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"Yeah, go ahead," Imani says. "It seems like we are a least on the right track."

Carefully (and keeping alert for possible attackers), Babushka makes a wide circle around the crater, looking for tracks.

Tracking check: 10, pass

Babushka circles around the crater, and indeed does find tracks--big ones. There is little doubt that the tracks belong to ogres--two of them, at least. They come in from the mountains to the north, circle around the crater, then seem to head back in the direction they came.

Babushka returns to the group. "It seems that ogres have come from the mountains to investigate" she points in that direction. "For all I can tell, they returned, but we should be careful al the same."

"It seems like they are the ones that probably picked up the wheel, so we should follow their tracks," Imani says.

As nobody has done so yet, Ulster approaches the crater and looks into it. "Yeah...whatever was here is gone now."

"Oh, no!" Locky exclaims. "Did it get up and walk away?"

"Yes, Imani, you're right" Babushka says and bends down to the tracks leading away from the crater again. Can she tell how old they are?

Imani looks to Locky, then shakes her head slightly. "I think I just said that the ogres took it," she said. "I'm a little curious as to why they would take a wheel though."

"Ogres keep hoardes of treasure. Maybe they thought this big metal object was a treasure" Babushka muses. "It was easy enough for them to carry."

Babushka cannot tell how old the tracks are (she needs to be level 9 to do that).

"Great," Ulster mutters. "Ogres."

"I guess things won't be as easy as you all thought," Malika points out, rather unnecessarily.

"So there could be more than just the two of them," Imani says. "Well, come on. Let's follow these tracks, and everyone be on your guard."

"In their lair, there certainly are more than two" Babushka says. "Let's hope we can catch them before they reach it. Otherwise, I don't know how we can retrieve that wheel."

She follows the tracks as swiftly as caution allows. Especially, she looks out for places where an ambutsh would be easy to set up.

The party follows the tracks for two hours. Grassy steppes give way to grim lands. At places, the ground is bare, baked and cracked. Grasses and shrubbery lie dead in the earth; only a few sickly trees survive by the river. Steep, craggy hills and dusty canyons from the north open into the ogrelands.

Eventually they come to a large valley, which also seems to be something of an old battle zone. Or rather, more of a grave site. Old corpses--both ogre and non-ogre, lie about, being scavenged by birds. A human corpse hangs upside down from a cliff face, his body blistered and burnt by the sun. A giant snake lies dead and decaying with two man-sized bulges in its midsection.

This is a broken land dotted with clumps of dying flora. Clouds and grey skies always hover overhead, blotting out the sun. Only the poorest examples of game can be seen scrounging for a bleak meal.
The tracks lead through all of this, and the party continues on. It will be dark in a couple of more hours, but in the distance, the party's final destination starts to come into view--an old fort on a hill.

"What is this place?" Imani asks softly as she continues forward.

"A place where we'd rather not be" Babushka says softly. All the merrieness she had felt when with her kind had gone now. The decay is lying heavily on her heart. "I know too little about history. Jerrard, Ulster, have you heard anything about a battle around here?" she looks up at the two men.

(OOC: Are all our animals and our belongings back at the gnome camp? What did we think about transporting the flywheel once we discovered it? With Jenara and Jerrads leaving, I was kind of numb with shock, not able to think straight.)