Rest and Onward to Tadeus

Orig Post: 2010-05-29

[Beeddel] I’m not sure about the rest of the gang, but I’m fairly beat up. I’m not so comfortable hanging around this place at night, though, either. How far away is town?

[Belim] Tadeus city is about 4 hours away in the dark – obviously a safer/faster journey if it was daylight – and we run the risk of getting lost without a good outdoors man.

[Bill] I would agree, i’m in pretty bad shape – a glancing dagger can kill me at this point, and i would rather wait for light where i can see foes coming and use
range weapons where my thrown spear is my best weapon…

[Grumwell] yea, daylight and at range is best. I’m not hit hardly at all, but i have little mana to spare… morning would be better. I can get off 2 ‘Darts’ as it stands now and a lame-ass crossbow shot. Also daylight with range and human combatants could mean they are more susceptible to fear. Maybe i can ‘Mist’ up a couple of you if we know we are going to get shot at; that would give incoming missiles a severe disadvantage.

[Belim] Trying to make the whole run to the city in the dark, and beat up, seems like a bad idea; however, we are not staying right here. We seem to have been spat out the back door of a very bad place, and I am not going to stand around waiting for those snake people (or any of the other uglies in there) to figure out how to follow us out. So I say we put about a mile between us and this place and find a good lie-up point where we can see back (and around) as much as possible. A low hilltop or something would be great. Do we have any moonlight? (I’m not in too bad condition right now – some healing cuts and bruises, but nothing debilitating.)

[Grumwell] sounds like a good plan. I’m in.

[Bill] With full moonlight, lets send Beedell out to see if we can find a copse of trees or something. We have nobody with any outdoor skills…

[Beeddel] You know, i’ve been watching and thinking on a lot of this stuff, and i think i can figure out our direction…. at least keep us out of the effect. I’ve been paying close attention to which way we were going and i think i’m beginning to get the hang of orienting us.

Beeddel leads the group out of the gullies on the far side of the hill between us and Applebottom farm. At the very least, he does not allow us to get back into the effect zone, and finds an obvious copse of trees to picket the animals and set up watch against… No fires, though you do make a bunch of noise as you are hurt and tired, but no one jumps you or tries to attack you during the night.

[Grumwell] I have a few more 1 point poultices that can be used for healing checks for those that are down.

[Bill] I’m willing to burn through any mundane healing we got, as any brigand weapon can drop me with an average hit. This does obviously point to the need for even some leather armor possibly when we get to Tadeus… but i am not sure i can hold my shield and wear armor without being slowed down. I’ve been really trying to focus on being a better defender – i’m just not a warrior like some of you, but I can be a shield-man. Some day i’m gonna retire from this life and get my own farm. Animals and plants, farming and markets… i gotta stay focused on learning that too. Maybe i even want to be an animal doctor. I gotta get some sort of really light armor too – for when the blows that i can’t defend come through. Something that won’t drag me down…

We all discussed it and agreed to wait until light to move. Vraxen complained of a soreness in his back, and we all thought nothing of it until morning, when we found immobile. Bill checked him and we found a tiny needle where his soreness started – a minute dart with a serpent design carved on it. Perhaps the serpent people had gotten to us after all. Beeddel scouted the path back to the road. In the distance, coming from the east was a solitary traveler. We decided to seek what news we could and travel in larger numbers… we were not sure that the peddlers Jim and Jack, and their possible ally ‘Pete’ may not be waiting for us out there.