Quest #1 "Loggers Run"

[Bluehorse]

Jack, lost boy:

Monocar Jemara
Listens for a bit then looks at Jack. "I'm bored. Are you bored? Let go up a ways and see what we see. Whatdoya say, Little Buddy?"

"But you're too noisy to be a scout!" Jack says to Monocar with the brutal honesty of a child.
"We want to sneak up on the things we meet," he explains.

With that, the aged elf boy scampers 90 feet ahead of the others, resuming his advance position.

Pretending to be miffed as he chuckles. "Fine! No piggyback ride!" he hollars out to him as he runs off. Still snickering he begins lumbering along the trail, oddly more self conscious of how loud his big steps really are.

[OGRE MAGE]

With a grumpy new member in tow, the loggers expedition moves along......

It takes another full hour of walking up the trail before Monocar starts to hear the familiar and distinct noises of a wood axe chopping into a tree trunk. It is nearing high noon by now, and after the last 5 hours on the jungle trail, you are all ready for a break. The giant woodsmen is sure he hears chopping noises coming from up ahead, but it only sounds like 2 or 3 people doing the chopping.

After a cautious approach, you notice a small wooden shack up ahead just off of the trail and see 2 loggers a bit further along. The two human men appear to be alone, whacking at large black trees with their axes right where the trail comes to an abrupt end. There is nothing but dense jungle beyond the edge of the trail.

[Bluehorse]

Monocar

Picks up the pace as they near the tell tale sounds of chopping, visions of rest and exciting news and discovering fueling him along. As he nears the disappointing sight, he slows to a halt. "huh... Well this is anticlimactic..." He carefully approaches the two woodsman careful to not get too close to the swinging axes. "Hail, men! How fairs the grain today?"

[Monsieur Rose]

"Bonnie"
Logging shack

A crack appears in the sunny disposition of Bonnie as she starts cursing in elven. "Gods dammit! Six hours in that jungle! And for what!?"

A deep breath later, she seems less upset and able to process. She looks around for other movement, while backing into the brush.

[Inferno]

Jack, lost boy:

The venerable whippersnapper eagerly memorizes some choice profanity from Bonnie's mouth.

Then he opens his own. "...Um...Where is everyone?"

[Hotgoblin]

Luther

Greetings, Franny. Are you headin' to the camp also? What can ye tell us about what lies ahead?

Franny nods her head at Luther. Well, I ain't got nothing else going on, so looks like you're stuck with me. I know them there loggers are cutting down really dark trees, never seen trees like that til now. The loggers move'em to the beach and then they're gone! Franny pulls out her cloth and wraps it around her head like a kerchief, to keep the sun's rays off her face .

[Urson]

Luther

...The blue hell is this? Two guys? Luther steps away from the others, scanning the treeline. Are there stacks of logs? Piles of branches and brush? Anything of note?

[Nuke66]

Raythan too is a bit taken back with the anti-climatic nature of their arrival. He too steps back and watches the tree line as well.

[OGRE MAGE]

Some members of the group slip into the bush while others keep a suspicious eye out for tricks or traps, but most are eager to meet these two wood chopping strangers. Luther looks around, ever vigilant of his immediate surroundings. The ranger sees that the men have cut down many trees that still lay right where they were felled. (likely because they cant be moved by only 2 men) The tree trunks have all been bucked and the thick branches lie in a large pile next to a great circle of stones that is clearly used as a fire pit. The pit is fairly close to the plain looking 15' x 15' shack. Only tiny embers remain smoking in the pit at the moment, but it seems clear that everything other than the logs themselves gets burned.

The two men cease their chopping once Monocar steps up and says hello. They spin around quickly with their axes raised until they notice that you mean them no harm. The first man steps forward and replies to the large fighter.

"The grain is tuff! Very tuff!!! Like it always is with these damn black logs!" The man nods his head as he looks at each of you in turn, apparently counting your numbers as well as saying hello. "Hey Ernie!" He shouts over to his partner and points at Monocar. "Maybe this big bastard could give us a hand moving these logs to the pile, eh?"

"A couple of you look like you know how to handle an ax. Are any of you looking for some real work? Or are you all just another adventuring party headed out to your deaths on this hellish island?"

