The Flayed Man part 22

Mud. More mud. It's just that time of year out here. Fortunately, it's not raining or things would be a lot worse. Still, you've made progress deeper into the hills. You're seeing signs of local habitation, now, too. You're no doubt starting to close in on your quarry, if they're not moving particularly fast. The mud definitely wants to hold onto your boots.

That is what Prestidigitation is for. Annoyingly, Seldan's armor remains shiny and pristine, no matter how much mud the party slogs through, or how many times he or someone else slips and falls - and he doesn't even have to cast any magic for it to do so. This is not, however, true of the rest of his gear, and the haversack does not get opened without a good cleaning first. He slogs on quietly, looking around him, and for signs of which way their quarry went.

Iskandar is no stranger to the cold, and likewise the rugged terrain and the mud don't seem to bother him. But what does bother him, more than anything it seems is: "Time! This is taking too much time! There has to be a faster way! The longer it takes us to catch up to Toes, the greater the chance he and his troop will catch the Frost Worm..."

Mud. Mud is life. Lanier treks through the muddy hills, collecting some of natures camouflage as he goes without so much as a second thought. His mighty hunting companion, Spud, is not too far away experiencing the same mud but far less happy about it. A muddy Lanier looks Iskander for a moment, mentioning, "Priorities." He looks towards Seldan, narrowing his eyes, "When you do that, does it really get rid of the mud or does it just make it look like the mud isn't there?" In spite of the casual conversation, the Ranger seems to be keeping his head on a swivel, keeping an eye on their surroundings as best as he can.

Malik walks on beside Seldan, no stranger to mud. Or at least keeping a good poker face about it. He glances over at Seldan’s armor, seeing the spotless nature of it -- and gives it a roll of his eyes, with a small grin. “A year ago I would have called that a perfectly good waste of materials,” he sighs, “but now that I see you in it? I understand why it’s important.” He leans on his staff -- just a simple wooden stick, really -- trekking his way up the difficult terrain. “And there are faster ways,” he tells Iskandar. “Ways that use resources we might not be able to recuperate.”

"It dispels the mud," Seldan explains, flushing pink at Malik's comment, but answering Lanier. "It is enchanted to remove sweat and dirt, and offer relief from extreme climes, and it does not interfere with other magics. A worthwhile enchantment. "You are concerned for their safety ... or you wish to face it yourself?" he asks of Iskandar.

GAME: Malik rolls Perception: (9)+21: 30

GAME: Lanier rolls Perception: (19)+13: 32

GAME: Seldan rolls perception: (5)+6: 11

GAME: Iskandar rolls perception: (11)+12: 23

Iskandar holds out his arms in a shrug. "I suppose I'm not opposed to putting an arrow or three into the hide of the thing, but I didn't have to come all this way to hunt monsters. I just don't want to leave here no closer to resolving the mystery, and setting our friend the flayed man at ease." His eyes roll as he says the word 'friend.'

Frowning, Lanier tilts his head to raise an eyebrow archly towards Iskander, "Hunt the frost worm to what end? You don't eat frost worm, I don't think, the hide isn't particularly durrable, and there's not enough fat in a worm to use for soap or warmth." He then shakes his head, "Have you thought of the ecological impact of taking that worm out of the environment? What damage it could cause?" He then asks, "And think about how the worm feels? You're just out there doing frost worm things, trying to eat the sizable quantities you have to eat as a frost worm, trying to make sizable frost worm babies with sizable frost worm women, and then thirty mercenaries and four idiots from the Adventurer's guild come and try to kill you. Maybe relieve themselves on your lawn, and send flowers to your sizable frost worm wife." He then tsks, shaking his head as he poses his final question to Iskander, "How would you feel?"

Hours.

You're at this for hours. Hours with the mud sticking to your boots. Hours of marching, with the natural breaks involved where necessary.

Malik and Lanier see the signs first. Signs of passage and a fair bit of it too. Seems you're finally on the right trail.

Following it and quickening your pace in so much as you can, you're now really well and truly on your way.

You come upon, now, a camp site carved out of the side of the hill, definitely belonging to an armed group and quite likely the one you're looking for.

