Crooked Yew and crocked bees.

[Spearmint]

April 29th 1066

Helix Village, Duchy of Aerik.

8.00am.
Weather: sunshine but cloudy, light breeze.

Crabtree, the wagon driver from the Silver Standard arrives, loaded high with panels and frames to erect a new hive at the Crooked Yew apiary. Supplementary crates fill the sides, the bench seat beside him reserved for Moriartus. It is drawn by a huge shaggy draft horse, chestnut brown with dark mane and feathered hocks.

Besides the wagon, two tall 'brick outhouse' shaped lookalikes lurch along as extra muscle in case of trouble. The chalk to their cheese, a lithe elven woman, Two-birds walks at the front, wearing a laurel wreath and carrying a short staff across her shoulders.

I will just hold here as Moriartus continues to rp and recruit characters at the tavern.

[Spearmint]

April 29th 1066

Helix Village, Duchy of Aerik.

8.00am.
Weather: sunshine but cloudy, light breeze.

The hirelings are buffed out with an eclectic bunch of characters. Moriartus takes his place on the wagon by the driver. Dougal walks, trying to familiarise himself with the lay of the land. Friar John fresh from the chapel incident has a shared interest in honey, mead and bees. Barba walks with the twins, each trying to impress the other with their stature and bicep girth.

They trek out westwards, a faint cart track, rutted in the boggy ground with churned up peat and prickly thistles. The first hour takes you past outlying farms, thatched small holdings of crofters eeking out a subsistence living cultivating root crops, shepherding goats and excavating the peat moor. The boundary of militia patrols reached and the edge of civilization gained. The Barrowmoor stretches to your left on the south. Two-Birds points out that "A mile away stands the Statue of Herne. Surrounding by a ring of ancient stones. Villagers go there to pray and make sacrifices." She points but the sacred ground is off the beaten track and out of view. The mist on the moor is heavy. It nevers dissipates regardless of weather or wind, a fetid waft of decay and swamp catches in your nostrils.
The flora is abundant though not colourful, large bees flit collecting nectar. At least these look healthy and after buzzing, fly away into the forest.

The Blackened Forest is on your right and to the north. A dense dark mangle of coniferous pines and spreading deciduous. Most have fungi clumps and creeper vines on the trunks and boughs. Strange birds caw and chirp out of sight, the forest heavy in shadow.

The wagon wheels roll, creaking under the weight, slowly turn, leading you onwards. By mid morning you are a handful of miles from Helix, still travelling directly west.

actions and comments team please

[Karaunios]

Dougal

The ranger gets a much-needed full night of sleep in the common room, despite having been attentive to anything that might have been happening around him during the night, with his rucksack between his arms.

He quickly gets ready to part with the expedition, waiting from the wee hours of the morning next to the main door of the inn. He gets acquaintanced with the other members during the initial hours of the trip. He's happy that he can leave civilisation behind him and be again in a natural environment.

Dougal pays attention to his surroundings, watching intently the terrain, the flora, the fauna, especially the bees, going several feet ahead of the party to see any tracks that they can find on the way in case any enemies or predators might be close.

[Quonundrum]

Moriartus

Grateful for the seat in the wagon, Moriartus casually surveys the landscape between occasional puffs from his cigar. The trail, what little there was to define it as such, would be brutal to walk and even on horse or pony the ride difficult for his weak muscles to handle. He gestures to the dark forest with the head of his staff. "Mr. Crabtree, I have heard rumor that relations between Lord Krothos and the forest tribes have fallen unto nigh a crisis, that some even plan open hostilities. Does our path go through any tribal territory? I fear they may see us as an opportune target."

[Gomezthebarbarian]

Barba

Barba walked in silence, suffering a hangover with her usual stoicism. The cloak was absent, tucked away along with her blanket strapped to her backpack. When they had left the relative safety provided by the militia, the half-orc had removed a small jar of blood red clay paint and applied the stuff to her face and exposed arms with tribal patterns. She didn't believe the clay or the patterns gave her any powers in battle like her orc kindred did, but she felt the war paint gave her a ferocious aspect which could give her an edge against any opponent.

Despite her hangover, Barba was alert and kept her eyes on anything that could provide cover and concealment from which to launch an ambush; tall grass, copses of trees close to the track, rocks and boulders, treelines, etc..

