After taking a moment to adjust Paladin's girth, Lady Jastian confidently swung up into her saddle.  "To your mounts!  Lead party, fall into file behind Winthrop!"

Seating her polearm into its place, the noblewoman quickly checked her weapons, ensuring each could be readily drawn.  Her trained eye noted that Winthrop's gear seemed well-arranged.  The man was clearly an experienced traveler.

Nanny Scroppins also seemed ready to travel.  "Kind Aminda, thinkest thou that thy mount may keep apace with these steeds?  Thy healing skills may prove helpful afore the waggon reaches the gorge."

Lady Jastian reached down to scratch Paladin behind his ears.  She cared deeply for her brave destrier, but knew she would feel less charitable toward the trail's end, after a day of his bone-jarring gait had left her sore and weary.  

Quote from: Fenyx4;603576If ( mention of a first rescue party wasn't in error )

OOC: No previous rescue party. To clear this up, there's one group missing: Sir Braford, Karakas, Talgren Hucrele, and Sharwyn Hucrele. Talgren's a guy. Sharwyn's a girl. They're both teenagers who have been trained in a bloodsworn academy. They both have girlfriends.

Lady Jastian swings up into her saddle and with great bravado rides off, catching up to Winthrop only a short distance down the Old Road. Sergeant Llewellyn gives a final squeeze to Cudberct's shoulder, swings up into Justice's saddle, and follows with only a slight rolling of his eyes.

Despite their training, the horses shy and start a little as Haddon comes riding up on the back of his wolf -- the fur around its mouth still damp with the blood of a recent kill. But with a wink, the gnome gives a little whistle and the horses settle. One even even taps its head companionably against the wolf's flank as if they were old friends.

ROLL 13 + HANDLE ANIMAL 9 = 21

As the near the edge of Oakhurst, Winthrop can see that Lady Jastian is preparing to spur for speed, but he holds up his hand. "A moment, please. There's something else we should consider. About three miles north of where the collapsed bridge is, there's a narrow gulch that slopes down into the ravine -- too narrow for the cart, but wide enough for our horses to pass with relative ease."

Llewellyn shakes his head. "I've never heard of anything like that."

"The top of the gulch is in a large copse of trees, so not easily spotted. And the bottom is obscured by a patch of thick overgrowth, too. I don't think anyone knows of it. Not even the goblins. It would probably add an hour or so to our riding, but we wouldn't need to worry about climbing down the cliff walls at the bridge. And we'd have our horses with us for a quick escape."


OOC: Per instructions, I'm extending this scene to let people respond to Winthrop's information.

Meanwhile, back at the village green... The haggling over supplies continued.

Aminda genuinely smiles at this, places her hand on his forearm and, in equally hushed tones, says "You should realize that I support the cartless plan, lad. I feel that if there is any hope for these boys it is in getting to them quickly so we can dig them out of the trouble they are in before it worsens or treat their wounds before it is too late. I think, as I originally stated, that stretchers will work for transporting wounded. I fear the cart will only arrive late enough to carry their corpses home."
"Dragging them 20 miles on stretchers almost guarantees we would have corpses before we got back," Llewellyn pauses momentarily from tying his saddlebags down, "we could scarcely drive the horses at better than a walk, which would take twice as long getting back or more."

Llewellyn resumes packing up, "The van will extract the group and stabilize injuries while the others catch up with the cart with additional supplies to insure their safety and survival on the return trip.  It offers the best odds for a successful return."

"But I can tell you young lads won't listen to an old lady. And I hope you prove me wrong. But you should carry away at least this, Lady Jastian is not as inexperienced as you may believe."
"I pray you are correct."  Llewellyn frowns to himself for a moment, "Impatience is not a good sign; rushing ahead often brings unwanted consequences, and the margin for error is slim enough already."

Lady Jastian was overjoyed at the news.  "A hidden path into the gorge?  I had hoped the gods would show us such a way!  'Tis too much to hope that any such route would lie hid from the place's inhabitants, but t'will save us hours of vain search.

"I scorned the others' fear that we needs must travel a dozen leagues from our route if we were to enter the chasm, but was sore afrighted that our cavalcade would raise alarm among the goblin-kin as we searched for a better path."

Quote from: Justin Alexander;603764Despite their training, the horses shy and start a little as Haddon comes riding up on the back of his wolf -- the fur around its mouth still damp with the blood of a recent kill. But with a wink, the gnome gives a little whistle and the horses settle. One even even taps its head companionably against the wolf's flank as if they were old friends.

Hah, slick. Wish I had thought of that; I need to keep in mind I can use HA on other animals too.

"If this gulch is so well-hidden, I suppose there would be no merit in looking for signs of the previous band's passage. Still, I would like to have Ashur search thoroughly before we leave the road, and again when we reach the canyon if possible. It is unlikely that usable traces remain near Oakhurst, but if they were forced to take a slower route they may have reached goblin territory only recently.

"It seems we will arrive much sooner than I had anticipated. Perhaps we ought to discuss... diplomatic strategies?" Haddon tries to mask his uncertainty as to the fate of negotiations, concerned about Lady Jastian's apparent zealotry. As he sees it, peaceful negotiation is still the best chance for everybody to come back safely.

As the near the edge of Oakhurst, Winthrop can see that Lady Jastian is preparing to spur for speed, but he holds up his hand. "A moment, please. There's something else we should consider. About three miles north of where the collapsed bridge is, there's a narrow gulch that slopes down into the ravine -- too narrow for the cart, but wide enough for our horses to pass with relative ease."

