Expedition - Fingers/Heading West - 10 May 2021

[Starbeard]

The Grizzly Woman

"Well this is just fine. Honeycomb is best on a soft day, keeps your fingers from getting sticky. You better get yours before the bear eats it all."

The woman plops down and digs in. She says goodnight to the sun as it sets and wiles away the evening by periodically walking a lazy 100-yard circle around the camp perimeter about every half hour. To anyone who asks what she's doing, she responds by looking confused. "What do you mean? Just settling in for the night."

[hedgeknight]

Casper White

Casper doesn't need to be told twice when it comes to honey. He plops down beside the Grizzly Woman, having first tied off Ted and strapped a feed bag around his neck, and helps himself to some fresh honey. He breaks out his bag of raisins and nuts to share, wishing he had a cold beer to wash it all down.
He'll settle for fresh water from his skin.

"I'll take an early watch if that's alright with everyone. Who want to stay up with me?"

[onlyme]

Halfpint volunteers to take the early watch, or any if need be.

[Marullus]

Watches:

900-midnight: Casper / Halfpint
1200-3:00: Fingers (+Sprinkles) / Silent
3:00-6:00: Corbin / Grizzly (+Huckleberry)
(Spellcasters get to sleep eight hours)

The coins collected and food foraged, the group settles down under the overhang and the warm campfire for the night. Casper and Halfpint while away the early night sharing some honey and telling tales while the others turn in sometime after sunset. The witching hours are tended by Fingers and Silent with less conversation and frivolity, the hound dog intent on the one avenue of ingress/egress from the little nook, the half-moon peeking through the clouds above. The moon sets and they switch out with Corbin and the Grizzly Woman for the darkest pre-dawn hours. The night remains temperate and comfortably above freezing throughout the night, a steady drizzle moistening the surrounding earth and stones.

As the dawn begins to lighten the horizon, dark red stains spreading across the overcast skies, Corbin and the Grizzly Woman hear a low feline growl in the darkness, something prowling nearby. Huckleberry the bear growls low in the night, not stirring from a lazy resting position across the campsite's entrance. The growling continues a few more times, then departs without incident. They never see sign of a creature as they peer into the darkness.

The dawn arrives and the others begin to stir. The fire is stoked for breakfast and the group readies for a new day's walk. The owl indicated that the old farm site and then subsequently the tower both lie along your present course, but as the sunrise peeks through the morning's patchy clouds (and continued, steady drizzling) you realize that your present course is actually straight northward, rather than northwest as you had intended.

Day: 11 May 2021
Time: 6:00 am
Light source: Sun (Sunrise 5:09am. Sunset 9:11pm. Moonrise 1:11pm to set 2:47am, 60% full)
Temp: 46 F
Wind: 14 SSW
Injuries: None
Distance traveled: 0 miles today

[onlyme]

Halfpint gets herself and Peck ready to march out.
She'll ask,

Where are we headed anyway. Do we know, or just going off assumptions and what not?

[Rusty Tincanne]

Clay Weatherwax
Upon hearing of the low, feline growl, Clay's curiosity is stirred. He reminds the group of his tales about a feline growl from his previous journey.Halfpint, I have been this way before. We will soon be at a set of ruins with a cistern-cellar and a well. I spent the night in the cistern, but it could be explored more thoroughly, as could the well. After that there is a hive of giant bees. They looked aggressive and I suggest we give them a wide berth. He looks pointedly at the Grizzly Woman with this, indicating she should plan to curb her bear. The tower lies beyond that. It is full of dog-headed goblinoid creatures. Before we depart though, I would like to look for this cat's tracks. Clay heads to the area where the sound came from with Morr, asking the dog to tell him what he can about the cat. He also asks Maurice if he saw anything last night.


We found 9-days of rations last night. Clay would have shared the blackberries. Even if Fingers kept the rabbit that covers all PCs and the bear. Clay will mark off 1/2 ration taken for Morr. Fingers will need to feed his dog as well.

Do we assume the pack animals and Maurice foraged their own food?

As an aside, Clay has a good chance of friendlier relations when meeting creatures alone. So if we meet anything, we might send him in first. (THough I would appreciate it if the rest of the party had his back...

[Zhym]

Fingers eagerly agrees to swap blackberries for squirrel parts. He figures he's totally ripping off Clay in that trade, but darned if he'll say so. He gives the other half of the squirrel to Sprinkles. He gobbles the blackberries messily, leaving dark purple stains all over his hands.

