Subject: Re: Approaching the Prisoners

"Buchek, if the expedition went into this 'Tall Grass', is there any chance of finding them? We have lost many men already, in the first expedition and in the rangers who followed. I would not want to see us waste more lives on a hopeless gesture. Tell me true, is it possible to move through the lands of your people, and find those we have lost?"

Subject: Re: Approaching the Prisoners

OOC: What are the rest of us doing? I'd like Holn to get some food and rest. He needs his spells replenished.

Subject: Re: Approaching the Prisoners

"The Tall Grass is not for the faint of heart, but I believe that a small party, well equipped and wary of the dangers, would have some chance of finding the caravan, or what is left of it. If I believed that walking into the Tall Grass was suicide, I would never have let my mother lead my little Buchekat into it."

Subject: Re: Approaching the Prisoners

"Well then. I suppose we will bow to your experience in such matters. We should find the others and tell them what we've learned."

Subject: Re: Approaching the Prisoners

"Agreed," Buchek says, and walks with Erk toward Holn and the others.

Subject: Re: Approaching the Prisoners

Tearing flesh from the unnamed meat that the villagers have provided, Holn feeds Fancek. She lies quietly in his lap, staring into the fire sleepily and purring. She suddenly pricks up her ears, and Holn can feel the strirring, turning his head in time to see the two approach the hearth.

"What have you got from our enemies? Any new information?" He asks.

Subject: Check in?

Okay, so, here's where we stand after a week off. (Not sure why that happened, but... moving on!)

Buchek and Erk have interrogated the prisoner and found out that they entered the Tall Grass at a place Buchek is familiar with. Their interrogations have also yielded that Tossuc's influence has expanded through a greater section of the grassland wilds than Buchek had thought possible.

They have come back to Telwyn, Holn, and Elotai to report what they have discovered. I'm going to assume they have told the basics, though feel free to roleplay a bit about each character's individual interpretations of the facts.

Bermid has effectively removed himself from the party, taking command over what's left of the Caro outpost. This has left what appears to be Erk in charge of the expedition at the moment, as he's the one who seems to be taking the most initiative.

Kayla has turned in early, and it is now around midnight by anyone's best guess. There is no way to see the moon or stars between the clouds and the smoky haze. Telwyn would approximate that it was just after midnight, based on time elapsed - but time spent fighting tends to distort estimates.

The group is tired after a long day of travel and fighting, and all want to rest. If the conversation is over regarding the prisoners (meaning no interaction beyond the very basics), it needs to be decided where the party is heading the following morning. I would assume the group would be heading out to the place in the Tall Grass where the expedition disappeared, but it's never good to assume.

Please check in so that I know what the next morning will hold. If you are going to let Erk and Buchek make the decisions, please say so. Also, is anyone going to wake Kayla up and let her in on the discussion?

Once everyone checks in, I will write up the next turn.

Subject: Re: Check in?

Buchek will wake Kayla, and will advocate heading for the spot where the caravan entered the Tall Grass.

Subject: Kayla's check-in

Because Kayla's been asleep, she's going to want Buchek's description of what she missed.

Buchek, if you could e-mail her a summary in your own words, that would be awesome.

*yawn*

She's willing to go where others vote. Kayla doesn't feel strongly about it.
-Clara

Subject: Re: Checking in

Telwyn remains quiet as Erk and Buchek relate their findings. He idly pokes at the wound in his gut, wincing at the pain. He had been so sure of his own expertise. This "Tall Grass" might be dangerous to these city folk, he had thought, but he knew what he was doing. Life has a way of dealing with such hubris, though. It would be almost funny if it had been a stage play or some bard's song. But it was his life, a life that had almost been spent on the dirt of this outpost.

Even so, he can't turn back now. This was his best hope--indeed, his only and last hope--of ever finding his parents. It had been twenty-five years; maybe he was stupid to think that they could still be alive. But it was something. And if not, perhaps he could still find some answers; after all, his father had come from the east.

