Southern Comfort IC

[Linguz]

Dardiana plainly sees what happened the previous night between Grath and Bethlen. When Gregor attempts to wake the sleeping Delphi, she makes him go away and does it herself, trying to wake her up calmly instead of abruptly.

[Corsair420]

Marn wakes up, early in the morning, usually shortly after the birds and other animals wake up, hes been keeping an eye on things while studying his spell book and preparing his spells for the day

"No, I don't have any paper or ink, I didn't think I'd need it, but once we get to the next town i'll be sure to pick some up"

[AshesOfOld]

Thorwald jumps out of sleep with a loud snort, his jaw completely asleep and drooling slightly from hanging down against his chest all night.

He wipes the spit from his chin, and moves raggedly to the bushes to do his business.
A minute later he comes back with a big grin on his face.
"Ah, a good piss after a long day of slaughter. What else does a man need?"
He looks around, and notices both Grath's obvious staring and the girls lying close to eachother.
"Ah, well. There is that."

Thorwald prepares his spells, and subsequently heals the long wound he got the day before.
"Good as new. So, are we following the weird chicks with the necklace and the bird fetish? They look like trouble, and boy do I like trouble." He flashes a flashing smile while opening his pack to get a ration.

[RaggedAngel]

Delphi wakes up like a cat, stretching with remarkable flexibility given how early it was. Her hair is only a bit rumpled, though she has a pink tint to her cheeks when she notices who she was curled up beside. If she's bothered, however, she says nothing, and indeed she seems to be in quite a good mood. She mentions something about looking for food before trundling off into the woods, a slight bounce in her step.

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Linguz, expect a PM about the evening. I meant to send it earlier, but it deserved a bit more attention.

Survival: (1d20+1)[8] (I'll put in ranks next level, I swear.)

[Marlowe]

Bethlen stirs, absently tweaks Kresta's nose to wake her, and pulls herself to her feet. She runs a hand through her black, damp hair to straighten some knots. "You're drooling, Tiger" she remarks to Grath, then looks at the sky, the clouds, and the veiled sun.

"Give us an hour to repack the cargo, and we will be bound for Trammelburgh, which we could make a little after noon. I'm not taking the Razor, overloaded as we are, and Ethandun's further still.

"If you ladies and gentlemen would be kind enough to accompany us, it may be to your benefit as regards supplies, disposal of recently acquired goods, and making yourselves known to those that might otherwise find you suspicious. And if you should decide to go and meet this blonde gentleman in red after, I'll be coming with you."

Delphi

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You trip and fall onto an oddly diurnal rabbit, accidentally but cleanly breaking its neck

[stanleyindraven]

"Well, I would rather take right for the menace, but I guess town is a good stop on the way," Horbin says as he stretches in the morning sun.

[AshesOfOld]

Thorwald packs his things in silence, letting the others make a decision. While he goes about his way he hums a happy tune and smiles his nice smile.

[u-b]

To Gregor, going Ajneguhs via Trammelburgh is the preferred plan since yesterday, so as long as the consensus is that way, he is not going to discuss the matter. He will prepare the dogs, the weapons, then, having some more time before departure, eat some dried partridge and practice tricks with the dogs.

[Linguz]

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Due to no message from Ragged in the morning, I will simply carry on. I'm still waiting for it, though.

Dardiana watches Delphi go off on her own, searching for food, and waves a goodbye. Once she was out of sight, she pulled herself up and stretched. She took the time while everyone else was getting ready to put on her studded leather armor (which she does remove before sleeping), but she does not eat a trail ration yet, as Delphi might be bringing all the food they would need. She replenishes her hand's invisible, intangible webbing (Spiderwalk) and packed up the rest of her items. "Beth, I can help repack the mules if you'd like it."

[mattie_p]

After Grath packs up his belongings, he eats a trail ration, then attempts to help whoever seems to need help. All of the extra belongings from the deceased he packs up on his rigged-up sled, ready to get dragged into the town.

