A Long Hasty Journey

[Black Plauge]

Io's dawn sees a group of 6 departing Bivio's star side gate. A group that must be in a hurry because once clear of the gate one of their number pushes to the front and sets a hard pace.

***

All gün the maenad sets a hard pace, alternating between running and walking the animals. He seems to know what he is doing, however, as none of the mounts, not even Meat, complain about the exertion until they've been traveling for a solid 10 saat. By the end, however, the horses are snorting with every breath and Skasa's riding dog is panting heavily.

Given the intensity that the maenad has been pushing the party to all gün, it wouldn't supprise any of them if he had decided to push on further, but once again, the maenad seems to know the limits of their mounts' endurance. Despite the fact that there are still several saat of daylight left, he calls a halt for the night. While the party sets up camp, the maenad spends time giving each animal a thurough rub down and sees to it that they are properly fed.

***

Five gün elapse like this, with each one pretty much the same as the last. The group passes a few caravans on the road, some headed to Bivio, some having left there before the party. The maenad never allows the party to stop for more than a few dakika each time, however, before pushing onwards. There would seem to be a ogre at his back, driving him home. Even when they pass through a town on the third gün the maenad hardly stops to retrieve a small purse of coins from the inn and purchase some supplemental feed for the animals.

Its on the evening of the fifth gün as the party is settling down to dinner that the monotony of the travel is broken. Most likely drawn by the smell of the food cooking on the fire, a large bear wanders out of the trees near the campsite.

[Vaniver]

Soltlak, exercising as normal, ceases to stare at the bear. He springs to an upright position, ready to attack the large, furry menace. It probably tastes good, too, he thinks.

[Aethyc]

Sara gets up from the fire, watching the bear carefully as she moves between the bear and the others. She slowly draws her sword and says in a low voice, "Should we scare it off or do we need the food?"

[Jop]

Skasa, who was close by looking for some various plants and herbs so to spice up his ration starts walking back slowly and calmly, straight for the bear. Upon hearing Sara, he whispers back:
"Hold on now, he maybe just passing through..."

[My Fellow Gamers]

Manweh'mato was close to Katonka spending some of his free time to try and teach his mount new commands. He was really focused on that task and is not happy about himself not to have seen the animal threat before the others. Manweh'mato stays with Katonka and does not move. He has seen his brother handle wild animals more ferocious than this curious bear.

[Jop]

Skasa continues to slowly approach the bear and tries to get close enough so that he can cast a Calm Animals spell to ensure this does not turn into a bloody mess for everyone...

[Black Plauge]

The bear hesitates as the party reacts to its presense by moving towards it. Sniffing the air, it turns its head slowly to take in each of the party members in turn and then looks over its shoulder to look back into the woods. Looking back at the party, the bear rears back on its hind legs...

At that same moment, however, Skasa finally finds himself close enough to the bear to cast his spell. As he chants a few words and makes a few hand motions, the bear looks at the diminutive halfling, its roar caught in its throat. Dropping back to all fours the bear looks at Skasa, tipping its head to one side in curiosity.

[My Fellow Gamers]

I wish I could do that sometimes. Scare the predators away and ease the hunt for game, would be a great teaching tool too for my kids someday.....

Manweh'mato stays silent during the bear episode and watches what his brother does, not worried but in case he needs help dealing with the bear.

[Reuban]

Siad sits tense by the fire, more acustome to people than wild animals. It appears the small halfling has things under control. He will watch the bear closely, and keep his hand on his sword ready to assist if needed. Somedays I hate the outdoors...

[Jop]

Knowing that the bear should be now docile and harmless, Skasa keeps walking up to it slowly while taking a ration out of his pouch. He will try and lead the animal away from the group by luring him with food...

[Vaniver]

Soltlak sees Skasa approaching the calm bear and slumps, his excitement faded. He slowly drops back down to the ground, doing push-ups, his scales gleaming in the sun.

[Black Plauge]

Based on its reaction to Skasa, food is clearly what the bear was after as it follows hima and takes and quickly devours the offered ration. It quite clear, however, that one ration will not be enough to sate the bear's appetite.

"I do hope that you don't plan on feeding this animal all our rations," Xue comments, "I can ill afford to feed every animal that wanders into our campsite. If you could please get the animal to leave us alone without forcing us to go hungry."

[Jop]

Skasa calmly walks up to the bear (still at a seemingly safe distance), tries to establish eye contact and then tries to slowly lure him away from the camp site.

[Black Plauge]

Making eye contact with the bear, Skasa tries to befriend the animal, making it more ameniable to being led away. The bear, however, proves to fairly intent on the food and sees Skasa exclusively as an impediment to reaching that food. Its only as Skasa's spell that rendered the animal docile expires that he's finally able to convince it that they need not be enemies. Said shift in attitude, however, proves not to be enough to deter the bear from its quest for easy food. Despite Skasa's efforts, the bear turns back towards the campfire and starts towards it, stopping to sniff the air as it approaches the other party members.

[OOC: Due to the duration and nature of calm animals, Skasa gets 4 attempts to change the bear's attitude before trying to lead it away from the campsite (each attempt takes 1 minute), so long the previous attempt resulted in no change in attitude for the bear. Wild Empathy 4+3+2 (circumstance bonus from feeding the bear)=9 against an unfriendly target. Bear's attitude remains unchanged. Wild Empathy 3+3=8 against an unfriendly target. Bear's attitude remains unchanged. Wild Empathy 10+3=13 against an unfriendly target. Bear's attitude remains unchanged. Wild Empathy 20+3=23 against an unfriendly target. Bear's attitude shifts to Indifferent. Calm Animals ends. Skasa attempts to lead the bear away from the campsite. Handle Animal 16+5=21 vs. DC 25. Fails.]

[Jop]

I don't want us to have to hurt you big guy... Or at least, I don't want to be a part of it if THEY do...

Skasa will attempt to cast Hold Animal, in the hopes of buying a little time to consult with the others on how they want to handle this threat.

"I can't seem to control him or get him away from here. But I don't think we should hurt it when all he wants is a little food..."

[Black Plauge]

In part translating for his brother, Manweh'mato turns to ask for guidance "Xue, what do you want us to do?"

In the mean time, however, the rest of the party makes ready for a confrontation, re-positioning themsleves and drawing weapons, while most of the mounts begin to snort and pull at their tie-downs, the bear's continued presense obviously unerving them.

"I don't know much about bear, but a horse can eat the equivalent weight of 3 or 4 days of rations for some one my size in one sitting if it is allowed to," Xue starts to reply as the bear struggles with the spell. With one great mental shove, Skasa can feel the bear break the spell, so he gets out another ration in hopes of buying more time to make a decision.

Unaware of the bear's struggle with the spell, Xue continues his answer, "Given the amounts I've seen you and your brother eat, I'd say that's closer to a whole hafta's worth of rations for one of you. If you want to avoid hurting it by just giving it food, we'll be going hungry before we reach the next town."

"I could drag him out of here." Soltlak suggests.

[Black Plauge]

Maneuvering for position, Soltlak and Sara move towards the bear, trying to leverage an advantage should it decide to attack. To the bear, however, this action threatens the food which it was just given. It reaches out to claw the ration pack underneath it and then stands over it, growling at Soltlak and Sara.

The continued presense of the bear clearly is agitating the mounts, as they continue to paw at the ground and pull at their teathers. The growl doesn't help much either.

"I will hunt for myself as soon as the food supplies start to get low. We do not need to kill this animal at all....." Manweh'mato replies to Xue as he ties up Katonka and then moves towards Meat.

Getting out another ration, Skasa moves away from the campsite in hopes of luring the bear with the ration once it finishes with the one it has currently. Realizing, however, that Soltlak and Sara's actions are making the bear feel threatened, he instructs them, "Ok... guys... back away from him now. He doesn't like others going for his food..." However, since he's using his native tongue, the only language he can effectively communicate that kind of message in, only Manweh'mato are able to understand him completely. All that makes sense to Soltlak is the word "food."

[Black Plauge]

"I'm really begining to hate the wilderness..." Siad mutters to no one in particular as he continues to hold his position between Xue and the bear.

A battle of wills ensues between the bear and Soltlak, each growling at the other. The bear, however, has the distinct advantage of being both bigger and louder. A fact which it takes full advantage of by rearing up on its hind legs and roaring at Soltlak. Faced with the sight, Soltlak can't help but shake a little in reaction.

"What'd you say about food? Are we eating him yet?" Soltlak asks Skasa, unfortunately he is unnerved enough by the bear's roaring that while those who are well able to speak Draconic are able to catch the drift of what he is saying, Sara and Skasa, who are not, only catch the words "food" and "eating."

Expressing what is probably becoming a universal sentiment, Sara asks, "What? I didnt understand that."

Meanwhile, Manweh'mato continues to go about his self-appointed task of collecting the mounts and moving them away from the bear.

[Black Plauge]

"What's going on?" Soltlak, asks, echoing Sara, as he stops his growling, not liking the comparison with the bear's roar.

As the mounts continue to paw at the ground in front of them and whinney in fear, Skasa tries simplifying what he wants the others to do and expressing it in a language they understand "Away... go..." While the grammer isn't quite right, his intent is clear enough and Sara and Soltlak respond by backing away, but not before the bear roar's agina at Soltlak.

Soltlak moves back, barely stopping himself from running. We could have taken it, he thinks, and quickly stops thinking that as it roars again.

Moving Meat away from the bear, Manweh'mato finds the horse suprisingly cooperative, given his reactions in tense situations before. Then again, he is leading Meat away from the bear.

[Black Plauge]

Trying to divert the bear's attention from the ration its currently eating turns out to be a fruitless task for Skasa, but at least none of his companions or the mounts do anything to further aggrivate it. If it is allowed to finish the ration it has, he reasons, he'll be able to divert its attention away then. The problem is that he's not sure if the two remaining rations he has on him are enough to satisfy the bear's hunger, or at the very least get it far enough away from the camp that it won't come back.

The momentary confusion finally cleared up, Xue squeezes in the question that's been on his mind for the past few seconds, "If you're willing to hunt to supplement our rations later, why are you adverse to killing this bear now?"

[Black Plauge]

"Because we might get hurt or the mounts injured in taking down that bear. Rabbits and smaller animals will not bite back when I shoot them with arrows.....this bear will fight and a fighting bear is an impressive animal. Trust me on this....." Manweh'mato replies as the next few moments pass by tensly; everyone seemingly on the anticipating something except for the bear, who calmly continues to eat the ration at his feet.

As he finishes the ration Skasa makes another effort to gain his attention, but it looks like the bear has forgotten all about him for the moment.

