The Adventurers

34 - Squnty Eyes
Arrik - Altimis
Helja - DS
Jace - OakenHeart
John - Zinger2099
Navua'ai - LordManshoon Planeshaper

The Road

34 looks around and studies the ground. Looking down at the claw marks in the road, he wonders exactly what made them.

"Hey, Nav...ooo...ay...." 34 tries to say. Names never did come easy for him. "Umm, Navi? Whats with these tracks? They don't look like normal travel marks in the road." He points down at the strange marks.

~SE++

Jace

Glancing over at Navu'ai, Jace nods before dropping down to one knee next to ThirtyFour, the feathers and beads woven through a single braid of his hair softly clicking as he does so. He observes the tracks for a moment before pressing his hand to the ground next to both sets of tracks in kind, judging their size, depth, and length of stride.

(OOC: Nah - voo - eye, for those wondering. )

Navu'ai feels the sunlight warming his face, and the paladin sighs in relief. The warmth was so very pleasant. Having grown used to poor weather in the recent weeks, the paladin was beginning to forget what a lovely sky looked like.

As he savors the sensation, 34's question draws him from his oblivious state. The slight smile fades from his face as he takes in the sight of the tracks.

"Those? Let's see... Judging by the shape of them, I don't think there are many woodland creatures to consider. Small but clawed would suggest..."

As Jace takes a knee to examine the marks, the paladin thinks to himself, certain that he has seen such tracks before. Navu'ai casts an eye at their surroundings, curious as to whether there are any signs of life nearby.

As another cool breeze wraps its way through the trees on either side of the road the group studies the strange footprints in the soft mud. Jace is able to correctly identify several different types of tracks. Wild animals have crossed the road in a few places, but more importantly a few sets of tracks have been left since the recent rain. They bear four long slender toes each tipped with a clawed nail. The tracks are erratic and head in both directions along the road and occasionally head off into the wilderness. As Navu'ai scans the surrounding area it becomes apparent that the birds they had heard chirping earlier are no longer audible.

Navu'ai feels his hair begin to stand on end when the absence of birdsong finally dawns on him.

Resting a hand on the hilt of his sword, Navu'ai speaks aloud to everyone in the group, eyes still scanning the surrounding trees and boulders.

"Does anyone else notice the birds have suddenly gone silent? Something is wrong. There must be something, or several somethings, nearby, and my gut tells me we will soon meet them."

Jace

Still studying the tracks closely, but taking a few stooped steps forward, Jace tries to see if he can isolate a better set of the prints. He kneels back to the ground in front of Navu'ai, near a large boulder. "I fear you may be right. There looks to be several sets of tracks here, but there doesnt look to be much sense to them. The dont move along the road in any sort of way that makes sense, they run every which direction and off into the woods at some points." He points off into the trees and shrubs set back off a ways from the Old King's road. We best be wary on the road ahead. Jace unslings the shield from his back as he stands back up and faces the group, he plants the heel of his palm on the hilt of his longsword.

John squints his eyes. The world is a different place 7 feet off the ground. He scans the road ahead as far as his eyes can see.

"I wouldn't worry. Whatever creature left these tracks would be foolish to ambush the six of us."

Nevertheless, John keeps a watchful eye.

Arrik hears the varied and minute conversations among his comrades. He enjoys the path they are currently on, but is slightly alarmed by all this talk of ambush. Arrik decides to take the definition of premptive to heart.

"Jace!" He yells quickly in a worried tone, before running at him. Jace stands up abruptly looking around.
OC:

John raises an eyebrow at his nimble companion.

"You realize, Arrik, I could just lift you and put you in a tree if that is indeed what you are trying to get at, though I haven't a clue why you would..."

((OOC: I'm a Goliath. I'm over 7' tall and built like a brick house. In case you didn't know. ))

"Don't move!" Arrik yells at Jace as he turns to look at the halfling running full speed at him.
Arrik focuses on Jace's shoulders and the trees behind him too much to notice the rock in the groud. The rock slips in the dirt causing Arrik to stumble to much to jump. Moving to fast to stop Arrik lunges awkwardly at Jace, barely reaching mid-thigh his arms flail onto Jace's shoulders.
Still determined to make it into the tree, Arrik brings his body into as jumping a position as it can get aboard his unsteady companion. Unfortunately, unbalanced due to the (stupid) rock, and having an unbalanced surface to leap from his legs go down, but his body does not go up. Like a cat failing to jump from a slippery surface Arrik flops off of Jace.
Arrik flails like a drowning fish mid-air, while Jace slowly crumples to the ground from the force of a failed jump.
Arrik, on the other hand, so enthralled with climbing the tree is able to recuperate from this mishap and easily roll it off, just missing the tree he was aiming to climb.

He turns around laughing wipining dirt from his face, "Sorry, Jace. I didn't mean to maul you. Only slightly maim you." He walks back and offers his hand to Jace among the other commotion.

"True, but where's the fun in that? You know I just had to try," turning to Jace, "Right? You know I had to try?"

Finally calming down from the enjoyable commotion, Arrik accepts the invitation to peruse the mysteries of the tree.

"Seeing how successful I was, I think I will need some assistance; if you don't mind? Thank you John."

(OOC: Tree O9 please!)

OOC:

"You are a strange little man."

John assists his odd companion into a tree.

((OOC: Is there something I need to roll for this? Athletics? Or can we just assume I am able to get him up there with ease?))

Navu'ai watches the halfling's antics in silence, once again marveling at the invisible hand of fate and its ability to bring together the diverse.

Drawing his sword, Navu'ai suppresses a smile at the sight of John lifting Arrik to the nearest branch.

Who knows? Maybe he'll be able to see something up ahead, or take a foe by surprise.

Still certain that something menacing lurks in the shadows, Navu'ai returns his attention to their surroundings.