Vibria swears briefly in Catalan. "I thought we cleared them all out a few years ago?"
She examines the tracks as she speaks to Epona. "Can you tell how many there are? Or is it just the one?"
"The Woad would liek to ask about the covenant's previous history with these creatures. It is not uncommon, in his homeland of Hibernia, to either practice animal husbandry with wild beasts, or form treaties with intelligent ones. Which is it here? Are the owlbears natural or unnatural in origin? Local of foreign and invasive?"
Epona looks around for more tracks, slowly expanding her range, then says, pointing, "This way, I think. A single one, but very big."
This is the same direction where Ramiro is still standing after reporting tracks of survivors running away.
"If the Owlbear is chasing down the survivors, the Woad thinks we must chase it!"
The Woad moves to start the chase, but hopes a competent tracker will take point
(I thought Vibria was going to intervene too. Moving along then.)
The group reforms into a single file as Ramiro follows the tracks into the wood. Epona, then the magi, with Lugo closing the march. The tracks aren't hard to follow - broken branches, blood spatter, a piece of dropped equipment, torn clothing left behind in haste. At one point, the body of a man, mangled by the beast.
When you cross a trickle of water (too small to be a stream), Ramiro pauses, looking at the muddy prints. "At least three different people were fleeing," he says quietly, "maybe as many as six. I think they split up here. One went that way," he points downslope, "unsteady on his feet. The others, that way." Upslope, towards rocky ground and the mountain. "The beast went that way," upslope, "but came back. Maybe more than once. The tracks are confusing here."
Vibria's not much of a tracker. She's more of a "roast them when they come at her" type of gal.
Ramiro looks at the magi, "Which way? The single one or the group?"
The sun is now creeping up over the mountains behind you.
(Two weeks without replies. Is there still interest in this story?)
Hi Arthur, sorry about the delay. I have been at the forum, but missed that there were replies. There is usually a symbol on my avatar, up in the right hand side of the forum screen. But there isn't now.
Also, week 42 is Denmark's official "autumn holiday", where the schools are closed. I spent 10 days in South Holland, plus a short trip to Ghent in Belgium, to visit the in-period castle.
The Woad ponders for a moment, and then says. "The Woad suggests we first follow the single tracks. It sounded like the tracks showed a wounded person, plus he or she is alone. The Woad voters for the single tracks. But he is very much interested in follow the group tracks as well, so no time to waste."
Ramiro nods, then quickly leads the party downslope. The tracks are relatively easy to follow here along the stream. Soon, however, the grog stops, then leave the stream as he moved through the brush and into the light forest.
A few dozen paces into the woods, Ramiro raises his hand to stop your progress, then points to a point where a form is lying on the ground. Approaching slowly, you can all see that it appears to be a man, naked and lying face down. His upper body shows several bloody streaks.
A twig loudly snaps under Lugo's foot, and the man moans as his arm moves.
The Woad motions to move in a circle around the wounded man, keeping the same distance.
The grogs deploy around the man, keeping their distances. But the man just lies there, apparently oblivious to your presence. Nothing else happens for a while.
Then, with another moan, the man moves a bit. First trying to get an arm under himself, he collapses back amongst the ferns and small plants. He slowly moves to a fetal position, his naked body shivering in the cold morning air. His hands move to his head, coming away bloodier.
Vibria watches the man from the rear of the group of magi.
"If anyone should approach him, I suggest that it not be me. In the shape he's in, I doubt that he would react well."
She then takes a few steps back into the light forest.
(I'm not controlling the grogs here. If no player is directing them, they won't do anything. I only use the grogs to convey information to you when appropriate.)
The Woad whisper order to the grogs:
"The Woad want two of you to approach the wounded man: An archer who keeps watch and has an arrow ready, and one to tend to the man. The rest keep looking for the beast. Perform only the most vital aid, and them move him away from the clearing. If he can be saved, he must. If he speaks, pay attention, it may be important. We need to improvise a stretcher in order to move him away. The Woad will continue to keep watch. If the beast is here, he will attempt to drive it off of hold it at bay."
With Epona keeping watch, her bow at the ready and an arrow knocked, Ramiro and Lugo approach the man. After inspecting him, they roll him to his back to inspect his injuries. He reacts to their tending, groaning and moving his arms as if trying to brush them away. They speak to him and he subsides.
Ramiro takes off his cloak to drape it over the man's naked form, while Lugo moves the man's head to the side, looking at his blood-caked hair. Ramiro comes back to the magi to report, careful to stay out of Epona's line of shooting.
"He doesn't look serioulsy wounded. A nasty gash on the side of his head, which bled quite a bit, as well as several scratches. He doesn't look dangerous. Mostly cold and confused. At spoke a few words about a beast, screaming and blood." The grog looks back to where Lugo is continuing to tend the man, cleaning the blood away with some water and a scrap of fabric.
As the Woad is informed of this, he immediately pauses and looks thoughtful.
[Are there evidence of the beast leaving the place and moving further on, tracks?]
"The Woad has had a disconcerting thought, and advises everyone to be wary of this man. What if he is afflicted with the curce of lycanthropy, and he himself is - unwittingly - the beast we seek?"
No tracks of the beast around here. Ramiro was following the tracks of a single man moving away from the stream.
Ramiro and Epona exchange a glance. Ramiro asks, "So, what should we do with him?"
Epona adds, "A shapeshifter? Only thing I've heard of changing into an owl bear is Simon, the fat dragon."
"We should bring him home and make sure he recovers, of course. The shapeshifting is only an odd notion, but keep an eye on him nonetheless. When he is betetr he might be able to tell us something.
If the Woad remembers correctly, there ware other tracks as well? For now we should take the wounded man back to camp, and see if we find any others, before we send a group home with the wounded. There is still a beast out here, and Woad intends to keep searching."
What camp? The grogs quickly dismantled it before following the magi chasing the fox.
The covenant is about half a day away from this place. Sending the grogs would mean making do without him for a day.
And yes, there were more tracks, of several individuals but also of the beast. Those were going in a different direction from the stream, so you have to backtrack a few hundred yards to find them again.