[Black Plauge]

"Could we just pack our bags and travel a little farther? Hopefully the bear will be distracted enough by that ration that he will not be able to follow us... or we can scare him away if he does, if you are so adverse to killing him," Sara suggests as the bear sniffs around for more rations and zeros in on the one that Skasa is tempting him with.

"Yes, let's move camp. Brother, leave another ration for him to chew on and we will be on our way...." Manweh'mato replies, forgetting for the moment that his brother's grasp of Draconic isn't nearly that strong.

Oblivious to the decision made in a language he only knows a few words in, Skasa starts to lead the bear away from the camp now that he has its attention.

In the meantime, the rest of the party starts to gather up their gear and put it back on the horses.

[Black Plauge]

After a few hasty dakikas of gathering gear and mounts, the party mounts up and leaves their campsite to the bear, who takes the opportunity to start sniffing around for anything that they might have left behind.

In short order, the party is well away from their former campsite and it becomes obvious that the bear isn't following.

"So, how far do we need to go to make sure that bear doesn't wander in on us again," Xue asks after a few minutes, "The horses are already tired from a full day's ride. We can't push on much further without hurting them."

[My Fellow Gamers]

" Just a fre dakikas will be enough, anything dry by now will be good enough."

OOC: it has been so long since this encounter started that i forgot who was supposed to take watch.....I can go first...

[Reuban]

"Boy, would I pay for an Inn right about now...."

[Black Plauge]

"Not tonight, you wouldn't. Reaching an inn tonight would probably kill your horse," Xue replies. "That's far to high a price to pay for an Inn."

[Reuban]

Siad mumbles, "I know, I'm just tired of wildlife at the moment..."

[Vaniver]

"But if the horse dies, we get to eat it, no? Sounds like a win-win situation to me."

[Reuban]

Siad looks mortified at the thought of eating a horse...

[My Fellow Gamers]

From his little stature, Manweh'mato looks very angry at the much bigger Lizardman.

" How can you say something like that? That horse carried one of us for 5 days and makes us travel faster. There are worst things than hunger Soltlak, death is one of them."

Manweh'mato stays silent after that for a long while, looking for a proper resting spot and lying down.

[Vaniver]

Soltlak shrugs and turns away, grumbling softly to himself, "Death is quick, hunger is long, painful, and boring..." He looks for a relatively rockless patch of land and sprawls down on top of it.

[Aethyc]

Sara suppresses a grin at the lizardman and halflings antics, and finds a spot on the ground to finish her dinner before getting ready for bed.

[My Fellow Gamers]

Mostly done with his anger after a short rest, Manweh'mato organizes watch orders for everyone taking for himself whatever nobody else wants.

During the evening we goes over to Soltalk and sits down next to him. He sighs heavily and then starts talking:

" I am from a culture that has a lot of respect for nature and all the beings of the plant and animal kingdoms. That is why I got mad before about your comment to eating the horse. To me, a horse or a mount in general is worth more than a small fortune in those damn metal coins. It is also worth much more than a meal or a feast. I would go hungry for days to prevent killing such a noble beast as Meat. Even that bear we met before deserved life for he did nothing to provoke me and was acting according to nature. He has to eat as well and he was just being curious. I will thank Obad-Hai tonight for having us have the chance to get away from him without a bloody battle that the bear would most likely have lost and paid with his life.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I take dearly to animals and I lost my temper and I am sorry."

Manweh'mato gets up and goes back to Katonka and tries to get him to finally perform that trick he has been trying to teach him for about a week now.

[Vaniver]

Soltlak, surprised by the little halfling's speech, pauses and muses on it. After a while, he walks over to Manweh'mato and sits down, their heads about level. "I accept your apology. I am from a culture that lives as a part of nature, rather than observing it. We were not, how do you say, stewards, but predators. Until I left the swamp, I had never seen a pet or cattle, and I still have trouble seeing them as more than meals one is not hungry enough to eat."
He stops, rehearsing something mentally before saying it slowly, "Compassion seems like waste to one used to fighting for survival."

[Aethyc]

Overhearing the conversation between Soltlak and Mahweh'mato, Sara walks over and sits down next to them. "I don't know about that, Soltlak. In one of the wars, our compassion for each other and even our enemy kept us from becoming just like them, and we were fighting for survival just the same. Maybe I'm not hearing this right, but having companions that you know and trust are much more important than simply trying to survive on your own. I know I don't have the same respect for life that Mah' has, and it impresses me that he is able to see solutions to problems that I hadn't thought of.
With that said, Sara lies down and looks at the stars overhead.

[My Fellow Gamers]

" Well again I apologize, Father was a good teacher and I am a good hunter, maybe I had an easier life than you Soltlak. In any case, I consider this resolved."

[Reuban]

Siad lays on his bedroll listening to the conversation around him. How interesting it is a group like this has come together. Life, survival, and a little bit of mercenary living all rolled into one.

[Vaniver]

Soltlak listens, nodding softly. It would be nice to not be alone... He finds another spot, a bit closer to the camp, then lies down, looking at the others for a moment before he closes his eyes.

[Black Plauge]

After a restful night without further incident, the party once again mounts up for a full gün's travel. As has become habit the morning is spent in some fairly hard riding as Xue tries to cover as much ground as possible while the mounts are still fresh. By lunch time, however, the pace is slowed to something more managable that the mounts don't find quite so stressful.

Shortly after lunch, the party comes upon a trade caravan headed in the other direction. A kobold in the lead wagon flags them down to ask about the travel conditions on the road, but Xue fields the questions himself and quickly. It's clear he's anxious to be on the way again, though not to the point of rudeness. As a result, the conversation lasts only a few minutes before the two groups part ways.

Around the campfire that night, Manweh'mato gets a few answers to some of the questions on his mind about his employer.

"My uncle is the lǐng dǎo rén of our clan. I'm sorry, I don't know how to proprely translate that. For him to leave in a time of crisis would spread panic amongst the peasents. As such, he designated me, his heir, to seek out the help we need to face our current crisis. However, given the nature of our problem, discussion of it with outsiders would bring shame on our clan. Only my uncle, as lǐng dǎo rén has the necessary authority to take that shame on the whole clan. For anyone else to do so would be a dé zuì. I believe you might call it a dishonorable act, but that does not even begin to do justice to what is meant by dé zuì.

Of course, to outsiders who do not understand this, the idea of travelling for many hafta before even finding out what they are being hired to do is very strange. That is why I had so few willing to accept what I was offering."

****

The next gün the party resumes travel until about mid-afternoon when they reach a small village.

"We will rest here for the night," Xue states as he stops them in front of the village's only inn. "I left money with this innkeeper on my way down and it is only right that we accept his lodgings as thanks for the service he has done me. To do otherwise would be insulting."

Inside, the common room is almost deserted, with only a few kobolds scattered here and there. It being only mid-afternoon, most of the village is probably out working the fields still. Over the door, a bell jingles to signal the entrace of the newcommers, and a few dakika later an old kobold hobbles out of a door which likely leads to the kitchen, given the smells that follow the old man into the room.

"Ah! Xue! You have returned, and I see you have found some individuals who are willing to help. I take it you'll be wanting rooms for the night and stabling for your horses?"

"Yes, Master Amato. Rooms and stabling would be nice. Some of your daughter's fine cooking would also be much appreciated after gün of nothing but dried meats and bitter herbs."

"Fine cooking? You'd have to be starving to consider Celia's cooking fine." Despite his words, the kobold's eyes clearly gleam with pride at the complement paid to his daughter. "Come! I'll get you your pouch and set you up in your rooms. There are still a few saat before dinner, but that'll give you plenty of time to freshen up after so long on the road. I'm sure our hot weather has been quite brutal for you, eh Xue?"

[My Fellow Gamers]

Manweh'mato excuses himself before supper and goes out of the common room taking with him all the clothes he wants to wash and only his boot dagger. He leaves all the rest of his belongings in his room that he will shared with at least Skasa and maybe others. Manweh'mato does not ask about the room separations.

He asks the master, the old Kobold, to feed Katonka with the very best of food and to charge him personnaly for it. Manweh'mato 's mind is changed about Xue. He understands about his clan's honor and he will be the best help he can be to his boss.

He then goes off to wash off his clothes and hopefully take a dip in a stream if he can find one. He returns on time for supper time.

[Reuban]

Siad will take a mid day nap in a real bed, relishing in the fact that he does not have to sleep outside, and the chance of a bear spoiling his night is low.

He will come down and join the group for supper time.

[Vaniver]

Soltlak tries in vain to find a chair that will comfortably fit him, so he leans against the door jamb, periodically shifting from watching the mess of kobolds outside to watching his employer and companions.

[Jop]

Skasa will stay just outside of the Inn and play with his dog until dinner time.

[Black Plauge]

The remainder of the afternoon passes with each of the party members engaged in their various activities. Only Manweh'mato encounters any difficulties as the area doesn't appear to contain any streams. It seems that the farmers have redirected the output of the local spring into their irrigation ditches and the water there is brown from the clay in the soil of the fields. He is, however, able to wash his clothes at the village's well where there is a rough stone trough set up for doing just that.

****

At supper time, the party gathers back at the inn, where the common room is considerably busier now with the villagers in from the fields. The fare is simple, yet filling. A kind of turnip stew with a sweet bread bowl the travelers would guess, though the spices are somewhat unfamiliar to them.

As they are working their way through dinner, Amato comes over and places a pouch on the table in front of Xue which jingles with the sound of coin.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give this too you earlier. I've never had trouble with the safe door like that. In the end my grandson had to force it open."

"No permanent harm done, I hope," Xue replies.

"No. My grandson is very talented. He was able to use magic to do it. We'll have the blacksmith inspect the safe before we use it again, but the opening shouldn't have damaged it."

Bowing, the old kobold leaves the party to the rest of their dinner and goes about tending to his other customers.

****

Room arangements are farily simple for the night. There are no large multi-person rooms as there were in Bivio, so the division is done based on size and gender. Sara, being the only woman, has her own room, while Soltlak and Siad share one. Skasa and Manweh'mato also share a room, though their's is built more to their size and its clear that their hosts, being roughly the same size as they are, are much better at making furnishings on this scale than the larger one that the humans and lizardfolk require. Xue gets his own room on the floor above the rest of the party.

****

"Shhh!!!" Manweh'mato hears as he comes awake in the middle of the night to the sound of voices in the middle of the night.

"He may be the only one rooming on the top floor, but his servants are on this one," the whispered voice continues.

"Sorry, I fogot. I certianly don't want to wake up that woman. Did you see the way she carried that sword?...." another replies, fading as its source makes its way further up the stairs and out of earshot.