[Spearmint]

April 29th 1066

Helix Village, Duchy of Aerik.

11.00am.
Weather: sunshine but cloudy, light breeze.

I waited for a post from FJ. In his absence J will move this on a little.

The walk is slow paced, the draft horse plods relentlessly, occasionally heaving the wagon out of miry bogs and rutted ground. The cart track effectively tracing the border between forest and moor. It goes straight for an hour then tacks southwest. About an hour down that turn, Crabtree points out a small logging camp.

"Foresting Cypress lumber and brewing hooch." A small logging outfit arranged around some pitched tents and a wooden cabin is located on the forest fringe. Expecting a hive of activity, the place is strangely inactive. The saws still in half cut logs, the campfires just embers, stew cauldron tipped out. A door creaks in the breeze, the only noise in an ominously quiet place.

"Maybe that's why the druids ordered lumber. The camp looks deserted." Crabtree asserts.



Fearing the worse, Two-Birds and the Bennerjake twins draw weapons. The camp is a few hundred yards away.

actions everyone please

[Quonundrum]

Moriartus

"Deserted, yes, but not that long ago, it seems. The campfire embers still burn. Miss Two-Birds, are you able to speak with any animals nearby? Perhaps they can tell us what transpired here?

[Karaunios]

Dougal

Approaches the group leader and stares at the logging camp. "When he's daun talking tae the animals I could also look fer signs of what happened here." Just in case, the ranger grabs his bow.

[Quonundrum]

Moriartus

"Agreed, Mr. Dougal. Please scout ahead, but keep at least a hundred yards distance from the camp until we have a better understanding of what could have happened here."

[Jedion357]

Friar John considers his travelling companions in silence. He's awkward around the elf. She doesn't even look like "her" but still he feels uncomfortable. He's sure that Two Birds caught him staring at her a few times like a pathetic young teenager. He eventually shrugs and settles into the hike quietly brooding about another elf maid that must be far far away.

At the deserted camp he loosens his sling and hefts his mornign star and offers to help search the camp but keeps one eye on his compatriots and one eye on his surroundings.

He offers a quiet imprecatory prayer, "St Ygg, if evil befell this camp grant us perception to discern it and the might to abolish it."

[Gomezthebarbarian]

Barba simply waits patiently for the elf to ‘talk to the animals’ before doing anything.

[Spearmint]

April 29th 1066

Helix Village, Duchy of Aerik.

11.00am.
Weather: sunshine but cloudy, light breeze.

the embers are dry ashes and not alight, sorry for wrong impression

Crabtree turns the wagon off the track to go to the deserted camp. Two-birds raises an eyebrow at the suggestion she tweets like a bird or croaks like a frog. "Perhaps when my devotions are stronger I may."

there is a subtle difference between clerics and druids which I probably haven't resolved sufficiently with both bring ministers of Herne or Silvanus.

With no explanation forthcoming, Dougal scouts ahead. You get up to the camp fire, immediately knowing it has not been used for several days. The food in the cauldron mouldy and now covered in blown leaves. You signal others to advance as you explore further. The tents are slashed and ransacked. About a half a dozen of them.

Friar John prays for wisdom. His perception is more physical as he notices several newly dug graves, the mounds in a line on the edge of the camp, some wooden markers leaning in the boggy ground, the epitaphs simple.
Donnell: died of wounds.
Markus: died of wounds.
Singaard: succumbed to virus.
Treyvon: bitten by poisonous creature
and a few more.

The wooden cabin, by the physical scratch marks and broken glass looks as likely a place for a last stand as any.

Certainly whoever raided the camp did not seem intent on robbery. The timber planks and seasoned wood left in the covered marquee. The contents of the tents spread about but not taken. Dougal sees some strange sideways weaving tracks which come from the cabin door and lead off in the direction of the moor. Not prints of feet or paw, more like serpentine in design.

The cabin is dark within, its interior lanterns long since burned out.

actions please.

[Quonundrum]

Moriartus

Moriartus surveys the chaotic destruction with a silent, impassive indifference. "It would seem your hypothesis may be correct, Mr. Crabtree. It is an odd twist of fate that just when the Crooked Yew found itself in dire need of refined wood ... this should happen." He sweeps an arm as if to display the site to an interested buyer. "I don't like coincidences, they are too convenient." He motions for Ben ... or is it Jake? ... to help him off the wagon. He then takes a long draw from his cigar and gestures with it to the cabin and the recently dug graves. "Apparently they were under siege, and long enough to bury their dead as they fell. Why would they not flee or seek help, I wonder?"

