"That would be my guess, druids perhaps?"

Oswyn surveys the site. He inspects the armor first, to see if it's worth salvaging or if the battle damage is too great. Then he turns his attention to the stick men. He looks over their construction, and seems to slip into a meditative state for a moment as he does so.

Oswyn's evaluation of the armor tells you that it has taken moderate damage in the last battle. (After all, it's previous owner is presently dead.) The armor is well crafted, battle worthy, and with repairs and a good refitting would be quite serviceable again. It is hard to tell exactly what injury killed the dwarf, but the armor shows distinct teeth, impact dents, and rending and tearing along the extremities. Mostly likely done by the drakes.

To his surprise, turning the body over to face upwards reveals something akin to corrosion on the outer metal and leather layers, with a few spots having been "eaten" open by something so destabilizing it simply melted the material away. Oswyn's first thoughts are 'fire' or 'acid', but there are no scorch marks.

"No. No one here, I can say. So many people pass through Emberdell I don't meet all of them."

She kneels next to the body of the elf. The sunken, decayed face does not detract from the elegant hair, nor the fine headband that used to keep it tied in place. It is clear the elf's principal injury was a massive tear to its left shoulder, where bone and the remains of sinew are visible in the open. With such an injury it would have been almost impossible to be able to use the left arm again in any capacity.

She wordlessly pulls her pack from her shoulders, drops it next to her, kneels, and begins the Chiress prayers for the dead.

She finishes the short ritual by allowing a few drops of Chiress water to wash over the elf's forehead, then proceeds to the human and the dwarf.

Aila smiled at Petar's response, and said, "I did not mean here, precisely, but somewhere reasonably close that would be a suitable spot.  It seems close to time to be picking the spot and getting things arranged, doesn't it?"

"Agreed, and hopefully find out where the survivors went!"

Petar tries his best to look for a path, asking others with a tracker's eye to help if they wished and asking the orcs, too, to recount what they saw when the battle broke.  "?"

Hopefully with that clue, they could look in the right spot, and find some indications of passage.

"Let it be quick before nightfall finds us." As she surveyed the scene she had nothing to aid the others in their search.

Lland guessed these orcs were at least pretending to be compatriots as they hadn't attacked yet, but that didn't mean he would drop his guard or his morning Star. It appeared the red orcs were going to lead the group to the spot of the night battle, which Lland still didn't fully comprehend but he understood what a battle was and that there could still be danger.

He mostly kept to himself as they hiked, Lland wasn't going to give an inch, even if the orcs and he couldn't understand each other. Never show weakness to a stranger, only friends got to see his soft and squishy side.

They got to the battle ground and it did not smell or look pretty, the aura of death still lingered here. Now Lland was all about a good battle, but not burying the dead left a kharmatic stank in the ground. Everyone seemed to be in a rush to move on but Lland's morality had some specific rules and burying a warrior was important to him.  He would find a digging tool and dig one grave to save time, there was no shame in compatriots in arms sharing a grave, was better than foul beasts gnawing on their bones.

"if ye hae tae leave juist let me knoe th' directions. A've git tae bury thae bodies 'n' skin thaim drake's fur some fancy boots"

Angus will help Lland bury the dead as quickly as possible, gathering rocks for a cairn.

Oswyn helps with the burial as well. Once that is taken care of, he will help scout out a good camping spot, if the others haven't found one yet.

Brulna stood watch with a spell prepared. She watched the men dig the graves, but she herself kept thinking of the elf.

Several of the remaining afternoon hours pass as you dig a grave large enough to hold the three bodies. A few of the orcs offer to help, and you finish before the sun dips into twilight, perhaps with another hour to spare. You then set your attention to setting up camp. In the clearing, this is easy. There is plenty of open space, and the rocky promontories provide a small amount of shelter against the wind, as well as a backing onto which to settle lean-tos.

