Friday 6 July 1280, Well After Midnight (A Dark Path)

Varros looks to the Free Company, "I believe Duran and I should scout ahead and the rest follow, if we move slowly and use our cloaks we should be able to move unobtrusively ahead and any rearguard we encounter will be at the mercy of our bows. Agreed?"

"That plans sounds fine to me Varros," says Duran. "I believe it would take to long to go around this obstacle."

As far as can be seen, there would be plenty of room to execute Varros' plan. The goblins were clearly none too gentle going in, so the path visible to you is quite wide -- about twenty feet from side to side, quite enough for six men to stand abreast, let alone two.

"I do not like the looks of this forest. We will be at a disadvantage, especially if we need torches?" Gaven sighs as he looks for the edge of the forest, "But I see no other way to complete our mission. I will guard the rear, since I am likely to be noisiest."

Fortunately, at least for the moment, it appears that moonlight will give you all the illumination you need, about thirty-foot radius, so you estimate torches won't be necessary unless the scrubby woods get denser than they currently appear.

Oloc frowns as the others consider entering the dark, tangled mass. "If you think it best to enter, I will defer to your judgement. My guess is the gobs have some home or camp therein. We will be at a disadvantage."

As you conclude your discussion, you hear a rush of wings and look up to see Karnak return. The raven drops down and comes gently to rest on Varros' shoulder. You notice immediately that he has a note tied to his leg.

"Perhaps it would be best to call Karnak to stay with us?" asks Gaven. "I'm not sure he would be able to see us once we are in the woods."

Untying the scrap of parchment you see the following message. "Will adjust position accordingly. Keep advised. – Belloc."

*****

Having weighed the dangers and delays, you begin to move forward onto the dark path according to Varros' plan, with Varros and Duran scouting cautiously ahead, making use of cover as they go, the rest following, and Gaven bringing up the rear. Karnak flutters softly from tree to tree as you advance, silently keeping pace with the group.

In this manner, the going is slower than it was out in the open but still certainly faster than it would have been to go around the woods. After about a half hour, Karnak, seems to stiffen, and Varros and Duran hear a sound from up ahead. Listening carefully, they hear what sounds like a quiet moan, perhaps of pain. Seeing Varros and Duran halt to listen, the rest of the party stops as well, and soon you all can hear it. The sound comes from around a slight bend in the trampled path, maybe thirty or forty feet ahead. The moan dies off for a few seconds, but then there is a slightly louder wimper, followed by a quiet but harsh "Shhh!"

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OOC: Actions?

Note: Map not to scale; clumps of trees are abstractions, not actual representations of individual trees.

Also: One thing that occurs to me is that I hope I'm not pushing you guys too fast to decide on actions. I do tend to post once everyone has made a comment, but if you ever think something needs further discussion before party actions actually go into effect, please just go ahead and close your comment with something like "OOC: I think we should discuss this more before the next post" and I'll hold off posting to let you guys discuss. While I want to keep the game moving, I don't want that to ever be at the expense of your group decision-making process. I think we can balance both.