QUILL works on SANDROS, but has no bandages or med kit.  She brings him some water from the stream and helps stabilize his right arm by tucking the hand into his armor/jacket.  The 6 puncture wounds on his neck & shoulder are sill oozing blood slowly.  He still looks shocky and weak, and she's trying to figure out if she can carry him out.  He does not look like a good candidate for walking up to the top of the hill, let alone the 200+ yards back to the road.

AVON meanwhile is pawing thru the bones and refuse that the bugbears thought of as treasure.  He tosses aside handfuls of pretty colored stones, muttering "worthless," but he finds a startling array of things, in addition to the special Elven Harp.  Some of them get him quite excited, especially the weapons and those carved with runes or with silver-engraved hand holds.  This takes about 10-15 minutes in all. 

Things Avon finds amid the rubble of the bugbears' nest:

Shirt tied in a knot
Copper Pieces x35(wrapped up in shirt)
Silver Pieces x33 (wrapped up in shirt)
Hammer head, wooden handle is partially rotted
Backpack dirty & moldy but sound
quiver w/ sheaf arrow x18
Leather Belt
Footman's Mace x5
Large Belt pouch
Piton x10
Block and tackle
Hemp Rope (50 ft) good shape
Medium weight Chain 10 ft long
Walking boots
Clawed gloves (for mtn. climbing)
Clawed shoes  (for mtn. climbing)
Scroll case containing Cure Moderate Wounds scroll [Quill has this]
Scroll case (empty) [Quill has this]
Small Tent wrapped in a long bundle, tied to the backpack
Vest

All the clothes, shoes, gloves, etc are sized for an elf or small human.

Full armor, elven chain
Bracers in perfect condition carved w/ a design
unstrung long bow w/ metal (silver?) hand grip carved w/ the same design

In a wooden harp case (pretty bad shape), Small Elven harp w/ name plate reading "Auriella" in elven.
Together the harp and case weigh nearly 20 lbs.

The Elven harp:  (recap of description)
--It is about 12" x 18".  The best way to describe it, is to say it is "perfect."  This is obvioiusly a masterpiece of elven craftsmanship.  The carving all over the instrument is intricate and marvelously detailed.  The strings are of fine steel or silver or perhaps even mithryl.  There seems to be no way to tune the intrument, but plucking a few strings tells you that it is already in tune.  The frame is of a heavy, dark wood, unlike any you have ever seen.

EDGE is busily sniffing around in the nest area... occasionally pausing to sprinkle his personal holy water here or there.

STARMYST easily finds the place where first bugbear, then Edge, then Quill and finally Avon clumped thru the brush.  She pauses before deciding to take  King with her into the woods.   Before going in, she turns and waves until she catches the eye of Ven, Tav or Myr.  She points into the woods and then goes in.

Within a few minutes, she gets to the top of the hill, and can see Avon furiously looking for goodies, and Quill helping Sandros.  She calls out softly to Quill, who looks up gratefully.  "He's pretty bad off, Star," responds the Ranger, "but I think he'll live.  Don't bring your horse down ... I'm not so sure it'll be easy to get him back up the slope.  If you've got a rope, we can use it as a line and pull Sandros up."

Star updates Quill on the remainder of the battle and says she doesn't have any rope.

TAVARAK judges that STALWART was not badly injured, but knows that he'll probably be walking for a couple of days at least, to lessen the strain on the horse's leg.  He retreives the lance point from bugbear B.  Taking a cursory look at both A & B, he finds a pouch made of some sort of uncured hide on each, containing a few finger-bones from an animal he doesnt recognize and a couple of shiny but obviously worthless colored stones.  The crude clubs the creatures were using were  basically large limbs from a tree.  He takes nothing, leaving the bodies where they fell.

Tav begins to gather the loose horses together when he hears Ven call out an oath in a hushed voice.

VENERON was looking at bugbears F,G & H, who had their throats cut.  All three had the rough pouches tied around their loin cloths continaing the same kind of worthless stones & bones, and two of them had rough clubs like those Tav found.  The third seemed to be without a weapon, but he does have a leather belt running diagonally across his chest.  This seems curious to Ven, and he struggles to roll the beast off of it's back, to see what it has strapped there.

