Opening his eyes Jack starts to look, seeing Reg in front he taps his shoulder and whispers,
"I am making sure nothing comes up behind us and look for paths we can escape on if things get rough. Let me know what is decided."
“As you wish” came Reg’s replay. Then he watched as Jack of the Smiling variety proceeded to move around the cabin. So, he watched the woods and the path they had just traveled. He wondered, a lot actually. ‘Was it possible the boot prints were Clotha’s or was the poor girl now stringing a pot?’, ‘Surely Ned couldn’t have gotten here AND started a fire, but to let a fire burn the length of time the group had spent in chase didn’t make sense either.’, ‘Did the man with the scroll and gem have a name?’
Jack shrugs, walks up to the cabin door and knocks.
…the non-smiling variety of Jack knocks on the door. “Welp, you gotta admire the direct approach.”
”Begging your pardon Young Smiling Jack, I do believe it’s decided that we are attempting to become acquainted with the residents.” Reg offers in fulfillment of the scout’s request to be informed.
Looks to Reg with a big grin and nodding affirmative, "I will stay out here to keep watch, too many people in a tight space,"uses his thumb to point at the house, "means someone is not pulling a looksee around...." counts on his fingers, "with seven of us, that is a large crowd to enter all at once...Anyone want to keep me company as we wait outside?....I think I am not good at being the talking guy to strangers anyways."
Jack steps to the "side" off the path to allow anyone who wants to go to the door have plenty of space to follow Jack, and he has his bow pointing down, but his hands in a position to easily bring the bow up if the riders show up.
Jack shrugs, walks up to the cabin door and knocks.
Barn stares at the pock-marked Jack as he approaches the door to the wooden cabin, jaw slightly open. A thought meanders through the big man's mind.
Didn't he do that with the stump too when we thought Old Ned and Clotha were inside? Just walked right up with a greeting? I mean... it worked that time.
"W-well, the smoke's coming from the chimney, s-so... someone's probably inside with a f-fire lit. C-could be the boot-wearer from the boot prints."
Barn moves up to stand behind pock-marked Jack with his halberd held casually, yet available with its reach to respond to any attack on the shorter man.
A few moments after Jack knocks the door opens and a rather careworn woman's face emerges taking in Jack, Barn and Ardwynn.
She was dressed in an oft-repaired but clean léine and soot-stained brot, her nose wrinkled slightly at the sight of Jacks face but she apparently got over it quickly, " Who are you? No ones supposed to be in Gallows Wood. Ye'd best be off sharpish, me husband'll be back soon and he won't take kindly to interlopers."
Smiling Jack hears the careworn woman, and s******s, saying to Reg, "Sounds like old Mrs. Yearwood who lives near the Blacksmith shop."
Jack looks over to Caelan and Oengus, and states, "I am going around the house to check out that fly infested wood pile, why don't you two stand guard, as it does not sound like you want to go into the house," Jack turns to take a step, then looks at Reg, "being a trapper, want to join me and see what is lying dead and rotting near the wood?"
Without waiting on a reply Jack starts a slow walk to the pile.
A few moments after Jack knocks the door opens and a rather careworn woman's face emerges taking in Jack, Barn and Ardwynn.
She was dressed in an oft-repaired but clean léine and soot-stained brot, her nose wrinkled slightly at the sight of Jacks face but she apparently got over it quickly, " Who are you? No ones supposed to be in Gallows Wood. Ye'd best be off sharpish, me husband'll be back soon and he won't take kindly to interlopers."
Barn goggles in surprise as the ordinary looking woman answers the cabin door. He suppresses his anger and shame at the reiteration of the Duke's order.
"N-no one's supposed to be in Gallows Wood," the big man repeats thickly. "Are you 'no one' then? I m-mean, it l-looks like you've been here in Gallows Wood a little while at least. Y-your husband too, maybe? Who are you? We are looking f-for... a friend. Chasing the one who k-kidnapped her..."
He pauses a moment, torn between his line of questioning and not wanting to get off on the wrong foot. "Hello, by the way. They c-call me Barn."
The big man suddenly has a vivid, visceral memory of the adolescent bullies in Ereworn who had first given him the nickname he bears to this day, nearly ten years past. Well, well, well... if it isn't Barnaby Anwyn... AS THICK AS A BARN DOOR...
Barn's face falls for a moment and he swallows, but then he thinks of Ardwynn'sencouragement from just a moment ago and mostly recovers himself.