Telwyn speaks softly. "It will be dangerous. My uncle Harmon once went into the Tall Grass with several others, following some... slavers." He pauses for a moment, a strange look in his eyes. "My uncle was a good fighter in his day. Even so, they didn't all make it back." He turns to Erk.

"I'm as good an outdoorsman as any--it's no brag to say so, and false modesty is as arrogant as any boast. I can't guarantee that I can bring everyone back out safely. But Holn and Buchek know the tribal ways, and maybe between the three of us we can get around or through whatever obstacles we might find. No one has any better chance than we do, and there are people who need us." A certain intensity blazes beneath Telwyn's calm words; it's not completely clear whether he's just talking about the settlers.

Subject: Re: Checking in

Erk nods. "Then we go. If there is any chance to find the others, we must press on." He turns to Buchek. "Is there any reason we can't leave in the morning? I will be able to petition Clangeddin for additional aid in the morning, and can probably have everyone back at fighting strength before we leave. Is there anything else we need?"

He will listen to the recommendations of Telwyn and Buchek, and work with Bermid to make sure the party has what it needs. Then he will sleep till morning and pray (same prayer list).

OOC: Matt, if you send me a character damage list, I'll heal up the gang too.

Subject: Re: Checking in

ODM: I only have two people having taken damage. Buchek is at 37 of 52 (down 15) and Telwyn is at 8 of 23 (also down 15).

Seems everyone is in agreement that you leave in the morning, heading for the spot where the travels entered the Tall Grass. I'll write up the turn if no one else jumps in tonight.

Subject: Re: Checking in

Turn is coming. I just had a buttload of papers to grade last night and couldn't get to it. I should have it by some point this afternoon.

Subject: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

The morning sun rises over the grassland wilds, lending light to the misty grayness that swept in off the plain during the night. Telwyn wakes just before dawn, gasping as he opens his eyes and sits bolt upright. Reaching for his wound, he shook off the dream and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air. He had lived to see the dawn - something he would not take for granted again for some time.

Rising, he quietly dresses before walking toward the stables. The mist has beaten down the smoke in the air, leaving a crisp and fresh morning obscured by the gray. It seems peaceful, Telwyn thinks, trying to ignore the knowlege that beyond the mist lay the burnt ruins of thatch roofs and the broken tower. Feeding the pack animals and calming them, letting them get reacquainted with his sent, he checks on the gear for the expedition one more time before their morning departure.

Confident that everything is in order, he returns to the inn's common room, picking through the myriad bedrolls laid out as a patchwork across the floor. He notices Kayla awake and dressed, going through a regimen of stretches and dexterity exercises. Buchek slept heavily some paces away, though Erk and Holn were stirring already. Glancing around for Elotai, he does not find the elf anywhere inside.

Stepping out the door onto the street, he finds the elf sitting peacefully, carefully sharpening his longsword.

"Did you sleep well, my brother?" Elotai asks Telwyn in elvish, giving the half-elf a strange sense of comfort, though he can't imagine why. He has grown up mostly around humans.

"As well as can be expected." The dreamlike feeling of the arrow piercing his skin is now just a vague memory. "You're up early."

"I completed my four hours of trance. The hours after dawn but before the humans rise is a most peaceful time. The mist is so silent. Aside from the early guards, most of the outpost doesn't wake until the fog has mostly been burned off by the sun."

Elotai watches as Liwanu emerges from the mists covered in blood - its own, or another's he can't tell. Shaking his head, the blood vanishes, leaving only the wolf's normally intense features. Telwyn notices Elotai's gaze focus just beyond him oddly for a moment, and turns to see Liwanu and give him a scratch.

"I should wake Erk," Telwyn says. "We'll want to get moving as soon as possible, to make best use of the daylight."

***

The party assembles at the bridge, with expedition in tow just as the sun begins to break through the grayness surrounding the river. Bermid clasps each of their hands in turn, wishing them good fortune in their quest, and the guards walk them to the opposite side of the river before waving them off.

