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Message: <blockquote data-quote="alsih2o" data-source="post: 810635" data-attributes="member: 4790">It takes less than an hour of walking to feel completely lost in the plains. As soon as the last 3 trees at the last outpost disappeared on the horizon it was almost impossible to tell if they were making any progress.  All the tales of lost souls circling in on themselves till they starved began to make sense. Balcla rises in the north on waning days and south for the waxing, confuse yourself about which day it is and you could wander through his land for years without direction.     As the incredible monotony started to set in Tavania, who had been walking 50 steps ahead of the party disappeared into the grass. The party stood frozen, unsure of how to react. As they began to gather themselves they could make out her squatted form moving through the grass, barely disturbing its natural rhythms in the wind as she moved.    “Down, down, get down….Shokta raiders!” she urged them thru clenched teeth.    Rinney dragged Ichiopa onto her side and Kolindra silently ordered Ryssa, her loyal wolf, to lie down. They poked their heads as high as they dared to catch a glimpse, curiosity posing as bravery.     The 40 men and their terrible black bison mounts sinewed south in single file. None of them made the effort to look at the horizon, but Tavania knew form her grandparents and parents that little if anything would escape their notice. What the bronzed men did not immediately spot with their sharp eyes the hulking bison would smell before it approached close enough to threaten them.     Tavania felt a surge of blood to her face, her rage toward her sworn nemesis battling with awe of their abilities and might. She kept the party on its bellies and knees for nearly half an hour, just to be sure they had passed. When they felt brave enough to look back to their path they finally noticed the thin column of white smoke ahead of them.    Moving as quietly as possible they approached the source, a blackened area of earth some 45 feet wide. Small flames were still licking at the edges of the circle. Within lay familiar bodies.    The men from Gurnst, who had looked so powerful just 2 days ago in the cavernous rooms of the Shields palace, were sprawled at odd angles on the blackened earth. The blunt weapons used to pummel them until their end had left little to identify them from but their shoddy clothes and their heroes’ necklaces. Finn wondered why someone would go to all the trouble of killing them without taking their valuables.     Rinney spoke first. “We should collect their necklaces, someone will want them back home, and someone may be comforted by at least knowing what happened to them”     The party collected their necklaces, noticing that the Shokta had stolen everything from the corpses that could possibly be useful. Thabyra slipped out of her shock and remembered her duties.      “We should start a pyre, leaving them here like this cannot be good.”    The party gathered the dry grasses and stacked the bodies, dumping oil over all of it and immolating the mass, conscious the whole while of how short the mission had been for these brave and strong men. The air still roiled with the heat of the grassfire as the party headed out along their path, quieter and more somber than before.     Camp came easy. Without choices on shelter levels or proximity to any kind of path the party simply threw themselves on the ground and waited for sleep. Coyotes could be heard calling in the far distance and occasionally Ichiopa would low.     As Balcla rose in the north and Thabyra prayed for his blessing the party gathered themselves under the cold dew. Ryssa shook herself awake and chased mice at the outskirts of camp as the various members discussed their possibilities.      Rinney began to explain “Well, there was a fellow back in Vaunth-on-the-Lake that urged me for a favor.” He produced a 2-gallon terra cotta jar form his pack. “He says if I can fill this with honey from giant bees he will reward us by filling it with gold and returning it”      “Honey?” responded Kolindra, revealing her suspicion   “Yeah, it seems odd to me too. But he said that back before the founding men had domesticated giant bees, and that a sauce made form their honey was a favorite of the royal line. He is expecting a lengthy visit from members of the Council and he wants to gain their favor by returning this rare delicacy to the palettes of the wealthy.”    Kolindra rolled her eyes over the standards of these ‘civilized’ people.   Tavania pointed definitively at a section of the horizon indistinguishable from any other. “Legend says that giant bees have a hive northwest of here, near the Blue Spring. It is just a children’s tale though, giant bees and curbles.”    “Curbles?” proffered Ry, in his stilted tone.   “Curbles, smelly, big, pig-bear-men. Matted hair and wild eyes, my mother used to tell us that they would eat children who wandered to far from home.” She chuckled.   “pig….bear….man” Ry shook his head and gripped his greatclub a little tighter.  Rinney said what everyone was thinking. “Well, we have been walking without seeing anything at all, we might as well keep going, there has to be something out here.”</blockquote>

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