Through Darkness, Light ("the plethora of prospective permutations")

[Macbeth]

Aelin arrives at the ambush scene, with Aoe, Maedril and Chenroeth still standing a good distance away. Kel is moving about the area, trying to make sense of the jumbled tracks.


The parchment is badly burned, but you can make out some words:

illega....
not ente.....
use forc...
surren....device....or....deat

Beyond that, it is almost totally unreadable, though there is a part of some writting in the lower right corner that might be a signature.

Kel's eyes narrow, as he finally finds what he was looking for [OOC: I gave a bonus for being specific about exactly what was being searched for]. There are two groups of tracks leaving the scene: One group, including the giant prints, moves directly along the road towards the city, while a smaller group, mostly made up of human prints, moves off along a side trail, leading deeper into the gnarled trees.

 

[Arador]

Maedril, Sibeccai Champion of Death 1

Maedril smoothly puts away his sword, and relaxes, somewhat. Seeing the scout's motions, he strides over to the battle site.

"Did you find anything?" He asks, scanning the woods for any sign of an ambush, an scanning the trees for any sign of magic use recently [OOC: Could a Knowledge:Arcana check apply here? Maedril has a +2 in that...].

[OOC: How is light for reading and what not? I was under the impression it is late night, but Sibeccai have Low Light Vision (not Darkvision...), how clearly can Maedril see? If it is rather dark, I pull out one of my Sun Rods, and suggest lighting it to the party.]

 

[Macbeth]

It is indeed night. The light here, just at the edge of the woods, is just barely bright enough for low-light vision. Deeper into the woods, however, the sunrod will come in handy (if you go that way).

 

[Macbeth]

There are no obvious signs of magic [OOC: and the Knowledge skill dosen't help mush, see the OOC thread], and even a thourough scan of the trees revelas nothing.

 

[Aernoeth]

Aernoeth Swiftblade level 1 Quickling Unfettered

Aernoeth pops out into the clearing with the broken sword. "Looks like one of the city guard's," he says, showing it to the others and pointing out the symbol. The Faen inspects the blade, trying to tell if the sword was broken recently, or perhaps a while ago and its presence there might just be coincidence.

He takes a look at the parchment, trying to guess out some of the words. "Illegal? Not enter? Use force? Surrender the device or face death?" Aernoeth muses.

"That signature might be the bandit leader .. and maybe that old woman lost more than her clothes." He grins. "Of course, maybe not. Who knows! Doesn't this fire strike you as not being part of the attack on the woman?" Aernoeth asks, turning to Aelin. "What do you think, Brains?"

 

[Erekose13]

Chenroeth, male litorian mage blade 1

Seeing Kelsis wave from down the trail, Chen steps out of his hiding spot and heads down the path leading the others to the ambush site. He keeps an eye on the surrounding forest watching for signs of the bandits, or for a good position that they might be able to set their own ambush. When he arrives at the sight of the battle he will wait quietly off towards the edge of the clearing until one of the scouts decides to speak. He maintains a vigilant watch while waiting.

 

[Arador]

Maedril, Sibeccai Champion of Death 1

"Well, I think we can assume this is not an encampment of city guards - why would they camp out when they were so close to the city itself? I'd hazard to guess that this was another campsite that the city guard broke up. That woman is more than she seemed." Maedril finishes.

 

[Macbeth]

"Well, I think we can assume this is not an encampment of city guards - why would they camp out when they were so close to the city itself? I'd hazard to guess that this was another campsite that the city guard broke up. That woman is more than she seemed." Maedril finishes.

[OOC: note: this is not nessecarily a camp ground, just the cite of the ambush.]

 

[dead_radish]

Aelin chuckles. "Brains, is it now?" He surveys the scene again. "I would think it likely that this is some sort of letter of Marque, or the like. Why it would be here, I am uncertain. I think that there may be more than we suspect occuring in this endeavor. The lady did inform us that there were things in her accoutrements that would be of import. But I think our path is undeterred at this point - little if any changes to our plan are warranted here, I think."

 

[Aernoeth]

Aernoeth Swiftblade level 1 Quickling Unfettered

"Accoutrements ... marque ... endeavours," Aernoeth says, always impressed with Aelin's vocabulary. "Regardless of the plethora of prospective permutations ... how's about we sneak up on those bandits? I figure they're deeper in the woods. Does look dark, though. They might be hard to find."