"Aye, they're the experts at passing information such as this."

"That's a good idea Renia," Patch said.

"Let's continue and find a place to camp for the night. Trundling our prisoners is going to slow us down. And we'd best watch our conversations around them. Information they will eventually pass on could be used against us... or... in our favor," he mused, rethinking his previous stance. "We could plant all sorts of disinformation... if we're careful."

"I for one am ready for some rest; lets get to camp and get our watches set." Jarder says placing his weapons away and mounting his horse heading ahead.

Greyband nods. "Agreed with Renia and agreed with Jarder. I'll take middle watch."

This time Neuken memorizes Haste instead of Fireball.  Otherwise, he picks the same spells as before.

Patch prays for CLWx2, Speak w/Animals, and Hold Person

Jayanti will regain her Sleep spell.

Greyband practices his dice and refreshes his incredible Pose of Awesomeness^TM. Well, he thinks it's awe-inspiring, anyway.

Jarder finds a nice rock to prop his head up against and catches some much needed sleep before his watch comes.

When his watch comes he moves away from the fire and the noise of his sleeping comrades.  He try's to find a tree or large rock that he can sit on/in to better observe the surroundings

As always, Neuken sleeps with one eye open.

The night passes uneventfully. Dawn arrives with clouds having gathered to the north, dark with the promise of rain.

Renia leads the company northward, the elevation steadily growing higher through the morning hours, a sharp cold overtaking the air as the adventurers enter the Mengul Mountains. Vegetation becomes sparse, with only a few hardy shrubs and lichens clinging to life amidst the jagged stone. Wind sweeps through the narrow pass as the party presses onward, the horses’ breath steaming as they climb.

Just after midday, the company arrives at a fork in the road. One path continues northward, remaining level as it winds through the tall rocks. The other branch veers to the northwest, the trail sloping upward steadily, a thin mist blanketing the pathway as it grows higher.

Glancing at the map that he collected from the brigands, Jarder feels certain that the northern road is the one that carries the warning about the dragon.

Path dismounted while his companions looked over the map and allowed his boar mount to forage a bit on the lichen and hardy brush. It wasn't the sort of fare which the animal preferred, but until they got to lower elevations - or found themselves the victors of another skirmish, the foraging would have to be enough.

"I know, I know, you'd rather be chewing something squishy and raw... be patient J.D. soon enough. I'd rather not see you become the supper of a dragon, but who listens to the wishes of a splndley old wise-man like me?"

Facing away from the direction which their map had indicated 'Here be Dragons', Patch hoped this silent signal would be interpreted correctly.

"But, if we were sneaky..." the hat brim raised just a bit toward the north.

“Dragons are high risk, high reward,” Neuken says without need.  “If we take one on, some of us probably won’t be returning home.

“However,” he adds, “If we do battle this creature, I can improve our chances by Hasting the party.”

"Our mission is not to slay dragons, or to risk failure by engaging in slaying dragons."

"My people have suffered from the depredations of Wryms over the millennia, but Wendar should be our priority."

Killian paused "Once we are finished, then a reckoning might be in order."

He paused again "Assuming that the dragon symbol indicates a literal dragon and not more symbolic of some other thing.  For instance, the sigil we found is a dragon or wyvern.  Perhaps they are related?"

Patch touched the end of his nose in a curious way and then pointed at the elf. "That's very clever of you Killian. Perhaps there's no Dragon at all, maybe that was written upon the map as a deterrent should it fall into the hands of... opposition."

He turned his back to the dragon-ward path and continued to wait.

“That could be, but we should assume the worst.  Unless you want your ass turned into bottom roast, you can’t afford to get caught with your pants down around a dragon.”

"ooo boy" Jarder says.  Looking at the map and then up the trail in the direction marked dragon.  "While I would like to get my hands on some dragon treasure, my gut tells me we don't know each other enough for the type of challenge.  Let us continue on the original quest."

Orin shifted uncomfortably in the saddle, which to his thinking spread his legs much wider than was either natural or desirable and acted on his rump as a sort of continual paddling the likes of which he hadn't felt since he was a wayward youth.  No matter how he repositioned himself, he still felt achy and sore.  To his credit, he tried to keep most of that out of his tone.

"Renia, which way to the encampment with our contact?  That should be our guide, and if it means passing the 'dragon', whatever that ends up being, then we will deal with it." The last left a sour expression on Orin's face, for despite the brave words the dwarf held no illusions about tackling a fabled wyrm.

Renia's eyes drift across the two forks in the road. "The spy had previously written that two roads led into Geron from the Mengul Mountains, one that led to the southern gate of the township, the other that intersected the western entrance."

"He mentioned that the northern road, the shortest route, was heavily guarded, but he never spoke specifically of a dragon. He spoke little of the other trail."

“Maybe there isn’t a dragon.  We may have jumped to a false conclusion.”

Greyband shrugs. "Though I would love to slay a dragon sometime, I don't think this is that time. We should take the road without the warning, whether it's real or not."

“Consider this, however: would we want to leave a live dragon in our rear?  One breath attack while we’re camping could wipe us out.  Isn’t it wiser to first determine if there is such a threat before moving on?”

Patch tugged at one of the... patches on his cloak, back still turned toward the direction of the alleged dragon. He whistled a bit of haunting melody in a minor key as he waited for the others to come around to his way of thinking.

"A little extra gold would be nice J.D.," he said to the hog, "I fear I'm a bit behind in my charitable donations..."

“So am I,” the sorcerer says, and laughs.

Greyband sighs. "All say aye who want to avoid the dragon route. Aye!"