For roleplaying purposes you can assume that you are together for whatever reason you like and whatever back story you want. Anyone can join in at anytime. The purpose is simply to waste time while others are getting ready.

You come to a beach close to the edge of a forest where you can smell a horrible burning that stings your nostrils. Your guide  a small goblin chained to one of you guides the way through the beach.

"Yos let Mongrel go. We agree you says when I's shows you de beach."

The small creature tugs on his chains demanding to be released.

"Bonetooth clan not far. Day right over ridge."

Morton stroked Lady behind the ear ~can you please persuade the little chap to be quiet~ he sent his thought to the large dog and she nodded and walked up to the little man and with a deep growl she pulled back her lips to show her teeth.

"my companion says she wants to eat you if just means you shut up"

It was then the smell drifted vier the tall athletic looking human with long black hair.

His hand gripped his staff and for a second blue fire filled his eyes.

"lady what do you make of that smell?" he asked the the large grey bloodhound before he started moving off in the direction the smell came from moments later the hound was by his side

Mongrel cowers away from the animal.

Under his breathe he says, "Filthy humanss, they always lie."

A few seconds later you can see the Lady is trying to find that scent that's in the air.

16:13, Today: Eternal Darkness, for the NPC Lady(Dog), rolled <orange>6 using 1d10, rerolling max ((6)).</Orange>

Lady has a scent that she has picked up and begins moving in the direction. Guiding you along a worn path towards the ridge that the goblin was talking about. The goblin grungily makes no other sounds.

"I have not lied to you once."  Serafina informed their "guide".  Her tone was as always a little cold and more than a little regal.  "You on the other hand have said that the Bonetooth clan is not far, including once over ten miles ago, multiple times.  No little one, you will be released when we clearly have laid eyes on it, and until then you are under our protection as much as you are our captive."

Serafina's speech was always very crisp and well elocuted, and she tended toward these short lectures, but sometimes they had their place.  She had taken the captive herself to ease her mind the goblin wouldn't be abused.  Their captive had surrendered, and had struck a bargain with her and the others that was, honestly, more valuable than his life.

"Anyway he is short with you because you have not delivered.  It might do well to not constantly claim the objective is near.  And it does not behoove you to generalize so, what if I said all goblins were thieves, how would that make you feel?  It would be most unkind, yes?"

It amused Serafina that when he was scared for his life she was Pretty Lady and now that he felt more comfortable it was Filthy Humans.  She was curious if the hound had picked something up, but she figured she needed to focus on minding her own creature better.

Jackdaw barely listened to the others as they conversed with the goblin. His eyes were searching for danger, or anything interesting, and his ears were alert for any sounds out of the ordinary.

Finally, however, he turned to look back at them and shook his head. When he spoke, there was a bit of an accent to it, from up north. "We don't need the little goblin. We can find them on our own. He will only...get in the way."

He lightly tapped the head of the axe hanging from his belt.

"I've no doubt of it."  Serafina responded, her tone standoffish and formal, but she could be conciliatory.  "However, it might be too late for the next travelers they hit because we took three days, and not two.  The sooner we find them the better, and though our guide here is eager for premature release, he does seem to have sped up our efforts so I believe he is in earnest.  We clearly wish to be as rid of him as he of us, but we have made a bargain I intend to see through for the good of the helpless travelers who are just trying to move hay and goats."

She looked down.  "Besides, I do not wish him to use some means unknown to us to play both sides.  Once released, there's nothing stopping him from selling information to the Bonetooth Cheiftain that we are in fact, coming.  By keeping him in service until it is too late to be tempted by such a ploy, we preserve his honor."

"let me feed him to lady that would solve all our problems but then again lady is as refined as you so might not stomach such rough far." morton piped up as he and the bloodhound moved further forward towards the smell of burning.

If this is the aftermath of another bone tooth raid I'll kill the little green notice maker myself the sorcerer thought to himself.

As he drew near he called his power to himself keeping it just under the surface like a caged wild animal wanting to wreck havoc on something

As you slowly inched closer to the ridge that both the goblin and dog pointed too. As you slowly get close to the edge of the ridge it cliffs down into a valley. While it is not steep it isn't the deepest valley.

At the bottom you see the valley is covered in trees and there is an area that has cleared out. Inside of the area is completely cleared out but there is a giant bone skull. There is a small fire that has obviously been burning for a long time.

You can hear chants of someone down below and the minor screams of someone. You are too far away to see what is happening but you can clearly see the area you need to reach. From where you are now you see that there are two ways to get down.

You can move down the ridge and try to stealth between bushes towards the camp. Or you could sneak through the tress to try to get to the camp through the side area and sneak up on them. Of course where you currently are is advantageous to you since you have the high ground.

The past two days have been an entirely new experience for the cloistered temple elf known as Camara. She has found the world beyond the temple absolutely fascinating and filled with nuances to the knowledge she has already learned.

Her disappointment that the goblin Mongrel was mostly unaware of his own species' history and culture was easily noted, and her questions to the others about themselves and what they know only cease when she is told their desire to not answer questions.

She has been writing and drawing in a journal recording many things she sees, and she takes samples of most flora much of which she is able to identify and state purposes of, but it is apparent her knowledge of such things is purely academic rather than practical.

The other notable quality of Camara is her apparent lack of modesty or any sort of embarrassment due to it. When pointed out though, she seems to have secondhand embarrassment due to any apparent offense.