Smiling Jack hears the careworn woman, and s******s, saying to Reg, "Sounds like old Mrs. Yearwood who lives near the Blacksmith shop."
Jack looks over to Caelan and Oengus, and states, "I am going around the house to check out that fly infested wood pile, why don't you two stand guard, as it does not sound like you want to go into the house," Jack turns to take a step, then looks at Reg, "being a trapper, want to join me and see what is lying dead and rotting near the wood?"
Without waiting on a reply Jack starts a slow walk to the pile.
Perception 21
Investigation 18
Nature 10
Survival 10
Jack walks slowly around the house as the others converse and stand watch, as he approaches the wood pile a rank odour begins to assault his nostrils and soon he can taste it on his tongue.....the woodpile is enormous and neatly stacked into similar sized sections of wood.....oak....ash....birch...hazel....birch?........that's not birch.....its pallid and pale like.....no it is a section of someones leg....and there is an arm......a torso.....another....a dozen......more?
The woodpile is festooned with human remains.....all in a state of decay......
His head suddenly whips up as he hears a twig snap out in the woods, someone is slowly approaching down the trail they took here......they are still some distance away......but they are coming....
A few moments after Jack knocks the door opens and a rather careworn woman's face emerges taking in Jack, Barn and Ardwynn.
She was dressed in an oft-repaired but clean léine and soot-stained brot, her nose wrinkled slightly at the sight of Jacks face but she apparently got over it quickly, " Who are you? No ones supposed to be in Gallows Wood. Ye'd best be off sharpish, me husband'll be back soon and he won't take kindly to interlopers."
Barn goggles in surprise as the ordinary looking woman answers the cabin door. He suppresses his anger and shame at the reiteration of the Duke's order.
"N-no one's supposed to be in Gallows Wood," the big man repeats thickly. "Are you 'no one' then? I m-mean, it l-looks like you've been here in Gallows Wood a little while at least. Y-your husband too, maybe? Who are you? We are looking f-for... a friend. Chasing the one who k-kidnapped her..."
He pauses a moment, torn between his line of questioning and not wanting to get off on the wrong foot. "Hello, by the way. They c-call me Barn."
The big man suddenly has a vivid, visceral memory of the adolescent bullies in Ereworn who had first given him the nickname he bears to this day, nearly ten years past. Well, well, well... if it isn't Barnaby Anwyn... AS THICK AS A BARN DOOR...
Barn's face falls for a moment and he swallows, but then he thinks of Ardwynn'sencouragement from just a moment ago and mostly recovers himself.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
His head suddenly whips up as he hears a twig snap out in the woods, someone is slowly approaching down the trail they took here......they are still some distance away......but they are coming....
Smiling Jack, walks with a purpose back to the other three he left behind, lets them know a person is coming. He also states, "that is no wood pile, I think it is a people pile."
Seeing the others still at the front door talking with the lady, he projects to them, "Someone is coming up the trail"pointing down that trail he heard footsteps.
Jack has his bow out, and his also keeping watch on the other trails incase people approaching split up to surround the house and them.
Reg had been standing by, keeping tabs on the others. Smiling Jack around the house, Barn and the other Jack at the door, Ardwynn probably not far behind her friend, Cealan and the bard nearly.
He had doubted they were on the right path to save Clotha, but there was strength in numbers. He also doubted that they would actually meet any of Darian’s riders. Heck, he doubted they would find a cabin out here yet there it was…with a woman to boot.
S.Jack comes back with alarming news as the woman, Macha, gives her warning, and drops some name “was…is?” It stirs him to consider how genuine she is. Are her words to protect them…or to protect her (and her husband Nuadha). Though to be honest, determining people’s intentions isn’t his strong suit. Insight: 8
”We might want to consider looking elsewhere folks, I fear Clotha isn’t here.”
"And who's going to evict us? You? Darian's riders don't dare cross my husband.......Nuadha. Such a great man he was...is....."
"Me? I'm Macha. And I'm trying to save your lives. Go Now! Before he finds you here!"
"I ain't seen yer missing friend.....and if they ran into me husband out there they are long departed this world....."
Barn takes an involuntary step back when Macha tells him and his companions to leave now while they can. Smiling Jack's report of piled body parts and of an approaching stranger register alarm in the big man's mind, as does Reg's warning. Yet a stubborn streak makes him stand up to the woman.
"Evict y-you?" he growls, "Why w-would we want to do that? It's you who said no one's s-supposed to be here. But... if your husband's such a great man, why does he k-kill everyone he meets? Is murdering people and stacking p-pieces of them behind your h-house what a great man does? Or a m-monster? Is he even h-human? F-for all I care, the Black Riders can... can go to hell... but no one d-deserves to die j-just for crossing paths with him."
