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Liri smiles and nods. "That may well be. But still, I think we should focus on defending ourselves and our group now.

Do you think it is a good idea if we stand so close? Spread out, we cover a greater area.

And besides, seeing us together might distract the others of our group."

Angel says nothing, instead she moves to the other side of the wagon.

Fraso is indeed nowhere to be seen, except he's standing near the wagon drinking wine - where did he get wine, and why is he not sharing? Just the thing, on the eve of battle, a nice glass of wine. Red, preferably. And perhaps some bread to go with it. Something hearty, not like the white bread that we gave to Culla's thralls. And Hiric, and he looks to have a cup, too, but where's Fraso? Oh, right next to Hiric. Wait. Where? Who?

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The night's campsite is clearing in the woods, with a tall white birch tree in the center of it. There's not much in the way of shelter for Salia - no fallen trees, no large rocks. The biggest object in the area is the wagon. Papa takes station nearby the child, looking grim as usual.
Upon Liri and Angel's return, and the ensuing scramble, Hiric has donned a vest of leather with iron rings sewn to the outside, and he now holds a felling axe in his hands.

Daos positions himself atop the wagon, standing on the driver's bench, and is scanning the woodline carefully.

Maughus is moving quickly from place to place within your makeshift perimeter, checking on the defenses he has erected. They aren't much, but there is a slight chance that someone might blunder into one of his makeshift pikes rather than stepping around it. As he moves, he mumbles and mutters a constant stream of agitated words. He has a short bow in hand, and has also taken the covers off the pair of axes he carries.

Angel keeps her sword drawn, focusing on the forest, paying no attention to the wagon. "They state they have a claim to the body." She mutters to Fraso, tipping Papa a nod for guarding Salia.

(Do you have my rolls?)

"What did they look like?" Fraso asks, distress in his voice.

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[OOC] I have die rolls from Ruff and Breila, nobody else.

Good news is that Invisible Castle (http://www.invisiblecastle.com) is back up and running. [/OOC]

"Ancient" Liri replies to Fraso. "They speak very ancient elven, too. And they surely mean business. But they are not necessarily the main threat.
They said some unnamed dark forces were after the body, and these would kill us if we didn't hand over the body to them. Before we came back here, a messenger arrived to tell them the enemy was coming."

Angel stands quiet, Liri had said what she was going to say.

Sword drawn she maintains her vigil.

The forest has gone silent, as if there were a predator about. In the sudden quiet, a barely heard noise, one that would have been missed were it not for the alertness of the two rangers and Liri - something is moving nearby.

Elias spots it first. He presses his bow and prepares to loose, not speaking lest he warn the other that it's been spotted. The figure is small, child-sized, and is scurrying crouched over, like an ape, hands occasionally touching the ground as it moves. It's about forty yards out, an easy bowshot if the field were clear, but it is in light woods, and only occasionally visible.

Seeing Elias preparing his bow, Liri changes the sword to her off (right) hand and takes out three of her darts from the baldric.

Angel watches the creature and the others go for ranged weapons, she opts to keep her sword, the long blade flashing occasionally.

Looking over to Kutz and Elias, motioning to them to put the creature down if it gets too close.

The following quickly flicks through Kutz's mind ...

Why do we think these things scout in groups of 1 ... in fact ... how can you have a group of 1 ... surely if it is by itself, it is ... by definition not a group ...

... but that doesn't distract him from leaving the 'thing' to Elias and retaining his focus on the other parts of the forest.

Elias stalks forward in a low crouch. As he moves closer, he tries to line up a better shot and get a better idea what exactly he's looking at.

Liri scans the forest of her sector, especially looking for something similar to what Elias is handling now.

Elias is able to close the distance to about thirty yards, owing to his elven skills and the training of a ranger. As he closes, he is able to see the figure somewhat more clearly. It indeed moves on all fours in the manner of an ape, but from time to time it stands upright to sniff the air before dropping back down.
It is humanoid, and would be about four feet tall standing up. Its skin is pale, with a sickly yellowish cast to it. Its arms and fingers are long, legs short. Large ears poke through a tangled shaggy mat of dark hair. It is dressed, somewhat, its garb consisting mainly of a wide belt hung with rags and a few pouches and what might be a sheathed weapon.

Its head turns toward Elias, and it rises up to sniff the air, giving the ranger a brief glimpse of its face. Its nose is wide and upturned, with large nostrils. The mouth is wide, with large teeth. The eyes are small - too small for the face, really, as if it does not rely on them.

It tenses up suddenly, and crouches low, swiveling its head slowly, sniffing the air more intently than before. The night is calm, with no appreciable wind, so Elias is certainly not upwind of the creature, but it appears to have caught some scent that is making it wary.

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Kutz stares into the night. There might be something there, but it is too dark to...wait. Maybe it's not too dark after all. There looks to be something moving out there. No such thing as a group of one, after all. He hates being right, sometimes.

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Liri's front is clear, but as she glances over into the area that Kutz is watching her superior vision reveals another figure in the woods. Small, pale, low to the ground and moving a few steps at a time before freezing to sniff the air.

Elias brings up his bow, sights down the shaft of his arrow, takes a breath,and lets fly.