No Country for Ye Olde Men

[JeminiZero]

Jules

Upon hearing the ruckus in the tent, Jules opens the flap, reaches in, and pulls Iv out a bit. He then turns to the occupants and says, "My apologies for the gnomes past behaviour, but she is not here to take anything. We have just been ambushed by Frost Folk, and there may be others in the vicinity. Grab your weapons and prepare to defend yourselves."

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Diplomacy Roll if needed: (1d20-1)[5]

[TwoCents]

Iv and Imskelarsamthar

"It's YOU!" one occupant says.
"We've got nothing left to burn," says the other, "Unless you're here to take the clothes off our backs!"
"Which will be a lot harder than stealing our firewood," finishes the first, brandishing his handaxes. "You better get out of here."

Iv hangs onto her temper by the thinnest of margins. The urge to surrender to the blood lust pounds through her, but she resists, for the moment. The effort leaves her speechless long enough for

Upon hearing the ruckus in the tent, Jules opens the flap, reaches in, and pulls Iv out a bit. He then turns to the occupants and says, "My apologies for the gnomes past behaviour, but she is not here to take anything. We have just been ambushed by Frost Folk, and there may be others in the vicinity. Grab your weapons and prepare to defend yourselves."

Iv dodged away from Jules' restraining hand* and snarled at the tent occupants, "Yes, you puling childen hiding in your tents while others fought, have you had a nice nap? You, who will not join us around the fire but huddle in your loneliness cursing your misfortune, will you join us now? You will not join the fray when others call to arms, but you are quick to wave your weapons when one of your colleagues -- for I do not call you companion until you have earned that honor -- enters to ensure that you live. My sword is ready for all; I do not look to add the blood of a colleague but I will not stand by and be insulted. Come and join the others out among the bodies, unless you are too frightened, you <bastard child of kobolds>!" With a swirl of her robes, she stalked out of the tent toward where Bernard stood. Every one of her thirty-nine inches radiated the desire to rend something ... anything ... into itty-bitty bits.

As she walked up to Bernard, she muttered to herself in her native tongue:<whining babies 'you stole my firewood, wah' can't be bothered to gather with us waving dinky little handaxes 'ooh I'm so impressed with your studly steel' like I'm supposed to care if their feelings are hurt because they couldn't bother to do anything not even try to get along and this too-tall thinks he's such hot camel spit can't even be bothered to treat us with any decent respect who does he think he is glorified clerk with a wagon fetish. Auuggh! Sands around us, I need to kill something!>

Iv saluted the wagonmaster and spoke in a tense voice, "Odd, o great and aged leader, that we could hear the sounds of your battle but you were unable to hear ours. We have arrived now, with our foes dispatched and some wounded among us. The others in that tent," she added, pointing with her off hand, "are awake, but I know not of the rest of the camp. Have we determined that all the enemies are dead? Do you wish a patrol, O mighty general?" She stood, vibrating slightly with adrenaline, her sword at the guard position and her eyes flicking across the horizon looking for a foe.


*OOC: We could work out Attack rolls and opposed grapple checks, but I'm not really in the mood to provide THAT much comic relief.

[Agthorr]

Mikootaktoo, standing nearby to Bernard now, muses to no one in particular while studying the downed Frost Folk, "It be strange for the Frost Folk to be this far south. I wonder what brought them here and what did drive them to be attackin' us, 'specially when so badly outnumb'red." He shivers.

[Daryk]

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Just to make sure, we do have eight Frost Folk corpses, right? And were any of the tracks around that silver symbol, or where the hourglass was found?

Rane

Rane rejoined the group after his search of the perimeter. In answer to Mikootaktoo's question he offered, "The Frost Folk have raided my people before, so it's not that unusual actually."

[Agthorr]

Rane rejoined the group after his search of the perimeter. In answer to Mikootaktoo's question he offered, "The Frost Folk have raided my people before, so it's not that unusual actually."

Mik responds, "Aye, they be cruel and aggressive creatures to be sure, but raiding settlements in northern Ghostwood tain't the same as attacking a camp of mercenaries on the New North Road. That's a long way for them to be traveling from their icey homes, and on foot at that. Pert of me would like to follow der tracks and see what der is to be seeing. That be up to our captai-err-leader, though." Mik looks expectantly at Bernard.

