The Defenders of Highgate, Chapter 2

[WarBrute]

Sarrok Balderk

"Perhaps, I can't be sure" Sarrok said riding up beside Carter." In any case Nalik will want to see. If you can take back to the cave I can continue up the river to serch for any more items of intrest ."

[raspberrybadger]

Ziran Blueboots

Survival check (1d20=7)... Ziran says "Are we even sure what the trees we want look like?"

[dauphinous]

Carter & Sarrok

The leather looks like the torso part, and your best guess is that it was ripped off of a body, rather than being removed freely. The grass underneath it does look wilted and bleached, like it might have been here for at least a couple of days, probably more. The slashes in the leather all have the dark stains, but there are also little marks that could be from very small teeth that have no dark stains, and the armor is generally abraded a little. It would be a reasonable conclusion to suggest that once removed from its owner, it was dragged by some kind of animal to this spot. It could also have just blown here and been sampled by local fauna. Or any number of other things may have happened to it.

[Annalia]

Hertz

Hertz nods to Deladus and waits for the man to come up. He then points at where Carter and Sarrock went off trail, and where they disappeared from sight. "Our scouts left the trail they were using, I believe they found something. You should keep an eye on that area for sign of them."

He then climbs down and joins Nalik for the bed-repairing task, explaining what he gathered to him too. "I think Carter and Sarrock found something, they went off trail. They might be coming back soon."

[anIceFan]

Nalik

Nalik brightens up at the prospect of the scouts returning.

[lawful_evil]

Carter

Carter raises an eyebrow at Sarrok and says, "I'm sure he'll be interested, I just can't see how this is critical enough to leave you here alone. I'm sure it can wait a little so we can return together."

Carter nods back in the direction they were going and says, "Lets keep going a little further." Once walking, Carter stows the fragment in his backpack.

[ampcptlogic]

Elis

Having been apparently rendered momentarily stupid by recent events, Elis finds himself unable to make more than general observations about what's going on around him. He can differentiate between a tree and a bush, but that's all. He takes a deep breath, clears his mind, and tries again, looking for dead fall or burnable live wood. He decides not to worry about whether the tree will fight back before he actually finds a likely candidate.

{{I got a 21 this time.}}

[Velvet Elvis]

Kruhljak Wynde

Once inside the treeline, Kruhljak reins in Cinnamaon and proceeds at a slow walk, casting his gaze from spot to spot, from tree to tree.

"Well, I must admit this is hardly my area of expertise, so if you wish to avoid oaks, one of you will have to be the one to make the determination. Most look the same to me."

OOC

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Survival check: 1d20+0-> [6,0] = (6) - well, this ain't my bag, so I know little more than what a tree is. As for a knowledge (nature) check, I could only max a 10 untrained, which I suspect is likely not enough to matter.

[WarBrute]

Sarrok Balderk

Sarrok sniffed then and turned back to the path they were follwing. "I not completely useless Cater, but if it does your conscience good, please tag along." He turns Ulfgard around and heads back to the front

[ampcptlogic]

Elis

"I already tried picking out the oaks, and couldn't. Now, I'm just trying to find something that will serve us. If it's still alive, I'll make sure it's just a tree. If not, we can cut it down, or pick it up, as the case may be, with impunity."

[Velvet Elvis]

Kruhljak Wynde

Still looking about as Elis replies, Kruhljak's eyebrows shoot up in surprise at his mostly unhelpful reply.

"I must admit, I expected you to be more familiar with this task. In any event, I suspect that if we start hacking into anything we shouldn't be, we'll know soon enough."

He wheels Cinnamon and looks straight at Elis. "Alright, let's get this underway. Do you see any likely prospects from here? I see several saplings that appear suitable in terms of size, but I'll have to leave it to you to determine if it's not...whatever it is you..." He stops and sucks a tooth in something resembling confusion, and simply turns away.

"I see three candidates nearby, over there by the bushes with the triangular leaves." He raises a gloved hand and points toward a trio of saplings. "Let's go have a look and hopefully get started. We should be able to get several decent lengths out of those, alone. And there appear to be several more like them a bit farther down the line."

Clicking his tongue to get Cinnamon moving again, he heads toward the nearest prospects.

[ampcptlogic]

Elis

Elis notices the rapidly elevating eyebrows and reminds himself he's supposed to be keeping his big, currently useless mouth shut, especially around Kruhljak. He nods his acknowledgment and agreement.

He looks at the saplings through the trees. He leads the cart over to the trees. Once there, he stops and stands trying to determine what kind of trees they are. He draws another blank. Sighing heavily and wanting very much to curse his own mediocrities, he tries to reason it out another way. Dryads were creatures of legend, were they not? They should need full-grown trees, not little saplings. And the saplings didn't look oak-ish. He had never heard of an oak with triangular leaves. He grabs the axe, sets himself to do the cutting, and swings at the base of the sapling. He might not be the strongest person in the group, but if something went horribly wrong, he, the only one among them who could speak Sylvan, would be the one responsible.

{{Knowledge (Nature): (1d20+2)[6]}}

[dauphinous]

Carter & Sarrok

Continuing the trek upriver, the ground gradually changes over to being rocky and becomes steeper. If you continue this way, you will end up in the mountains. After another hour, you have traveled three more miles without seeing anything else out of place. You think you could reach where the mountains begin in earnest in another hour.

Elisathalan, Kruhljak, Ziran, Beregond

Nothing bad happens when Elis hacks into the trunk. After an hour of searching around and hacking away at tree trunks, both standing and not, you think you have enough for the proposed fence. The branches from those trunks that are not suitable for that task can also be collected for the smoke experiment.