Ven finds a scarred and rotting leather scabbard, but the sword handle which protrudes from it is another thing entirely.  He pulls the long sword from the scabbard and calls out an oath of surprise.

Altho Ven has never seen a magical sword, he is sure this is one.  For one thing, there are the runes, carved into the steel.  Now, many a sword has runes of one sort or another carved into it -- a hopeful attempt by the weilder to gain protection or favor from the Gods.  But these runes are not so much carved into the weapon, but seem to have been formed with it: there are no sharp edges nor scratch marks.  The long sword's blade is spotlessly clean, and the edge appears to be so sharp that he's afraid to touch it.  It seems to hum in his hand, making his whole arm vibrate a little when it's fully out of its scabbard.  It is perfectly balanced...in fact, once it's out of the scabbard, it seems to weigh nearly nothing at all.

Tav comes over when he hears Ven's oath and sees him draw a long sword.  Ven shows the blade to Tav.  "Tav, there seems to be some design molded into the handle -- aside from these runes.  It's not any language I know, maybe it's a family crest or .. I don't know..  Take a look.. I don't know long swords at all, what do you think?"  He carefully hands the sword to the knight.

Taking the long sword, Tav too can feel the vibrations in his arm, and the near perfect balance.  "No ordinary weapon," he agrees.  He spends more time looking at its beauty rather than evaluating its effectiveness.  "I wonder where this creature found it... or who he killed to get it."  He carefully takes the scabbard and sheathes the sword, and gives it back to Veneron.  "That's a beautiful weapon.  I'd love to have a fine looking sword like that someday."

Passing by MYRIDIAN, Tav notices that she's still staring, as if transfixed, at the dead bugbear A, just a few feet from her.  She's mumbling to herself and stroking the little lizard.  "Myr? Myr?," he says as he gently takes her hand.  "It's all right.  Come on now.  Let's go find the others."

Squeezing Tav's hand tightly, Myr begins to follow him, looking over her shoulder often, as if she half-expected the dead bugbear to come up and strangle her from behind.

If Quill would have been closer she would have been able to hear the mumbling that comes from Avon's dry lips. It almost sounds like a priest citing an ancient mantra, although the truth is far from it. "...1000 gold pieces for that one alone. And what about the bow, the bow looks good, silver probably. Silver is good, makes a lot of money. Oh yes, yes. And the harp don't forget the harp, no don't forget the harp. I am rich, rich. RICH!". Avon is in a complete trance now. His ears zoom from the rushing blood. He feels his hearth beating in every part of his body. His finger tops tingle. His right hand moves trough his hair, making it peak and jump even more. Then with trembling hands he fingers the braces. "Woooo, this is nice. Real nice." His fingers run over the runes. From the corner of his eyes he looks over at Quill. Then he looks back at the treasure again.

Too bad he already wears a elven chain, but maybe this one has magic powers. He studies the chain to see if it has the same runes as the bracers and bow. He manages to squeeze the harp case - including the harp into his backpack and puts it back on his back. Then he throws his bow to the side and pushes the long bow between his back and backpack. All of this happens at a frantic and maniacal speed. Then very carefully he takes up the bracers again. Looking at them for a moment and at Quill and Starmyst. "Oh no, the druid is here too. Soon they all be here." Without hesitation he puts the bracers on and waits for the things to happen.

STARMYST easily finds the place where first bugbear, then Edge,then Quill and finally Avon clumped thru the brush. She pausesbefore deciding to take King with her into the woods. Before going in, she turns and waves until she catches the eye of Ven,Tav or Myr. She points into the woods and then goes in.

Within a few minutes, Starmyst gets to the top of the hill, and can see Avon furiously looking for goodies, and Quill helping Sandros. She callsout softly to Quill, who looks up gratefully.  Quill breathes a sigh of relief as she sees the druid at the top of the hill. "He's pretty badoff, Star," responds the Ranger, "but I think he'll live. Don't bring your horse down ... I'm not so sure it'll be easy to get himback up the slope. If you've got a rope, we can use it as a lineand pull Sandros up

Quill uses her waterskin to wash the wound, trying to get any debris or disease the monster might have left behind. Now with the druid so close she lets up a little on tending Sandros and glances at the pile of things that Avon is pulling from the nest. She sees the rope and asks Avon to bring it to her. "Avon, would you mind giving me that rope?" The whole time she's still keeping an eye on Sandros, looking for a change in condition.

