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Post by Caledonian Achilles on Jan 9, 2009 10:45:52 GMT 1
Meeting Allyana again and involving himself with a new group is much for the solitary half-orc. Used to fending for himself and standing alone against the harshness of the world has scorched his soul although that hurt is balmed by the presence of the elven priestess.
"I doubt that many will sing of our discourse but our deeds may replay forever in legends and fables.
Come let us away to this place and encounter all that will test our resolve."
The half-orc is welcoming of all adventurers brave enough to accompany them on their expedition and the playful banter from his long-time friend Allyana is a welcome relief after the years alone. Theo's clumsy antics do not upset the rogue, he just accepts him for who he is and waits for the fire of battle to reveal his true character
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Post by Caledonian Achilles on Jan 9, 2009 10:48:27 GMT 1
When asked about the choice of direction, the rogue instictively picks going through the dangerous sounding forest. Perhaps they might friends as well as foe
i'm assuming we meet noda's character along the way?
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Post by puffthemagicdragon on Jan 9, 2009 19:50:10 GMT 1
After a few moments discussion, the group decides to ignore Jake's warning about staying out of the back of the tavern and turn the corner to walk around the side of the building. Once around back of The Laughing Jackal, the dogs erupt into a fit of barking and snarling as they run up to the side of their pen, causing Theodorre to leap back and gasp sharply, "D*mn, they're big." Three large dogs, one female and two males, 'throw' their forepaws high up on the fence as they 'stand' to full height, obviously not enthused about the trespassers. The dog's fence is right up against the tavern, and also in the back is another building, about ten feet off the main building. This building is obvouisly the 'smoker house', where Jake works smoking his beef. It's sits longways from the tavern towards the edge of the woods. The building sits halfway into the ground with a set of steps going down a few feet to the door, with a small smoke stack on top, billowing thick smoke. The group manuevers between the dog's pen and the smoke house. It turns out the path less traveled is better, with hardly no-one venturing back here since last night's rain, there are patches of clean grass throughout the muddy backyard. While the aroma of the smoked beef is incredible, Theo can be seen hopping from one patch of grass to another, trying to stay clean and doing a good job of it, as he stays light on his feet. As they get closer to the edge of the woods many paths can be seen entering the magnitude of trees. "BROCK! YOUR NEEDED!" Jake yells out the back door of his tavern. With nothing but a grunt from the large man, he turns on his heel and heads back to the tavern, to help Jake with some of the days work.
"Hmm, and now there's four uf us." Theo comments as he picks his way between some of the branches. The path is a well traveled, it offers enough room for a group of people to walk in single file, some places here and there, it is a bit wider, but not many. It turns out, there are many paths, as some are used for leisurely walks and the ones deeper in the woods are used for hunting, and also a couple worn game trails can be seen intersecting the path further into the forest. Theo instructs the walking leader of which way to go at any intersections, as he knows there general area where the bandits hideout was located. As the group marches on a few miles into the forest, Theodorre enjoys the nice semi-warm day, every-so-often he can be heard lightly whistling a tune while he searches the tree branches for birds, the rarer the better. His head turns this way and that as he hears certain sounds, "Yep, I knew I'd find it. Look there's a red-cockaded woodpecker, it's huge." he says pointing through the numerous tree branches towards the repetitive knocking sound. Turnig his head quickly to the right, he adds, "Listen, there's a wren and a robin over there somewhere singing." Theo says excitedly, as he searches the many-leafed branches. "Oh, what a wonderful day to spend the afternoon." he says to no-one imparticular.
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Post by Caledonian Achilles on Jan 9, 2009 20:00:05 GMT 1
The startling encounter with the dogs doesn't phase the half-orc much. He always had an urge to go hunting with wolves and maybe take down a majestic stag. And as thy pass in to the forest he feels an earthy connection to his surroundings.
The rogue's glaive acts like a makeshift standard, its superior craftsmanship invisible to any onlooker after the months of constant use. It does suggest plenty of use and only when handled by a seasoned warrior would they be able to tell that it was perfectly weighted and the edge sharp enough to cut dreams with.
Being with Allyana both excites and scares the big man, afraid of more harm coming their way but also the reward of resparking a connection. But in any case, his mind is set on adventure and brave deeds.
Kurt looks at the sunlight filtering through the branches and thins that today might be a good day to die in battle swaddled in the entrails of a fearsome beast.
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Post by achinca on Jan 9, 2009 20:05:04 GMT 1
"Wow!!! These are big dogs. Big Nasty dogs. I would be worried about the female. She needs two huge hunk t keep her satisfied."
She looks at the other men with a look of surprise. "What? Not that way, you dirty dogs. AH .. men ...... anyway, I am not sure what is so special about Jake's meat as I am a vegetarian. Red meat is not in my diet. Actually no meat is in my deit since .. well ..."