[RaggedAngel]

Delphi trundles back into camp with a rabbit, which she quickly and cleanly skins and begins to roast over the hot coals of the previous night's fire. The rabbit isn't enough to feed everyone, of course, but she offers it to supplement everyone's less-than-appetizing trail rations. She gives Dardiana a few oddly bashful looks, but she otherwise acts quite normal. "So," she questions after a few bites of rabbit, "What exactly are we setting out to do? I was a bit distracted by the large and oddly articulate monster, even after the enormous batch of killing we all did."

[Marlowe]

Bethlen is craming a set of breastplates into an oddly spacious bag. She answers Dardania. "It would be appreciated. I don't enjoy heavy work. Most of the time." and actually darts a glance at Grath, the little witch.

"Anyone looking after the Half-Orc girl? We going to let her go, feed her, kill her, paint her pink and call her Molly? Any decisions? I would not have bothered to save her. Although it may come in useful that you did."

For her part, Kresta is snapping together a light crossbow with an oddly determined expression.

EDIT: Typed "Delphi" instead of "Dardiana"

[u-b]

(to half-orc) "Hey, you, big lucky girl! You are well advised to keep a low profile for some time before spreading your impressions about how clement or sadistic we are. Now get lost!"

[Marlowe]

Kresta dodges past Gregor, and throws a light crossbow and a stack of bolts at the half-orcs feet. "That might get you home. If you're careful. If you're not, I won't cry. Consider it a gift from the ginger bitch you should have fed to the watermonster" She raises her voice, "Bethlen! We're packed! Let's get moving! North-east, and hew close to the Stahlmund! Coming then, new friends?"

She seems to be recovering from the previous days ordeal rather quickly.

[stanleyindraven]

"Indeed it appears that we are," Horbin replies as he hefts his blade onto his shoulder again.

[Marlowe]

"If I ever see you again-" the Half-Orc begins. Then seems to notice how everyone is studiously pretending not to pay her any attention. While holding weapons. And turns toward the stream without finishing.

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Because there's a slight awkwardness here in that her logical way home parallels your route this morning, so I'm just going to have her swim the stream out of sheer perversity. Vaelva won't be moving for a couple of months at least.

There's a jingle of harness and creaking of leather as Bethlen and Kresta get the mules moving, heading north (and indeed, for the observant, slightly east), parallel to Vaelva's stream.

((Order of march would be appreciated. Kresta is leading the lead mule, with Bethlen leading Spike behind the second))

[Linguz]

Dardiana took the piece of rabbit, thanking her, and pulled out one of her own trail rations to begin eating. When Kresta spoke, Dardiana commented to whoever was nearest, "She recovers pretty quickly, huh?"

Dardiana stops the half-orc girl in her tracks, since she had been paying attention... nor does she hold any weapon, they're all sheathed. "If you ever see her again, I hope for your sake you don't do anything rash or the rest of your family might not be around for you to take care of." She steps to the side, allowing her to continue on her way.

Dardiana follows after the other two, taking a spot besides Delphi if she's in the middle of the pack somewhere (and not out scouting ahead or whatnot). If she is, she doesn't care who she's next to.

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Still waiting for news of the night's events, which is why my posting is slow (1-a-day).

Comment to:
1) Marn
2) Gregor
3) Thorwald
4) Grath
5) Delphi
6) Horbin
(1d6)[3]

[Corsair420]

as before I will be at the back with whoever is on rearguard so I can keep a wary eye on everyone... not that I don't trust them... It's just that I don't trust them. I will take out the leather bound book again and study it some more, see if I can determine anything more about it

Knowledge Arcana: (1d20+8)[17]

[stanleyindraven]

Horbin will fall in just behind the mules and pack animals.

[mattie_p]

Grath will move towards the front of the group today. As usual, he has his bow out for the time being, arrow nocked but not drawn, but is ready to drop it in favor of his axe should he feel the need.

