On gaining the road Lotti looks down at her mud splattered and wet trousers.  "Damn frogs," she mutters.  "This is going to stink when it dries.  I wonder if there is any fresh water about to clean up?"

She quickly glances to the others to make sure they are all hale and whole and states when she sees they are, "I'll have a quick look around, see if I can tell what's been coming and going, and if there's any fresh water hereabouts."  She waits a moment for replies in case there is anyone else who also wants to tag along.

A few question Host.

1.  Does the road continue, and was it just the frog attack that caused the coach to ver off the road?
2.  Can she make an estimate of what time of night/early morning it might be given the moon/stars?
3.  Can she notice (firstly only using infra vision) any tracks leading in any direction.  If Infra vision is not suitable, she will pull up a torch to take with her.

She will wander only a little away from the others (along the road if it continues) so the sound of their movement and the horses is dampened, and listen for what else she can hear in the night/early morning, and see if she can determine any landmarks/tracks or items that might help their situation.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:08, Sat 07 May 2022.

Ornwin says anxiously, "Don't go too far alone, Lotti. Who knows what else might be lurking around? if you want to risk going a little further, I can escort you."

Lotti considers Ornwin a moment before breaking into a smile.  "Sure come along, there's safety in numbers.  Whatever is around already knows we're here after the sound of that fight, so I think we should be safe enough," she says peering off into the darkness, "but I'm not familiar with this area so who really knows."

As she moves off, she slaps at the back of her neck.  "Damn mosquitoes, why do things always go wrong for me in spooky swamps?  I had a bunch of girlfriends travelling up north, and the axel broke on their wagon.  They didn't get frogs, no they got rescued by a harras of Centaurs." She throws her arms wide at what she obviously thinks is an injustice.  "I mean come on."

Without pausing for a breath, or allowing the dwarf a chance to reply, she continues.

"Did you see the length of that tongue that hit me.  Jeeze I wasn't expecting it to be that long, it freaked me right out!"

Stikll struggling to save horses and coach the half-orc suggests, "How about a little help here?"

As Otis and Cassandra strain to free a bogged-down draft horse (TBD), Lotti and Orwin reconnoiter just a little ways down the road, which does continue beyond the point where skids mark the carriage's abrupt plunge into the Derfingel. Lotti looks up at the sky and finds the moon to be missing and no early light to be dawning. They were on the night coach to Tegel after all, and it most definitely remains night. Not a long ways off, though, down the road, she can make out a thinning of the swamp and the beckoning of some lights. The coach must have nearly completed its nightly run.

Trevion moves to assist Otis with the horses and coach as best he is able.

Cassandra continues to stand guard for Otis, and now Otis and Trevion, working to free the draft horses.  Cassandra sees that Otis has been successful in unhitching one of the horses from the carriage.  She is now torn between helping the two horses that are whinnying and struggling to avoid a swampy death and just standing guard.  Trying to save the animals wins out, so she does try to help Otis pull and coax the horses out of the bog, but doing so pulls her more into the muck.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:37, Sat 07 May 2022.

Another tilt in the perennial contest of man vs. nature plays out on and just off the Night Road to Tegel Village. With a deftness belied by his porcine physiognomy, Otis first disentangles and then unfastens the rein tethering the horse to the sinking carriage. Then, Cassandra, herself sloshing towards the safety of the road, tries to lead the horse there. To her side, Trevion sludges, where he grabs hold of the lead, lending his fervent tugs to hers. But the rope is too slick with slime and the mare too far submerged. She gives one last valiant effort to launch itself free, succeeding in finding an even mushier pocket beneath the surface water of the swamp. With a heart-rending snort, the draft mare sinks down into the mire beyond the help of any man. Naturally, she takes the rope with her -- although that won't add nearly as many nutrients to the Derfingel as she will.

The horses can't be saved.
All not on the road can traverse to it safely.

If it's certain both horses cannot be saved then Otis will end then: a speedy death is better than a drawn out, fear-filled one.

