Session 1 (July 3rd, 2015)
Thanus and Jake further examine the scene of the massacre and the prints leading West. Around this time they wish they had further back up, but Braggor had went South from the main caravan body to scout the possibility of another bridge should the Northern one also prove unusable.
The scene of the ambush is peculiar as the now dead men were on now dead horses yet they weren't used to escape the killing ground; a good gallop across the bridge or back the way they had come would have most likely meant their escape from their attackers who appeared to be unmounted based on the tracks.
There was more to this scene then what is readily apparent, Thanus is sure, yet no evidence remains besides the arrows sticking out of the corpses; they appear to be of tribal make, arrows of the "civilized" Reavers that still hold land to the Northeast.
Sometimes small bands of their warriors still raid the civilized lands and dabble in banditry, yet this is a back road far from any sight of notable plunder and not many people, let alone many merchants, come this way. A poor place for a band of opportunistic highwaymen to setup shop all around.
While the mage turns his keen intellect to the mysteries of the dead men and whom killed them, Jake examines the prints leading away and determines that there were five, maybe six men involved in the ambush, but he can tell no more than that.
The party decides to investigate further and begin to follow the attackers' trail deeper into the forest. It seems they are on some sort of animal trail. The muddy trail makes for rough going, but not as rough as it would be if they had to tromp through the underbrush.
They continue on for a few miles and then Jake notices a change in the tracks as well as a rather large quantity of blood on the ground: One set of tracks turns into drag marks and those drag marks contain blood. Perhaps there is a survivor of the attack now turned injured captive?
Deeper into the forest. About half a mile ahead the two spot a large quantity of smoke, perhaps someone trying to burn wet material for their campfire. Thanus and Jake proceed, but very carefully.
Into the undergrowth they go.
Unfortunately, try as they might, stealth is the strong suit of neither and as they get eyes on a clearing, a few tents, and the back of a man tending a rather smokey campfire, a dog rounds the corner of a tent and begins to bark and growl. It is looking directly at the party.
The man jumps up, spots Thanus, knocks an arrow, and it would have been a time for initiative if not for Jake's immediate intervention.
"Hello! About time we found you!" he calls out as he steps out from his hiding spot behind Thanus and pushes him forward.
"Who the hell are you two?" asks the guard, wary and ready to shoot. The dog continues to bark and snarl, staring directly at Jake.
"We're with the second group and I was sent to check your status. Found this one (pushes Thanus) creeping around on my way," answers Jake as he rolls his bluff check.
"Myrkel didn't say nothing 'bout no second group," says the now very confused, yet still on edge guard who just failed his sense motive check. The dog continues to growl in the back of its throat and it is clear that it wants to taste Jake's blood.
"You know how his types always are, never telling grunts like us nothing," says Jake and it seems he won the man over. No one ever tells him nothin', indeed. The dog remains unconvinced, but the man snaps a command at it and it backs down. For now. Almost inaudibly the growling continues and its eyes never leave Jake.
Thanus is pushed into the mud next to one of the tents and when the guard is briefly distracted, Jake slips him a pair of false manacles to enhance the charade.
Jake makes small talk with the man and tricks some details out of him. The man and those with him (four small time freelancers from New Sarnath, a savage hired for a guide, and of course, their "leader") are here for a small merc job on behalf of some unknown employer who is paying extra for discretion.
Their leader, the man who recruited them for this, is the only one who seems to have any idea what the hell is going on really.
Jake asks what happened and where the rest of the group is now.
Their tribal guide thought he saw signs of another group nearby, further
West, explains the man, so they went to investigate and perhaps get the upper hand if it
came to a fight. Who in their right mind would be all the way out here
after all if they weren't dangerous?
He was left behind to "guard the prisoner," says the guard with a short, almost hysterical sounding laugh. The joke is lost on Jake and Thanus.
As for the mission, they were supposed to wait on this goddamn road in the middle of nowhere in order to intercept a courier from New Sarnath and his message. Plan went ahead without a hitch, but after...
He trails off and gives a dark look at the tent furthest away from the campfire and shudders.
"After that whole business I wish I'd never taken this job," he continues, half speaking to himself.
Jake and Thanus notice his glances toward the tent and Jake inquires as to what is in there. The guard just shakes his head and says he will never forget it and that Jake should do himself a favor and leave well enough alone.
So of course, Jake goes to the tent. The guard doesn't stop him, but looks back into the flames as Jake enters. Once he sees what is inside, Jake begins to understand the man's reaction to the tent as well as the previous joke.
Inside is a heavily mutilated corpse. Flayed alive by the looks of it and not long dead. The courier, tortured to death for information or sport. The guard seems too shaken and horrified by the what had happened here and the results to be the one responsible, but whoever did this could be back soon. Jake finds himself becoming on edge, but as always, is cool under pressure.
He sympathizes with the guard and tells him that he knows all he needs to know so he and his prisoner will be on their way back to the secondary camp to the North. So it was great talking to him and everything and hopefully they can catch up later, but yeah, time is wasting.
As Jake hurries make their goodbyes to the guard and get the hell out of there, Thanus can't help but suppress a groan. Through the woods not 50 feet away and getting closer by the second is the rest of the ambush party returning, three men with bows and a dead deer being dragged by two of them, a man dressed in animal skin robes, and a large, vicious looking man with a face covered in scars and old burns.
The guard and Jake both see the returning party at the same time and the guard nervously calls out, "Myrkel! Says he's reporting in from the second group!"
The ambushers get to the edge of the clearing, perhaps 30 feet away, and the vicious looking man with the burned face steps forward. Clearly this is Myrkel, Jake's supposed employer.
Myrkel steps forward and unsheathes a bastard sword. He has a cruel smile on his ruined face and begins to laugh as he advances upon Jake.
He gives Jake a look that promises he will regret his charade and that perhaps by the time it is all over, Jake will wish that he had been granted a death as easy as the flayed courier's.
"Is that so?"
To be continued...
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