Tuesday 10 July 1280, Evening, to Wednesday 11 July 1280, Noon (Going South)

Varros does his best to convince Filbert that the bandits in the North and the South are related. He conveys the information about the runes to Filbert. Varros believes that even though the runes are different the bandits are linked. He asks Filbert to accompany The Free Company and stresses to him that he believes that this is the best way to recover his losses. Varros also tells Filbert he is concerned for his safety if he follows his current plan.

Gaven agrees with Varros and tries to convince Filbert to join them, "Master Filbert, if anything allow hazel to stay at the inn and hire extra mercenaries while you join us. Surely we will be able to find more information from a known source of bandit activity than by roaming the lands randomly."

Duran nods in agreement with the others as they try and convince Filbert to join them.

"Master Filbert, listen to my comrades," Oloc says. "Give us a few days to investigate this bandit activity to the south and we will return. Then we can head to the north in search of your gems." The mage then looks to his fellow adventurers. "We won't be gone too long, right?"

Filbert rubs his chin. "Well," he says, "I suppose I can hold off for a short while. I'll stay here, but I'll wait on posting these notices for the next three days. If I haven't heard from you by then, though, I'll put the posters up and start hiring as I planned. I'm not entirely convinced these bandits are one and the same group, and I know the ones who took my gems and gave me this," he points to his scar, "are up north in the keep." He smiles. "But I'd appreciate your companionship, so I can delay a few days."

*****

The rest of Tuesday afternoon and evening, last-minute supplies are purchased, and Gaven visits the temple to see abbot Cuthbert and ask about the runes from the bandits. Upon Gaven's arrival, one of the brothers informs Gaven that the abbot is away for a few days, but that he should return within the week. The brother is kind enough to refer Gaven to one of the temple's scribes, who indeed recognizes the letters signified by the runes, but who has no knowledge of bandits and is unable to tell what the letters actually denote.

*****

As dinner time approaches, the rain begins to slacken. Filbert and Hazel join you for your evening meal. Before retiring for the night, Filbert agrees once more not to post his help wanted announcements before Saturday morning.

*****

You awake Wednesday morning to a partly cloudy day, with a bit of a breeze. After settling accounts with Sadie and Sal, you depart from the inn. The air in town is filled with the smell of wet stone, which, once you pass through the gate, gives way to the scent of damp grass. The road south to Ham's Fork is slightly muddy, but not enough to slow your progress noticeably. The landscape, like most of the ground in the vicinity of Fairbrook, consists of very gently rolling plain, with shallow rises and dips.

The morning passes without incident, and by the time you stop for lunch at noon, you can see the dark shadowy mass of Blackleaf Forest on the horizon to the southeast. You march on for another hour or so after your midday meal, when suddenly, from the southeast, you hear a tremendous, slow, rythmic THUNK...THUNK...THUNK coming from out of sight just beyond a low, softly rising slope in that direction.

The slope, perhaps only ten feet above the surrounding ground at its highest point, is covered only with shin-deep grass. The noise beyond it, despite how loud it is, seems to be fairly distant, maybe a few hundred yards away.

*************************

OOC:  Actions?

Four items: 

1. I assumed the party would head south as initially intended, rather than head north to hunt for the sage (which could very possibly lead to (an)other entirely non-bandit-related adventure(s), likely preventing you from having any hope of getting back in time to help Filbert). If I was wrong to make that assumption, please let me know, I'll scratch this and rewrite to go north looking for the sage. 

2.We will need a new marching order since your party has substantially changed.  Your previous marching order was this:

Front Rank: Gaven – Stan – Varros
Second Rank: Duran – Ollie – Oloc

We'll need to place Jack (merc), Gweneth (merc) and Bill (laborer) in there somewhere. In open country you can make the order whatever you like; on a road or in a typical 10' dungeon corridor, you're limited to a 3-person frontage, max. You can of course opt for a narrower frontage. Regardless, I'd say at least one person in the front rank needs to be a PC in order to keep the hirelings from balking. Probably the simplest way to work this out is for one person to propose a complete, specific marching order, and then everyone else can make suggestions to tweak (or accept the first player's proposal as-is). There's no need to add in Karnak, of course, as he just flies along above everyone.

3. Since you're leaving Fairbrook and the Tankard, it's time to settle up with cost of living. The total per PC (including each PC's share of the hireling's cost of living) is 10 gp. Please subtract those 10 gp from your character sheet.

Here are the details of calculation, if you're interested.

Cost of living expenses for your stay in Fairbrook (1 gp/level/day, counted by nights spent in the Tankard; the PCs, Stan and Ollie spent 5 nights (Friday through Tuesday), Jack and Bill spent 4 nights (hired on Saturday, so Saturday through Tuesday), Gweneth spent 2 nights (hired on Monday, so Monday and Tuesday).

PCs, Stan and Ollie: 5 gp x 6 = 30 gp

Jack and Bill: 4 gp x 2 = 8 gp

Gweneth: 2 gp x 1 = 2 gp

Total Cost of Living for the Entire Party = 40 gp

Cost per PC = 10 gp

4.  Remember to take a look at my comment in the previous post regarding armor updates for the hirelings. Any upgrade you want to do can be done retroactively ("last-minute supplies are purchased", above) -- though it really ought to be decided before your next combat  :)