Part 5: Return to the Moathouse Ruins

Hrmph! "I would have to agree, let us rest and return to town. We have resources in Hommlet that we can leverage for information about this mysterious eye." He finally begins to head up the stairs, following the others back to the surface.

Gilly fixes her elven cloak around her. She pulls the hood up, with little red wisps of her bushy red hair still poking out the front. She crosses to where Timber and the other mounts are waiting, and feeds him a handful of food. She pats him on the neck as she climbs on.

"Ready to go home, Timber?"

She looks to the gnome, and thinks of his legs.

"Get on! Timber can carry you!"

"Is it that book you were talking about earlier that you’ll be reading by on the way back, it is?" Gilly calls back, as Timber trots slowly back towards town. At least this time they hadn’t lost anyone to the fort.

"Do you think that Druid might come with us?" she asks the wizard, more seriously now.

Unfamiliar with what druid the girl speaks of and never having been particularly fond of burying his nose in dusty old tomes, Norris found little interest in the small talk. He felt that third in line, behind 'Doorbreaker' (his new, private nickname for Bors) was a nice spot; close enough to be in the action, but not so close as to be unwillingly thrown into it. He was stealthy, but that was very different from being a point man or a scout- he's seen too many people eat spearheads up front; it was not a role he desired.

Mal takes her place at or near the front of the column and tries to become one with the rain. She chats idly as she rides to distract herself from the cold.

"I've been thinking about that eye we keep hearing about. While I don't know of any god who uses that symbol specifically, the implication is very much evil. We are watching you, or we are all seeing, these things come to mind."

Gilly blows a few practice puffs of air to check and double check.

"Oh! Getting cold, isn’t it?" she says, as she pulls the cloak tighter. Then she looks to the gnome, and thinks it best if he doesn’t get cold, what with his injury and all.

She whispers:

"Try to get the cloak wrapped around you a bit! It’s cold!"

… Adventurer indeed…

She eyes the outcrop suspiciously. And then looks to the ugly river. Was it the same body of water that held those great fat frogs? Gilly didn’t pretend to know about any of that. Nor had she paid the water much mind on their journey this far.

"I can sneak up there and check it out, if you want!"

"Cold indeed. If my armor were touching skin I'm sure it would freeze to it. Something bad is coming." Bors pulls his sword in anticipation of danger.

Clearly unhappy with the plummeting temperature, Norris pulls the edges of his traveling jacket close, though it's really not designed for this sort of weather, "What's all this about?" he mutters audibly. "I'm not from around here- is this sort of change normal?!?" grumbles the drenched and now freezing thief.

Gilly dismounts, giving the gnome an apologetic look as the cloak falls away from him, following the Halfling.

She turns to the others, and puts a finger to her lip.

Wait…
Quiet…

And she begins to sneak forward to see if anything suspicious lies ahead in the grove or the river!

"This doesn't feel right..."

Mal hops down from her horse as the column stops to give Gilly time to scout. She arms her shield and un hooks her hammer...

Eltrezar, sharing a horse with one of the freed prisoners, slows his horse as well, but doesn't immediately dismount. Hrmph! "I agree with you, Dwarf. Let us stay alert, and see what Gilly has to say upon her return." Despite his words of patience, he draws a dagger and keeps a keen eye out.