At the talk of causing harm to the goblin finally causes her to speak, "He is still a source of knowledge no matter how dubious. You just have to separate the grain from the chaff where his information is concerned."

As she looks up from her journal to speak, her simple wrap top is starting to slip, but she doesn't seem to notice.

[OOC: Attempt to identify the skull.

Camara rolled 11,3 using d8+2,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (8+1)9,3.  Identify skull.]
This message was last edited by the player at 23:29, Sun 03 Oct 2021.

Jackdaw's face twisted into a light frown as Morton talked about killing the goblin, feeding them to his dog and that sort of thing. He let out a small whisper of a sigh, but let it go for the moment. And they call my people barbarians.

He moved closer to take a look at what might be before them. As he looked around, he idly wondered what the skull had belonged to. His frown deepened as he heard screams. "Time to get to work."

He began to move over the ridge and then down towards the camp.

"Thank you Jackdaw, I've every confidence you'll help us find the best approach."  That was another of Serafina's quirks, she was oddly grateful of the contributions of others.

She looked at Camara and suppressed an internal sigh.  "Camara, dear."  She spoke to the elf softly, trying not to call attention to it.

Camara was studying the skull and sketching it in her journal when Sera got her attention. She then paused long enough to readjust her top before she went back to pondering the skull.

Serafina smiled she didn't have to be so overt about it this time.  The next time they were in a city of any size, she was taking the elf to get some fitted clothes.  They could be plain and functional, that was fine, but they would fit and not give or shift like this.

She appreciated the elf's physique and admired it greatly, but a treasure needed a bit of mystique.  She turned her attention back to the goblin, lest the little bastard try something like Jackdaw was working ahead.

Due to the distance from the camp no one needs to make any sneak rolls until they get closer to the camp which will take a few rounds but once you reach the valley of the area which levels off you will be noticed unless you proceed to sneak or hide behind bushes.

Anyone wishing to do this should make a stealth roll. It's dusk right now so there aren't any bonuses to your sneak unless you have a specialty.

Goblin drums roar in the background as you can hear the filthily beasts.

Mongrel makes little sounds not trying to push his luck. He does mention under his breathe on the way down, "Caress. Goblinss have dogs. Theys will smellss you as yous get closer."

As the group continues, Camara puts away her quill and journal and walks with intent of being quiet and unseen. She moves with the grace of a dancer with her sandals making no sound. If not for the occasional footprint, few would notice her.

The note that goblins are keeping dogs gets an odd look from the elf.

[OOC: Camara rolled 8 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (6+1)7,(6+2)8.  Stealth.]

Morton stopped out of the light of the fires and Lady crouched next to her

~I think we need to see what's ahead of us. Can you circle round and scout the area out so we know what we are walking into~ he loved the touch of their minds it gave him comfort because each time he felt how his companion felt about him

He gave her a quick hug ~be careful~

And the big bloodhound nodded and blended in with the shadows

Camara and the dog begin sneaking through the brush making their way towards the camp itself. Camara goes completely unnoticed getting pretty close to the proximity of the camp. As she does the drum beats get much louder.

Lady on the on hand circles around the side taking a trail that is less worn than the path of the current heroes and scouts around being stealthy as possible. While walking through the brush she does make some sounds as she is searching.

07:55, Today: Eternal Darkness, for the NPC Lady, rolled 3 using 1d8, rerolling max with rolls of 3.  Lady stealth roll. +1 for the drums muffling her sound.

However, the Goblins barely notice instead they seem focused on the hostage who appears to be a very young lady tied to a stab of stone. The Goblin's jump and yelp but none seem to touch her. Closer to her head is large ornate bowl.

At about this time Jackdaw moves closer to his hidden allies.

"They have a captive!" Sigrun hisses. "We must rescue her. It would be a sin to leave her to their foul rituals."

She tries to find a kind place in her heart for all creatures, but anyone who threatens an innocent life has stepped beyond the good graces of the gods.

As she is so close, Camara looks for anything that could cause a serious distraction that would allow the rescue of the prisoner. The bigger the better she thinks.

As she looks, she whispers to Lady, "I don't see anything that would help. Do you?"

If anyone were around, they wouldn't be sure if Camara expected the dog to answer or not

[Today: Camara rolled 3 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,3. Notice.]

In reply to Sigrun Goll (msg # 18):

Serafina offered counsel.  "Let them work.  Strategy is a vital component of war.  Trust me, the likes of us will get the chance to enter the abattoir in due time, so let it be on the best possible terms."

She kept her eye on that little shit, in case he got any cute ideas.  She took the precaution of keeping her sword in the other hand.  If he tried to yell or pull any stunts she would end him.  Otherwise, he was perfectly safe.

Jackdaw paused for a moment to listen to what was said, but then shook his head. He was unwilling to wait. He looked at Sigrun and smiled for just a moment. Then he turned back towards the goblins.

He had his battle axe in one hand and his shield in the other. He began moving towards the goblins, picking up speed, and then let out a yell once he was close, letting the rage fill him.

OOC: Rushing in with the purpose to start killing baddies!

Camara hears the roar of the half-orc barbarian and thinks, So noble of him to sacrifice himself to save someone else.

She then looks at how best to exploit the sacrifice so that it is not in vain.

As Jackdaw takes the fight to the goblins, Sigrun moves swiftly towards the girl. Her intent is to free her, but she will engage and bash any goblins who get in her way with her war hammer.

"In the name of Torag the Father of Creation!" she cries, swinging her weapon at anyone in her way.