"Nothing to worry about, dear lady," Jean answers the winged girl, his voice cheerful. "Well, off to dreamworld again I go, and when I wake next, it shall be from the glare of sunlight streaming down upon my eyes." With that said, he drops back onto his bedroll, gives himself a good stretch, and pulls his beret back down over his eyes.

ooc:
Awake: Aust, Drakkenclaw, Saeessira, Taylen
Asleep: Ara, Freya, Jean, Silvan

Other than being a bit ruffled from your sudden takeoff, your bedroll remains as you laid it out earlier in the night. Some of your companions have already gone back to rest, though a few now continue to idle about, possibly walking off the sudden scare.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn, clack, clack, ruffle, flutter," you hear from Ithar. "I have berry on my beak. You have berry on your beak too? I look." A few seconds later, the little bird flutters out from among the trees, and perches on your shoulder, facing your wings. "Hey! Where your face go?" you hear the bird, as his tailfeathers bob gently beside your cheek.

Looking over the fallen dwarf, the lizardman dispassionately scans the body's front for any more useful items before grabbing it from the sides and flipping it roughly over to check the back for any possible remaining items.

(I am assuming Khaz was wearing... *ahem* undergarments. If not, that won't bother Drak any. But it might affect how he handles the body, so let me know and I'll edit.)

ooc:
Drak, add the following to your inventory:
Battleaxe (7 lbs), Handaxe (5 lbs), Scale mail (40 lbs), Backpack, Shoulder Bag (large), Torch x3, Waterskin (full), Wineskin x2 (1 full), Rations (per day) x7, Armorsmith Tools (5 lbs), Blacksmith Tools (5 lbs), Weaponsmith Tools (5 lbs).
You may also include his shirt as either "cloth shirt" or "rags".

Your headache eases again once you find a comfortable position against the tree. You sit with your head turned sideways, so as not to put pressure on the wound. Once again, you find yourself nodding off to the sounds of the wilderness.

Drakkenmaw

You find that most of the dwarf's possessions are packed away in his shoulder bag... including a backpack that he purchases, and didn't yet take the time to put his possessions into. Other items in the bag include a few torches, a significant quantity of dried rations (7 days), and an assortment of odd tools. You also find a few leathered waterskins, one of which is empty and smells of liquor. Two axes lie at the dwarf's sides, one larger than the other, but neither so large as to keep you from holding their grips in one hand.

You have a difficult time removing the lower half of the dwarf's armor, even while leveraging his weight over the already removed chest portion. Nonetheless, you eventually get his armor off his body, leaving a pair of pants and some worn boots on his body. You also find the dwarf's shirt, wrinkled and somewhat torn, stuffed inside the top portion of his armor. On the whole, the equipment you have gathered proves heavy enough to weigh you down, though you can still move around.

The lizardman then picks up the rest of the items and begins making his way towards his bedroll, sighing at the weight. He then looks around at the others, and turns slightly to place the entire pile at a close-but-safe distance to the fire.

Then, walking to his bedroll, Drakkenclaw removes his bag and places it near the head of his bedroll. He then climbs in, and turns to the flying daysprite near him.

"Good night again, friend. There are a lot of things the dwarf had gathered. You are free to share them. I left the alcohol by his body. Did not wish to attract animals to the useful things."

ooc:
Pokey Pokey Taylen

It takes a tremendous effort to put the pile down without it giving off a loud crashing sound on its way to meet the trampled earth. Afterwards, you feel strained, but fortunately your bedroll is only a pace or two away. As you speak to the little winged girl, her bird returns once again, perching on her shoulder.

Aanile

After all that has happened since the afternoon, it takes you a moment to bring your mind into focus. Slowly, you settle into a state of calm. The wind blows gently through your fur, and the quiet chirping of insects echoes through the night.

Falaanla

The lizardman trudges back up from the stream's edge, carrying a load that, from the looks of it, could easily crush you if he dropped it in the wrong place. Fortunately, he sets it down a few feet from the fire on the far side from you, then slips into the oversized bedroll he laid out earlier. As he settles in to return to his slumber, he wishes you a good night.

Taylen

Your companions have once again started to settle in for sleep. Freya nearly dozed off herself, then got up again, sitting in the elven-style meditative poster you have seen her take on prior nights, particularly during the early days after you first met her. The lizardman has gathered most of the dwarf's belongings into the group's chosen campsite.

