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"Ok people, I doubt there will be Calvary." She glances over at Maghus, the man had gone mad, that was for sure. "But I would expect some sort of attack." She frowns, sliding the longsword into the tattered leather scabbard on her back.

"Elias, Kutz, take up positions covering the wagon, I will join you. Liri.. We need your eyes too.." She smiles at the Elf, grinning.

"The rest of you I'd suggest you make yourselves comfortable for a bit. Unless anyone has a better idea?

"We need to talk." She turns to Maghus, "Now."

Liri mutters a few unprintable words in elven, then starts to retreat towards the wagon, slowly and backwards. She continues to scan the forest edge for any sign of movement.

"Oh, there'll be cavalry. There's always cavalry." Maughus has finished covering the fire and now sets about checking his makeshift "perimeter." It's not so much that he is ignoring Angel, but he's terribly busy at the moment. "There was cavalry at Arliot. Cavalry at Beartree. Cavalry at Finn's Shoal. No. That was a naval encounter. But there would have been. There were horses on the ships, but you can't ride a horse on a ship. CAN'T RIDE HORSES ON A SHIP!" Maughus breaks off in mid-rant and says, quietly: "Where's Fraso?"

Angel, stomping after the ranger, looks back toward the wagon, searching for Fraso, and can't see him. Her flash of panic fades quickly, though. She's almost gotten used to losing track of the man. She concentrates on the wagon, and then notices Fraso next to it.

Liri and Kutz have moved in closer to the wagon. Elias, however, is nowhere to be seen, having walked into the treeline in pursuit of his bogey.

Shaking her head Angel, draws her shortbow, placing a few arrows in the ground she scowls.

"Stay by the wagon master Fraso, cover him please Bastian, and Salia. We stay together. "

Watching the trees she shakes her head again. "We don't know they are hostile, that was a scout, we defend ourselves, but we capture if we can."

"I did not live this long killing everything I come across, or was ordered to." she says to Maghus ignoring the mans mad rant. "Do your job soldier. We need your eyes. We need you here."

Elias takes a look around, marking the beginning of the trail in his mind, and then heads back to defend the wagon.

"I'm here," Maughus says. "Right here. In the belly of the beast.
"And He's out there. With his sharp spines and his sharp teeth and his bright red tongue. I know it.
"We get through this, Goldilocks, and we're brothers for life.
"Tell your quartermasters - best get those mules in and hitched up. We may need to bug out of here in a hurry."

"I have never heard of a fully-loaded wagon being able to escape a determined enemy" Liri says drily, not taking her eyes from the forest edge.

"Liri." Angel moves close to the elf, pressing against her body for the briefest of moments. "He is quite mad, I have seen behavior like this before, a reaction to a bad experience perhaps."

"We stay, there will be no traveling now." She brushes her hand through her hair, moving away from Liri slightly.

The forest is unusually quiet, although at one point shortly after Elias returns there is a commotion of some sort to the east. Something large thrashes through the forest and runs toward your encampment. Elias raises his bow aiming in the direction of the sound and spots a deer running quickly through the woods, not quite towards the clearing. It veers north, skirting the clearing, and runs off into the woods.
Then things go quiet again, except for occasional sounds in the distance, sounds that do not belong in a nighttime forest. Someone is moving out there. Several someones from the sound of it.

Liri nods in comment to Angel. "I thought so" she says.

During the wait, she slightly shifts her weight from time to time to avoid cramps.

Seeing Liri shift on her feet she shakes her head trying to remove the thought in her mind.

"Stay focused everyone. Elias, did you find anything?" She asks as he returns.

Kutz waits, watches and listens. Its getting tense ... never liked waiting ...

Anyone want an orange?

(Kutz makes no move to get any oranges, no move to offer any around ... he just watches)

"I hit one of the creatures that was moving towards our camp. Its wounded and is leaving a noticeable trail which we might be able to follow."

"Hold onto that thought." Angels says with a pat on the Elf's shoulder. "We don't know what they are yet."

"Oranges?" She asks Kutz with a curious expression.

[OOC] Was waiting for Ruff to respond about the oranges. Can't wait any longer. [/OOC]

Kutz says nothing, merely watches the surrounding woods.

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The noises in the woods continue, getting closer, then ceasing altogether, as if the world is holding its breath. Whoever is out there may be bad at woodscraft, but they know how to stand quietly.

Moments later, a figure strides through the woods, stepping out of the woods and into the clearing, and then stands there, looking at your group. He is about five feet tall, and slightly broader than the average human, clearly a dwarf of some sort. He is clad in a brigandine hauberk and bears a two-handed warhammer. His head is bare, and bald, but is covered in tattoos. His beard is long and dark grey.

The dwarf lowers the hammer, holding it down at his side in one hand. Without speaking, he points and the wagon, then closes his hand and touches it to his chest.