Action Thread 2

[migellito]

Jeloon helps make sure everyone's bleeding is stopped, and the bites cleaned out.

Jeloon then begins gutting and cleaning the snakes. She asks the porters to gather some firewood from the immediate area, but not to go more than 10 yards.

[Alethan]

OOC: Sorry, Arg. Didn't mean to go off there without checking on you. I figured Bruard will probably do his best to get people healed up once ToniXX chimes in with an entry. Let the cleric do the healing and the thief do the thieving, as they say!

(You know... "them".)

[Argennian]

OOC: Sorry, Arg. Didn't mean to go off there without checking on you. I figured Bruard will probably do his best to get people healed up once ToniXX chimes in with an entry. Let the cleric do the healing and the thief do the thieving, as they say!

(You know... "them".)

OOC: Ha! No worries, Alethan! I figured the exact same thing. Just thankful we got lucky in that one. The Fearsome Foursome will ride again, my good sir!

[ToniXX]

Bruard puts his mace on his belt and sets his shield down. He then moves to Yosef. He holds his holy symbol in his left hand, and places his right on Yosef's forehead and says "Be still my brother, and accept the glory that is Shinare"

Cure light wounds: [1d8] = 3

Bruard stands back up and says to his companions "Are any of us besides Yosef and myself feeling the cold venom in our veins?"

[migellito]

"Yes Bruard, but Yosef is still the worst off of us all I think."

[rredmond]

Jeloon then begins gutting and cleaning the snakes. She asks the porters to gather some firewood from the immediate area, but not to go more than 10 yards.

The bloody work goes quickly. The snake meat looks fine to eat. The largest snake (the one that had been attacking Bruard) does have "treasure" in it's innards. There is ringmail armor, completely ruined and definitely sized for a dwarf, as well as a partially digested belt pouch. Upon removal the pouch bursts open, falling apart, and it's contents spill out in front of Jeloon: 31gps, a gem that looks to be about 75gps, and a silver necklace worth more than that (maybe 100gps). Neither of the other two have anything inside of them. Nothing else is left of whatever the snake digested.

The gathering of firewood is easy. There is plenty of sticks and old branches lying around. It looks like none of them diseased, just old branches that have dried and fallen to the ground. For rest and fire type activities, the most open area is near the pass walls. But there are some spaces between the trees as they are, somewhat, evenly spaced apart.

Yosef, now has 4hps, but feels much better. Van shakes his head at the wounds helping Yosef to a more comfortable spot to rest. "I'll stick to my place in the marching order," he says with a smile and a wink.

[Alethan]

Till returns to the group and sits down by the camp fire. He takes off his gear, stretches his legs, and casually leans against his pack. Pulling out a leather pouch, he stuffs a bit of tobacco into his pipe and lights it off a small flaming brand from the fire.

He takes a deep breath and lets it out in a slow and controlled sigh, closing his eyes and tilting his head back to enjoy the warm sun, the smell of roasting snake meat, and a respite from walking. Casually, he brings the pipe up to his mouth and takes a long draw off of it.

Upon opening his eyes, he spies the ruined pouch of coins, the gem, and the necklace, and grins knowingly.

"Well, that's something for our troubles, isn't it," he asks with a smile. The smell of treasure always puts Till in a good mood (and the smell of cooking meat doesn't hurt, either!). Then he notices the ruined remains of the ring mail armour and stares at it in quiet contemplation. "Pity," he whispers quietly, "I'm rather fond of dwarves."

After a few moments of silence, above the crackle and hissing of the cooking snake, he tells the rest of the group what he's found in the woods.

"When we first entered this canyon, there was a feeling of tension in the air - the birds and animals were unusually quiet, the woods were dark and foreboding, the air seemed... suppressive. Scouting around just now, I noticed the squirrels have been nesting much higher off the ground than seems usual." He nods at the remains of the reptiles. "I think these snakes were a constant threat to this area, and have been for some time. With them gone, the squirrels are chattering away and the birds are chirping and flying about again. I get the sense that the woods are much more at peace now. It almost feels like the grove of trees is..." he hesitates before continuing, "... thankful."

He pauses, takes another pull off of his pipe, and scrunches his face in thought before exhaling. Then he digs into his pack, pulls out his whet stone, and slowly hones the edge back onto his short sword. Between strokes of the stone, he continues.

"But there's still something bugging me; something is definitely weird about this place... Look at the grass! He points to a bright clump of tall grass near the edge of the grove. It is lush and healthy and greener than it should be. Look at the trees! Healthy and strong, not a diseased one among them. And they are evenly spaced, like they were planted! Makes me think a druid should come quietly walking out of the woods to greet us at any moment, you know? Of course, they'd probably be like, 'Argh, you killed my snakes and blah blah blah', and then we'd have to explain ourselves and it would be a huge headache." He pauses again, "Or maybe they'd be grateful because the snakes didn't belong here in the first place and were disturbing the peace..."