Star pats King on the back, hoping he'll stay there and not follow her down the ravine, and then goes over to the bug bear nest. She notices he is hastily hoarding all the good equipment there, and glares at him. "You could save some of that for us, you know. We helped fight too. We'll split all the treasure equally, according to who needs it most and who can use it best." After this noble speech she smiles at him and asks, "Could you hand me that rope please?"

While he is busy squeezing the harp box into his backpack, Avon notices the voice of the druid. "Soth! She must have arrived too, not enough time this way", he thinks. The first part of the sentenced he missed. Something about who could use it best. Could use what best. The harp? No way, that one treasure was his, no matter what. Far too valuable. Or was it the rope? Did she want the rope? Pfff, she could have it. Seems like a good deal. She gets the rope and he keeps the harp. In a distracted way he looks up for a second. Then he reaches for the rope and tosses it in the direction of Quill, since he figures the druid is coming this way. "Here, have fun with it, now leave me be", he mumbles to soft for Starmyst to here but maybe Quill heared it.

Quill finishes washing the wound as best as she can and then she reaches for the scroll case that Avon handed her earlier. She opens the case and scans the weathered parchment as she unfurls it.  "Well, Sandros, let's hope my elven isn't that rusty." She clears her throat and begins to recite the words:

{translated from Elven:}

"I speaketh this spell

to heal and to mend.

To join tissue and bone,

which battle did rend."

SANDROS tries to move his shoulder experimentally. "It still hurts, but I feel a lot better. At least I can function."

Tav leads Stalwart thru the forest towards the rest of the party, wiping Vampire-Bugbear goo from his face while maintaining a wary eye on their surroundings. "Thanks Myr for those magic missiles that did in that beast, he was a stubborn one i'll give him that." Tav toys with the sword that Ven found "I think Quill would best be suited for such a weapon, I'll pass it on to her."  As we approach the gully, Tav gives Stalwart the once over, reassuring him that he did well, before crossing to the other side and watching Star and Quill work on Sandros. Deciding that he can be more useful by just staying out of the way, he walks the perimeter looking for any indications that the beasts are returning. Looking over to where Avon is packing the treasure for transportation he stops short and gasps loudly.

It's hard to hear the natural sounds of the forest, with all the tromping thru underbrush, whispered comments to other party members and hurried searching thru bones and such.

The time is just about mid-day. Only Tavarak feels normal in the post-combat emotional and physical let down. The slaughter just witnessed brings back uncomfortable flashbacks to Starmyst of times decades ago that she'd hoped to forget. Sandros had had more than his share of unsettling experiences, but being so close to death has sent his mind reeling. Quill has been so busy she's not had time to even think about what happened: ready to fight and kill -- but instead she'd healed someone else with magic. Myridian and Veneron had used their magic for the first time to kill someone/something. EDGE is feeling just great: he got to kill something --that's always a good day -- plus he got to hunt something, plus he got to chase something away, and now he's sprinkling his scent all over it's nasty smell.

Sandros had had more than his share of unsettling experiences, but being so close to death has sent his mind reeling. Reaching up to poke at his tender neck, he sighs. "Anyone see where my horse ran off to? If I lose Vinegar, I don't know how I'll manage." He sounds very sad for some reason, but manages a weak smile at anyone whoe glances his direction.

Avon looks down at the new bracers on his wrists. Nothing. Nothing happened. Nothing at all. He takes another look at the bracers while keeping them on his arms. These must be magical, they just have to be. But however much he whishes for some warm glowing feeling inside to reveil a magical presence nothing happens. He curses and turns towards the pile of treasure again. Looking over it, maybe there is anything left that he could carry.

A few seconds pass. Then moments after Starmyst's comment he turns towards the druid. As if stung by a bee, his eyes glowing. His lips thight, "Well, I am not stopping you. Take it. Take it all. I don't care." He walks past Sandros and across the stream. Climbing the hill, back towards the road. "Without me Sandros here would have died a long time ago, besides without me you wouldn't even know a treasure was here. So who cares about the thief saving a life. No, lets all blame him for it." He stamps through the forrest, moving further and further from the party back along the trail towards the road. In the end shouting towards the party "You know maybe I had a deal with this ugly bastards so I could take all your worthless belongings. But surely don't thank me for saving any one, OH NO!"

