"Good to see you back buddy. Did you see your ancestors?"

Gintarou smiles. His eyes still fix on the woods.

"Yeah. The mosquito that stung you is still breathing. Hey guys! I need two men following me to the woods. The last one might have run.But I want to make sure he's gone. I hate to be stung while sleeping"

The reason why Gintarou needs two more to accompany him is because three men can cover right left and back. And if the searching party gets into trouble,the other three left in the road can come to rescue. 

Mist hears Gintarou's words some 20-30 feet behind him and stops, crestfallen. His shoulders slump and he kicks a small rock out of frustration. Spinning around he drops his pack and sits heavily on it to wait, elbows on knees and chin in hands.

"Yeah, no, great! When you all are quite finished playing in the bush, I'll be here waiting to get on with the job we're being paid to do!" He shouts back to the group. Then, softer, he mumbles, "We wouldn't have to worry about being attacked in our sleep if we could get a move on and be back before dark..."

>>Mist

"Sorry pop. But I recommend taking a break. The bird guy isn't in good shape. And my ma told that going to adventure without medicine (healing spell) is bad for health."

Mist looks dumbfounded as he stands and picks up his pack to make his way back to the group. "Not in good shape?! Take a look at him, would ya! Looks right as rain to me. How you feeling there, fella? Good? Good!"

When he reaches Gintarou, Mist drops his pack at his feet once more and stands with hands on hips looking straight up at the mountain of a man. "And just who you calling 'Pop' there, lad? Just 'cause some here can barely shave yet doesn't mean a fine, young specimen such as myself is anyone's Pop! I've brushed my way into adulthood and stand before you as a pillar of youthful virility! Now," he continues as he looks off into the trees, "Why don't you go chase your ghost so we can get back to grown-up work before Stargazer gets tired of waiting and sends another group of adventurers to get the job done in our stead? With any luck, you'll learn not to rely on healers as much as your own head before it's too late. Oh, that's the lump atop your shoulders, if there was any confusion."

With a pouty huff, Mist drops to the ground in the middle of the road, sitting cross-legged with arms crossed and a scowl on his face, pointedly not making eye contact as he breathes deeply through his nose.

Zenix turned to the group, "Take a rest, I'll handle Mistav.."

Zenix then sat beside MIst, "Not much for compassion, eh? I can be the same way too... Look, if we take a small break, we'll be there within 4-5 hours, when this trip is supposed to take a day long. I'm fairly sure that we have enough time. Besides, it'll give you a second to get a 'drink' if you know what I mean."

There are a number of foot print trails at the tree line, both coming and going, from this point you can see the trail that you came up from and you see that this would be a good place to watch people coming up and going down the trail.  You can't make out any one set that would say "they went this way."

Mist did you split the coins or keep them all.

Is anyone trying to take a short rest?

Mist's head turns to regard Zenix, one eye squinting a bit. "So there is a soul in that haunted husk of yours after all. Aye, compassion where compassion's due. But there are times to caudle and there are times to get things done. We've a job to do and I'm not of a mind to be adding to my list of those I've let down. And don't be temping me with a good time just yet! There's a preparation and there's a celebration. Then there's other words for those what partake on the job, as my father always said." With that his brow furrows and he looks back at the ground in silence to wait for the others to finish.

Zenix gave a slight shoulder bump to Mist, "Ah, Come on. Where the happy carefree halfing I remember?" Zenix chuckled a bit before standing up again, "We won't stay here for long, just take a breather and we'll be moving soon."

Kraven rustles his feather sin frustration, muttering, "Too many tracts can't determine which way they went. Hopefully there is not a larger bandit camp nearby. We will have to watch ourselves when we camp this evening." He gathers those that went with him and points them back in the direction of the road. "Short rest is fine with me but I can continue on if we need to."

With a twinkling in his black orb of an eye, Kraven chirps ion, "If you want I can hold onto all the treasure and divvy it out when we get back into town."

"Right then."  Zan unloads his pack and releases his lute from its perch on his shoulder.   The old leather has seen better days,  but the wood of the ribs and the soundboard have been lovingly oiled.  He sits cross legged under a tree, sword laid out nearby.  He plucks few strings.  "Mmmmm me me me me me..." He adjusts the strings.   "Now,  have ye lot heard the tale of William Taylor? "

"I have.." Zenix said, sitting next to him, "Ya' got another instrument or something for a second player?"