"Fine, let's move on and find this manor!"

Cassandra lets out a deep sigh and accepts the cruel death sentence imposed by the frogs and nature on the two draft horses.

Cassandra turns to her three muddy companions, “Thank you, guys, for trying.  We did the best we could do.”

Bog group call:

Ereth quickly searches the remains of the four dead frogs.

Trevion, Otis, and Cassandra gather their belongings, wait for Ereth to finish a quick search, and then the four head up to the road together to join Ornwin and Lotti.

In reply to Lotti (msg # 62):

Ornwin says with cheerful grimness, "Yes, that frog had a long tongue indeed. Fortunately, they all had soft hides." He continues to plod up the road for a bit, his muddy boots squelching as they shed swamp water. Finally, he says "If my eyes don't deceive me, it looks like lights up ahead -- maybe Tegel Manor with luck. Should we go back and tell the others?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 02:31, Mon 09 May 2022.

Once up at the road, Cassandra, Ereth, and Trevion fall into slow, methodical steps behind Otis.  Otis takes the lead, seemingly having a little better vision in the dim light than the other three.  Trevion takes up the guard position at the rear of the marching order to protect the two more fragile spellcasters walking between him and the Half-Orc. Otis leads them along the road in the direction the coach had been heading, presumably toward Tegel Village.  Cassandra silently whispers a prayer to Eir, asking and hoping that Otis is able to lead them in the right direction to meet back up with their other two coach mates.

Ereth awakens as if from a dream. He finds himself walking down a rural highway, alongside three strangers. Wait, are they strangers? They seem more like acquaintances. Or perhaps even... friends?

Then it all comes back to him. He was in a traveling coach, full of odd people. The carriage was driven into a ditch. No, wait. Not a ditch, a bog. And next thing you know, there were... frogs? Yes. Frogs. But not regular frogs. Giant ones.

And then, the frogs attacked! With magnificent leaps, sharp teeth, and flickering tongues.

But his friends fought back! The big one. And the little one. And another one. Perhaps a fourth?

And then he started speaking a strange language, and waving his hands, and then... FIRE shot out of his fingers! No, wait. Not fire. Lightning? No, that's not right either. It was more like fireworks that a child would play with. Smoke and sparkles, and a whoosh sound.

And that. Well, that... was all he could recall. Before waking up and finding himself walking down this road.

==========

Keeping these thoughts to himself, Ereth says to the others, "Hold on a minute," and lights a torch.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:53, Sun 08 May 2022.

Cassandra had been lost in her own thoughts, following Otis footsteps in front of her but not really paying attention to anything else.  Ereth coming out of his stupor and speaking brought her out of her own stupor. Ereth had gone silent after he had cast some sort of fiery projectiles at the last frog.  But, after that, he had seemed dazed or stunned.  He had responded to requests for help, but he hadn’t been speaking and his eyes were not focused.  Cassandra felt like she was still in shock from everything that had happened.  Trevion too seemed lost in his own thoughts.  He was strong, he looked capable, but he also seemed troubled.  Otis was the only one who seemed present, but perhaps that was his way of dealing with his own shock. How did they get into that carriage? She couldn’t remember.

As she turned and saw Ereth getting out a torch and his flint and steel, she got Otis’ attention and asked him to hold up for a moment.

Once the torch is lit, Cassandra says to Ereth, “Welcome back!  You zoned out for a bit.”
This message was last edited by the player at 06:06, Sun 08 May 2022.

"Tegel Manor," Lotti nods in agreement, or possibly Tegel hamlet if not the manor itself.  She glances back and can see the others walking.  "They'll be here shortly, here they come," she says pointing to the others moving towards them with the torch.  "Humans," she notes in passing, "no night vision."

She holds out a clenched fist to the dwarf to be bumped by way of introduction, "I'm Lotti, a runner," (ADND term for 1st level Ranger), "what's your gig?"

