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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Broccli_Head" data-source="post: 1797221" data-attributes="member: 105">The Serpent's Path, part IV Halifax halted and raised his hand, balling his fist to signal to the woodsman behind him to do the same. He had that gut feeling. The sneak fell prone to the ground and belly-crawled forward. After a few body-lengths through the forest detrius he came to a nearly, perfectly concealed game trail. In the mud created by the recent thaws, he saw the criss-crossing of many clawed feet. He shuffled back quickly. "Found a well-used, hidden trail. Definitely gargun," he hissed. They decided to part ways. The woodsman headed back towards the Senator and his entourage, while Halifax picked his way carefully back to the main trail, dodged across to the other side and began to look for Rhygar and the other woodsman... ** Earlier that day, the party had set out from Ochrynn. Beknyr, Halifax and two woodsmen sent along by the Hand of Ochrynn, the chief of the town's militia, had joined them. They made good time climbing into the mountains after passing Rhygar's gristly monument to the gargun fight two days earlier. Animals and insects had already consumed much of the piked orc heads, and it smelled something fierce in the muggy unseasonable warmth. But not nearly as bad as Ochrynn..., thought the legionare. In the mountains, based on Pelar's divined information, Markus had sent Halifax and Rhygar to scout ahead on either side of the trail. A woodsman went with each of them. The forethough paid off. ** Halifax heard a bird call, their pre-arranged signal and looked in the direction of the sound. The woodsman was motioning to him and then pointed towards his right. Hal saw Rhygar slowly creeping through the undergrowth, his falchion drawn. Then something broke from the trees and Rhygar cursed audibly and gave chase. At the same time Halifax heard a cry of pain and turned back to the woodsman. The man grabbed his side near his lower back. Halifax saw blood there, and behind him a hairy hyeka stood with a gore-covered mankar. Halifax bounded forward. ** Rhygar lept over fallen logs and ducked under tree limbs and with amazing rapidity closed on the fleeing gargun. He hacked at its legs once and tripped it up. It screamed horrifically as the barbarian stepped over it, but soon its bestial cries were silenced as the Kuboran lopped off its mangy head. Rhygar heard the sounds of fighting below him on the mountain. After several exchanges, the remaining gargun fell, not being able to stand against two, flanking foes. Rhygar made it in time to staunch the woodsman's bleeding and both he and Halifax carried the injured man as fast as possible to the trail. Already, Markus had pushed the column forward at a rapid pace to hopefully run past any ambush that lay ahead. Most of the elements kept going while some stopped to help the scouts get there hurt man mounted. Pelar looked back from the rear, making sure that all the pilgrims and soldiers had gone by. Senator Aeb's entourage exited the mountain pass and began to head down in elevation. No arrows came. They had avoided certain death. Markus grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. They camped at the base of the foothills and the next day marched on to Gwaeryn without incident. Game notes: A shorter post, but now I'm done and moving forward. Next time some new stuff...Honestly, I wanted to hurry the campaign along so instead of a massive gargun attack since seriously, the lair is less than a mile from the trail, I decided that Pelar's info and the scouting prevented the gargun scouts from getting reinforcements. And it would have made a quick ending to a promising campaign. Next time...Dark Days in Gwaeryn</blockquote>

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