“Sleep in crack.  Not much comfortable but hidden less looked for,” Krunch suggests.  “Watchers can spread out a bit maybe. Hopefully they not come soon…”

     “I suggest not going back down after them.  Draw them out!  Hopefully slowly, yes?  Maybe we block door, make hard to come out quick.  Something to give us odds, yes?”

(Krunch’s speaking should be heavily accented, his word choice and such making it obvious this is not his native language.  Something like someone from an African country who learned English from a German.  I’m not great at portraying that so use your imaginations… thanks.)

Molo finds a comfy rock, curls up, flips onto his back and goes to sleep

Dain will take first watch.

The rest of the day, and then the long night, passes uneventfully. Those keeping watch report little activity from the ruins, although you can't see what's happening on the north (far) side well. Occasionally you see the distant outline of a head pop up over the low ruin walls near the stairwell, so you expect they are also keeping a watch of some sort.

The day eventually breaks even gloomier than before, if that's possible. The temperature has risen, but the winds have picked up; the skies are dark and the clouds low. The sleet and snow have become patchy and rotten. 

Everyone may benefit from a long rest.

Dain will build a fire and try and cook up some tasty warm meal using those rations he is able to scrounge from the group.  He is a firm believer that everything looks better with a full belly and a warm fire.

"So, what be the plan fer today then?" he asks the group once breakfast is complete.

      During the night, before sleep and on his watch, Krunch would inquire after how the group come to be here.  He wouldn’t press more than they wanted to reveal but he listens patiently in a manner which encourages them to fill the empty space… 

     If/when he is asked his own story, he would be happy to share. “I come from far away. Far far.  Boat come to trade with us but they no trade.  They take us.  They steal us.  Imagine such a thing!  Soon we fight.  We win.  But we far from home by then and we didn't know large ships.  We drift.  Drift a long time.  Some of us die.  Wounds.  Hunger.  But eventually another boat finds us.  What's the word?"  Crunch pauses for a few moments before the word comes to him.  "Pirates!  Pirates find us and want to steal boat.  They can have it!  They give us freedom, they can have boat and it's cargo!"

     "Some left.  Try find new home. New life.  Some stay on boat.  Become pirate.  I become pirate!  I am good with my hands.  I can fix things.  Make things.  Fight things..."  The last is said with a particular smile and a gleam in his eye.  "Now and again you switch ships.  Better pay.  More action.  Less.  Depends which you want.  My latest ship came here.  New captain. Careless captain.  Ship no good.  Luck no good.  That how I get in this predicament..."

     Crunch shrugs as if that explained everything you needed to know and waited patiently to see how it was taken by the others...

Later…

   Krunch awakens to see the fire and his first instinct is to hurriedly put it out before The Others can see the smoke and figure out his location.  He quickly remembers though that he is no longer alone…  and that The Others have likely never lost track of them since he gathered the strangers and brought them here last night.  So instead of overreacting he closes his eyes, sighs, and does a quick patrol of the surroundings by looking through his familiar Berry’s eyes…

     Once that was completed he would then spend some time checking his gear, such as it was, and tending to it.  This largely consisted of taking out some Smith’s Tools and carefully re-etching some runic symbols around the collar of his fine armor.  A keen eye could make out the traces of him doing this before yet somehow they seem to ‘heal’ themselves and need inscribing anew each day.

     With those things done, a splash of water on his face and over his bald head, and a cautious bite or two of the strangers food, Krunch would be ready to start the day…

     “I am just one.  One and a quarter if you count Berry.  You are more,” Krunch says, pointing out the obvious.  “I will follow and assist what you decide, yes?”

Dain's eyes light up when he sees the stranger take out smith's tools.  He watches, fascinated, as the man etches some runes onto the collar of his armour, curious and enthralled.

"What yer up ta?" he will ask simply and quietly.