OOC:  Host how far away do the lights look to be, best guess.  30 minutes, an hour, or further than that?  Is pushing on to the lights more plausible than stopping to make camp?  Without knowing what we're heading towards, I don't want to turn up to an area overrun with undead without sleep if that is to become an issue.

Do we know why we're going to this manner, do we vaguely know what is ahead, or should we just project forward and role-play ahead.  Do we know each other, do we assume introductions have previously been made?

My apologies I like to know the colours I can use to add to this drawing, plus I've gamed with DM's that like to beat up on characters, and don't know where you stand on that yet.  As I always say, forewarned is forearmed. 


Who or what are the Rumps, is it important to know that detail and why would Lotti want to be absolved of thoughts about them?"

Otis stops at Cassandra's request. "That should show our companions where we are," he comments as he steps out of the light and averts his eyes. He stays out of the light and adds, "And anything within ten miles or so that's looking. Let's hope that's nothing big and hungry."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:44, Sun 08 May 2022.

In reply to Lotti (msg # 75):

He gives a solid friendly return fist and says "I'm Ornwin, an ax-dwarf --Baruk Khazad!"

OOC: I don't know if they use Tolkien dwarven warcries in this rpol universe, but it's fun anyway.

"Well met Ornwin."  She thinks a little, "Baruk Khazad - Axes of the Dwarves, or The Dwarves are upon you?  Is that about right?"

OOC:  Hell yes, fire away, all dwarf (fighters) I have played in Rpol have used it.

Since the others are still on their way she continues......

With the group having come to a stop, Ereth completed the task of lighting his torch, nodded toward the woman for her remark, then replied to the half-man (in a tone more hopeful than confident),"As long as we stick to the road, and stick together, we should be ok."

After a slight pause, he continued, "By the way, I know this will sound strange, but have we met?"

He addressed this question to the half-man but followed by turning to make eye contact with the others as well.

"I know we have been walking together for a bit, and I feel that we may have shared a traveling coach earlier, but it's all very foggy and for the life of me I cannot put a name with any of your faces."

"My full name is Artimus Ereth, but you may call me Ereth, and I am at your service," he said, finishing with a slight bow.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:23, Mon 09 May 2022.

“Well met, Ereth.  My name is Cassandra, I’m a healer.  This is Otis,” Cassandra says gesturing toward the Half-Orc. “Otis and I met briefly, earlier, but I don’t know anything about him, other than he is big, strong, and brave.”

“Paladin. We’ve spoken, but haven’t been formally introduced either. My name is Cassandra.  I am a healer and am here to help.  If you ever need healing or wound care, just let me know.”

”Well met, Cassandra. My thanks for the offer of healing,” Trevion answered, ”And to each of you as well. I am called Trevion. I do not know if I have truly earned the title of paladin as yet. I suppose I still regard myself as a soldier above all. But one who is seeking to be true to his calling.”

He gazed ahead, regarding the settlement with a frown. ”Have any of you set foot here before?”

OOC: *Raises a fist in support of the use of Tolkien dwarven war cries.*
This message was last edited by the player at 23:07, Mon 09 May 2022.

OOC: "Hear, hear!" with a double tap of my staff.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:42, Mon 09 May 2022.

“Trevion. Before you, I had never actually met a Paladin in real life, but, when I was younger, I fondly remember listening to the tales and stories told at my temple of holy warriors who were soldiers, blessed by their deity, to serve a noble and higher purpose.  I worship Eir, the Norse Goddess of Healing, and although I can tell you do not worship her or our Warrior God Odin, I can still sense the nobility and honor of purpose with which your deity has blessed you.  You may not realize yet that you are a Paladin, but it was obvious to me when we first met that I was, for the first time, in the presence of a true Paladin.”

In reply to Lotti (msg # 78):

Ornwin replies privately to Lotti "The elder dwarves of my house have found elves as gallant comrades in their adventures, so I expect to follow that tradition. Whatever ancient troubles there may have been are now far behind us."