The day's journey takes them past the guard house Buchek remembers well, and he tells the details of his altercation to some laughs after they are outside of earshot of the morning guard. The barbarian is acutely aware of his freedom in the wilds, and has no wish of returning to the lands of the sunset peoples.

Holn and Buchek lead the expedition through the wilds, staying on what seems to be well worn paths of the plains elk and grassland boar. The grass rises to the waists of the humans, just to Erk's chest, and fully over Kayla's head. Erk follows behind with Telwyn, chatting about what they might expect in the Tall Grass, or even just among the wilds. Elotai also listens intently, asking questions here and there, seeking to know as much as he can about the east, and what might lay there for him. Kayla grows tired of the monotony of the grass quickly and climbs atop one of the mule's backs to play her fiddle.

The time goes quickly, as Holn and Buchek find an easy path to follow, almost as though they weren't looking for it. They trade stories with the group, and Telwyn joins in, speaking of strange times in the wilds, or legends of the Tall Grass. Kayla asks about the giant snakeskin that wrapped around the entire ceiling of the inn's common room, and the three fall silent.

"Stories tell of such beasts, but I have never seen one living. A man of my tribe had a longsword that was said to be a single fang of such a snake." Buchek leaves it at that, and changes the subject. The group is a little more wary of the sea of green/yellow grass swaying in the breeze on all sides.

The night passes well enough, as do the next two days of traveling. The group has found a steady routine of meals and marching that suits them, with Kayla often riding on the mule and playing happy tunes to wile away the time.

During the early afternoon of the third day, Buchek and Telwyn are walking at the fore of the group when they stop suddenly short. The grasses and path are disturbed ahead. They each stoop to examine the ground and the broken grasses, whispering back and forth to one another.

After some time, Telwyn ranges out into the grasses for several minutes before returning to whisper some more with Buchek and address the group:

"We have been seeing some stray tracks here and there along our path, but these are different. The mud was scored deeply by a wagon wheel - so deeply that it appears the wheel had to have been replaced. It happened some time ago, but the deep impression in the dried mud remains."

"I scouted ahead to be sure and found broken wooden wheel spokes in the grass. The metal frame is gone, as are all other steel parts of a wagon wheel."

Buchek continues, "We believe that scavengers came afterward and took these metals. This is a good sign. We are entering the territory of the Kubalcat, who were once allies to my father. It is only another day's journey to the border of the Tall Grass after tonight..."

With these words, a distant screech is heard, almost like a squeal of pain. Liwanu and Fancek Fa's ears both immediately perk up, and Liwanu looks from Telwyn to the grass and back, wanting to investigate.

From the sound, Telwyn's best guess is that the sound came from over the a rise some 200 yards away, possibly further.

[ODM: Please check in with actions.]

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

Buchek freezes for a moment as the screech splits the pollen scented afternoon air. (OOC--Matt, has he ever heard an animal cry like this, or does it sound more like a human sound?)

IC--Dropping into a crouch that brings his eyes just above the top of the waving grasses, Buchek motions to Telwyn, then points from himself to Telwyn to the wolf, and finally nods in the direction of the cry. He strings his bow, knocks an arrow, then swiftly and silently begins moving toward the rise, not looking back to see if Telwyn and Liwanu are following.

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

A look of annoyance flashes across Telwyn's face as Buchek moves ahead alone. The arrogant bastard had better not get them killed. He signals for Liwanu to heel, then crouches low and moves quietly to the base of the rise. Once there, he nocks an arrow, then slowly brings his eyes just over the top, trying to keep the top of his head below the level of the grass.

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

Holn's senses fill with the sights and smells of the grassland as Fa jumps to his shoulder, looking toward the disturbance. Caution seems to be the proper order now.

He crouches next to Telwyn, watching Buchek advance, ready to throw mana.

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

The sound is so strange to Kayla, she repeats the sound in her head, trying to figure it out. She glances out toward the sound from the mule, but if she can't see anything she will dismount immediately, staying within sight of Erk.

