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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cyronax" data-source="post: 206855" data-attributes="member: 822">The latest from your friendly neigborhood Ice Devil ~~As always, thanks for the kind words. I'll try to keep up my current pace of updates. Also, as always, I'd love getting posts from the readers, so please post if you like the stuff. Post if don't to, but it'll do you little good, seeing as this campaign took took place last year......baka baka,C.I.D.--------------------Session II (Part 3)Kelec, Gorbag, and Li Hai were nearly finished transferring what was left of the two guards’ corpses after Gorbag’s mighty cleave to a hiding place about ten feet off the trail, amid the concealment of the reeds. While they were doing that, Gareth was trying to patch up the two Clover Trading Company tabards that they had just removed from the dead men. The noble had realized that they had not taken any from the guards they had already defeated, and he was beginning to think that he might be able to use the tabards as some sort of disguise. The tabards were worn, bloodied, and heavily damaged thanks to Gorbag, but Gareth thought that he had enough to work with. After the bodies were disposed, Kelec bade the companions to help churn up the muddy ground so that the blood from the two guards wasn’t as noticeable. The dwarf seemed certain that this would help them go unnoticed for a bit longer.Once all of these precautions were taken, the party started forward again, with Kelec and Gorbag still at the front. The night drew on and only a little bit of the waxing moon’s light shone through the hazy air of the marsh. Even with his keen vision, Kelec’s pace slowed even more than before, as he carefully watched the trail for any sign or danger. Gareth and Li Hai, though handicapped in the dim moonlight, followed Kelec’s advice against the lighting of torches. The dwarf said that he could guide them safely forward, though Gareth put two torches on his belt with his flint and steel in case of emergencies.The dwarf’s vigilance paid off about a half an hour after they had started again. Just after they had crossed a shaky bridge on to a new island, the dwarf saw something jutting out of the mud several feet off the trail.After he pushed through a few reeds, Kelec saw a “gargoylish” statue half-buried in the mud. It had broken wings and sharp talons. The statue’s fanged mouth was hollow, and had a small bird’s nest built in its orifice. The nest held three small, green-blue eggs, which Kelec knew had come from an unnamed species of red-winged blackbirds that were common in the mountainous regions to the west. As the party gathered around the statue, Kelec inspected the statue and the muddy ground around it carefully, and after a few moments of consideration, started to push the mud away from the statue’s base all the while taking care not to disturb the bird’s nest. Kelec’s digging was slow, but the dwarf cursed off any offers for help, and even batted away Gorbag’s attempt to simply lift the statue out of the muck.After nearly ten minutes of work, Kelec found a small metal box, wrapped in velum lodged between the toes of the gargoyle statue. After inspecting it carefully and unwrapping the thick velum wrappings, Kelec opened the box and found two crystal vials filled with a bright blue translucent fluid. As soon as the dwarf saw the blue potions, he let out a triumphant shout, and told the companions that these were most likely healing potions. He said that he’d seen some before, and that they usually had a blue color. He was certain that they’d been placed under the statue fairly recently. The other companions were heartened by the find, and Kelec said that they’d have a much better chance to tackle the “Wise Master” now. Kelec placed the potions carefully in his belt pouch, and made sure to pad the pouch with some extra cloth.He then rewrapped the metal box in velum, and placed it back between the gargoyle’s toes. The druid then reburied the statue, and attempted to hide any sign of their passage. It took a few extra minutes, but no one complained. After Kelec’s valuable discovery, the party pushed on with greater determination, and decided to keep going through the night. They still lit no torches, content to follow the dwarven woodsmen’s lead.Over the course of next half hour or so, the party made steady progress. They only stopped once to investigate another strange object jutting out of the muddy earth. The object looked like a large lump of rusted and pitted metal. Rusted pins, each about two fingers thick, extended through the back of the object. After a quick investigation, only Gareth had any reasonable guesses as to what it was. The noble seemed to think that it was the head of an ancient battering ram, and he posited that it might have been used during the fighting that went on here during the days of Radeem the Mad. No one had any better ideas, and at Kelec’s urging, they continued onward.They hadn’t very far from the rusty battering ram, when they came to another bridge, which led on to a new island. They all crossed very carefully, and after only a hundred feet or so into this latest island, Gareth and Kelec were able to hear human voices somewhere up ahead.The party moved off the path and quietly plotted their next move. After a few minutes of whispered debate, it was agreed that Kelec would relinquish both healing potions, and give one to Li Hai and the other to Gareth. Kelec didn’t like it, but both men were adamant, and so the dwarf finally relented. He ended that part of the debate by cursing Gareth and saying that the noble would probably need both potions in the end.They argued a bit more about a battle plan for a foe they hadn’t even seen yet, and finally Li Hai offered to scout ahead and see what could be seen. Li Hai said that his lack of nightvision didn’t matter in this case, since he was betting that their foes were human, and thus would probably be using a light source of some kind anyway. After some resistance, mainly from Kelec, the party agreed that Li Hai would be the scout. Gorbag abstained as usual.The Halthyte pulled his muddy black cloak around him and camouflaged his face and hair with mud, readied his light crossbow, and then crept along the path ahead. After he had moved about thirty feet away from his companions, Li Hai reached into a secret pocket in his tunic and pulled out a small brown horny toad. Li Hai delicately rubbed the amphibian’s head with his thumb, and then placed it on his left shoulder. As he slinked forward, Li Hai was very quiet, the only sound he made, was a quiet warning to the toad, “Hold tight.”The toad said nothing.</blockquote>

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