chapter 2 - heirlooms

[Pulpatoon]

Salt Peter gestures to his companions to stay quietly, and that he'll take a peak.

[Pulpatoon]

Salt Peter quickly returns. "There's a feller, died o' violence. Looks more like 'is mate got 'im thanna beastie. Looks safe enough ter approach, now."

[Mant72]

Tip:

Hearing Salty's report, Tip cautiously creeps forward to inspect the body.

[hedgeknight]

Spear ready, Graela approaches the site of the man's death. She pauses when she sees the body, looking for anything that might be a trap.

[coil23]

The group approaches and looks into the small clearing that Salt Peter returned from. A man lies on his back with the hilt of a knife protruding from his right ear. Blood has poured from the ear into the dirt. The corpse's frozen face shows horror and shock. His awkwardly positioned arm and a hand still on the hilt of a partially-pulled short sword suggests the man was trying to draw his sword when he was killed.

A large hide-wrapped parcel lies nearby. It appears to have been hastily dropped and flaps are open enough to reveal large cuts of fresh meat. The sounds of birds are heard again in the nearby trees.

[OGRE MAGE]

Travix ignores the clues on the ground. Instead, he looks all around the area hoping to find the place that the men were talking about.

He also searches in an easterly direction to see if he can locate any tracks indicating what type of creature they were killed by.

[coil23]

No apparent clues are seen around the clearing except on the east edge. The underbrush is crushed and some low tree branches are broken as of something moving through in a hurry to the east. The tracks on the ground here look to be those of a human.

[Mant72]

Tip:

Tip carefully follows Travix to the east. Again, his bow is ready should they encounter anything hostile.

[Pulpatoon]

Salt Peter climbs a tree to get a lookout.

[coil23]

Climbing a tree does not offer much perspective for Salt Peter due to the obscuration from other vegetation. Line of sight does not extend very far. No unusual sounds are heard, just birds, some scurrying small animals.

Hennoth's eyes will periodically dart to other party members to track their movements but keep coming back to stare in horror at the man on the ground. His mouth keeps opening as if he will say something and then close again.

[Mant72]

Tip aproaches Hennoth and tries to gently turn him away from the horror that lies at his feet, "Come, good Hennoth, this is something that should not be dwelled upon." If he is successful with drawing Hennoth's attention away, he will try to guide him over to the spot where the underbrush has been crushed. "What do you make of this, Hennoth?," the diminutive halfling asks.

[coil23]

Hennoth seems to come out of the daze once assisted in tearing his eyes from the victim. He gives a weak smile to Tip and goes to examine the underbrush. Human, he says immediately, eyeing the tracks. Fingering the broken branches and smelling his fingertips he suggests, the other one we heard? This is fresh fresh. He starts to turn around to look again at the body but stops himself. Why? They sounded like they were friends.

[Pulpatoon]

Sliding down from his tree, Salt Peter looks at Hennoth and the body, and says, "Ther lad's of ther cloth, ain't he? Well, this'us wunna yer duties, boy. Ye wanna say sumpthin' ter send ther fellers spirit on it's way? It'd be a kindness."

Looking around at the trees, he adds, "An' last thing we need's an unshriven soul following us aroun', causin' mischief an' mayhem."

[coil23]

Hennoth nods and goes to kneel by the body. With eyes closed he places a hand on the dead man's shoulder and quietly mouths something for a few moments. Getting up and turning away, only then does he open his eyes.

[OGRE MAGE]

Travix clearly heard the words "its going inside". The mage searches for a cave or any other opening in the forest that the man might have been referring to.

[Pulpatoon]

Salt Peter eyes the corpse warily: "If thar ain't no cave... mebbe "it" went inna ther body. That could be why he ended up with'is mate's knife in 'is sweetmeats."

[coil23]

A search reveals no cave or other opening. Trees, brush, firm ground underneath are all you find.

[Mant72]

Tip:

"It sounded like sheer madness to me. Didn't we hear tales of such? People going mad? We were also warned to remember who we are when entering these woods. Seems like these friends just turned on each other...for what? A a hide-wrapped parcel of meat? I think not..." Tip trails off in his musings.

[hedgeknight]

With the tip of her spear, Graela pushes back the wrappings on the meat to see if she can determine what kind of meat it is...and to see if it is spoiled or fresh.
She then reaches for the knife handle and jerks it free of the dead man's skull. She wipes the blood on his shirt and examines the knife, careful not to cut herself."Friends or no, the killer had something else in mind when he shoved his knife in this one's brain."

[OGRE MAGE]

Travix begins to let his frustration from this mystery show.

Maybe there are clues on the man?

He roughly goes through the dead mans belongings.