"And who's going to evict us? You? Darian's riders don't dare cross my husband.......Nuadha. Such a great man he was...is....."
"Me? I'm Macha. And I'm trying to save your lives. Go Now! Before he finds you here!"
"I ain't seen yer missing friend.....and if they ran into me husband out there they are long departed this world....."
Barn takes an involuntary step back when Macha tells him and his companions to leave now while they can. Smiling Jack's report of stacked body parts and of an approaching stranger register alarm in the big man's mind, as does Reg's warning. Yet a stubborn streak makes him stand up to the woman.
"Evict y-you?" he growls, "Why w-would we want to do that? It's you who said no one's s-supposed to be here. But... if your husband's such a great man, why does he k-kill everyone he meets? Is murdering people and stacking p-pieces of them behind your h-house what a great man does? Or a m-monster? Is he even h-human? F-for all I care, the Black Riders can... can go to hell... but no one d-deserves to die j-just for crossing paths with him."
Barns forthwrightness seems to crack Machas resolve for a moment, " He.....he is the sweetest, kindest man you could ever dream of.....but some years ago he cut down an elm on the eastern boundary...he said it bled blood not sap....he was awful afeared he was."
" Next morn a bent old woman came to the door telling us she was searching for a man that killed her brother.....when Nuada came to the door she suddenly reached in and snatched his axe and sniffed it. Then she poked a long finger into my husbands chest and said, " Savage killer of kin you are and Savage killer is all you will ever be.....till amends are made."
" She then turned and left."
" Nuada tried to quiet my fears but day by day his mood grew darker and his aspect more terrible.....gone were the bright shining eyes, now glowering orbs.....his muscled back became even more so.....twisting into an enormous hillock of muscle and sinew....his arms that once held me tight, now dragging clawed ropey things of unnatural strength......"
" He......does terrible things.......but never to me.....and sometimes I think I see him staring desperately at me from behind those bloodshot embers.......he's still in there! Its not his fault!"
" Please.....please...you must go....he'll scent you were here but I can likely throw him off the trail if your gone when he arrives."
Smiling Jack in his concentration of the upcoming danger, hears others speak. His young mind starts trying to process it all. Conflicting actions create confusion. Jack inhales a deep breath, holds it and slowly lets it out, He repeats the breath, and again and fourth time, shakes his head clear and realizes that the confusion is all still there. His earlier confidence is gone.
In a shaking and confused breath, Jacks says "What...whatever...the...the... group decides...I...I...I will...follow. But...but them strangers should...be in...in sight...now."
Jack continues his "9" from a previous rolled vigilance on surveying the surrounding area.
"Do you know what kind of amends are needed?" asks Jack. "Blood for blood, life for life? If the hag wanted him dead, wouldn't she have just killed him?"
"Maybe we'll wait for him and I can volunteer to take his burden. The hag can have me and lift the curse from your husband."
Sacrificing himself to save a couples' relationship seems just. His whole life hasn't been great, and if he can bring happiness to these people it would be worth it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
Caelan had been listening in silence, eyes never leaving the treeline Jack had indicated, body angled so he could watch both the cabin door and the approach down the trail. When Jack returned with the report of the “woodpile,” Caelan’s jaw tightened not in surprise, but in confirmation. The smell, the flies, the warning sign, the fire kept burning too long for comfort…it all settled into a grim shape. When Macha spoke, really spoke, Caelan did not interrupt. He watched her hands as much as her face, the way her fear clung to her words not like a lie, but like a bruise that never healed. When she finished, he exhaled slowly through his nose. “Curses like that,” he said quietly, finally, “don’t come from nothing. And they don’t lift for nothing either.”He shifted then, stepping half a pace forward, not toward the woman, but so he was squarely between the cabin and the direction of the approaching footsteps. His voice stayed low, steady, carrying authority without threat.
“You cut down something that wasn’t meant to be cut,” he went on. “Whether your husband knew it or not doesn’t matter to the old laws. Intent counts less than action.”His eyes flicked briefly to the woodpile behind the cabin before returning to Macha.“But what’s done after the curse does matter. And this…” a small tilt of his head toward the flies and rot, “this isn’t amends. It’s a widening debt.” At Jack’s trembling offer, Caelan turned sharply, one hand lifting at once, not to grab, but to stop. “No,” he said, firm and immediate.“That’s not how this works.”He met Jack’s eyes fully now, storm-grey and unyielding.“You don’t volunteer yourself into a fae bargain you don’t understand. That’s not justice. That’s how they take everything.”