Avon moves thru the woods slowly, bending under the heaviness of the backpack. The harp was valuable all right... any fool can see that.. but it surely was heavy. Maybe it was that carrying box -- oh well, he thought, cant take a chance of damaging it. He heads back thru the woods toward the road, following the well worn trail.

Once he reaches the road, his angry face disapears and makes way for a big grin. He looks for his horse and studies his bracers again. Well magical or not, they must be worth something. More than those silly coins he left behind. Besides the harp was his, no matter what kind of preaching they would do. I should have let Myr have a look at it, and the bracers. She could tell if they were magical.

As he looks around, his smile fades. His horse isnt here... maybe Tavarak brought it with the other horses? And ... nothing looks familiar about this part of the road. He looks around, more than a little confused. He climbed up the hill, following the path that the bugbears obviously took. He followed that path in the direction of the road -- at least he thought he did. But wait a minute... he and Quill hadn't come in to the nest area by a path...they'd come thru the brush.

He turned around and looked behind him. Yes, there was the path. He'd come the way the bugbears must have come when they set the ambush .... He turned and looked south and north along the road, expecting the fight scene to be South, to his left. But he noticed that there were already carrion birds to the North. He took a few steps in that direction... Yes! there were the dead bugbears.

There was A over there, and B was close to the middle of the road. So over there is where C got entangled by Starmyst's spell. But there was no bugbear over there now --- a terrible thought came to him -- it must have gotten free... which means it's around here somewhere, and .....

Avon began to back slowly and as quietly as he could toward the shadows of the forest.

Avon's brain is doing overtime. Slowly he backs into the shadows only to realize there might be monsters there too. How could they leave him like this. He saves a life, discovers a treasure, well treasures technically and then they leave him in this godforsaken forest, on his own. He looks at the road he came from, and carefully begins to head back for the nest and the protection of the others. His slow pace soon turns into a run (as far as that is possible with all his gear).

When he finally reaches the safety of the nest, he tries to act relaxed and unintrested. However his heavy breathing and the sweat on his face clearly tell a different story. "I just forgot my bow", he says to no one. Surprisingly instead of getting his bow, he stays close the horses and nervously looks over his shoulder.

Ven looks over the bounty--well, what's left of it anyway--and reaches his senses out to detect magic in any of the items.

It takes more than a few minutes -- at least half an hour -- for Ven to calm himself and concentrate briefly on each of the items in turn. Sometimes he feels as if there is some slight magic in one of the items, but when he concentrates more deeply, there is nothing... Only the left boot of the pair of walking boots gives him a consistent positive feel on his internal magic-meter. The boots appear to be identical: they are hard leather, normal looking walking boots with extra thick leather soles and heels nailed on. They obviously were worn for quite a lot of walking.

After much fiddling with the left boot, Veneron finds the heel swings aside to reveal a hidden chamber. Inside are two very small stones: one is a clear, pale blue aquamarine, the other is a tiny pearl. Looking at each in turn, Ven finds that each is magic.

In case the others haven't been paying attention to what Ven was doing, he calls out when he has made his discovery. "These are magic stones. Problem is, I don't have the foggiest notion what they are good for. How about you, Myr," he says turning her way and holding out the stones for her inspection. "Do you have any clue what these do?"

With Sandros looking a lot healthier, Quill takes some time to collect her thoughts. She runs through the battle in her mind and realizes that while she did not wound one creature, she saved a friend. She gently punches Sandros on the chin and says, "Just don't go dancing with another lady until you've known her longer."

The ranger stands and moves toward the pile of items that Avon found in the nest. As the thief stomps off towards the gods knows where, she thinks to herself, "Moody bastard. What did HE do to save Sandros?" But she does have some ideas as to how the party can use some of these things and shares those ideas with the party. She starts to pack up everything on Helpful, the mule.

