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-----Later that evening, the party sits down to their meal of deer meat. Amythiel appears about the time most of the company has finished eating. She silently goes around to each adventurer to see if they require healing. Rand tends to the wounds Sol collected from the bone men while Rinda looks after Raven.
-----Goff invites Sarah outside to take a look at the cages he has built. He approaches several of the heroes asking if they will be going to the town and if they might bring him back some live pigeons.
-----The men then pick their times to take the watch during the night. Sol and Zentil get in a little swordplay while Broactor helps Raven to improve some of his skills.
-----Outside the shelter, the temperature drops and the night gets colder despite the fire the hunters set in the middle of the clearing. An hour before midnight, the weather turns ugly and a sleet-like precipitation is heard hitting the stone walls of the shelter. It continues through the night . . .
-----The weather the next day proves to not be much better. A light rain falls and the wind that blows among the trees is cold. There appears to be no break in the clouds.
-----At breakfast Sol asks, "Are we going to go to that tower Andra mentioned today? The one south of Tru I believe she said...?"
-----Rand walks up to Amythiel and says, "Might I speak with you in private for a moment? I have a quick question I would ask of you."
-----A look of surprise crosses Amythiel’s face as she says, "Why, yes. Of course."
-----Raven says to the group, "I'd like to track down who attacked the keep and killed our friends. Sooner we leave the better. With this weather it will be tough to track them down. What say the group?"
-----It is cold this morning as the party sets out from the small woods leaving Broactor, Rinda, Goff, and Amythiel behind. They ride grimly and silently as Raven leads them through the light rain toward the small, deserted keep. Most of the adventurers try to hold their cloaks about them as the drizzle drips into their eyes.
-----As the riders stop before the empty structure, its gray walls stand against the dim light of the morn. Now devoid of its occupants, the small shell keep seems much like a dead thing, its window openings black and dark as empty eye sockets.
-----Raven quickly dismounts and runs ahead to a point a few feet from the front door. He anxiously searches the ground checking the disturbed soil. At times he stands emitting frustrated curses and returns to his feverish search. Everything seems to stand still around the party except for the rain and the young grizzled man looking for a clear sign of departing tracks.
-----After a few moments, Raven finally climbs back atop his horse and points to the south. The party then starts out across the open plains. . .
-----Moments later, the riders begin to pass a swampland to their right covering an area of about a square mile. The trees there appear gnarled and bone-like as they jut above the water and vegetation. Suddenly about sixty yards ahead, the group sees over a half dozen man-sized cloaked forms emerge amongst the thick and scraggily bushes. They carry bows and some are armed with swords. The forms see the riders and wave to them, apparently hailing the adventurers.
-----Sol rides toward the group and discreetly nudges his horse in front of Sarah, trying to make it look like a natural movement.
-----Raven waves back to the strangers and yells, "Hail friends!" He begins to advance and says to the group, "Keep your eyes open. Zentil, keep towards the back and close to the brush. If there's trouble you'll have to cover our backs."
-----The elf falls back and dismounting leads his horse quickly over and moves along the brush. The dreary rain continues to fall.
-----As the party moves forward they can see that the features on the strangers’ faces are human. One, a young man with matted light hair and a thin stubble of a beard on his face watches the adventurers approach with a smile. Suddenly the smile turns into a smirk and the young man yells, "Take them down!" With that, four of the strangers drop to their knees and begin to draw their bows. The rest draw their swords.
-----Sol rears his horse and with a muttered oath charges toward the line of bowmen. Like a streak, Sol’s horse bolts through the strangers’ line mowing two of them down. As he passes, Sol sweeps the old Lathanian blade across the chest of another man as he tries to rise in his surprise. Just as the man fully stands, in the next instant he falls back down, this time his body lifeless.
-----The rest of the strangers now numbering six, seem to rally. Two of the swordsmen look to pursue Sol and the rest turn toward the rest of the adventurers.
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