindly this cave could prove fatal. To avoid we all walk right in to a trap, or something worse, someone has to  go in there first and explore the entrance to the caves. Being the most experiment in this sort of environments, I will be the one to go."

"So," he said, adjusting his bow in his shoulder, and getting ready to depart."withouth further delay, I'll go scout the area. In case I don't find another way in, then I'll take my chances and go in to the lion's den through the main entrance."

He turns to Aleta:"If you wish you may come with me to scout the area, and extra pair of stealthy eyes is always welcome."

---

_{OCC: Independently of Aleta's answer Itylus will depart immediately after it.}
This message was last edited by the player at 23:06, Fri 22 Mar 2013.

Aleat looks at Itylus "Yes, I will go with you. I just think we need to act quickly before the boarmen figure out there is someone out here" She follows where ever Itylus goes, trying to move as quietly as possible.

Itylus and Aleta take their leave of the party, and begin to search the perimeter surrounding the caves. Initially they find nothing out of place or unusual. As they walk 'up' onto the rocky hill above the caves, they can both determine that the caves either must be very shallow - only taking up the space of the hill itself, or they descend deeper into the earth, in which case it would be impossible to tell how far down it would go.




Finally, as they almost complete their circle around the caverns, they pass by a large mossy boulder against the hill wall. (OOC: 'H' on the map)  Although something as everyday as that might be ignored if they were merely passing by, something tells the two that they should stop a moment to investigate. As they examine the edges, Aleta confirms to Itylus that she can feel a slight breeze (and a slight unpleasant smell) coming from where the boulder met the wall. Itylus judges that it would not be easily moved, though somebody strong enough might be able to push the boulder out of the way to grant them access to the cave.

Itylus also judges that it seems unlikely that the boarmen know about this entrance, given that the moss and other natural growth on the stone appears to be untouched by man or beast.

Back at the main camp, Arthanos put his plan into motion, though he learns from the magicians that neither of them have the ability to magically create fire. Euronomes suggests that he could try to invoke his patron Hermes to determine whether there might be an actual curse, but he would need time to recover from his most recent appeal to the Gods (that, and while the Gods enjoy meddling in the affairs of humans, they get annoyed with constant questions)

Arthanos, Petracles and Agmund began hacking down some smaller limbs from trees as to fashion crude spears. They would not have elegance or endurance, but wielded correctly, they might be able to kill.

She looks at Itylus "I wonder if we could put some stones against this boulder to make it ever harder to move, so it would be harder for them to try and flank us. I am not sure if we could move it"

Itylus examines the boulder and then says:" I think that perhaps with the help of the others we would be able to move this boulder just enough for us to pass through. It would be a lot better than entering the boarmen's lair through the front door or smoking all of them out into an open fight. And if we aren´t capable of moving the boulder I doubt the boarmen will. This moss in and around it shows that the boulder has been like this for a long time."

"In any case," he says, moving away from the boulder "we've better go tell the others about this, and then decide what to do about it."

"OK, I agree with you. Let see if we can get the others and try and move it just a little. Or we could start a fire in the opening and smoke them out the other end?" she says with a grin.

"Hmmm... that actually sounds like a good idea. We could smoke them out through here, they would come out through the main entrance to try to find out what is going on, and then we would enter the emptied caves through here undetected." he said thoughtful."Of course we would have to be quick and we would have to worry about the smoke ourselves, but it could work."

"Anyway, come Aleta," he said walking away from the boulder "let's tell the others what we found out." And with this he starts to head back to where they had left the others.

Aleta follows him back to the others. "OK, lets go see what they think"

Aleta and Itylus return to where the others were waiting and relay to them their discovery of the large boulder, as well as the idea of smoking the boarmen out of the caves.  After some discussion, they agree to attempt to try to move the large boulder first.  The three strongest of the group are (perhaps unsurprisingly) Itylus, Petracles and Agmund.  Each of them attempts to use their strength to push the boulder away, but either their strength fails or the boulder is just too firmly entrenched in for them to budge it enough to get momentum to push it away.

Apart from looking foolish, there was little risk except for that of losing a little bit of time.

"At least we know that if we can't move it, it is doubtful that any of them can." comments Agmund as he wipes sweat from his brow.

