The Cave Of The Unknown

[OGRE MAGE]

I will try to keep this together for the folks who've expressed a desire to continue moving forward. Again, sorry for the unintentional delays.

Leaving The One Cave
Dastardly Duo
Partly Cloudy, Early Afternoon

Dredd, Meinhardt, Crobeus, and Renna remain unconscious. Their wounds aren't bad enough to see them bleed out, but their lives clearly rest in the others ability to get the party out of this mess.

Pim stays where he is, becoming somewhat sick at how things have turned out so far. Magdal pulls herself up from the ground, ready to attack these 2 brutes, when Stobart suddenly decides on a different approach. Using his staff defensively, the priest stops attacking and tries a veiled threat. "I'm guessing you and your friends do a lot of travelling in your business. Do you really want to murder a priest of the Dweller on the Horizon, and piss off his priesthood? That sounds like more trouble than it's worth, the clergy have a long memory. I'm a man of discretion, why don't you let us take our friends and be on our way, and we won't bother each other. Sounds like a lot less hassle than the other way. "

Of course. Their reaction rolls were a nat 20 and a nat 1.

One of the men just scoffs at the words, looking as if he might strike out at the cleric anyway, when the other man grabs his arm to stop the action. They look at each other in silence for a moment before the frightened man speaks. "You remember what happened last time?"

The second unfrightened man shakes his head and lets out a huge sigh. "Okay, whatever. I dont think this guy is quite the same as.......you know what? Never mind. This is not the time for this discussion." He places his hand on the other man's shoulder as a gentle expression of care and concern before turning back to Stobart and taking over the conversation.

"Tell you what, priest of the Dweller on the Horizon. Since you've got my guy here all worked up now, I will make a deal with you. The four of you can leave. We will take care of your dead. If you don't like that idea, we can make you all dead."

The other man gets close enough to whisper something into his ear, both of them showing an evil smirk once the suggestion is made. "Oh ya, that is a good idea."

As if there were one other option, the men await any answers they might receive before they make their final suggestion.

Actions?

Red Square=Injured

IMG_3629.jpeg (93.72 KiB) Viewed 6963 times

Magdal Haldeene AC7 15/16
Pimlan Greenstride AC6 7/9
Sylla Lontharra AC5 6/6 CLW, CLW, Command
Stobart Galt AC5 10/10 CLW, CLW, Command
Dredd AC3 -1/16 Unconscious
Meinhardt AC10 -2/5 MM, MM, Sleep Unconscious
Crobeus AC3 -2/10 LOH Unconscious
Renna Kellamin AC4 -3/9 CLW, CLW Unconscious

[shaidar]

Stobart

At mention of them leaving their fallen behind the cleric does not look happy, but glances at his conscious companions to see their reactions.

[Darithe]

Magdal

Magdal takes a battle stance, swords ready, "I will speak once more and then let my blades do the talking, and if they speak, they will speak first to him," pointing one blade at the frightened man. "I am Magdal Haldeene, and I don't leave injured companions behind for jackals. I'll make one last offer to YOU, step aside and let us take our injured, or I will take your heads. I'm sure there is a bounty for them somewhere. The Keep knows we were journeying here and if the ambassador doesn't return," nodding her head to Sylla, "they will come here looking for her. So if you want to draw more attention to yourselves, by all means lets start this dance." She gives her fiercest battle-face, poised to attack if they make one suspicious move, as she adds, "Friends, if they try anything give the one my sword pointed at the full brunt of your magic."

[gurusql]

Renna

Renna silently and perhaps in her head only cheers on all her still conscious companions from her unconscious state.

[hedgeknight]

Dredd

Murmurs fill his ears attempting to disturb his death dreams. He farts in their general direction.
Now go away...

[OGRE MAGE]

I will give Pim a "little" more time to act before I update.

