Quest #1 "Loggers Run"

[OGRE MAGE]

Early Evening

Ernie seems oblivious to Jacks confusion, but his is still eager and more than willing to help out. He takes off behind the elf boy without hesitation.
"Come on Burt, you big dink! She is out of your league anyway! You can have my gold if you need compensation that badly."

Burt is far less willing to help, especially after being snubbed. As they run along the now well trampled and easily defined trail, he continues speaking his mind. "This is stupid! We told you not to come in here and you didn't listen! Now we are supposed to help you retrieve your dead after we clearly warned you? This is dumb! And the other loggers ain't DEAD! So, stop saying that! When the captain gets back here I will make sure he hears ALL about this dumb shit! Me and Ern ain't just a couple of dumb rubes that you can toss out a few suggestions and have us playing right into your hands........" The man finally shuts up after getting a little ways into the bush.

The rag-tag group manages to get back to the spot where Monocar was lying on the ground. He is no longer there. The spears with the burnt heads are still stuck in the ground, but the oaf is nowhere in sight. There are definitive drag marks in the dirt showing that he was probably pulled further into the deep jungle. Ernie hands each of you a torch and lights it off of his own. "They couldn't have gotten far yet! We've learned that a lot of things out here don't really like fire that much!" He says this nonchalantly as Burt continues complaining under his breath. "We should be resting and getting this place finished up before the others return. We ain't got time for these adventuring games!"

It doesn't take long for Jack to catch up to the dozen or so little tree monsters dragging along the prone form of Monocar. They click and screech to each other as the pull their huge meal behind them.

[Inferno]

Jack, lost boy:

Jack sneaks back to the noisy grown ups. "Shhh! The big guy doesn't look so good. He might be dead! A dozen of the gourd goblins are dragging him deeper into the jungle! What should we do?!" Jack whispers.

[Spearmint]

Krystal

"I hate to leave a man behind, but I'm bleeding out too. If they are dragging him then I suspect his throat wound may well have opened up one last time. I can almost hear his valiant heart beat a gout of blood and then beat no more. (Krystal feigns bleary eyes and wiping a teardrop away), Shame I liked the dumb oaf. Still no place to stay, there is plenty of meat on whatshisname', so maybe the pygmies will feast for a while and not come looking for us. Lets' go back, at least we can save Luther."

Pragmatically Krystal returns back up the path from whence she came.

[OGRE MAGE]

Hearing the scouts report, Krystal simply goes back the way she came, no longer interested in risking her health and safety any further. She will go to check on the abandoned Luther.

Burt shrugs his shoulders, also more than happy to get out of the bush.

Ernie looks down at Jack. "If you're sure there was only ten of them or so, it shouldn't be to hard to chase them off. I will help you........if any of you still want to try to save your friend, that is."

[Inferno]

Jack, lost boy:

Even though he had seen the wicked lady's selfishness before, Jack is still surprised.

He's momentarily at a loss for how to proceed until Ernie chimes in.
Then Jack smiles, "Thanks mister! Let's go!"

[OGRE MAGE]

Burt just shakes his head some more, his tendons now starting to get sore from the constant repetitive motion. He begrudgingly follows his friend Ernie and little Jack further into the bush. It doesn't take them long to catch up to the dozen veginoids slowly pulling the denuded body of Monocar through the dense foliage.

Like they have done it so many times before, the loggers quickly light two torches, hold one in each hand, and simply charge in yelling at these small creatures. Seeing more of the firebrands coming at them is enough to scatter the entire group. They don't completely abandon their hard fought prize, however. There tiny eyes continue to peer out at the three of you just at the edge of your vision. They click back and forth to each other, hoping the fire goes away and they can get back to securing their dinner.

Monocar somehow amazingly still draws shallow, labored breath. However, he looks blue in the face and is starting to cross over deaths threshold.

Burt
"Stupid adventurers! Well, at least he should weigh a lot less now without any possessions."
He looks down at Jack. "If you can grab his legs and help keep him from dragging too much, me an Ern can carry him back to the clearing for you damn stupid adventurers! I never understood why anyone in their right mind would want to come out here and explore this deadly place."

[Inferno]

Jack, lost boy:

"Thanks, mister!" Jack smiles unfailingly at the grumpy grownup as he grabs Monocar's feet.

[OGRE MAGE]

Starday, 20th of Reaping, 1389
Evening, Getting Dark


Krystal makes it back to the clearing with little difficulty now that the trail is well trampled. She finds the body of Luther lying at the edge of the clearing, right where he was left. He has a lot more insects crawling around on him now, but other than that, he looks no worse for wear.

Burt, Ernie, and Jack have a hard time carrying the huge and nearly lifeless body of Monocar back to the shack. Despite the well worn path, the difficult endeavor still takes them a good long while. The days sunlight is nearly spent as they break out of the bush and enter the loggers clearing.

Ernie
"Let's get these two resting in a safe place inside the shack. The bigger one ain't looking too good."

Bluehorse, please make a System Shock roll to see if Monocar survives this long, dreadful ordeal he has been through. Success will leave him in a comatose state until he can be magically healed or gets enough rest to heal naturally. Failure = death.

[Spearmint]

Krystal

Bonnie was in the loggers tent or hut, while the others are out and still on the trail, Krystal will look for signs of Bonnie and any medical packs, boxes with big red crosses on them.