Moriartus struggles as he limps towards the cabin, clearly not accustomed to walking with his staff on open ground. He stops within sixty feet of the open door and holds up a hand to delay entry into the building before tracing a series of geometric symbols and sigils in the air. Casts Light into the cabin. "Let's illuminate the situation, shall we?" He says, then motions for the Bennerjake twins to move ahead of him into the cabin.

Spell Recovery (17): [4d6+1]=10+1=11

[Karaunios]

Dougal

"Mibay they were attacked in waves. These strange creatures" He points at the weird footprints "might have been lurking areund between the attacks. But we gang back tae the question of why didnae they look faer help. Perhaps they were tae afraid tae try.

The strange footprints gang back tae the moor. Mibay I should investigate 'em." He follows the tracks that hi to the moor but won't venture far from the party. If no new information can be ascertained from his inquiry, he goes back to the cabin area.

[Jedion357]

Friar John looks askance at the graves, the memory of Greygoose reanimating as a ghoul is fresh in his memory and we know not what killed these poor souls. No doubt he will need to give a benediction over the graves before they depart. He positions himself near Moriartus with his morningstar ready to hand and his eyes alert.

[Quonundrum]

Moriartus

He turns to regard the tracks Dougal found and peers at them quizically. "What manner of creature creates a trail like that? A snake? A very large snake?" Looking along the path of the tracks as it winds its way in the direction of the moor, he says, "I feel you may be right, Mr. Dougal. Where could they flee when the moor borders the forest for many miles. The Blackened Forest, perhaps, but if they were not of the forest tribes that could have been as equally dangerous for them."

Before returning his attention to the cabin, he gestures at the nearby cluster of ransacked tents. "We should also do a quick search of them and the scattered gear. Collect anything of value and check for further clues. We best also not tarry here, lest whatever it was should return."

[Gomezthebarbarian]

The strange footprints gang back tae the moor. Mibay I should investigate 'em." He follows the tracks that hi to the moor but won't venture far from the party. If no new information can be ascertained from his inquiry, he goes back to the cabin area.

With the twins in camp, Barba follows Dougal staying behind him a bit and keeping her eyes open to her surroundings.

[Spearmint]

April 29th 1066

Logging Camp. Blackened Forest, west of Helix. Duchy of Aerik.

11.10am.
Weather: sunshine but cloudy, light breeze.

Barba and Dougal follow a slithering trail etched in the boggy ground. You can trace it away from the camp and then it cuts across the trail and to the moor. The direction is away from the cabin. You both search the area but no imminent threat is apparent.

Friar John studied the graves noting they have been hastily dug but there is not any sign of whoever is buried has crawled their way out. You perform a benediction and straighten up the wooden markers.

"Hey boss. You may want to see this!" comes a call from the cabin. The twins come out shaking their heads in bewilderment.

Inside, a mess hall and common room lit by the spell. Beyond a corridor leads to three rooms, an office, a store and a bedroom. There are half a dozen strange human sized shells. It is weird, almost like a cocoon of skin, empty of any larvae, you can see perhaps the flakes of a face shape or two legs welded together, a torso shed like it was no longer fit for purpose.

actions and investigations, comments please.

[Quonundrum]

Moriartus

Moriartus shuffles into the cabin and upon seeing the strange skin cocoons arches an eyebrow in bemusement. Approaching them for a closer look, he says, "Mr. Jake, please summon the others, if you will." His gaze was fixed upon the cocoons while he spoke, partly due to intense curiosity, and partly because he still wasn't able to tell the twins apart, yet. While Jake fetches the other members of the group, Moriartus enters the office to perform a quick search, particularly for any notes or log books.

[Karaunios]

Dougal

The ranger nods at Barba in recognition when she decides to accompany him. After studying the tracks and seeing there's no point in trying to follow them, he addresses the half orc: "Nothing tae be doun here. The tracks cannae be followed intae the muir. Let's gang back tae the cabin."

He does so and will enter the hut once he gets Moriartus' news from the twins.