Mists over the Musarde, Chapter Four

[JMaytr]

Jonathan accepts the food from his protector.

"I slept as well as I could. My dreams were plagued by the terrors the witch assaulted my mind with. That and Mr. Wat's story."

[steveflam]

Norzak ruffles Jon's hair. "Dun ye worry nun. We here to make sure nuthin appens to ye. Now, I know ye may be likin yer new found. .. er... shape? I ain sure ye kin control yerself totally an I'd like ta learn more about it, if yer likable ta tha idea. I won't let anyone 'urt ye, but I jess think we should look inta this further, ok?"

[ewancummins]

Cirdan and Wat prepare to go outdoors.
Cirdan has borrowed Wat's boarspear. Wat carried a short bow and arrows.


Wat asks

''Jon, Norzak, will you help us find food?''

[steveflam]

"Yeah, sure thing. C'mon lad, fresh air do us some good.
Plus I ne'er hunted afore."

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Dorgio continues outside with Wat and the rest of the hunting party.

"Has everyone gotten along?" he asks Wat. "Is there any mistrust, or any feuds, between the tinkers and the rest of the folk?"

[ewancummins]

Wat answers-

''No, no trouble for many years. It is best not to anger them. We do not harm the tinkers, and they do not harm us. One must beware of crossing them, for they are cunning and their womenfolk posess strange powers of foresight- as well as the hex! ''


It's a lovely late summer day outside, blue sky shows between the boughs of the mighty trees, and songbirds hop from branch to branch, making sylvan music. The grass of Wat's small lawn [just a cleared area in front of his log cabin] is mixed with wildflowers whose blooms pour sweet fragrance into the air. Here and there, little thundercap mushrooms poke up from the still moist soil.


[OOC Please give me search and spot checks for everyone who leaves the cabin]

[steveflam]

Norzak search check a big whopping 7
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2218408/

13 for spot
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2218413/

ewan, you can take care of the shadow searching and spotting

[JMaytr]

Jonathan gives Norzak a look that is filled with disgust.

"No Norzak, I Hate This Thing. Van Dieks made me into one the thing I swore my life to destroying. I have to find out a way to rid me of this condition. If it takes sacrificing my self to save you all, I would do it without hesitation. I will use this thing against the darkness while it has hold of me."

[JMaytr]

Jonathan notices something strange near Norzak's feet. He stoops to check more closely.

[ewancummins]

Jonathan notices something strange near Norzak's feet. He stoops to check more closely.

Bending down, Jon sees a half-circle depression of almost an inch in depth covering an area as big as a man's splayed hand. Within the depression, the grass is crushed into the loam. The grass isn't just tramped into the soil- it is dead and withered as if by a sudden killing frost [an impossible explanation, for the effect is localized, and it's much too warm for frost].

Looking around the grassy sward, Jon spots several more such depressions, all containing dead grass standing in sharp contrast to the vibrant green cover everywhere else in the open ground around Wat's cabin. Standing back, he sees the pattern emerge..

..a very large horse's hoofprints

[steveflam]

Norzak watches Jon then sees the same thing. To noone in particular he says out loud.

"Ay, do yer think mebbe tis that horseman Wats was talkin bout lass night? I dunno bout horses so I kinna say if there's one that big or not."

[ewancummins]

Wat walks over to see what Nozrak is talking about, then freezes in his tracks. The woodsman stares fixedly at the blasted marks on his lawn, a look of horror on his bloodless face.

[steveflam]

"Dang, I is right, Wats?"

[ewancummins]

"Dang, I is right, Wats?"

Wat does not answer, but only continues to stare at the ground.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

As if by ritual, Dorgio takes a swig from his flask, then hands it to Wat.

He kneels by the track near Norzak and frowns. "So is anybody having a mirror, or a polished blade?"