Leaving Squarento

On the way toward the East Gate, the party members start to discuss what lies ahead.

"Ummm," Quill asks, "Do we have enough food? or torches? This IS going to be underground, and I'm not going in there blind."

This begins a comparison of who has what in their backpack.  Finally, they decide to visit the Sharp Shoppe, which is not too far out of the way, and downstairs from the Dragon's Maw Adventuring Company. Quill has some personal business there.

Everyone is downstairs shopping for food and admiring the mythryl plate armor, and Quill looks up to the DMAC's sign hanging from the upstairs window: A knight swinging a two handed sword, beheading a fire-breathing dragon, while nearby a wizard shoots lightening bolts at the dragon's midsection.

Quill tethers the horse, mule, and Edge to the front of the Sharp Shop. "Gaurd your new pals, Edge. I'll be right down." She kneels to scratch the dogs neck with both hands and the dog gives her a parting tongue to the face. "Thanks, boy," responds the ranger while wiping her face with her studded cuff. Before stopping in the equipment shop Quill finds the door to the Dragon's Maw Adventuring Company and climbs the stairs to the office.

There sits an old man (human) reading a book by the light of the window, sitting in a rocking chair. His one foot is propped up on a stool. The other leg is cut off above the knee. A crutch leans against the wall nearby. He looks up at Quill as she enters, "Ehhh? G'mornin t'ya, miss." He gives her a close look, top to bottom... "Woodsman... ranger or druid, I'd say..." he mumbles under his breath. His eyes lock on hers for a moment... "Not too many battles under yer belt... not yet.... " He raises his voice to a normal level, "Well then... What brings ya to the city, eh? Fancy yer chances at findin' the Prince, eh? The signup sheets are over there. We provide a senior captain for the group, take half the treasure, but offer a resurrection service at a greatly reduced rate, if yer body's brought back in reasonable shape."

Quill flashes a weak smile at the grizzled ex-adventurer. "Thank you, sir but I'm not here to sign up. I'm here to ask about an old member of the Dragon's Maw. You see, my da was a fighter for your company, his name was -er- *is* Willem O'Dann and he married another member of the company, an elven mage by the name of Seres Lunarglade. She would be my mother. Seeing as though she died in the service of the company, I was wondering if you happen to have any records or belongings of her's?"

"Well met, miss O'Dann.... M'name's Colyn Generans... Y'll understand if I'm not getting up t'greetya."

The old man cocks his head and looks at her. "O'Dann you say....hmmm. Seems to me I went out once or twice with a young fella we called Billy O'Dann. That'd be yer da, I'm guessin. Not bad with a bow or sword as I recall. But ... now I'm not rememberin' a Wizard Lunarglade... wonder why she didn't get the resurrection, hmmm? Elf, you say... That might be it, mightn't it... Them elves... so damn near immortal... dont always resurrect so well... and --- if she got magicked to death, who knows? How long ago was it? If 'twas more'en a couple of years, anything of hers would be in the old storage-- that'd be over't the warehouse, I reckon. Take a while to find it... but yer prob'ly welcome to go and look fer yerself."

"Well, I would like to take a look, if you don't mind. When I get back from finding the prince." Quill flashes a much stronger smile this time with a wink to boot. She likes this crippled secretary, he seems down to earth, if not a little rough around the edges. This coupled with the fact that she has at least some anchor in her father's past fills Quill with a warm feeling, the likes of which she hasn't known since she left her village. Perhaps she *can* find out more about her mother from this company.

"But they'd have sent her stuff on, if anybody knew how to get in touch with Young Billy. Was they married when she died?" asks old Colyn.

"Yes, they were," replies Quill. "If it jostles your memory, my father told me that she passed to the gods after a battle with some powerful undead. It would have been a little more then 20 years ago."

Colyn gives her an undecipherable look, puffs on his pipe and then relights it from a nearby candle. "That makes about 500 of ye as is gonna find him. If yer so sure of find'in His wee Highness, ye might want to leave a wager with the bookmakers. The lowest odds they're givin' is 30 to 1... and that's fer a party with --- you'll excuse me, no insult intended I'm sure -- some experience in adventurin'. There's always some of 'em down to the Plaza, ya know. Just look for the checkerboard flags." His eyes light up in a smile.

"We're not wastin' our efforts in that chase 'round the barn. The Princess 'as hired several of our groups to ... well... no reason to be borin' ya with that and such..." puff puff puff ... the weed he's smoking has an cloyingly sweet odor. Quill's nose twitches as she recognizes a mildly halocinogenic plant. "20 years is a long time. Powerful undead, eh? Might have been in that big project we did against the old Mark. Him and some lich was tryin' to create a Ghost Dragon. We lost a lot in that'un. Pay was good for the surviv'rs tho. ..." puff puff puff.. He seems lost in thought for several long minutes.

"Just not enough damn surviv'rs is the problem...." He looks up, startled to see Quill standing there. "When ye get back, " he flashes a smile missing a couple of teeth, "WITH yer royal rescuee, I'm to be sure -- well just come by and I'll have looked up the records by then."

"Thanks," Quill bows slightly and before she opens the door she asks, "What do you know about the business of this morning?"

Colyn answers, "This morning? Oh yes. I *DO* recall a little something." He shows his gap-toothed grin. "The Duke wants to be the next King. He doesn't think Princess Talis can do it, partly because she's a female, and partly because she has elven blood. Don't ask me what HE has been smoking. Bunch of crack-brained ideas.... "

"Anyway, he'd never take the city with only 1500 men. The Crown can put 5000 on the walls, even with the bulk of the army up north. Not that he couldn't GET enough men, given time. Talis has made no friends with the other Nobles, I'm thinkin. The only reason they're behind her is that the Duke is a known ass. ... And the Army of the Dwarves is not an army at all. King Basalt has been in town since about a week after his son disappeared. The so-called army is his personal guard. He stays at the Arm of Illuvitar's Training Grounds and Cathedral, ya know. This mornin's show was just the usual 'Look-how-Important-I-am' from Calenes. Same old thing every time he opens his yapper."

