CH. 9: Road to Tu'Valie

[JadedDM]

The party lapses into a silence as they travel onward, following the trail to Tu'Valie.

Hours pass, and eventually night falls. The party makes camp just off of the trail. The cool night air is refreshing after hiking through the steamy, hot woods all day.

While Baeros unloads Thunder, the others gather firewood. Baeros then gets a fire going, and starts the process of cooking the deer meat he found.

Everyone is sweaty and tired, but by far Val smells the worst--as she has not bathed in well over a week. Her remaining dagger wound still aches now and again, and it's starting to look a tad infected, as well.

"We should probably set up a watch," Andar suggests. "Maybe two people every three hours?"

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The party has traveled 3 miles in five hours for a total of 6 miles.
It is now 9:00 PM.

[HorizonsDream]

"Sounds good to me," Jocelyn says as she walks over to Val and tries to heal her once again.

(Invisible Castle seems to be down, so roll the cure moderate wounds for Val).

[BishGada]

Baeros separates the meat to three portions. One he roasts, with the second he makes stew and the third he starts to prepare as rations, washing it, salting it, and planning on drying it on the following days. With the ease of the heat in the last couple of hours, and the current smell of the roasted meat and the spices fills his nostrils, Baeros, smiling, happy and chatty again shares his wisdom with the group. "Wow, we have done great distance todays. Takit! come here! take a bite!" he whistles and looks around for his dog. "Will you tell me what evil people are you talking about?" he asks the others. "Not the birdmen you said you have met, I hope." As he hands out the roasted chunks and reaches Val he sees her wound. "O oh... that looks nasty. I'm no healer but I know some herbs that might keep the infection at bay and ease the pain. We should look for them tomorrow. In the meantime you should wash it regularly." Then he crooks his nose and adds, "Together with the rest of you it seems." as he arrives Ouragana he gives her small squeeze of her arm and says encouragingly "I've noticed the progress you made with Thunder today. You will be animal trainer in no time." he says humorously, and as he reaches Areilon he looks for a second at her eyes and offers a nice juicy chunk of the meat, "Nice work leading the way today." he says watching her instinctive reaction to the smell and thinks to himself, 'So much for the innocent deer then'.
After everyone eats, Baeros covers what left of the stew to finish at the morning. "We should get sleep and wake up early so we can have few hours of walk before the day's full heat. I don't mind taking any of the shifts. Takit is well trained to watch over the camp so take him into account."

[Breila]

"I'm sure that Takit is a good guard, but we others don't know his reactions" Ouragana observes. "So I suggest that over the next few days, someone different keeps watch with you every day and you teach us what to look out for with Takit. You and I could begin today, if you want to"

[Jenara]

(Can't post till later, was going to suggest Joyceln / Andar, the Oura and Bearos, last Arei and Val, first off Val needs a bath! Is there any water nearby?)

"Yes, we do need to set up a watch.." She looks over at Andar, she wanted to watch with him, but that wasn' the best idea. "Andar, you watch with Joyceln. Oura, as you suggested take the next watch with Bearos, and I will take last watch with Val." Placing her backpack on the ground she curls up her nose.

"Val my dear, you are starting to smell a little pungent, perhaps a bath would be in order? Perhaps we can go and seek some water, it doesn't need to be drinkable. Just something to splash in."

[JadedDM]

Calling again on the healing power of Octhanus, Jocelyn channels positive energy into Val's injury, this time healing it completely. Not even a scar remains.

Andar watches her perform her miracle, before speaking. "Pastor, do you remember last summer, when the well went dry? You were able to fill it again by asking Octhanus. I wonder, can you do that here in the wild, as well? It would save us time and effort in finding more water when we run out soon."

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Jocelyn casts Cure Moderate Wounds on Val, restoring (1d10+1): 8 HP. Val is now fully healed.

(OOC: Regarding the deer meat preparations. There are six pounds of it, so presumably if Baeros wants to split it into three portions, that's two pounds each. However, I don't see how he can make a stew without a pot or something similar to cook it in. As for drying the third portion, he'll need some string to hang it up on. Assuming Val agrees to loan him some, he can use her string for that purpose.

There's also nothing to salt the meat with; unless the 'spices' Baeros has is salt?

As for finding nearby water, Baeros can attempt a Survival check (but due to his abysmal intelligence, he only has a 25% of success). If he can succeed, though, he'll automatically find pure, clean water nearby. Anyone else can also try, however there is a chance that the water might be tainted in some way. Although I suppose if you just want it for bathing purposes, and aren't going to actually drink it, that may not be a big concern.

If nobody objects to Jenara's idea for the watch set-up, we'll go with that one.)

[Breila]

Jen's watch set-up is fine with me.

[Jenara]

"Thank you for the meat." She offers the woodsman a half smile, "And as for leading the way, thank Andar."

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"You can make water? Now thats a handy boon from Octhanus." She grins, "And good thinking Andar." Patting his arm gently she pulls the white dress from her pack, "Then we have something to drink, I'll go with Val to find a stream or river, is that ok?"

[HorizonsDream]

"Andar, you can call me Jocelyn," she points out. "And while I don't have it memorized right now, I can pray for it in the morning," she adds.

