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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 1246405" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #248] Search & Destroy[/PLAIN]"Vade, you are capable of moving quickly and silently as well, are you not?" Windstryder asked and Vade nodded, still grinning at the ranger's gaff. "Then let us after the encumbered bugmen and reconnoiter their escape.""Err...," Vade groaned. "I want to return to town. Splitting up is what got us in this mess in the first place. And I can't move as fast as you. I've got little legs!""If we catch them we can we can dispatch them," the elf coaxed. "If not we can at least see where they head after they crest the hill."Vade shook his head and looked at Morier, Feln and Ixin. "Windstryder is too injured," he told them. "I do not think she can do it in her current state.""Even in my current state, I'm twice the warrior you'll ever be, peck," Windstryder sneered."What did you call me, you snooty-" Vade started to retort and Feln stepped forward, waving his arms blindly."I swear, blind or not, if you two continue to bicker I will thump you both," he growled and Ixin nodded."Now is not the time for in-fighting," the mage added although she'd spent more than enough time amidst the back-stabbing ranks of the Dragon's Claw to know that once such conflicts surfaced within a group, ignoring them only allowed the hurt to fester. Still there were more pressing issues at present. "Ilea mentioned eggs. I think those eggs are likely more bug people about to hatch. And better to dispatch eggs than bug men.""Agreed," Morier said with a nod."Hold please," Feln insisted. "Let us take stock of our situation. I am blind, our party lead is lying in front of us badly wounded, our supplies are dreadfully low and... well damn it I think that is damn near enough!""Morier, I sure could use your sword arm and Ixin your magic but someone needs to stay here and guard the Lord Janissary, Feln, and the Holy One," Windstryder suggested. "With the Lord Janissary down until further healing, I suggest we catch those that are fleeing so they cannot report we have the girl. We need the element of surprise.""This might help," Morier said and produced a vial from his potion belt. He handed it to Windstryder. "It's a healing draught," the warrior told her.Windstryder poured it down Ledare's throat and the Janissary was soon back on her feet, although it was plain that from her body language that she was still in a great deal of pain. Vade rushed forward and wrapped his thin arms around her steel-plated thigh."Poor Kitten! Are you ok?" the halfling asked. "Oh dear! Ruze would never forgive me if I let something happen to his widow. I am going to be right here with you from now on!""Then it's agreed!" Windstryder said clapping a hand on first Ixin's and then Morier's shoulder. "The Lord Janissary, Feln and Vade will take Ilea back to Hillville Junction while we three follow the bug men.""This witchcraft can not last too long and I don't think we should split up the party. Can we wait until it has passed?" Feln implored. "If it is not gone in a short while then I will press on to the village."Windstryder shook her head despite the fact that Feln couldn't see her. "We'll have lost the element of surprise if we wait too long," she said. "I will send Anta back to the village if we get into trouble. Now, let's away." She broke off into a low, cautious jog up the hillside followed closely by Ixin with Morier bringing up the rear.Ledare watched them go and sighed. "I assume this was decided on while I was unconscious," she said. "But I maintain that it's a bad idea to divide our strength by splitting up.""We should join them in glorious battle against the forces of darkness," Ilea proudly intoned and once more hefted her stolen greatsword.Feln groaned and bared his teeth. "Is there something I am missing in you girl?" he asked angrily. "I hear the words of a fearsome warrior in the voice of an eight year old girl. If we are to follow you into battle please tell me what hidden power you possess?"Ilea puffed up her chest and glared fiercely at the blind martial artist. "I have the greatest power of all. The power to tell right from wrong and the courage to always choose right!""Enough with the looks, little girl," Vade scowled. "Whenever I looked at Mama that way, I would get the wooden spoon on my hiney. You are lucky she is not here, young lady."She harrumphed in response. "I think it is you who are lucky, kind sir," Ilea said with a frown. "I do not think your mother would be very pleased with the choices you are making this day.""And just what are you going to do when all those nasties are fighting us?" the halfling shot back. "I want to save Hillville Junction too... I am a hero after all! But I do have some common sense. As my Papa used to tell my Uncle Bob the Razorback, 'You's can't defend notin' when you's dead, fool!'." Ilea harrumphed again. "I don't want to end up like my Uncle Bob... He was high strung - died of a heart attack. He did not know how to relax.""Clearly, you did not inherit your uncle's zealous work ethic," Ilea said and Ledare interceded before the disagreement could escalate further."There are those who believe you have been sent for a great purpose in the fight against this evil," the Janissary told the girl. "We must use that advantage to the fullest power. A small girl with a sword is no threat to our enemies, no matter how determined you may be.""I can-" Ilea started to argue but Ledare cut her off."It is for the king to say how you will best be used as a force against the evil," the half-elf explained. "Perhaps you are to be a beacon of light in a world plummeting into shadow. Maybe it is your face that will give strength to a disheartened army. I don't know your path, but I do know that your life will not be senselessly lost in the woods if we have anything to do with it."Ilea harrumphed again and turned her eyes away from Ledare."Now you can come along willingly like a mature young lady, or Feln can sling you over his shoulder like a spoiled brat," the Janissary told her. "Your choice."The girl sighed and nodded sullenly at Ledare. "Okay," she said in a small voice."We had better hurry back to town," Vade whispered, tugging on Ledare's threadbare cloak. "I have to pee."The area around the bolt hole was quiet, and Windstryder took only a moment to spot the trail leading off into the woods to the west. She gave the hand signal to move up quietly which neither Morier nor Ixin recognized as such. They moved up quietly anyway, following on the ranger's heels to keep her within the range of their darkvision. After they'd gone a few hundred yards into the woods, Windstryder gestured for them to stop and take cover. They stopped and then began to ease forward to see what it was that the ranger had spotted.Ahead, the ground sloped up into a natural rocky hill. The wood thinned out into a clearing that was lit well by moonslight in which were three more of the creatures that Windstryder and Ledare had fought earlier. Two of them were laden down with pearly-white sacks that glistened wetly in the light from Great Celune. The third was unloading the sacks and handing them off to a small entourage of creatures that were the same general size and shape as the winged guards that they had all encountered before entering the caves. The difference between the two creature types being that these had no wings and scuttled about on four segmented legs with their opalescent burdens, moving to and from a hive-like structure built against the trunk of a gnarled oak tree on the far side of the clearing.Overseeing this activity was another creature of the same type as Braath the Lesser. It paced near where the egg sacks were being unloaded on overlong legs that bent the wrong way at the knee. A greatsword was strapped across its broad chitinous back.</blockquote>

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