Gewyn wakes, feeling stiff. He twists and stretches a few times, eliciting some satisfying cracks from his back. Then he seems to go one crack too far, and winces, pressing a palm into his lower left back. "Dammit. So close to not throwing my back out on this trip. That's going to be bugging me for a few days."
He prepares with the rest, turning down some food offered by one of the townsfolk. "Oh no thank you. I don't get my appetite most days until past noon, and you could use it more than me." Seeing the three horses, he walks over and examines the selection. "What's wrong, Vin?" He says, noting the boy's hesitance. "Never ridden one before? Well never you worry. I may not be an expert, but I've ridden a few here or there, and by my count, someone'll have to double up anyway. Sam's got the boar, Elthana has a... wind horse... Is that still the case, El? Either way, that still leaves 3 horses between the rest of us, and I'm pretty sure the one carrying the loxodon over there is at capacity. So if you will, allow me to be your riding partner."
Gewyn pulls out a handkerchief with a flourish and lightly places it on the ground with two fingers. He then gets down on one knee, using the handkerchief to shield his pants from the ground, and interlocking his fingers to give Vin a boost up. He gives Nef a look. "Unless you're planning to carry him all the way," he says preemptively to ward off a protective growl.
Sam takes the bag back from Muir and pauses, squinting at the druid for a moment before opening the bag and giving a quick count. Halfway through the count he pauses and looks at Muir, if Muir is paying him no mind then Sam just continues the count, ties the bag back in place and carries on. If Muir is watching him count or giving him a look about it Sam says "What? Of course I'm going to count. You rather I do it behind your back?"
As everyone climbs atop their mounts Sam climbs Boris and tell the Giant Boar "Don't worry, I will make sure you get plenty of breaks..." Boris gives a huff of relief.
"And no racing off!" Sam calls out to everyone. "Boris may not be able to keep up with your beasts but I promise once he catches up to them he can make them regret it..."
As everyone gets ready to head out, Elthana pulls out her glass orb filled with a cloud. Holding it up to her face, she whispers into it and the cloud insides starts swirling around, spinning faster till the orb disappears and a horse it in it's place.
"Yes, Gewyn, Gust is still with me." She says this looking into the horses face, petting her long mane.
As she starts off on her horse, she looks back at Sam, "Racing off is what she does... Boris can deal with it!"and with that, Gust speeds off.
With farewells said, it is not long before Hokum is behind the group, with Muir on his old horse Snabb, Elthana on Gust, and Vin electing to forgo doubling up with Gewyn in favour of flying above the group on his broom Bry'ze, Iver and Gewyn take up two of the acquired horses leaving one avaliable for the coming days if Sam's animal pull isn't as helpful as he would need.
But for now, the group make some progress, after about 5 hours of travelling the south road along the edge of Hokum forest, it becomes time for lunch
The trees are covered in snow, branches hang low with the weight, making it a little easier to spot a certain tree that is unburdened and still green, a small tree that seems to have been following the group, one that is familiar. Woodwoad Thunberg keeps a close glowing eye on the group as they gather up their things from a short rest lunch, and begin moving off again.
Gweyn's intentions mean all the best but he would quickly notice its not the lack of experience... those with good insight would notice, Vin is scared of horses. He never once approached a horse or helped to get them ready on their trip here. He seemed fine on a carriage being pulled by them but getting on one seems too much for the young man. He tries to hide his fear though and when Gweyn tries to encourage him onto one he says "Uhh... umm... it's okay Gweyn. I umm... oh! I have byr'ze! I'll ride them. It'll be good to have an aerial view right? Also, it's super fun to fly on them. S-so... ummm you can have that one all to you." he gestures to the horse.
