DM

The remainder of the first night on the road is uneventful. The distant fire burns all night, but once acquainted with the denizens of that camp, Whisper does not alert on any other danger.

It's still early as the party prepares to get on the road.

Jaliera

Still half asleep, Jaliera rises and starts the morning preparations. As she does so, she relates their encounter to everyone.

Davroar

He silently admits that that was the most comfortable sleep he has had outdoors with the magical hut conjured by Sindar. Ready for another day of travel after listening to Jaliera's tale he asks everyone, "We going to stick to the road, or should we check what these giants were digging for?"

If they did find another large metal rod Davroar doubts the giants would cover up the holes out in the middle of nowhere, so perhaps they can figure out if the giants were successful or not.

Jaliera

"If it is not too far out of our way, then I think we should check. I can send Whisper to see if she can find a large hole. Maybe we'll be lucky?"

<Bern>

"I agree that a bit of investigation would be useful", he said with a nod.

Zhu

She nods as well. "It would be good to know."

Arus

He'd slept well enough. Though Leomund's Tiny Hut lacks the luxuries of The Pearl-handled Pipe in town, it is still a superb shelter in the wilderness.

After a light breakfast, Arus busies himself with feeding and saddling his horse, listening in on Jaliera's story as he does.

"Yes." he agrees, adding with a smirk, "Let's just hope they weren't digging a giant latrine."

DM

As the party made their preparations to depart, Whisper circled looking for threats, looking a bit further down the planned route as per her usual orders, and finding nothing of interest returned to Jaliera to indicate such whilst awaiting more orders.

Jaliera

She calls Whisper in whilst she talks to the others.

"The barbarians said that the young fire giant had been digging in the hills south of their camp. Shall we head that way and when we are closer I can see if Whisper can spot anything?"

<Bern>

"I think it might be we could learn something important", he said with a nod. "But we =are= on a schedule, so cannot spend =too= much time ... at least now."

Sindar

"Sure, the more information we learn the better." He also seems pleased that his ritual helped them spend the night on the road.

Davroar

He shakes his head in agreement with Bern and says, "Yeah, you're right. If it's too far south, then we might as well just stick to the road."

Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, he will start walking knowing that the sun creeps higher into the sky for every minute wasted standing here.

DM

It looks like the nearest hill to the south is about 2 to 3 miles away, suggesting it would take about an hour to travel there by foot.

Zindra

"Bern, I didn't realize there was a schedule other than to not let the doppelganger's trail get too cold. What is our deadline?"

The scout was hired by the party but there was never any time constraint explained to her.

"We've talked about how we have to learn about what is going on with the giants. If those damned fire giants are digging over yonder, I for one want to find out what that is all about. And if we can pay them back a bit for what they did in Triboar, then it wouldn't it be a time well spent?"

<Bern>

"While I know that our 'employers' want 'things solved' ASAP, as far as I know there is no ... 'deadline' for that", he said with a shrug. "And while I can not ignore '=my= problem'", he added, "I can't help but think that we may learn something useful if we talk to the giants."

Kriv

"The giant problem is a pressing one. We can afford a couple of hours. If need be we'll put the effort in to make up the time."

Jaliera

"I think we should stick together. Whisper will be of more use. If we find anything that sends us in another direction, we can then do that. And if trouble finds us, then we have more chance collectively."

"Shall we go?"

She sets off.

<Bern>

He suppresses a chuckle and then turns to follow.

Zindra
"It sounds like we all agree to check out what the giants are doing. Let's get organized."

The party was mounted and needed to be so. Fortunately with Whisper in the air, able to see small prey like rabbits from a mile away, Jaliera would get a great sense of the tactical situation way before they would encounter any giants.

Zindra led her horse to take a position on the right flank and followed Jaliera.

Arus

Ready to move out at first light, Arus is quick to mount up.

"Aye," he agrees with Jaliera, "we'll save time in the long run by staying together. Less time spent finding each other later."

If there are giants abroad, they'll need every sword and spell they can muster.

Once the party are underway and horses warmed up, Arus will manoeuvre his to the rear, adopting their normal travel formation. Two columns.

1. Zindra+Bern
2. Kriv+Sindar
3. Davroar+Jaliera
4. Arus+Zhu

[OOC Is Jaliera mounted? I kinda thought not but don't fully trust my memory these days

[Yeah, iirc Jaliera's mounted on a dire jackalope.]

DM

The party heads south toward the hills, Whisper searching ahead for any threats, occasionally returning to Jaliera to convey images, and if desired, hovering about 100 feet above her to offer the ability to see through the familiar's eyes.

About half an hour into the travel, Whisper has relayed images of some unusual digging. Not a giant hole, but many giant holes.

To be precise, there is no large excavation as if digging up something from deep in the earth below, but there are several smaller holes; smaller being a relative term as they were likely dug by a giant. It gives the impression that whoever was doing the digging didn't know precisely where to dig, and was poking around in many places.