[OGRE MAGE]

Leaving The One Cave
Dastardly Duo
Partly Cloudy, Early Afternoon

Pimlan and Sylla gather up Renna and Crobeus, dragging them over to the rest of the group.

Stobart appears shocked when Magdal gives the 2 thugs her ultimatum, hoping she hasn’t overreached. They clearly look at each other after the mention of the elf’s title, nodding some silent agreement.

Surprisingly, the men suddenly stand down, lowering weapons and taking their feet off the bodies of the fallen. The more confident looking fellow speaks. “Well, we can’t argue with that, can we? Go ahead! Get on out of here then!”

The frightened man gets an idea. “Hey! I know how to help! Remember that…..” Without finishing, he rushes to the side of the clearing and digs through a pile of old brush, pulling out a bunch of lashed poles and dragging them back to the group. “You can even use this old travois I made a while back to drag……um…..injured…friends. Ya, it’s made plenty sturdy. Big enough for two men, at least.”

He gives Stobart a look that says they should really take them up on the offer.

Actions?

Magdal Haldeene AC7 15/16
Pimlan Greenstride AC6 7/9
Sylla Lontharra AC5 6/6 CLW, CLW, Command
Stobart Galt AC5 10/10 CLW, CLW, Command
Dredd AC3 -1/16 Unconscious
Meinhardt AC10 -2/5 MM, MM, Sleep Unconscious
Crobeus AC3 -2/10 LOH Unconscious
Renna Kellamin AC4 -3/9 CLW, CLW Unconscious

[shaidar]

Stobart nods at the man with the travois

"Yes, that will be very useful, thank you, allow us to get out of your hair quickly. Let's get it loaded up."

Still keeping an eye on the two men, he helps the group load up the travois and get out of there.

[Darithe]

Magdal

Magdal doesn't sheath her weapons but relaxes a bit saying, "That is kind of you. We will consider this misunderstanding forgotten and be on our way." She whispers to Pim, "Keep an eye on them just in case." She won't help load the injured letting the others take care of it, fearful of sudden betrayal. She will remain armed until they are out of sight of these two.

[GreyWolfVT]

Pim keeps an eye out feeling very sick to his stomach at how things have turned out. Sorry, Covid really kicked my butt, I still test positive for it and still feel like crap.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sorry about the delay here......I was trying to come up with an appropriate solution to an unfortunate situation.

Leaving The One Cave
Dastardly Duo Strikes Again
Partly Cloudy, Late Afternoon

The group happily takes advantage of the sudden change of heart from the murderous thugs, though they do so with a good deal of trepidation.

Oddly, the men actually help you load the unconscious party members on their offered transport. They don't say another word, giving the upright folks even more pause about their sticky situation. With little choice, they do as they are told, rigging up ropes so that Magdal, Stobart, and Pim can pull the travois filled with their friends through the precariously tight thorn-strewn path in a single file line.

Due to her higher station, Sylla refuses to do any of the manual labor again, enticing the pair of thugs even further. She follows along at the rear of the group, telling them what they are doing wrong and complaining every time she gets scratched by the briars. For a while, she speaks about how important she is and how if they would have only done as she suggested, they wouldn't be in this predicament right now. Apparently deciding to give the group a break, she eventually falls silent, as the lead members continue to toil with their heavy load through the trail, unable to keep a visual track of their rear ranks with any real accuracy.

It takes about three times longer to drag the sled filled with unconscious party members back out to the main road again. Almost completely exhausted and badly scratched for their effort, Magdal, Stobart, and Pimlan are terrified to learn that the reason Sylla went quiet along their unpleasant journey wasn't to give their ears a break. When they look back as they exit the forest, they learn the horrifying truth, as Sylla is no longer with them.

They call for her and search a short distance back into the woods, but there is literally zero sign of the elf anywhere they search. With the sun already approaching the horizon, they will be hard pressed to make it back to the Keep before darkness sets in. If they wait any longer, there will be no chance of arriving before dark.