"Once we're well rested, I think we should scout the rest of the perimeter of this box canyon, just to make sure we're not missing anything. Maybe we could even look for a ledge or some place one of us could climb up higher on one of the walls for a better view of the grove from above. There might be a structure or something in the middle that we haven't seen... But then we could continue on north in the main canyon."

[migellito]

Jeloon laughs at Till's druid impression, cracking her first real smile in days. "It's certainly friendlier to us. I think we should finish scouting this canyon, as you say. If it proves safe and out of the way, I think we should rest here until we've recovered some."

Turning back to her roasting snake steaks, she says "After I've set aside enough snake for fresh roasting for the next couple of days, I'll start drying the rest over a low fire so we can take it all with us. I don't have any salt to cure the skins though. I hate to waste them. They would make good armor and gear."

[Argennian]

Bruard puts his mace on his belt and sets his shield down. He then moves to Yosef. He holds his holy symbol in his left hand, and places his right on Yosef's forehead and says "Be still my brother, and accept the glory that is Shinare"...

Yosef feels the healing magics from his clerical companion quickly encompass and stabilize his wounds. Although he realizes that he's not completely healed, he has moved away from the eternal brink. "I thank both you and your generous goddess, master Bruard. And that none of our party were greviously injured... or worse. Old Man Death, as my dear friend Dravic would say, will have to wait another day..."

...Yosef, now has 4hps, but feels much better. Van shakes his head at the wounds helping Yosef to a more comfortable spot to rest. "I'll stick to my place in the marching order," he says with a smile and a wink.

Yosef clasps arms with their brave and loyal hireling as he accepts Van's help to move to a more comfortable and secure location, once again giving him the warrior's nod, a gesture meant to show respect and admiration for bravery and capability in battle. "I thank you again for your bravery and loyalty, master Van. You have proven to be of the highest resource in this expedition. It does not go unnoticed, or unappreciated..." The elf returns the quick smile and wink.

Although resting nearby the cooking fire and enjoying the smell of the cooking snake meat, as well as the idea that their adversaries would have done the same had they been successful, minus of course the cooking part, Yosef will keep a lookout for any signs of movement nearby, his bow to hand and an arrow ready for deployment.


After Till returns and settles down, Yosef retrieves his wineskin and offers it around to all of the party, offering a drink to their continued luck and success. When Till says his piece, Yosef raises his usual one eyebrow and considers his words. "An interesting but perhaps not so far fetched a hypothesis, master Till. I agree we should rest and recover our strength before continuing. If a druid or any other denizen of the grove approaches or reaches out to us, I pray we can parley peaceably. As soon as I can, I will rest and rememorize my magic missile spell."

[migellito]

After the snake is cooking on its own and no longer needs tending, Jeloon puts 10sp in Van's pack and the same in Eyman's.

[ToniXX]

Bruard, assessing Yosef's wounds and seeing that he's still in pretty bad shape, casts another cure light wounds on him.

Cure light wounds: [1d8] = 7

[Argennian]

Bruard, assessing Yosef's wounds and seeing that he's still in pretty bad shape, casts another cure light wounds on him...

Yosef again feels the healing magic course through his wounds, this time expanding to the very core of his essence. Both of the elf's eyebrows lift high in response. "Incredible! My wounds feel completely healed! I again thank you and your goddess for this benevolence, my friend!"[/quote]

Yosef goes through a quick series of stretches and makes two fists, nodding with a larger than usual smile. He again takes up his bow and keeps an arrow to hand as he and his companions relax and prepare to enjoy their evening feast and discuss their future actions.


OOC: Yosef is fully healed and looking forward to that snake steak!

[Alethan]

Before going to bed, Till will pack up the coin treasure and the necklace onto the lightest pack mule (Caractus, I think). He'll first sack it up, then he'll roll it into one of the winter blankets to try and disguise it a bit.

But we don't want all of the treasure in one place, so Till will gather the gems up and quietly divide them among the main party members (1 of the 50 GP gems each to Till, Jeloon, Yosef, and Bruard; if nobody else cares, Till can keep the 75 GP gem as well (please let me know if you would rather we do it some other way); that way, if something happens to the mule, we haven't lost all of the treasure.)

After that is all sorted out...

We'll do our standard watch cycle through the night.

In the morning, Bruard will cast CLW a few times on Jeloon (and maybe himself, if possible). We'll break camp and continue circling the outer wall of the canyon. If we come across any rocky outcroppings that look like they could be climbed, then Till will do so. He wants to get a good view of the tree grove from above, if possible, to see if he can locate any structures within the woods or anything that might appear unusual or out of the ordinary.