"And what can you tell me of the caves along the coast?" Quill asks. She gives the best navigational description she can muster from her discussion with Poppy.   "I've heard some tales and was thinking about getting some experience under my belt after I find the wee Rex. I just figured that I'd ask a professional."

"The caves along the coast?" puff puff puff, goes Colyn's pipe. "OH! You mean the ones down at Devil's Point? You're not thinkin' that the Dwarf Prince is in there are ye?" He gives her a sharp look. "It's so hard to get in there. It'd be near impossible to come in the front door against an armed and alert defense. There's only a couple of hours the beach is dry, ya know. So they've only to watch those few hours. And nobody's ever found a back door." He laughs. "There's no drinkable water. No way to get food. Ye'd have to bring in everything. The cliff above is exposed for anybody to see-- it's almost within sight of the Athring Road-- and ya couldn't drop supplies in that way."

"Nope. They're only good for what they're used for. Smugglers stash things there from time to time, until they figger it's safe to get it in thru the docks.... They're about 2-3 days sail from here, ya know. But unless yer a better sailor than ya look, I'd say yer best bet is to climb down... so bring a nice long rope ---and some friends --- and some dry clothes." puff puff puff. "

"Wait a gallopin' minute. Maybe I've got a little map ye could have." Picking up his crutch, he stumps over to a large set of small scrolls and reaches into his pocket. He fishes out a pebble that gives off a bright light. Holding that in one hand, he rummages around, until he finds a small sketch. "Hmmmm.. Not much help, I'd say. But yer welcome to it. No good to anybody else either." He hands it to Quill and tucks the light emitting pebble back into his pocket. "This is what it'll look like at dead low tide."  [map]

Quill takes the scroll from the man and unrolls it, trying to get a quick look at it before she rolls it back up and puts it in her backpack. She offers the grizzled man her hand. "Thanks."

"I'll see you when I get back." She flashes one last smile and heads back down the stairs to the Sharp Shop. She sees Tav guarding the horses and Edge guarding Tav. "I think he likes him," thinks Quill as she notices the dog watching her new friend. "So, Tav... is everyone done shopping? What did we get?" she asks.

By about 11.am the group is packed, mounted, organized and clippity-clopping toward the east gate.

At the gate, the guards look carefully at the group, and listen while Star explains that they are "irregulars" who will be going out to scout the area unofficially and report back with anything of significance. The guards just shrug and pass them out with a group of fishermen heading for the river delta.

About 100 yards from the gate is the bridge over the Rangithael. It is a low, wide stone bridge -- wide enough for 2 wagons to pass easily. The main road is paved with cobblestones up to the bridge and as far as can be seen on the other side.

On the other side of the bridge, to the north of the road, is the encampment of the Duke of Athring, Lord Velluth. It stretches as far as the eye can see along the river to the north, and back eastward along the north side of the road. On the south side of the road, on both sides of the river is a heavily-wooded forest.

Branching off the main road before the bridge and before the forest, is a well used, but unpaved road, heading roughly south, along the outside of the wall. This is the way the fishermen turn. A quick question to the guards, provides the information that the unpaved road is the "Old Cliff Road," which joins up with the main road to Athring in about 3 or 4 days march. There's a pair of old wooden bridges that cross major branches of the river further near the coast, and one would have to ford a couple of other minor tributaries.

Looking to the south, the river widens and flows over a rocky bed to the bay. The old road, apparently winds up the steep hillside to the top of the cliffs, clearly visible to the southeast. The cliffs are about 100 ft high.

They form up at the fork in the road:

..T....St..
..A....My..
..V....Q..
..Sa..mu..

Starmyst turns to Tav and says with a laugh, "Well, we're still within sight of the town walls, I guess it's ok for a man to decide which way to go. You're the one with the lance, you pick --- should we go thru the army? or around?"

As the group has been traveling along, Sandros seems to have started some sort of weird conversation with the mule. Surprisingly, the beast is talking back.

"Oh, I wouldn't say he's *ugly*..." Sandros says with a laugh. "No need to pick on the poor fellow like that."

The mule replies in a whiny little voice, "I say he's ugly, and smells funny too. Although at least he's not bossy like Miss Dog Kennel."

Sandros opens his eyes wide in surprise. "Now that's not very nice of you to say, my equine friend. I think you should apologize."

"No way. I'm a mule, not a chicken."

"You *are* a bit taller then a chicken...and have more legs. But that would only make for more drumsticks for everyone, you know. She might just chop you up and we'll have you for dinner."

The mule seems unfazed. "Like to see her try. I'm well trained in the art of hoof fighting, ya know..."

Sandros pauses in his silly little ventriloquist act long enough to try and hear what's being discussed at the front of the line when they pause to decide a course of action. After a moment, he sighs, and says, "I can't hear a word they're saying. Can you?"

"Nope...not a word..." the mule replies. He's chewing away contentendly on something he picked up off the ground somewhere.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Sandros berates, his voice fading as he looks over the Duke's forces. For a brief moment, a look of pure hatred passes over his face, but it quickly disappears. "Royalty...should all be tossed into the ocean with mules chained to their legs for dead-weight."

"I heard that..." the mule said, not sounding very amused at all...

On the Trail

Tav laughs rather loudly and looks at his lance then at Starmyst. "I am rather honoured by your faith in my ability with this, however I do think that 1500 to 7 would be a bit of a strech. Hmmm perhaps we should let them off easy this time and take the south road. I'm sure that Quill would be rather well suited to guide us thru the woods. Tavarak looks back in amazement then grins before silently berating himself for falling for the talking donkey.