[u-b]

Gregor rides in front, just as usual. Delphi can ride with him too. This being forest, smaller dogs see, hear and smell lots of interesting things around, so are usually somewhere in the woods, to the side(s) or catching up from behind. They will bark at any small game encountered.

[AshesOfOld]

Thorwald will walk near the back, but not the furthest behind, whistling a jaunty yet slightly disturbing tune, while picking imaginary pieces of matter off his morning star.

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Still waiting for news of the night's events, which is why my posting is slow (1-a-day).

Comment to:
1) Marn
2) Gregor
3) Thorwald
4) Grath
5) Delphi
6) Horbin
[roll0]

I'm sorry, I don't follow?

[Marlowe]

Marn Ortul:

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If this book is any kind of magic tome, you hate to imagine what it does. It seems to consist entirely of vignettes of a psychotic couple named "Beryl" and "Darien" engaging in cliched vaguely erotic roleplaying, quite often breaking character out of the absurdity of the premises, and occasionally resorting to violence.

There is a handwritten dedication on the inside of the front cover, written in oddly spiky Common. It reads "So you won't get bored and do something lacking Charisma: Love, Lotus". Followed by a slightly insane number of little crosses and circles..

About a mile to the north, Vaelva's stream broadens and swallows into a wide area of sparkling, clear water not more than a foot deep. The current is spread out and mild, the rocky bottom is clearly seen through the water, and large boulders break the surface in everywhere you look.

Kresta leads you straight in. The water is chill and tugs at your feet, but there's nothing stop progress. Those with long legs (or just high boots) can jump from rock to rock without getting their feet wet.

Bethlen mutters something about quaint, unspoiled scenery.

Kresta starts speaking abruptly. "This is a safe crossing. Above here, the stream and its valley have a spooky reputation. At least, father told me never to go higher.

"I've been this way a couple of times before. From the other direction. Father sometimes found it convenient to kick a caravan off from Trammelburgh. It is no city like Ethandun, but it is a cheap and easy place to muster goods from Jelenarch and the central provinces"

As you approach the eastern bank, you are conscious of a distant howling and baying from deep in the trees.

[u-b]

Gregor raises a hand (left one, with the shield, as the other is occupied by a lance, which, when traveling through relatively open space, is rested upon a stirrup and already pointing up in the sky), listens to the sounds for about half a minute and rides forward to investigate.

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Listen: (1d10+3)[11] (1d10+3)[8] (1d10+3)[11] (1d10+3)[7] (1d10+3)[13]
Then Knowledge (nature) (1d20+1)[4] and/or Survival (1d20+5)[9] to identify

upd: oh, yeah, I even got a 10...

[Linguz]

Dardiana calls out to Gregor, "Those your dogs or something we might need to worry about?"

[Marlowe]

Gregor

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Wolves. Coming closer. During the day. Funny sort of forest this is.

Everyone else:
The shallow water you're in counts as difficult terrain.

[u-b]

"Wolves... That's kind of unusual, so you better get ready. This side, I guess."

"Pride, come here, hush up! Follow me!"

If they are getting closer, Gregor will assume a position on wolves' side of the stream, not deep into the woods (200 feet from the stream would be enough), but he will do that some distance downwind (which might be either up or down along the stream), 200..800 feet, depending on how localized or wide these sounds are.

He is ok if party chooses far side.

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Handle animal: (1d20)[2]

upd: since it seems they are not getting it, will spend one daily use of Speak with Animals

[stanleyindraven]

"Well, unless they are lead by magic or men they shouldn't bother us at this time. Unless they are more than wolves," Horbin says as he tromps through the water.

[Linguz]

"Unless they're starved or these wolves hunt with daylight." She watched Gregor go off on his own and kept on going through the water.

[mattie_p]

Grath will cross the stream and take up a position on the other side, looking for the approaching wolves.