[My Fellow Gamers]

Manweh'mato nudges Skasa in a attemt to wake him up. He grabs a dagger and goes to the door to listen.
((if he knows the door will make noise, he will not try to open it. If he thinks he can open it without being heard, he will open the door and go sneaky sneaky take closer look. Any info of the stairways/room/hallways dimensions would be helpful.))

[Jop]

If I can... Skasa will wake up, and follow his brothers lead.

[Black Plauge]

Thinking back to when they entered the room, Manweh'mato cannot remember the door squeaking, so it either opens silently or it was quiet enough as to be not noticable at the time.

As he recalls, the hallway is about 10 ft wide and the stairs are about 20 ft down the hall from his and Skasa's room, just past the next room. They have an open landing at the level of the hallway, which is proably where the voices he heard were coming from. Siad and Soltlak's room is two doors down in the other direction (about 45 ft away) and Sara's is across the hall from them.

[My Fellow Gamers]

Taking a decision quickly, Manweh'mato whispers as soft as he can for Skasa to go wake Sara first and to tell her to expect trouble. Next he should wake the other two. Withtout saying more about his own intentions, he opens the door and proceeds slowly and quietly towards the stairs with the intention of going towards the upper floor and Xue's room, dagger in hand.

[Black Plauge]

Heading towards the stairs, the voices that Manweh'mato heard earlier begin to drift towards his ears once more, at first only in snatches, but getting stronger as he gets closer to the stairs.

"....locked....key...."

"....slow....faster if I...."

"....too loud...last time."

"I've got some grease in my kit now. That should eliminate most of the rattle."


****

Heading down the hall towards Sara's room, Skasa stumbles ever so slightly and bumps into her door with an audible thud which when compared to the quietness of night sounds like firecracker to the halfling's ears.

****

Back at the stairs, Manweh'mato hears the voices go quiet just as he hears a thud behind him. Turning to look out of reflex, he can just make out Skasa righting himself at Sara's doorway. Turning his attention back to the sounds upstairs, he no longer hears any whispering, but did that mean that the intruders had heard Skasa, the timing between the occurance of the sound and the natural end of their conversation had been too close for him to be sure.

[My Fellow Gamers]

Gesturing with his finger pointing up, Manweh'mato hopes that Skasa understands he is going up the stairs. He then puts the same finger on his mouth in a sign to be quiet.

Almost not breathing to make less noise, Maweh'mato goes up the stairs, dagger in hand but hidden with his forearm as best as he can.

[Aethyc]

Upon hearing Skasa, Sara wakes up and moves towards her door, grabbing her sword and shield from their resting places before slowly turning the doorknob and peeking outside her room. Seeing Skasa, Sara utters in a low voice "What?" . She shakes her head, trying to clear it of sleep, and repeats, "What is it?"

(Fully reduced armor is worn, and sword/shield in off hand behind door)

[Jop]

Skasa answers in his best draconic... pointing to where Manweh' went.
"People. Talk. Danger here".

[Black Plauge]

Sneaking up the stairs on the two kobolds proves to be easy. They are not very professional as burglar's go and both are intent on the lock picking process even though only one is actually doing anything. As Manweh'mato climbs the stairs, he can clearly see their outlines in front of Xue's door once his head rises above the level of the landing (about 5 stairs before reaching it).

[My Fellow Gamers]

Taking his dagger out, Manweh'mato walks up to the same floor level as the two burglars. Ready to attack if they do not flee but mostly ready to defend himself, Manweh'mato says:
" For your own good, I think you should leave now and never see me again. I do not take well to people disturning my or my boss's sleep. Leave NOW! "

[Jop]

No awaiting Sara's reaction, Skasa goes to join his brother.

[Black Plauge]

While he might be interested in scaring the intruders off, Manweh'mato is blocking the only exit and that puts the two startled kobolds in a rather difficult position. Even if Manweh'mato were true to his implied word and let the kobolds leave, they'd have to pass him to leave, forcing them to consider, do they really trust a forgiener to just let them go?

Given the odds, however, the two kobolds don't consider the matter for very long. It's two against one, as far as they can see, and Manweh'mato is unarmored, having just woken up. Plus, if they can end this quickly, and quietly, they may still be able to pull off their planned heist. With a quick glance at each other, two daggers fly in Manweh'mato's direction almost as one.

[Black Plauge]

Deftly ducking the two flying daggers, Manweh'mato focuses on his opponents.

" SKASA ! HELP! " is Manweh'mato's first reaction to the attack then almost hissing he adds for his opponents: " I really would have let you go but now your scales will regret attacking me!"

Manweh'mato grips his dagger tightly in his hand and his brown eyes are shooting bolts of anger at these criminals. He quickly moves in to cut off their retreat from the stairs and attacks the neaerst foe. Deftly, his dagger flashes towards the kobold's stomach, who manages to suck it in just in time to avoid anything more serious than a pin prick.

With their chance at subtly ruined, there is only speed and escape left for the two kobolds. Each draws another dagger from their belt and uses it to attack Manweh'mato. The halfling, however, again deftly dodges their attacks as neither kobold seems especially adept with their chosen weapon.

[Black Plauge]

" Looks like a more even fight now hey, little scaly rat! " Manweh'mato exclaims as he thrusts with his dagger again. This time his opponent is just a hair too slow and the dagger traces a red slash across the kobold's upper arm.

Cringing in pain, it is doubtful that the kobold will be able to dodge another attack so he steps back and starts positioning his dagger to ward off blows, rather than make them. At the same time, he starts yelling at the top of his lungs, "HELP! MURDERERS! THIEVES! ASSASSINS!"

Skasa rushes towards where his brother is, and upon cresting the top of the stairs, sees the combat. Charging the closer of the foes with his longspear, Skasa nearly impales the kobold who just barely manages to shift to the side to avoid sprouting a spear mid-belly. Even so, he recieves a nasty gash across his side right below his ribs.

Clutching his dagger in a defensive manner, this kobold too steps away from the now fair fight and joins his voice to his companions.

Rushing up the stairs, Sara comes upon the scene as the kobolds begin their shouting match.

***

Below, the renewed sounds of shouting awaken Soltlak, and from the sounds of it, at least one other guest as well as Siad heres grumbling from the adjacent room.

[Black Plauge]

" If you want to live, drop your weapons NOW!" Manweh'mato demands of the kobolds, readying himself to attack if they don't complie.

"Brother? What are you saying?" Skasa asks, slightly confused by the language barrier.
Skasa mimics Manweh's actions by stepping forward and pointing his spear at the other Kobold, with a ready action to attack, only if his brother attacks first.

The kobolds, however, do complie, but only exactly so far as Manweh'mato demanded: they drop their weapons. At the same time, they also take another step back from the two menacing halflings and continue to shout for help and warnings about assassins and thieves.

Letting Manweh'mato take the lead since he was there first, Sara pauses to see how things develop. In the meantime, the whole group here's the familiar sound of Xue's voice coming from his room accompanied by the sounds of him moving towards his door, "What's going on out there? Who's disturbing my sleep?"

[Black Plauge]

Loud enough to be heard with all the shouting, Manweh'mato speaks clearly towards the door. " Xue, thieves tried to rob you. I heard them. Please get dressed and come out." [COLOR=cyan]" Skasa, get their weapons."

Clearing the space in front of the door, Manweh'mato keeps pace with the two kobolds. He never leaves them out of his sight. To the two kobolds: " Stop whining, you've been caught, you'll get what you deserve. "

"Caught!" the kobold replies, "You were the one trying to rob that room. We were just trying to defend my uncle's patrons. You're going to be in real trouble when my uncle gets here."

***

Below, Said and Soltlak both make their way out into the hallway where other patrons are also gathering. The shouting has stopped, and the various parties in the hallway are looking at each other, wondering what's going on.

[Black Plauge]

As Skasa gathers up the two daggers on the floor, Sara stands fairly impassively, keeping an eye on the two kobolds to make sure they don't try anything.

"Thieves? What's going on here?" Xue replies, having heard Manweh'mato whose voice was loud enough to project throug the door, but not the kobold. "Hold on a second, I'll be out in a dakika."

At the the sounds of some shuffling are heard from within Xue's room, and a couple of ikicini later the door opens and Xue appears, fully dressed. "Now, what's going on here?"

[My Fellow Gamers]

Dagger still drawn out, Manweh'mato turn to Xue: " These two thieves here wanted to break into your room. I heard them say it. Their talking woke me up. I came quickly to the upper level and saw them in the act of trying to pick your room's lock. I told them to forget it and to leave you alone but their answer was to throw daggers at me. They should be over there, near the stairs. I defended myself and told them to drop their weapons. They oinly did so after bieng outnumbered with Skasa and sara backing me up. They have not spoken one true word since I saw them. I admit freely to cutting them after the fact that they attacked me. "

[Black Plauge]

"LIAR!" the kobold who seems to be doing all the talking sputters out. "Err... Well, for part of that anyway. We were the ones that found you trying to rob this nice gentleman. You attacked us when we tried to stop you!"

[Jop]

Still pointing his spear at one of the Kobolds, Skasa says:
"Who's stealing what? They were trying to open your door! I saw them..."

[Black Plauge]

Looking back and forth between the kobolds and Manweh'mato, Xue clearly is unsure of the situation. On the one hand he has an employee with whom he has traveled now for several days and who has demonstrated proper behavior and respect. Indeed, one who has even gone above what one would expect in trying to minimize conflict.

On the other hand, he has a boy, a relative of a friend of his, who lived here and had little to gain through dishonesty.

Xue is broken from his thoughts, however, not by any decision, but by the actions of the other patrons in the inn. Coming up from the floor below, an elderly man demands to know what is going on, "What's all this racket? It's the middle of the night and most everyone is trying to sleep!"

"You are right," Xue replies, "I apologize on behalf of myself and my employees for waking you. We will take this downstairs so that you can get back to bed."

Pointing his finger, Xue indicates that Manweh'mato, Skasa, Sara, and the two kobolds should head down the stairs to the common room.

[Jop]

Skasa carefully goes around the two kobolds and pokes one in the back to motion them forward.

[My Fellow Gamers]

Manweh'mato trusting Xue's jugement, sheates his dagger and closes the march going downstairs. He tries to see where the two thrown daggers are and picks them up if he does indeed find them. He is trying to gather physical evidence to back up his word.

[Vaniver]

Soltlak walks next to Xue, glaring at the two kobolds.

[Black Plauge]

The "daggers" are not hard to find (they are actually little more than kitchen knifes which have been sharpened on the back side). One has fallen on the ground at the end of the hallway, having banged into the wall hilt first and Manweh'mato is able to retrieve this on easily. The other, however, struck the wall above the intermediate landing of the stairs point first, and as a result is stuck in the wall about 6 or 7 feet off the ground, putting it out of Manweh'mato's reach. So instead, he discretely asks Sara to grab it for him, who happily obliges.