And so, south they go. Last night's rain has turned the dirt road into mud. The road follows the wall south toward the bay, and soon enough the thick wood on their east side has obscured the bridge and the Duke's encampment. The road turns east and becomes narrower as it enters the forest.

This is a hardwood forest; the large oak trees tower overhead, some of the oldest towering 100 ft and more. But here, near the city, where the demand for lumber is high, there are no tall trees left. To their credit, the Melfans have replanted as they cut, and some new growth is already tall enough to provide shade. The group easily fords several of Rangithael's branches and the old wooden bridges over the major tributaries are sound enough. Edge, having been cooped up in the city for a little over a day, makes several detours into the underbrush. The river is slow moving and muddy, and fishermen in row boats can be seen tending traps and nets.

After several hours of plodding thru mud, they cross the last bridge and the slope begins to rise. The trail is not often used here, but as it continues uphill, the group finds itself in a series of S curves designed to make the slope manageable for wagons. Finally at about 4pm the ground levels out and becomes rockier. The road meanders and the group pauses for a break at the first patch of open ground. To the southeast, the view is breathtaking from the top of the cliff. The bay seems to stretch endlessly, and a few sails can be seen -- tiny at this distance. The sky is the clearest of clear, with only a rare wispy cloud high, high above. The cliff is about 100 ft high, and near the edge the granite is split and cracked. Some of the fissures are 3 or 4 ft wide and seem to go straight down to blackness.

There's been no sign of people since they left the fishermen on the river, but the Druid, Ranger and especially Edge have been aware of the normal level of animal life nearby: birds, squirrels, etc. No sign of anything huntable, but that's understandable, given the (relatively) loud, jangling presence of the group.

After the break, enhanced by some pointed comments from Avon about the comforts of the city, compared to the joys of a day in the saddle, the group heads back to the trail.

The forest is thick and dark now, to the right, as the road leaves the edge of the cliff. The overhanging branches become a nuisance for Tav's lance and he is forced to carry it pointed forward for some long stretches. As comfortable as he is with the long weapon, his muscles begin to complain, but he soldiers on.

The shadowed dark of the forest begins to deepen and the group begins to look for a place to stop for the night. They find a small clearing with a stream no too far away. The stream runs toward the cliff. It's about 7pm and there's about an hour of twilight left. There are washed out signs of a campfire here, and the group calls a halt.

The Raven Suit

The wind from the east freshens a bit and Edge takes a few excited sniffs and bounds into the woods. "Bring back some dinner for ALL of us, Edge," says Quill to the canine as he runs off.. As the group settles down to make camp Quill pulls out the apple she took from the mission and the map from the Dragon's Maw from her backpack. "Hey all, I got this from a man in the Dragon's Maw Company's office, it's a map of what the cavern we're heading for looks like at low tide." She shares the map with the rest of the group and takes a bite of the crisp apple. "With that book we've got, we at least know when low tide will be, and now we've got a map of what we should see when we get there."

Unlike his previous side trips, Edge does not come back right away, and after 10 minutes, Quill calls him. His excited barks can just barely be heard.  After planting what was left of her apple near the stream she begins to wonder what Edge had gotten himself into. She hopes that whatever it is it is not as messy as the time he chased the rabbit into the swamp. THAT took a week for the swamp rot smell to be off his coat. "Edge!" calls Quill. "Come on back!"

"Well, he either is stuck in a swamp again, or he found something that whet his whistle." She readies her bow and adjusts her quiver. "Anyone want to do some hunting? The way he was barking, we can't sneak up on anything anyway." Before she leaves the campsite she straps her sword and scabbard to her belt and straps her other weapons to her holsters.

Now that she's in her element, Quill is a sight to behold. Her leathers seem to blend in with the natural background of the trees and the arsenal that came from her backpack is simple yet impressive. She has the short bow and long sword that the group saw her with before, but now she also has a club hanging from the opposite side of her belt than the sword as well as a sturdy hand axe strapped to a belt that runs across her chest. As she enters the forest she makes almost no sound whatsoever and anyone watching from the camp site loses sight of her for brief periods of time as she moves into the thicker brush.

Tavarak finishes taking care of the little things that go with setting up camp. He rubbed his horse down with grass and made sure that he is securely tied to a low hanging branch, before laying out his bedroll and collecting wood for a fire. Tav looks at Quill and nods, "Yes i'll go with you, i could use the strech." Ensuring his sword is strapped to his side he follows quill into the woods, trying his best watch and learn as she moves with grace and ease thru the woods.

Avon and Starmyst decide to stay with the horses and finish setting up camp. Avon goes over to poke thru the old campsite to see if there's anything of interest.... There isn't.

Avon sighs heavily when he doesn't discover any treasure at the camp site. He looks at the surrounding trees, then at the horses. "A real pain in the ass," he says to no one in particular. Then he slowly walks toward the edge of the forest and disappears behind a tree. "Hey druid! Is it true they have their own names?" he calls out from behind the tree. "Ask him if he loves me as much as I love him." Seconds later Avon emerges from the dense woods at straightens his pants. He beams a big smile to Starmyst and sits down in the vicinity of Myridian. "I guess I should thank you for what happened back there in the city, you know. Uhm, I shouldn't have been so careless. So, uhm, thanks." Avon scratches his head. "Like I said, I think we make a great team." He winks at Myr.

Avon adopts a laying/sitting position, and fingers the candle. "I wonder how much it is worth. Maybe it buys me a nice sausage... horse meat." He looks over his shoulder towards his horse. "Just kidding... Mr. Ed!" he calls and waves at the horse. Placing his hands behind his head and looks around the wilderness again. "What happened to the tree hugging ranger anyway? I mean I know they somehow like this barbaric kind of live but uhm, shouldn't they have found some food by now. I am getting hungry."