He glanced back down the trail, measuring distance, time. “Whoever’s coming,”he added, “they’re close enough that we don’t get to debate this at length.” Caelan’s attention returned to Macha. “Amends aren’t always blood for blood,” he said. “Sometimes they’re restoration. Sometimes confession. Sometimes returning what was taken, or standing witness before the right power.” A pause. “But they are never paid by an innocent who steps forward out of guilt.”He lowered his voice further, so only those near him would hear. “Your husband may still be in there,”he said, echoing her words back to her. “But every body he adds makes it harder for him to come back.” Then, without waiting for an answer, Caelan shifted his stance again, eyes locking on the path. “They’re nearly in sight,” he said calmly. “We don’t flee blindly. We don’t charge. We hold, long enough to see what is walking up that trail.” His hand went to his bow, not drawing yet, just ready. “And whatever comes,” Caelan added quietly, “we do not make promises on anyone’s soul until we know exactly who is listening.”
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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“As you wish” came Reg’s replay. Then he watched as Jack of the Smiling variety proceeded to move around the cabin. So, he watched the woods and the path they had just traveled. He wondered, a lot actually. ‘Was it possible the boot prints were Clotha’s or was the poor girl now stringing a pot?’, ‘Surely Ned couldn’t have gotten here AND started a fire, but to let a fire burn the length of time the group had spent in chase didn’t make sense either.’, ‘Did the man with the scroll and gem have a name?’
All this turned over in the man’s mind when…
…the non-smiling variety of Jack knocks on the door. “Welp, you gotta admire the direct approach.”
”Begging your pardon Young Smiling Jack, I do believe it’s decided that we are attempting to become acquainted with the residents.” Reg offers in fulfillment of the scout’s request to be informed.
Smiling Jack
Looks to Reg with a big grin and nodding affirmative, "I will stay out here to keep watch, too many people in a tight space," uses his thumb to point at the house, "means someone is not pulling a looksee around...." counts on his fingers, "with seven of us, that is a large crowd to enter all at once...Anyone want to keep me company as we wait outside?....I think I am not good at being the talking guy to strangers anyways."
Jack steps to the "side" off the path to allow anyone who wants to go to the door have plenty of space to follow Jack, and he has his bow pointing down, but his hands in a position to easily bring the bow up if the riders show up.
Barn stares at the pock-marked Jack as he approaches the door to the wooden cabin, jaw slightly open. A thought meanders through the big man's mind.
Didn't he do that with the stump too when we thought Old Ned and Clotha were inside? Just walked right up with a greeting? I mean... it worked that time.
"W-well, the smoke's coming from the chimney, s-so... someone's probably inside with a f-fire lit. C-could be the boot-wearer from the boot prints."
Barn moves up to stand behind pock-marked Jack with his halberd held casually, yet available with its reach to respond to any attack on the shorter man.
Barn(Paladin1):Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4):VitusW's Silverwood Forest | Nivi(Rogue5):Erik_Soong's Netherdeep
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic system):ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord) | Seri(Druid1):Hunter_Orien's Saltmarsh
Xarian (Fighter3):Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia (Sorcerer2):BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1):Culuril's Strixhaven
Ardwynn moves over to stand near Barn. "Buck up, Barn. Between the two of us, we should be able to handle most normal foes."
A few moments after Jack knocks the door opens and a rather careworn woman's face emerges taking in Jack, Barn and Ardwynn.
She was dressed in an oft-repaired but clean léine and soot-stained brot, her nose wrinkled slightly at the sight of Jacks face but she apparently got over it quickly, " Who are you? No ones supposed to be in Gallows Wood. Ye'd best be off sharpish, me husband'll be back soon and he won't take kindly to interlopers."
Smiling Jack hears the careworn woman, and s******s, saying to Reg, "Sounds like old Mrs. Yearwood who lives near the Blacksmith shop."
Jack looks over to Caelan and Oengus, and states, "I am going around the house to check out that fly infested wood pile, why don't you two stand guard, as it does not sound like you want to go into the house," Jack turns to take a step, then looks at Reg, "being a trapper, want to join me and see what is lying dead and rotting near the wood?"
Without waiting on a reply Jack starts a slow walk to the pile.
Perception 21
Investigation 18
Nature 10
Survival 10
OOC what happened to the word sni gg ers?
