Chakka gestures to Thun's corpse, laid out with the others, innards splayed out over herself. "Thunxandridir has died."

     Gnolls stripped of their few "valuables" Nodjeim wonders if they should burn them or just leave them for the scavengers to feed upon.  No matter, that need not be decided immediately.  He moved back to the others and tried to assess the situation.  "Do we have sheets?" he asks matter of factly.  "We should wrap the fallen." He is not emotional but it is pretty clear by the fallen he does not include the gnolls.  "Would anyone know their wishes?  Their customs?"

     Nodjeim would also keep on eye on everyone.  Perhaps more so on the actual members of the caravan than the add ons.  He's trying to decide who is in charge now.  He assumes it will be Fefir but he will give it some time.  Not much but some.  Because someone will need to take charge, to decide on wether to rescue the goods from the spooked horses that crashed or just carry on as is.  If they retrieve goods that may mean some others may need to be jettisoned so as to not over tax the horses...  But that is caravan business and while he may eventually say a word in Fefir's ear, or whoever takes charge, it's not his role to actually make these decisions...

     Similarly, the goods from the Gnolls.  Nodjeim does not think they are automatically caravan goods but someone should take charge of them or they could easily enough become so.  Nodjeim approaches the Elf, Olan.  "They did not have much but there are a few items there," Nodjeim says quietly to him with a shift of his head to indicate the pile. "Some vicious looking arrows.  A necklace.  An odd note of some kind."

Evelyn heads back toward Nodjeim. She sees him studying their fallen companions. "There may be some sheets in one of the wagons," she suggests. "As for their customs, I'm afraid I have no idea."

Walking over the edge of the cliff, Evelyn peers over the side to see if she can see the fallen wagons. "What are going to do about the wagons?" she frets, asking the question aloud but to no one in particular.

Quote from owlbear89 >>

Evelyn heads back toward Nodjeim. She sees him studying their fallen companions. "There may be some sheets in one of the wagons," she suggests. "As for their customs, I'm afraid I have no idea."

Walking over the edge of the cliff, Evelyn peers over the side to see if she can see the fallen wagons. "What are going to do about the wagons?" she frets, asking the question aloud but to no one in particular.

 "I think the remaining partners would know their wishes, but some may not be in a position to say" he looks towards Kirna with sadness.

"With regards to the wagons, Thomir is probably best suited to take charge, or possibly Fefir, but that is a matter for the caravanners really."

Quote from Kaemgen >>

 Nodjeim approaches the Elf, Olan.  "They did not have much but there are a few items there," Nodjeim says quietly to him with a shift of his head to indicate the pile. "Some vicious looking arrows.  A necklace.  An odd note of some kind."

 Olan wanders over to take a look. As the only archer in the party he will take the arrows. He picks up the necklace and the paper and notices the glaive, so takes that too. He then crosses over to Evie and Threla. "Our assailants have a few things that are curious, and I wonder if either of you can cast any light on them. I have a feeling that there may be something of the arcane about them." He gives them the arrows, glaive, necklace and paper. "There is no rush, we have far more pressing concerns, but when things have settled down a little it may shed some light on events."

Of those who read the paper, none understand its contents, though I would like Evelyn to make me a history roll.

Evelyn takes a look at the items. She is especially interested in the note. What would gnolls be doing with a written note anyway? As far she knew, they weren't exactly literate, barely more intelligent than animals really. Dwarvish is one of the two languages she learned at the Rosewood Academy (Elvish was the other since it seemed the most useful), but she could not read this script. She studied the note for a few minutes, racking her brain for anything she might know about this kind of Dwarvish script.

History - 11

Without even succeeding the check, Evelyn does know that more languages than just Dwarvish use Dethek. However, she does not recognize this one from her studies. 

Fefir pipes up, quietly. "It may be best to move further down the path, so as to rendezvous with the fallen wagons. We ought to take care of the bodies here as soon as possible, burning them may be the best move. I know that there is a tradition of the people of the plains to bury their dead in the cliffside, but we have neither the time nor the requisite equipment."

Additionally, because the DM totally missed it, Fefir replies to Veldruk. "I know of no such item for resurrection in Dondeir's cart. He was bringing mostly mundane goods, with a few minor things like healing potions, alchemist's fire, the like."