Myr makes no efforts to dismount Purina at all until Quill and Tav have sprinted off in chase of the dog. "Gods, they make me tired just watching them," she says, finally throwing her leg over the saddle and landing on her feet with a groan. She stretches and looks about a bit before letting the lizard free of her pocket for a potty break.

"That mule of yours seems to be a pretty good judge of character," she says, grinning widely, and winking at Sandros. "What's he have to say about me?" She smiles coquettishly as she fishes an apple out of her pack and tosses it toward him.

Sandros easily catches the thrown apple and takes a bite out of it, smiling widely. "Hmm...don't know...let's go see." Moving to stand in front of the mule, who seems determined to ignore everyone as much as possible. "Hey, buddy...what ya think of our friend, Myr, here?"

The mule doesn't seem inclined to speak, at least not until Sandros gives it the apple to chew on. "Well, she seems alright. Anyone who likes apples can't be bad, eh?"

Sandros chuckles. "Guess not..."

"Besides, I like chatting with her lizard the few moments he's free of her pocket, ya know..." the mule continues in his high-pitched voice.

A much deeper voice comes from the general direction of the lizard then, saying, "Hey, I LIKE it in there...nice and warm. Plus, saves me all that walking."

Sandros breaks out laughing a moment, shaking his head. "I'm having way too much fun with this, I think..." he says, smiling.

The mule snorts derisively. "Humans..." he says with disgust.

Myr claps her hands with glee and giggles like a child. "Oh, that's just wonderful - wonderful! How on earth do you do that?" She moves closer to inspect him, peering around his head as if searching for something - gods know what. "You're not a mage, are you?"

Sandros tries hard not to laugh as she peers around him, and smiles widely at her words. "Mage? Wizard perhaps, in a sense...but no mage, certainly." He grins. "It's just a little trick of voice is all. Easy once you know how to do it."

The mule says, "Don't ask him the secret though...he won't ever tell anybody. He thinks it makes him mysterious or something, I guess."

Sandros chuckles. "Better to keep some things secret. Otherwise, you may find yourself not being all that important anymore. Just like if you told me the secret to being an obnoxious, hairy little beast that can carry heavy loads. If I could do it, you'd be good for nothing more then a couple extra drumsticks for dinner tonight."

The mule eyed him balefully, finished with its apple, and apparently hoping for another. "At least I'd make a fine meal; as scrawny as you are, even an ogre wouldn't make soup out of you." Sandros stuck out his tongue, his eyes twinkling merrily.

Myr claps her hands again, thoroughly delighted with the trick. "Marvelous! Oh, the fun I could have with that particular talent!" She grins wickedly. "I can tell that you're going to be a barrel of fun to travel with!"

Sandros grins right back at her, and pats his tummy. "Barrel, eh? Boy, I must be getting fatter then I thought, then..."

Star was a bit annoyed at being called 'hey druid' by Avon, but responded cryptically, "Everything has a name." She grinned at Avon and stroked her horse, deciding now would be as good a time as any to learn her horses name. She had had to concentrate while on the road to make sure no one was following them or preparing for an attack, but now at the end of the day she felt peaceful and full of energy.

Muttering the words under her breath, she cast 'Speak with Animals' and ran a hand down her gray horses back. "Can you hear me?" she whispered, wondering if the spell worked.

With a startled expression, the horse turns his head to look at the Druid. "This cannot be. You are a 2-leg mare. 2-legs are too stupid to speak to us."

Ven has tended to his horse and pulled a book out of his pack and wandered away from the rest of the group to sit under a tree, presumably to study. He looks up now and then at the talking mule and the playful banter and then sticks his nose back into his book.

As Avon hears Starmyst talk to the horse he quickly rises to a sitting position. But when he sees the druid is talking to her own horse instead of his he slumps back. He turns towards Myridian, "Can you believe it. You ask them to do you a small, little favor after you risk your life for them and all they do is use it for themselves." He shakes his head.

Myr shrugs. "Careless? Bah - just say it was a top of the line, new fangled, not out in the thief's handbook kinda thing." She grins. "Never hurts to do someone a favor. Ya never know when you might need something in return. Plus, I can remind you of it for the rest of your life. 'Hey Avon - you *do* remember blah blah blah...'"

She laughs good-naturedly, and nudges him with her elbow. "Yep, pretty good team. Used to working solo, mind you, well, if you call it work - well, it is work, at least, anything you get paid for is work, unless it's pleasure, but I've gotten paid for that before, too. So is that work, or is that recreation for profit?" She looks up at the sky as she babbles on, no longer really talking to Avon, but to some unseen entity in the air, it seems.

Noticing the conversation Star seems to be having with the horse, Sandros watches a moment with some interest. Shaking his head with amusement, he turns to watch as the others bring back their unusual find from the forest.

Star smiled at the horse and replied, "Most 2 legs are, I, however, am not." She grinned slightly to herself, and continued, knowing she didn't have much time. "What's your name? I'm known as Starmyst."   Star is aware her name translates poorly into horse language -- coming out something like "Light Rain from Lights in the Night Sky"

The horse turns his head toward the Druid.  "This is a strange name. You are not wet and you are here in the sun. I am called SnakeKiller by my kind. I faced a snake when I was young but was not afraid. I killed it." The pride is evident in his manner. "I will have mares of my own someday." He bends his head to snatch a mouthful of the lush green grass, chewing calmly while watching Star.

Star smiles at SnakeKiller and says, "That's very brave of you. Tell me, do you have any nicknames that are shorter than SnakeKiller? I like to call my friends by their names, but your name is rather long.." She trails off and shrugs, adding, "My friends call me Star, even though my full name is Starmyst."