OOC- slur/swear filter gets a bit overexcited sometimes.
OOC: It's because it saw the N word.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Barn goggles in surprise as the ordinary looking woman answers the cabin door. He suppresses his anger and shame at the reiteration of the Duke's order.
"N-no one's supposed to be in Gallows Wood," the big man repeats thickly. "Are you 'no one' then? I m-mean, it l-looks like you've been here in Gallows Wood a little while at least. Y-your husband too, maybe? Who are you? We are looking f-for... a friend. Chasing the one who k-kidnapped her..."
He pauses a moment, torn between his line of questioning and not wanting to get off on the wrong foot. "Hello, by the way. They c-call me Barn."
The big man suddenly has a vivid, visceral memory of the adolescent bullies in Ereworn who had first given him the nickname he bears to this day, nearly ten years past. Well, well, well... if it isn't Barnaby Anwyn... AS THICK AS A BARN DOOR...
Barn's face falls for a moment and he swallows, but then he thinks of Ardwynn's encouragement from just a moment ago and mostly recovers himself.
Barn(Paladin1):Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4):VitusW's Silverwood Forest | Nivi(Rogue5):Erik_Soong's Netherdeep
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic system):ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord) | Seri(Druid1):Hunter_Orien's Saltmarsh
Xarian (Fighter3):Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia (Sorcerer2):BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1):Culuril's Strixhaven
Jack jerks s thumb in the warrior's direction and nods, "I'm Jack, we're looking for a friend who was dragged into these words."
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Jack walks slowly around the house as the others converse and stand watch, as he approaches the wood pile a rank odour begins to assault his nostrils and soon he can taste it on his tongue.....the woodpile is enormous and neatly stacked into similar sized sections of wood.....oak....ash....birch...hazel....birch?........that's not birch.....its pallid and pale like.....no it is a section of someones leg....and there is an arm......a torso.....another....a dozen......more?
The woodpile is festooned with human remains.....all in a state of decay......
His head suddenly whips up as he hears a twig snap out in the woods, someone is slowly approaching down the trail they took here......they are still some distance away......but they are coming....
" And whose going to evict us? You? Darians riders don't dare cross my husband.......Nuadha. Such a great man he was...is....."
" Me? I'm Macha. And I'm trying to save your lives. Go Now! Before he finds you here!"
" I ain't seen yer missing friend.....and if they ran into me husband out there they are long departed this world....."
Smiling Jack, walks with a purpose back to the other three he left behind, lets them know a person is coming. He also states, "that is no wood pile, I think it is a people pile."
Seeing the others still at the front door talking with the lady, he projects to them, "Someone is coming up the trail" pointing down that trail he heard footsteps.
Jack has his bow out, and his also keeping watch on the other trails incase people approaching split up to surround the house and them.
Perception 7
Reg had been standing by, keeping tabs on the others. Smiling Jack around the house, Barn and the other Jack at the door, Ardwynn probably not far behind her friend, Cealan and the bard nearly.
He had doubted they were on the right path to save Clotha, but there was strength in numbers. He also doubted that they would actually meet any of Darian’s riders. Heck, he doubted they would find a cabin out here yet there it was…with a woman to boot.
S.Jack comes back with alarming news as the woman, Macha, gives her warning, and drops some name “was…is?” It stirs him to consider how genuine she is. Are her words to protect them…or to protect her (and her husband Nuadha). Though to be honest, determining people’s intentions isn’t his strong suit.
Insight: 8
”We might want to consider looking elsewhere folks, I fear Clotha isn’t here.”
Barn takes an involuntary step back when Macha tells him and his companions to leave now while they can. Smiling Jack's report of piled body parts and of an approaching stranger register alarm in the big man's mind, as does Reg's warning. Yet a stubborn streak makes him stand up to the woman.
"Evict y-you?" he growls, "Why w-would we want to do that? It's you who said no one's s-supposed to be here. But... if your husband's such a great man, why does he k-kill everyone he meets? Is murdering people and stacking p-pieces of them behind your h-house what a great man does? Or a m-monster? Is he even h-human? F-for all I care, the Black Riders can... can go to hell... but no one d-deserves to die j-just for crossing paths with him."
Barn(Paladin1):Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4):VitusW's Silverwood Forest | Nivi(Rogue5):Erik_Soong's Netherdeep
Joren(Fighter6):NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic system):ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord) | Seri(Druid1):Hunter_Orien's Saltmarsh
Xarian (Fighter3):Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia (Sorcerer2):BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1):Culuril's Strixhaven
Barns forthwrightness seems to crack Machas resolve for a moment, " He.....he is the sweetest, kindest man you could ever dream of.....but some years ago he cut down an elm on the eastern boundary...he said it bled blood not sap....he was awful afeared he was."