     Some alchemists fire can help with the burning of the bodies easily enough, it would seem. Nodjeim would suggest that any words or prayers or such for the dead be said and then the caravan move on to try to retrieve what can be salvaged from the lost carts.  He's willing to stay behind and set the pyre of bodies alight and then catch up with the rest.  He should be able to scale the cliff to catch up with a minimal difficulty, he thinks.  And best to get things moving as quickly as possible, the gnolls may have others in their pack who come looking for them... or that are just drawn to the fire.  Best the wagons be moved on before that begins.

If no objections are raised, the bodies are burned without issue, and the remaining wagons meet with the crashed ones, a thirty minute or so walk down one of these enormous switchbacks. However, when your group reaches the wagons, an issue becomes abundantly clear. There are only three wagons remaining, and these are unsalvageable. You could maybe stuff a few more items into the wagons you have, where consumed supplies were once packed, but all of these wagons were packed as tightly as possible at the beginning of the journey. There is no space for the items that remain here. The items here are worth an incredible amount, but there's simply no way to pack them all. Unless another solution is found, you're going to have to leave most of the items behind.

Evelyn studies the damaged wagons and frowns. She realizes that there is no way to pack the salvageable goods into the remaining wagons.

"Perhaps we can return later, after we've delivered what is left," she suggests. "I think we should press on." She can't help but eye the cliffsides nervously, clearly afraid of another ambush.

OOC:  It was mentioned the dead are generally buried in the cliffside but we did not have tools for such.  Are there no shovels and pickaxes at all on this caravan? Are there any natural caves or such in the cliffside?  Is where the dead were buried obvious or findable at all?  It would be best to stash what we cannot bring.  We should bring the most necessary items and then the most valuable, I would think. In truth that would be up to Fefir as it is a caravan issue...  

(Fefir's not in control of the caravan any more than you, he was a friend of Dondeir but he's just another dude on the payroll. It's a practice to bury the dead high-up on the cliff, but you'd need equipment to actually raise them up, excavate a portion of the cliff high up in the air, and potentially hide it as well, as is traditional. It's a huge undertaking performed for the honored dead.)

(In general, excavating a part of the cliff is not an easy thing, and requires careful measurements, equipment, and manpower. The way down the cliff was already established when it returned after the Second Sundering, so it was a lot easier, and even then it took multiple years and lots of collaboration to complete.)

Fefir’s answers were enough to make Veldruk decide that there was no point in carrying the bodies. He would rather use the alchemist’s fire to burn the dead, that way no beast would be attracted to their trail. The drow was more than happy when Nodjeim’s voice echoed his thoughts. After all, one could only pass indifference for experience so far.

Down by the cliff they found a logistic dilemma – there was too much valuable cargo for too little space. That made the warlock think about the cart now without owner. The very nature of the road all but ensured they needed to stay together and keep onwards to New Shaarmid and neither Kirna nor Chakka did seem inclined to fight for merchandise, though in the case of thri-kreen he couldn’t be sure. It was that hard to read his expressions.

“I don’t think we’ll find anything if we ever get back.” He said in response to Evenly, thinking of gnolls. “We can make space in the carts by leaving less valuable cargo behind but that is for traders to decide.” The dark elf looked around, as if expecting another ambush. “I do agree about pressing on.”

The smoke from the improvised funeral was sure to warn other lurking marauders.

(If everyone is satisfied with leaving the stuff behind and has no more investigations to perform, we can move on to the next leg of the journey.)

Olan looks at the smoke from the pyre, and the re-arranged carts. "I think it's time we were moving on, before something turns up to investigate."

Threlan looks at Fefir "Would it be wise for the injured to consume the healing potions you mentioned so that way we can make sure everyone is healthy in case of another ambush? We could replace the Potions with some of the other goods?" 

     Evelyn is the one who has wandered most afar from the caravan and explored.  As such, Nodjeim would approach her and inquire if she has found any caves or such which may provide a possible hiding spot for the goods they cannot transport...  Even a wood area might be sufficient to drag fallen branches and such to cover the goods.  It would be no guarantee of retrieval at a later date but the idea of just leaving it out in the open rubs Nodjeim the wrong way.  But if there is nothing to be done for it, then it is what it is. There is no point sitting and stewing over it instead of moving on.