SnakeKiller says, "Are we to be together for a long time? I have never been with a 2 leg before for more than a moon. I shall call you ((makes a brief nickering sound -- translates as "Night Light")). I have had many short names... my mother-mare called me LazyLongLegs, and 2 mares I spent a summer with called me MightyPowerfulStallionStud." ((these are all fairly short names in horse language)) He stamps his foreleg to chase some flies and casts one large brown eye at her. "You may call me ((makes a sharp whinny -- translates to BestStallion or Chief of the Herd or King of Mares)) ."

Star decides to call him King, and explains to the horse that in her natural language, this means "Most Wonderful and Powerful Stud Stallion, Ruler of Mares".

He asks her to say the name again, listens carefully, seems satisfied with that. "You *ARE* smarter than the other 2legs." He bends his head and grabs some more grass, his next comment dulled by a mouthful of food. "I smell 3 mares and 4 stallions in the 2leg herd. Which one...."

And in the middle of this question, the spell expires and Star can not understand the horse's sounds. She does remember the short sharp sound that he said meant "BestStallion"... and the one meaning "SnakeKiller"... and the brief nicker that translates to "Night Light" or "Star".

Starsmiled apologetically and shrugged when the spell wore off and she couldn't understand him anymore, and she was too worn out to cast another spell. She stored the horse sounds into her memory, reminding herself that King was calling her if she ever heard that particular nickering sound. Giving the Most Wonderful and Powerful Stud Stallion a last pat on the back, she headed back to the group as Tav and Quill were returning carrying something small and black.

Quill and Tav follow the barking and eventually find Edge sniffing, digging and barking near the base of a large oak that was apparently hit by lightning last night. They pull the dog away so they can see and find a very tiny human hand, attached to an arm wearing something black.

They dig a little bit and soon manage to find the body of a raven. It is about 2 ft long and weighs about 6 lb. At least it appears to be a raven at first glance but there are no feathers except on the wings. On closer examination, it is seen to be a human wearing some sort of raven suit. Hands, feet and face are the only exposed skin, the rest is covered with a thin knit black body-suit, the hood extends to fit around the head and neck, leaving only the oval of the face uncovered. The wings are like extra limbs coming out of the shoulder blades. The body is female, and very dead. At a guess, the body has been dead for a few days, but considering the rest of the evidence, they put the time of death somewhere during the recent storm. It smells like a recently dead body.

The raven suit is knit in a fine weave, and very smooth material. It has three of small rips -- chest, belly, back -- but otherwise seems intact. Thru the rips, human skin can be seen, blue and cold. Except for its size, the human face seems normal enough: a woman of middle years, face contorted in pain, one arm turned up as if to protect the face. Holding it, one can easily feel broken bones in the arms and the chest cavity seems crushed.

Edge is going crazy jumping around and barking and sniffing at the body. But he calms down after Quill gives him a few seconds to smell everything he wants to smell.

Tavarak looks at the tiny body in awe, "What do you think could have done this?"

[Quill] "I'm not too sure, but I'd say a mage at first glance." Quill takes Edge and allows the dog to lead her around the area, sniffing and checking for clues of anything strange. footprints, displaced/broken branches, etc.)

Tavarak not even sure what he means by the question: "I mean she looks so tiny, not to mention so very dead." He procedes to seach around the immediate area for any other clues, insuring that he looks up in the trees and digs deeper in the hole. "I think we should seach the body and remove the suit, then take both back to the others, perhaps they will have some clue as to what this is all about. Then we can give her a proper burrial, and ask star to say some words over her grave." Looking at Quill he gently starts to remove the black suit from the corpse.

There is nothing unusual to be seen in the surrounding trees, save that this one large sycamore tree was struck by lightning. He pushes Edge out of the hole beneath the fallen tree and digs a little more, but soon gives up. All he finds is dirt, rocks and a few earthworms. The soil does have a reddish stain, which Tav thinks is blood.

The body he holds in his hands is stiff and difficult to manipulate, but not completely rigid. Tav can easily feel the cold and stiffness of the body thru the thin film of the suit. The suit fits the body like a second skin; it is so tight that Tav can see every physical feature of the small human body he holds -- the normal ones plus the broken ribs and bones that disfigure the chest. There is a small tree branch poking into the skin thru the rip on the chest. Tav moves is gently, and concludes that it goes deep into the chest cavity through the miniature breast, about where the right lung would be. Congealed blood surrounds the entry point, and the suit in this area is stained with reddish brown. There is clearly nothing else on the body. There are no pockets on the suit.

[Quill] "If we're going to move her, don't you think we should leave her clothed?"

But her words are too late, Tav has pulled back the hood from the head. As he does so, the body expands at a surprising rate. In the span of just a few seconds, the 2ft - 6lb body turns into a full sized human of nearly 6 ft, and about 200 lbs. This was no dainty lass, but she was not fat or chubby in any way: the body has well-muscled arms, legs and torso. The raven suit simply expands and still fits the body very snugly, the tears in the suit are proportionally larger now. The wings that had been nearly the size of the whole body have shrunk and are now tiny -- little more than one inch -- located on the shoulder blades.

The sudden increase in weight, plus Tav's instinctive disinclination to just drop a person, knocks Tav to the ground. He lands with a jarring *THUD*, and is now flat on his back with the wind temporarily knocked out of him, a large, stiff dead body sprawled on top of him. Tav turns his head slightly, finding a large, rough rock against his cheek. He decides it would be better not to think about his head falling just a couple of inches to the side.

Quill hears the commotion by the tree and sees the now enlarged corpse atop her companion. She runs to his side, sword drawn. "Tav, are you all right? Is it attacking you?" Quill then realizes that the corpse just seems to have changed size, not become undead. She sheaths her sword and bends down to help Tav out from under the body.