Deladus, Hertz, Nalik, Oliana

Deladus is able to see two tiny figures in the distance come into view and, after a little bit, can determine that they are headed away from the camp aloing the river. An hour has passed, and Hertz and Nalik have made some good progress on another bed.

[Holocron Coder]

Deladus

Noting the presence of the figures along the river, Deladus takes a moment to ponder what to do. The men, or whatever they were, were heading away from the camp. However, they could still be a danger, or perhaps a source of information.

Deciding, with the recent effects, to err on the side of caution, Deladus climbs down the rock and peeks into the cave. Speaking to anyone he can find, he says, "Two people are near the river. They aren't heading here, but they are nearby."

[anIceFan]

Nalik

Responding to Deladus, Nalik leaves bed repair and heads outside.

Can you tell if it is Sarrok and Carter.

[Velvet Elvis]

With the wood stacked in cords and placed in the wagon, alongside a pile of strippings, the fences were one step closer to being built and put to use.

"Looks like we have enough for now. We can always return if we need to, so I suggest we head back. Are we all ready?"

[ampcptlogic]

Elis

"I'm ready," he says simply, taking Whiteboot's halter lead, and turning the animal around.

[oliana0]

Oliana

Yawing a bit, Oliana enjoys the peace and quiet which happens so seldom. She is somber, but her health is so improved from the day before it is hard for her to feel terrible. She takes the time, after finishing off some scrolls, to journalize the current whereabouts of the group. She tries to find if any scraps of her previous messages still remain, but fears they too were distroyed by the vermin.

[Holocron Coder]

Deladus

Deladus looks to Nalik and shakes his head. "Couldn't tell one way or the other. Too far away to really distinguish them. Again, it may not be anything, but I thought I should report it."

[WarBrute]

Sarrok Balder

Sarrok slid of his mount and pulled him over to the water. He pulled out a chunk of meat and tossed in to Ulfgard's mouth. He waits a few moments for Cater to reach his position.

"What do you think? I doubt Nalik would want us to travel over the moutian with out futher instruction." he splash some water on his hands and face. "But we might as well get to the feet of the moutian" He waits for Cater's respones.

[anIceFan]

Nalik

Thank you Deladus, we are currently under-manned to investigate. Unless, Oliana do you have any ability that allows you to see at a distance?

[Velvet Elvis]

Kruhljak Wynde

Assuming the silence of the others as a sign of agreement, Kruhljak nods and trots out ahead of the wagon, recreating the order set on the way out.

"Alright, then let's get on back. Eyes and ears alert. Never know if there are any log-stealing goblins about," he says with what tastes like sarcasm-laced humor.

[ampcptlogic]

Elis

Not breaking his silence, Elis nonetheless grins at Kruhljak's joke and draws a dagger with his free hand as if to say, "I'm ready for them."

[lawful_evil]

Carter

Looking to Sarrok, Carter says, "I agree. I don't think we should attempt to climb any mountains. The terrain requires too much attention and focus which would leave us vulnerable to ambush. I don't see any reason not o scout out to the base of the mountains though. So long as it is open and flat we might as well continue. If the terrain starts getting rocky or if our view is too restricted we should just head back. No reason to push our luck."

Looking up the slope towards the base of the mountains, Carter says, "Maybe another 1/2 hour or does your mount need a break?"

[WarBrute]

Sarrok Balderk

The gnome nods looking up into the moutians. "Let him eat his meat it won't be long. He pats Ulfgard on the head. When he has finshed Sarrok walks beside his dog insted of on top. He also has loaded his crossbow.

[dauphinous]

Carter & Sarrok

The ground slopes a little more upwards as you go, and becomes more rocky. The grasses give way to prickly shrubs and stunted trees. About twenty minutes after your brief halt, Sarrok spies more dyed leathers and some beige cloth caught in the shrubs about 15 feet away form the rive on your side of it. The scraps have numerous rips and dark stains.

The Lumberjack Quartet

The short trip back to the camp is made without incident.

Back at the camp

Just moving specks before, it is no longer possible to actually see Carter and Sarrok. They have clearly chosen some path other than returning to camp.

[WarBrute]

Sarrok Balderk

Sarrok stops and looks at the cloth. He poits with the crossbow Carter, look more leather. He walks slowly towards it. He begins untangling it when he reaches the brush. " It looks like just as damaged as the last one we found" He brings it back a places it in an empty saddle bag.

[dauphinous]

Carter & Sarrok

As Sarrok reaches to take the leather, he notices something white under another shrub, just a little farther away. There is also what seems to be the shredded shirt of a suit of chainmail stuck in the lowest branches of another shrub just a little beyond that.

[lawful_evil]

Carter

Looking around at the small scraps, Carter says, "There seem to be quite a bit of debris in this general area. Maybe we should bring the others back to do a more thorough search? Maybe Elis will be able to find a trail leading to or from this area."

Whilst looking around to memorize the area Carter says, "The cloth and leather scraps may have just blown here on the wind, but not that chainmail fragment. Something must have happened right here." Once the area is memorized, Carter says, "Okay, grab what you can and lets head back to camp."

[WarBrute]

Sarrok Balderk

He nods and grabs the chain mail along with the rest of the leather and cloth. Places the items in differt saddle bags tryikng his best not to unbalance Ulfgrad with the heavy chain.

"Yes lets head back with haste. What ever could have done this may still be near" As they head back Sarrok walks beside his dog and carries his crossbow.