Fanny's heart was heavy. Gently stroking the muzzle of her new friend, intended to be soothing for the beast but curiously effective for herself, she wrestled with a hard decision. Fear of the unknown,  the boredom and drudgery of her situation, loyalty to and the kindness of her brothers, the desire to prove she had something more to offer this world. All these forces pulled on her heart at once and she was rapidly running out of time to decide.

Feeling that she had dawdled too long she obeys the compulsion to start moving again. "Come on." she urges the horse and leads it away.

She hadn't come to any conscious decision yet, however she walks right past the turn to take her back home. She gazes far down the road as she passes as if looking for something, a sign maybe, a glimpse of something that might anchor her life here. Her heart pounds as she moves on. Was it excitement? fear of being caught and facing another scolding? No this was something different. Her face full of determination she quickens her pace, maybe she could still catch them.

(The Game Map shows you the region, roughly.)

 Epeus  came to attention, then saluted the Noble, turned and marched out of the house. The next stop was to the barracks to gather up his gear, then the armory for his weapons.

 The man at arms, hoped he could draw rations for this task set upon him by the Baron. No telling how long they might be  out of the fort.

Darakyn is ready to head out. A chance to do something other than dig ditches or walk a guard rotation is fine with him. He doesn't have a horse, but he's happy to walk. Anything for a change of pace and a relief to the monotony of fort life.

He fetches his pack and weapons and is ready in minutes.

 Epeus mustered to where the group was supposed to meet. He wore what armor protection was offered to a lowly man at arms. He had on a pack that contained a few personal items, thre days cooked rations, a blanket, tinder box, etc. A water skin was slung over a shoulder. He wore a short sword, dagger, and had his Bill.

Abdur traveled light and always had his weapons on him.  He diverted briefly to grab his light pack with a bit of food and water skin before heading outside the baron's building to join the others.  "Well then, let's be off.  We'll follow the road a bit but will need to stay wary of the casual or planned ambush of course."

Jehungir grabbed the gear that he had, following in with the others. "Let's be off, then."

Shahara performed a bow to the baron that seemed to involve her hands more than her waist, and made her way outside, where she saw Fan-Hee leading her horse timidly in their direction. She strode boldly and grabbed Amanisinaya's reins to lead her towards the stable.

"Bad news, girl." She said to Fan-hee, "The baron requested, nay he demanded that you accompany us and provide your keen insight into the disappearance of his supplies." The Shemite entered the stable and quickly lay a blanket and a light saddle over the horses back, cinching everything into place with practiced speed. "Just supplies, mind you," She continued, "I have it on good authority that the fort's payroll was not stolen along with the valuable flour and liquor and what not the wagon was carrying."

She gathered up a few belonging from where it looked like she had been living herself inside the stable. Along with various supplies she placed in the horses saddlebags, a short sword was tied to her hip, and a quiver on her back alongside and exotic looking bow. Shaharazara mounted her steed, holding a short lance under her arm.

"Well, girl? Are you coming, or should I fetch your washboard for you before I go?"

Fanny accepts the bad news with astonishment. "Yes! yes, I am coming. Look!", she holds her arms out to display her traveling attire and shows Shaharazara a little spin. In addition to her silken attire consisting of a high-necked long blue jacket, and embroidered trousers she wears a black wide-sleeved hooded robe. In her hand is a road stained quarterstaff that looks like its seen more time as a walking stick than as a weapon. Various bulges beneath her robes indicate hidden gear or parcels and a set of three hand bells, stuffed with wadding to prevent them from chiming, hanging from her simple woven belt.

"Wow. Did the Baron really request, no, demand that I come? Surely one of the brothers would suit better, but maybe his instincts knew better than to try. They would have politely turned him down." she happily chatters as she follows the Shemmite hunter around like an excited puppy.

It's quite a rag tag group that starts out along the Road of Kings. Darakyn smiles shyly at the women as they banter with one another, wishing he had learned to talk easily like that, but happy just to be doing something different for a change.

His gaze wanders along the trail ahead of them, thrilling at the idea that this road leads all the way across the empire to legendary Aghraphur on the shores of the Inland Sea.

The party hasn't even reached Augustus Bridge when the smell of rotting bodies reaches the nostrils of those in the front ranks. You are perhaps 300 yards away from the bridge.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:54, Fri 10 July 2020.

