Quest #24 "Spying On Bings Pirates"

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

"Since I literally got off the boat yesterday," answers Dexter. "I can hardly dispute that you know the circumstances better than I do. I thought that the party that broke them in the village sent them all running back to their ship. I wasn't aware they had sortied back onto land. So, yeah, further inland..." Dexter takes a look up and down the trail, judging direction as best he can, and then pulls back off the trail again. "So we keep the trail on our left and check our position with it every... what? ... half hour or so?"

[Urson]

Daisy

That seems to be the best choice, sugar.

[OGRE MAGE]

Watching The Watchers
Sunday, the 14th of Goodmonth
Late Morning, Hot, Muggy, Buggy

Slipping quietly back into the jungle at the edge of the trail, the trio agrees to Dexters suggestion and begins the arduous task of slogging through the untamed foliage.

Luckily, Daisy is no stranger to this method of travel so she acts as a helpful rear guide to ease their burden from time to time, all with the help of Sophie, of course.

Glansandi lets Dexter take the lead spot since he is far more adept at getting through the tangles, but since the movement is so restricted, there is no real sense of marching order as they pass alongside the trail.

After about an hour passes, the group starts to hear 2 distinct voices up ahead of their current position. They must be getting close to the first village, but cant see anything at all in the distance that would indicate where they are at the moment.

Glansandi stops moving and tries to get the attention of the others, pointing to one of his pointy ears as he stands there perfectly still.

Actions?

viewtopic.php?f=446&t=6346#p366477

Dexter 8/8
Glansandi 10/10
Daisy 9/9
Sophie 6/6

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

At a motion from Glansandi, Dexter freezes. His only movement is to cock his head a bit, pointing an ear in the direction the Constable indicated. He listens carefully.

[Urson]

Daisy
Daisy stops, kneeling in the mud. She likewise listens as intently as she can. Sophie returns to her mistress, sitting quietly.

[OGRE MAGE]

Watching The Watchers
Sunday, the 14th of Goodmonth
Late Morning, Hot, Muggy, Buggy

Staying as silent and motionless as possible, the group listens to the distant voices as best they can. They sound a bit disgruntled.

"Why is he the one calling the shots, anyway? What the hells does he know about sailing?"

"Because he is the most powerful, and can turn the rest of us into things.......unnatural."

"That don't mean shit! I cant believe how quickly we all decided to follow that creep. Some sailors we are. The Capn' sails off and the rest of us turn into a bunch of land lovin wussies."

"I'd rather be a living wus, than a dead sailor."

"Ya, well, what do you know anyway? You were nothing when you signed on with Bing. I was a full fledged member of the crew. And now look at us. Starving and being slowly eaten in the jungle while we hide from threats on all sides of us. No ship. No Cap. Just a smart ass mage who enjoys making our already miserable existence here even worse."

"You could stand up to him if ye like, but I like being a human."

The voices are not far off, but you still cant make out who they belong to through the thick underbrush. It sounds like they are coming from somewhere above the ground, as if they might be sitting up in a tree as they speak.

Actions?

viewtopic.php?f=446&t=6346#p366477

Dexter 8/8
Glansandi 10/10
Daisy 9/9
Sophie 6/6

[Urson]

Daisy
Daisy lifts an eyebrow at the conversation, a smile crossing her face. She says nothing, but continues to listen to what's being said.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter looks from the Constable to Daisy and then points to himself, and then to the direction of the voices. His eyebrows are raised, as if asking a question. The overall impression would seem to be asking if they would like him to try to get closer.

[OGRE MAGE]

Watching The Watchers
Sunday, the 14th of Goodmonth
Late Morning, Hot, Muggy, Buggy

"Well, it aint like he's as Powerful as ol' Snake-Eye is......I mean.......was."

"I bet ye wouldn't say that to his face!"

Short pause.

"And these damn BUGS! I have been in the middle of stinking marshes that had less bugs around than this damn place. There has to be something to this shit. How could there be this many of the little bastards?"

Glansandi looks at Dexter and points to his own eyes before pointing towards the voices again. Then he nods his head.

Actions?

viewtopic.php?f=446&t=6346#p366477

Dexter 8/8
Glansandi 10/10
Daisy 9/9
Sophie 6/6

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Halfling stealth tricks.

