Thursday 12 July 1280, Afternoon (Toward the Light)

"What say you," whispers Oloc to the rest of the party. "Likely there are more bandits around the bend from where the light comes. Should we move up and try and surprise them or should we examine the hole in the rubble here first?"

"I would hazard a guess that this hole in the wall is for Mackeys pet snake," says Duran quietly. Perhaps we should plug the hole before moving on so nothing comes out behind us."

Looking around, you see plenty of loose rock at the base of the rubble-fall to use to block up the hole.

Upon Duran's mention of the snake, Gaven turns to the porters and Stan and says, "let us see if we can find and catch some vermin to distract the snake."

While Duran picks out a few likely rocks, Gaven and Stan quickly set a small trap with the cleric's sack, baited with rations, to catch a rat or two. Karnak seems to realize what Gaven and Stan are doing, and he flies off into the shadows, returning quickly with two small live rats, one in each talon. A moment later Gaven's trap pays off, and one more rat – a bit larger than Karnak's is caught.

The rats are quickly tossed up into the hole to distract the snake, while Duran and Varros heft a few of the larger rocks up to the opening, jamming them forcefully into place. In a matter of seconds, the hole is thoroughly blocked up. It would take quite a bit of strength to move the rocks out again. Certainly it could never be done quickly or quietly, so you are quite confident you will not be surprised from that direction. Anyone or anything trying to get through the hole now will make more than enough noise to give you adequate warning to react.

With the hole blockaded, the party creeps up to the illuminated opening leading to the cavern to the west, as Oloc suggested. The porters extinguish the torches so as to not give away the party's approach. You make almost no noise, but straining your ears as you close in, you hear nothing either. Oloc, as the lightest armored, is the first to peer round the corner into the room, ready to signal for a charge depending on what he sees.

However, the mage quickly signals instead to relax, and waves you forward to join him at the corner.

The cave appears to be a barracks. It is lit by torches jammed into crevices in the walls. Numerous blankets and bedrolls are strewn about the floor. There are several rucksacks, backpacks and pouches scattered about among the blankets and bedrolls, as well as a dozen unused torches leaning here and there against the cavern walls. But there are no bandits within.

There are two other openings in the cavern, other than the one in which you are standing. The first is to the north, the second to the east.  Each is about 20-30' wide.

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OOC: Actions?

The time is now 4:20 p.m.

The reinforcements Alanna sent should arrive around 6:00 p.m., give or take, just as a reminder.

Thursday 12 July 1280, Afternoon (The North Tunnel)

Oloc says; "I don't think we can stay here unnoticed for long. My suggestion would be that we push forward as fast as we can, perhaps trying our luck to the north."

The Mage then points to the pile of rock and rubble along the side of the passage. "I think maybe we should be wary of those stones. Perhaps it is another trap? Let us scan the floor very carefully for any wires or other devices."

Gaven agrees with Oloc, but says, "if there is time later, I would like to investigate that dead end."

Duran will follow the others' lead, keeping his bow at the ready in case of any trouble. He hands torches to the porters before leaving the light of the campfire.

Meanwhile, Varros follows Duran's lead on the opposite side.

Swede, who seems to be untroubled by his transition from leader to follower, loads his crossbow and makes ready to move up with the group.

Having recovered Ollie's equipment, Gaven grabs the 10 foot pole and takes the lead as the group explores to the north. The cleric prods the ground and area around the rubble from a safe distance before continuing forward. He keeps a sharp eye out for traps on the ground, walls and ceiling.

Gaven finds no traps, but approaching the pile of rubble along the west wall, he notes an opening in the pile, just over head-high to a man, round, and just wide enough to comfortably crawl through.

It appears as though perhaps someone or something had cleared away the rubble to make a small passage through it to what appears to be an open space beyond.

This much you can tell standing on your toes. More than that you cannot determine without someone clambering up on the pile to take a closer look. The pile is steep, but not so steep it couldn't be climbed with little risk.

