Odin slowly emerges from the trees, walking towards the party. He is soaked in blood, and holds what looks like an arm caught in some mangled leather armor in his left hand. His right hand holds his warhammer, covered in dripping pieces of reddish matter. He appears unharmed.

"Somebody shouted south, then east, and in the confusion I had run off without any of you. There was so many...Jal..." he lifts the little arm in his left hand, then drops it.

"Let's stay out of the forest."




The rumbling that had grown distant as the party escaped was coming closer now. It is clear that the party will need to find safety.

Sighing deeply, Worf turned to take a good look around the area, hoping perhaps to find some kind of shelter, or other place they could hide from the marauders. Afterwards, he took a look at his pack; one ration left indeed. Maybe he might have to resort to eating his prey like Adonis after all.

"I SUPPOSE WE COULD KEEP HEADING SOUTH UNTIL WE FIND SOMEPLACE SAFE," Worf worfed, "BUT PERHAPS WE ARE ALL TOO TIRED TO KEEP GOING?"

"No, it appears that the enemy is still trying to approach us from behind. Losing them should be our first priority. Let us go south."

"My big man Worf makes a good point though. We need to run for now but in all likely hood they will probably catch up to us if we run too long, we have been running pretty much all day. Keep your eyes peeled for any shelter or places to hide while we run."

"Eh, Jal sucked dick anyway."

Pookie, exhausted, hurried along with the group south.

"God dammit "

"I agree with them guys, we should head south to find shelter. I sure do miss sleeping in a real bed that isn't covered with mud...even if it's good for my complexion. Teehee."

The adventurers head South, walking quickly.

The sun is obscured by the mountains to the north, and it grows dark. The air still smells of smoke, and an orange glow beyond the forest to the West indicates that the source of all the ash is still ablaze.

"I....I can't believe it." Odin stares at the orange glow, an expression of worry slowly appearing on his face. "They've burnt down Pryerdale."

Feeling the party may not remember what had been briefly mentioned many a page ago, he elaborates: "The trading hub, Pryerdale. It was on the other side of the forest, we weren't more than a day's walk from it when we were er...introduced to those monsters. It was where I thought we could get help...maybe some food... an inn..."

Not all of the party has stopped to listen to Odin. Sakura has continued onwards, walking in the darkness. Until the party hears the shuffling of stones, a surprised "Oh!", and then a long scream growing constantly more distant, nobody even turns around to look.

Sakura has managed to fall down a steep cliff to her doom. The party now walks over and investigates the cliff. There is a narrow, winding path that works it's way down the cliff, but Sakura seems to have walked right over the edge.

It is dark, descending the cliff now might be dangerous. The party could camp here, but there is not much for cover, should they be discovered.

"WELL," said Worf, admiring the distant splatter effect on the stones below that he may or may not be able to see, "PERHAPS WE COULD GET AT LEAST SOME WAYS DOWN THE CLIFF BEFORE RETIRING? AT LEAST THEN WE'D BE HARDER TO FIND AND GET OUR **** WRECKED BY THOSE GUYS FROM THE FOREST," he concluded.

"Oh, those elves. They have enough of their kind, this was truly a blessing." Folevar breathed in deeply. "Oh, and Worf, I like your idea. We really should find some cover before setting up camp," Folevar agreed.

Looking down to the abyss where it consumed the Elven Cleric, he sighed in relief.

"Looks pretty deep down there, but I think we can find a ledge large enough for us to camp."

"The passage is narrow, it's dark, we don't have anything we brought with us so we have no light source, and we'll probably just end up visiting the elf at the bottom of the cliff. Do you guys really want to try and go down now?"

"WELL IT'S EITHER VISIT THE ELF OR VISIT THE ORCS, AND I GET THE FEELING THE ROCKS ARE MUCH MORE PLEASENT COMPANY THAN THE LATTER. AND PROBABLY LESS PAINFUL TOO."

Hefting his equipment and letting out a sigh, Worf began his descent.

Pookie is not an idiot.

"No, I think I'm good up here. I don't like dying. Setup a post, switch off every few hours. Get some sleep and run down the passage if we run into trouble. Should be easily defensible from behind."

"Bye Worf."

Doran turned to the rest of the group. "Well, to anyone who is staying, start setting up camp, I'll take first watch."

Folevarr walked to the edge of the cliff and saw the little bloody puddle at the bottom. Having some fear of heights, Folevarr stumbled back and crawled away backwards. "Okay, yes, let's not go down."