[Sucrose]

Tel

Still cradling his head, Tel barely manages to still his tongue long enough for Bernard to notice the truth.

With a slight nod to his commanding officer, Tel wipes his blade off on one of the Frost folk corpses, then starts dragging the cadaver off toward the scene of the recruits' battle, using its hair as an impromptu handle.

He moves so casually, so thoughtlessly, that one almost doesn't notice that the corpse winds up being dragged over every last sharp rock between the battlefields.

[dual_wielder]

Astoral glances at the strange token, then looks around to see where if any of his companions had follow him. Seeing no one around, he cautiously reaches down and picks up the token. "This cannot be smart," he thought with a grimace. He turns it over in his hands, examining the intricate designs with interest.

[JeminiZero]

Jules

Jules follows Iv as she storms out of the tent and goes to see the commander. Along the way he spots Tel dragging the corpses into a pile.

"Hey Iv, I think we are supposed to pile the corpses together." he calls out as he gestures to the stack that Tel is building up.

Jules finds one of the Frost Folk killed by his team, loots it for anything of value or interest, and then drags it into the pile. Ahh... corpse looting, such is the life of Adventure. The storybooks make it look so easy, but to do a thorough job requires a bit of imagination. I wonder if he is hiding any gold in his boots, a pity they didn't cover this topic in Cleric College. Also, I hope I'm not getting any blood on these white robes.

[H Savvy]

Cog waits patiently until Bernard is no longer occupied in conversation with the others so that he might debrief.

"Commander, sir." Cog bows his head slightly. "We were engaged in conflict by three ambushing combatants. Two combatants were met in primarly melee encounters, hostiles wielded battle-axes, leading off with thrown javelins. One combatant possessed supernatural ability to discharge a projection of ice and cold.

Three injured, none seriously.

Permission to stand down and repair myself, sir?"

[lotofsnow]

At Iv's commands, the inhabitants of the tent (as well as those nearby) rouse themselves and head out, following the lead of those companions carrying out Bernard's orders.

Bernard shakes his head at Iv's questions. "I've go me men scouting out now. Just get these folk piled t'gether so's we can burn 'em."

"As to why they 'er 'ere," he says in response to Mik's musings, "Dat's a thing best figured by better brains dan I. Figured it'll be though, I can 'sure you."

The short man begins to walk over to inspect the growing pile of corpses. He rubs his hands together vigorously in the chill morning air. At Cog's question, he turns to the warforged, "Hm? Repair, you say? That sumthin' can be done in the wagon? Talk to Charles, "he indicates the last of the guards standig nearby, "maybe he can help you out. That goes for any of you who took injuries. Once we get these bodies alight, we'll be headin' on. No point in tryin' ta get some sleep now." He gestures east, toward the glowing pre-dawn.

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Astoral's exam reveals nothing else about the object. It is unfamiliar to him. It appears to be just a trinket. Perhaps someone dropped it, but it is well away from any of the actual fighting.

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A search of the frost folk you killed brings up surprisingly little. 3 sets of stinky leather armor. 2 crude javelins. 3 expertly made battle axes. Interestingly, you find about 40 small disks of wood, small enough to fit in a leather belt pouch at one of the frost folk's hip.

[ooc]Rane doesn't know about the silver token, so he doesn't know to search that area for tracks. However, three sets of tracks split off and circle around toward your tents, lead to the battle you had. The rest lead down to the wagons, coming maybe 30 feet from wear you found the hourglass.[/ooc]

[Daryk]

Rane

Piecing together the tracks and where the hourglass was found, Rane drew a conclusion he didn't like. Returning to the group, he said, "I think the Frost Folk had help. That hourglass was rather far from where their tracks lead. Something else must have placed it there."

[H Savvy]

"In the wagon? In such close quarters, repairs would be... difficult. I will seek your man to see if he might help. Thank you, sir." With another slight nod of his hod, Cog heads towards the guard Bernard pointed out.

"I have instructions to report to you for assistance in repairing the damage I sustained. Repair magics would be most useful, magic that repairs damaged tissue would be somewhat less so."

[JeminiZero]

Jules

Jules helps Tel with Corpse looting and disposal duty. Eventually, all the corpses are jumbled together in a bloody naked pile, and their former belongings are piled up in a neat corner.

Jules briefly sifts through the junk, trying to see if he could recognize any of the junk. Hmm... I wonder what these wooden discs are.