Nef just rolls her eyes when Gweyn suggests her carrying Vin. She huffs some heated breath in his way and just moves over to Vin nudging him. He shakes his head like he's refusing something and pulls out his magic broom instead. "It's okay Nef. I'll be fine riding Bry'ze. I don't need to learn right now." he laughs nervously and then checks his pouch. He takes a bit of food and seems to feed it to something inside his pack. Then he mounts his broom and zooms into the sky. Glad he has some extra blankets for the chill up in the cold winter air. by the end of the 5 hours of flight he's still pretty chilly from the upper air exposure and ends up trying to make something to break the icy wind that chills him through the blankets when they break for lunch.
Nef just runs underneath him for most of the time. Like she is expecting to have to catch him. She see's him shivering up there and gives a little whine while watching him with concern but with him in the sky she can't do anything about it at this time. She ends up eyeing Woodwoad when they show but otherwise does nothing else unless interacted with.
With a spare horse Sam will ride it quite often. Boris is Giant but not really built for passengers the way a proper horse and saddle and all is. Still Boris is put to good use helping lighten the load of the horses. They’re not carrying a lot of luggage or anything but they each have some gold, which gets heavy after a while, so loading Boris with that, or just their bedrolls and such if they’re nervous, would help a bit.
Sam still makes a point to ride Boris in shifts though. Both to give the horse a break and to get himself and the boar used to one another. Potentially Sam could imagine himself riding the giant bore into a battle one day. Wouldn’t that make quite the sight? Well not if he slid off halfway to his target! Practice is good…
Sam notes the kid choosing yo fly instead of ride and thinks perhaps the cold will change Vin’s mind. Another good reason to leave the horse available at times. Kid seems determined though… odd. Sam wonders if there’s a story behind that. Wonders just what the kids story is in general. Surely he didn’t just wake up one day with Neferox for a best pal…
“What we think about the tree?” Sam generally asks of the others when his wondering about Vin is broken by his noticing of their tail. “Making sure we get off safely, or just making sure we get out? The trees did seem very… self determination minded when they parted from Old Thickhead.”
Muir sees the tree and smiles "No, no that is Keeper Thunberg. She was killed saving and rescuing people of Hokum, but was able to somehow come back as a spirit of the woods. She is here seeing us off and protecting us. She is prohibited to leave Hokum's woods. She told me this back in Hokum when we were fighting the red caps."
Vin flies down in time to catch Muir and Sam talking about the keeper and Vin says "They d-d-did a lot to make sure folks in the prison survived. Cleared t-t-the way for us almost. Elthana and I saw t-t-them fighting and I aided them a bit from afar before we came back to get the rest of you." The boy looks absolutely cold as he shivers a bit but being near the fireplace he seems to quickly be getting better as he begins to warm up some blankets near the fire. They even summon a second bonfire to help warm everyone up. Nef seems to woof at them in concern and Vin says "I'll b-be okay."
Muir roots around in this things and pulls out a cloak that could act as a blanket for the boy "Here, I will be fine but you are thin skinned...take this cloak and use it as a blanket"Muir holds it out to Vin and smiles warmly...no pun intended
Vin takes it gratefully and seems to be better now he's had a few moments to warm up by the campfire and his summoned bonfire. He says, "Thank you Muir. It's a lot colder up there. The wind is so much stronger and chillier. It's nice to be by these fires for now." Nef snugs up next to Vin and he smiles "Also Nef's warm fur of course." She huffs in contentment.
Elthana watches all this and as Muir hands Vin a cloak she looks at him questioningly, "you know there is a perfectly good horse and if you rode it, you wouldn't be cold at all."
Wondering more about this winter solstice thing that Sam brought up, she doesn't talk much while they eat, but is happy to get back on the road again and helps put out the fire. After she gets far enough ahead of the group, she turns back to them to report.
"Up ahead, probably about an hour or so, there are large blockades located across the road. I'm not quite sure what they are or their purpose, but I'm sure its not good."
"Manned blockades? Manned by who?" Sam inquires. "Soldiers or civilians? It was known that there was trouble in Hokum so it could just be defensive in nature..."