Sandros blinks as her fist pushes his chin slightly, and he smiles, his eyes blank. "Hehe...yeah...no dancing..." he mumbles, then seems to snap out of it. "Hey...thanks, you guys. For saving me. I think I would have died for sure if you hadn't followed us out there." His face grows more serious. "I owe you one, Quill. And Avon too, I think."

Sighing, he looks around as if lost, and whispers, "Where's Vinegar? I need my horse..." His fingers stray up to his bruised and blood-covered throat absently, and he starts when he realizes what he's doing. "Gonna have to wear a turtleneck for a while, I think...."

Tav kneels beside Quill as she checks out the elven chainmail. "Can it be?" he stutters, "Good lords, it is! Thats the finest example of elven chainmail i've ever laid my eyes on." He leans forward to touch it, looking as if may turn into a serpant and strike. He shakes his head to clear it and smiles at Quill.

"If your not going to take it I would like to try it on for size. Tav hears Ven talk about his discovery and thinks for a moment. "Ven, I've heard of stones that can be used to augment ones Strength or Intellingence or such. Hmmm Zion stones, no wait Ion stones or something like that, I've also heard of them called Spinning Baubles. They maybe those but thats all i know of them." Tav turns back to Quill "Ven found this sword, he thinks is magic. Its probably best suited for one of us." He offers Quill the sword that Ven found.

Quill takes the sword and scabbard from Tav and immediately notices the runes etched along the length. She thanks Tav as she removes the sheath. Startled by the weight and balance of the sword, she tries holding it in her left hand, as if she disbelieved her right.

Pushing a lock of hair out of her face, Myr looks at the stones very carefully, the magic in them obvious from their soft glow. "Well, they're awfully pretty," she says to Ven..  "But I don't know what they do. I know that they can enhance an ability sometimes, but just as easily screw you up royally, depending on the dweomer used, of course.  Didn't see asetting anywhere, did ya?  Necklace, ring - something like that?"

Tavarak looks around the makeshift camp and shudders at the feeling of being watched "I think we should take whatever we can carry and put as much distance from here as we can. Lets just leave the bodies of the fallen beasts where they lay. I'm sure their kin will do whatever is proper for their kind." Tav chuckles "Which is probably eat them" Tav stands and looks at Starmyst and motions to the fallen companion "How well will he be able to travel?" He then takes one last look about the site making sure that we haven't forgotten or overlooked anything obvious

Laying out the newly found suit of elven chain -- pants/torso/head -- shows that the original wearer was about 5'3", 107# Putting the suit into approximate body shape brings it into focus.

Everybody seems to recognize it at about the same time: considering the scroll in elvish, the elven harp, elven chain, finely worked weapons. They realize they're probably looking at the equipment of a dead elf, most likely a woman. The bones of one of the immortal elves are scattered among this wreckage.

Then the group looks around. There are a dozen or more skulls here. At a quick glance, 5 are human, 1 of elven size, and the others are much smaller: perhaps halflings or children. The members of the group exchange quiet glances. This isn't so much a refuse pile -- it's more of an open, mass graveyard.

Tavarak looks on as Avon returns to the group and comments "Avon you look like you saw a ghost or something, is everything ok?" He looks about at the bones and wonders what we are going to do with the remains of the elf and humans. "I suggest a quick burial site, one grave for all. A funeral pyre might burn down the forest, and i don't think we have the time to spend waiting for it to burn itself out." Having said that Tav starts to quickly gather what bones he can and places them in a pile."

As Tav begins to gather up the bones Quill starts to help. But as she stands over the full skeleton of the elf, she pauses. "Do you think that this warrior could come back? I mean, my father told me of clerics that could raise a person from beyond their last days. What if this elf could come back? This is probably her armor, her blade, and Avon has her bow and harp." Her hand unconciously went to hte new arrows in her quiver. "These are probably hers as well." She is wary of disturbing the elf skeleton and goes about helping to bury the other bones.

Tavarak finishes collecting and placing the bones into a pile before turning to Quill "I'm not sure that the elf can be brought back to life from such a state, I think she is to far gone. I'd suggest that we just bury them and perhaps Starmyst could say some words over the grave. Its the best we can do under the circumstances, and alot more then the bugbears would do for them. As for the bugbears let them rot where they lay. I think Ven should wear the chainmail, and Quill you should keep the sword, they seem best suited for you two. As for the rest of the treasure, well..." Tav looks at Avon "...perhaps we should let Avon decide who gets what.

