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Amon nods. "They live in the sea, but they breathe air like us. There are old stories about magical humanoids that can turn into seals. They are intelligent, benevolent and beautiful. So they say you should never harm a seal, because it might just be a person. Unfortunately, many still hunt them for their pelts, blubber, and their meat."

"I could never imagine hurting such a creature, that would be an awful thing to do." Brax lets out a little gasp, moving close to the Mage a moment.

"Do your own people not hunt animals for food and such?" Amon inquires.

"My people eat most things, some spiders, underdark creatures, humanoids, each other..." She blushes. "Yes I have sampled human flesh...." She turns away, ashamed of such a thing.

"But these are different somehow."

Amon pales, then turns a little green. Not only did Brax admit to eating humans, but eating a cute animal was somehow more alien to her than eating sentient beings.

"We...should move on," he says weakly, feeling sick to his stomach. He quickens his pace, making sure to always keep a certain amount of distance between him and the cleric.

Brax kicks herself, that was her old life, one of the things she regretted deeply in her soul. How to make Amon understand that? Perhaps she never would.

Searos eyes the seals trying to calculate how much the pelts could be worth. "Seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to for some gloves really. I mean, they aren't exactly easy to get to down there. Then again any critter dumb enough to get itself killed by a hunter has a place in my trencher."

"To kill an innocent creature...." Brax mumbles moving near Gunter.

Gunter winces inwardly while overhearing Amon and Brax talk. Being a ranger, he'd killed his fare share of 'cute' animals, but he always had a pang of regret when he did it. Because of this, he always made sure to make use of every part of each animal he could.

He couldn't see why somebody would kill such a creature just to make gloves out of it...

He glares at Searos but doesn't say anything more.

"It was a long time ago..." Brax comments, seeing his face, "I am a different person now."

Vee also look down to the seals. "True, they are a sort of cute... but that's no reason not to hunt and eat them. A seal is cute and tastes very good, just like an calf, a baby deer or an rabbit. And how should we know if they are innocent? How could we know that this seal hadn't cheated his seal-lady? or had lied at his parents?"

She frowns, thinking. "It's hiding behind wide eyes, it's cheating. I prefer rats... they don't look like babies, cause they aren't! My culture has respects some animals as intelligent, not as cute."

Brax just nods, saying nothing.

(OOC: Great post, she is just thinking now)

A short time later, the seals dive and swim out to the ocean. The party continues on. Not quite four hours after they left Dunreese, they come to a place that is obviously the campsite people had been talking about. A little further inland than most of the road was, a small grove of alder and birch with a few interspersed maple seems to have been planted right around a clearing large enough for the average caravan. A little off the road, a charred spot with a ring of stones marks the place of the cooking fire.

There is no mistake why the trees have been planted, they offer some protection from the wind that has risen now. The air is beginning to smell of rain.

It is now shortly before noon.

"This must be the place," Amon says. "Let's spread out and look for clues, but also stay in sight of each other, too." While Dogmeat sniffs around curiously, Amon starts with the ring of stones and searches carefully.

Without a word, Kim takes down the one-man tent and sets it up close to the fire ring, looking up at the sky.

The stone ring and fireplace look well-used, but otherwise unremarkable. It has rained at least once since it was used the last time. The whole clearing has a ground of compacted earth with spare, short grass on it. There is virtually no wood to be found between the trees, everything that falls down is probably used for kindling. Luckily, the council of Dunreese has provided some charcoal so the party will be able to cook a few meals before needing to gather firewood. At the Southeast end of the grove, Amon can hear the sounds of a creek. If he goes any further, he will be out of sight and earshot from the others.