Ernie walks over to his coworkers side, sweating profusely and ready for a short break in this oppressive heat. "What do we got here, Burt? Another brave party out hunting dragons, er what? Looks like one of em even brought their kid along out here? That's just dumb!"

The two men look fairly young, likely still in their early 20's. They are both filthy, covered in dirt, grime, and splotches of a black sappy substance. Rivulets of sweat run down their faces and arms, leaving black trails that look like dirty old streams on their light colored skin. Their body odor is quite noticeable as well.

[Bluehorse]

Monocar

Laughs, obviously used to this kind of banter. "Well what's so special about these trees to waste the sweat on them? There's plenty of hard and soft wood that would be good for building and working and a lot closer to shore too. And if they're so damn hard to chop, why are there only two of you?" he makes a show of removing hos armor and setting down his gear as if getting ready to work, hoping to win over there opinions with the prospect of some help. As an aside to Jack "Guard my treasure and I'll show you something funny, deal?" he then winks conspiratorially.

[Inferno]

Jack, lost boy:

Jack eagerly nods at Monocar and then quickly loses interest and wanders over to get a better look at some of the still-standing black trees. Filled with curiosity, the child of nature tries to recognize the strange, ebon flora. "What kind of trees are these?!"

[Urson]

Luther

Where are the rest of the crew? There's no way that you two are the only woodcutters.

[Nuke66]

Raythan stays put, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He scans the perimeter, looking for opposition.

[Hotgoblin]

Franny walks up to one of the dark trees and sniffs the bark, she feels around its trunk for any sap oozing from its side, which causes her index and middle fingers to slightly stick together. She's interested to hear what Burt and Ernie have to say regarding the whereabouts of the other loggers.

[OGRE MAGE]

Krystal remains strangely quiet during the groups latest proceedings. Bonnie is nowhere to be seen.

Raythan suspiciously watches the clearings perimeter, he detects no danger in the area at the moment. Monocar begins to undress as he questions the loggers. They answer him with an odd look.

Burt
"These here are called lignum trees, and they're as hard as they are black! They are harder than any of the mainland hardwoods, I'll tell ya that. They're supposed to have some other qualities that people like too, but I don't know anything about that. We're just here to chop wood."

Ernie answers the Bears questions.
"Of course we ain't the only woodcutters! The rest of the crew is back in town. You must have seen them if you came from there? At the tavern, no doubt?"

Jack and Franny get up close to look at the standing lignums. They are large, tall, and very straight. They smell of burnt earth and have a dirty white substance that slowly oozes from any nicks in their surface. Elves and dwarves both have myths about the existence of such trees, but neither of you have ever seen anything like these before coming to this island.

[Bluehorse]

Monocar

At hearing about the presumably missing loggers Monocar looks at the others as if to say, Uh oh... not good. He otherwise waves the duo over to one of the logs. "Let me lend you a hand with these while we're here. Where does this need to go?"

[Urson]

Luther

We've got bad news, then. Nobody's seen any of you loggers in a week or so.

[Inferno]

Jack, lost boy:

Bored of grownups and their grownup talk, Jack looks for some fun trouble to get into inside the little shack while the grownups are distracted by each other.

[OGRE MAGE]

The group’s fearless but silent leader remains quiet. Bonnie is actually nowhere to be seen. The two loggers continue to look at Monocar strangely as he goes for one of the trees, but they don’t stop him from helping.

Luther fills the pair in on some bad news. He tells them that nobody has seen the rest of their crew in several days now. To which they reply....

“Gone? That’s impossible! They were just here yesterday morning. We were told to hold the fort down while they all went out to find more of these black trees. We are finding less and less of them the further we get into the deep jungle and the bossman says that we need to find a new vein of these things out here. The others have only been gone a day and a half now. Surely you must have seen at least some of them out here along your travels?”

Jack becomes bored with the strange trees rather quickly so he decides to have a look inside the men’s abode instead. As he rushes towards the shacks only door, the men shout out to him.

“Hey kid! Get away from there! That’s our sleeping quarters! Who in the hells is that kid anyway? Which one of you thought it would be a good idea to bring your damn child out into this dangerous jungle?”

The elf boy ignores the loggers calls and throws open the door anyway. He is shocked at what he finds inside………or is he? (see PM)

[Bluehorse]

Monocar

Squats down to investigate the tree closely. Looking over the bark, grain, sap, ect.