The wearer's hair is now revealed. It is shoulder length, jet black with a few traces of grey here and there. The branch that had poked so deep into her chest now looks like a ridiculously small twig sticking just a couple of inches into the flesh of her breast.

Tavarak nods, "Yes, I'm ok thanks. You know i like your suggestion about not hauling a tiny naked body around the woods," Tav looks at the now full size body "And the thought of hauling her around the woods is even less appealing." He tries to recloth the body "Lets hope that this hmmm minimizes our problem. Failing that I think we should just bury her here, and ask Starmyst to come her for a ceremony. You know if this suit is magic and anyone can use it, it may just come in handy in our rescue attempt of the Prince."

Pulling the hood back to cover the head does indeed shrink the body back to raven size. It takes about 2 seconds, and Tav is sitting on the ground with a small bird-sized human in his lap. With a final look around the clearing, Tavarak and Quill turn back to the clearing where the others are waiting. Edge charges off into the underbrush on the way back, but when they get back to the group, the wolf-dog is laying comfortably in the sun, head on his paws, nearly asleep.

Evening at the Clearing

Tav enters the clearing and stops short, looking at starmyst making horsie noises. He shakes his head an mutters "Damn, horses talking human and humans talking horse" silently he wonders who will end hoarse first. Looking at Avon he shrugs, "sorry no food but we did come across something more interesting." He waits patiently until Starmyst has finished with her spell before going on and explaining what Edge found and the transformation that takes place when the suit is removed. This magic suit may come in handy in our quest to free the prince. He sets the tiny body down for everyone to inspect, before moving away from the campsite in search of soft ground for a grave.

Ven gets up from his place by the tree and comes to join the group around the miniature bird-like body.

Meanwhile Avon sees the dog return from it's trip, and soon after the two hunters return carrying a strange black bird. Well at least he thinks it's a bird. "What in heavens name is that? Would have shooting a simple deer or rabbit not have been a little easier?" He waits a moment, than mimics the sentence he just said and shrugs. "I thought you people were the outdoors kind, what ever that maybe. When do we eat?"

"You've got a one track mind! Are you always like this, or did that powder put some kinda mojo on you, making you hungry all the time?" Myr snorts as she gets up to inspect the bird creature. "Would ya look at that..." she remarks, kneeling down for a closer inspection, checking out the suit carefully.

Standing back to let the magic-types to do their thing, Sandros stays silent. But there is something about their discovery that is definitely giving him the shivers; not every day you find a corpse lying about, after all. "Well, I'd say it would definitely be a good idea to keep a close eye on these woods tonight, my friends," he finally speaks. "From what you speak of, I don't relish the thought of some wizard sneaking up on us whilst we all sleep peacefully."

Bowing low, he says, "I will be most happy to stand watch some time this evening...although unlike some, my eyesight is not the best in the dark. Perhaps one of our fearless leaders would like to suggest a watch order?" He arches an eyebrow, grinning a bit smugly.

The mule mutters, "Brown-noser...", without even looking like he's paying attention.

Veneron and Myridian are staring - near trancelike in their concentration - at the suit. After a few minutes, each snaps out of it and reports, "YEP. It's a magic raven suit all right."

"I wonder if this thing will let the wearer fly," Myr muses aloud. "If so it would make a good alternative to all that climbing." She pokes it with her finger. "I'd sure like to try this baby out."

Quill checks on her horse and mule, speaking soothing words to them while brushing them down. After she's sure that they're comfortable she sits down next to Edge and begins to scratch him behind the ears.

Tavarak has looked around for some softer soil, but finds himself wondering just how much longer he can use his sword as a digging implement before it gets damaged. This clearing has a small stream running through one side [flows toward the cliffs], and is surrounded by forest. The road they've been traveling runs along the East side. The clearing is perhaps 30 ft across, roughly circular.

"Well, we're just about out of light. Usually a fire keeps most animals away, but fey and dire animals are a little smarter and a little meaner. They like to sneak up on people around a fire. Do any of you humans want to take the first and last watches, because you'll be able to see better with that light."

"I'll be a part of the first watch," Ven says. "If nobody else objects, that is."

Tavarak looks down at the semi dug hole and sighs. "Well if you can't dig down then you might as well build upwards". He clears out as much dirt as he can, then starts to collect rocks with which to fill in the hole after the body is placed inside. Tav returns to the group and nods in agreement with Sandros, "Yes we should remain alert during our watch. I would like to take the middle watch if there are no objections. Myr I think thats a good idea, if we are going to use the suit in our attempt to rescue the Prince, we should know the full capabilities of it. Lets just hope that it isn't cursed." Tavarak ponders the sight of a tiny Myr riding on the back of her lizard.

"Lets remove the suit and bury the body in that shallow grave. Perhaps Starmyst would be willing to say some words over the grave, a blessing of sorts perhaps." Tavarak digs around in his saddle bags for something to eat, which he washes down with a mouthful of water from a waterskin, before sitting down to sharpen his sword and clean his chainmail. After we bury the body, he will remove his armour and shirt before rolling up in his bedroll and drifting off to sleep.

Avon knows little about living out doors, as a result he just follows the lead of those who do, or appear to do. But he know everything about property so he walks over to his horse and makes sure it is fastened tightly and secretly gives it a pad on the neck and feeds it something to eat he found in his back pack. Then he returns to the center of the clearing. "I am not an out doors type of guy, but shouldn't we have something to eat and a fire or something. Like I said I don't know much about nature and stuff but it seems we have to make a few decisions when we have still some light." Then he rolls out a blanket, checks his belongings in his back pack and uses it as a pillow. He readies his sword at his side and tries to dream about all the (illegal) possibilities of that new wondrous bird suit they found.