Spoiler

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Base Roll: (1d20)[9]
Add:
10 Knowledge Religion
8 Knowledge Arcane
8 Knowledge Dungeoneering
8 Knowledge Planes
8 Knowledge Nature

Also checking if there were any runes on any of the gear. If Jules doesn't recognize them, he'll show them to Tel, and then to Mik.

Rane

Piecing together the tracks and where the hourglass was found, Rane drew a conclusion he didn't like. Returning to the group, he said, "I think the Frost Folk had help. That hourglass was rather far from where their tracks lead. Something else must have placed it there."

Jules looks up from the junk pile and says, "Are you sure? Maybe they just threw it into place. Are there any tracks around the Hourglass to indicate who or what placed it there? "

[lotofsnow]

Charles looks Cog up and down. "Hmmm. Yesss. Mmmhmmm. Repairs? Hmmm. Let me see." Turning from the warforged, the young man begins rummaging through a wooden trunk. The sound of glass on glass can be heard as well as frequent "Hmmm"s and "Mmmhmm"s. Finally, Charles stands up and hands Cog two small vials. "Repairs in a bottle," he says with a wink. "I suppose you just drin... er, maybe you rub... er well..." He turns back to the trunk and begins rummaging through again. It takes several minutes for Cog to realize he's actually been dismissed and Charles seems to have forgotten he's even there.

[ooc]2 potions of cure light damage.[/ooc]
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Jules examines the wooden disks closely. He can't, in all his learning, think of anything quite like them.

[JeminiZero]

Jules

Jules scratches his head, as he ponders the significane of the Woden discs. Eventually, he gives up. He holds the bag of discs up and shouts, "Hey Guys! I found this bag of wooden chips. Any idea what its for?"

[Agthorr]

Mikootaktoo takes a peek at the wooden tokens, trying to recall if he has ever read of such a thing, or if he can deduce what purpose they might have served.

Knowledge roll: (1d20)[2] (see character sheet for modifiers)

[dual_wielder]

Astoral walks towards his companions, twirling the coin absentmindedly in his fingers all the while. When he arrives, he sniffs the air, then quickly backs a few steps away from the pile of corpses. He holds out the token and looks to the others.

Could any of you tell me what this is? I found it there in the grass by the tents.

[Agthorr]

Perplexed by the wooden tokens, Mik decides to take a different approach. He waves his hand carefully while invoking arcane words of power (Detect Magic) and studies both the tokens and the coin carefully. He also glances casually around the encampment on the off chance anything magical escaped notice or or made its way into the pile of burning corpses.

Knowledge roll for the coin: (1d20)[2] (see character sheet in sig for modifiers)

[Sucrose]

Tel

Pausing his morbid work for a moment, Tel looks over at what Astoral is talking about.
"Er, money? Probably foreign."

Thinking a bit harder, Tel gets back to his assigned task.

Knowledge roll - (1d20+2)[11]

((OOC: Knowledge check is 5 higher if it pertains to Bartleby Grand.))

[TwoCents]

Iv and Imskelarsamthar

"Right. Clean up. Got it," Iv said tersely, still clinging to her temper. She carefully cleansed her sword and checked it for damage before sheathing it. Next, she checked to make sure Imske was just sleeping. After a few minutes of quiet conversation, she carefully replaced her familiar back in her bag and stood up. As usual, the time with her familiar calmed her.

Drawing her kukri, she went over to the others and helped strip the bodies. She cut off any hair the creatures had, searching for hidden tatoos, and split open any suspicious bulges in the stinking armor before turning to study the battle axes. "Tell me, my friends, those of you who know of these frozen creatures of rude awakening, are they often fond of magical traps? Does it not strike you also as odd that these creatures garbed in filthy armor should have such well crafted axes? I know not of axes, but can we determine by close examination who might have made such weapons?"

Iv looked closely at the wooden disks and the silver coin when offered, to see if she recognized the symbols.

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No real knowledge skills, but she can read gnomish and has that whole desert thing going...

Iv usually spent her pre dawn hours in contemplation, feeling the bubbling power of her sorcery wash through her in preparation for the day. She felt empty now, her mind searching for the familiar power.

Once we get these bodies alight, we'll be headin' on. No point in tryin' ta get some sleep now." [Bernard] gestures east, toward the glowing pre-dawn.