A dark cloud goes in her eyes and sadness takes over. She stays quiet for a while until Theo starts talking about the bird. "So Theo, what are you exactly? A druid? An entertainer? I am not sure I know your skills. She walks side by side with Kurt, feeling a little more secure next to the gigantic half-orc.
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Post by Ilya on Jan 9, 2009 20:14:07 GMT 1
The sorcerer smiles broadly at Alyana's words, but keeps his mouth shut on one subject and speaks about another. "No meat eh? Hmmm... Can't say I would like that. Or that I could live like that, for that matter."
"Yeah, they're nice birds.", Kerzeme agrees, moving trough the forest and looking from one side to another, thinking that today is, like any other day for that matter, a great day not to die in battle swaddled in the entrails of a fearsome beast. "Beautiful singers. I suppose going this way does have some advantages." He continues looking from side to side, occasionally knocking leaves off trees with the edge of his hat.
I post as often as I can, that's all I can say.
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Post by puffthemagicdragon on Jan 9, 2009 22:14:54 GMT 1
"Ahh, my dear," Theodorre turns all his attention to the elf, Alyanna, "I wield magic, as the likes of Elminster or Blackstaff. Have you heard of them?" He asks anxiously, obviously proud of what he does. As he walks, he looks into the air and waves his hands around in hypnotyzing patterns, "I'm a conjurer of the mystic arts. I can manipulate and control the mere fabric of magi...umph!" Theo grunts as his body jerks forward, from tripping over the stone poking out of the ground, and luckily catches himself. He turns back to Alyanna and seems to blush a bit, he smiles and continues in a less exuberant manner, "I'm a mage, a wizard, Alyanna. And have you met Koda, yet?" He asks as he pulls his best friend out of his large pouch, cradling the weasel in his left arm, scratching it's head with his right hand. Finally, after walking about two and a half hours, a crack appears in the ground. Just a small fissure, but as the group continues on they can see it open up wider in areas, and that it's quite deep. "Gosh, finally, I didn't think we'd ever get here." Theo says, thankful they found it and that he didn't get them lost. Once they get to the beginning of this, earthquake caused, fissure in the earth, Theo seems to quiet down a bit, just as the feathered vocalists have. There are still sounds and signs of the animals of the forest but not as much musical chirping and singing of the avian creatures. Now that the group has walked for another agonizing two and a half hours and the sun starts to wane, they see that the fissure actually opens up widely, into what looks like to be a large canyon. As the group of four walks, they walk about three or four feet away from the edge as to not fall down the drop. Looking to the other side, where it meets the canyon floor, Theo whistles, "Looks like sixty or seventy feet to me." With the sun going down, you can't tell if the shadows in the wall of the other side of the canyon are hiding cave entrances or not. After another twenty minutes of walking, and the sunlight slowly starting to disappear, the group sees signs of trees being felled not by nature, but by axe. There is a clearing with treestumps, and broken leafy branches everywhere, obviously left behind from the axework on the large trees.
The clearing is 40' alongside the edge of the cavern, 30' from edge to treeline. We came from the north, walking south. The clearing extends south and west from us, cavern is east of us. I'd like to know where everyone goes and what they do. Bird watching sounds cool!!  OOC: Oh thats kewl, Ilya. All I ask for is 1/day. You don't have to keep up with me. I think its fun interacting with everyone more, therefore I post more. And being DM gives me the opportunity to do that, like post posting things that happen around the tavern room about other patrons. Hey, I'm just glad your in the game. More flavor ya know? ;D
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Post by Caledonian Achilles on Jan 11, 2009 12:42:24 GMT 1
The rogue looks around at the signs of forestry and the stillness in the canyon. "Be warned. There is a tribe living in the area, most likely in the cavern and we have entered their domain. Maybe ravenous bandits for us to thwart or a peaceloving solitary clan." As the big man stalks nearby he crouches near the ground looking for telltale tracks then turns back to his group " The light is fading and if I had not witnessed the work of axe and blade on these trees i would have encouraged we camp for the night in the cavern.
Perhaps we should withdraw before we are spotted and make camp back in to the forest. We should set guards to watch for activity from the canyon in case our hosts are hostile, not friendly." He stands back up, keeping his dull-bladed glaive low.
sun's going down, we need to camp but not here IMHO i'll take middle watch during the darkest of the night as i have darkvision. i'm happy to light a camp fire to keep as warm and secretly to attract dangerous enemies to kill (player info, not character info!  ) |
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Post by achinca on Jan 12, 2009 17:30:53 GMT 1
Alyana looks at the clearing "Yep. Man made. It could be a peaceful person or tribe or it could be a bunch of ettin or giants. I want to camp close to it because, if they are dangerous monsters, let's help Oakdale get rid of them. I also do not like the fact that there is lest animal activity near the canyon."
"I will take last watch if you want."