As the group from the third floor, reaches the second, Soltlak sees them headed downstairs and falls in alongsize Xue, wondering what is going on.

Once the group is down in the common room, Xue instructs everyone to take a seat and stay put while he gets the proprietor.

[Jop]

Skasa doesn't sit. He keeps his spear pointed at one of the Kobolds (the one who spoke the most).
"Where's Xue going? Aren't they gonna punish these two?"

[My Fellow Gamers]

" I don't know but if he have to explain, I will need your help."

Manweh'mato sits down on the edge of his seat, unable to relax from the attack and what is going to happen next. He is unsure Xue totally believed him and that makes him very, very nervous. He wipes in hands on his pants, palms moist and uncomfortable.

[Black Plauge]

After a dakika or two, Xue returns with a very disgruntled looking Amato.

"What is the meaning of this, Scevola?" Amato demands of his nephew, "Xue tells me that you and Rodolfo were outside his room at this late hour, engaged in some kind of confrontation with his employees. Out with it, what were you doing!"

"Well, you see uncle," Scevola replies, "Earlier this evening we over heard these two halflings planning on stealing the purse you'd returned to Master Xue earlier. They said that they were growing tired of the journey back to Xue's homeland and wanted no more of his fool's mission. They wanted to steal the purse so that they wouldn't come out of this endevour empty handed. So Rodolfo and I decided to stake out Xue's room, and disrupt their plans."

Pointing at Manweh'mato, he continues, "When we interupted this one's attempt to pick the lock on Xue's door, he attacked us. We tried to defend ourselves, but he bested us easily and called for his friends to help him. Were it not for the noise we'd made which woke everyone else up, we could very well be dead right now."

Scevola tells a good tale. Were it not for the fact that they had lived through the events he was describing and thus knew he was lying outright, Manweh'mato, Skasa, and Sara might even be decieved.

[Jop]

Understanding what seems to be the important part of the little kobolds words, Skasa is partly confused and enranged. He steps in closer to him and almost pokes him with his spear, while looking at Manweh:
"I don't understand what he means? WE were stealing! What is he saying!"

[My Fellow Gamers]

" Stay cool brother. for Father warned us of such treachery."

Turning to face the owner and Xue , Manweh'maot simply answers: " Get anybody that can tell who is lying here right now and I will answer his questions without delay, this sack of horse dung is lying so bad that his teeth will fall off before new moon."

[Vaniver]

Soltlak looks at Scevola after Manweh's statement, cracking his knuckles ominously. "A liar? I know how to deal with liars."

[My Fellow Gamers]

" I also would like to challenge the fact that they heard me and my brother talking and that they even understood what we said. I will prove this part right now."

Turning to Skasa, Manweh'mato begins to talk, listing the names of all the animals in can think of, pretending to talk in sentences instead of a list. He stops after a while and asks the now hated Scevola to say what he said.

Manweh'mato also shows the daggers that were thrown at him and pleads the proprietor to go inspect for himself the physical evidence of the fight. He offers to recreate the events from his point of view to Xue and the owner. He figures simplicity, openess and truth will be evident in himself. He does not try to spin a tale like the lying nephew. For a second, Manweh'mato regrets having letting him live. When he realizes his train of thought, he tries to stop it and thinks once more of all the nasty things those damn precious coins of metal make everyone do.

[Jop]

"Yes Brother. But them pick lock. So, have they uh... lock pick? on them?"
Skasa says, talking both to his brother and to Xue, trying to give his side of this weird story...

[Black Plauge]

"That will not be necessary, Soltlak," Xue replies to the lizardman, quashing his tendancy to violence, "However, I do agree with Manweh'mato. A truthseeker will be able to determine this case quickly. Amato, is there anyone in town who can know the truth of a man by listening to him?"

"Fatto used to be able to, but he died two ays ago and none of his children seem to have inherited the talent," Amato replies, shaking his head.

Frowning, Xue and Amato's attention are next drawn to Manweh'mato's "demonstration" of how Scevola could not have understood any discussion between him and Skasa. To Xue and Amato, however, the demonstration is less than convincing. Neither can understand what Manweh'mato is saying when he speaks Deepling anyway, so as far as they know, he's speaking gibberish. Both of their faces clearly indicate that they are not further convinced by the demonstration.

"Why don't you just tell us what happened as you saw it, Manweh'mato" Xue says, "there is no need to call Scevola names or otherwise insult anybody. A simple recitation of the facts should suffice."

[My Fellow Gamers]

" That is a very good idea. Here is the truth. Back in my room on the second floor, I heard them saying that a person, I guessed they meant Xue, was alone on the top floor but to be quiet as we, his employees were on this floor. That completly woke me in an instant. I grabbed this dagger, woke my brother and headed upstairs to have a look for myself. On my way there, I heard them whispering to one another about adding grease to the locked door to make less noise. Both of them were in front of Xue's room at that moment, working on the lock. I told them to leave right now and that I would let them go. I did not wanted Xue disturbed you see, he has better things to think about than people trying to break into his room.

The did not take my offer to leave in peace. Both of them threw a dagger at me, the ones I showed to you before. That is when I screamed for help myself and defended myself before they could harm me. A bit after, my brother, Skasa and Sara joined in the fight to subdue them. Once they realized they were losing, they finally dropped their weapons like I told them to. These are the other two daggers that I showed to you. Then they started screaming very loud. Woke everyone up, I am sorry about that boss, I was merely trying to protect you and your sleep. Then we all came down here and here we are now. At least, search them for any lockpicks. I have nothing further to say. I will uphold local law and do as you tell me Xue. "

Manweh'mato has done a huge effort not to lose his cool as he was takling and did his best to keep names from his version. He has not moved an inch from his seat but his eyes were looking in turn at the two burglars, Xue and also at the proprietor, each in turn. So much repressed anger is in his eyes and anyone looking at his hands, sees two fists of white skin, so tightly Manweh'mato is holding them.

[Black Plauge]

"You are the one who attacked us first," Scevola interjects, "How else do you explain that we are the one's injured while you remain unscarred?" he finishes, pointing to his scratches to demonstrate his point.

[My Fellow Gamers]

I explain that because you are even a worse fighter than a thief!
Breathe, breathe, the truth will come out.

Manweh'mato does not react or move, even if his position is tense and he is boiling of anger inside. He does not want to act agressively to possibly prove their point of him being the agressor and instigator of the fight. He does his best to keep a blank face and to stay cool. Ignoring the taunt of Scevola, he looks at Xue, straight in his eyes, unblinking.

Father, I swear if I ever see this Scevola again, he will admit the truth trough all the broken teeth I will give him, this, I swear!

[Black Plauge]

Xue and Amato may not be sure who to believe, but they are not blind to the barely contained anger that Manweh'mato is holding in. His white knuckles, rigid position, and deadly stare make it apparent that they need to do something to defuse the situation.

"Scevola, Rudolfo. Go to my office and wait there until I come for you," Amato says in a tone that will broker no argument.

Trying to maintain a facade of confidence, Scevola leads the way, walking at a normal pace and not looking at any of the others. His show, however, is undermined by Rudolfo, who slinks behind him, casting fruitive glances at those remaining behind.

"Now," Xue says, once Scevola and Rudolfo are gone, "I want you to take some deep breaths, Manweh'mato, and calm yourself down. There will be no further fighting here tonight. Once you are calm you can try answering Scevola's latest accusation. Why is he injured, but not you?"

[My Fellow Gamers]

Closing his eyes, trying to gather some semblance of calm, Manweh'mato takes his time before answering, as slowly and neutrally as he can:

" Simply because I am better at dagger fights than he is. Believe me Xue, most people I know with my skill for it would have killed him right where he stood. I chose not too. You know I am not a violent person, I do not fight for the fun or the thrill of it. I fight when I have to, like I had to defend myself tonight. He is injured and not me because I surprised them in the act of picking the lock and they hastily attacked me first, clumsily while my attack was precise, trying to get them to surrender right from the start."

[Black Plauge]

"A dagger's blade makes a poor insentive to surrender," Amato objects.

"No, Manweh'mato speaks the truth," Xue replies, "He doesn't fight for fun or thrill. He and his brother even went so far a few gün ago as to make us move camp rather than harm a bear which had wandered in looking for food. Any fight he engaged in would have been forced upon him and would not have been to the death if he could help it."

"So my hot-headed nephew attacked first," responds Amato, "I can believe that, it would be just like him to act before thinking about the concequences. But he's also saying that Scevola and Rudolfo were trying to steal from you, Xue. Rash my nephew may be, but a thief?"

[My Fellow Gamers]

Finally, now that at least Xue believes him, Manweh'mato breathes a small sigh of relief and his shoulders relax down about half an inch. The white in his hands slowly goes away as well, tension diminishing. Once more, Manweh'mato tries to get Amato on his side.

" Sir Amato, he is not a thief as he never got that far, but he needs a strong hand to lead him back in the right way. His acts are not bad as he was stopped but his intentions were otherwise. I swear to Obad-Hai, he and his friend were quite busy trying to pick the lock. "

[Black Plauge]

"You malign my family by calling my nephew a thief and then deign to tell me how I should treat them?!?," Amato responds, clearly angered by what he precieves to be Manweh'mato's insolence.

"Get out of my sight. Get out of my inn!" Amato practically yells, clearly restraining himself from saying something that he would regret later.

[My Fellow Gamers]

Completely baffled by the reaction of the Innkeeper, Manweh'mato simply shrugs his shoulders, gets up, goes to his room, gathers his things in a pile, comes back down to the common room and sets the key on a table near the door. Manweh'mato doesn't say a word and looks quite resigned.

Looks like it's sleeping under the stars for being honest. Meh, I'll do me some good. I don't understand why he got so angry, I just want to be believed.....

Once out the door, he chuckles to himslef a bit. At least I made some daggers out of that whole mess!

[Vaniver]

Soltlak growls menacingly at the kobold who barely reaches his waist. "Don't yell at my friends." He then turns and follows Manweh, glancing behind him every now and then.

[Jop]

Skasa follows his brother upstairs, and when explained what happened, gladly leaves right behind Manweh.

[Aethyc]

Sara mutters to herself something about sleeping outside again. She then catches up to Manweh and pulls him to the side. "Even if the innkeeper doesnt believe you, you did a good job defending Xeu from those thieves. You've passed up too many better opportunities to do anything against him to try something here." Sara then heads back to her room to gather her belongings before giving her room key back to the innkeeper.