Whoever it was is nowhere to be seen.

But on a subsequent pass, Whisper does report a sighting of a beast! The image relayed is that of an ogre, laying on its back. It's not clear whether it's alive or dead.

Fortunately for those concerned about time, it's more toward the direction they were traveling earlier. If they were to turn to the east they'd encounter it.

Or they can continue southerly toward the polka-dotted landscape.

Jaliera

She relays the information to the group.

"I think we should look at the ogre and the holes as we are in the vicinity."

Davroar

"Or we could just let sleeping ogres alone?"

He is not wanting to get into any fight if they can avoid it.

<Bern>

He nodded his agreement with Davroar. "We can come back after we finish our current mission. I expect things here will have changed."

Zindra
"If the ogre is alive, it needs to be dead. If it's gravely wounded, we would do well to ask it some questions before putting it out of it's misery. But I am with Jaliera on this. We need to check it out."

<Bern>

He looked to see what the others thought ... should they ignore 'the mission' for now or do what they had agreed to do.

Davroar

Zindra has a point he did not consider, and he is not that uncompassionate in letting an animal or beast die a slow death if it is injured. Davroar will wait to see what the others have to say and will not object if the majority wants to investigate further.

Arus

"Bern's right in that we must stay focused on the mission." Arus says in agreement with the ranger, but there's more to be said, "Yet uncovering the schemes of giants is our mission and yonder lies one such giant."

The triton grins, "I know ogres are the least of giantkind but to ignore it outright might seem a little rude." he says.

The party have come this far off track so they might as well see the detour through.

<Bern>

He shrugged indicating his willingness to go with the majority. "Then, we should probably be off."

Kriv

"Ogre first in case it is dying, then the excavation site."

Jaliera

She nods, changes direction and sends Whisper ahead.

DM

As the party detours to investigate the Ogre, Jaliera can see through Whisper's eyes that it is certainly not dead, as it's moved from laying flat on its back to some sort of a half-sitting resting position with its back and head on a rock. While its greatclub lays by its side within reach, it certainly seems to be no threat.

There are no obvious signs of any injuries, at least as can be seen through an owl's eyes.

Although it is laying alongside a path, the area around it has plenty of trees to provide cover should the party want to sneak closer to get a better idea.

(OOC: If you want to sneak up, DC 8 stealth check for any parties doing so.)

Zindra

"I suggest that those of us who can be stealthy out here approach first. The rest of you can stay within range for your attacks if something goes wrong. I speak giant but most ogres also speak common. I also know this terrain, having passed through here rather often."

She works it out with the others and when they're ready to approach, she moves stealthily towards the ogre, staying out of it's range but getting within her range. Zindra knows ogres and knows that they like to pummel smaller humanoids and, on occasion, will throw spears and javelins.

They don't use weapons that require any brains to operate, like bows and arrows. To use a bow they would need to think about what end of the arrow to put into the bowstring and how to hold the bow so that it doesn't take off an ear of theirs. Zindra will load a arrow into her longbow and targets the ogre before any words are spoken. If the ogre makes a hostile move, she's ready to put it down.

Zindra Stealth
Neptune rolled 1d20+6 and got 17
Hunter's Mark
Readied action: Shoot arrow at ogre if it make a hostile move towards her.

Davroar

"I'll hang back."

He is not the quietest when trying to sneak, so he will approach only up to a point and help if needed with spells or shape change into his familiar brown bear form to charge into battle if needed.

Jaliera

"I'll come with you Zindra."

She also readies her bow.

Jaliera Stealth
Gypsy rolled 1d20+10 and got 24

Kriv

The armor-clad noble nodded silently and held back, hands poised ready to shape arcane mudras should burning the ogre at range be necessary.

<Bern>

He moved to join the group approaching.

Bern Stealth MikeD rolled d20+6 and got 14

Arus

"Don't forget to say 'Boo'." Arus mutters wryly as the scouts stalk off.

DM

The ogre seems blissfully unaware of those approaching, as all three of the scouts move well within easy range to strike it down should they need to.

Blissfully is probably the wrong adverb to describe the ogre's condition. It doesn't seem to have much energy at all, only occasionally moving one of its rather large limbs, and occasionally sighing. If a deep ogre breath counts as a sigh. It does occasionally mumble something unintelligible to itself.

There is a rather loud rumbling sound, almost as if the earth was shaking... no, wait. The earth isn't moving. That's just the ogre. And the sound is from its stomach. Its lower lip sticks out slightly -- if it were possible for an ogre to pout, that's what everyone would see.

Of course, ogres don't pout. Maybe it's just deep in thought. As deep as an ogre's thoughts go.

Jaliera

She has no idea what to say nor does she know if it speaks common. Perhaps it needs help? She indicates to Zindra to speak and raises her bow, ready just in case.