While camping in the road may not be the best choice given the options you are aware of, the group appears to have already settled in. It is unlikely you could change their decision at this point, though Freya and you have yet to disclose in any detail what you found to the southeast.

Sae then watches as Drak drops a pile of things that seem to be at LEAST double her size...and then says again to Ithar...

"Ithar, can you go and see if there is anything that might be useful to us in that pile over there? You never know just what may be in that pile..."

"Okays," you hear from your companion. He hops on your shoulder a few times, then takes off, circling around to the pile. After a quick landing, the little bird disappears inside the pile.

"Use full, hmm," you hear, then for a moment or so, Ithar remains silent. After a moment, the little bird's head pops out of the pile. "I find bag in bag, if use then full. That good?"

(edit: no posting when very tired.)

[ 08-05-2002: Message edited by: Taylen ]

You can see a pile of equipment next to the lizardman. The only item that catches your eye in your cursory glance is what appears to be chainmail. Considering what Drakkenclaw said about "useful things", these may be the dwarf's belongings.

"You know...those things can be looked through in the morning...its time for sleep now..."

Sae then lays back down on her bedroll

[ 08-13-2002: Message edited by: Falaanla Marr ]

"Okays," you hear from Ithar. The bird pops back into the pile, and says nothing more. After a few moments, you feel your self drifting off again.

Aanile

Your meditation lasts for much time, yet little time. Having blocked out all but the sights and sounds of nature, the passage of time has meant very little. Now your meditation comes to fruition. You have regained your focus, yet exhaustion from the day's events threatens to overtake you. It is long past time for you to rest.

ooc:
This post summarizes Taylen's four-hour watch, so that we can move on quickly. I would like to do the same with Silvan's watch, which will last about 2 hours before the first of the sleepers awakens.

After your meditation, you quickly drift off into slumber.

Taylen

Once the others have gone to sleep, your watch progresses without incident. The night is quiet, and the half moon slowly makes its way across the sky. Midnight comes and goes, the stars cross the sky overhead, and the animals of the night fill the silent void with occasional chirps or rustling branches. Twin Moon watches you briefly from a branch overhead, before flying off to hunt. After a while, you find yourself laboring to keep your eyes open.

Reyolen

The moon has crossed the sky by the time you awaken from your meditation, and now hangs high in the sky, in the direction from whence the group came to this place late in the afternoon of yesterday. Taylen sits near the fire, gazing down the road ahead. The others lay asleep in or on their bedrolls, or leaning against the nearby trees. Save for the occasional crackle from the slowly fading fire and scattered chirps and rustlings from the foliage, silence fills the dark early morning.

After a long and uneventful watch, you are already fairly calm. Despite the urge to simply sleep, you have little trouble centering your mind for meditation.

Reyolen

You are now the only one awake in camp. The lizardman lets out a slight rumbling sound when he exhales, which resembles light snoring. Considering his size, that's not at all surprising. Various insects and small nocturnal animals make some rather eerie noises, but the most threatening sound you hear is the occasional hooting of an owl.

ooc:
The wineskins were over by the dwarf's body still, but it's not like you're short on time to find them.

As for everyone else... I'm waking all except Taylen, who needs additional time for his meditation.

The task of retrieving the shoulder bag takes a good deal of precision, and no small portion of your strength. Fortunately, you manage to free the oversized shoulder bag without making too much noise; only a slight rattle or jingle as you shift the chainmail aside. The bag itself is fairly heavy, and its strap seems a bit longer than you would be comfortable carrying.

Once you settle back by the fire, your latest acquisitions by your side, the night proves rather boring. After a while, you notice the sky beginning to lighten, and soon the sun crests over the trees in the direction of the elven city. Sunrise is a lovely sight, full of deep reds, sharp oranges, and finally bright golds and yellows as the sun passes into view, finally forcing you to avert your gaze. Then, for the first time since your watch began, you hear your companions begin to stir.

Aanile, Drakkenmaw, Falaanla, Willias

You awaken to the glow of the early morning sun. Birds are chirping, and the sky above you is a bright blue. White billowing clouds hover off on the southern horizon, the earliest signs of a rainy evening to come. Taylen sits beside the fellin, deep in his meditation. Silvan, dressed in his new traveling wardrobe, sits near the ashes of the night's fire. You have rested well, and the new day is upon you.

After taking a moment to stretch out her limbs, Ara realizes that she is quite thoroughly entangled by her sleeping bag. "Awe, nuts," she says through the bag, with a note of exasperation in her voice, then begins to worm her way free, shifting one joint, then another, until she can get one of her arms loose.