Actions?

Wilderness.jpeg (162.8 KiB) Viewed 6261 times

Magdal Haldeene AC7 15/16
Pimlan Greenstride AC6 7/9
Sylla Lontharra AC5 6/6 CLW, CLW, Command
Stobart Galt AC5 10/10 CLW, CLW, Command
Dredd AC3 -1/16 Unconscious
Meinhardt AC10 -2/5 MM, MM, Sleep Unconscious
Crobeus AC3 -2/10 LOH Unconscious
Renna Kellamin AC4 -3/9 CLW, CLW Unconscious

[shaidar]

Stobart

"We must push on, being out here after dark will put us all at risk."

[Darithe]

Magdal

Relieved that that her threat worked so well, inwardly she breathes a sigh of relief. Once out of sight she helps with dragging the injured back in the direction of the keep. She is quite surprised and equally worried at Sylla's disappearance, but for now she is focused on the injured. "Yes I agree Mr. Stobart, too many lives in the balance as it is. We will notify the keep of her disappearance once we reach it. I hope those brigands didn't decide to kidnap her for ransom, but darkness will only make matters worse if we continue to search. So ever onward."

[GreyWolfVT]

Pimlan sullenly agrees "Yes, let's keep moving, to the keep. Maybe we can make it back to at least keep those we were able to pull out alive."

[shaidar]

Stobart utters a brief prayer to Fharlanghn to look over them and then starts pulling the travois.

[OGRE MAGE]

Leaving The One Cave
Dastardly Duo Strikes Again
Partly Cloudy, Late Afternoon

Down one conscious member, the group makes the best of a bad situation, deciding to get themselves back to town before anything else horrible happens. Magdal ponders the possibility that the thugs let the group go so they could kidnap the obviously important fey ambassador, hoping instead that the elf just got lost.....in the........forest.

Making much better time with the heavy sled out on the open road, the trio makes it all the way back to the spot where the two adventuring groups split up earlier this morning. Renna stirs in the travois when they arrive at the stick she planted in the ground, only to find it missing.

Looking at the detour into the forest, alongside the washed out road, the group will need to make a decision to risk the bandits or risk getting stuck in the muddy ground with their heavy load.

Actions?

Wilderness.jpeg (162.67 KiB) Viewed 6161 times

Magdal Haldeene AC7 15/16
Pimlan Greenstride AC6 7/9
Sylla Lontharra AC5 6/6 CLW, CLW, Command
Stobart Galt AC5 10/10 CLW, CLW, Command
Dredd AC3 -1/16 Unconscious
Meinhardt AC10 -2/5 MM, MM, Sleep Unconscious
Crobeus AC3 -2/10 LOH Unconscious
Renna Kellamin AC4 -3/9 CLW, CLW Unconscious

[shaidar]

Stobart looks in the direction of both options. By the look on his face he doesn't seem particularly happy with either of them.

"Maybe we'd be OK if two of us carried the travois along the bank, or if we laid it flat and slid it somehow that might work better. Or we hope the bandits take pity on us, we could gather up most of our coin and hope we can pay them off."

[GreyWolfVT]

Pim unsure of the best way to handle the situation tries to offer a suggestion "Well that or maybe we can find something long enough and big enough to lay over the mud to be able to carry or drag our loads over it. Either way I'm happy to do whatever we can to get out of here before we find more bandits or trouble."

[shaidar]

Stobart

Still unsure the cleric looks around for something they might use to spread the weight, fallen trees perhaps.

"If we only took one over on the travois each time, there would be less chance of getting stuck in the mud, but we'd be making more trips."

[OGRE MAGE]

There are a few fallen trees around near the edge of the forest, but everywhere you walk between there and the river the ground is heavily saturated and downright boggy in a few places.

Magdal notices lots of boot, beast, and small cart tracks that appear to enter the area, only to turn around to head back out of the mushy ground the same way they went in.