<Bern>

He considered following Jaliera's prep, but decided that might provoke a response. Instead he put his hand on his sword, ready to pull if needed.

Zindra
The scout nods to Jaliera and emerges from hiding to take a casual stroll towards the ogre.

“Greetings friend! How art thou this fine day?”

She does nothing that looks remotely hostile and she keeps about 50 feet away, too far for the ogre to close on her.

DM

The ogre looks surprised and its hand moves to the handle of its greatclub, but doesn't lift it.

"No hurt you," it says in common. "You no hurt me?"

Seems to be negotiating a truce.

Zindra

"Yeah. Sure. I won't hurt you if you don't threaten me. We've got a deal."

She approaches, weapons remain sheathed.

"Why do you look sad?"

Jaliera

She makes sure she has a clear shot but stays hidden, leaving the talking to Zindra.

DM

"No food," the ogre replies, a hopeful look on his face. "You have food? They took my food."

Zindra

"Who took your food?" she asked, ignoring his food request. A hungry ogre is a dangerous ogre.

The ogre

"Giants," comes the reply.

"Too many giants," he elaborates. "Do you fight giants?"

<Bern>

Zindra has the ogre talking, so he listened, but didn't interfere.

Zindra
"Let's just say that I don't get along with giants. Do you know what kind of giants they were? I don't remember that there were giants here before. What were they up to?"

The ogre

"Taking my food!" the ogre says emphatically. "The other giants ran me off too. Ran all day. No food."

He remembers his previous question. "You have food? I tell you more if you give food."

Jaliera

Definitely a good swap. She is not sure if Zindra has rations but just in case recalls Whisper, so she can drop some off for her.

Zindra
She reaches into her backpack, still at a distance and takes out her rations and brings them over to the ogre.

"This should hold you for a little bit. I'll see if I can get more for you."

The ogre

The ogre looks immensely appreciative of the rations, gobbling them up quickly, nearly crying in relief.

"Fire giants," he begins after swallowing the first of two large bites. He gestures toward the east. "Had magic. Burned trees. Burned food."

He quickly consumes the rest of the rations. "Tried hunt, Hill Giants not let me. More angry. Some had real clubs."

<Bern>

As the ogre begins telling his 'story', Bern pulls some food from his pack and tosses it once the initial 'meal' is gone.

Zindra
"You've been helpful. I'm going to go fetch some more food for you. I don't have to, but you are my new friend. Wait here and I'll go get some. I dropped some not far away."

She turned from the ogre and made some haste towards where Bern and Jaliera were hiding in wait. Once she spotted Bern hiding behind a rock she followed the finger he use to point out his rations she knelt down to pick them up and and started to head back to the ogre.

"Here. This is all I have but I am giving you the rest. I will hunt for myself later."

She paused to let the ogre think about that. She knew it was feeble-minded and that string of words were likely complicated for it. When she saw the look of understanding on it's face she furthered the conversation.

"Why were the fire giants doing that? Why burn trees and food? And what are those holes?" she asked pointing to all the giant holes about.

It was a lot of questions for an ogre, but she was going to be patient with it as it was being helpful.

Hungry Ogre

"You friend too," the ogre replies. "I help you fight."

Assuming, of course, he's nourished enough.

As more food is produced, the ogre is happy to accept it and he begins eating it, slightly slower than the original pack of rations, listening to the new questions.

"Don't...." he begins, then pauses, looking at the food, and back to Zindra. "Uh. I think they wanted black rock."

He looks around as if anyone other than Zindra might overhear. "Hid rock with food. They burned trees to find. Burned food too. With magic. I don't like magic."

Jaliera

She would have been happy to share her rations too. Maybe with Bern and Zindra later instead.

Then her next thought takes everything else out of her mind.

**Giants with MAGIC**

That is a whole new ball game.

**And what is black rock?**

Right decision to talk to the ogre though. She doesn't understand it yet but they have certainly learned much.

Zindra
"Cowards!" she exclaims, siding with the ogre's anger. "What black rock? Did you see where they buried it?"

The ogre

The ogre's brow furrows at the question, apparently confused.

Not that it takes much to confuse him.

"They not bury, they steal. I found buried last year. I hide. They find."

Zindra

She smacks her own forehead with her palm and replied.

"My being stupid. I did not understand. You found the black rock and hid it with your food and they took it? They are so bad. That's why fire giants are bad!"

She nodded her head.

"I know rock was black. Was it big? Was it long? Did it look like maybe it wasn't just a rock? Did the giants call it by some name that was different than 'black rock'?"

Ogre

The ogre seems to have regained enough energy to start to stand up while talking. He picks up his club in the process, but does not appear to be using it threateningly. In fact, he uses it as a visual aid.

"Looked like broken part of bigger rock," he says, holding up his club. "Shape like this but only half big."