Iskandar exhales in a puff of mist. "Finally." He surveys the camp, looking for banners or standards or anything else that bears a Frostmantles symbol. "We should announce ourselves," he notes to the others.

Seldan's powers of observation are their usual selves during the march, but once they finally find the campsite, he hesitates. "I know not if its justice demands another death, but I doubt that they will willingly permit us t speak with their tracker without guards."

Malik points out the tracks, for those that can follow them. But when it comes to diplomacy? The wizard knows it’s not his forte, and keeps his big trap shut, letting others do the talking. Malik is more likely to get them *into* a fight talking than out of a fight.

Lanier frowns, "It's an older camp, but it's not that old." He then looks towards Iskander and shakes his head, "Nobody is here. It wasn't meant to be a permanent encampment. Just eat, sleep, and move." He fairly purposefully strides into the camp, starting to take a long look around. He starts at the edge of the camp and circles, each pass bringing him closer to the center. He points out a few spots, then states, "There's about twelve with this group. They went that way." He then follows the majority of the tracks, pointing off in the direction they go.

”And not skimping on the steel,” Malik says, looking down at the depth of the tracks. “Armor. Weapons. They’re not in light padding, for sure.” He looks around at the others. “We’re certainly outnumbered. Let’s hope not outclassed.”

"Outclassed? Never." Iskandar scoffs. He marches through the camp, without stopping, glancing over the indicated points of interest. Then a thought occurs to him. "Any signs that the Sorcerer has been here? The one who is so fond of fire and traps?"

Lanier shakes his head, mulling it over for a moment and even taking a second look back through the camp, "I can't tell. There's about twelve different variations of footprint here. They moved about, slept, ate, then left. I can tell they're on foot. None of the vegetation has been grazed on like you would see with pack animals or mounts." He looks back up to Iskander and shakes his head, "I'm sorry."

Good news, everyone!

With a capable tracker in Lanier and easy to follow mud-trails, you're now gaining even *better* time on them, and in fact, as the sun starts to set, you begin to believe you'll be able to caqtch up on them within a few hours.

Careful ears begin to pick up the distant sounds of men hard at work, to say nothing of the distant clinks of metal on metal and shouting.

Stealthy, they are not, but then... perhaps that's the point.

GAME: Seldan rolls knowledge/arcana: (4)+16: 20

GAME: Malik rolls Knowledge/Arcana: (11)+20: 31

GAME: Lanier rolls Knowledge/Arcana: (2)+4: 6

Seldan slows as they come upon the much larger armed group, and shoots a dark look at Malik, motioning for the group to slow. "Not idly do they make noise so. I think it a lure." He remains well out of human earshot as he speaks. "They draw it to themselves."

Malik pulls up alongside, deferring to Seldan and Lanier’s expertise. “Better them than us, anyway,” he mumbles, raising an eyebrow. “Perhaps the worms will level the fight a bit.” A beat. “Assuming no one does anything -- rash.” Not that anyone in this group would ever do such a thing. Surely.

GAME: Malik rolls Stealth: (20)+20: 40

GAME: Lanier rolls Stealth: (2)+15: 17

GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+3: (17)+3: 20

Malik is there one minute, and simply gone the next, the wizard disappearing into cover somewhere as he watches the others doing their thing. The faces of the part can easily blend in, whereas Malik works best unobserved. Which is precisely what he seeks to achieve, apparently having no small amount of practice at this.

...well, there they are.

You first come upon one of them, both the stealthy and face-sorts. A man, standing alone in a field. He's stomping his feet on the ground and yelling. When he sees Seldan and Iskandar's approach, he stops dead and stares at them.

Like, what are you folks doing here? It's a quizzical stare, but then he raises his fingers to his mouth and indicates a 'shhhh' before pointing back behind him, as if to say 'go that way'. Another gesture: hurry.

Seldan nods wordlessly, stepping back several paces in the direction indicated, and glances quickly at Iskandar, gestures with a jerk of the head that he should do the same.

Iskandar's features set in a grim expression. He turns and follows. He glances around surreptitiously, trying to catch sight of the others party members, but of course they are doing their best to avoid being seen. Iskandar settles for moving a bit more slowly than he has to. To give them as much chance as possible to see him. He should have known, no plan survives contact and so forth.