     “Oh, this?  This just some old home magic… help with fightings, yes?” Krunch says, smiling brightly and happily showing off the ancient marks.  “Every morning I etch them into the metal like so…  every next morning they all but gone, I need etch again”

     The symbols look runic in nature but undoubtedly different from any Dain had seen before.  Perhaps had similarities and the same roots but Krunch’s homeland is far off so they’re bound to be different.

     “This here, this allow me to sometime make for hit person they didn’t mean to hit… better than hitting me, yes?  And this one,” Krunch says pointing at a different set of runes, “allow me see in the dark and sometime, very sometime, make for coming at me stop and do nothing at all…  useful, yes?”

     Krunch will offer to teach Dain when they have more time but explains the magic doesn’t usually transfer.  “Home the elders pick who learn, who don’t learn.  Magic mostly learnt by those picked.  Not home…  I never known magic yo be learnt.  Maybe I’m bad teacher, yes?”

(OOC - Krunch is a Rune Knight archetype fighter…)

Dain listens on intently, showing more interest and attention than the group have seen him spend before.  He scratches at his auburn beard and greying hair as he listens and tries to learn.

Happy just to have something to take his mind off the current state of affairs - and the gods-forsaken weather - he is in a world of his own.

Molo blinks at them. “Your runes are… ugly. And definitely not cool. Can I have one?”

     “I could etch some for you, though magic stays with the one who etches, doesn’t go to tune…  “

The fact their throats weren't cut in the middle of the night was a slightly more positive sign. Katernin is still on guard though. "Right, follow and assist," she says. "After you then."

     “Me?” Krunch asks, confused.  “How can I follow and assist but also lead?”

     “My plan was to try and talk to them, until I saw them throw one off cliff.  Then plan changed to avoid them!  Then I saw you and just thought to help you get away…  I was hoping new plan was leave with you but then you say your boat no float.  Now I have no plan… nowhere to lead…”

“We go back and kill them again. We can do it this time.” Molo assures. “Give me a few minutes.” 

Molo would like to spend a few minutes casting clairvoyance to look in the temple where the cleric had retreated to during their last battle to see what’s in there now. 

"Go back and kill them has ma vote," agrees Dain, a dark look on his face as he thinks of Fianna's body lying in the temple.   And pick up the lass and see her buried right.

As the wintery gloom brightens into a depressing overcast pall, Molo delivers an invisible arcane eye into the cellar. 

He sees the survivors of the temple warily plotting and pacing. The arcane swordsman and the scraggly-bearded guard switch places at the top of the stairwell. The white-haired woman is setting up a crossbow trap of some sort behind the door, which they've been able to repair well enough to re-hang on its hinges. Ozymandius (the priest in the yellow robes) paces with a worried look on his face. The swordsman with the short bow tries to advise him. The robed figure in red watches the others from afar, eating a bowl of stew. The bodies of their compatriots have been cleared out. They are clearly nervous.

“Ha! We’ve got ‘em on the ropes. They’re fixing up a crossbow trap, but that cleric looks worried as all get out. We killed a lot of them. We can take ‘em!” Molo starts making slashing motions with his hand.Then looks at his hand a bit confused. “Um. Dain, did you happen to bring me scimitar? Or your maul?”

     "Perhaps we sneak up and all strike at once at the one outside?" Krunch suggests.  "Kill that one, then retreat.  Make them chase us, take away their comfort of being at their own home, yes?  If they do not follow, we look more.  Wait til they have guard again.  Do same thing.  We can watch them, me with Berry... You with your magics.  Pick chances to attack, lower their numbers quick then leave.  Over and over."

Dain smiles at the little kobold who has somehow become a close friend and hands him back the small scimitar.

Molo is armed again. There is a modest brightening of the gloom, and everyone feels somewhat refreshed from a long rest among the cold hard stones with their new acquaintance. And Molo's clairvoyant report of the nervousness and edginess among the cultists leaves a hint of optimism in the air. 

Molo's arcane eye lasts for ten minutes, while he watches the pacing, wary cultists.

The scraggly-bearded guard seems to be the only watchman, standing near the top of the stairs under cover of the ruined abbey walls.