As Zindra asks more about the rock his brow furrows. "Maybe not rock. Metal? Kinda like both. Look like armor but too thick to wear."

The ogre looks thoughtful, trying to remember everything he can about the black rock.

"Fire make rock look green," he adds.

Jaliera

**Fire makes rock green? Could be metal?**

Outside her sphere of knowledge but perhaps others might know? She maintains her position and tries to avoid being noticed which might spook the ogre. Facing one human is probably OK, more might be an issue.

Zindra
"That is very useful! You are smart. That is a strange rock if it changes color! Maybe it was magic. Hmmmm."

He pauses and lets the ogre ponder and absorb.

"I hope the food was good. I am headed that way and am meeting some friends. Do you have a destination? By the way, I am Zindra."

Glork

"I am Glork," the ogre replies.

"You save life with food. I go with you and help you next fight. I hope you want to fight stealing giants."

Glork gestures eastward from whence he came. "Hill giants on the way, you help me fight them so I can hunt food? Or I help you if you go another place."

Zindra

"Sure. I have to meet my friends. Let's get going."

With that she starts walking and says, "This way."

Jaliera

She quickly stows her bow and makes sure she is in the open near Bern. Best not to get the ogre on the defensive.

As Zindra comes into view, she raises her hand in a friendly greeting.

"Hi Zindra, who's your new friend?"

Zindra

"This is Glork. He hates giants. They were bad to him. I like Glork."

She turns to Glork now, "This is Jaliera, a friend. And that over there is Bern - he doesn't like giants either".

Glork

Glork wraps his fist tighter around his club and starts to walk, following Zindra along the path. As the two new members are introduced, the ogre nods his head toward them.

"Hello friends," he says simply, not even trying to remember names.

<Bern>

He wasn't exactly 'happy' about the ... apparent ... addition to the group, but if Zindra thought it was a good idea, he was willing to 'go with it' for now. He returned the nod.

Arus

He's surprised when they're joined by an ogre---who wouldn't be---though only his left eyebrow lets it show.

Looking the ogre up and down, one term comes immediately to Arus's mind. Meat shield.

Could be useful!

Arus knows the Giantish language from his people's dealings with the storm giant realms, but he doesn't let on to the ogre yet. Instead he says in Common:

"Welcome."

Best not to overwhelm the ogre's mental capacity by giving another name to remember.

Jaliera

"Hi Glork."

She smiles.

"Seems we have something in common as I don't like giants either!"

<Bern>

He steps out, bow and sword put away ... for now.

"I'm not a fan of giants either", he said in common.

Zindra
Zindra and Glork had just We hadn't reached the other two scouts and he let them get comfortable with the ogre. She then said, "That's 1 - 2 - 3 new friends that you made today. I say that any day you make one friend is a good day. 3 should make this a very good day. But wait! There are more friends! Let's meet them too. We all are angry with the giants. Hill giants wanted to eat my horse! "

She was sure he was confused, especially about the numbers, but she reached a hand out to hold his and lead him to the camp site to meet the others.

Glork

Glork initially took Zindra's hand as she leads, but it's not easy for the lumbering creature to walk that way. He withdraws the hand. "I follow. Meet more friends."

As the trio plus their new club-wielding carnivore arrive back with the other group he stays very close to Zindra until he is introduced.

Kriv

The Dragonborn noble regarded the new, brutish arrival dispassionately. Ah well, they’d travelled further with worse.

“Welcome, Glork.”

Glork

As multiple party members offer him welcome, the ogre nods toward them. As his own introduction, he gestures toward Zindra. "This one save life," he says. "I pay back...."

He pauses, his large brow wrinkling in thought. He doesn't seem to know the common word for what he's trying to express.

He uses the Giant language word. "Maat." Anyone in the party who speaks the giant language would recognize that as representing an act of honor.

Davroar

He is quite surprised to see Zindra, Bern and Jaliera returning with the ogre. Here he thought they were going to end up in an unnecessary fight, and instead it seems they gained an ally at least for the time being. Walking alongside Jaliera, he points a thumb to Glork and asks, "How, you ever get him to come along?"

Jaliera

She grins.

"Giants had stolen his food so Zindra fed him. And we are against the giants as he is now so he has offered to help us. Probably only until a giant fight is over but better on our side!"

Glork

As the party discusses his arrival, Glork looks around, noticing where the rations are carried.

Kriv

The Dragonborn noble, a weather eye the ogre, tried to follow that wandering gaze.

<Bern>

It may have been based on his past dealings with ogres, but, despite Zindra's 'endorsement', he was still suspicious. He continued to 'keep an eye' on the newest 'addition' to the 'team'.

Glork

Glork isn't suspicious. He's hungry. But he doesn't do anything yet. He does inquire about the plans, though.

"We go fight giants? Or we eat?"