[Black Plauge]

Faced with a total walk-out in support of Manweh'mato, Xue and Amato are stunned to silence as the party heads back upstairs to gather their belongings. When they return downstairs, however, it's clear that they didn't stay that way for long.

For one, Amato is no longer in the common room.

For another, Xue is blocking the door glowering heavily.

"Sit down, all of you," Xue says darkly in a tone that will broker no argument. Once everyone is seated, he turns to Manweh'mato.

"Manweh'mato, I don't know how things are done on your side of the great sea, but here you do not tell a clan leader how to run his family. Especially when you're accusing a member of his family of wrong doing. If you expect to continue in my employ, and the employ of my clan, then I expect you to conduct yourself with honor and self restraint. Do I make myself clear?"

[My Fellow Gamers]

" Master Xue, tonight I have exhausted my self-restraint on these liars. I could barely stand still listening to their filthy tongues. I have kept my honor as best I could, I swear it on my Father. You, I will listen to. What do you want me to do? "

[Black Plauge]

"Then you will learn more self-restraint. I don't care if a native here is accusing you of destroying the Great Wheel itself, you will not tell clan heads how to manage their family!"

Taking a deep breath, Xue slowly breaths out as he pulls his own anger back under control.

"Let me put it to you this way, how would you feel if a city beggar started telling you what the proper way to hunt deer is?"

[My Fellow Gamers]

" I would probably offer to go hunting with him to learn what he talks about. My clan is a community, we share, help out. I can see the rest of the world is not the same. I will however better manage my anger next time. That I can do."

[Black Plauge]

"It's not a question of sharing or helping out," Xue replies, "It's a question of someone you precieve as being a total incompetant telling you what to do!"

Seeing that the cultural divide is obviously a lot wider than he thought, Xue takes a breath and steps back to address everyone.

"You are all forgieners here, and with the exception of Soltlak, ones which are very rarely seen in this land. As a result, no one expects you to know or understand their customs or practices and so when you make a social gaff out of ignorance, they won't hold it against you. That knife, however, cuts both ways. Since they don't expect you to know anything about their customs, they will not tolerate you telling them how they should live their lives. Before you can change their rules, you have to earn that right by living by them.

Now, Scevola and Rudolfo have been sent home and instructed not to come back here until we're gone in the morning. All of you will head back up to your rooms and turn in for the night. In the morning, you will head straight out to the stables to prepare your mounts for the days ride. You are not to take breakfast in the common room. I've aranged with Amato to have some bread and tea brought out to the stables for you, but he does not want to see any of you again unless it's your back as you leave.

Now get some sleep. Our journey continues tomorrow."

Walking past the party, Xue heads back upstairs to his room to follow his own advice.

[My Fellow Gamers]

I am keeping the daggers for sure now. I might have given them back but not anymore.

Looking around, unsure where everybody is standing with him, he just lowers his eyes and does as told.

Xue looked real mad. I did think I was doing the right thing. His nephew does need a strong hand.....I'll have to keep quiet and smooth things over with Xue the next few güns.

Manweh'mato grabs the key again from where he left it and heads upstairs. He does not unpack any of his things and sets them against the door once Skasa has joined him in the room.

" Brother, did you think I acted dishonorably? "

[Jop]

"From the parts I understood, I would have done the same. Father would be proud. You will have to teach me more of this tongue... I did not like not knowing what was going on!"

[My Fellow Gamers]

" Forgive me. I was so mad myself that I could barely stay sitting and not punch that little scaly liar. Father did say I had to control my temper but this was simply beyond me. It seems Xue is also mad at me for telling the plain truth. Apparently, advice is not welcome in strange lands when you are also a stranger. They had me explain my side of the whole mess and go over a few points like why were they injured and not I. I did not even need real weapons and armor to be a better fighter than the two thieves. I wonder if they had not been from his family if it would have turned out the same for them. Tell you what tough, next time I will bring a club to catch a thief. That way I can knock him out and dispose of them in a fair way. My justice would have been much better than Amato's. "

[Jop]

"Although I'm glad it turned out OK in the end... I would not have cared wether or not the two scoundrells got what they wanted or not. We might be employed, but I am in no way a security officer!"
And Skasa sets his bag down and gets ready to go back to sleep...

[My Fellow Gamers]

A bit offended Manweh'mato replies: " I did not want to fight them, I really did think they would flee when I caught them right in the act! Xue is decent, I would defend him against pretty much anything. So should you. "

He turns his back on his bed and tries to get some sleep.

[Black Plauge]

The remainder of the night is uneventful, other than the basic dreams that plauge the sleep of any scentient creature, and the crack of dawn sees the party carefully gathering their things and slipping out of the inn just as they had been told to do. Their bread and tea breakfast is not particularly satisfying, but it does satisfy their hunger before Xue joins them and they head out onto the road.

* * *

The next several gün are spent traveling in relative quiet. Initially Xue is obviously still upset over what happened and his stern silence has a cooling effect on most conversations. As they lay down the miles, however, his attitude slowly warms, and by the end of four güns things have returned to a fairly normal traveling routine.

The fifth gün, however, turns out to be far from ordinary. Sometime near mid-morning a crossbow bolt strikes Siad, grazing his left shoulder before falling to the ground on the right side of his horse.

[OOC: Siad takes 5 points of damage.]

[Black Plauge]

Wheeling her mount in the direction of the incoming bolt, Sara rides off the road searching vainly for some sign of the attacker.

Skasa, on the other hand, dismounts, leaving his mount in the open to fend for himself, and heads for the trees to take cover, and to close on the source of the shot.

Manweh'mato, the most experienced hunter of the group stays right where he is so as to concentrate all his effort on finding the source of the bolt. His diligance pays off, he notes a creature on the other side of the lake off to the left of the road. Even though he's only heard of them, he's able to identify the creature as a minotaur, though confusingly, this one seems to be missing their prominent horns. Despite that, the minotaur is going about the effort of reloading his crossbow.

Not wanting to get hit again, Siad quickly guides his mount off the road, into the trees away from the source of the bolt.

"Good idea," Xue notes as he follows, doing the same.

Knowing that Meat would be difficult to handle if a proper battle were to break out, Soltlak dismounts and looks for the source of the bolt. All he's able to make out, however is the figure on the far side of the lake. It's too well hidden in the tall lake grass for him to make out any details.

[Black Plauge]

Still moving in the direction the bolt comes from, Sara continues to look for the assailant with little luck. Wisely, however, she ducks into the trees as she moves, gaining some screening in case the assailaint fires again.

Skasa too moves under cover, though it takes considerably less of a tree to hide the small halfling.

Launching an arrow at the minotaur, Manweh'mato tries to dissuade him from further attacks. The distance, however, proves to be too great for the shot to land effectively and it skims harmlessly off the minotaurs armored shoulder.

From his position under the trees, Siad tries to locate their assailaint but is unable to do so.

His first target hidden under folliage, the minotaur switches to the most prominent of those left, Manweh'mato. His crossbow scores another hit, hitting Manweh'mato solidly on the arm, and though the bolt doesn't penetrate his armor thanks to his deft reactions, he will certianly have a bruise there in the morning. Then, realizing that he's been spoted, the Minotaur heads back into the trees behind him, hoping to duck from sight again. However, he is unable to get far enough into the folliage for all of the party to lose site of him, as Manweh'mato and Skasa can still make him out.

Soltlak, in the mean time, takes off after Sara, nearly catching her by skirting the very edge of the woods.

Disturbed from his grazing by the bolt which hit Manweh'mato, Meat raises his head and looks around, trying to determine if the sound was a sign of danger or not.

[Black Plauge]

Facing the choice between breaking out into the open to get closer and staying under cover as she moves around the lake in front of her, Sara chooses the safer route and weaves her horse through the trees. Soltlak, however, being a creature of the swamp, heads straight towards the water in order to go through it, rather than around. He's only able to reach the edge at this point, but even from there he can see that the water gets very deep very quickly. Indeed, the lake appears to be flooded canyon as the bottom drops away almost vertically.

Now able to see their assailant, Skasa attempts to slow him down, causing the brush around him to thicken and writhe as if alive. The minotaur, however, is quick on his feet and magages to avoid getting grabbed as he ducks and dodges his way through the magically enhanced brush. The wild movements that this requires, however, makes his position plain to almost all of the party. Only Siad, the furthest back, can't make out the frantically dancing minotaur. That doesn't stop him from drawing and loading his crossbow to help, however.

In the meantime, Manweh'mato closes the distance, between him and the minotaur in order to get off another shot, yelling as he does so, "He is where I am firing this arrow." However, the movement of the mount throws off his rythm and the arrow flies wide.

Satisfied that there is no immediate threat, Meat puts his head back down and goes back to grazing.

[Black Plauge]

Drawing her bow, Sara fires off a shot at the minotaur, now that she can see him. The minotaur, however, is able to move out of the way of her shot, having clearly seen it coming at him.

Having slowed their opponent down, Skasa begins to circle around the lake to a point where he can bring more spell power to bear.

"Anybody want to give him a chance and speak to him?" Manweh'mato asks as he waits to see what the minotaur will do.

Siad, however, expresses his answer by firing blindly at the spot Manweh'mato had previously indicated. He was the one the minotaur had originally attacked and he was in no mood to show mercy. His intentions aside, however, the minotaur has moved from where he was when Manweh'mato had last fired at him and Siad's shot only threatens the ground.

Fighting his way free of the entanglement, the minotaur uses the lighter cover of the trees around him to once again hide himself from the party. Without the more violent movements required to fight the magically enhanced brush, only Manweh'mato is able to track him as he moves through the forest.

Some what emboldened by the fact that no return shots have been fired in a bit, Xue ventures out from under cover to grab Meat's reins. "Given that he opened with a crossbow bolt, I doubt he's interested in talking," Xue replies to Manweh'mato's question.

Diving into the water, Soltlak starts to swim across the lake. The lake, however, is wide, and even for a swamp native like Soltlak crossing it will take a bit.

[Black Plauge]

Getting down from her mount, Sara moves towards where she last saw the minotaur.

No longer able to see the minotaur, Skasa slows down, making efforts to hide himself from the minotaur so that he won't be suprised.

Reloading his crossbow, Siad readies himself to shoot any target that Manweh'mato fires at. "Where is he Manweh'mato? I can't see him."

Meanwhile, under the trees where only Manweh'mato can see, the minotaur pulls back what had previously looked like a bush, but which Manweh'mato can now see was a hunter's screen. With the screen gone, Manweh'mato can now see the minotaur's goal, his hippogriff mount, as he swings into the saddle.

Ducking for cover, Manweh'mato readies himself to shoot at the minotaur should he fire again.