"Speaking of..." Sam fishes around until he finds his speaking stone and then sends a report to Jimmy. In quick terms, since he doesn't know the limit of the length of messages, Sam tells him what has happened. "Cave cleared. Hokum cleared. Hermes clerics and paladins were littering Hokum but headed to caves and portal just before we left. We're on road to Trundlested now. Blockade up ahead. Know anything about that?" ((If same knows there is more room for a longer message he will provide more details as he knows them. Sam is still making it a point to send the reports in front of any who care to listen...))
"Anyway, the blockades..." Sam says, focusing on Elthana once more. "Just across the road so as to impede trade and caravans or really stretching out into the countryside? Is it in a clearing of grassland or in the woods or...?"
Gewyn listens in to Sam's report, and then says, "I think it's my move next. Let me take lead on this, and we'll see if I can ease our passage." He gets ready to start playing music on his pipes once within earshot of the blockade.
The group is quickly reminded of how they did not use the road to the south of the forest to get into Hokum, the majority of them went through the forest itself.
Before the group had killed the Not-deers, the abominations had been blocking anyone coming in or out of Hukum town and now the group is faced with how.
Littering the road is broken pieces of wood from carriages that have been left abandoned in the middle of the road. Each carriage has taken massive amounts of damage from antlers and hooves and each one appears to have just been left wherever it happens to have stopped in the road. Some crashed into one another, some upturned completely but as the group approach they see the devastation ahead for quite a while counting at least 20 broken carriages dotted along the road, complete with old and dried evidence of their occupants grizzly demise.
Gewyn stops playing and holds his shirt over his nose "Oof, not the kind of blockade I was expecting. Not sure there is much I can do for this." He tries to come across nonchalant, but despite what he has experienced recently, the slaughter is still enough to turn his stomach. So much death.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Vin looks a bit embarrassed when Elthana points out the horse. Nef looks to Vin and gives an encouraging woof almost sounding like she agrees with Elthana. Vin replies in a quiet voice "I don't like horses." To which Nef woofs. Vin shakes his head. As Elthana brings up the topic of barricades he seems to jump on the change of topic. Nef continues to stare at Vin as if tryign to puzzle something out. As she does Vin adds to the conversation, "Could be anything really. Only way to find out is to go check it out."
joining the rest Vin using Muir's cloak to stay warmer it seems to be working for now. When he see's the wreckage of the carriages and carts he flies down and begins to inspect. Finding the bodies he seems sad but he continues to search. Looking for objects to identify them so they can be returned to their loved ones or even just finding items of use. He's not at all expecting to find survivors but he is hopeful to find symbols, journals or other things to know where they came from. If he finds none of that he plans to just scavenge what is useful and say a little prayer for them and assuring them they were avenged. Nef will help him in this search focusing more on finding things that will aid Vin.
Muir gets down for a brief minute and checks the belongings scattered about to see if there are any specific items that could be returned to family members of the deceased. INV: 5
Not really seeing anything that is familiar or worth returning. He begins to sniff around for Fae scents to help figure out what killed these people
Sam, like the others, investigates the carriages and wreckage. Unlike the others he does so coldly and methodically. Sam isn’t thinking of informing families or such, Sam is more thinking about salvage. It’s not that Sam is indifferent to tragedy so much as he views with dealing with it someone else’s job. Surely with the “all clear” given Trundlested will send people… People whose job it is. It’s basically down to numbers, this is too big for Sam so he refuses to get too wrapped up in it. He’d be a lot more affected if it was a single carriage…
investigation: (17-1) 16
“Marblestead is already sending people,” Sam chimes up to all once he’s completed his look see. “Trundlested likely will as well once we can report it is safe… The quicker we continue on the quicker proper authorities can be sent…”
Impatient to get moving, she sees the others methodically going through the wreckage. Elthana just wants to get around it and continue on their journey. She assists just to keep things moving and looks a bit at the carriages on the outskirts of the blockade, but it also makes her wonder what drove these not-deer... did it go all the way back to Ryndell? Or was it something different? She sure hoped not.