The orcs settle together into their own camp, observing you from a distance. They spend their time cleaning their armor and keeping their weapons sharp. The scouts return with little to report, other than a few drakes seen in the distance to the west.

By the time the camps are finished the skies are settled into night.

You have a chance to check out any possible leads to where the rest of this party might have departed with the information the orcs gave you. According to them, they left generally towards the north-west. It will be easier to search for any possible tracks in the daytime, although after a fortnight and day, it would be hard to do even for experienced tracker.

As you settle into your spots and prepare your food, the night's chill begins to descend around you, making you want to get closer to the fire. The clouds travel lazily on the high breezes, and the stars begin to twinkle playfully at you.

Camille settles onto the ground with her legs crossed, and pulls her blanker tighter around her to stay warm. She starts telling a story of when she and her sister met a faery in these woods.  That was a few summers ago, before the town started having trouble with the orcs. She tells of a small flighty creature, no taller than the span of a hand, looking like a butterfly made of light and yet with the body of a woman. She recalls that the forest was warm during the summer months, and that the breeze was so light you could easily fall asleep on it. They heard its laughter at the edge of town, and felt compelled to follow it. The didn't count how long they were following it until the forest was all around them. That's when they realized they had been walking for hours, although it only felt like a few moments. The closer they got to the woods, the lighter and easier the trek felt, for their spirits were raised by something in the air that resembled joy and good cheer. Soon they could actually hear the laughter and tried to follow it, but they got lost and started to worry. The more they tried to follow the laughter, the further it seemed to get from them. It was then they felt overcome by the desire to sleep. They found a small glen with gentle moss-covered ground, and took to sleeping right there and then. The next morning they awoke in one of the farmer's barns, nestled into the hay. To this day, they never saw another faery again, nor discovered how they made it back safely after having fallen asleep.

"It was such a wonderful night. I remember it so clearly, even now," she finishes, playing with her sister's symbol in her hand. "I'll take first watch. Who'll follow after me?"

---

OOC: Ok, got another post out. Work's been busy. I got set up to do another production, and there's lots of little fires to fight. And with Christmas and soon New Year's here, it will busy along the family line. But I am sure I can get a few posts ready.

"I'll take last watch."

Oswyn steps up. "I can take second watch. I see well in the dark, and once my shift is over, I'll sleep like a log. But you won't catch me snoozing on duty."

"I don't sleep much, so dwarven friend. You remind me of my sister. We had a way of speaking a broken broug. If'n ye understand wha I might be sayin?" The muscular wizard looked at the dwarf with a smile.

"And just one on watch?  I'm quite willing to take a watch in the night," said Aila.

In reply to Aila (msg # 153):

"There should be 2 on watch, just in case."

OOC: Ok... looks like lots of options.

I can't quite tell if you fellas want three watches with one person each, or two watches with two people awake.

Which one is it?
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:16, Wed 23 Dec 2020.

A few of the orcs offer to help

Carefuly to translate promptly so there were no misunderstandings (opportunistic, or otherwise), Petar gratefully accepts the help from the red orcs.  The task of burial was difficult, even if this wasn't a personal loss.  These were still people, who, until very recently, had been going about their business just like they were.  It was sobering to raise cairns over strangers while wondering (perhaps morbidly so), if others would do the same for him.

Petar also wonders if, by spending time with these savages, the locals of Emberdell might become the stronger for it.  Especially since the red orcs seemed as keen to rid the land of evils and drakes as the next fellow.  An alliance was certainly a stretch, but peaceful co-existence and minimum and trading at best?  The elf makes a mental note to bring it up with Garrel and Dormas the next time.

She starts telling a story of when she and her sister met a faery in these woods.

For once Petar doesn't have to entertain and he settles in eagerly.  More stories were also good, even ones about kid's stuff.

To this day, they never saw another faery again, nor discovered how they made it back safely after having fallen asleep.

"Not all fey are so, seelie, I believe is how they say it in the Greenest Realm," Petar says, using a child's name for the legendary woodland kingdom of the Faerie Queen and her traditional court.  "I'm glad they didn't play serious tricks on you or worse!"