She stands there, taking in the beauty of the forest before moving to set up camp.
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Post by Caledonian Achilles on Jan 12, 2009 17:38:58 GMT 1
Kurt moves off back in to the trees searching for a defensible campsite that will let them watch the canyon
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Post by Ilya on Jan 12, 2009 19:27:02 GMT 1
Kerzeme helps looking for a camp and setting it up to the best of his abilities. He agrees with what the others think about the place, and mentions that he also thinks that their campsite should not be visible well, if at all, from the canyon.
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Post by Caledonian Achilles on Jan 12, 2009 22:42:29 GMT 1
Kurt nods an agreement to Kerzeme's idea of making the camp hidden.
Survical check +3 (taking 10) to find a good spot
heh, not much of a camp site. we could do with a friendly half-elven ranger and her earth dwarf barbarian friend right about now...
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Post by puffthemagicdragon on Jan 12, 2009 23:10:05 GMT 1
Once the group backtracks and finds a suitable place for an encampment, a small fire is built and rotation for a watch is agreed upon. Theodorre immediately moves towards a large tree that has a thick patch of dried grass underneath. He can be seen unshouldering his backpack, then reaching in and pulling out a bedroll. Once he unrolls the bedroll and lays it perfectly, with no twigs or stones underneath, he reaches back into his pack and pulls out a large blanket, even though it's brisk not that cold. Finally, Theo pulls out a large, thick, soft pillow, and after fluffing it up, lays it on the ground next to his pack. Once the group finishes off thier meals and drinks, Theodorre falls asleep quickly, probably due to the long march.
With Kurt on guard for the first watch, all appears to be calm. He hears a few regular animal noises of the forest, also half way through his watch a banging sound, like stone and rock, could be heard eching softly though the canyon. Without knowing what it is, and feeling it's a long ways away, Kurt files it away in his memory to tell the group in the morning. Other than the continuous banging, Kurt's watch goes un eventful, until he hears the loud screech of a large owl. A few seconds later the half orc hears the scurry of a small rodent, then the large nocturnal hunter dives to the ground capturing it's prey and taking off to a lofty height out of sight. Kurt smiles, thinking how he was lucky to witness that steathly hunter. He quickly hops up to wake Zermere.
Zermere, sitting near the campfire, listens to the nightly creatures, and wonders what the banging sound is that both he and Kurt have been listening to could be. By now, Zermere has almost forgotten about the sound he is that used to hearing it. But, otherwise, the night passes without problems, so the human moves over to the tree to wake the snoring wizard. After a tough time waking Theo, Zermere finally gets him up and is able to resume his own dreams.
Theodorre yawns, stretches, and looks about as though trying to remember where he is, "Ah, a good rest interupted." Theo mumbles to himself. He stands and stretches again, yawning again also, Hmm, the bed at the inn is much better than this he thinks to himself looking over at his makeshift bed, while he stokes the fire and brightens up the encampment for a while. The warmth from the newly revived fire takes over the area, causing a smile to appear on the wizards face. Theodorre climbs back into his sleeping bag and pulls the blanket up to his chin. He intends on staying warm on his turn at watch. It's early morning now and the banging sound that Zermere and Theo listened to still occurs. Hmmm, that's a rhymic sound, deep, almost repititious the wizard thinks to himself as he yawns again.
Shortly before both sunrise and waking Alyanna for her watch, a crunching sound can be heard, coming from the direction the heroes arrived from. The sound of one or two, three at the most , but what? What is it. A continuous crunching sound, as someone or something walks through the woods, not worrying about making noise. Finally, the sound is just outside the campsite of the group and it seems it has slown down some and tried to be more quiet, without much success. With the creature or creatures just on the outer edge of the group's area, the light from the fire can't reach any clear identity, the fire has died down, unattended by the snoring, sleeping Theodorre. On Theodorre's watch, the third shift, the entire groups sleeps, therefore, he can't wake Alyanna.
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Post by She-Elf on Jan 12, 2009 23:27:12 GMT 1
A half-elf emerges from the trees shushing and rollling her eyes at her dwarven companion. She holds her hands up, displaying the fact that her weapons are not drawn, little do they know I could have the sword drawn quicker than they can blink if they turn out to be hostile.
"Forgive the intrusion. My companion and I were just passing I think we can help you through these woods. I am a skilled tracker and hunter. Also I'm sure you'll agree there's more strength in greater numbers.
I'm Taliea," she says offering a hand in greeting.
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Post by nodaisho on Jan 13, 2009 5:09:46 GMT 1
The half-elf's dwarven companion shrugs, and whispers gruffly, "You try walking quietly in this much metal." He re-affixes his guisarme to his back, having taken it off after knocking it against low-hanging branches one too many times. "Are they all asleep? Should we go on past them? Wait in the woods until one is awake, then approach? I could probably make enough noise to wake one, if I tried."
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