Setonian Empire [the search]

[Jongluer]

Marcuus smiles at the man as he finishes the conversation, "Excellent, on the morrow then." He then returns to Krahl and Martin, "Well, he's going to help us so that is that."

[amanodel]

The people in the tavern are rather.. uninteresting. They seem to be the typical village people. The farmer, blacksmith and herders.

You could go back to Ely and Butch or spend the night in the tavern.

[Truwar]

I aint too sure o’ that missy. Sure, a small town can be as cozy as a sack fulla puppies, iffin ya fit in. If ya don’t, well then, those small town folk aint all that friendly. Good if yer born there I suppose, but I aint found too many o’ these quaint little towns that take much of a hankerin’ to a feller like meself.

Casting about for a way to light one of his cigars, Butch offers one of the thick rolls of tobacco too Elysia.

[Yawielas]

Ely grumbles. "Oh, allright. If you're gonna keep pushing those things at me, I might as well try it." She accepts the cigar.

[Truwar]

Chuckling as he finally gets his own cigar alight, Butch leans in and places the tip of his cigar against Ely’s, puffing until hers lights up.

Leaning back from the elf with a pleased sigh, Butch blows aromatic smoke rings above his head.

Yer in fer a real treat missy, jist don’t try ta breathe it down too quick. Take yer time and enjoy it or yer bound ta get a tummy ache.

[Yawielas]

The little elf inhales the smoke from the cigar, and instantly starts coughing, her eyes tearing, and her face turning slughtly green. "Are...*cough cough* you trying to..*cough cough* kill me?!" *Cough cough*

[Geech000]

Krahl nods and looks around the tavern again. Things weren't nearly as interesting as he would like, but what could he expect from village folk? Looking back to Marcuus he says, "Friend Marcuus go now?"

[Jongluer]

Marcuus nods to Krahl and says, "Yes, let us depart this village for now and return to the others."

[Uthuk]

Martin

"A good idea, I'm right behind you guys."

Martin drains his tankard and follows Marcuus

[Geech000]

Krahl smiles, nods, and follows.

[Truwar]

Easy… easy I say. Don’t try ta suck the smoke in like that, ya aint a chimney missy, jist pull it inta yer mouth and kinda roll it aound fer a bit. It’s a bit like the wine lass, take it easy and ya got sumthin’ tae joy but take it too fast and I’ll be carryin’ ya to the outhouse again.

Leaning back against the tree, Butch blows a few rings of smoke and gives Ely a wink.

So, what are we gonna do, iffin we do find our little runaway and get her to her secret home? Seems ta me, iffin’ it’s a secret, they might not want us wanderin’ off from wherever it’s hidden and tellin’ other folks about it.

[Yawielas]

Ely frowns. "Perhaps she has to go the last mile or so alone...I don't know. But I do know that noone's gonna keep me someplace I don't wanna be ever again." She looks at the cigar again, with an accusing eye.

[amanodel]

Finally the party reunites ouside the town. The night passes uneventfully, and in the morning you wake up and ready to go.

[Uthuk]

Martin

Wakeing up and stretching his back alittle. With a yawn he starts packing up his gear, gettting ready for departure.

After the packaging is done, he moves to the dying fire and tries to rekindle it in hopes of makeing some hot breakfast. "Alright, a nice breakfast and then we're off to meet that woodsman?"

[Yawielas]

"Yes." Ely rises from where she was sitting, meditating, and starts gathering her things. "I hope he'll be able to follow those tracks he saw..."

[Geech000]

Krahl gets up and gets ready to go. He paces for a little while before sitting down by the fire.

[amanodel]

"A good merning fer ye. Let'sh find the friend of yoursh, shan't we?" - greets you the woodsman.

He leads you to the place where he found Jisika's tracks in the muddy ground. ALong the way he collect foxes and other animals from his traps he put out for the night.

"Ye owe me a fat hare." - Says the man suddenly when he checkes his next trap. Seeing your questioning faces he shows you the trap. It's bloody and a leg of a rabbit is still there, but the rest is missing.

"Hare wash cut by a dagger. Yer friend musht have been real hungry." - exlpains Berjuel.

He leads you for a long distance, it's already past midday when he sees something in the distance and starts to run.

When you get there you see a dozen people slain and lying on the ground.