"A burial?" it suddenly echos from Avon who still stands with the horses, and who totally ignored the question about the gohst. "A burial" it sounds again, this time even more uptight than the first time. "Yes of course, lets have a burial. Maybe some nice speaches, little ceremony, something drink and eat", Avon seems cynical but somehow there is also a slight tone of fear in his voice.

"Soth! Are you completely crazy? A burial? We have been here for hours. Whatever we tried to kill is comming back." He looks around towards the surrounding forrest. "What difference does it make if we bury these bones. The dead don't care for graves. Let's get our stuff and get away from this place. And I mean NOW!" He looks the members of the group in the eyes one by one. When his eyes reach Sandros they stay on him for some time. "And what about him" he nods in the direction of Sandros. "For all we know he might turn into a mindless zombie when we go to sleep. Think about that." Avon turns towards his horse and leads it towards the beginning of the trail. However, this time waiting for the druid or ranger to lead the way.

Sandros lets his eyes glaze over, and his mouth opens wide. He groans, and holds his arms out in front of himself. "Why wait? Graagghhh...." He tries not to grin, but can't really manage not to. "Brains...must eat brains...." He shuffles his feet, moving toward Avon slowly. "Apparently I'm already mindless, the way Avon seems determined to talk of me as if I'm already dead." He turns and gives the man a wink. Sandros goes to his horse, making reassuring clucking sounds with his tongue. "Good Vinegar...you held out well old boy." He smiles, and pats the horse on his head. "I can travel, I think. Quill's spell cured most of my hurts; at least the worst of 'em."

"Bloody hell!" Myr exclaims. "Avon's right - those... THINGS could be back any minute. Can't you just toss some dirt over the bones and say a few words or something? I mean, they don't actually have to be buried to be put to rest, right?" She looks hopefully at the would-be morticians and slides a sandaled foot into Purina's stirrup, eyeing Sandros suspiciously, yet unable to keep that curious sparkle from her gray eyes.

"Wait," she says, putting her foot back down upon the ground. "Tav, you could ride Purina, and I could go itty bitty in the bird suit so that your horse doesn't have to bear your weight with his boo-boos." "C'mon - just get what you want there..." she says urgently, waving her hand toward the pile of booty, which she doesn't seem the slightest bit interested in, "... and let's GO." Already she is removing her outer garments and stuffing them haphazardly into her pack in order to become Myr: Birdwoman.

Sandros catches her gaze and quickly raises his hands up to his mouth again, hissing as he smiles. "I agree with them; the sooner we get away from here the better. I've had enough fun with being a piece of meat for one day, I think. Let's just toss some dirt over the bones, say a prayer, do a little dance, make a little...Oh, my fault. Got carried away for a moment there." He grins sheepishly.

"Let's just get this over with and get moving. I don't know how long I'll be able to travel today before I fall out of the saddle. Or how long before I turn into...the brain-sucking zombie!" He grins, and begins trying to work his way up into the saddle. He's having a rough time with it, though, with his injured shoulder. "Dammit, Vinegar...why don't you lean over or something, make this simple?" he mutters.

TAVARAK was just about to go and hack down a sapling to fashion a new lance for himself, when QUILL offers the use of her handaxe.  But apparantly, Tav has second thoughts.  "Thanks, Quill, but I don't think we're going to be staying here long enough for me to work on it, and besides, I'd have no easy way to carry the lance while I was walking.  I won't be able to ride Stalwart for a few days."

AVON looks on uneasily as Tav & Quill move the bones about and cover them quickly with a thin layer of the sandy soil from the stream bank.  He keeps looking over his shoulder into the woods, uneasily.  He shifts the heavy backpack on his shoulders, not wanting to even take time to readjust his treasure more comfortably.  The long bow protrudes over his shoulder, now, and extends down over the saddle on the opposite side.  "OK OK OK.. Come *ON* already," he mumbles to himself.  Then he raises his voice a bit: "Goddess of the Dead, please guide these poor victims. --- THERE, "  he looks at Tav.  "Can we go now?"

