"You are quite welcome Larn. It is my duty in this assemblage to heal. No need for returns. You would do the same." Mysha replies, laughing lightly. She lets her hand fall to her side and smiles warmly. His attention does not go unnoticed. She swipes brown bangs from her eyes, smiles, and walks back to her pack, wondering if his eyes were watching her.

Mysha looks around at the group of companions when Durwe poses his question. She ponders upon whom she thought would make a strong leader, someone whom they should follow the direction of. Her choice would be Finn for general direction and decision making. Her eyes land on him as he converses with the lamai'nain. He has shown an above average aptitude and use of his magic to find Larn showed genuine ingenuity. He is rather charismatic and well spoken. Yes, he would be her choice.

"I'd like to hear what Finn thinks." she says.

Thardhrom uses the last of his mana to cast a healing spell upon himself.

Xune nodded along with Myshra's words, turning her gaze up toward Finn an arching a curious eyebrow.

"We'll be going downhill from here, we need to keep moving to stay ahead of our enemy. The Book needs destroyed before he can get it. When it gets within an hour of last light, we can look for a place to camp." He looks from face to face as he speaks, stressing the need to move on.

Xune squinted at Valeros.

"You don't look like Finn. No elven ears, far too tall. All that meat, you couldn't possibly have any hint of elven blood in you. Some kind of buffalo, perhaps. Or elephant, but not elven." She said, sending an arch glance at the human. "But I could swear that the priestess asked for Finn's opinion..." She finished in a teasing tone.

Val stuck his tongue out at her, she was finally loosening up!

"Val is right, except we will likely only reach the bottom of this ridge in the hours of sunlight left today. It is a steep climb down, but a little less vegetation."

Danni was intently watching the exchange between Finn and Lamai. At first her brow was wrinkled in concentration and a frown resting on her lips, the rogue didn't quit follow what Finn was asking, but as Lamai replied she caught on and the wrinkled brow shifted to smoothness and a flash of a grin crossed her lips. She felt like she was learning with them.


Danni's attention was caught by the exchange between the others and amusement danced behind her eyes. Quietly adding, "Going down hill is just as strenuous as going up hill. Would it be best to face it rested or tackle now?" She also looked to Finn for his say on the matter.

From one side of their group came a light laugh. Aramil was clearly tickled by something.

"Well it appears that even those blessed by the divine or at the other end of the favour spectrum would rather that Lord Finn made their decisions for them. Far be it from me to intrude on such an esteemed process...but I would agree with Durwe. For the record, of course."

The elf rested himself against a nearby rock, arms folded, and waited with amused interest.

"Laird is it now? Oi dinnae know we were'n such esteemed company." Thorgwain says, guffawing loudly. He flashes Finn a wide toothy smile, his beard bristling in such mirth that his beads rattle.

"Oi be think'n. Get down tha hill now while it be light out still. Camp at tha base." the dwarf says in response to the question of action.

"Up here the wind will blow and it might get cold too, time to move tp get down into the protection of the forest edge before it gets dark. Too much daylight to stop now and let the enemy catch up! Pack up lazies!"

"أرض جيدة للصيد الجبلي. شعوب كوبولد" Lamai lisps, the sibilant words flowing quickly from her as if a sudden excitement comes over her. She stares off toward the distant mountain.

Sensing a readiness to move, Camilla packs away her rations and waterskin. She takes out her rope and secures it on her belt with a leather thong should they need it going down. She personally is glad to be moving again. She loves to climb and this ridge, she could climb in her sleep.

"Moving on helps get us closer to our goal." Alaion prompts, then listens to some of the others chat about leadership.  "Interesting, shouldn't this have been decided earlier. Or is this one of those hypothesis, I've heard some folk enjoy?"

[Private to Alaion: edit to add quotation marks and added the word "been"]
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:53, Thu 15 June 2023.

Finn reaches into his ammo pouch and pulls out another sling bullet. He holds it towards Lamai and points at it with his pen. "Syss-yl-mins-yl" he says, before laying it down with the other bullets. He circles the group of bullets with his pen and points towards the mountain. "To the mountain."

Reaching into his stuff Finn pulls out another pen, a piece of chalk, and a potion. He pretends to draw his dagger across his bare arm and then draws a line of chalk where the wound would have been. Pretending to drink the potion, he then erases the chalk. "Healing" He says. Finally he hands the potion and a pen to Lamai before putting everything else away.

He is surprised that Myshra wanted his opinion. Before he can answer Aramil and Thorgwain put forth their joke. Finn chuckles and shakes his head.  Elves and Dwarves sharing a joke.

"A good Lord knows when to listen to the advice of those more knowledgeable than him on subjects. Durwe is our guide. If firewood is harder to come by down below we should probably take some with us but the faster we get there the sooner we get rid of this burden."

"You are our morale compass. The longer we take the more curious I get about what is in it. It is not in my nature or faith to destroy information, however tainted it may be. However, I am dedicated to destroying the book."

Thorgwain secures his pack and sheathes a freshly honed sword. "Jests aside, Durwe jes be our guide. Those be think'n ah chang'n ah tha leadership ere be wrong. Valeros be lead'n tha rabble from tha get. Oi be follow'n his lead. Let's get mov'n."

Seeing the readiness to press on, Durwe secures his gear. He watches Valeros, reassessing the man on learning finally who is in charge of this group while others are getting ready. He would not have guessed it to be him. So far, it has seemed to be more of a majority rule in decision making. He shrugs, realigning his thinking.

Once everyone is ready he leads them down the ridge.

Valeros falls in line where he can help others negotiate the descent down the ridge, helping where he can. He was glad Finn was working on communicating with Lamei and that Xune had found her sense of humor. Elmona had been quiet lately, not saying too much, had he misread her interest?

[Private to GM: Thank you]

Alaion moved to a left rear flanking position. This afforded him a view of events ahead. With Loki at his side it also enable additional protection to the group.

Knowing he is likely to be of little use in a fight in his current state, Duivelssmak lingers in the rear.  He tries to make up for his lack of combat readiness by keeping a sharp eye out in all directions.

Xune followed along near the rear of the column, aiming to preserve her ability to cast a spell or two if anything went wrong, while still lending a blade to any rear-quarter defense. When no one else was looking, she picked up a small pebble. Rolling it around her fingers for a while as they walked, the drow waited for an opportune moment, and then struck. The small pebble sailed over everyone else's shoulders and landed squarely in between Valeros' shoulder blades.

Lamie nods her understanding of her inclusion to the group of adventurers. She cocks her head at the demonstration of healing. She puts together his intended instruction in her mind and takes the healing potion and pen. These she places into a hide pouch she has made from the tuatera skins nearly destroyed by Larn. She nods her understanding to Finn. "Sea-ling."

As the others ready for the climb down, Lamai stays near the side of Finn.

---

Lamai rolled 9 using 1d20.  Intuition roll (INT). –

Val didn't notice a pebble hitting his backpack. ;-)

Her plan unfolding nicely, Xune permitted a malevolent smile to briefly pass across her lips as she reached down and grabbed another pebble...

OOC: Cue an ancient infantry prank...

Thread closed....

The story continues in chapter [10.1] Foundry of Souls.