Avon rolls over on his back and sighs. It's clearly to early to go to sleep. Suddenly he sits up and takes out a little pouch from somewhere underneath his clothes. He carefully opens it and takes out the mysterious candle. "We could of course light this when the sun sets. Then we at least knows what it does." He turns to Myr, "Myr, what do you think about it?" Avon jumps to his feet and walks back to the group. "I can't believe I almost forgot about it."

"I don't know, Avon..." Myr replies timorously, eyeing him and the candle carefully. "Never know what magical stuff is capable of. But hey - who am I to talk? I'm gonna try out this birdie suit." She grins and sets to donning the raven suit.

Myridian gets to work getting the formfitting raven suit off the dead body. As before, when the hood is removed, the body expands to full size in a matter of seconds. She looks carefully at the suit, but there are holes only for the face, hands and feet. Fortunately the suit stretches easily, so she carefully works the corpse's dead and stiff limbs out of the suit, moving the larger face hole around until the whole thing is a small puddle of material around the feet of the corpse. It's hard to do without making the 3 tears in the suit worse, but Myr is very careful. All told, it takes about a half hour to get it off. Within a few seconds, the empty suit is about 1cubic inch of very light-weight material.

Immediately after, Myr takes off all her clothes, which causes a stoppage in work of the other members of the group, and -- standing completely nude in the middle of the camp -- begins to wriggle into the body suit. Sliding first one long, curvaceous leg into the stretchy, nearly see-thru cloth, then another. The suit stretches to fit her body and is quite comfortable. She wriggles and slithers her torso around in the cool evening air, finally getting it up to her neck and her arms into the sleeves. She adjusts the hood that is bunched into a small fold at the back of her neck and pauses. Again, Myr was very careful not to make the rips in the suit worse with all the stretching. The most disturbing rip is just below the right breast... the material there is stained and a little stiff from dried blood. It took her about more 30 minutes to wriggle herself into the suit, but she thinks that, if the tears were mended and with some practice, it might be doable in half that time.

The strip-in-reverse and certainly has quelled conversation among the other members of the group. They look at the dead body on the ground: naked, disfigured, bloated, starting to smell and badly disfigured from the crushed chest area. Then they look at Myridian, standing in the clearing: alive, the suit fitting so tight she might as well be naked, looking more than a little frightened.

Once on, the suit is quite comfortable and warm. It feels to Myr like she is wearing nothing at all, except where it is torn: there she can feel the cool of the evening air on her exposed skin.

Sandros, his mouth wide open, stands up and cheers loudly. "Bravo!!!" He applauds, smiling widely. "Now THAT was a show to see..." Turning to the others, still grinning, he says, "I think I'll choose that watch, personally..."

Myr bows with a flourish of her hand. "Thank you... thank you..." she says, winking at Sandros. "You don't get out much, do ya?

"That," says Ven, without removing his eyes from Myr despite the enthusiastic acclaim from Sandros, "is without a doubt the best thing I've seen since I left home. Of course," he continues somewhat wistfully, "the last time I saw something like that was the reason I left home, but that's another story."  Finally ungluing his eyes from Myr, Ven looks to Sandros. "Aren't you glad it wasn't I who volunteered to try on the suit? Or do you cheer just as exuberently for men?"

Tavarak looks on, every now and then turning his head and scanning the now dark woods, to make sure nothing is sneaking up on the party. His breath catches in anticipation as she pulls the hood over her head. He then carries the corpse over to the shallow, make shift grave and starts filling it in with dirt, and finally covers it with rocks.

Quill watches as Myr starts to pull the raven suit on. She stands up and Edge stands with her, apparently woken from his nap. "I may not be as accustomed as you are when it comes to magic, Myr. But I don't like the idea of you donning that suit right after we took it off that dead woman. Besides, it's ripped and there's still blood in it from her wounds. If you're that eager, be my guest." She looks through her pack for the small bag of dried meat and puts it in her pocket before returning to where Edge had laid down again. "Come on, boy. Besides, Myr. Who know what Edge is liable to do once he catches sight and smell of a small Myr-bird."

Myr laughs deviously, nonplussed by Quill's quip. "I have a feeling that Edge might find me hard to swallow," she says. "Then again, maybe I'll just wait until I'm in his belly before I take the suit off."

Quill turns away and goes to the edge of the clearing opposite the stream and begins to train Edge on the fine art of fetching. She uses small bits of the dried meat as rewards and a club size stick as the object. After light falls she and Edge return to the group. She removes her studded leathers and arches her back. She then lets her hair out of its braids, letting her long red-brown hair fall around her shoulders. Then she fishes some of her rations to eat before she lies down to sleep. "Wake me when it's my watch," requests the ranger as she tucks her club under her pillow and keeps her quiver and bow by her side.

Sandros chuckles at Tav, and says, "Only the cute ones, pretty boy..." He makes little kissy noises and flutters his eyes flirtatiously. "Why, you interested in trying the suit on, too?" He laughs loudly, and gives Ven a good whack on his shoulder. "Don't worry, stud...you're not my type."

Turning to watch as Quill heads off to sleep, and has a little verbal sparring match with Myr, Sandros shakes his head. Apparently no one else was interested in putting forth a suggested watch order, and even though he felt he was the furthest one from a leader in the group, someone had to do something. "I'd like to propose the following watch schedule, if anyone cares..." he says with a grin. "Let's have myself and Ven watch first, Star and Tav second, Quill and her cute widdle puppy-face third, and Myr and Avon the final watch. That way the mages have good uninterrupted sleep, and Quill will be fine doubling up with the dog, since he probably will be a better watchman then any of us anyway." Glancing about, he scratches absently at the tattoo on his whiskered cheek. "What do you guys think?"

"I've no problem with that," Ven says. "So long as you promise that I'll definitely remain 'not your type' for the forseeable future."