[BishGada]

Baeros lough loudly at Ouragana words. "He just barks and growls menacingly at the threat until everyone is up. No need to learn something special. During the watch he walks the camp perimeter and stops every now and then. With his sharp senses even when he is not fully awakened and watching the camp he can spot danger and instantly awakens, so it is always good to have him around." Baeros says as he pets and plays with Takit. "Who is a good boy?" he asks him then throws another chunk of meat. "Anyway, if you had planned on watching in pairs I can watch with him and so everyone can have some more rest. Of course I don't mind if you want to join me." he says to Ouragana.
"We should check for the water in the morning. It is a used road, so there should be water nearby. People need water and that's how roads are made near streams. Andar, I assume on your previous visit here, the group met a stream along the way? Do you remember if it's far from here?" suddenly looking distracted Baeros says, "I wish I had cooking tools so I could make a stew in the morning... I think I'll buy some on Tu'Valie. We could also dry some meat if we had salt..." Baeros starts to prepare for sleep. "I've no problem with the watch, and as I said I could watch with Takit so Ouragana can be free today of watching. Just make sure I'm standing after you wake me." he says to the others smiling.

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(OOC: I haven't notice it's only 6 pounds of meat. I though a buck would have more meat on itself anyway, forget everything. Only roasted meat for all of us. I tried to correct my other wrong assumptions in character.)

[Nuke]

OOC: Val did go for a nice refreshing salt water swim the day before we left. That tends to about all of a bath Val takes ;P

[JadedDM]

Andar shrugs. "It was years ago. I admit I don't remember every single stop we made; it took us over two weeks to make the trip, but we were driving a slow wagon. But this is a forest, and so water is bound to be nearby. But if the pastor can create it out of thin air, I suppose it's not something to worry about."

As Val is uninterested in bathing, Baeros finishes cooking the meat and after feeding some to his dog, passes out the rest to everyone else. The ranger feeds his horse some grain and carrots, as well.

After a good meal, they find that their waterskins are completely dry; all the more reason why Jocelyn's ability to conjure water will prove vital on this trek.

After dinner, the party prepares for bed. Ouragana lies out her bedroll near the fire and slips into it; she'll need her rest, should she decide to choose new spells tomorrow.

Areilon only brought with her a blanket, and so does her best to make herself comfortable on the ground with it. It's not overly cold this night, but the blanket does at least help keep the mosquitoes away.

Val brought neither blanket or bedroll, and so just sprawls out on the ground after removing her armor for the night. Her pungent and briny body odor only serves to lure more insects to feast upon her blood while she sleeps. Several times, in the middle of the night, she slaps her bug on her skin unconsciously, mutters something, then goes quiet and still again. (She will awaken a tad stiff.)

Baeros finds himself in a similar situation as the half-orc, although he does have the option of using Thunder's saddle blanket--although it reeks of horse sweat. Otherwise, he has no bedroll or blanket, and after removing his armor, does his best to get comfortable on the ground, mosquitoes buzzing audibly around him. Takit curls up with him. (Baeros will awaken a tad stiff in the morning.)

Jocelyn and Andar take the first watch, keeping an eye on things via the light of the campfire. They speak briefly (and quietly, so as to not disturb the others) of recent events in Condletun. At around 1 AM, they wake Ouragana and Baeros. Andar gets into his own sleeping bag, but Jocelyn has neither blanket or bedroll. Worse, the amount of blue she wears seems to attract the most amount of mosquitoes of all. (She will awaken with bites all over her exposed skin; she'll also be a bit stiff.)

During the second watch, Baeros and Ouragana keep an eye on the campsite, using the light of the fire. Takit joins them, patrolling around the camp from time to time and sniffing at various trees.

At 4 AM, the two wake up Areilon and Val, and then try to return to sleep. As these two have infravision, they don't need the firelight to keep an eye on things, although ironically it will be dawn soon anyway.

It's shortly after this unlikely pair settle down into their watch that both hear a very loud buzzing nearby--like that of an insect, but much louder than one would expect. It sounds like it's coming from the north of the camp.

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(OOC: It is possible to get more meat from a deer, if you have the Animal Rending proficiency.

I'm jumping ahead here, and making a lot of assumptions. If I get something wrong, feel free to correct me, and I'll edit this post accordingly.

Currently, everyone is asleep except Val and Areilon. I am assuming Val has put her armor back on while on watch.)

[Nuke]

OOC: All good here. Keep moving it along.

Upon waking and donning her armor again, she is a bit concerned with the noise, but not overly so. She stokes up the fire and selects a burning brand before walking to the north end of camp, trident at the ready.

[BishGada]

Baeros uses the horse blankets to warm his feet. He also uses the saddle bags as crude pillows, and grabs a lot of shrubs to create a kind of mattress. "This is a nice trick I learned as a child," he says to the closets person. Just before slipping into oblivion he thinks to himself, 'Create water of thin air... huh! better than creating air of thin water... or maybe not... maybe if you are drowning... I'd better find some real water tomorrow.'

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(OOC: Does Takit awakens by the noise/danger?)

[Breila]

Ouragna had been talking quietly to Bearos about animals and how they behave, and told the ranger about their adventure with the birdmen. After waking Areilon and Val, she curls up in her bedroll again, grateful that she doesn't need to memorise new spells in the morning.

(OOC: would a cantrip serve to make a thin layer of protection against insects on bare skin?)