Zindra

"You honor me," she says back to the ogre in giant. "I think we can eat and also fight giants. Eating comes first. I'm going to do some hunting. There has to be so good prey nearby."

She looks about to see if she's going to do this alone.

Jaliera

"I can help if you want some company?"

This ogre is likely to eat a lot given his size.

Zindra

"Sounds great. It can take a while to find enough to eat so be patient Glork. I'm sure, if you're hungry, some of my friends will chip in a nibble for you. Jaliera and I will get to work."

She headed out with Jaliera and said, "Hopefully Whisper can spot some big game from above."

Glork

Glork tells Zindra, "I help you hunt?"

He does like his meat rare.

Granted, Glork's idea of hunting is finding penned animals from the local farmers and he would be far from stealthy.

Zindra
"Jaliera and I are small and sneaky and good hunters. I would like you to become friends with my friends. Tell them the story about what the giants did. We will be back soon with food."

Glork

"If food too big for you to carry I help," Glork offers, perhaps hoping for some large prey.

He thens turns to face the rest of the group. "Giants stole my black rock," he begins, looking around to see who's listening.

Jaliera

She nods to Zindra, sending Whisper aloft with the instruction to look for game, picturing a number of suitable animals to giver her a better idea. Deer, large game birds, rabbits.

Then motions to Zindra to slip away whilst Glork is distracted. She moves into cover and away.

<Bern>

He listens to Glork's 'story'. He was curious what the 'black rock' was to cause so much 'trouble'.

Zindra
She follows Jaliera's direction and soon the pair are away from Glork and ready to hunt. She takes out her bow and keeps an eye on Jaliera who has Whisper scouting from above.

DM

Whisper heads off on a searching pattern to find suitable game for a meal, methodically scanning the area nearby the pair of hunters. After several minutes, the familiar returns and communicates the inventory of edible beasts it encountered.

The images indicate that in the nearby area, there are plenty of smaller ground creatures such as rabbits. A rough estimate of the vision indicates 15 such creatures spread across the nearest 1000 feet or so. Not as plentiful as the previous night's dinner gathering; it would take a few hours to go to all of them.

What's more interesting, however, is identified about 2500 feet away, to the east-northeast. A herd of 9 reindeer gathered in a clearing.

And Whisper is clearly trying to communicate something special about one of the reindeer, the image "zooming" in on it. Rather than the pale brown color of antlers of all the others, its antlers are shiny. They appear in the image to be golden.

Kriv

Sounded similar to what the giants had raided the town for, potentially. Kriv nodded and listened on.

Davroar

With Zindra and Jaliera off hunting he will introduce himself and ask, "Glork, how many giants were there? You said fire giants and hill giants are around, working together or separately?"

Glork

The ogre has at least a small audience and continues. "Lots of giants," he answers Davroar. If not precisely. He holds up a hand.

No, two hands.

There are a few moments where he tries to figure out the right number of fingers to show, but it's evident that if he's trying to communicate an answer, the number is over five and under ten. "Fire giants steal rock. With magic. Hill giants not steal."

Jaliera

She thanks Whisper.

"Zindra, Whisper has found an area with rabbits but also a herd of reindeer. She is showing me that one of them has golden antlers. Sounds strange. Worth a look?"

Davroar

He does not know everything there is about fire giants, so he asks Glork, "Did all use magic or was it just one fire giant?"

Glork

The ogre decides to sit down to continue the conversation with Davroar.

"They use magic to find rock," Glork said. "Saw two coming first time, they had rod pointing right at me. I scared them away."

He frowns.

"But they come back with more and one of them had big rock with scribble on it. Burned all trees and then took my rock."

Zindra

"Reindeer it is. Let's try to not kill Golden Horns."

ooc: I was with the wife, driving home from her brother's house a week or two ago when I said to her, "I think it rained here". She looked about frantically from the passenger seat in the car and said "Reindeer? Where?".

OOC:

For the hunters: indicate how you are approaching the animals. Stealth checks for both.

For those staying back: feel free to interrogate and/or feed Glork. Or not.

<Bern>

He continued to keep a watchful eye on the ogre ... not ready to trust 'it'.

Davroar

"The giants took your rock? Was your rock buried here too?"

Jaliera Stealth
Gypsy rolled 1d20+10 and got 14

Making sure we are downwind and have Whisper on overwatch

Zindra
As they just began their approach to the prey Zindra went over the signals from Whisper.

"Maybe Whisper could fly in a circle pointing with her right wing over you," she said turning around in a right circle. "And then Whisper could fly in a circle pointing with her left wing towards me," she added while turning around in the other direction. "The one thing we want to do is strike at the same target at the same time. Our arrows will spook the herd. Whisper should identify a target for us and do a fly-by. That would be our signal to fire."

Once they were in range Zindra will place a Hunter's Mark on the prey, aim and fire once Whisper gives the signal or the animals start fleeing.