" Next morn a bent old woman came to the door telling us she was searching for a man that killed her brother.....when Nuada came to the door she suddenly reached in and snatched his axe and sniffed it. Then she poked a long finger into my husbands chest and said, " Savage killer of kin you are and Savage killer is all you will ever be.....till amends are made."
" She then turned and left."
" Nuada tried to quiet my fears but day by day his mood grew darker and his aspect more terrible.....gone were the bright shining eyes, now glowering orbs.....his muscled back became even more so.....twisting into an enormous hillock of muscle and sinew....his arms that once held me tight, now dragging clawed ropey things of unnatural strength......"
" He......does terrible things.......but never to me.....and sometimes I think I see him staring desperately at me from behind those bloodshot embers.......he's still in there! Its not his fault!"
" Please.....please...you must go....he'll scent you were here but I can likely throw him off the trail if your gone when he arrives."
Smiling Jack in his concentration of the upcoming danger, hears others speak. His young mind starts trying to process it all. Conflicting actions create confusion. Jack inhales a deep breath, holds it and slowly lets it out, He repeats the breath, and again and fourth time, shakes his head clear and realizes that the confusion is all still there. His earlier confidence is gone.
In a shaking and confused breath, Jacks says "What...whatever...the...the... group decides...I...I...I will...follow. But...but them strangers should...be in...in sight...now."
Jack continues his "9" from a previous rolled vigilance on surveying the surrounding area.
"Do you know what kind of amends are needed?" asks Jack. "Blood for blood, life for life? If the hag wanted him dead, wouldn't she have just killed him?"
"Maybe we'll wait for him and I can volunteer to take his burden. The hag can have me and lift the curse from your husband."
Sacrificing himself to save a couples' relationship seems just. His whole life hasn't been great, and if he can bring happiness to these people it would be worth it.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Caelan had been listening in silence, eyes never leaving the treeline Jack had indicated, body angled so he could watch both the cabin door and the approach down the trail. When Jack returned with the report of the “woodpile,” Caelan’s jaw tightened not in surprise, but in confirmation. The smell, the flies, the warning sign, the fire kept burning too long for comfort…it all settled into a grim shape. When Macha spoke, really spoke, Caelan did not interrupt. He watched her hands as much as her face, the way her fear clung to her words not like a lie, but like a bruise that never healed. When she finished, he exhaled slowly through his nose. “Curses like that,” he said quietly, finally, “don’t come from nothing. And they don’t lift for nothing either.” He shifted then, stepping half a pace forward, not toward the woman, but so he was squarely between the cabin and the direction of the approaching footsteps. His voice stayed low, steady, carrying authority without threat.
“You cut down something that wasn’t meant to be cut,” he went on. “Whether your husband knew it or not doesn’t matter to the old laws. Intent counts less than action.” His eyes flicked briefly to the woodpile behind the cabin before returning to Macha. “But what’s done after the curse does matter. And this…” a small tilt of his head toward the flies and rot, “this isn’t amends. It’s a widening debt.” At Jack’s trembling offer, Caelan turned sharply, one hand lifting at once, not to grab, but to stop. “No,” he said, firm and immediate. “That’s not how this works.” He met Jack’s eyes fully now, storm-grey and unyielding. “You don’t volunteer yourself into a fae bargain you don’t understand. That’s not justice. That’s how they take everything.”
He glanced back down the trail, measuring distance, time. “Whoever’s coming,” he added, “they’re close enough that we don’t get to debate this at length.” Caelan’s attention returned to Macha. “Amends aren’t always blood for blood,” he said. “Sometimes they’re restoration. Sometimes confession. Sometimes returning what was taken, or standing witness before the right power.” A pause. “But they are never paid by an innocent who steps forward out of guilt.” He lowered his voice further, so only those near him would hear. “Your husband may still be in there,” he said, echoing her words back to her. “But every body he adds makes it harder for him to come back.” Then, without waiting for an answer, Caelan shifted his stance again, eyes locking on the path. “They’re nearly in sight,” he said calmly. “We don’t flee blindly. We don’t charge. We hold, long enough to see what is walking up that trail.” His hand went to his bow, not drawing yet, just ready. “And whatever comes,” Caelan added quietly, “we do not make promises on anyone’s soul until we know exactly who is listening.”