(053) Moonshine

[mgtremaine]

Wen watches and helps with the recovery of Josiane and Ulric offering them water and whatever else they may need. As noted he passed all but one of the bottles from Rufus pack to Armando figuring he'd be able to use them when we get into the next spot of trouble.

ooc: Ways can tell us how many there were. I'll hold on to an XXX bottle.

"As much as I hate the idea we better butcher those wolves as best we can. As Torban says they'll be back so we can;t stay long and we better figure out how to hide our out trail. Dorgan I think you might want to see if you can make something for your feet from Rufus equipment. Or poor friend is not going to need it anymore. Josiane should take Rufus' shield to replace her lost one. Poor Rufus, I failed him badly."

Wen would continue helping the others quietly, looking around at the lay of the land...

ooc: Need an exit plan, need to bury or burn Rufus.

[ehiker133]

Desmond offers, "We need a place to hole up. And defend, if possible. What about the ruins? Not IN them, but below them. Just make sure we don't leave a trail there for the gobs to follow... So we can rest and get Josiane back on her feet. Then she can see to the healing. Maybe even study that staff," he adds hopefully.

[verhaden]

Torben

'Whatever we do,' Torben says solemnly, 'We must take Rufus with us. I'll not have his body desecrated as retribution'.

[mgtremaine]

Wen would sliently look of towards the Wildwood and frown. He would turn back towards Highbough and say something short to him in Elvish, more like a question. "The Watchtower?" is what it sounds like to those who speak the language.

[sully]

Josiane dreams of wyverns.

She sees their black, leathery wings flapping dolefully, blotting out the sun. She tries to cry out, to duck aside as a hideous barbed tail draws back to stab, but her every movement is as if she were enveloped in deep, cloying mud.

The sting stabs down. She feels her veins scorched by a torrent of sudden, burning, pitiless fire!!!...

And she sits up, coughing and gasping, her grey eyes wide and bewildered, one grimy, blood-stained hand reaching for her throat.

"Father! Beware! The beast! It strikes! It... it..."

Gradually, reality reasserts itself. She sees the face of her friend gazing down at her concernedly.

"Dorgan..?"

Dorgan just smiles and holds her hand for a moment, then rises to his feet.

"We need ta leave. Now. Back to the keep. It's the only place 'round here where we can get cover from them worgs. Someone carry Rufus's body."

If anyone lingers, "Hey! We need ta leave. Them riders will be back and we don't wanna get caught out in the open again. Let's go."

[Tonneau]

"We need ta leave. Now. Back to the keep. It's the only place 'round here where we can get cover from them worgs. Someone carry Rufus's body."

If anyone lingers, "Hey! We need ta leave. Them riders will be back and we don't wanna get caught out in the open again. Let's go."

"I am with you my friend", says Gustave, shouldering his pack, "...and it is a pleasure to have you back my dear", he adds, helping Josiane to her feet, "I though for a moment there you were...well..."

Turning away, he thumps Ulric on the back as the gore-drenched wizard is struggling to his feet, "And my dear Flamefingers! It seems you have once again lived up to your reputation, ha ha!", he says, eying the piles of charred corpses, "I am deeply grateful that you are on our side."

Finally he turns to kneel before the blinded hobbit and says quietly, "Now my good Desmond and company, if you can find yourself a seat on my back, I will see you to our next destination", and offers the halfling a boost.

[Eris]

"Yes, back to the ruins, but with at least one of these wargs for food." Olaf says as he returns from gathering up any arrows he can for later use, "Not what I'd choose to eat, but something to keep the wolf away from the door...so to say."

"There was water to drink under the old keep." Olaf says as he tries to shoulder a dead warg to carry, "We had to fight some sort of magical creature there, but after we routed it there was good water there. We might have to fight undead to get to it, though. I recall us leaving some undead undisposed of when we left last time."

[Eris]

Desmond offers, "We need a place to hole up. And defend, if possible. What about the ruins? Not IN them, but below them. Just make sure we don't leave a trail there for the gobs to follow... So we can rest and get Josiane back on her feet. Then she can see to the healing. Maybe even study that staff," he adds hopefully.

"You speak wisely I think." Olaf says, "We think we have in our possession three holy relics, but don't know what they are and don't know how to make use of them."

"Josiane, I know we were gathering these from the Sisters, but if they can be of use to us now, we need to know that and to be able to use them. I know we have a staff, a box and...I forget. What is the third relic we are carrying?"

[danhem]

Ulric rises wearily. The pain from his wounds is nearly unbearable.

He nods to Gustave.

"I wish I could have sent more of those devils to their doom. But I assume that we will see them again. We hurt them, so they'll be more cautious next time. Likely just shower us with arrows from afar."

Ulric looks at the still form of Rufus. Another one gone. How many was that now? Ulric could not remember. But only the one?

"The ruins are a dangerous place, but we do need shelter. As Olaf says, the dead walk the dungeons beneath the keep and there are more dangerous things as well. But there is great wealth hidden there. We may be in need of some for our next move."

"I recommend that we leave Ket for now. We are facing an organized army. That was just a scouting party. Once we have recovered we should make our way toward Maine."

Ulric turns in the direction of the ruin and begins to walk.

"Make sure that you have all of Rufus' belongings. We may need them."

[coffee]

Dieter gets to work, as efficiently as possible, butchering a warg or two. Nothing fancy, just some hunks of meat (enough to feed all of us for two days, I hope), wrapped up for travel. It's too dangerous to cook them nearby.

"We'll have to move quickly," he says. "Wargs have good noses, so there's no chance of not leaving a trail. Speed is our only option."