Arc 1: Leaving the Nest

[Dracos]

Mesina twitched slightly, not too noticeable under her veil.  "Yes, as Rudi crudely hinted.  Though that may not be necessary now," Mesina walked along down the path.  "Somewhere in the nearby area is likely the source of recent missing guards, which we've been hired to identify and deal with."

[Anastasia]

"Yes, I think I have some information on that. I ran into screams and bloody footprints about two miles north," Enrico gestures vaguely in that direction. "Really rather an unpleasant sign."

[Dracos]

"Hurry then, lead us there, Enrico.  There's no time to lose," Mesina encouraged haste, picking up her cat from along his feet and hurrying after him.

[Merc]

"So you heard screams and did nothing to help, huh? Good survival instincts there. Not something that encourages me to trust you to watch my back any time soon, but still, do gotta say, good survival instinct," Marcelo comments with a raised eyebrow in regards to Enrico's statements. "We're not here to be heroes after all."

He pauses and then adds with a grin, "Well, actually, I suppose we are here to be heroes in this particular case, but at least we get paid for it."

[Brian]

"The song will be sung for generations," Gwythyr murmurs as the party makes its way.  "The noble quest for coin, and the Free Company's mission to make it theirs.  Heroism or not, by axe or song, claw or wiles....  Hm.  Perhaps there is something there."

[Bjorn]

Enrico takes you about three miles further along the road before pointing you off the road.  It takes about an hour to get there; while the Coast Road is paved, maintenance has rather notoriously been slack in the time since the Wasting War, and it''s rough going in a few spots.  Still, the road is a happy memory once you swing north.  This part of Brindia is hilly and wet, and you're running against the general slope of the land.  Few tall trees stand, but the steep hillsides are carpeted with gorse just coming into bloom.

By the time you finally reach the clearing that Enrico mentioned, you're rather unhappy, covered in mud and no small share of scratches from accidental trips into the thorn bushes, and perhaps only an hour, hour and a half away from dark.  The lack of blood, footprints, or just about anything, really, in the clearing might be construed as unfortunate.

[Dracos]

Staying towards the middle of the group as they'd made their way through, Mesina had come out only moderately mud covered, letting the bigger folks take the lead in brushing through the bramble and smashing through the woods.  Her headpiece seemed to have gained hints of blue, though a close observer would notice her cat curled up on her head, taking an even easier route.

"Are you sure this is the right spot?" She wondered at the lack of signs of even a struggle here.

[Anastasia]

"It should be," Enrico looks about himself, mentally making sure this is the right place. It would be rather embarrassing if he made such a mistake!

OOC: I'm just making sure Enrico thinks he's in the right place before he opens his big mouth again. <_<

[Bjorn]

Bjorn: roll 1d20
* Hatbot --> "Bjorn rolls 1d20 and gets 10." [1d20=10]

Turning to glare at Enrico, Mesina's eyes are caught by a glint of the last light of the day off something by the edge of the clearing.  As she stares at it, she realizes that it's a gold tooth, half-hidden beneath a bush.  Mostly a tooth, anyway.  The few splinters of actual tooth remaining are held in place only by the cap.

Exploration of the clearing is a logical next step, somewhat frustrated by your inexperience with the Brindian wilderness.  It doesn't take much to suspect, however, that someone has been here and cleaned up.  The ground here is mostly mud, with none of the grass you might expect.  It could be a mud wallow or something, possibly, but there's no sign of trails in or out of the clearing.  Including, Enrico realizes, the swathe of botanical destruction he inflicted on his trip to this clearing.

[Ebiris]

"What sort of beast would clean up after itself?" Rudi wonders aloud as his beady little eyes take in their surroundings with clear suspicion. "Perhaps it is more likely that we are dealing with a... deranged woodsman?" he hazards.

[Anastasia]

"An intelligent foe? Perhaps an intelligent animal?" Enrico ponders aloud, scraping his mind. Surely such a scandalous thing would be known of in Brindisi? He idly reaches behind his back to the handle of his axe. Surely something both smart and vicious will need a good axing.

OOC: If possible and relevant I'd like to make a Knowledge: Local check on this to know if anything matches up. I'm basically fishing, I admit. Modifier is +4

[Bjorn]

Nothing comes to Enrico's mind specifically, though Aberrations have known to be intelligent in the past.  The nasty ones.

[Anastasia]

After a moment of handle touching and chin rubbing, "It could be some sort of....Aberration," Enrico muses. "The nastier ones can be intelligent enough to do this."

[Ebiris]

"So..." Rudi hisses softly, turning an inquisitive look towards Mesina. "Shall we continue with the original plan, then? At least we know our quarry is in the vicinity, though it may be too bloated to pursue a small morsel at this time," he notes with a sharp-toothed grin.

[Brian]

"That seems reasonable enough," Gwythyr says, frowning at the scene.  "We can discuss on our way back to our posts....  Still, considering what we know, intelligence seems a reasonable assumption.  And either some form of compulsion, or a great deal of guile.  It never seems that there's a struggle, or any kind of yelling that makes it back to the companions of those who vanish.  And unless I miss my memory, it is always men who are taken."  He pauses.  "Is that correct?"

He shakes his head.  "No matter; it is mostly men who take such a job, I'm sure that means little.  But I do think that the victims are lured away with some innocent seeming before...."  He eyes the churned up mud.  "Before whatever, one supposes.  I wonder how much of the missing guard is beneath the ground, here?"