[Jean]

"Good morning, friends!" Jean says with a note of excitement in his voice, as he lift his beret off his face and deposits it nonchalantly atop his head. So, where are we all headed on this fine morning?

Her ears twitch alittle at the sounds from the other's voices, her own still clouded with sleep.

"If you donnot wish to see what I had wished to show you, fine then. I will not follow you to any city." She says to the elf.

Looking over at the twisting Ara in her bag, the lizardman continues his work without batting an eye. One eye roams the campsite to take status, and the other keeps tabs on the interesting struggle with the inanimate object. After a few seconds, he speaks.

"Need help?"

Silvan glances toward Ara, but doesn't say anthing, seeing Drak already on it. He feels a tinge of regret, but he puts it aside.

[ 08-19-2002: Message edited by: Reyolen ]

"I'm fine, just need... a moment..." Ara said in broken sentence, as she wormed her arm out of the bag and grasped for the end of a flap. After a moment, she added, "Don't go anywhere. There's something I wanted..." finally finding what her hand sought, she pulled the flap aside, revealing her face, "... to show you. It's in my bag. Just give me a moment to get loose. I don't sleep in these things often."

After a bit more struggling, Ara manages to free herself down to the shoulders, and slip her other arm free. She still wears the elven ears, though one has been tipped slightly out of place over the course of the night. Once free to use both arms, she quickly slides out of the bag, still wearing her clothes from the prior day, and her backpack still lashed on her shoulders.

"There now, that's much better," she says with a sigh of relief, as she lifts the pack off her shoulders and begins to rummage around inside it. "I know I put that scroll in here somewhere. Ah, here we are," with a flick of her wrist, she pulls out a scroll case, and pops it open. Inside is a small rolled-up document, which she holds towards the lizardman. "It's a letter, with a map of some sort. We read most of it night before last, but the names aren't familiar, and there are parts none of us could translate."

[Jean]

Jean sits back and snickers at the artful display of self-entrapment that Ara appears to have wrought upon herself. After listening to the elf and fellin chatter about whatever plans they made the previous night, he notices Ara pull loose the scroll. "Can I have a quick looksee before these two head off? I'd like to see what the lady found, but all at once it would be a shame to miss one treasure for the finding of another."

The girl's ear tilts with relative ease, down to where it points almost directly away from her head. At that spot, however, you feel a sudden tension, after which the ear comes off in your hand. Hanging from the base of the 'ear' is a thin metal loop.

"Ow! Hey, quit pulling on my ear!" Ara shouts, dropping the empty scroll case and grasping at the side of her head with both hands.

"Forgive me. I did not know it was you. Your... your markings were distorted, and it was suspicious."

"My markings? Oh, right. Well, next time you notice something out of place, don't pull on it, okay?" she says, suppressing the nervousness in her voice. With that said, she reaches down with one hand, picks up the ear, and dusts it off a bit on her shirt. She then slips it back up under her hair, and fidgets with it using both hands, until it sets back in place.

"We wait forr Taylen. Take this operrrtunity to eat something." She says in common, so anyone might hear.

She moves to her packs, to search for her own food. Knowing she might have to hunt something. Looking up, she gives a loud cry, hoping Twin Moon was close by to hear her call.

Good morning everyone...

In answer to your call, you hear two quick, sharp hoots, "hoohoo!" A few seconds later, Twin Moon appears out of the trees nearby, and begins to circle over your head just below the overhanging trees, looking for a place to land. She has a long, thin rodent in one claw, possibly a squirrel.

Falaanla

"What what, wassat?" you hear from your companion after the fellin woman cries out. "Hey! Where am I? Who blew out the sun?" After a few seconds, the fellin woman's owl appears out of the trees, and begins to circle overhead.

Everyone Else

A few seconds after the fellin woman cries out, her owl appears from the trees, and begins to circle overhead, roughly 20 ft or so off the ground.

"And such a fine morning it is, for such a fair maiden as yourself," Jean says cheerily to the daysprite, tipping his hat.

"Oh, I almost forgot again!" Ara kneels down, and picks up the scroll case and the parchment. "I wanted you to take a look at this, tell me if any of the names sound familiar. We found it on one of your kind... one of our captors I mean. Well, actually, I guess you only saw them dead, but... oh, nevermind. Here, Drakken, have a look," she holds the parchment out to Drakkenclaw again.