Assault on Dire Wood

[Binder Fred]

Dorn laughs at Yann's teasing words. "I'll take all the help I can, being out of practice as I was!"

"Ah?" picked up the giant with some interest. "What have you been doing with yourself lately?"

And: "Hey Ydadoras!" Yann cried with a welcoming smile when he spotted the returning scout (and shadow maiden). "Were there orcs here before, or did they come with the trouble?" By his wide gestures, he meant the cambions when he said 'trouble'. "And they got no provisions, just snacks. Nothing for spending the night either. So..." he grinned, "Maybe they got a campsite nearby?"


OOC: Yann'll take the cloak if nobody else wants it, but he's well covered re defenses so probably best if somebody else does.

 

[Steve Gorak]

"Ah?" picked up the giant with some interest. "What have you been doing with yourself lately?"

"Being under the spell of a beautiful fey, and travelling!" Dorn says with a smirk. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you! I'll tell you more around a campfire, preferably with some ale, and more beautiful fey, although I'll settle for elf-ladies!" Dorn says laughing, forgetting temporarily the seriousness of the moment. He'll then get closer to Ydadoras and pays close attention to her response to Yann's comments.

 

[Skarsgard]

Looking at the knick-knacks and curios, Bumble picked up the longsword and hefted it two-handed. She waved it around over her head and laughed.
"Just kidding!"

"Honestly, nothing here is particularly useful to me. You all take your pick,"

 

[River Song]

"There are plenty of these," Ydadoras states, kicking one of the dead orcs for effect. "around here. Mostly they come from the mountains to the east to raid. They have the odd stronghold around the edge of the forest. These other ones I have not seen in the flesh before, I have only heard of them through our Loremasters."

Looking about the magic items, "Like little mother here, I have no interest in these apart from the fact I recognise the sword and ring. They belonged to Eionas Silverheart, an elvish Paladin who lead one of the forays into the forest." His expression takes on a mournful countenance, "I believe we know now that he is dead."

"Yann, you are right. There may be a camp nearby and these may have been a patrol." he gives a thin tight smile. "Though, if they were a patrol then we might be seeing more of these around. I saw no signs of a cache nearby but the trail does go south-west of here. So they may have an encampment." He looks up at the sky, gauging the time of day. "I am not sure how long we have till they are missed but the trail pretty much lead straight here."

 

[3SpdDragster]

OOC: You can all count short rest as done. Any final activities to tidy up? What do you want to do?

 

[Binder Fred]

"Ah, poor guy..." sympathized Yann upon hearing about Eionas. He clasped the elf's shoulder... "You want his blade, shadow lass?" He presented quiet Rikka with the grip of the elven longsword. "Seems sort of right for one of you two to have it..."

Once that's decided, Large Yann clapped his thighs as he got up: "Well? Should we go have a looksee at that camp, heroes?" He stretched massive shoulders, grinning: "Ha! It'll be fun to see how big and organized these guys are!"

A devil-orc base should definitively be something that's marked on their growing map!


OOC: Yann will take the cape and any unclaimed magic items for storage. If somebody wants to do something with the bodies, he'll help with that too.

 

[Skarsgard]

"I agree, they will miss their patrol at some stage. At the moment they know nothing of our presence, but that will change when these do not return."

Motioning to Ydadoras and Rikka, "Can you shadow the path with any certainty and get us there unobserved?"

 

[Steve Gorak]

Motioning to Ydadoras and Rikka, "Can you shadow the path with any certainty and get us there unobserved?"

Dorn takes a careful look at the facial features of one of the fallen orcs, and replies "I think I could also be of some help with that". Smiling, his human face and the rest of his body, including clothes, changes to that of the orc for a few seconds, before reverting back to his normal self.

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

We found her sword and ring ... now we need to find the body of the elven maiden.
They probably hold her body in their camp unless they fed her remains to vultures.
Kesem says from the top of his horse and scout the sky.

 

[3SpdDragster]

Ydadoras and Rikka lead the group south west, mirroring the path taken by the patrol but staying some one hundred feet from it. Every now and again they quickly dart out to the trail to confirm their bearings before leading the group on. The pace is cautious and the vegetation, though thick, is nowhere near as thick as it was near the edge of the forest.

OOC: Could I have perception checks please, highlight any special considerations for hearing, put them in the OOC thread if you could.

 

[pathfinderq1]

At Yann's offer of the longsword, Rikka simply shook her head and pointed to the lighter blade slung at her hip.

Once they were back on the trail, she kept moving even more than she had been before, and her hand stayed very close to the hilt of her sword. It seemed likely that the presence of the demonic creatures had her very much on edge...

 

[3SpdDragster]

Ydadoras and Rikka wove through the woods with practised ease, they worked in concert, covering each other as they made their respective bounds to cover. They both looked at each other as they caught the hint of smoke on the breeze and froze.

Bumble and Dorn saw the scouts stop suddenly ahead and moments later caught a whiff of smoke as well.

Somewhere ahead someone had lit a fire.

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

Hmmm ???
Is all you hear when Kesem raise his head from the brooch he examined along the way, his horse followed the others on "auto-rider"

 

[Binder Fred]

Meanwhile, Loud Yann had been taking advantage of Dorn's proximity to pass the time and (softly) continue their conversation of past events: "And after THAT little adventure, well we've been trying to get back to the Sea of Swords ever since! You'd think I could just let myself roll down to the shore or something, but - Ha! - even with the Kesem Raz helping me, there's somehow ALWAYS something to drag me back here! Look at last week: whole caravan, three wagons, me and the Careful Mage over there on easy guard duty: What could go wrong, ah?"

He grinned in anticipation of the telling: "Well barely out of Silverymoon and into the moors when BAM fire arrows start raining down: it's the dreaded Mahar Raiders come WAY south just for us! I can practically still smell the smoke!"

(Apparently unknown to him, a small, spectral squirrel has somehow climbed unto his broad shoulder and is gazing about, occasionally cleaning its cheeks and whiskers.)

 

[River Song]

"It might be worth while scouting out ahead," Ydadoras looks over at the other two scouts. "Maybe one of us though?"

 

[pathfinderq1]

Rikka nodded at Ydadoras' suggestion. She pulled her chalk and slate from her jacket and wrote quickly. "YOU OR ME. WE SPEAK ORCISH, AND MIGHT BE ABLE TO HEAR IF WHOEVER IS THERE SPEAKS IT. THE OTHERS SHOULD BE READY TO STRIKE- WE CANNOT WAIT LONG"

 

[Skarsgard]

Bumble nods and remembering Ydadoras' rage in relation to the orcs, thought that maybe Rikka might be a calmer choice.

"Good idea Rikka, maybe you can go have a look and Ydadoras and Dorn can keep an eye out around here?"

 

[Steve Gorak]

Dorn nods in agreement, and readies his bow as he scans the surroundings.

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

The sage knows nothing in battle or scouting so he just follow orders and waits for situations where he can help. Kesem stays in the back, readies himself for anything that might pop from behind the trees - all he need is someone to get close to him when he will use his greatest weapon - talking.

 

[River Song]

Ydadroas nods to Rikka.

"Stay safe!" he urges and joins Dorn in providing security in this Dire Wood.