Chapter 2: The Creepy Forest

Katie watches on as the flames consume the the dead man's body, wondering if what she had heard about releasing haunting spirits were actually true and not just tall tales.

Kendral doesn't stay around to watch the fire. Instead he scouts the area around the party's camp a bit for any more signs of living creatures passing through here at any prior point....well, he would not ignore any signs of the dead either.

Xaka watches the fire too. "So, Katie. You burn bodies often?"

Grimbly likes fires, even if it's to burn something otherworldly. While he watches the body being consumed along with Katie, he wonders about the man's past life and what led to his ultimate predicament.

"I'd still like to see if we can find that box before we head out."Crits are only for combat.

It takes a moment for Xaka's words to register. "Hmm? Oh, no," she replies, laughing a little self-consciously. "It was one of those things the tinker said that just kind of stuck with me. He was full of all sorts of stories and tales. A lot of them seemed a little... imaginative. But then I never ran into an undead sorceror before, or whatever he was, so.... Better safe than sorry, right?" She gives a small shrug and turns her eyes back to burning remains, not quite sure whether she's expecting to see something happen or not.

"Oh, what's this?" Grimbly kicks away some ashes and uncovers the key. Realizing it must still be hot he finds a stick and pokes it free to cool in the air.

"It might not be the box but it's the key to it, I'll wager!" He will pick the key up once it's cool enough to do so.

Xaka looks up and points at the smoke escaping through the forest canopy. "This isnt safe by a long shot. We have to move."

"But the box! Shouldn't we try and find it especially since I have the key? We had a campfire all night. No one came to harass us and still have not come."

"Poor Grimbly can’t see the forest for the trees." Belvedere quips to Kendral, as they wait a ways ahead.

"VAST RICHES AWAIT!" he bellows back down the road as Grimbly roots around for the box.

"Come on then, Xaka. Katie, you too. Let's make haste and catch up to Belvedere who will bite his tongue when I tell him what the key just told me."

Grimby secretes the key in a safe inside pocket and hurries along away from the fire.

Kendral, heading back from scouting, sees that his companions are on the move and joins them.

"Follow," he says to Moonshadow, who had just landed on a limb above Kendral and then takes back to flight on Kendral's command.

"A touch more inviting than the last face that loomed out as us from a tree, wouldn’t you say?" Belvedere remarks, as he mulls over the faces, his fist resting below his chin.

"Theres a tale about these trees, you know?…"