-----Raven walks about stiffly and it is apparent he is hurt. Dilton is injured with a wound to his arm. Lovan still bears the redness of the trapped container from one of the rooms above. Strolum holds a redden bandage over his gut. Even though Garrison is now wearing chain armor, he still moves about with the stiffness of his own wounds.
-----Rinda moves first to Raven to check on him.
-----Sarah sighs as she realizes how banged up her companions are getting and begins to bandage the wounded once again, starting with the three warriors, figuring that Rinda will be taking care of her man.
-----"I think we have had enough fighting for today," She says quietly.
-----"I agree with Sarah," Rinda says while she looks over a stab wound to Raven's left arm. "But keep alert, there may be other orcs about."
-----"Wit' all respect, MiLady," Dilton says as Sarah looks at his fresh arm wound, "we owes ye an apology." A true tone of remorse is in the man's gravelly voice as he looks quickly to his two companions.
-----"That we do, MiLady," Strolum adds. "We pledged to guard yer person n' me n' me friends were last in th' charge on this 'ere castle."
-----Pil struggles with his words before he says, "Strolum already be carryin' a goodly wound n' we couldn' jest leave 'em behind. We gots 'im up n' followed through th' storm best we could."
-----Garrison looks over at Sol in his new armor and, grinning, an idea comes to him. "Sol, that armor fits you well," the woodsman starts, "and I was thinking all you need now is your own castle." Garrison passes a glance over the ceiling of the great hall before adding, "When this is all over, I wonder if Lord Howrun will be looking for someone to man this keep with."
-----Lovan nods thoughtfully and quietly says, "A Rager's keep. You certainly have a well-stocked armory."
-----Garrison continues to look around and his eyes sink lower to the floor littered with dozens of orc bodies. "Do we need to drag these bodies outside and burn them?" he asks as he looks at Raven and Sol.
-----There is movement around the door and cautiously Raven's wolf looks in. Sighting his master, the wolf pads over to where the two hunters are. The wolf then muzzles Raven while Rinda bandages him.
-----Caranip turns up her nose at the idea of burning the bodies. "Are we staying here overnight?" she asks.
-----Sol nods at Dilton's apology, agreeing that they should indeed be remorseful. To Garrison, he replies in between friendly laughs, "A castle? Yer joking right, Garrison? I'm not sure they just give these things away. Asides, orc blood's not my favourite colour t'decorate with."
-----At talk of what to do next, the Gorian frowns, "We've been through this. We decided we'd be better off cleaning out this place first, before taking any further action. I'm standing by that. If necessary, Lovan an' I will finish up . . . There's only a small section left. Yes, Garrison, I think we'll need t'burn th' bodies, but I'll start helping with that once we're done here."
-----A quick glance at Lovan follows, and the Stormbringer gestures towards the back of the keep, to the last unchecked area. Sol then begins to head over there.
-----Raven looks around at the cold gray walls, "I'd rather stay outside then spend a night in the orc haven. I say let the bodies rot. We will not be able to hold the keep. At some point a large group of orcs will return. Let's leave a nice mess for 'em. Send 'em a message. All their kind dead and not one body of the foes that killed 'em. I'd pay to see their faces when they walk in here."
-----Raven nods at Sol and then begins to follow him to finish off the rest of the keep. Raven says to Rinda, "I'll be careful. There can't be more than a handful left."
-----"I disagree." Sarah says. "With our help the next army that occupies this keep will be men or elves, not orcs. Let's clean out the bodies, save the equipment and send word to the nearest stronghold for a, uh..." Sarah glances at the large woodsman "...garrison to hold this place."
-----"Let's finish off the areas we have not explored yet, but the injured stay behind and start cleaning up. We'll help out when we are done exploring this place." She promises the injured people.
-----Still walking away, Sol says to the group over his shoulder, "I agree wi' Sarah here. We're forerunners fer Lord Howrun's army. They'll most likely be th' next major group t'come through here."
-----So it is that the adventurers began their final search through the keep. Dilton and Pil remained outside the keep watching the horses while Strolum and Garrison climbed the outer wall to survey the surrounding lands.
-----The rest took the corridor to the left of the stairs and found that it lead to rooms and chambers surrounding the Great Hall. Many of the rooms were trashed and one huge room was obviously a dormitory of sorts for the orcish soldiers. On the whole, the orcs had wasted little time in defiling any kind of homeliness this place might have once possessed.
-----Doors were also found that lead the party to the towers of the keep and eventually to the surrounding curtain wall. One final stairway took the adventurers below ground level again to a dank and dark chamber that was used as a prison. Luckily, no unfortunates were found although there was evidence of this place's use as a torture chamber. Chains hung from some of the walls plus pokers and pincers had been carelessly thrown about by the humanoids.
-----By the afternoon, the search was completed with no more orcs found alive and only a few copper pieces found here and there.
-----With the use of some wagons found in a building in the courtyard, the dead orcs were piled up outside the walls. By the early evening, the pile was still ablaze.
-----As the adventurers stand atop the wall, they see nothing moving in the vast lands around them under cloudy skies. Garrison speaks up and says, "Lord Howrun is a few days behind us. I wonder if he will want to use this keep as they pass through."
-----Pointing at the small hills to the south of the keep, he adds, "We could rest there for the night unless we want to sleep within the trees of Silvergard to the east."
-----Looking at Raven, Sol and Sarah, he asks, "Any ideas for this night . . . and what of tomorrow?"
-----"Tonight we rest and recover our energy," Sarah says, so exhausted by all the fighting that she does not want to think about anything else. "We have been fighting all day long. I think we can take a few hours off to rest."
-----"As for tomorrow..." She thinks. "Well, there are several things we could do, what do you think Sol?"
-----"Those hills look fine Garrison, I think we should rest there. They'll also give us a decent vantage point to see what's ahead, an' t'keep an eye out fer trouble." Lightly placing a gauntleted hand on Sarah's shoulder and squeezing lightly, Sol answers her question, "We've been given a fair bit o' choice, an' truth be told, maybe we should just make our choices based on what we find next. We'll head deeper into Ravenhold, taking a path the army is likely t'head, an' try t'deal wi' any problems that might lie in th' way."