Llewellyn shakes his head. "I've never heard of anything like that."

"The top of the gulch is in a large copse of trees, so not easily spotted. And the bottom is obscured by a patch of thick overgrowth, too. I don't think anyone knows of it. Not even the goblins. It would probably add an hour or so to our riding, but we wouldn't need to worry about climbing down the cliff walls at the bridge. And we'd have our horses with us for a quick escape."

"An hour's time seems like a good investment to investigate this route.  It could be the difference between success and failure."  Llewellyn scratches his chin thoughtfully, "Do you recall if the copse was large enough to perhaps hide the cart?  I would very much like to reduce the temptation to passersby, if at all possible."

"The top of the gully is a sizable copse of trees, it might hide a wagon.  I had the sense that our dear friend Cudberct had a mind to drive that damned wagon of his into the middle of the damned goblin camp, though."  Winthrop is startled by the heat in his own words.  Maybe the bickering of the morning had affected him more than he thought.

"I don't suppose one of you would mind keeping an eye on Barnaby for a while?  Don't worry, he'll follow you without much fuss, although I can't guarantee he won't bite.  I have a mind to stretch my legs and maybe look for tracks our quarry might have left behind."

"A secret way to the ravine that saves several days of travel? I think I would have liked that more than another story of legend around dinner, Winthrop." Cudberct says with an eyebrow raised. "Either way though our primary focus is recovering Sir Braford's party."

"We shouldn't reveal this secret pass earlier than we need to, though. I still think following up on our ravine goblin lead is best. With an honest conversation, and Patita and Ashur sniffing about, we should figure out if they're telling the truth and how cold the trail is."

"If all is easy we get them back and don't even have to go into the ravine. Otherwise we can have a forward party use the secret pass to scout the ravine for tracks. That way we can then talk how to best continue the search." Cudberct thinks, "If they're not with the ravine goblins, and not in the ravine itself, I guess they'd be with where the goblins hide their special fruit trees. Sir Braford said he wanted to find it. Who knows where that can be?"

Ooc: a quick note. Cudberct and the cart party are completely unaware of the secret pass. Winthrop specifically delayed mentioning it until after the parley party had departed, knowing that it would cause nothing but more arguing, which he really wants to avoid. He didn't even remember the pass until this morning.

Also, I'm okay with a jump to the tracking/arriving at the gorge.

Quote from: Josh;604014Ooc: a quick note. Cudberct and the cart party are completely unaware of the secret pass.

OOC: Just quoting that to confirm that Josh is correct: The parley group (Jastian, Llewellyn, Haddon, and Winthrop) rode off, then the discussion happened. Everyone else is still back at the cart.

QuoteAlso, I'm okay with a jump to the tracking/arriving at the gorge.

OOC: That's my plan. Little bit delayed at the moment because I've run into some headaches installing new hard drives in my computer. (I'm also hoping that the currently-completely-empty-but-possibly-with-two-barrels-no-one-has-paid-for cart will be stocked up so that I can kick both groups down the road.) Late this evening at the latest, though, we'll be re-framing to sequence 3 unless something goes seriously awry.

Haddon volunteers to watch Barnaby. The party has begun fragmenting alarmingly, but it seems Winthrop wishes some time to calm himself after the morning's unpleasantness. Haddon would feel frankly hypocritical to stop him, today.

OOC: Just took a look at the stats for horses. My, but a heavy warhorse is a fearsome beast.

Sensing Haddon's unease, Winthrop smiles reassuringly as he swings down from Barnaby's saddle. "Don't worry, I won't go far."  Winthrop proceeds to trot alongside the horses at a surprisingly quick pace, the rise and falls of the hills not bothering his experienced legs one bit.  As he travels, he watches for tracks that might indicate the doomed expedition passed this way. He doesn't expect to find anything after so many days on a well travelled road, and so he doesn't slow his pace at all, but he keeps his eyes open.

(Cudberct, Certh, Hasor, Gileus, Aminda, Mika, & Maggie are left as the cart party)

"Well Gileus and Aminda, no time like the present. Everybody, if we're ready we should go." Gets atop Buñuelo, and Patita (the rascal) hops into the cart. Turning again to Gileus and Aminda, "I'm afraid we have the advantage of familiarity with each other, living in town and working in the militia. But I hope we get to know each other today, and hopefully be friends, as shared strength shall bring us success.

"I know these men have stout hearts and some training. But I do have the most experience here among them. Certh can fight as well as manage camp food supplies, Hasor is learned as well as an animal handler, Maggie and Mika are good with a sword." Like a proud parent, Cudberct looks over his trained crew, "However, I don't know how experienced are the both of you."

As the group starts upon the Old Road from Dern Nacre's healer house, Cudberct explains, "Obviously if you have traveled with Lady Jastian this far to the edge of civilization, let alone fought with her in large campaigns against goblins as she says, then you both must be very skilled adventurers." Tilts his head and gets to the heart of the matter, "If you had to say which of you two were the more experienced battle veteran, who would it be? And what talents do you feel you bring to our part of the group?"

With a genuine openness he requests, "If you could share your stories with us it will help us bond and learn how we can work together, as well as pass the long hours of road travel."

Quote from: Justin Alexander;604058OOC: That's my plan. Little bit delayed at the moment because I've run into some headaches installing new hard drives in my computer. Late this evening at the latest, though, we'll be re-framing to sequence 3 unless something goes seriously awry.

OOC: Okay. I'm wrapping up my computer-induced headaches now, but it's 3:30 AM my time. So "late this evening at the latest" has, regrettably, become "tomorrow".

Sorry, folks!