Zindra Stealth
Neptune rolled 1d20+6 and got 11
Boy our stealth rolls stink!

Zindra Fire arrows ToHit, ToHit, Damage, Damage, Hunters mark
Neptune rolled 1d20+8,1d20+8,1d8+3,1d8+3,1d6 and got 19, 27, 9, 7, 2

Note: I assume this is her terrain...Natural Explorer (Grassland & Swamp)

DM

[OOC: Not so fast on the arrow firing. :)]

Jaliera and Zindra make the short half-mile trek away from the rest of the group, sure to approach downwind of the prospective dinner, splitting up before the final approach and using Whisper to communicate their position and identify a target.

But before either of them reaches firing range, they both realize they are not the only ones hunting today. Zindra makes just enough noise that it draws the attention of a tall, dark-haired spear-wielding warrior, turning his head and calling out a word of warning to a companion, who answers verbally.

Both warriors appear to see Zindra, but there's no evidence they know Jaliera is nearby.

Both Zindra and Jaliera can see both warriors.

Based on their hiding positions, the warriors appear to have been intent on stalking the reindeer at the moment they were surprised by the other movement, although the verbal communication appears to indicate less stealth in that attempt. One might surmise they intended for the reindeer to notice them and move elsewhere; in fact, the reindeer appear on the opposite side of the clearing as the hunters, perhaps cautiously moving to maintain distance from the humanoid creatures. (One might also surmise that they may be moving into a trap.)

But now that the warriors have seen Zindra they appear focused primarily on that new threat, and are in an aggressive posture. One might reasonably guess they have spent some effort attempting to acquire "Golden Horns" and don't plan on letting anyone else swoop in to claim their duly earned prize. Or one might guess they're bored and want to hunt anything that moves.

Jaliera and Zindra on the west side, other hunters to the south.

Initiative Order:

24. Jaliera
18. Warriors
17. Reindeer
14. Zindra

Jaliera's turn. Also, everyone else is surprised, which means Jaliera will essentially get two consecutive turns.

DM

Glork tilts his head at Davroar's question. So many questions about the rock.

"Found rock while digging on hunt. Took back to home. Hid inside big log where I sleep," he tries to explain.

"Was long time before Giants came to find it. Never saw it but knew it was there. Chased me off, burned everything with magic, found rock and took it away."

Jaliera

She considers her options quickly. Distraction - colour spray. Neutralise - sleep - but it might not work. Both may preserve her stealth but might give Zindra the opportunity to get away. She thinks it is likely that there may be other hunters around so something quiet that might let them get away is probably the best action.

She casts colour spray towards the 2 warriors.

She casts sleep at the hunters.

Jaliera Sleep
Gypsy rolled 7d8 and got 26

DM

It might have been that this pair of hunters were the weakest in the clan, relegated to a herding role.

Or maybe it's just dumb luck.

In any case, Jaliera's spell is effective against both targets. Nearly simultaneously, their knees wobble and buckle, and they collapse to the ground in deep sleep.

Zindra
The hunter sees the two barbarian hunters fall asleep. She moves quickly (double moves) towards the sleeping warriors and disarms them, careful not to nudge them awake.
ooc: Not sure what weapons they have but it's probably bow, arrow and spear or something like that. She'll toss bow and spear behind her so that she is between the weapons and the hunters. She tries to be careful not to spook the reindeer either. Anticipating you asking for another stealth roll....
Zindra Stealth
Neptune rolled 1d20+6 and got 21

OOC: The barbarian warriors are armed with spears.

However, it's not yet Zindra's turn.

Jaliera has only had one turn. In initiative order (1) the warriors were surprised and are now unconscious for 1 minute (1st of 10 turns), (2) the Reindeer are surprised and do nothing, (3) Zindra is surprised and does nothing.

Jaliera has another turn to do anything. Gypsy, please indicate what you'd like to do!

After that, the barbarians will remain unconsious (2nd of 10 turns) and then the reindeer may react to the sound of falling barbiarians, and then it will be Zindra's turn to run up to them (and with that roll the reindeer won't notice). At double speed Zindra can reach the nearer of the two barbarians in one turn.

Jaliera

She heads for Zindra.

"Likely more of them, let's scarper. We can find other prey."

She turns to head away from the sleeping hunters.

Zindra
Trying to stay quiet, Zindra doesn't answer, just follows Jaliera.

DM

The reindeer continue to mill about.

The barbarians continue to sleep for another 48 seconds.

OOC: No need to go turn by turn here, can we fast-forward to what Zindra and Jaliera are going to do next? Are they running away or walking or hiding somewhere?

Jaliera

"I think I should send Whisper in another direction, away from the hunters, and we try again?"

Zindra
"I say we disarm these two, talk to them nicely, and then hunt together. They just need to know that we are not going after what they want."

Jaliera

She pulls a face.