The tunnel you are in is very wide, easily 20' across, and after going north past the rubble it curves to the east, where it opens into what looks like another cavern, illuminated by torchlight from within.

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OOC: Actions?

Wow, I can't believe I actually got in an XP trivia stumper there.  :-)

"Momma, Look Sharp" is from the musical 1776 which the Maryland Public School system decided we needed to watch over and over again (at least once annually) in the years of and following the American bicentennial.

And of course, even at that tender age, being the history geek that I am, I thoroughly enjoyed it each and every time, though I can't say the same for my classmates.

"Momma, Look Sharp" was a song about a young soldier calling to his mother as he lay dying, hidden in the tall grass of the battlefield:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fo7LEVVO6g

One of those strange things where the song started buzzing round my head while I was writing in the dying bandit.

Thursday, 12 July 1280, Afternoon (Momma, Look Sharp)

After being certain that Ollie is okay, the Mage asks the others to tend to the boy after he is brought around. He then turns his attention to the dying lad.

Oloc tries to do what he can to save the boy's life, although it looks to him like it may be a lost cause. The young bandit has lost too much blood, and his skin is already pale and cold. Still Oloc tries to ease his suffering. He tells the lad that he will make to see his mother.

Gaven aids Oloc in taking care of the boy. He rips up some more of his cloak to try to bind the wound. It seems however that Oloc's assessment is right. The bleeding just won't stop.

Gaven asks the boy his name and tries to keep him talking by asking him questions about how he was hurt and about the bandits and Mackey and about his mother.

The dying bandit doesn't say much, and a lot of what he does say becomes rather incoherent. You are, however, able to piece together this much by connecting the fragmented statements with the physical evidence you've seen.

The young bandit heard the commotion of the fight and went out to investigate. He tried to snatch Ollie as the latter made his break from Swede. The bandit overpowered the hireling and dragged him back to the cave but, coming over the rubble at the entrance, Ollie must have grabbed a fragment of stone and resumed struggling. Ollie stabbed his captor in the leg, giving him the wound you now see. The bandit knocked Ollie out before he himself fell to the ground. He tried to drag himself toward Mackey and the bodyguards, but he couldn't make it, and managed to get only to where you found him.

When Gaven asks about Mackey, the boy just says he's sorry, he tried, that he hopes Mackey won't be too mad with him. "Tell Mackey I tried, I tried."

When Gaven asks the boy about his his mother, the youth sobs some more, and says something about Yuletide, and cookies, and mumbles "I'll go to the forest mum, and get you the best tree ever..." With a final intake of breath, the young lad expires.

Gaven says a prayer in the boy's name.

While Oloc tends to the boy Duran restarts the fire in order to shed some more light into the cave. He keeps his bow close and is ready to react should any enemies come in sight. He gets the fire relit with no problem. It makes surprisingly little smoke, and sheds enough light to keep the entire area illuminated.*

Varros keeps a watchful eye over Duran as he goes about his work, his bow at the ready. Varros motions to Swede to keep focused on the corridor the air is coming from while he keeps watch on the other.

Swede nods in agreement, and positions himself at the entrance indicated by Varros.

Varros, looking north, can see a twenty-foot-wide tunnel that extends north, and then curves east. Some feet up the tunnel, along the west wall, is a pile of rock and rubble that reaches almost up to the ceiling some fifteen feet or so high. Apart from this nothing else can be seen without moving further up the corridor with a torch.

Once his prayer is done, Gaven suggests that the party check out the area with the pool of water to make sure nobody will be able to come at the company from behind.

The party follows Gaven's advice and moves past Swede's position, into the eastward tunnel. The tunnel shortly opens out into another cavern, this one about seventy feet across, with a large forty- to fifty-foot-wide pool of water in the center. The water appears clear and dark, but unmuddied, as you might expect in a stony cave.

The rocky floor around the pool is fairly smooth, hard, wet and slippery. On the slick north bank, you see a waterskin abandoned on the ground. Closer inspection reveals that the skin has a hole torn in it, and was likely just tossed aside as useless.