In the morning, after trying and failing to blow his nose several times, Fingers shakes his head in frustration. "Gobba stupped up nobe," he says. He just nods at Clay's suggested plan of action.

[Starbeard]

The Grizzly Woman

In the morning, after trying and failing to blow his nose several times, Fingers shakes his head in frustration. "Gobba stupped up nobe," he says. He just nods at Clay's suggested plan of action.

'There is a thing for that,' says the woman without a name. 'Next time you sleep with your head facing west, that works for me.'

'Giant bees? That sounds like too much work for honey, I would mosey around those.'

She packs up and makes ready to go, waiting to see what Clay makes of last night's prowler.

(The bear ate its fill at the beehive, so didn't need to be fed from the rations we gathered. That makes 8 people and I forget how many animals we have in this zoo (minus Huckleberry Bear). Does our foraging cover exactly what we need to feed everyone who needs to be fed? If so we can just scratch off all the honeycomb, berries and the squirrel, and everyone gets to keep their preserved rations.)

While we're still travelling it might help to have Marullus or the party leader copy a running signature that shows our daily ration requirement, to speed up the back and forth.

[KingOfCowards]

Corbin is very much relieved that Grizzly Women's bear scared off whatever threatened them in the night.
He gives a nervous laugh, "Glad that your bear is on our side. Looks like its bigger and nastier than whatever else is out thereon"

[hedgeknight]

Casper White

Casper tries to sleep in a bit while the others are preparing for breakfast. He then rises, says his prayers, and checks on Ted. Loading his bedroll, he tells Ted about a dream he had of a completely naked woman riding on a stallion through a field of tall grass. "Dangedest dream I've had in quite awhile, Ted," he says, rubbing the donkey's long ears. He gives Ted a carrot for breakfast and then gets ready to head out.

[onlyme]

Halfpint digests the route instructions, and finishes her preparations for the journey.
Well, I dont want to be the one holding us back. The sooner we move out, the sooner we get to where we need.

[Zorroroaster]

Silent stands, listening to the others. His gear is on the horse, and he looks off in the direction they intend to go. He picks a leaf from a nearby bush and rolls it between his fingers, thinking.

[Marullus]

Morr the hound sniffs around the overhang's entrance and quickly indicates pawprints of a very large cat. They are quite close, within the reach of the firelight, and it is a bit unnerving that Corbin and Grizzly Woman didn't see it.

The group finishes their breakfast, berries and honey providing a better start to the morning than many of them knew in the inn. While they eat, Clay wanders off by himself to the nearby stream. He can be seen washing and doing abulutions, about 110' away.

The group then packs up, presumably continuing their current course based on the pygmy owl's advice (or so Clay says) with the intent of arriving at the tower of dog-headed goblins sixteen miles north in about 11 hours, rather than adjusting their course back to northwest.


Day: 11 May 2021
Time: 6:15 am
Light source: Sun (Sunrise 5:09am. Sunset 9:11pm. Moonrise 1:11pm to set 2:47am, 60% full)
Temp: 46 F
Wind: 14 SSW
Injuries: None
Distance traveled: 0 miles today

While we're still travelling it might help to have Marullus or the party leader copy a running signature that shows our daily ration requirement, to speed up the back and forth.

I encourage you to do this; I consider inventory tracking a player responsibility. Normally it can be handled individually, but since you have food stored as a group across the mounts, some simple coordination and tracking by one of you would likely help a lot. I ask that you subtract rations each morning for the day, even though we'll roleplay you eating lunch and dinner. Each dog/bear/mammal has a ration cost their owner tracks. (Maurice will feed himself if you allow at least one four-hour daytime block where he's not busy.) The mounts graze for themselves as long as you're above-ground and in a plant-rich environment. If you enter a rocky bandland, secure them underground, etc. then you'll need to use feed.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Clay Weatherwax
In the distance, the group would have seen Clay shed his bulk, revealing the scrawny body of an adolescent. He washed himself ritualistically, saying a few prayers, before emerging again with skin red and covered with goosebumps from the cold water. But as Clay sat to meditate, an observant person (or demi-human) would have noticed him talking, presumably to himself. But the sounds from his mouth were feline in nature: snarls and mewing, mixed with foreign body language. After half-an-hour he returned to the group.