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

Elotai watches Buchek move off into the grass, his expression blank. This barbarian seemed to live even quicker than most humans. Following Telwyn's lead, he unshoulders his bow and nocks an arrow, keeping low as he follows and trusting the ranger's eyes.

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

Just waiting on Ty.

He hasn't checked in on either of his games since Monday, so I'm guessing work has gotten busy. When I get Erk's turn, we can creep over that rise.

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

OOC: Yeah, been out of town two days at client sites. Sorry.

IC: Erk will follow the stealthier party members from some distance back. He knows that he is a big clanking pile of shiny metal, so he will not get close enough to them to give their position away. He will, however, try to stay within earshot, so he can rush to their aid if they call for help.

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

Buchek rushes ahead through the tall grass, drawing his axe to the ready. The squeal was certainly one of pain, but he knew it couldn't be human. It was like someone had kicked a dog, or more like some sort of night scavenger. But it was so... loud. No animal could have projected that sound, at least in Buchek's mind. Yet, as he quickly pressed for the top of the hill, the hairs started rising on the back of his neck.

Telwyn followed closely behind with Tichenor moving with head low at his side. More careful, his bow drawn out of caution, he fans just to the right side of the barbarian and presses for the rise. The sound made no sense to him. It sound like... well, like the sound rats made when he shot them with arrows as they crept along the perimeter of his campfire. But that sound could not have been made by any rat... or, any normal rat.

The rest of the party follows from behind, leaving the mules behind to graze on the tall grasses around the trail they had been discussing. Pressing up the hill, trying not to make too much noise, they see Buchek and Telwyn stop suddenly short at the top of the rise, standing uncharacteristically tall with no thought of concealment or stealth. Getting closer, Erk notices their shocked stares and mouths slightly agape, then follows their line of sight to the plain below.

There, flanked on all sides by warriors of a barbarian tribe, was a staggeringly massive weasel of some kind, at least sixty feet long, thrashing wildly at the long pikes struggling to keep it at bay. Spears sprung forth from its blood-soaked back like the quills of a hedgehog, rippling with the wild, jerky movements of the beast, and one pike had pierced the neck clean through from one side to the other and whipped back and forth with the creature's frantic head movements.

All stood in wonder for a moment as they watched a group of three warriors press forward with pikes at the massive weasel's throat, then stared horrorstruck as the animal seized the lead man with its teeth around the midsection. With a rapid twist of its head, the unfortunate man's body was torn in two in a spray of blood that caused the ring of tribesmen to fall back momentarily before rushing in once more.

Everyone in the group stands in utter silence and awe, unable to look away or see anything but the startling speed, strength and agility of the enormous animal. [Pathetic saves vs. fear against DC 15: Buchek, 3; Erk, 12; Telwyn, 9; Holn, 5; Elotai, 6; Kayla, 12]

Buchek stares in disbelief at the melee, whispering only, "they have invoked the wrath of the weasel god...". Holn swallows hard at those words, fighting to fit the presence of the totemic beast into his view of the world and his people, but not able to find any words to describe it.

Erk says an instinctive prayer to Clangeddin for protection against supernatural forces, and Kayla vividly pictures what the weasel would have done to a halfling over and over in her mind. Unconsciously, she takes a step closer to Erk and his metal shell.

Elotai takes a step back, startled by the gruesomeness of the man's death before his eyes, never imagining that particular vision could have been so gut-wrenching. He fights the bile rising in his throat as his eyes follow the man's torso as it flies through the air, raining blood in all directions. It lands against the side of a tent, and Elotai finally realizes that there is more going on than the battle with the giant beast.

This was a village, or at least an encampment, and he can pick out the wreckage of temporary structures torn and knocked down, littered with torn corpses of women and men. Glancing further from his high vantage point, he can see a small huddle of women and children hiding in the grass a hundred feet or more away from the battle, surely praying to their gods that their warriors emerge triumphant.