[OGRE MAGE]

Krystal wisely looks around the place in hopes that Bonnie left behind some supplies to help with their current dilemma. She finds nothing in the way of medical aid, but does notice something that her fellow she elf must have left for them.

In a nice dry patch next to the shack, she finds a scratched message in elven written there in the dirt.
"No danger. Went back to town. Have surprise. B"

[Spearmint]

Krystal

"Yeah, bet not like the surprise we had though!" Krystal thinks and then scrapes the dirt with her feet to hide the message. Until the others return she will look after Luther,

[Bluehorse]

Monocar

Is dead weight but barely managing to draw breath all the same. The big man was made of tough stuff after all. Apparently he came from good stock, but he wasn't out of the woods yet. His face contorted in pain, but still he remained unconscious.

System Shock (95) [1d100] = 85

[OGRE MAGE]

Ernie and Burt help with getting the two unconscious fighters into the shack. They are laid just off the floor on dirty piles of clothing since they are unable to navigate the tricky hammocks. Burt complains the entire time, but knows what will happen to the men if they are not cared for.

Ernie tries to make you all as comfortable as possible while you wait out the night.
"Take whatever hammocks you like, I don't think the other loggers are coming back tonight either. This is getting a little weird that they have been gone for this long. They have never been away for this many days in a row before."

He looks at Burt who is lighting a few candles.
"Do you think we should offer them something from our private stash?"

Let me know if there is anything that you want to do before the night passes.

[Inferno]

Jack, lost boy:

After helping, Jack yawns. "Adventuring sure makes you tired!" he announces.

He hops up into a hammock and looks at Ernie and Krystal with big eyes. "Can we do this again tomorrow?!" he asks, before quickly falling off into deep, untroubled sleep.

[Spearmint]

Krystal

"I will need some uninterrupted time so I may study and pray."Krystal says, picking a spot in the shack,"perhaps you boys will be kind enough to watch over the oaf and the ranger for a few hours each to make sure nothing untoward comes towards ."

Smiling sweetly she mediates and sleeps fitfully.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sunday, 21st of Reaping, 1389
Very Early Morning

The sun finally sets completely and the jungle turns as black as pitch outside the walls of the wooden shack. Jack and Krystal, the only two remaining original and still conscious party members, find little difficulty adjusting and even sleeping in their new incredibly stinky shack. They both take one of the several empty hammocks that hang about the room. The smell of sweaty body odor is strong in the place, the scented candles doing little to mask the horrific odors. Ernie, Burt, Monocar, and Luther don't really seem to notice.

Ernie scratches at the dirt in one corner of the shack, revealing the cover of a large, buried cask. He pops open the lid and scoops out a few large flagons of water. "Burying this under the dirt keeps it nice and cool to drink. We only have about a third of the cask left to drink, but we can still share it with all of you." He scrapes around in another spot and pulls up a box of dried food rations, also happily sharing some jerky and hard tack with everyone. "Maybe we can share something really special with you in the morning?"

Burt doesn't say much at all but gives Ernie an evil glare once "something special" is mentioned. The surly logger tells Ernie to take first watch as he climbs up to a hammock near the ceiling of the shack. He is soon snoring loudly in his high resting perch. The loud din of the jungle and the constant buzzing of the swarms of insects outside is extremely creepy and unsettling, but after their long and painful ordeal, the pair of new adventurers has little trouble falling right asleep. Morning arrives without incident and light soon begins to appear outside of the smelly shack once again. Luther remains unconscious but at least Monocar looks a little bit better than he did lying on the floor of the jungle. His possessions are completely gone and the only things he brought that still remain on him are his under clothing, one boot, and a few scraps of his armor that the jungle creatures couldn't get off of him.

Everyone regains one hit point for resting through the night in the less than comfortable shack.

Monocar -5/12 (unconscious, dead at -7)
Luther -2/13 (unconscious, dead at -6.5)
Krystal 2/5 CL DM RM 1/1 first
Jack 4/10 CL DM RM 1/1 first

[Inferno]

Jack, lost boy:

Jack's eyes open at dawn. His mouth soon follows. "Everyone! Wake up! It's time to go adventuring!"

[Spearmint]

Miss Tal

Krystal gets up and puts away her study books. The two men seem only slightly better, it is going to take a long time for them to recover like this."Do you have any other medicines or healing potions and lotions Ernie that we can apply to them? Living out here is a danger without some kind of healing source, are not one of you men of faith? " she asks but guesses a negative answer.

"Maybe some old hermit or crone witch habits these isolated parts, have you heard any such stories from the loggers who laboured around here?"

Krystal will poke for information and assess what tools and stuff the loggers have here. Enough wood to build a cabin, build a wall,

[Inferno]

Jack, lost boy:

No one wanting to play with him, Jack goes outside in search of fun. He'll quietly snoop around camp while the grownups doze and read, and venture out of camp for 90 feet in every direction.

If that doesn't turn up anything interesting, he'll stick his little head in the shack and announce, "I'm bored! What's for breakfast?"

[Urson]

Jack, lost boy:

Jack's eyes open at dawn. His mouth soon follows. "Everyone! Wake up! It's time to go adventuring!"

Someone catch that evil little lunatic and squish his head....LOL