 It had been some time, since Epeus Had done a road march. But the constant drilling and walking a post, had keep him in decent physical condition. It was rather a pleasant thing to escape the confines of the fort, and the constant same routines.

 As he marched along, his Bill rested on his shoulder, the wind shifted, and death stench of death was upon it. There was nothing like the aroma of battle. A mixture of iron from blood, piss and shyt, that made a horrific stench .” Do ye all smell it? Death is upon the road this day. I think we might have found the fate of those that we seek.”

Abudr greets Fan-Hee as she joins them.  "I think the baron didn't care who we brought along.  There may be something that you can identify for us along the way."  Otherwise he focused on scouting their way and at the smell of the rotting bodies threw up his hand in warning.

"Death indeed.  Ready your weapons just in case." He moved forward cautiously.

Fanny grips her staff tightly and draws courage from the safety it affords while at the same time trying to hide her offended nose in the nook of her elbow. She feels safe being behind the front line and not having to be the first one to confront whatever was ahead of them, whether it be foe or just a horrific scene of slaughter. But, to her dismay being in the middle of the marching order also meant those behind her were pressuring her to keep moving forward, at a pace that was uncomfortably fast for her suddenly.

Her dread of seeing what is ahead of them overcomes her curiosity and she turns her head away to one side and then another. Rather than the typical tunnel vision towards the unknown and probable danger she instead tries to focus on anything and everything but.

Chard readies his bow and nocks an arrow, holding it to the side as he follows the hillman moving towards the stench of death. He's looking for the carrion birds that will surely give away the positions of the bodies and at the same time scanning the scene carefully looking for anything that seems out of place.

By instinct he will move to place himself between any perceived source of danger and the women in the group. Just the way he was brought up.

As the party approaches the bridge, carrion birds take flight in a rustle of wings and sudden motion. Bodies, of men and of beasts of burden, are spread across the caravan trail in a haphazard manner. Something happened here. Something sudden and violent.

Abdur will advance into the scene of death and destruction to try and figure out what happened and confirm if this is indeed the missing caravan.

Chard will circle the scene at a distance of perhaps fifty paces looking for signs of who left the scene of slaughter.

"Look around, girl. Tell us what you see." Shahara said to Fan-Hee, mostly to keep her in the center of the group. She steered her horse with her knees while the nomad knocked an arrow to her bow and rode slowly around the edge of the area, searching for the tracks the bandits left.


18:04, Today: Shaharazara rolled 24 using 1d20+4.  Tracking.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:32, Sat 11 July 2020.

"These poor people. How could this happen?" Fanny laments. She was old enough and mature enough to understand that these had been dead for awhile to smell as they did, but beyond hope she begins to frantically move from corpse to corpse looking for a survivor. With a practiced eye she also takes note of the wounds she finds.


23:58, Today: Fan-Hee rolled 22 using 1d20+4.  Heal.

"Loot or revenge or both..." Abdur addressed Fan-Hee. "We need to figure out what type of weapons killed them."

As the party moves into the area of carnage, keeping Fan-Hee toward the center of the group and with Chard circling the area, you notice that most of the bodies -- apparently Aquilonians traveling west with a number of wagons originally in caravan formation -- have crude arrows protruding from them, or show signs of cuts and gashes all about their bodies.

Fan-Hee's careful ministrations to the wounded indicates that all of the men's bodies are missing a tuft of hair from their heads. They are all dead, and there are no survivors.

Shaharazara's keen attention to the area's perimeter reveals a faint trail heading west, back toward the Black River.

Abdur frowns as he looks over the bodies.  "Picts by the looks of things."

19:15, Today: Abdur Rahman rolled 17 using 1d20+4.  Spot.

Abdur also notices that the dead men are missing a tuft of hair from their heads, the hair roughly torn from the scalp, leaving a raw, red wound behind.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:23, Tue 14 July 2020.

Fanny chokes back sobs as she tries to speak. "All dead and they have been scalped." She remembered the stories the soldiers would tell her about the savages in the jungle and how they would take "trophies" from their kills. She thought the stories were exaggerated and the men were just having fun with her, but now she knew.

The girls nose returns to her elbow once more as she suppresses a gag. "I didn't find any of the attackers among the dead. They wont be moving very quickly if they have the supplies, their dead, and their wounded in tow."