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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeremy" data-source="post: 1374259" data-attributes="member: 4036">Ashabenford, Mistledale13th of Deepwinter in the Year of Wild Magic Despite the dwarf's head start, his short legs and wading through the snow allowed Titus to arrive first.  As he crunched his way through the snow, high stepping all the way, the sounds of battle became more distant then ceased.  With the only sound that of him and his companion rushing through the snow covered field Titus stopped dead and listened.  Crouching low he peered a little ways into the treeline but could not tell if anyone could see him exposed and in the open.  He hissed and everyone but Revan stopped. Revan calling upon his training stepped silently atop the snow barely even leaving a mark of his passing.  He slowly approached Titus and the two shared a look.  Pulling his hood back up the moon elf continued on and disappeared into the treeline. In the stillness the forest whispered to him and he quickly found the site of the battle.  From the tracks and the orientation short drow hand-crossbow bolts, it was an ambush.  Those that survived left little trace of their trail, but this was Revan's home and though he did not wear the patch, he was still a Ranger at heart and in training.  Little holes in the snow bore the red stains of hot blood leading away to the northeast after a moment he pieced together the place the first volley hit.  The tree above it had noticeably less snow in it's lower branches than it's fellows though there was nothing of interest underneath it.  Brushing aside the snow around the base he found the corpses of two elves taken by a pair of bolts each.  But the odd thing was, they were drow as well. Out in the farmer's field Revan's whistle reached the others and they headed into the trees as well.  They found the elf pulling a pair of black hand crossbow bolts out of a dead drow.  Titus headed over to the other uncovered body and after checking it for valuables found it hastily looted already, though it still wore the studded leather armor that had failed to protect him.  In a bizarre act Titus began unbuckling his belt.  Elayne turned away, her cheeks burning as Titus expressed his feelings for the dark elves. Revan straightened, storing the pair of bolts and noting the black clothes and silvery spider web pattern that adorned the drow.  He turned to explain what he had found but the words were lost in a fit of coughing.  Just then a wren called out twice and Revan stood bolt upright.  "We leave," a hacking cough shook his upper body,  "Now." When the call came again, Revan had already burst from the trees back into the field and did not slow.  Titus and Elayne were not far behind and a confused Galdur struggled to keep up as the company hurried back to the Moonsea Ride. *** "Oi.  Elf.  What's wit the takin' off like that?" Galdur demanded once they had begun walking along the road again. "That kind of bird is in Tethyr at this time of year,"  Revan answered. "Bird?  What's a bird hafta do wit anything?" "Aw, c'mon Stumpy!  Even you can figure tha-*KLANG* Ow!" "Don' call m' Stumpy." Titus was grinning as Elayne explained, "In the stories people use bird calls as signals, the bird calls might have been about us.  Or maybe another battle was about to start.  But we have to get going, Galath's Roost is still a long way away." For some time Mistledale's outlying farms had been fending off midnight raids by the drow.  Small bands emerged from the woods from any which-way and killed or fired the livestock and foodstuffs of outlying farms only to disappear into thin air.  Chasing marauding drow over the fields and hedgerows of Mistledale had proved futile so far.  But of late something had changed, the drow normally raided on moonless or at least cloudy nights and always changed which direction they came from.  Of late the attacks came more and more from the east, and usually on clear, moonlit nights.  Even more strangely, at least some of the raiders appear to have been mounted lately. The rumor is that these raiders come from Galath's Roost which has long been whispered to be haunted by the ghost of the famed bandit leader.  Some folk even say it might be the ghosts of Galath and his band set to pillaging the countryside again.  But whatever the case, something was going on, and Elayne and the others were going to find out what. *** Later that night the company finally walked into the dwarven village of Glen.  At Elayne's urging for haste the party made it's way through town and stayed the night in the home of a nice family of farmers.  Titus payed handsomely for the quarter and Galdur even lended his aid birthing a calf.  In the morning, one of the farmhands saw them to the group to the fence and told them about an old trail that he and his brothers used to take when they played at being adventurers.  As far as he knew, it headed off to the Roost. Galdur scolded the large young man for his recklessness but as a whole the group thanked him for his help before heading into the woods on the last leg of their journey to Galath's Roost.</blockquote>

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