Chapter 1: Crocket's Farmsted

[GeneT]

Barastd chews his cake noisily.

Damn dwarf dun be him out of beer and the little spark. Not the first time he'd loose out.

"Good luck Lea," is all he says in the end dreading spelunking in the dark with this group.

Note to Barastd: Make sure dog is in front.

Least then he'd have ample notice when to run. A dog's dying whelp would be the best notice he could think off. Unless of course, Barastd could convince Beldan to take point.

[dougfan]

Beldan sighs and nods, smiling as she wishes the dwarf and gnome her luck as well with a gentle hug to each. She turns to the rest of the group. "I'm not ready to do anything or go anywhere without a rest. The battle was difficult and I am not at my highest level in terms of magical strength." Her intention was clear, they should rest for the night.

[GeneT]

Barastd raises his hand in a silent salute of agreement or, possibly, the gypsy way of telling someone to shut their yap before more obvious foolishness dribbles from their lips. He swallows the honey cake he was chewing.

"Sensible."

He looks skyward trying to figure the time of day and the hours of light left. He needed rest even if he didn't want to admit it to any others.

[Zane]

Murrsharr raises an eyebrow at Beldan's first statement, but then nods in agreement.

"Murrsharr help keep watch, Murrsharr sshay all rressht and watch differrent." Murrsharr looks over the group and then nods to himself, deciding on his suggestion. "Murrsharr sshee morre than human. Bessht Joe and Xia watch firrssht, Beldan and Nigel next, then Barastd and Murrsharr lassht. All rressht, all watch - agrree?"

[Evil Wabit]

With a few hugs, mostly from Lea the two say their farewells and depart for town.

Crocket collects the plates and trays, a bit saddened that no one had eaten the ginger cake but it would save for later. He makes his way back to the house and deposits the trays near the sink. He goes to his bedroom and digs round the wardrobes till he finds several blankets he collects them together and then takes them out to the barn for the protectors.

"This should help keep you warm if you decide to stay the night. Course it's only about mid-day so I don't be expecting much of a chill. Still I'm sure you can do something with the bodies." he indicates the corpses of your fallen enemy. "They don't make good fertiliser, but there is some shovals in the barn. Thanks for this."

He busies himself in the barn sorting the items that have been moved into a pile of metal, he grumbles about thieving barsteds every now and again.

[dougfan]

Beldan nods to Murrsharr's suggestion "Yes, that sounds about right. Go get some sleep. Nigel and I will be in the house. I need to say a few words with Mr. Crocket."

She trails a hand behind her as she heads off. Nigel follows, licking her hand and dropping into step. She approaches the old man.

"Mr. Crocket. I was wondering if we could sit down for a little while longer. I have some things I need to tell you."

[Evil Wabit]

Mr Crocket is in the barn, as Beldan approaches and speaks to him he smiles "Course deary, would you give us a hand moving these tools back onto the shelf, and sorting out these strips of metal, course I'm sure we can talk at the same time, and this stuff doesn't clear itself."

[Xamvim]

Xia smiles at Lea as they hug. She manages to get a closer look at Werrain's silver holy symbol before he goes, as he had promised her. Holding the symbol in her hand, its neck cord still around his neck, Xia observes it for a few minutes, studying every detail before letting it go and giving him a smile.

She hears Murrsharr mention her name and Beldan the leader agree to it, but hasnt got a clue why or what for. So she decides to follow him until he can explain what it is they want of her.

[Zane]

Murrsharr nods to Beldan's suggestion and takes one look at the sky and smiles. He moves up to the north side of the barn and grabs the one kobold body that is apart from the others and drags it to the others, so that they are all in one place.

He then moves back to that side of the building and finds a spot in the grass near the cornrows where the sun is shining brightly. There, he lays down and stretches out, basking in the sun while he rests for a bit.

[Xamvim]

Xia silently follows Murrshar, watching him drag one of the scalies to the others. She looks at the corpses and wonders if they were all as nice as Yip-yip. She tried to imagine what their names could be, "Yap-yap, Yop-yop?" In her mind she gives each one a name and smiles at their glazed over eyes and bodies, frozen in death.

Xia follows Murrsharr back to the side of the barn, watching him stretch out on the ground. She looks at him curiously wondering if there is what he and Beldan had meant, so she shrugs her shoulders and lies down too, her back pack, hooked under one arm, like a comforter.

She looks up at the sky watching the drifting clouds make their slow winward journey across her vision. The sun shines bright on her face and warms her skin. She smiles at the sky, wondering how it stayed up there.