Swiming hard, Soltlak is able to make it to the other shore. Now all that stands between him and the minotaur is the entangling brush that Skasa had enchanted. The lizardman, however, doesn't have time to figure out where the minotaur went while he was swimming.

Tugging Meat's reins, Xue retreats back under the canopy of the trees along side the road.

[Black Plauge]

Still unable to see the minotaur, Sara readies herself for any incoming crossbow bolts, but none come.

Setting Wambli to seek out the minotaur, Skasa continues around the lake as his eagle leaps from his shoulder and begins to fly towards the area where Skasa last saw the minotaur. Sharp-eyed Wambli is able to find the minotaur and his hippogriff mount, and angles towards them.

"Enemy under Wambli." Skasa directs in broken draconic, and Siad takes the direction litterally. Unfortunately, he shoots too early and Wambli hasn't had time to reach the minotaur yet so his shot is pointless.[/color]"

Directing his mount airborne, the minotaur starts to reload his crossbow as the hippogriff spirals upward.

Still not sure of the minotaur's further intentions, Manweh'mato remains readied for an attack, but doesn't initiate one himself as the minotaur soars into the sky.

Soltlak looks up, watching the minotaur ascend on a flying beast. That's not good, he thinks, and decides to rejoin the party, starting the swim back across the lake.

"Is he leaving?" Xue calls out, peering through the trees above him at the figure rising into the sky.

[Black Plauge]

Sara mutters to herself "Well, that changes things," before gathering her mount and riding back to the road to meet up with the others.

For Skasa, however, the situation is not quite so hopeless. "Wambli... ATTACK ride!" he yells, just before starting a spell to bring in reinforcements for his friend.
With powerful beats of his wings, Wambli climbs to the level of the much larger hippogriff and attempts to rake the animal with his claws. At the last moment, however, a gust of wind buffets the eagle and his claws grab nothing but air.

Now with a clear target, Siad lifts his crossbow to fire at the minotaur, but Kensen shifts at the last minute, spoiling the shot and his crossbow bolt flies harmlessly into the forest.

Annoyed by the eagle who deigns to attack his mount, the minotaur allows his much larger animal to retaliate in kind as it continues it climb. A small flurry of feathers results as both animals' claws dislodge them from around their feet.

Looking down at the party, the minotaur spies Manweh'mato under the cover of the trees closest two him and raises his crossbow to fire. Realizing the danger, Manweh'mato lets fly with an arrow of his own. Crossbow bolt and arrow pass each other in mid-air, but Manweh'mato's aim proves to be truer as his arrow grazes the minotaurs arm, removing a small clump of hair, while the minotaur's crossbow bolt thumps into the ground several paces to Manweh'mato's left.

With a couple of powerful swishes of his tail, Soltlak finishes his second dip of the day and climbs out of the lake near Manweh'mato.

[Black Plauge]

Pulling out her bow, Sara attempts to nock an arrow to the string, but finds herself grabing back at the reins to keep her horse moving towards the road and is unable to fire at the high flying minotaur.

As two eagles appear above Skasa's head, they swoop upwards towards the minotaur and he begins to call for more. Unfortunately, the eagles are unable to reach the hippogriff in time to help Wambli, who once again comes out on the losing end of a confrontation with the hippogriff. He is now down several flight feathers and just barely holding himself aloft.

Cursing at the result of his first shot, Siad tries again, but his bolt again is well off the mark.

Spiriling upwards again, the minotaur works on reloading his crossbow as another of Manweh'mato's arrows sails harmlessly by his head.

Out of the water, Soltlak takes cover under the trees as he moves back towards the group.

[Black Plauge]

Regaining her balance, Sara nocks an arrows successfully and fires it at the minotuar. Her aim is off, however, and the arrow flies by the minotaur harmlessly.

As the first two eagles he'd summoned engage the hippogriff without success, another eagle appears over Skasa's head and starts climbing towards the hippogriff. In the meantime, Wambli has turned away from the fight and glides back to Skasa's shoulder where he lands and starts to tend to his damaged feathers.
With little else to do, Skasa moves back towards the road to regroup with the others.

Trying again, Siad reloads his crossbow and fires another bolt at the minotaur. Unfortunately the gods of war seem set against him as once again his arrow is well off the mark. Cursing, he reloads his crossbow for another shot.

Staying under the trees, Soltlak moves back to the road.

Dismounting, Manweh'mato ties up Katonka. He and the minotaur then exchange a few rounds of fire as the hippogriff flys away. Manweh'mato lands a few arrows before giving up on the range and moving back under the cover of the trees. The minotaur, however, continues firing for a few seconds more, firing bolts at a range that is well beyond Manweh'mato's range. Fortunately for the halfling, however, the added range is a detriment to the minotaur's shots and only the first one hits him, smacking into the leather armor on his right arm in a blow that no doubt will leave a bruise, but which fails to penetrate far enough to cut skin.

Finally, the minotaur is little more than a speck in the sky, well out of bow shot on either side.

[My Fellow Gamers]

Good riddance you lousy excuse for a hunter.

" Skasa, I saw Wambli in a fight with this creature's flying mount, is your bird alright? "

Turning to the others after getting back on his pony as if nothing of importance happened: " What the hell was that? Do you have enemies you did not tell us about Xue? "

[Black Plauge]

"Enemies?" Xue replies, "My clan is certianly not on good terms with all the other clans, but we are still far from my homeland and my mission was not exactly advertised to the other clans. I cannot imagine one of them would come this far sunside just to find me."

[Jop]

While looking at Wambli's wounds, Skasa replies:
"No... No he isnt'. I can help him slightly back to help though, but he's gotta learn to get out of fights quicker!"
Skasa will cast Cure Light on Wambli.

[My Fellow Gamers]

To Skasa : " I would not have sent him to fight this big creature anyways, you, any injuries? I would like you to please look at this wound from the bolt after you are finished with Wambli. "

To Xue: " Fair enough. Just thought I would ask if we are to encounter trouble from more than bears. Animals I can reason. So far I have had not a shred of success with any humanoids on this continent. Oh well, let's move on? "

[Jop]

"I thought he could distract his mount... but fearsome creatures they both were..."
Skasa will then have a look at his brother's wound, to make sure there is nothing more than that... And cast Cure minor.
"This is the best I can do for now brother... Let me know if it's still bothering you in the morning"

[My Fellow Gamers]

" It already feels better. Some food and good rest will take care of the rest. Thanks. "

[Vaniver]

Soltlak looks around, still on his guard, and somewhat sheepish that he did nothing during the last fight.

[My Fellow Gamers]

With a last look in the direction of the attacker, Manweh'mato gets everyone to remount and moving to get most of the daylight still available to them for travelling.

[Black Plauge]

As the party mounts up to continue on their way, it becomes clear that the road they are on and their attacker head in the same general direction. A coincidence? Perhaps that and nothing more, as the rest of the day goes as one might plan any travel day.

By the end of the day whatever time they lost due to the minotaur, little as it was, is easily regained, and they find an often used roadside campsite to bed down for the night.

[My Fellow Gamers]

Manweh'mato dismounts Katonka with a sigh of relief. He hasn't said much during the day because he was deep in his own thoughts about this place that always seems to surprise him.

He removes the saddle from his trusty mount without thinking about what he is doing. It wasn't so long ago that he was taught back when they landed from the ships but repetition is the key to mastery and Manweh'mato now understands why the teacher made them repeat the motions so many times before letting them go.

A little sour and also sore from the battle, Manweh'mato longs for a hot meal and some rest. He takes out his bow, removes all his equipment save from a dagger and after making sure katonka is safe, goes out hunting for some meat for the meal tonight.

" I am trying to get us some meat for tonight. I will be no more than an hour away, could someone please get a fire started to cook whatever I hope I will bring back. "

[Black Plauge]

Heading away from camp, Manweh'mato stalks through the woods, looking for game. He find the woods here very different from the ones he grew up in, and yet very similar at the same time. Many of the plants and animals were slightly different, but the basic relations between them all were comfortably similar. The thing he found the most different, however, was how dark it could get under the canopy. Unlike the skys he had grown up under, Pelor was not an ever present sentinal here. Over the course of this journey it had fallen below the horizon an was now nothing more than a pre-dawn glow on the horizon. This of course wasn't the first time that Manweh'mato had seen a sky without Pelor. He'd seen it on the ship to this continent, but this trip had the makings of eliminating even the glow of Pelor on the horizon.

Catching sight of the timid movements of a prey animal foraging for food in the fading light, Manweh'mato knocks an arrow and fires it off. The arrow strikes home, and the animal takes off, fleeing through the woods. Knowing that would happen, Manweh'mato calmly and slowly follows the blood trail. It had been a good shot and the animal was bound to succumb to its injury quickly. Indeed, it only takes him half a saat to find the injured animal and use his knife to finish it off. Skinning and cleaning the animal, he figures that there is enough meat for three people here as he heads back to camp.

***

Back at camp, the others go about the process of setting up camp, building a fire and making dinner. In fact, by the time Manweh'mato returns with his kill, they are finished eating, though Skasa has saved some food for Manweh'mato.

As Manweh'mato eats, Skasa sets out the meat that he brought back on sticks near the fire so that the meat will dry, but not cook or burn and the group discusses watches.


[OOC: Manweh'mato's survival roll: 14. He finds food for 3 people. Note that you normally need to travel at half speed to forage. I'm not enforcing that this time, but will in the future.]

[My Fellow Gamers]

Manweh'mato takes the leftover food that what saved for him and offers meat for anyone who wants some. He has a little bit himself as soon at it is cooked.

" I will stay awake for middle watch tonight, I am some things to think about. Skasa, are you willing to take first?"
When his brother agrees, he turns to the big lizardman: " Soltlak, can you take the last one and wake us up when it is time? "

A small nod and a grunt is the only answer but by now Manweh'mato is more used to the gruff demeanor of Soltlak.

During his watch, Manweh'mato will prepare the meat for transport for the next day, wrapping it in leaves and tree bark to keep it as fresh as possible. The rest of his watch, he watches the nightsky, longing for a bit of home in the usual stars overhead that are in different places here.

[Black Plauge]

The night passes without incident. Well, except for the fact that it starts raining just after midnight. It's the cold dreary kind of steady rain that chills you to the bone and leaves you just miserable. Having come in fairly quickly and unannounced, the party's wood supply isn't going to be sufficent to keep the fire going in the steady rain and if the fire goes out, it is unlikely that anyone will get any more sleep.

[My Fellow Gamers]

When the rain starts during his watch, Manweh'mato starts looking around for any dead vegetation that could burn and keep the fire going. He covers the other people's equipment and the mounts saddles as best as possible to keep everything mostly dry. If he has to go away from the camp a bit, he does.