"Far be it for me to contradict such an old and wise person as yourself, O great leader of men, but I and perhaps others among our hardy band of warriors need to spend some time in ritual preparations for the day else our abilities to destroy our enemies will be weakened. Unless there is some compelling reason to leave this place within the next hour which has escaped my all too fallible senses I humbly request, O brilliant and never to be questioned one, that I be allowed to prepare my spirit for the day ahead lest I find myself unable to use all the weapons in my arsenal." Iv waited, the very picture of polite, patient, obedience, for his response.

Bluff: (d20+7)[20]

[Daryk]

Rane

Rane looked over the disks and the coin to see if they looked familiar from his previous experience with Frost Folk.

[lotofsnow]

Huddling around the collected items, none in the party seems to be able to grasp their meaning. No magical aura provides a clue. However, the elf, with a quick glance, recognizes the wooden chips as money. Approximately 40 silver in Frost Folk currency. No great treasure, but a lifetime of wealth for such poor creatures. The silver token remains a mystery however, though Rane determines it is similar to Frost Folk relics his people have discovered.

Bernard looks down at the desert gnome. He spends a moment thinking over her words, trying to make sense of her rambling. Finally, he responds:

"Ya can 'prepare yer spirit' in the wagon."

[ooc]Not sure what you're bluffing here. Are you just trying to appear sweet and innocent? If that's the case, I don't think that'll get him to change his mind, though it does keep him from jumping down your throat for arguing with him again. Maybe a Diplomacy or Intimidate check would have more productive results.[/ooc]

Whistling to grab everyone's attention, Bernard commands: "C'mon. In the wagon. Leave the tents. You," he says, turning back to Iv, "since you're so good at startin' fires, why not set those corpses ta blaze?"

The other mercenaries begin collecting their things, many yawning mouths letting in the light of the sun as it crests over the horizon, begin heading toward the wagons. The sun reflects pink over the plain glazed white with a frost. It seems uncharacteristically cold for this time of year.

[JeminiZero]

Jules

When Bernard calls for them to leave, Jules looks up from the loot pile, and starts stuffing his items into his backpack. He yawns loudly and shivers at the unseasonal cold and says, "So, how should we divide the stuff? For the gear, the better trained amongst us might have use of the axes. I say we sell the rest and split the coin evenly. Anyone figured out what them wood chips are?"

[Agthorr]

Mikootaktoo

Mikootaktoo says, "Sounds fair to me". He helps pile the bodies, start the fire, and whatever else is required to prepare for the wagon journey.

[Daryk]

Rane

In response to Jules' question, Rane answered, "The wood chips are what the Frost Folk use for money. You might be able to trade them for some silver, but not with anyone I know. As far as the snake disk, I've never seen that exact symbol before, but the construction is similar to other Frost Folk relics. I have no interest in either."

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Rane will catch the rest of his trance in the wagon, and walk for a bit when he gets stiff from sitting on the hard benches.

[JeminiZero]

Jules

"Well then, we should split the wood chips evenly as well. For 40 chips and 8 of us, there should be 5 each." Jules pockets his 5 wood chips, loads everything else onto the wagons before hopping on himself.

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During the Wagon journey, Jules will rememorize his spells for the day.

[Sucrose]

Tel

"Eh, seems fair enough. Kinda doubt they'll do us any good, but ya never know, right?"

With that, Tel grabs five pieces for himself, puts the few things he has into the wagon, then sets to taking down his tent. If Iv's still working on the fire when he gets done, he starts to take hers down as well.

[Daryk]

Rane

Having answered the question asked, Rane headed for the wagon as ordered, ignoring both the tents and the "loot".

[Zyks]

Karthan

Once everything is loaded back into the wagons, Karthan jumps back into the wagon, with surprising grace for a person of his stature.

[H Savvy]

Cog

Cog looks down at the potions in his hands and at the man hunched over in front of him. Realizing that Charles was no longer paying attention to him, he said a quiet "Thank you" and took the potions with him.

Cog headed back to the tent he had shared with Tel, and put the potions in his pack. As he exited the small tent, he ran into Tel coming to break the tent down. The warforged dipped his head in a polite nod said "Greetings, Tel", and without another word began to assist his bunkmate with collapsing the tent.

He then takes up his pack and heads to the wagons.