Ether readied yet another arrow, intent on bringing the half-elf down -- finally. He nocked the arrow without looking, intent on watching for the ossibility of either Kannizan or Bearspaw moving into the projected path of the arrow's flight.

Bearspaw did.

The two prone companions exchanged words, and Kannizan offered his hand to help Bearspaw stand. The barbarian took the proferred hand, smiling as he stood, then shook the hand off and continued his rush toward the other half-elf, bellowing like a charging bear. He had not been distracted from his original focus on getting to the now-injured half-elf, as Kannizan had hoped. Lifting his axe high, the barbarian brought the weapon down on the back side of his opponent's ribs. There was a brief scream of pain from the struggling bandit, then silence as he fell.

Kannizan was already walking toward Velina, intent on not watching the unpleasantness behind him, and unable to stop it.

[[ Okay. Time fo rwhat I call "aftermath actions" to determine further "player f.y.i." for this encounter.. Whatcha all gonna do now? ]]

Jethro watched the wild interchange. Well, it seemed that everyone in the party was intent on doing whatever the hell they wanted. The gnome sat back on his donkey and watched the blood with a smile, it seemed more like entertainment, Jethro smiled slightly to himself, though he hid it whenever anyone looked his way. He eased his sling back onto his belt and climbed off his donkey when all the shouts had silenced and all the bodies had hit the ground.

"Well we will have to take the time to search the bodies, it would be folly to leave them as they are. I propose that we camp and make sure that we guard our sleep carefully now, we know not what hides in these woods waiting for night to fall, to creep into our camp and slit our throats. This seems to be a bad omen though. I propose that we set camp now. I can search the bodies while we set up if that would be helpful." Jethro smiled widely. This great trauma over the murder seemed silly to the gnome. Death was a part of nature, everyone was going to face that gruesome shadow and Jethro would make for damned sure that it would be a long time before he faced it, if that meant the death of these religious creeps, so be it. He wouldn't hesitate to kill the fools but he would've sucked them dry for all the information that they had about this 'quest'. Jethro shook his head slightly, but that would take intelligence... something not in abundance in this party. Jethro sighed and went to examine the other bodies.

Velina finished searching the body and looked around to see what the others were up to. That is when she noticed the appointed heir was missing. "Hey were did the heir go?" She hoped nothing bad had happened.

Ether looked somberly at the scene. Decisions were made every day, and there were consequences. He hoped this would be the end of these thieves, but chances are whoever sent them would send more. Maybe the corpses would serve as a warning.

"Maranda has informed me that she cannot stomach this mission, and does not have the leadership to continue. She simply stated her case and left, apparently to inform the Lords of Waterdeep that she wants us to become the new heirs.

Of course there is no guarantee they will follow through with her request, so if anyone wants out, this would be the time. I plan to continue this mission and avenge master Gann."

"Well that certainly opens up a dilema. The will said the heir had to agree to the task. Since none of us were the heir at the time we left we could not specifically fulfil that stipulation. I know that I for one simply volunteered to assist the heir. With the heir gone I am no longer bound. Technically I have no reson to listen to anyone now, nor does anyone else. Without a specified heir there is no one for the rest of us to follow." Velina scratched her head. "Do we continue on knowing that it is possible to complete the task only to be told we did not meet the conditions of the will or turn back to find out who will be named the new heir and waste a few days."

"I'm not sure as to what we should do at the moment. But I do know that I have to agree with Jethro. Let's set up camp, search the bodies, and discuss it over dinner. Everyone thinks better with food in their bellies."

Taking deep breaths of fatigue, and now seeming to notice his wound, Almyrikon walks over to join the rest of the group. Using his massive axe as a stick to prop himself up on, he says, between deep gasping breaths. "Okay... so the heir is gone... can't one of us just take over? We're all... related to the guy, right? Also... if we need food, I can hunt... that wasn't too hard of a battle. Just... a little tired. Pushed myself... too hard."

"I agree that a meal and some rest might be nice. Seems I always think better on a full stomach. The cleric had a few days of rations on him we can share." Velina finished with the cleric and moved on to another body if there is one; if not she set about gathering wood for a fire.

"I can heal those who were wounded... Also we should pile up the findings and I can detect if there is any magic present in the pile..."

Ether waits expressionlessly, although one might note a hint of satisfaction at the victory.

(OOC: That's it for me, dropping a heal on who needs it. I do want to save one slot for detect magic and one for create water if our hunters can't find any.)

When the "bandits" were slain
And the silence did reign,
The party began with their searching
Of the bodies for loot,
Looking collar-to-boot,
In hopes that they wouldn't start "lurching".

Or at least some of the party did. Gunk-karg began "going over" the body of the slain human nearest him. He noticed that the cloak the man ws wearing was actually made of an animal skin -- a single animal skin. It appeared to be that of a large, black-haired ape, with the upper portion of the skull used as a hood-slash-helmet. The human's mace was unusual in that the ball-head of the mace was not smooth. It had bee nolded to resemble the paw of a large ape-like creature, the fingers curled into a tight fist.

When finished with the ape-ish warrior, Gunk separates from the group to go to the halfling archer's bady, some distance away from the rest. The smallish body teks less time to dearch than the rest, and Gunk returns with another bundle to add to the rest.