[Black Plauge]

Looking for more wood for the fire, Manweh'mato finds that the area around the campsite is picked fairly clean of the large stuff that would burn well, even in the rain. All he can find are smaller branches no bigger than his arm around in thickness. When he puts them in the fire they pop and hiss as the water they've absorbed from the rain converts to steam, and then burn quickly once dry. Whoever is on watch will have to keep gathering and feeding the fire all night with this stuff. Finding larger stuff, however, will mean leaving the camp for a more extended period of time.

[My Fellow Gamers]

Manweh'mato wakes Soltlak before his wtach should start and explain the situation to him.

[Black Plauge]

A bit groggy, it takes Soltlak a moment or two to realize what Manweh'mato is saying, but once he gets it, he nods in understanding, and takes over the watch while Manweh'mato goes out to collect more firewood.

Heading out into the woods, Manweh'mato finds it picked clean of larger wood much further out than he had originally guessed and it takes him nearly a saat just to make two trips collecting logs. Estimating that he needs to make one more trip, Manweh'mato heads out again, now soaked to the bone and with dirt and woodchips stuck all over him by the process of hauling wood back to the fire. The worst of it, though, is the fact that there are now signs of lightening and thunder on the horizon. It would seem that this storm is going to get worse before it gets better.


***

*boom*

The sound of thunder practically announces Manweh'mato's return to camp with the last load of wood, and causes the horses to jump and whinny. Barely half a saat remains in was supposed to be his watch, but Soltlak is by now fully awake. With so little time before Soltlak was supposed to take over the watch anyway, Manweh'mato stays awake and by the fire just long enough to get dry enough to fall asleep.

***

*boom*

The horses jump again, clearly agitated by the storm, but they are doing that with nearly every clap of thunder now, no matter how loud it is, so after a single glance up at the horses tethered on the other side of the fire, Soltlak goes back to staring into the fire. While normally Soltlak reveled in the water, this rain was cold and sapped the lizardman's body of heat.

*boom*

Only the fire kept his blood flowing, but that was only on one side, so Soltlak had the unenviable task of trying to turn himself every so often to keep any of his joints from locking up. He was begining to understand why his bellywalker cousins generally sunned themselves on rocks and other surfaces which would trap heat and allow them to warm more easily.

*boom*

His back is to the horses this time when they jump and whinny at the thunder, and Soltlak almost doesn't turn to look at the skittish animals. Something else, however, is mixed in with the sounds that Soltlak has become so accustomed to over the past saat. Something which is just enough to get him to turn his head in time to see the tether Xue's horse come free and the animal bolt away from the fire.

[Vaniver]

Soltlak grunts miserably, and shambles over to the small forms of the halflings, rudely shaking them awake. "Horse. Run away. Too cold to chase." He sluggishly returns to the fire, desperately wishing for the storm to end.

[My Fellow Gamers]

Manweh'mato curses under his breath. I am cold too and barely got any sleep.

He nonetheless braves the weather and does his best to bring back the frighthened horse back to the camp.

[Jop]

"I'll take this brother. You rest. You look like you need it."

[My Fellow Gamers]

" You are right once again. I'll get the next horse.....but now I am going back to sleeepp. " Manweh'mato barely finishes before closing his eyes again and resting his head on his makeshift travel pillow.

[Black Plauge]

Pulling his cloak around him to keep out the worst of the rain, Skasa quickly saddles his riding dog and heads out into the rain after the run away horse.

Finding the animal, however, proves to be extremely difficult. He only knows which way the horse was going when it left the camp, and doesn't have Manweh'mato's skill at tracking. On top of that, the rain limits the distance he can see dramatically. As a result, he's forced to sweep back and forth as he heads away from camp just in case the horse changed direction at some point.

After what seems like forever, but is really no more than half a saat, Skasa gets lucky and spys the animal through the rain during a flash of lightening. Catching up to it just as the thunder claps, Skasa takes hold of what remains of the teather rope. As he gathers it in, Skasa notices that the rope is no longer attached to the stake that had teathered the animal down. Curious, he examines the end of the rope by the light of the next flash of lightening to find it cut at the same time as a crossbow bolt catches him in the back.

[Jop]

I'm not losing you again... my friend...
Skasa casts Hold Animal on the horse, kneels down and moves into or next to any type of bush or growth that could provide him with some cover.

[Black Plauge]

Freezing the horse in place, Skasa brushes the rain from his eyes and looks around for cover. The rain and the dark, however, makes it impossible to see anything beyond a few feet except when a crack of lightening illuminates the sky, and he is unable to see any real cover except for that provided by the horse and his riding dog at the moment.

[Jop]

He still kneels down, hoping that his small stature will provide cover from this currently invisible foe...

[Black Plauge]

Kneeling down between the two larger animals, Skasa scans the area around him for signs of his assailant, but the rain makes that task impossible. Fortunately, either the additional cover of his kneeling position, or the rain itself (or maybe both) also seems to prove difficult for his assailant as well, as no further crossbow bolts seem to be forth coming.

As his spell which restrained the horse wears off, another flash of lightening brightens the sky, allowing Skasa a much better view of the land around him. A quick scan reveals no sign of the source of the crossbow bolt, but he does note a copse of trees off to his left about 40' away. They appear to be enough to provide some cover from both the rain and more crossbow bolts for both himself and the animals, but it could also be the where his assailant is hiding. He has no way of telling in the rain.

[Jop]

Not knowing where the bolts were coming from, Skasa will take his chance and head for cover of those trees.

[Black Plauge]

Tugging on the lead ropes for the two animals, Skasa heads towards the copse of trees that he'd glimpsed in the flash of lightening.

Once under the cover of the trees, the feel of the rain changes from the inssesant feeling of being out in a downpour, to the larger, more intermittant drops that fall off the leaves of the trees when they get weighed down by two much water. The feeling is slightly less comfortable when a drop of rain finds its way through his oiled cloak to his skin, but Skasa is able to see a bit better, at least within the copse. Looking around, he finds the copse deserted, so far as he can tell.

As the lightening flashes again, Skasa makes a quick study of the area outside the copse, which for the most part is still shrouded by the rain and darkness. This leads him to no new discoveries as to the source of the crossbow bolt that had caught him by suprise earlier. Who ever had fired the shot was using the rain to their best advantage.

[Jop]

Crap. Where is he. I can't do much out here on my own... I hope it's not that damned Minotaur again!
Skasa will wait at least 10 dakika, trying to stay calm and keeping the animals calm. Hopefully, nothing happens and he can start making his way back to camp...

[Black Plauge]

The dakikas pass, each one seeming like a full saat because of the anticipation of a possible attack. Finally, however, Skasa's mental count down winds down without further sign of his assailant. Mounting up, Skasa ties the lead rope from Xue's horse to his saddle and heads back out into the rain towards camp.

***

Back at camp, Soltlak's watch has gotten considerably quieter. The horses must be getting used to the thunder and lightening as they seem to have stopped shying all the time.

Or at least it would have appeared that way for a bit. Just over half a saat after Skasa goes out to find the missing horse. The animals become jittery again, shying as they had with each stroke of lightening. Once again, Soltlak's watch is full of unwanted noise.

Fate, it would seem, is an evil mistress, because after a couple of dakika's of this, another horse, Sara's mount this time, breaks free and bolts into the night.

[Vaniver]

Soltlak sighs. I never thought being wet would be a bad thing. He gets up, flexing to try and get a little warmer, and contemplates his next action. I can't leave them undefended. I'll have to wake up someone else. He goes over to Sara and shakes her awake, somewhat more gently than he did the last time. "You horse run away. I need to stay by fire to defend." He returns again to the fire, wishing the night would end or that the infernal weather would turn for the better.

[Black Plauge]

Rousing herself awake, Sara grumbles her understanding of Soltlak's message and makes herself ready to go after the horse. "I'll have to borrow your horse," she says as she wipes rain from her brow. Saddling Meat quickly, Sara makes her way into the night in the direction the horse had fled.

***

Several dakika after Sara leaves camp, Skasa returns leading Xue's horse to find Soltlak back around the campfire and the picket line still down a horse even after he ties up the horse he just recieved.

[Jop]

"What happened? More horses gone?"
As Skasa ties up Xue's horse, he does his best to explain to Soltak what happened with the unknown attacker and that it might be the Minotaur again.
"Keep eye open. He maybe follow us"

[Vaniver]

"Sara getting her horse with Meat." I hope that minotaur comes... and not riding his wretched steed.

[Black Plauge]

Settling back to sleep, Skasa once again joins the land of the dreamers, leaving Soltlak to continue his night's watch.

***

After about a saat and a half, the tenor of the storm changes. The thunder and lightening begin to dissapate, slowly getting further and further away. The rain, however, continues to come down at a steady pace even as the sky begins to lighten with the first signs of the pre-morning dawn of Io. Indeed, these signs of the end of the night would be a welcome respite for Soltlak were it not for one thing, Sara hasn't returned yet. She's now been gone for almost twice as long as it took for Skasa to find the first horse. Of course, her experience in finding animals in a lightly forested area was less than Skasa's. She was a capable woman and could take care of herself, even if finding the horse wasn't the easiest thing in the word to do.

Another full saat later, however, as Io break's the horizon behind the clouds and the sleepers begin to stir and wake for the morning, Sara still isn't back.

[My Fellow Gamers]

This rain won't make it easy to find her tracks....better get a move on it.

Manweh'mato gulps down his breakfast real fast, saddles Katonka in a hurry and begins to track down Sara's movements and those of her horse.

" Give me half a saat to find her, a full saat maximum. After that, start on the road and we will catch up when we meet you."

" Skasa, I would like Wambli to stay with me and be an extra pair of eyes in the sky. "

[Jop]

Before Manweh gets to leave:
"How 'bout I go with you as well? I was around this area in the dark last night... I could surely help."

[My Fellow Gamers]

Already packed and mounted, Manweh'mato frowns at the possible delay but cannot dismiss his brother's good idea." Let's let the boss decide. "

" Xue, what do you think about me and my brother both looking for them? "

[Black Plauge]

"If you think that will be fastest. I'm not experienced with tracking or searching and will defer to your judgement," Xue replies as he wipes his brow and pulls the hood on his cloak down a little more in an attempt to better shield his face.

[My Fellow Gamers]

Manweh'mato just nods and signals for Skasa to follow him quickly. Manweh'mato starts tracking while Skasa gathers his things and they leave as soon as Skasa is ready, following Sara's tracks first, hoping it will lead them to both the animal and her.

[Jop]

Skasa packs up his stuff and follows...