"Another minstrel!  Well, this day will be full of surprises, it looks like!  Here--"  Zan rummages through his pack, producing a small drum with taught lamb skin.  "For the percussion section" he hands it over with a flourish.  "In G major, I think..." He strums a chord.  "William Taylo--"

He pauses, coughs.   "No, scratch that that.  Make it E flat.  Aaaand one, two...."

"Hrm," Mist mumbles as he watches the now spunky and upbeat Zenix. "What happened to the doom and gloom tortured soul I remember?"

He rests his chin on his folded arms atop his pack as he waits for the merry men to finish their singalong.

Quote from Ashen_Age >>

"William Taylo--" 

Bahahahahah!

As he played along, it was getting more obvious that Zenix was letting his abrasive guard down. He was actually laughing along. Was he actually enjoying his time with the group?

Kraven would perch himself in the tree over Zenix and would occasionally chirp along with the music.

Gintarou is overwhelmed by the anger of the little man. The giant backs away a few steps with blood dripping corpse in his hand."Easy! Easy p……Bro! I didn't mean to insult! It's just…… I mean it's hard for me to figure out how old your kind are."

Gintarou looks at Zenix with grateful eyes and enters the woods in a hurry. He left his glaive on the road. The polearm is a powerful weapon but less effective in a place like the forest.The young warrior draws his long sword. The blade looks like a short sword in his huge hand. 

Gintarou squints his eyes. There are so many foot prints but what about twigs. Are there any broken twigs or something unnatural? Is there anyone making sounds except his  cheerful companions?

"'My kind'... The nerve of these humans... 'Bro'..." Mist continues muttering quietly to himself as the singing continues.

“The big guy is right,” Druquilla echoes Gintarou's concern while motioning to the bodies. “There is blood in the water and we don't know if there are more to this school of bottom feeders. That last one could be running back to a larger school, if they are smart they are leaving this life behind but I doubt they will.”

A small smile forms on Druqilla's lips when Zen mentions William Taylor, “I've heard the tale too, it was my last captain's favorite, but I am not a musician.”

As Zandeyr and Zenix begin to play Druquilla joins Ginatarou in the woods to look for the trail of the missing archer keeping her bow at the ready with an arrow nocked, humming quietly along with the music being played.

“I do not have much practice hunting on dry land but I can try,” Druquilla crouches down trying to make heads or tails of the footprints present.

Survival: 15

There is nothing that points to where the last bandit might have gone.

Everyone takes their small rest to the music. 

Everyone packs up and continues on the path for about another hour or so until you get to a point where the road is no longer an option.  You leave the beaten path and slowly make your way through the woods.  You do find a few points that look like someone had broken trail, and you follow it some, then the trail gets cold, then another, after doing this for 30 maybe 45 minutes you catch first sight of a tall stone arch, making you way to it you see more details.  The arch way is all stone, with Stars carved into it.  At the top is the largest star, there are 4 more stars that are just a little smaller on each side in the middle of the columns and one at each point where the arch starts to turn.  The smallest stars are placed in between the other stars.  The stones are chipped and there is moss growing up.  There is a place where you can see the moss was recently rubbed off a star.  There is a stone sundial, that is covered with moss and other plant life.  You see some thin stone pillars set in a few different places, each with glass at the top, slightly angled upward, most have been broken or the glass is sagging to a point where you would not be able to look through them.  As you continue looking around you find a brick wall about 12 feet long or so. While it starts at over 8 feet tall it gets shorter, while there are points where the stone was definitely broken off, you can tell that this way by design.  There once was a roof but at most there are only a few points left that have even one stone.  At the end of the tall side there is a broken large stone hinged on the wall, what you can tell was once a door is now just a jagged piece of stone.  The stone stairs have only the first step remaining.  The opposite wall is gone, a few bricks are left.  You see at the far end of the old stairwell a rope that is tied to a large tree that hangs down into the hole.  There is no light, only darkness inside.  Time of day now is right around 5 PM.

Do you climb down?  Who goes first?  Who goes last?