"I don't reckognize theshe people, musht be travellers. But yer frinedsh footprints are jusht here."

His faqce turns dark, and continues in an angry manner.

"I don't know what kind of drow yer frien ish, and I don't even want to know. But I'm shure the dorw caused thish bath of blood here. I'm leaving. Keep that hare, I don't wannabe involved."

He leaves hurriedly, and there's no chance to stop him.

(OOC: I'm going to be away from wednesday 'till sunday, attending, and playing in a summer music festival. Solve the mystery of the slain people or just do nothing while I'm away. Sorry for disappearing for nearly a week. :( )

[Geech000]

Krahl watches the woodsman run and curls his lip back in disgust. He mutters the word 'Coward' in Feher and walks towards the bodies. Just like city folk to run at the sight of a little blood.

He does a general search of the bodies, looking at what weapons and armor they had, if any, and what kind of wounds they might have. He'll also note what species the dead people are. If need be he'll turn them over with the end of his axe to get a good look at their faces.

((Search Check (1d20-1=11)
Enjoy yourself at the festival. We'll be here when you get back.))

[amanodel]

The dead men have nondescript Highplainer clothes, and the species of them tells you the same thing. There are humans, a few orcs and gnomes, a golbin and an elf. The elf looks like he was the wealthiest man in the group.

There are some crude short swords, clubs and straightened schytes on the ground.

[Truwar]

I’ve seen our little runaway in a fight fer her life and she aint got the wherewithal ta’ do this all by her lonesome… Sure hope whatever did this aint on her trail…

Bending down, Butch runs a practiced eye over the bodies, trying to determine the true cause of death and helping himself to any valuables they no longer needed. ((Search +6, Sleight of hand to palm the valuables + 11 ;) ))

[Yawielas]

I don't think Jisika could have done this, either. Not alone, anyway...Are there any tracks leading away from this place? Perhaps these people attacked her and someone came to her rescue? Other drows perhaps? Maybe we're closing in..." Ely studies the ground and the bodies.

[Jongluer]

Marcuus is slightly taken aback by the scene, "I don't think Jisika would have been able to do this, it just makes no sense. This definitely looks more the work of bandits, and a group of them not just a single person."

[amanodel]

When Butch inspects the fallen men, it becomes clean that they died a natural death. Cause it's perfectly natural that someone dies from an great number of stabs, slices and crushing blows. The depth of the hits clearly says that they're not Jisika's work.

However, Butch's sharp eyes find two small stab wounds, which are probably from a little dagger. They are both placed on the lower body and going upwards.

The elf, who was probably the richest from these men, lies in the ground facing upwards with a fine bastard sword resting near his head, stucked into the ground almost horizontally. Butch, who seems to have both the eye and the stomach for this kind of work reckognizes that the majority of the men in the field have fallen from someting akin to the bastard sword. It look like this man suffered a great deal of shortsword stabbing before falling.

Butch also searches the bodies but he doesn't find a thing. One exeption is an orc who left a long trail of blood behind himself. He has some silvers and coppers in his purse, but nothing of high value. (4 sp and 3 cp.)

Ely seaches the ground nearby and finds some small footprints leading away from the massacre. There's a little blood stain on the grass every 10-15 feet.

[Yawielas]

"Over here! It must be Jisika's trail! She's hurt..." Ely waves the others over, pointing at the grass.

[Truwar]

Grunting in consternation at the sight of Jisika's apparent wounding, Butch draws two of his throwing knives.

We better get ah move on, whatever hurt our little runaway might still be tailin' her...

[Uthuk]

Martin

Martin has stood back and kept an eye out for any ambush or the like. At Elys announcement he steps forward, "I agree, we need to hurry. Whoever did this could easily spot our friend as well"

[Geech000]

Krahl bounds over to where Ely is and takes a quick look at the tracks. He then rushes off in the direction the tracks were heading.

[amanodel]

The tracks continue for a while, but it gets harder and harder to see, since the bleeding seems to stopped after a time.

[Yawielas]

Ely studies the ground, running here and there to figure out which way would be easier to go for a wounded drow.

[Uthuk]

Martin

Muttering, "Damn, we really need a tracker of some kind."

Martin tries to discern what general direction the fadeing tracks are leading.