MYRIDIAN is stripping off her normal clothes, preparing to pull up the hood of the Raven Suit.  "Somebody's going to have to guide that big warhorse, because I'm going to have to ride him as in birdsize.  I'm not good enough to fly in this thing yet."

After some struggle, SANDROS, with some help from STARMYST, manages to get himself mounted on Vinegar.  He hopes that they'll be going back through the site of the battle, so he can pick up his favorite throwing dagger from the chest of that first bugbear he attacked.  At least he *thinks* he wants to go back that way.... but quickly... on the way to someplace much nicer and safer. 

VENERON has put on the Elven chain mail suit and tied his old leathers loosely to his saddle pack  He slips the two magical stones into a pocket of his robe.

EDGE has found a sunny spot by the side of the brook and is sleeping.

Tavarak thanks Quill for the offer of her hand axe, and Mry for the use of her horse. He stands looking over the grave of the fallen and bows his head muttering "May your journey to the afterlife be safe, Know that we have done all that we can to avenge your deaths" Tav turns and mounts Myrs horse, trailing Stalwart on a lead. Moving back into his position in the procession he moves out.

Quill shrugs at the warrior, "Suit yourself, Tav." She returns to her mule and horse, saying soothing words to the mule, "Thnaks for taking the wait of our travels. You are "helpful," but I'll ask Starmyst to try and ask you what your real name is tonight perhaps. She moves to her horse and runs her hand accross his flank, removing some of the twigs from his mane as well. "I understand Edge scared you, he startled me too, but hopefully he'll be a little more tactful with his warnings. Isn't that right, EDGE?"

At the mention of his name, the dog's ears perk up and his head quickly follows. He slowly lifts his body off the ground and circles around Quill and her horse. "Oh, I didn't mean to wake you, boy," she says sarcastically while scratching his head when he walks by.

With Sandros healed, the bodies buried, and the gear packed on the mule, Quill takes her horse and mule and leads them towards the road again.

Star looks around for King, wondering where the dratted beast has run off to. She calls his name a few times, in horse speech and human speech, thinking meanwhile how conveinant it is to be able to talk to animals. She looks around the trees and out over the cliffs for any signs of raptor birds whom she could befreind or ask where her horse went.

Myr nods her little bird head, and swoops down to the ground, landing smartly on her little birdy butt. Muttering something about turbulence, she shakes off the suit's hood and expands back to her normal self. Digging her slightly wrinkled robe out of her pack, she slips it on over the slinky bird suit and joins Star. "Ready when you are," she says, shaking her herb pouch.

Star smiles at her and leads the way into the woods, looking for any trace of a path. Even after all that has happened today, she is still curious about the bird suit. "Have you tried flying in it yet? What's it like? Is it hard to stay up in the air?" She pauses and blushes, knowing she sounds rather odd. "I'm just curious about it," she stammers. "I've always wanted to fly..." she adds with a rueful smile.

"A little," Myr answers, scratching her ear. "It's a bit disorienting. I've had occasion to fly before, but this is a little different. It's almost like I'm too light. It is fun, though." She eyes Starmyst thoughtfully. "You're welcome to try it, you know... I didn't mean to claim it... although I surely like it quite a bit. Keeps me warm, too. Under other clothes, that is." She laughs gleefully

Quill - for once - has to agree with Avon (although not out loud) about being hungry and the need for food. As soon as her horse and mule are taken care of she tells the group that her and Edge are going to go hunting and in jest she asks what the party would like for dinner.

Ven, tired and a little irritable after the long day, responds: "Ah, yes. I'd love something hearty. I'd think a ribeye steak with creamed mushroom sauce, baked potatoe, and a mug of ale ought to suffice. Oh, and for dessert, chocolate silk pie."

Tavarak smiles at the ranger, "well how about anything that doesn't resemble Bugbears!" having said that Tav goes to work helping to prepare the camp for the night. He collects some firewood, and scouts out the immediate area for likely avenues of an approaching enemy. He goes over to check on Stalwart, ensuring that he and the other horses and the mule have been fed, rubbed down and are tied securely to trees. He splits the beasts into two groups, one group on each side of the encampment. "This is so that if anything tries to sneak up on us they have a greater chance of being down wind to at least some of the horses. Hopefully if they get spooked that will give us some warning" Having completed these tasks he sits down and removes his armour and begins the task of cleaning and polishing it. Once done he begins working on his sword, sharpening its fine edge. "Ah there we go, almost as good as new" he retreats to an open area and begins going thru the repetative practice routine that helps keep him limber and his reflexes sharp...Thrust, step back parry, counter step forward block, duck slice...He will train until Star and Myr return.

