Chapter 1 - The Beginning

My eyes pop open as I remember why we're here in the first place. "The caravan! How much longer do we have?" I stumble back into the clearing, looking for the others.

Checking the Suns position again Ramas responds, "I would guess we have maybe less than twenty minutes. We need to hurry and move these bodies. The bend in the path will provide us enough time but if they round the corner they will be right on top of us if we don't finish up quickly."

Aelar, adrenaline wearing off, realizes how wounded he is. He sits for a moment and focuses, drawing healing energy into his body and forcing his wounds to knit.

After healing himself he will look to the others, "Anyone else injured?"

Casting Cure Wounds on myself

Ugh! Terrible roll!

"Injured? No. However, I am quite tired from all of that physical exertion. I don't know how you all do it!" After a pause, "Oh! You can pass as injured for that ruse we had been discussing previously! Most excellent!"

Hooking her shield onto her back and sheathing her sword Ütés grabs a hold of a goblin by the ankle and starts dragging it behind her. "An injury ruse?" she queries as she hears Xadira. "Certainly a couple of these corpses on the road could make it look like an ambush has occurred making the ruse more believable, but I worry for your safety, Aelar. You appear to be quite injured."

Reaching another goblin corpse she grabs its ankle and starts dragging the pair off to the road. "What would you have us do, Aelar?"

"I can certainly pose as injured, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch," Aelar says to Xadira, then turns to Utes, touched by her concern, "I should be ok, I can usually take care of myself pretty well. After the encounter I should be able to sneak in with little issue, it's all of you that I'm worried about."

Crolwell gasps and grabs his stomach and cries out, falling to the ground.
"No! The bear caught me in the gut! The blood! The horror!"

"I'm not as stealthy as the rest of you." Ütés says before glancing at Crolwell, "well, as most of you, anyway. I will attempt to sneak up behind the caravan once it stops. Aelar, if things start to go wrong, give us a sign of some sort."

With that Ütés moves away from the 'ambush' site trying to position herself so that she can come up from behind the caravan once it stops.

Crolwell is hiding behind (what he thinks is) a large bush very near the corner the caravan might come around. Probably not that great of cover, but he feels invisible. He feels that the carriage will pass by and notice only fog and mist where he is now squating. A black hole where nobody can be seen... the others probably notice his poor choice, since his head is sticking above the bush and looking around.

I whisper towards Crolwell, "Stay down! You shouldn't be so close to the road in the condition you're in!"

I keep several feet away from the side of the road, hidden but hopefully with a view of the carriages when they arrive. I wrap the cloak around myself a little tighter, excited at the prospect of using its magical energies for such a dangerous purpose.

Ramas moves into the bush besides Crolwell and pushes his head below the top of the bush. We must be quiet, I hear the caravans approach.

Indeed you start to feel the dull thumping hoof best moments before the first wagon rounds the corner. This is an uncovered wagon filled with barrels. A goblin is at the reins.

Soon 4 total carts have rounded the corner. Two uncovered on the front and back. The two middle ones are the secured covered wagons Ramas had shown you earlier. The carts are, as expected, flanked by six humans on horses. Most have swords sheathed at their side and they are jeering with each other. They don't seem to talk to the goblins that are steering the wagons.

The bodies have been placed and Aelar is in place. As they round the corner and see the bodies one of the first two horsemen calls out, Ho! Hold the carts. We've got bodies!. He is the first of the horsemen to break off from the caravan.

Hearing the sound of the approaching caravans and the sound of the horsemen approaching, Aelar "struggles" to his hands and knees from his position on the ground, among the bodies. He appears confused and winces as he turns to look at the approaching men, as if merely moving is painful. He rasps weakly from parched lips, "Help me," before he loses strength and slumps back to the ground.

Thank goodness for Felix's acting lessons, he thinks to himself.

Aelar struggles back to a sitting position, wincing the whole time, "I was going for a walk in the forest when they ambushed me... I managed to get away, or so I thought. I found my way to the path and took a breather when they came out of the brush and attacked me. I barely managed to hold them back... I lost a lot of blood and lost consciousness until the sound of the wagons woke me up," he speaks slowly, wincing and short of breath.

Aelar takes the man's hand gratefully, "Thank you," he says as the man helps him up. As he gets to his feet he will close his eyes tightly and rock back and forth, as if the world is spinning. He will recover after a moment, "Sorry, gonna take a while to get my legs back again,"

Now that he is standing the guards can see that he is covered in blood, both monster and his own.

Aelar takes a long swallow of water before responding, "No, I came out alone. No family left, so I'm travelling, trying to get material to compose my songs. I saw the beautiful trees here and I just had to come out, figured it would be good inspiration," he smiles slightly, "I guess battle makes for inspiration just as well as nature!"