[rredmond]

The snake meat is tasty and filling. Day 6 ends without further event. The night goes smoothly as well. Day 7 dawns sunny and clear, birds and squirrels are very chatty. A quick survey of the forest reveals it is sort of a box canyon. It is apparently fully enclosed, the sides are steep but easily climbable for Till's skill - no apparent way up and over without making a real effort, but he can get glimpse of the forest tops. Everything is as it seemed, the birds and squirrels nest near the tops of the trees, and there are several varieties of birds and squirrels to be found. There are no structures to be seen, but in the back of the canyon (if the opening from the pass is the top of an irregular L this would be the other end of that line) there is a, somewhat more regular setting of plants, with a clearing. Careful investigation shows that there is a semicircle of Oak trees, surrounding a semicircle of Holly bushes, which borders a clearing that has mistletoe plants in it. Now here is where structures sort of come into play, the mistletoe is vined on low trellises. Instead of hanging in trees it's on these little wooden trellises, and low to the ground. The trellises look old but sturdy. This is pretty much all you can see from outside the semi-circle of Oaks.

I didn't want to fast forward any further, this searching did take a couple hours, but only because I assumed carefullness, and Till's climbing took some time. It's later in the morning, but maybe only 7a or so. Everyone who needs, gains a hit point back as it was a restful night, spellcasters can muss with their spells for the days, and the rations stay the same because y'all ate snake. I'll increase the rations for the rest of the snake.

[migellito]

Seeing the semicircle of oaks, the clearing, mistletoe on trellises, etc. Jeloon says "I think you were right about the druids after all Till." She gives him a concerned look.

[Alethan]

Till shrugs, "I'd be interested in talking to them, if they are still around. It could be that the druid was unable or unwilling to deal with the snakes, even though they were obviously causing a disturbance to the grove, and would be grateful for our intervention. Or it could be an abandoned grove, even - those trellises did look old."

He pauses in contemplation.

"I don't know... Druids, by nature, tend to be fairly easy to deal with. We've done nothing malicious, aside from defending ourselves against three large deadly snakes that attacked us from behind. We've threatened no trees with axes, only burning dead branches we found on the ground. We've killed no squirrels or birds and uprooted no flowers. I feel fairly certain we could convince a druid that we were not unfriendly to their cause. Indeed, that is the truth! It is much easier to convince someone of the truth than of a lie."

"They might even have information about Roghan and Zelligar! Maybe they stopped here on their way through the mountain pass."

Noting the concern on Jeloon's face, he adds, "Don't worry, Jeloon! I think the information we can gain is well worth the minimal risk that we might have upset a druid by slaying three large, dangerous, and deadly snakes."

[migellito]

Jeloon thinks for a moment, and nods (almost to herself.) "Yes, I'm sure you're right. Still, it might be best to not enter the ring of oaks. But you're right.. if there is a druid still about here, they might know something about Roghan and Zelligar, or some other news we could make use of."

[Alethan]

Till turns to Bruard and Yosef and asks, "What do you two think? Turn back and leave the way we came? Or see if there is a druid about we might talk to?"

[ToniXX]

Bruard stands and addresses his halfling companion: "I think we should scout the area a little more, but not spend more than a couple hours doing so."

Bruard then turns to Jeloon. He pulls his holy symbol out of a hidden pocket and holds it in one hand. He places his other on Jeloon's injured body. "Be still, sister Jeloon. Let me be the conduit for Shinare so that your wounds may be healed."

Cure light wounds: [1d8] = 5

Bruard steps back to examine his efforts. He prepares Jeloon for another healing:

Cure light wounds: [1d8] = 7

Bruard falls onto his backside... his companions can tell he's mentally drained. He lays down for a few minutes, looking up at the cloudy, blue sky and listening to the vibrant forest around them, as he regains his acuity of mind. He says a little prayer to Shinare, and at that moment a cloud moves to expose the sun, shining down into the little box canyon and the intrepid party. Bruard takes it as a good sign, knowing that Shinare is by their side.

[Argennian]

Yosef awakens well rested for his watch shift, having already memorized another magic missile spell. In the morning after breakfast, he helps to break down and clean up their campsite, as well as organize their gear on their pack animals. He agrees with Till's plan of distributing and hiding their treasure taken to this point.

After checking again on their injured man, Eyman, to make sure he is feeling and doing better, he joins his companions, listening intently as they consider all the options.

Upon hearing the part about the possibility of gleaning further intel about the area or perhaps even something about Rogahn and Zelligar, his one eyebrow lifts and he nods his head affirmatively. "A chance to learn more about this place or anything of note concerning Rogahn and Zelligar is worth the risk, in my opinion. I vote that we attempt a peaceable parley with this druid, or whomever has taken up residence here, if anyone. Being prepared for anything, of course..."

Yosef will defer to Till and Jeloon for a martial plan and strategy in doing so. He will signal to Van to keep a protective eye on Bruard, as the use of his curative magics appear to have drained him somewhat. If Van is being directed to other measures, Yosef will be sure to keep close to the cleric, just in case there's more danger to be confronted.