AVON says he'd be willing to settle for anything that isn't dried sausage. While Quill is transferring the sword to her old scabbard, he goes over and compares the bracers he's wearing with the design on the sword. Sure enough, they are nearly identical, also matching the carvings on the grip of the long bow. Avon goes over to Ven -- since Myridian is out gathering herbs -- and asks him to look at the bracers and the long bow, to see if either is magical. Ven reports that the bracers are magical, and the long bow is not.

On hearing that there will likely be fresh meat for supper, Avon & Ven set about to gathering some fire wood, while Tav and Sandros see to setting up the camp for the night.

After an hour or so, Quill & Edge come back with a brace of quail and a small wild pig for dinner, and STARMYST and MYRIDIAN get back with herb pouches and an extra small sack full. The two herbologists set about mixing an herbal poultice for Stalwart's injury. Star explains to Tav that the poultice, if they can get Stalwart to allow it to be applied and stay on, will probably double his healing rate.

Star goes over to the horse and pats him with a reassuring hand, hoping the war horse (I think that's right) doesn't plan on kicking her head off for bothering him. Dipping her fingers into the salve she speaks reassuringly to him while looking over the injury. She'll be ready to call Tav at the first sign of trouble.

Tavarak looks on with great interest as the Druid prepares and administers the poultice. He grins as the horse looks on as Star applies the medication. "Well i'm impressed, he seems to have accepted you, normally he isn't very good with strangers you know." When she is done, he thanks her for her efforts before seeking out Quill to ask if he can borrow her hand axe with which to chop down a suitable sappling from which to craft a lance. Later that night after a meal Tav asks to look at the harp, "I have some experience with musical instruments, and while i am not a musician by any means perhaps i can gain some hint as to what its magic does, if anything. Hmmm just don't ask me to sing you all to sleep."

“You are touching nothing!” It sounds more like a scream from Avon than a sentence. Fast as lightning, Avon grabs his backpack. Dropping the bow he was stringing in the process. “The harp is mine. I don’t care about the armor. Pfff, just wear it, I don’t need financial compensation for that. That’s not how I am. I am a nice guy, you know.” He pats himself on his chest. “But if I ever catch you trying to touch my harp you die, that’s a promise.” His hand reaches for his sword. “And that goes for all of you.” Looking around the group.

As if scared by his own behavior Avon looks to the ground. He has difficulty giving himself a normal posture. Then without a word he shuffles towards the border of the camp and sits down. Stringing and fiddling with the bow for the rest of the evening. Not a word is heard from him. The other members can see him in the flickering light of the campfire. Mimicking shooting the bow at imaginary foes. If they would have been close enough they would have seen his watery eyes and wonder if those were tears or just the wind. When the others make ready to sleep he keeps staring at the bracers with a vacant look. Carefully touching them as he was touching the fragile skin of a woman. Then later he quietly walks over to Quill, making sure not to draw attention of the others. Carefully he places the bow and the bracers next to her make shift bed. “These belong to the sword. Take care of them. Bring honor to the one who wore them before you, or something.”

Quill can hear Avon swallow. “But the harp is mine. You know I don’t want to be a bastard, but I have no choice. “ After this information Avon disappears into the darkness again. Not even sure if she was awake or sleeping. It does not matter. They don’t understand anyway. Holding the harp between his arms he falls asleep.

Sandros seems rather quiet this night, as if he's contemplating what happened earlier that afternoon. He watches with great interest when Avon throws his fit over the harp, but says nothing, only shrugging his shoulders. Once dinner has been cooked, he breaks into his portion with earnest, grease dripping down his chin as he tears into it quickly. "Mmm...this is great..." he mumbles, with his mouth full. "I was starving."

After a brief discussion, they set the watches for the night as they did the night before:

Ven & Sandros
Tav & Starmyst
Quill (& Edge)
Myr & Avon