The cat's name is Kumsar. He hunts here. It is his grassland but he will let us pass through. He would really like to have one of our pack animals for dinner. They look delicious. Seeing no one offer an animal, Clay continued. Don't fret. I told him our animals are off limits and he agreed to leave them be. And the reason you didn't see him is because he can be invisible. Clay described his interaction, explaining that Kumsar says he is the only one of his kind here. He does not like the creatures we are going towards - they are sneaky and bitter (fleshed). He mentioned they dig holes, which might mean pit traps. I couldn't tell... But they have chickens if anyone cares to try and barter for any. If not, we might give them a wide-berth, too. I don't know that they have much to offer us.

I recommend adjusting our route to whatever Maurice recommends, allowing him to guide us directly to the cistern/well site (side journeys allowed for anything interesting/profitable-looking, of course). I was hoping Maurice would see a different ancient homestead for us to explore, but it seems that is not in the cards.

Starbeard: Is this the sort of thing you wanted?

Provisions - 8 people, 2 dogs, 1 bear, 1 owl, 4 pack animals

10 May - no rations deducted: breakfast in town before starting our journey
11 May - no rations deducted: humans breakfast on foraged blackberries and honey (4 rations of each); dogs eat foraged rabbit (1 ration); bear foraged honey; pack animals grazed

[Dram]

Baxtaw- Rolls up his bedroll Grab some if his dry rations and sits down eating with the others. Is Kumsar a old feline or young? Did he tell you of any other dangers out there?




Removed 1 dry ration

[Rusty Tincanne]

Clay Weatherwax
Clay indicates to Baxtaw that he needn't use his preserved rations, offering him to help himself from the foraged food from last night. Speaking with animals... translating is hard because it is cultural. What is old, especially since he is he only of his kind? And what is dangerous to him is not always dangerous to us. He shook his head, indicating he had no decent answer to these valid questions. He did say he came from The Making Place, which is about four days northwest of here in the forest. He said The Making Place is full of the Grasping Hands... Everything fears the Grasping Hands. Clay shrugged and ate some food.

That's all I've got. Blame it on Marullus' animal-speak.

[hedgeknight]

Casper White

Breaking his fast on blackberries and honey is a real treat to the priest of Gwanwen. "This reminds me of my years growing up around Durnnberger. Chasing rabbits along the rocks and foraging for fresh berries in late spring. Ah, how I miss those days."

Casper licks the honey off his fingers and heads to the stream to refill his waterskin for the journey.

[Starbeard]

The Grizzly Woman

'Kumsar Cat! That is a story, I did not know animals gave themselves names. Makes sense for them, I reckon.' After breakfast, the grizzled mountain woman honks her nose loudly and completes her preparations to move on. Taking up a position toward the head of the party, she inhales deeply and adds, 'It is a crispy day but good. I do not think we will be troubled much by bees.'

Starbeard: Is this the sort of thing you wanted?[/ooc]

Provisions - 8 people, 2 dogs, 1 bear, 1 owl, 4 pack animals

10 May - no rations deducted: breakfast in town before starting our journey
11 May - no rations deducted: humans breakfast on foraged blackberries and honey (4 rations of each); dogs eat foraged rabbit (1 ration); bear foraged honey; pack animals grazed

Yeah, that looks useful. Very cool! Unless someone else looks forward to the responsibility, I can volunteer to be expedition quartermaster and stick something like this to the bottom of each of my post every time we set up camp.

Marullus, I know Huckleberry takes 1 ration a day like a character; what about the dogs and owl?

[onlyme]

Halfpint nods.

If the invisible cat says to avoid something, how could one argue? Hopefully we'll find treasure galore on the new route.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Dogs take 1/2 day rations each. The owl takes 1/4 ration; I assume he hunted at night and will sleep much of the day.

Clay Weatherwax
Clay loads his packed saddlebags onto Asala, using his movement to convey a sense of security to the hooved animal. You don't need to worry about Kumsar. He said he would leave us alone as long as we eave him alone. He hoots to Maurice, who lights onto the packed bags and indicates which direction to go to get to the ruins with the cistern and well. As the party travels, Clay kindly asks Maurice to scout ahead for dangers and to check the party's bearings, but once he knows they are on the right track, Clay allows the little bird to rest up.

The drizzle and morning dew quickly soak through his shoes again. He thanks Beith for the life-giving water, but deep down, he wishes for dry feet.