Another shrieking squeal from the weasel snaps his attention back to the fight, and he sees a spear protruding from one of the beast's eye sockets.

Subject: Shock and Awe

Damnit, I meant to change the header on that last email. Hmph. Ah well.

Just for clarity's sake, you are all still about 600 feet or more away from the battle, at least two football fields.

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

Buchek watches the battle below, struggling to master his fear. As the wind shifts, he gags slightly at the beast's oily musk. He almost thinks that he can smell the copper tang of blood, the stench of the dead men's offal, but knows that it's his imagination, filling in the details. He is too far for such a scent to carry to him.

He shakes his head slowly, torn as to what to do. As a boy he'd sat at his father's fire, shivering with delicious fear at tales of gods such as this thing. But when Kipshaa failed to protect his father he'd angrily turned his back on her. Had turned his back on her until he awoke on in the Tall Grass with his grave goods laid out around him, the unruined side of his face covered with burial tatoos. Since then he had been less sure. Had a god brought him back from death for some purpose? Had death spat him out as the Cushat had, unwilling to count him as its own? Had he merely been lucky, survived by chance?

All of this doubt shrinks to a tiny, irrelevant speck in the face of the attack going on below. There is a god down there, tormenting The People. And for what? For some missed sacrifice, when they could barely feed themselves on the lands left to them by the Sunset People? Because they were pawns in some other god's plans? Anger flares through him, and his fist tightens on Nauhata's haft. Those were his people down there, being trampled and gored by an avatar of Khoftak. Not his tribe, true, but more like him than any other here, save Holn. He can't just stand by as they are killed.

And yet...a part of his mind argues. This is not his fight. Khoftak is not an ally of Kipshaa, but neither is he an enemy. They fight sometimes, but just as often they do not. If he attacks this avatar below there is no guarantee that Kipshaa will favor him for it. And honestly, can he even be sure that Kipshaa counts him as one of her own? If so, why would she allow his uncle to succeed?

No, it would be foolish to enter this battle. It can do little more than earn him the animosity of a god, a god whose territory he will soon be entering. This is not his fight. The screams of the tribesmen below carry across the grass. Damn it. This is not his fight. And yet...

He turns to Holn. "Those are our people being slain down there, brother. We cannot leave them to their slaughter, Khoftak's anger be damned." With this he starts forward, then stops, suddenly aware of all of his companions. "We cannot leave them," he repeats more loudly, almost defiantly, as though they rather than he had been arguing against taking sides in this conflict. With this he turns and begins striding toward the battle, trying to resist the temptation to look over his shoulder to see if his companions follow.

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

Holn whispers the syllables which will protect Fa and himself, drawing his mace as the spell glows about them. Thinking of offense, he recalls the sounds which will bring the lighting channelling through himself and Fa, but holds off until they are closer.

They follow their lumbering friend towards the beast.

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

When he hears others following [OOC--whether this is just a few of us or all of us, either way], Buchek slows his pace, allowing them to catch up to him. Better to face off against a god with friends at your side than alone, he thinks. He is a brave warrior, but he is no Cush, defeating a god in single combat.

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

When he sees the fight below, Erk whistles quietly and says to Kayla, ?Well, that is certainly one large weasel.?

When Buchek and Holn take off down the slope, he raises one hand and says, ?Hey! Ummm?? But it is too late. They are already running toward the fight. Shrugging his shoulders, he turns back to Kayla and says, ?Perhaps this is not the fight for you, little bird. Do you think that you could keep an eye on our mules, in case any of us live?? He looks her in the eye when he says it, and uses a tone of voice that lets her know it is a question, and not an order.

After she replies one way or the other, Erk will draw his axe and trundle off down the hill after Buchek and Holn. At the very least he may be able to make their passing into the next world more comfortable.