[Black Plauge]

As any tracker knows, a good soaking rain is a double edged sword. It makes tracking easier because the ground is softer and holds impressions better, but the continual spatter of falling water erases many of the signs of a quary's passage. Indeed, because of these two facts, the best time to track something was as it moved just after a good soaking rain. Manweh'mato, however, doesn't have that option. The rain is still coming down and shows no sign of letting up.

***

Dismounting for what must be the twentieth time, Manweh'mato squats down to examine the soaking ground again. He was making progress, despite having nearly lost the tracks twice already due to rain filled rivulets. Sara had followed a fairly reasonable search pattern for a city dweller. It certianly wasn't a pattern that a proper woodsman would have choosen, but it likely worked. Here though, Manweh'mato is finding some oddities in the ground. If he was reading the nearly washed out prints correctly, not 1 but two horses had been in this area. Had Sara found the missing mount, or had she doubled back over her own trail? With the rain it was impossible to tell for sure. The tracks, however, continued to lead away from the spot where they'd camped last night.

Still in his saddle, Skasa looks around as his brother studies the tracks. At first he sees nothing but more rain-soaked ground, but then his eye's light on a familiar shape a few feet away. Dismounting he trudges over to pick up the broken haft of a crossbow bolt.

[My Fellow Gamers]

After a quick explanation by Skasa about his own encounter during the retrieving phase of his night, Manweh'mato decides that a speedy find of both horse and Sara is no longer the highest priority.

They might not be alive anymore, I hope not but I have to see all possibilities.

Taking out his trusty bow, Manweh'mato instructs Skasa to be on the lookout for anything. Even to check the sky from time to time. Even if Skasa never saw the one who fired the bolt at night, he is convinced it is still the creature they met earlier making trouble.

Come find me again my friend, you will not escape twice.

Manweh'mato now also starts looking for any sign a flying mount might leave on tree branches, ground and so on. He moves slower and stops just to listen and look around every couple minutes or so. As long as nothing wrong looking or feeling happens, he proceeds to continue tracking, just paying more attention to his surroundings than he was before.

[Black Plauge]

Their paced slowed considerably out of caution, the two halflings continue to follow the trail that Manweh'mato can just barely pick out in the rain soaked ground.

After nearly half a saat of this, Manweh'mato notices that water in the tracks he's following is beginning to take on a reddish tinge. At first, he's sure his eyes are playing tricks on him, and studies the sky for a moment to clear them from staring at the ground. When he looks back, the tinge is gone, but a few dakika later, the tracks again take on a reddish tinge. Watching carefully this time, he observes the coloration wash away.

[My Fellow Gamers]

Whispering over the sound of the rain, closing in with his brother Manweh'mato speaks his thoughts
" Hey Skasa, I think we are not far behind them now, I also think the horse is bleeding and might be lame if we don't reach it in time. Send Wambli on a short flight that way to see if he can see anything. "

Manweh'mato points for Skasa tyhe direction the tracks have been generally following.

[Jop]

"That does look like blood... maybe not the horse's though..."
"Wambli... go have a look" and Skasa points in the same direction as Manweh and asks Wambli to seek... (as per the description: The animal moves into an area and looks around for anything that is obviously alive or animate)

[Black Plauge]

Alighting from Skasa's shoulder, Wambli flies forward into the rain and is soon hidden behind the curtian of water.

It is nearly half a saat later when Wambli returns, pecking at Skasa's shoulder in a way that indicates that he found something.

[Jop]

"Wambli seems to have found something... Follow me."
Skasa pets Wambli and gives him the customary treat for his good work. He takes out his sling and starts walking in the direction Wambli just came back from (I'll wait to make sure Manweh is coming... of course).

[My Fellow Gamers]

" Lead away be go slowly, I want to follow tracks still. We might meet the flying guy so be weary as well. "

Still looking for tracks, Manweh'mato angles his search following the direction of his brother and his bird. He holds his bow in one hand and with the other leads Katonka. If he finds another reddish track, he will taste the water for confirmation of possible blood.

[Black Plauge]

Fortunately for Manweh'mato's tracking, the line that Wambli flew back on follows the same general direction of the tracks that they have been following. As a result, he's able to keep a fairly close eye on the tracks.

Between caution and the tracks, however, the two halflings' progress is much slower than Wambli's flying, and as a result, it's nearly a full saat before they first spy through the rain the vauge outline of two large creatures.

As the halflings move closer, they begin to make out more details, first noting that the two outlines are those of horses, and then making out a more human sized lump on the ground between them. Finally, they are close enough to see that the lump is Sara, her armor punctured by several quarrels.

[My Fellow Gamers]

" Skasa, get the horses, I'll see if we can save Sara."

Throwing all caution aside, Manweh'mato runs straight to where Sara is lying and puts his ears to her chest, listening for even the faintest of heartbeat, his hand close to her nose, for any sign of breathing.

[Jop]

Skasa gets the horses, and looks around...

[Black Plauge]

Checking on Sara, Manweh'mato finds her alive, but unconcious. Her breathing is light and slightly raspy, like there is some fluid in her lungs, which, given the quarrels lodged between the plates of her armor, is probably blood.

To Skasa's eye, both of the horses are doing fine. As he gathers Sara's horse's lead rope, he notes that like the lead rope on Xue's horse last night, the lead rope has been cut.

***

With Soltlak forced to walk because Sara took his horse to find hers, the progress of the other three is already slower than the pace they've set the past few days. Add on top of that the fact that they needed to keep the pace down so that Manweh'mato, Skasa, and hopefully Sara can catch up, and they're not really traveling all that quickly through the rain. Indeed, they're moving slow enough that Siad and Xue dismount and walk in some of the less muddy spots in order to help keep themselves warm despite the weather.

As a result, all three are on the ground when their walk is interupted by a quarel that nicks Siad's left arm, spiraling to the ground after scraping along his armor.

[Vaniver]

Soltlak growls, looking around to find the source of the bolt. This trip is going from bad to worse.

[Black Plauge]

Scanning through the rain, Soltalk looks for the source of the bolt with no success. He does, however, spot a rock formation ahead. Rain and distance make it impossible to determine exactly how far away it is, or even if it's alongside the road, but if it might be big enough to provide some cover from attack.

"What the hell!" Siad exclaims, pulling out his crossbow and loading a bolt.

"Another bandit?" Xue asks as he swings back up into the saddle so that he can better guide and protect his mount.

[Vaniver]

"There are some rocks ahead! Let's head to those!"Soltlak moves forward slowly, giving the other two time to catch up and go ahead while he tries again to find the source of their attacker.
((30 ft move towards the rocks, then another spot check))

[Black Plauge]

Moving towards the rocks, Soltlak still can't figure out where the bolt came from.

"Can you find the shooter?" Siad asks, scanning the area himself.

"Forget the shooter for now, follow Soltlak to the rocks!" Xue replies, spurring his mount forward to follow.

[Vaniver]

Soltlak continues moving forward slowly and looking around. "You go ahead! I'll cover you!"

[Black Plauge]

"From what?" Siad responds as he swings into the saddle and spurs his mount forward. "We don't even know where the damnable quarrels are coming from!"

As if in reward for his pessimism, Siad flinches just in time as another quarrel goes skittering off of his leg.

Paying more attention this time, Soltlak is able to note that the quarrel came from the direction of the rocks.

"Just get moving!" Xue commands as he spurs his mount up to a gallop towards the rocks.

[Vaniver]

Aha! I've got you now! Sotlak sprints forward, trying to get to the rocks before their opponent has time to flee.

((Moving towards the rocks, running if possible.))

[Black Plauge]

Running now, Soltlak finally begins to make visual progress on the rocks, enough to guage their distance though they are still some distance away. Even at a dead out sprint, he figures it'll take him at least 20 ikinci to reach them. Enough time for a competant crossbowman to fire at least twice.

Muttering under his breath about not knowing what they were running from, or towards, Siad spurs his horse to a gallop and takes off after Xue who's managed to halve the distance between himself and the rocks now.

[My Fellow Gamers]

***
Further back in the woods, Manweh'mato calls for a reversal of the roles.

" I cannot do anything for her except give her one of my potions. Can you help me to take care of her while I tie down the horses once again? I think she is in bad shape."

[Jop]

"I got it. Keep your potion for later."
Skasa will start with a Cure Minor (1HP) to test the effect.
A cure light could follow depending... (OOC: I don't want to burn it too soon... just in case)

[Black Plauge]

With the application of Skasa's healing spell, Sara begins to cough up blood as her eyes flutter open. Rolling her to her side so that she doesn't choke on her own coughed up blood, Skasa is relieved to hear Sara's breathing become deeper as she clears the blood and tries to catch her breath.

"Where am I?" Sara asks in human, still disoriented.

[Jop]

"Not camp"...
Skasa tries to say in his best human...
He then gestures for his brother to come over.

[My Fellow Gamers]

The horses secured, Manweh'mato closes in and is visibly relieved when he hears Sara coughing.

Never mind she is in bad shape, she is alive. Not to get her to catch up will be a long day. She will be a few days unable to do much and will need a lot of rest when this is all over.

Kneeling by her side, Manweh'mato explains their search for her since getting up in the morning and where she is approximately. He also adds that she will have to ride pretty soon. He motions for his brother to cure her as much as he can, she needs to stay in the saddle without worry of her falling over. She will be a few days feeling pretty bad but he adds that whoever did this to her is still out there and they can ill afford to rest while his attacks are ongoing.

When Skasa is done with the healing, he and Manweh'mato help Sara to mount and once again Manweh'mato takes the lead, bow in hand. Skasa is in charge of the extra horse.

[Jop]

Skasa looks at Sara and while rubbing his hands in the same way he did the first time he healed her and getting ready to put his hands on her wound he asks: "More?".
Assuming she would understand (and agree), Skasa will use Cure Light on Sara.

[Black Plauge]

Running for all he's worth, Soltlak still has no chance of matching the pace of Xue's or Siad's horses and Xue has a considerable headstart. A headstart that has disaterous consequences when he finally comes to the realization that their assailant is hidden within those rocks thanks to a point blank confrontation. Knocked from his saddle, Xue has no chance to retaliate before his assailant is once again out of sight.

Regaining the saddle as Siad reaches him, Xue and Siad start a cautious search of the rocks to find their assailant. By the time Soltlak reaches the rocks, they too are out of sight, hidden amongst the various cracks and outcroppings.

***

Reinvigorated by Skasa's second spell but still significantly weakened by her injuries, Sara sits up and allows the two halflings to help her to her horse. The mounting process takes a bit of work, considering that Sara herself is more than twice as tall as either of the halflings and the horse is even taller than that. Once it's accomplished, however, they are able to get moving, taking precautions against further attacks.