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Gewyn wakes, feeling stiff. He twists and stretches a few times, eliciting some satisfying cracks from his back. Then he seems to go one crack too far, and winces, pressing a palm into his lower left back. "Dammit. So close to not throwing my back out on this trip. That's going to be bugging me for a few days."
He prepares with the rest, turning down some food offered by one of the townsfolk. "Oh no thank you. I don't get my appetite most days until past noon, and you could use it more than me." Seeing the three horses, he walks over and examines the selection. "What's wrong, Vin?" He says, noting the boy's hesitance. "Never ridden one before? Well never you worry. I may not be an expert, but I've ridden a few here or there, and by my count, someone'll have to double up anyway. Sam's got the boar, Elthana has a... wind horse... Is that still the case, El? Either way, that still leaves 3 horses between the rest of us, and I'm pretty sure the one carrying the loxodon over there is at capacity. So if you will, allow me to be your riding partner."
Gewyn pulls out a handkerchief with a flourish and lightly places it on the ground with two fingers. He then gets down on one knee, using the handkerchief to shield his pants from the ground, and interlocking his fingers to give Vin a boost up. He gives Nef a look. "Unless you're planning to carry him all the way," he says preemptively to ward off a protective growl.
Sam takes the bag back from Muir and pauses, squinting at the druid for a moment before opening the bag and giving a quick count. Halfway through the count he pauses and looks at Muir, if Muir is paying him no mind then Sam just continues the count, ties the bag back in place and carries on. If Muir is watching him count or giving him a look about it Sam says "What? Of course I'm going to count. You rather I do it behind your back?"
As everyone climbs atop their mounts Sam climbs Boris and tell the Giant Boar "Don't worry, I will make sure you get plenty of breaks..." Boris gives a huff of relief.
"And no racing off!" Sam calls out to everyone. "Boris may not be able to keep up with your beasts but I promise once he catches up to them he can make them regret it..."
As everyone gets ready to head out, Elthana pulls out her glass orb filled with a cloud. Holding it up to her face, she whispers into it and the cloud insides starts swirling around, spinning faster till the orb disappears and a horse it in it's place.
"Yes, Gewyn, Gust is still with me." She says this looking into the horses face, petting her long mane.
As she starts off on her horse, she looks back at Sam, "Racing off is what she does... Boris can deal with it!" and with that, Gust speeds off.
With farewells said, it is not long before Hokum is behind the group, with Muir on his old horse Snabb, Elthana on Gust, and Vin electing to forgo doubling up with Gewyn in favour of flying above the group on his broom Bry'ze, Iver and Gewyn take up two of the acquired horses leaving one avaliable for the coming days if Sam's animal pull isn't as helpful as he would need.
But for now, the group make some progress, after about 5 hours of travelling the south road along the edge of Hokum forest, it becomes time for lunch
The trees are covered in snow, branches hang low with the weight, making it a little easier to spot a certain tree that is unburdened and still green, a small tree that seems to have been following the group, one that is familiar. Woodwoad Thunberg keeps a close glowing eye on the group as they gather up their things from a short rest lunch, and begin moving off again.
Gweyn's intentions mean all the best but he would quickly notice its not the lack of experience... those with good insight would notice, Vin is scared of horses. He never once approached a horse or helped to get them ready on their trip here. He seemed fine on a carriage being pulled by them but getting on one seems too much for the young man. He tries to hide his fear though and when Gweyn tries to encourage him onto one he says "Uhh... umm... it's okay Gweyn. I umm... oh! I have byr'ze! I'll ride them. It'll be good to have an aerial view right? Also, it's super fun to fly on them. S-so... ummm you can have that one all to you." he gestures to the horse.
Nef just rolls her eyes when Gweyn suggests her carrying Vin. She huffs some heated breath in his way and just moves over to Vin nudging him. He shakes his head like he's refusing something and pulls out his magic broom instead. "It's okay Nef. I'll be fine riding Bry'ze. I don't need to learn right now." he laughs nervously and then checks his pouch. He takes a bit of food and seems to feed it to something inside his pack. Then he mounts his broom and zooms into the sky. Glad he has some extra blankets for the chill up in the cold winter air. by the end of the 5 hours of flight he's still pretty chilly from the upper air exposure and ends up trying to make something to break the icy wind that chills him through the blankets when they break for lunch.