OOCL

23:43, Today: Maze Master, on behalf of Petracles, rolled 7 using 1d10. Feat of Strength (Target = 14).
23:42, Today: Agmund rolled 3 using 1d10. Feat of Strength (Target = Secret).
23:42, Today: Maze Master, on behalf of Itylus, rolled 9 using 1d10. Feat of Strength (Target = 13)

If nothing else, this failure now paved the way clear for them. They will have to attempt a frontal assault on the boarmen. The attempts at building stakes to impale the boarmen was slow going, and after some consideration, it would be difficult to start a fire at the entrance of the cave.

Strangely - as they begin their entry into the caves, it is eerily quiet.  They go in about 60 feet before there is a split in the paths.  There is a pathway to their left (northwest), that descends downwards. Examining the path from their location, Itylus determines that the pathway is little used. Dysis and Aleta determine that gauging from the smell, something dead or rotting must be down that path.

To their right (northeast), the path remains steady.  It is obvious to everybody that boarmen use this pathway, given the tracks in the dirt, as well as bits of fur, or the occasional old broken weapon, such as a spearhead in the corners of the passageway.  Aleta briefly scouts ahead, and comes back to report that after about another 30 feet going northeast, there is yet another split of path heading southeast.   She also reports seeing some torchlight if they ignore that split and continue going north.

Thus far they were undetected, but choices would have to be made.  Would they investigate the rotting smell to the northwest, or tread up the path towards the torchlight (and probably the boarmen) to the northeast instead?

After hearing Aleta's report, Itylus whispers to the others: "What way do you want to go? I think we should take the path to the right - It seems that's where the boarmen are and, therefore, their prisoners. Besides," he continues while throwing a suspicious look towards the left path. "I doubt I am the only one who has a bad feeling about the other path. I don't think there is anything good down there."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:13, Sat 10 Aug 2013.

Arthanos keeps towards the front of the group, hoping to use his shield to limit any attack that comes up the tunnel at them. When Aleta returns with her report, he hefts his shield slightly, taking the time to settle it and thinking about what she had said.

"I agree with the idea that there is nothing good down there...but I am worried about leaving an unexplored path behind us." He thinks for a few more seconds. "I think it might be best if we go in quickly and try to take them by surprise. We can always return with more people later to search this place fully."

Aleta whispers "I think we can't avoid leaving tunnels behind us if we are to continue forward.  So lets just go along the path that looks the most used." When she scouts, she keeps her hand on her throwing knives.

Agmund nods in agreement with Arthanos, though given the darkness of the cave and that the party was using little light, it might have been the shaggy barbarian just shaking off dirt or cobwebs. "We should go in front." he suggests "As soon as we see a boarman, we attack."

He turns to peer off down the passageway that smells of death, a frown on his face.

Dysis had no reason to refute the selection.   Having used a good deal of her power, she would need be to personally careful, though.  Armed with dagger and wooden shield, she was hardly any combatant to go toe to hoof with a berserk boarman.

But though she had used up her more overt powers, a few more subtle things were yet possible.  Either in defense of the party, if projectile attacks were used against them. Or an approach that had nothing to do with meeting an enemy face to face.

She noted the Hyperborean's expression.  And decided to inquire.  She asked him:

"Is it just that it stinks of death?  Or some more specific death, perhaps?"

Personally, she was doing her best to breathe through her mouth...
This message was last edited by the player at 21:12, Tue 13 Aug 2013.

She looks at Agmund "I still think I should be sneaking up front. I might sneak up on them and then hear something good.  Or see a better time to attack."

Arthanos looks down the tunnel, then back at Aleta.

"If you do go scout ahead and run into trouble, head straight back to us. I'll move my shield enough for you to get past then we'll block the passage." Arthanos says, and gestures at Agmund as he says the last part.

Itylus considered offering to go scout ahead with Aleta, but he realized that in the narrows ways of the caves that only would make them more easy to spot. Besides he had already seen the scouting skills of Aleta in action, and he knew he could trust her to do a good job and not get caught.

Instead, he decided to remain in the rear of the group and keep an eye to anything that eventually tried to sneak up on them from behind.

Having decided that, he readies his bow and walks to the rear of the group while saying: "Well, are you all ready to continue then? The day grows old and we have better hurry." from the back of the group he adds: " I'll be bringing up the rear."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:30, Thu 15 Aug 2013.