Around to the southwest of the cavern is a small stump of a tunnel, which extends about forty feet before coming to a dead end.

 One square equals ten feet. The party is in the room with the pool.

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OOC: Actions?

Time is 3:30 p.m.

*I assumed that your sweep with the torch earlier was complete and that you had seen everything there is to see, so no new detail becomes apparent. However the firelight does have the benefit of keeping the entire cavern visibile continuously, unlike the torch.

25 XP Bonus for the first person to name the source of the "Momma, Look Sharp" reference. :)

Thursday 12 July 1280, Afternoon (The Mouth of the Serpent)

Oloc scratches his head as he ponders the new complications to the situation.

"As for Swede's news, I say we keep an eye out for the 'reinforcements'. He may be telling the truth, but to be honest, I am more concerned with saving my skin than being a judge of Alanna's previous love interests."

"First priority has got to be getting Ollie back. He must have been jumped by a bandit patrol." Oloc looks at the torn piece of cloth again. "I'm no hero but we can't leave the boy - that wouldn't be right."

He looks at the others. "So, our hand seems to be forced. I say we go in after Ollie."

"It does indeed look like Ollie has been taken," says Duran.  "If our ... friend ... here is willing to join us I think we stand an even better chance to getting Ollie back," Duran continues gesturing to the hobgoblin. "Either way we need to get Ollie back."

Varros agrees that the group's top priority should be finding Ollie, as does Gaven: "Yes, we must rescue Ollie."

Oloc then looks at the hobgoblin. "Can we count on you to fight?"

Swede nods and says: "You bested me, and I've got nowhere else to go. You can count on me."

"Swede, we will see if you are a hobgoblin of your word," Gaven says patting his club head in his hand. "However, if you move to betray us, I will smite you."

The bounty hunter grunts.

Gaven adds: "We will have to be on guard. The villains have had time to re-fortify."

*****

The party cautiously advances toward the mouth of the cave that serves the Red Serpent as a hideout. As you approach the opening, you see that the bandit who was previously ordered to clean up the area did his job relatively well. A path has been cleared through the rubble, and the dead bandits have been laid off to the side, all in a row, cloaks draped over their faces.

As you move past them, Swede lets out an almost inaudible whistle. "You boys don't fool around do you? I imagine there can't be too many left inside."

Entering the cave mouth, it takes a moment for your eyes to adjust to the dim light inside. Bill quickly lights a torch, enabling you to see a bit better.

The cave you've entered is quite large, about 50-60' wide across its narrowest dimensions, and curving around to the north.

About 40-50' in, you spot Ollie lying immobile on the cave floor. Much to your relief, you discover that he is merely unconscious, albeit with a rather nasty bruise on his forehead. 

You note a rather large puddle of blood on the floor next to him. Beside the puddle is a long, thin, extremely sharp shard of stone – similar in texture and color to that of the stone which you made fall in the entrance. The dagger-like fragment of stone also glistens with blood on its sharp end, from the pointed tip and continuing several inches up its length. The puddle of blood on the floor smears off into a streaked blood trail around the corner leading to the northern area of the cavern.

Quietly following the blood trail, you notice an extinguished campfire in the middle of the cavern, a stack of firewood along the west wall, and about a half dozen unused torches leaning against the wall nearby.

The blood trail itself leads to the curled up figure of a bandit on the floor next to the pile of firewood. Your first reaction is that he might be dead.

Getting a better look at the rest of the cavern, you note that there are tunnels leading out of the area to the east and to the north. The air to the east seems particularly damp and cool.

Suddenly from the position of the bandit you initially assumed was dead, you hear a sob and a weak voice that wimpers: "I don't want to die."

Approaching the fetal form of the bleeding bandit, you notice that he has an extremely deep gash on the inside of his thigh. It seems fairly clear to you that a major artery has been severed and that the bandit doesn't have much time. Looking at his face you see that he is very young – perhaps no more than fifteen or sixteen years old – and his skin is pale as death itself. He appears to be the one Mackey was ordering around earlier to get the mess in front of the cave cleaned up.