Nef just runs underneath him for most of the time. Like she is expecting to have to catch him. She see's him shivering up there and gives a little whine while watching him with concern but with him in the sky she can't do anything about it at this time. She ends up eyeing Woodwoad when they show but otherwise does nothing else unless interacted with.
With a spare horse Sam will ride it quite often. Boris is Giant but not really built for passengers the way a proper horse and saddle and all is. Still Boris is put to good use helping lighten the load of the horses. They’re not carrying a lot of luggage or anything but they each have some gold, which gets heavy after a while, so loading Boris with that, or just their bedrolls and such if they’re nervous, would help a bit.
Sam still makes a point to ride Boris in shifts though. Both to give the horse a break and to get himself and the boar used to one another. Potentially Sam could imagine himself riding the giant bore into a battle one day. Wouldn’t that make quite the sight? Well not if he slid off halfway to his target! Practice is good…
Sam notes the kid choosing yo fly instead of ride and thinks perhaps the cold will change Vin’s mind. Another good reason to leave the horse available at times. Kid seems determined though… odd. Sam wonders if there’s a story behind that. Wonders just what the kids story is in general. Surely he didn’t just wake up one day with Neferox for a best pal…
“What we think about the tree?” Sam generally asks of the others when his wondering about Vin is broken by his noticing of their tail. “Making sure we get off safely, or just making sure we get out? The trees did seem very… self determination minded when they parted from Old Thickhead.”
Muir sees the tree and smiles "No, no that is Keeper Thunberg. She was killed saving and rescuing people of Hokum, but was able to somehow come back as a spirit of the woods. She is here seeing us off and protecting us. She is prohibited to leave Hokum's woods. She told me this back in Hokum when we were fighting the red caps."
“Hmph,” Sam opines, expressing his desire to tell one tree from another.
“Still kind of feels like being kicked out…” he grumbles to himself.
Vin flies down in time to catch Muir and Sam talking about the keeper and Vin says "They d-d-did a lot to make sure folks in the prison survived. Cleared t-t-the way for us almost. Elthana and I saw t-t-them fighting and I aided them a bit from afar before we came back to get the rest of you." The boy looks absolutely cold as he shivers a bit but being near the fireplace he seems to quickly be getting better as he begins to warm up some blankets near the fire. They even summon a second bonfire to help warm everyone up. Nef seems to woof at them in concern and Vin says "I'll b-be okay."
Muir roots around in this things and pulls out a cloak that could act as a blanket for the boy "Here, I will be fine but you are thin skinned...take this cloak and use it as a blanket" Muir holds it out to Vin and smiles warmly...no pun intended
Vin takes it gratefully and seems to be better now he's had a few moments to warm up by the campfire and his summoned bonfire. He says, "Thank you Muir. It's a lot colder up there. The wind is so much stronger and chillier. It's nice to be by these fires for now." Nef snugs up next to Vin and he smiles "Also Nef's warm fur of course." She huffs in contentment.
Elthana watches all this and as Muir hands Vin a cloak she looks at him questioningly, "you know there is a perfectly good horse and if you rode it, you wouldn't be cold at all."
Wondering more about this winter solstice thing that Sam brought up, she doesn't talk much while they eat, but is happy to get back on the road again and helps put out the fire. After she gets far enough ahead of the group, she turns back to them to report.
"Up ahead, probably about an hour or so, there are large blockades located across the road. I'm not quite sure what they are or their purpose, but I'm sure its not good."
"Manned blockades? Manned by who?" Sam inquires. "Soldiers or civilians? It was known that there was trouble in Hokum so it could just be defensive in nature..."