Sandros grins his trademark smile and says, "Ah...a man with a sense of humor! I find that so...attractive..." He laughs again, and pokes him with a finger. "Just teasin' ya. I'll be good, I promise." Then, he whispers, "Besides, after that show," he cocks his head toward Myr, "I'd be crazy to be looking at any of you men, certainly." He winks, and looks at the rest of the group, hoping his plan meets with everyone's approval.

"Of course, you have been talking to a mule all day, Sandros, so I hope it takes more than just being crazy," Ven replies under his breath.

Sandros gets to laughing so hard at that, that he ends up rolling on the ground, tears coming from his eyes as he tries to catch his breath.

"Personally, I prefer the dog over any of you fellows..." the mule mutters.

At this interjection by the locquacious mule, Ven joins Sandros in the keeled over, laughing hysterically position on the ground

Sandros, wiping away tears, says, "Ohhh...you got me on that one, my friend! Remind me never to ask you out on a dinner date any time soon." He holds out his hand to shake. "Whooo...I think we'll make great friends, you and I. And only that, believe you me."

Ven accepts his hand and they pull each other up off the ground. "Thanks. I hope we will at that. Do you suppose the others are concerned about our fitness to stand first watch together?"

Sandros snickers. "I would be, if I were them..." He grins. "But hey, at least we'll be awake. That's a plus. And between us two and the mule, we can surely take on any nasty creatures that try to sneak up on the camp during the night."

Avon only shakes his head in disbelief, looking at Myr in the suit,. "Is this a smart thing to do?"

"Probably not," Myr quips, and then, with a flip of her hair to bundle it up, she pulls up the hood of the suit.

Starmyst chuckles and ducks her head as Myr changes in the middle of the camp. Looking up, she sees her don the hood, and watches in anticipation to see what would happen. Nearby, Sandros was discussing the night watch. "Sounds fine to me, that is, until a horde of angry monsters comes rushing at us screaming war cries. Then it wouldn't be so great." She grins and turns back to see Myr gone, but saw a tiny version of standing in her place.

Sandros and Avon are some feet away, watching, while Tavarak is sitting on his bedroll, pretending that the sight of young elven women casually stripping and wriggling around in the chilly twilight is nothing extraordinary -- he's tending to his armor and polishing his sword. Veneron, bantering with Sandros and making a serious effort to be casual while Myr is un- and then re-dressing, is convinced that he saw a small, fingertip sized spot -- could be a small mole or large freckle -- on the back of Myr's left thigh -- unusual because he didn't see any similar freckles ANYwhere else.

Within about 3 seconds Myr finds herself 18 inches high. standing on the ground, much as before, only shorter. She's a little warmer than before, since (a) the rips in the suit are smaller and her exposed flesh is a smaller area, (b) the breeze is much less, this low to the ground, but most importantly, (c) coming out of the shoulders of the suit are large feathered wings, covering her back and sides when they are folded up, as they are now, and extending to her calves in back.

In the darkness, she finds her vision unchanged, still the same infravision she normally has. So, she can see the heat shapes of her companions and various animals -- things seem much larger than normal, but she's mentally adjusting for knowing that she's looking from nearly ground-level. The forest is its usual near-solid black, the tiniest bit darker than the ground, and the sky darkest of all. This seems a normal night as far as infravision goes. Here and there she sees the faint dot of a small animal in the branches above.

The pebbles and uneven-ness of the grass in the clearing seem enormous to her now-tiny feet, constantly threatening to push her off balance.

Star also noticed the wings sprouting from her back, and called out to her, "Try flapping them! See if they work! And don't fall over!" she added as Myr tipped dangerously. Truly interested, since she had always wanted to fly, she went over and made out the shape of her in the darkness.

"Can someone make a fire real quick? We'll freeze to death out here in the night, if we don't first fall into a river."

[Ven]"Are we lighting a fire? Whatever killed the previous owner of the magical, mystical raven suit may still be lurking near by and a fire may draw it this way. Of course, if the thing already knows we're here, being attacked in the dark might not be so good." Ven looks around at the group. "Any suggestions?"

Tavarak nods his agreement to Sandros "Yes that watch schedule makes sense to me, I don't mind standing watch with Starmyst, if she has no objections." Looking at Ven, "I think we should make a fire, it will keep the curious forest creatures away, and we should be able to keep it low enough, so as not to draw to much attention to ourselves, while still keeping the coolness of the night air at bay." Tav looks on at the antics of Sandros and Ven, chuckling to himself.

"I have no idea, I thought some of you knew how the outdoors work. All I know is that I always seem to hear stories of camp fires. Never of camp darkness," Avon says. "Besides, the animals that are scared for a camp fire are stupid. I mean, they will find us any way but only attack if there is no fire. Things that are smart, or want us killed, would have long heard or seen us. But like I said I am no ranger or druid," he continues.

Avon then looks distressed towards Myridian. "Listen honey, this isn't natural. I mean, this is scary, real scary. I don't like this at all." He scratches his hair and goatee. "Besides it is no good robbing things, you can't possibly carry things. Pretty useless, except for spying. Maybe we could sell for a nice profit at the thieves guild, or even assassins guild?"

"Just wake me when it's my turn to watch." He sighs.

"Okay. A fire it is then," Ven assents. "Sandros, since we are keeping first watch, why don't we get the fire going. I'll go round up kindling. Then I'll help you with any bigger branches or wood." Ven looks out at the others. "Anybody carry an axe with them? It might be useful for making a fire."

Starmyst shrugged apologetically. "I find them encumbering, and when I was out traveling I usually slept in tucked away caves and brush piles." She sighed, whether for happines or sadness one could not tell, and leaned back onto her bed roll, staring up wonderingly at the night sky, feeling peaceful to be on the road again and out of the city.

It is now completely dark.