The dying bandit suddenly notices your presence. "Mackey?" he addresses you. "I got one of 'em. One of them as killed our men." His breath gets shorter. "I did good, right?" he asks. "I tried to do good." A sob catches in the young bandit's throat once more. "I wanna go home," he says. "I want my mum." He grits his teeth and tears stream down his cheeks.

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OOC: Actions?

Sorry I didn't post a bit sooner, guys. Work has been especially unkind this week.

Thursday 12 July 1280, Afternoon (Good Cop? Bad Cop?)

As the others question the hobgoblin Duran, bow at the ready, steps into the woods and slowly circles the group keeping an eye out for anything and hoping to find a sign of Ollie.

Gaven addresses Swede's accusation of Alanna: "I have little reason to trust you hobgoblin. Explain your sullying of Alanna's name. What is her and Mackey's relationship? Why are the freelancers untrustworthy? And why would she deal with the likes of you?"

The hobgoblin replies: "Alanna? Share secrets with me? Hmph! Not in a thousand years, she wouldn't. But I know certain people of low repute, who occasionally have information."

"It cost me a couple of ales, and I don't know how my source learned this, but from what I hear, Alanna and Mackey were an item. More than just business partners, though they were in business, too. He kept his bandit activity limited enough that she could turn a blind eye, while simultaneously taking a percentage of what he and his men stole."

"But Mackey's rivalry with Messer, up north, got the better of him. Messer started expanding, making a name for himself and his Grey Fox band. I've heard that Messer's even taken up headquarters in Blackwell – and that takes some sizeable stones."

"So Mackey wants his name on the fear-trembling lips of every traveller as well, and starts robbing folks left and right. As an officer of the guard, corrupt though she may be, Alanna can't let him do that – not uncontrolled. That level of activity just can't be kept quiet. So she breaks off the deal and the relationship. Mackey changes hideouts, and the lieutenant starts trying to hunt him down."

"My guess is those reinforcements she's sending you are ruffians who plan to simply kill Mackey on sight so he can't talk. They may even be under orders to kill anyone who already has him prisoner. And Alanna will imagine her little secret to be safe forever."

"I can tell you this, too. Knowing what I do, I had no intention of bringing Mackey back to her alive, myself. If I did that, there's no way she'd believe that he didn't tell me about their deal, and I'd spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder."

"If you want my advice, don't turn your back on those freelancers for a second, and don't take Mackey prisoner. Just kill him – it may save all our lives."

"Alright Swede, says Varros. "It appears that we need to work together for now." Varros makes introductions and then assists Duran. He asks Gaven to watch the cave mouth.

"I am concerned about Ollie's absence." Oloc rubs his chin. "He wasn't wounded was he? Did anyone see what direction he went in?"

No one knows for sure, though Jack says he thinks Ollie headed north. With no better info, Oloc helps look for the missing lad, but not stray too far afield himself. Stan offers to help as well.

So Gaven, Gweneth and Jack, keeping a close eye on Swede, move up the trail toward the cave mouth to take up a surveillance position, while the searchers begin to beat the brush for signs of Ollie, linking up with Duran on the way.

Karnak is the first to spot something, some yards north of the path to the bandit cave. Alighting on a branch, the raven gives out a quiet squawk. The rest of the search group soon comes upon him, and see that caught on that branch is a torn piece of shirt sleeve – the same shade of blue Ollie was wearing. A thorough search of the vicinity reveals broken twigs, smashed brush and trampled undergrowth all around, as if a brief struggle took place. You see no blood at all, but it appears that something heavy was dragged east, gradually angling in toward the trail in the direction of the bandits' cave.

The search party follows the path of the dragging, and the path finally converges with the bandit trail itself, almost on top of the overwatch position now occupied by Gaven and the group with him.

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OOC: Actions?  Time is now about 3:00 p.m.