"Look, I think we were lucky with the ogre. I'm not sure that these guys will be friendly. Plus their tactics may suggest that they were herding the animals towards other hunters. We could be pushing our luck. I say we try elsewhere."

Zindra
"You're the boss, but we better not go back empty handed."

She follows Jaliera away.

DM

Whilst Zindra and Jaliera move away, the hunters continue to doze...

Meanwhile, back at the rest of the camp, Glork's stomach rumbles.

Jaliera

She will send Whisper off to scout again but away from the reindeer and hunters.

Zindra
"Hopefully she'll spot something. Otherwise we better let the other hunters catch their prey and then try and track the rest of the herd."

DM

Whisper resumes searching.

Small game such as rabbits are still plentiful for the patient, and are simply a matter of taking time to collect them all.

One more densely forested area has a beast not encountered in Whisper's earlier search: a Giant Spider lurking amongst its webs, hoping perhaps to snare an unwary adventurer.

Meanwhile, in the clearing, the Barbarians eventually wake up...

Davroar

Hearing the ogre's growling stomach and not wanting to become a snack he says, "Hey Glork", he hands over four strips of jerked meat strips. "Not much for a big guy like yourself, but I'm sure our hunters will be back soon enough."

Zindra
"We can let the barbarians finish what they were doing. Why don't do that thing with your winged friend to see what's going on with the reindeer?" she says to Jaliera once they were out of earshot and eyesight of the barbarians.

Jaliera

Happy to oblige, Jaliera sends Whisper to take a look.

DM

By the time Whisper returns to investigate the barbarian hunters, the pair has managed to separate three of the reindeer from the other six, using a long fabric linked between their spears to guide them in a northeasterly direction. Seems they have agreed with each other to pretend that their nap on the job never happened.

"Golden Horns" is among the three running away from the clearing, while the remainder of the herd stays in the clearing, trotting in a small circle and clearly agitated, but no longer the concern of the hunters.

Jaliera's hunch that there are others turns out to be true, as more hunters with more cloths continue to separate animals until "Golden Horns" is alone, driven into a dead-end gulch.

Whisper has seen at least 8 barbarians participating in the event so far, without even including those who are likely near the gulch.

Jaliera

"They are still hunting, eight of them now. Let's continue away from their area. Might just have to be rabbits. We'll need to catch a lot."

Still scouting with Whisper, Jaliera looks for the best target rich environment.

ooc: Does Zindra know the significance of the golden-horned reindeer?

Neptune rolled 1d20 and got 10

DM

Zindra would know that gold-horned elk or deer figure into quite a few different legends across the realm, and that they typically had some sort of magical powers, but wouldn't know any specifics related to the barbarians.

She would also know it was typical of barbarians in this region to track, hunt, and engage in one-on-one combat against a powerful beast as a way of proving strength, something typical of either a tribe chief or someone who wanted to compete for the job.

If you choose to hunt rabbits, you may catch them at the rate of one every 12 minutes, up to a total of 15 if you want to take 3 hours.

Zindra

"Lets go hunting for rabbits. They're easier to carry than reindeer anyway.

Jaliera

They can't stay out here all day and the ogre will be getting hungry, so Jaliera thinks a few hours but decides to try to maximise their haul by involving Whisper. She might not need to eat but surely she can still catch prey, probably quicker than they can!

Zindra
After zig-zagging a bit they caught a couple of rabbits and returned to camp, Zindra walks over to the Ogre and says "Hi Glork! We caught only a few but here!"

She holds out one of the rabbits and handed to him.

Glork

Glork looks very appreciative of the food offering. A whole rabbit is even more than the rations that tided him over earlier.

It's not pretty, but the animal is quickly consumed, and the ogre looks content. And awaits the party's plans to go fight someone!

Zhu

"So, anything we need to do or are we back on our way?"

<Bern>

"Do we want to take some time and 'clean up' here to make it harder on anyone that wants to track us? There are pluses and minuses to both choices", he finished with a shrug.

Zindra

"I think we know what to look out for thanks to Glork. It's the giants, right Glork? I say, if they want to come get us, let them. We have mighty Glork on our side!"

She was wondering what would happen when they reached Calling Horns.

"Glork, we should take you towards your home. Where is it?"

Glork

"That way," Glork gestures in an easterly direction. "But nothing left for me there but magic burning tree."

He shrugs. "And hill giants between us and it, too. You not need go with me. I go with you."

Davroar

"Should keep moving while we got daylight."

Jaliera

"Makes sense. I'll send Whisper aloft, get an idea of what lies ahead."

And she does just that.

<Bern>

He gathered his gear, ready to get back on the road.

Zindra
When she gets back to camp Zindra relays what she saw and tells everyone about the golden horned reindeer that the barbarians were hunting.

"Can you describe this magic burning tree?" she asks Glork.

OOC: Can't resist a burning bush - totally biblical!