There were many tales, of the Green Man and Hoarfrost Jack and the Witch of Air and Darkness.  The city elf, of course, only knows the human side of these tales and believes them all to be merely amusing.  Petar was, though, beginning to suspect that most magical things were all too real, and terrifying.

Regarding the business of night watches, he figures they have a large enough troop for double duty.  "We know there are monsters about, plus we have those orcs there and while I don't exactly trust them, I don't exactly don't trust them, either," Petar admits.

How about humans on watch 1, while there is still some light: Camille and Brulna.
Infravision for watch 2: Petar and Oswyn
Back to humans for the pre-dawn period where its starts getting lighter: Mysh and Aila?

Angus, you want to make sure you get your sleep so you can study?

In reply to Game Master (msg # 155):

OOC:Brulna will stay awake whomever is watching for danger can do so. She will be in her thoughts of her sister.

"I'll take the third, then," offered Aila.

---

Petar's suggestions work for me, in other words.

I can't complain about that either. ;-)

The watches having been assigned, the party settles in around the fire and warmth, and all take a well deserved rest. It had been a long day of a trek, and moving around in all that armor, hauling a decent amount of equipment, was rather tiring. And that doesn't include having to dig graves for several hours.

Camille and Brulna have an uneventful watch. The orcs have their own watches, keeping themselves respectfully away from the rest of the party. They don't make any efforts to keep communications open, as it appears that most of them don't know the western common used by all other races.

The night is cool, outright chilling. It is moderately overcast, allowing for a bit of light to come through from the moon and the stars. The calm breeze would have been pleasant during the daytime, but at night it steals the warmth away from the bones and makes you want to huddle closer to the fire.

The second watch is woken up in due time, and Peter and Oswyn take on the cool night. Not wanting to keep their fellows up, the elf and the dwarf keep conversation to a minimum, and what little they have they manage in whispers. The night appears to transpire quietly.

That is until both Petar and Oswyn spot a 'glow' emerging from among the trees to the southwest. It is an odd light, slightly blue in hue, and indistinct. It doesn't seem to come from any direct light source, and it is barely visible through the trees. But with their eyes attuned to the darkness, both notice it is there.

The light (or whatever is causing it) appears to slowly circle around their position. It seems to move very slowly.

It is at that moment that a heavy crashing through the woods comes from the west-north-west of your camp. Something, more than one thing, approaches quickly between the trees, and if it was not caring how much noise it is making now, it sure was keeping very quiet earlier. It appears to be almost upon you.

OOC: Perception checks for Petar and Oswyn. Either one of you go ahead and roll initiative. =)

OOC: What do we roll for Perception in RC? Wisdom? Sorry, don't have the book handy at work today.

Initiative is standard 1d6 for the group I assume, so I'll roll:

15:02, Today: Oswyn rolled 6 using 1d6.  Initiative.

The second watch is woken up in due time, and Peter and Oswyn take on the cool night. Not wanting to keep their fellows up, the elf and the dwarf keep conversation to a minimum, and what little they have they manage in whispers. The night appears to transpire quietly.

Indeed, Petar is slightly on edge, what with drakes and eagle-boars and so on in this territory.  Oh, and orcs.  He keeps his back to the fire to keep his infravision working properly as he scans the night.

It is at that moment that a heavy crashing through the woods comes from the west-north-west of your camp. Something, more than one thing, approaches quickly between the trees, and if it was not caring how much noise it is making now, it sure was keeping very quiet earlier. It appears to be almost upon you.

As soon as he can, Petar is shaking others awake while shouting for the rest to arise.

"Something comes!"

Perception check = 3.  Did you mean Alertness?  I don't think this ancient version of D&D has Perception :lol

22:02, Today: Petar the Elf rolled 3 using 1d20.  Petar Perception check Things That Go Bump In The Night.