"Speaking of..." Sam fishes around until he finds his speaking stone and then sends a report to Jimmy. In quick terms, since he doesn't know the limit of the length of messages, Sam tells him what has happened. "Cave cleared. Hokum cleared. Hermes clerics and paladins were littering Hokum but headed to caves and portal just before we left. We're on road to Trundlested now. Blockade up ahead. Know anything about that?" ((If same knows there is more room for a longer message he will provide more details as he knows them. Sam is still making it a point to send the reports in front of any who care to listen...))
"Anyway, the blockades..." Sam says, focusing on Elthana once more. "Just across the road so as to impede trade and caravans or really stretching out into the countryside? Is it in a clearing of grassland or in the woods or...?"
Gewyn listens in to Sam's report, and then says, "I think it's my move next. Let me take lead on this, and we'll see if I can ease our passage." He gets ready to start playing music on his pipes once within earshot of the blockade.
The group is quickly reminded of how they did not use the road to the south of the forest to get into Hokum, the majority of them went through the forest itself.
Before the group had killed the Not-deers, the abominations had been blocking anyone coming in or out of Hukum town and now the group is faced with how.
Littering the road is broken pieces of wood from carriages that have been left abandoned in the middle of the road. Each carriage has taken massive amounts of damage from antlers and hooves and each one appears to have just been left wherever it happens to have stopped in the road. Some crashed into one another, some upturned completely but as the group approach they see the devastation ahead for quite a while counting at least 20 broken carriages dotted along the road, complete with old and dried evidence of their occupants grizzly demise.
Gewyn stops playing and holds his shirt over his nose "Oof, not the kind of blockade I was expecting. Not sure there is much I can do for this." He tries to come across nonchalant, but despite what he has experienced recently, the slaughter is still enough to turn his stomach. So much death.
Vin looks a bit embarrassed when Elthana points out the horse. Nef looks to Vin and gives an encouraging woof almost sounding like she agrees with Elthana. Vin replies in a quiet voice "I don't like horses." To which Nef woofs. Vin shakes his head. As Elthana brings up the topic of barricades he seems to jump on the change of topic. Nef continues to stare at Vin as if tryign to puzzle something out. As she does Vin adds to the conversation, "Could be anything really. Only way to find out is to go check it out."
joining the rest Vin using Muir's cloak to stay warmer it seems to be working for now. When he see's the wreckage of the carriages and carts he flies down and begins to inspect. Finding the bodies he seems sad but he continues to search. Looking for objects to identify them so they can be returned to their loved ones or even just finding items of use. He's not at all expecting to find survivors but he is hopeful to find symbols, journals or other things to know where they came from. If he finds none of that he plans to just scavenge what is useful and say a little prayer for them and assuring them they were avenged. Nef will help him in this search focusing more on finding things that will aid Vin.
Investigation: 14
Muir gets down for a brief minute and checks the belongings scattered about to see if there are any specific items that could be returned to family members of the deceased. INV: 5
Not really seeing anything that is familiar or worth returning. He begins to sniff around for Fae scents to help figure out what killed these people
Perc: 20
Sam, like the others, investigates the carriages and wreckage. Unlike the others he does so coldly and methodically. Sam isn’t thinking of informing families or such, Sam is more thinking about salvage.
It’s not that Sam is indifferent to tragedy so much as he views with dealing with it someone else’s job. Surely with the “all clear” given Trundlested will send people… People whose job it is. It’s basically down to numbers, this is too big for Sam so he refuses to get too wrapped up in it. He’d be a lot more affected if it was a single carriage…
investigation: (17-1) 16
“Marblestead is already sending people,” Sam chimes up to all once he’s completed his look see. “Trundlested likely will as well once we can report it is safe… The quicker we continue on the quicker proper authorities can be sent…”
Impatient to get moving, she sees the others methodically going through the wreckage. Elthana just wants to get around it and continue on their journey. She assists just to keep things moving and looks a bit at the carriages on the outskirts of the blockade, but it also makes her wonder what drove these not-deer... did it go all the way back to Ryndell? Or was it something different? She sure hoped not.