Dexter nods and moves towards the voices. He uses his small size to lean forward and put one hand down to further reduce his height and spread his already small weight out over the plants and grasses. Low and slow, and as quietly as he can, he creeps towards the voices. As soon as he has any sight of them, he stops immediately.

[Urson]

Daisy
Daisy watches Dexter, praying for his safety. She keeps one hand on Sophie's neck, so the badger stays put.

[OGRE MAGE]

Watching The Watchers
Sunday, the 14th of Goodmonth
Late Morning, Hot, Muggy, Buggy

Glansandi and Daisy look at each other with concern as Dex begins edging even closer to the voices. The Halfling doesn't have to move far before he catches a glimpse of the backs of 2 human men dressed in leather armor sitting up on a thick tree branch that overlooks the trial. They continue speaking to each other as if they have no idea the demi-human group is so close.

"And how do we know that Bing is even coming back?"

"He don't know we was routed out of our new camp, so why wouldn't he come back?"

"I don't know, but this whole thing feels off to me. I wish I would have stayed in Saltmarsh. There was real work for me there."

"I knew ye was a land lubber all along!"

"Shut up and watch the trail. If one of them adventuring groups gets past us because we were sitting here arguing, the little sparrow will kill us both."

The men are clearly armed, with daggers and swords at their belts, but they don't appear to carry missile weapons. Their branch is about ten feet off the ground and only about 20 feet or so away from Dexter, 30 from the others.

Actions?

Dexter 8/8
Glansandi 10/10
Daisy 9/9
Sophie 6/6

[SirOwen]

Between the first batch of conversation and this one, have there been more than two voices?

[OGRE MAGE]

No, it still sounds like only 2 men.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter does not move his head or body. But he allows his eyes to scan the area for any others that may be in this group, but not talking. He lets them continue talking.

So, so far:

How are these two men armed?
Any obvious signaling devices? Horns, bells, bull-roarers?
Are they at all camouflaged?

[OGRE MAGE]

You can only see them from the back, but they do have swords and daggers hanging from their belts.

You don't see or hear any others, and cant make out any type of signaling devices on them.

They don't appear to be camouflaged at all.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Timing his movement with their talking, Dexter begins to slowly back up towards Daisy and Glansandi. He lets the men in the trees create the extra noise to ensure his retreat.

[OGRE MAGE]

Watching The Watchers
Sunday, the 14th of Goodmonth
Late Morning, Hot, Muggy, Buggy

Sneaking back towards the others as quietly as he can, Dexter uses the constant complaining of the lookouts to cover any noises he makes.

Almost back to Daisy and Glansandi, the experienced Halfling sneaks under a fallen branch that he didn't notice before and nearly jumps out of his clothes when he realizes that he has just set his left hand down up on a booted foot. A high, hard boot, that isn't attached to either of his two friends.

Slowly looking up from the foot, Dexter spots a leg next, then a knee, crotch, torso, chest, and finally the head of a rugged looking, armed and armored human who clearly studied the same manual about how to conceal yourself within the jungle foliage. In fact. this man is so well hidden in the bush that Dexter never even saw him when he passed this way earlier. The human holds a finger to his pursed lips and darts his eyes towards Glansandi and Daisy, still waiting only a few yards away.

fd06180c3c2dcb6bf63707e2d112e80f.jpg (125.62 KiB) Viewed 916 times

Actions?

Dexter 8/8
Glansandi 10/10
Daisy 9/9
Sophie 6/6

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Looking back towards the trail watchmen, to verify they won't see him, Dexter then looks up at the human, points towards Daisy and Glansandi and gives him a thumbs up. He then continues back towards them, still low and slow. "Well," he thinks. "If Tall Man here was going to do me in, he had every chance. Maybe another enemy of Bing's." Getting back to the other two, he says softly, "Hey, look what I found. I stepped on him he didn't whack me. So, good people, right?"

[Paladin]

Cealwyn Blackthorn

Smiling down at the stealthy halfling, Cealwyn trains a last glance at the watchmen before melting silently into the brush and following him back to the group, careful to avoid fallen limbs and low-hanging boughs. He dips his head in a modest bow, hands spread palm-up to either side to display a lack of weaponry or ill intent.

"Good day," he says quietly, the soft lilt of the West country in his deep voice. "Unless I am mistaken, we share a purpose." As he speaks, his gaze wanders back to the duo on the treebranch overlooking the trail.