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

Kayla looks at Erk and nods gravely. "Ain't fer me." She gets back on the mule to watch from a higher perch. Before her friends can leave earshot, she pulls out her fiddle and begins playing a song to help them. It sounds familiar to their ears, as it is the same she played the night of the raid.

Subject: Re: The Journey Begins; A Distant Cry

Telwyn curses under his breath as Holn and Buchek charge ahead. Not even the tribesmen he'd known from home would be so foolishly impulsive. But there is no time to think about it, all he can do is follow and try to protect them.

OOC: Telwyn will move into arrow range (about 90 to 100 feet) and then loose as many arrows as possible at the weasel (Rapid Shot).

Subject: Re: Shock and Awe

Elotai tastes bile.

Even having seen this before didn?t change his reaction to the horrifying sight of a man being torn in half. His inner eye, his perception of the visions, was sometimes as clear as life, but yet he was always conscious of his dream-state. Seeing the weasel ripping into the man?s flesh in a vision was one thing, seeing it actually come to pass was another. Visions did not always happen in precisely the way he?d seen them, errors of interpretation were always possible. A weasel devouring a grown man? He?d dismissed it as impossible. But it was happening, here and now.

The elf takes a moment to centre himself, find his focus again, then begins to move in the direction of the fray, after Buchek and Telwyn.

Subject: Approaching a Falling God

The group descends the other side of the hill and immediately notices how well Telwyn and Buchek had been doing to keep them on animal runs through the wilds. The thickness of the grass becomes almost like wading through water. The height of the grass is greater on this side of the hill as the group approaches the region known as the Tall Grass, and it now reaches to the chins of the humans and well over Erk's head.

The going is slow through the reedy grass, as Elotai and Telwyn move out front to hack at it with their swords. They have lost sight of the battle itself, but Buchek and Telwyn are sure they are still moving in the right direction.

From her perch on the mule at the top of the rise, Kayla watches the men struggle through the thick grass, plowing a narrow path toward the thrashing weasel. The beast has started to flail, lashing out randomly, often at no attacker at all. The warriors have backed away a few paces, hurling their spears, and she notices one in particular near the head of the creature who appears to be leading the assault.

As the group is about half way to the fight, she watches this warrior hurl a spear that lodges in the roof of the weasel's mouth, just behind its teeth, and hears another piercing squeal in reply. The haft of the spear is snapped in two by the powerful teeth, but the bloodied animal shakes its head and staggers back a pace.

It is obviously dying at this point, having lost so much blood and taken so much punishment, but the weasel still fights on, lunging wildly at the leader. He easily sidesteps, and would have had an easy shot behind the monster's right ear if he'd still been holding a weapon. Though the others have no way of knowing it, the fight may well be over by the time they get encampment in the cleared area of grass.

Subject: Re: Approaching a Falling God

Being unaware of these developments, Buchek will keep trundling through the grass, making a point of not outpacing his companions.

Subject: Re: Approaching a Falling God

Holn and Fa sniff the air and listen carefully to footfalls, the follow Buchek cautiously.

Subject: Re: Approaching a Falling God

Elotai is oblivious to all of this, so he simply carries on.

Subject: The Beast Falls

Buchek bursts from the edge of the grass with Nauhata primed for a fight to the death, just as another squeal is cut abruptly short. The rest of the party coming rapidly on his heels. Emerging into the clearing, they see the beast fallen, lying on its side with the warriors warily approaching it.

The leader is shouting in the barbarian tongue to his people, which Buchek, Holn and Telwyn recognize as orders to stay back.

"Do not approach! We have slain the physical body, but the spirit is still strong and may yet strike! Do not touch or despoil the body, for we do not wish to incur any more of Khoftak's rage!"

With that, the leader calls for his ceremonial axe, and one of the younger fighers at his side runs off towards the ruins of the huts. Just as he turns, he catches sight of the party that has emerged from the grasses and shouts back: "Kubalc! Take heed!"

Kubalc turns from the fallen beast and looks toward the party, not sure yet how to react to their sudden presence at this spiritually sensitive time.