Glork

The ogre nods to Zindra. "Giants put stone in tree," he says, leaning forward to draw a diamond shape in the dirt. "Like that with a carving in it." He draws something that looks vaguely like the number 2 inside the diamond.

"Big fire around tree, burned all my stuff around it in a big circle." He stands up and moves several feet away from the diamond mark, then bends down and starts to trace a large circle, or a least a few feet of the arc of it, just to make the point. "But tree didn't burn. That's how I know it was magic."

Smart, this ogre is.

"Was still burning last I saw, could see smoke from long way off."

Arcana check on what Glork is describing:

Arcana (Int)
Zhuirentel Elendaril
14

DM

Zhu would recognize the diamond shaped rock that Glork described as a Runestone.

There were two types of runestones. They were common among dwarves.

Larger stones were usually markers to honor locations of events, mark path waypoints, name bridges, etc., and were not magical. They were stone slabs with messages carved into them. These messages could be warnings, instructions, stories, or accounts of events. They varied in shape and size, depending on the creator and time they were made.

There were smaller stones that had magic enchantments placed on them. These were usually about the size of a fist with a single rune or glyph. Glork's description was larger than this, and it would be reasonable to deduce that the larger size of the stone Glork described might be the size of a giant's fist rather than a dwarven one. As for what the carving on it means, there's a nonzero chance it has something to do with fire.

Zhu might also know a famous quote about runestones:

Zindra
"How interesting Glork! No. Not that your home was burned, but how! That is so strange! You are smart Glork! I think we should see about this tree that would not burn. I would take you there first. Then we could decide what to do."

Zhu

The Golden Horn Reindeer seems unusual enough that she pauses to consider if she has ever heard of such a thing.

Arcana (Int)
Zhuirentel Elendaril
10

DM

Zhu may have heard of a legend in elven lore about a cursed elven lordling that took the form of a stag, although in that legend the horns of the creature were platinum.

Point being, it was not a stag.

Glork

Glork smiles at the compliments on his intelligence, nodding his head.

"I will lead you there," he agrees. "But be prepared to fight hill giants. I help you fight them."

Zindra
She turns to the others with a quizzical look to see if the others wanted to do that.

Jaliera

She shrugs.

"We might find something useful.."

<Bern>

"OK with me", he said

Zhu

She frowns and looks directly at Davroar. "There is a rare, and possibly magical animal being hunted not too far off. You are alright leaving it to the slaughter?"

Davroar

Not knowing enough about gold horned deer, he replies to Zhu with a hint of reluctance, "I will let nature take its course. Let's go on..."
Davroar is not a very religious druid, so he does not offer any prayers towards the animal other than silently hoping that it can escape the hunters.

Jaliera

"You think it is magical Zhu?"

The idea had never occurred to her. She is more interested now.

Zhu

She shakes her head sadly, then turns to Jaliera. "It is certainly unusual and possibly has magical properties. In my home, a creature like this would be revered and protected."

Zindra

"I'll do what you all decide. I didn't fend off the barbarians because it would have been futile. As a group, however, it wouldn't be. We can accomplish two things. Even though it might be too late, there's a chance we can save the creature. And if we deal with the barbarians we could hunt for bigger game to satisfy Glork's hunger which is sure to return. How much time could that take?"

Glork

"I eat barbarians," Glork offers helpfully. "Better than golden deer. Not taste like metal."

<Bern>

He listened to the discussion. It did not seem as though there was a consensus yet. Well it seemed clear what Glock had a goal.

Davroar

Hearing from Zhu that the Elves would protect such a creature changes Davroar's mind. He is after all just a short-lived human, and if there is one thing that his old mentor did tell him was to respect the Elves knowledge about the natural world.

"I didn't know that, Zhu. How far away did you see the herd?"

Davroar figures if it is not too far, changing into a wolf or a large hunting dog might offer the quickest way to get there and possibly be in time to save it.

Glork

"I run fast," the ogre contributes. "Faster than Hill Giants!" Looking at Davroar, he adds, "I can run as fast as wolf too. You want me run save reindeer?"

OOC: Yes, the ogre has a speed of 40.

OOC addendum: Oops, Davroar didn't mention the wolf aloud. Glork is not a mind reader. So Glork probably just grunted.

Jaliera

"Well I guess we are all going for a run then?"

She worries about them splitting up especially as ogres might eat wolves too. But then she can send Whisper for a look and see what is happening.

"I'll send Whisper for a look as we set off."

And she does just that.

<Bern>

Well it seemed like a goal has been agreed on. He nodded and got ready for a run.

Zindra

She started to run, leading the pack with Jaliera and said to Glork, "I know you are fast, but please don't run ahead of me unless I tell you otherwise."

Glork

The ogre looks happy to be on the move, somewhere, eager to pay off his debt of honor. And maybe have a barbarian snack.

"I follow you," he responds to Zindra, doing exactly as directed.