Velina finished her search of the cleric and moved to the body of the slain half-elf. While she admired the weapon the half-elf used as she approached his mamed body, , noting its obnious mastercraftmanship, she knew the weapon use was outside the knosledge provided by her training. For now, she would leave it where it was.

Jethro moved to the human caster in the rear of the "bandit group", gravitating toward the one who had matched his skills until the combination of eldritch and physical missiles had taken him down. Even has he began his thorough search of the caster's body, he realized that the search would take longer than normal. The inside of the caster's cloak was pocketed. There appeared to benearly twenty long and slender pockets that were sewn into the inner lining of the cloadk. The pockets were of a size and shape to hold a wand or a tightly-rolled scroll, Although not all the pockets were filled, Jethro found some of eatch item in the pockets. A wand came out ot its pocket relatively easily, but the scrolls, however, could not be removeed from their respective pockets except with great care. Jethro, with the care and patience of experience, carefully worked them outwithout tearing them.

While their comrades were oitherwise occupied, Ether watched to make sure they wouldn't be interrupted, while at the same time his gaze fell upon a couple of likely campsites nearby, but off the road.

Bearspaw, knowing he needed a good, long, and serious rest, nonetheless attempted to hunt for small game to "enhance their larder" and add some flavor and vairety to the trail rations. After a few hours of trying unsuccessfully, he gave it up, recognizing that his condition had dulled his otherwise sharp hunting prowess. He returned to help at the menial, but less strenuous, task of setting up camp.

After Ether pointed him in the direction of the closest likely spot to camp, Kannizan began locating stones for a fire-pit/circle, and scraping the pratie grass away from it to lessen the likelihood of a spark-caused fire. He then began to go about finding firewood at the edge of one of the nearby copses of trees. By the time the others were finished with their respective tasks, Kannizan and Bearspaw had a respectable fire going and a cleared area that was easily defensable and almost comfortable camp. There were even two trees nearby to which the horses of the party, and those of the "bandits" could be tethered.

While all this activity is going on, you are approached from the diraction of Red Larch by two horses. Some distance away, as if noticing the "frnezy" of movement generated by your activities, they ride off the road to the wast of you, leaving a bowshot's distance between them and you. The front animal carries a woman with a child saddled in front of her. The second mount carries a man who -- at sight of you -- pulls, nocks, and draws a bow, keeping it trained in your general diraction. He keeps to silence, with the bow drawn until they are well past you. Only then do they return to the road.

Ether will notice that the man is obviously trained in mounted archerr, for he "stands" in the stirrups, keeping his weight off the saddle and taking up the movement of the horse with his legs to keep his aim steady. This also allows the man to pivot in the saddle to keep his aim even while traveling away from the party (for a while) ...

Once everyone has settled in and relaxed a bit, Ether offers to heal whoever needs it, preparatory to his meditation and prayer for the eve. Soon, the day begins to get to some (especially Bearspaw), and they begin to make for sleep.

[[ Okay. Short post, General post. Night will pass uneventfully. A little opportunity for character interaction (and maybe so resolution as to travel plans/expectations/ideas?) Not a must, but an opportunity for those who wish to take it. "LL" in Q&A ... ]]

Kannizan watched as the fire blazed. He was still angry about earlier, but he was determined not to bring it up unless someone else did.

He watched as Ether restored vitality to the group, and he couldn't help but laugh. One minute, death. The next, salvation.

Little conversation had occured thus far, so Kannizan spoke up. "So what next? We have no heir, there isn't even a semblance of unity, and nobody seems to have be even slightly certain of what to do next. I believe that we should elect someone right here, right now, and continue on."

Almyrikon was angry. Hunting had been a total failure. He felt sick. Well, at least his should was feeling better since the elf had done magic on him. That only made his mood slightly better. Still, he grumbled a bit while eating, but held his tongue. No sense in making the group any less of a group.

As Kannizan spoke. Almyrikon didn't look away from his food, but listened. When he was done speaking, he said "The little one has a point. With no chief, tribe falls apart." It was almost hard to talk like a true wild man he had been raised in civilization, but he wouldn't let that on. "We need chief. Someone who all think is good. Someone who will lead group. Make everyone work together."

Of course we could just elect someone to be leader and hope that if we survive the lords of waterdeep will grant the manor and lands to the new heir. However it would really be terrible if we cleared the place out and then the lords deceide that we didn't fulfil the conditions of the will." Velina looked at the assembled loot. "Any one want those crossbow bolts? I took the liberty of claiming a crossbow from the dead cleric so I can help in the ranged fight." She then pulled out her potions and compared them and the ones on the pile to the healing potions she had bought to see if they matched.

"we're already a good few days out. Turning around will cost valuable time, food, and gold. Also, don't we have a time limit to fulfill this quest? I'd say better to press on, clear the place, loot it nice, then if they say we didn't fulfill the will, we'd still have what we looted. However, if we turn back and run out of time, it's all loss, no gain."

Kannizan was running his thumb along the blade of his ax, checking the sharpness of it. He was impressed with what he felt. He wished he'd gotten a chance to use it.

"And just who would you nominate as leader?" Velina almost laughed as she thought about any of the group being succcesful at turning this disparate group of individuals into a goal oriented team.