E2: The Secret of Gemhold [Patlin Judging]

[Manzanita]

"Gorefoot, you know more than the rest of us where we are going, and you are also the best outdoors. Why don't you pick out trail? I wouldn't mind following the River Roars North. Rivers seems so pleasent, and we would be sure to find settlements. But perhaps it would add days to our trip."

Percy is quieter than usual as they travel. She will miss her creature comforts, but is enjoying the fresh air. It's much better than the tomb from whence they recently emerged.

 

[IcyCool]

Gorefoot nods and does his best to lead the party.

OOC: Knowledge[Geography] +7, Survival +2

 

[Erekose13]

Gorefoot does a bang up job leading the group north into the wilderness towards the forest that is still over the horizon. Towards the end of the first day off the road the dark line of trees is just visible. With fading light and an open plain for a good day more of riding/walking ahead of them the group can choose to press on into the evening or stop for the night. Things have been easy so far with little more than a few birds off in the distance, but they cleared the last farms a couple of hours prior and there is little shelter.

 

[Velmont]

Following the group, his nose in his book, Ridik see that the light start to dim, which make him hard to read, so he close it and put it in his saddlebag. "Would it be wise to make a camp soon?" He asks.

 

[SlagMortar]

Nars continues on, occassionally taking a sip from his flask to help ease his saddle soreness. He is visibly disturbed by the wide open sky. As bad as the tomb was, he found the fresh air of a nice sealed vault a pleasant change from all the wind up here on the surface. All the rocks, earth, and trees and not a single piece of construction for miles, well, that's just a bit boring. He keeps his complaining to a minimum though, out of respect for Percy.

 

[Dalamar]

Rodimus doesn't really care about the falling darkness, as it has traditionally been a friend of orckin. Neither is he opposed to sweating on for a couple of hours, though he suspects that those on horseback are too soft to hurt their mounts.

 

[Manzanita]

"Yes. Safete is more important than speed." Percy urges Gorefoot to find a place to camp. She is eager to eat and lay down. Others might suspect comfort ranks above speed as well.

"It could be dangerous. We'll need to set watches. Probably one at a time is fine. How 'bout Gorefoot, Nars, Rodimus, Nezrak, me, then Ridik."

 

[IcyCool]

OOC: Sorry about that, I've gotten very busy lately, so my posting is likely to drop to once every couple of days. Feel free to NPC Gorefoot in order to keep the action rolling along.

As the sky begins to darken, Gorefoot looks for a good place to camp. Upon finding a decent location and setting up camp, he'll take the watch that Percy assigns.

 

[Erekose13]

The first night in the wild open starts peacefully enough. Gorefoot finds as good a spot as any. It pretty empty out here in the open so there is nothing for shelter in the tall grasses (well tall for him and Ridik anyways). Without even rolling hills to break the scenery and only the dark line of forest in the distance the best he can do is clear some of the grass away to make a clearing of sorts. With that done a small fire is built out of the grasses and what little wood the party may have been carrying. It is not a fire that will last into the night.

About half way through his watch, Gorefoot finds himself without fire. At least it won't attract attention... hopefully. The rest of his watch passes without incident. Waking Nars and then later Rodimus the time passes slowly for those on watch. A few night creatures can be heard off in the distance, owls, wolves, and the like but always quite far away. Sometime during Rodimus' watch a southerly wind picks up a bit and a few clouds begin to obscure the open sky above.

Nezrak is revived from his trance just as the moon begins its descent into the horizon. Things remain very dark through his watch with little star light and no fire. By the end of his watch the clouds have obscured even the stars blanketing the area in darkness akin to the tomb of Toth Nekamek. With his elven sight, Nezrak can see a little, but not much. He is able to avoid the slumbering bodies of his companions as he moves over to wake Percy.

As Percy wakes to a pitch black night the wind shifts, a gust blowing at them from the north all of a sudden. With the wind comes a strange scent, something a kin to bad breath (and it isn't Nezrak).

 

[Manzanita]

OOC: Presumably, each watch is over an hour, so Nezrak has had a chance to trance for four hours. This means he just has to rest another four, right, but not 'sleep'?

IC: Percy doesn't like being so exposed, and its being so dark. But creating a light would only make them stand out more, and wouldn't help her see anything that wasn't already very close. She nervously glances at her comrades, wondering if she should awaken them.

Her crossbow is already loaded and she handles it nervously. It's never done her much good anyway. She pokes Fridley with her finger. "You're night hunter. What is that gross smell? Why don't you go check it out?" she emotes to her familiar. She moves to Nezrak. "What is that smell?"