An Unlikely Companionship

Hearing Tanser mention his need to gather some items before leaving Apró speaks up. "I must make my way back to the Ramsal Estate before leaving, it shouldn't take more than an hour to grab some supplies and say my goodbyes. Shall we meet back here in an hour?"

"An hour is agreeable."

Bog went back up to his room where he put on his armor and gathered his meager belongings. He made his way to the road that led from Rockdrift to Candleton and waited for the others.

Binleeargo is stunned at the turn of events. He smiles broadly to himself and twirls his moustache. I been living human style far too long! "Awww, gnomes, got to love us," he exclaims loudly to the crowd. "We love you humans dearly, but by the gods you can argue long before a decision. Us gnomes? We're whimsical, haha." He springs toward the door and then spins around and calls out "we'll be back if we survive!"

He then positively skips to his bunk and grabs his gear, then chases after Bog to the road home.

Apró is surprised to find that neither Edward or Isabella are at the Ramsal estate when he arrives. "It's not like them to go out this time of day, especially with me tagging along to help control Edward. Isabella must have taken my advice and gone to the healer. It's a shame I won't be able to say a proper goodbye..."

Gathering his belonging from his room, Apró gives one last look around the place he has called home for the past few months. Before leaving he takes a few minutes to write a note to the family that was nice enough to take him in during the lowest point of his life. "They are good people, I'm going to miss them."

Apró stands as tall as possible, staff in his right hand, the lower end of which is resting on the ground, "Mr. Ramsal, with all due respect, I must return to Candleton. I have to know what evil caused the destruction of my town and I must avenge those that have fallen! You're family has been most gracious to me, more so than I would have ever imagined, but we all knew that this was to be a temporary arrangement and now I must go."

As he's pleading his case with Edward the Senior, Apró gives Macska the signal to scout ahead into his room.

OOC: From what I've read, I won't have full control over my familiar, but Apró will give the signal to Macska and hope for the best.

"What's gotten into him!?" Apró thinks as he tightens his grip on his staff.

"I am the property of no empire, Sir, and my duty is to the people of Candleton and my fellow gnomes. I'm going to ask, with the utmost respect, Sir, that you please step aside and let me gather my belongings."

OOC: Macska is simply checking to see if there is anyone in my room.

"There's not many of my people left on which to wreak havoc", Apró mumbles as he walks past Edward and into his room.

OOC: Once there he will gather his belongings and then quickly return to the designated meeting place. Apró and Macska communicate through simple facial expressions and behaviors. Apró can wave his hand forward as a sign to scout ahead and based on Macska body language when he returns Apró will know if something unexpected is waiting for him.

Binlee is with Bog. His twin hammers twirl in amusement and genuine glee. Looking east he tries to imagine what they might find,l. While he knows that the terror of that night was real, his gnomish heart can not hold onto such heavy feelings for long.

Tanser "handles some shit" then joins the others as well...

He seems preoccupied. In his own head at the moment. Not immediately acknowledging the others, but joins them nonetheless. He starts fumbling with his pipe, lights and starts puffing away staring off into the distance.

All in all, Bog thought they were making good time. They were walking at a brisk enough pace, and he was enjoying the chance to simply breathe in the fresh air and bask in the memories the familiar smells were bringing back. He was snapped from his revere when the path took a turn he didn't remember and they entered a valley that was new to him. Glancing upward, the sun had jumped places in the sky, and the rumbling beneath his feet only added to the confused panic that was setting in. Looking down the valley, his jaw dropped at the sight of a herd of Koru behemoths stampeding toward them!

Being a gnome Apró was used to feeling small but this was taking things to a whole new level! It took a quick nip from his trusty familiar to break him from his stunned silence and react to stampeding beasts. "Run!!' was all he could get out before he realized the others had beat him to the punch and were already making their way through the undergrowth of the wilderness.

After running for about 100 yards, Apró spotted what appears to be a cave entrance down in a small ravine, and with the Koru outpacing that party he made a suggestion that no one really wanted to hear. "In here!!" he yelled as he directed the others into the cave entrance. "If we can get down deep enough, perhaps we won't end up as residue on their feet."

Casting Dancing Lights to help illuminate their descent into the caverns it quickly become clear that not only were the passing Korus knocking loose dirt and rocks from the caverns ceilings onto the party, but their path back has been blocked! As everyone waited for the worst to pass Apró spoke up, "Alive and trapped is better than being flat and dead. Any ideas on how to get out of here?"

After waiting out the stampede in the cave, eventually the gnomes form a hilariously wobbly gnome ladder and make their way to the surface. They peak out and find the ground chewed up from the mighty beasts passage.

They continue east and make camp that night. They lay some traps for some small game for breakfast, and tuck into their foodstores. While playing a gnomish fireside game of riddles, they suddenly realize that all of the insects and night birds have gone silent. They stand nervously and look out into the woods beyond the ring of firelight, and see a pair of eyes shining redly back at them!