“I still feel half my strength running through these bones and that is more than enough to keep this black soul going until I can get you to safety. It will be a cold day in the underworld before I let a toothpick such as this stand between me and a friend’s safety.” Conall then picked up the pace, he thoughts jumped back to those left behind at the bone piles.

Cynil is worried about the others, maybe the others had rrun into the same proplem, if so they might need help and waiting here doing nothing was aggrivating. She lumbered to the edge of the forest where she had seen Conall go, Then with a growl she sets off to follow them. She goes carefully padding along on her great clawed paws. If their path is clear enough for a Druid trained to the ways of the forest she will gamble along at a faster pace. She cocks her head which helps in listening.

Conall and Ulthok, the Paladin yet bleeding, the Halfling though healed, yet with the arrow still in him, found themselves close to the clearing when both Cor and Divot appeared by their sides. With the two friends help within a few seconds the four found themselves in the clearing once more, the party of seven all accounted for.

Cynil having seen their return, still in the form of a bear, returned to watch over Althena the choice to stay as a grizzly or change back to her Elvin self up to her.
Haila told Rayne that no apology was needed and both then seemed to study the trees around them, yet like the others for the moment ignoring the group’s visitor.

The visitor himself after his initial greeting had leaned back upon a tree and waited for the people in front of him to acknowledge his presence.
For now he had all the time in the world and was in no hurry, after all the fate of these traveler’s was in his hands.....

(OOC: Ok short post as you did not give me much to work with. Next post next wednsday as normal and lets see them posts )

Cynil changes back into herselfand goes to Conall and immediately gets oout her healer's kit to tie a turnicate on the leg until she can get the arrow out. Then she cleans and heals the wound. To help her remove the arrowhead she get out two sticks of ivory basically the are oval but they are grooved on one side. These she slides down into the leg wound and carefully probbing she finds out the lay of the arrowhead, and moves the sticks to either side and slips them around either edge so that the arrowhead is shielded from the flesh.

"I need a pair of strong hands," she waits till someone comes. "Now pull the sticks apart slowly to stretch the wound open. Keep the same angle as I have now. I will pull on the shaft on the count of five and the arrowhead should come right out without further damage. Keep the stick in until I clean it." (Arrowhead will slide ing the groove of the ivory sticks.)

Unseen by Conall she holds up 3 finger and nods to her assistant, and waits till they signal her they understand.

"One. Two. Three." and she pulls before adding, "Four. Five."

When that is done she calls out to the group in general, The Big Oak in tainted and I think other trees may be also. My Bless did not cleanse it."

Then she goes about cleaning and the healing the wound.

"Now who else needs help?"

"Haila, Let me help you with that wound. But save the arrow I want to look it over first."

Rayne helps Hailaa with her arrow wound and then heals it. as they waited for the others to return. Then she takes the arrow and examines it carefully judging its size to the relative size of the bow draw and its workmanship. She also checks the point for any signs of poison. Many siminuative folk often use poison to take down larger foes since their strength is not enough to do much damage.

Out of the corner of her eye she see the sudden change of Cynil to her normal form catches her attention as she heads towards Conall carrying Ulthok over his shoulder.

"Looks like they had some trouble too, I will go and see if I can help Cynil with them. If you can keep a watch out for the others or whoever shot you with this arrow."

Rayne hurries over to help and fine Cynil has things well in hand. When she asks for help though Rayne steps forward.

"I will just tell me what you want." Cynil gave her the ivory ovals that she had lipped on eaither side of the arrowhead. She listened as Cynil told Conall what she was going to do. Pull on five is what she heard, what she saw was three fingers held up so only she could see them.

"I am ready," she tells Cynil. and so she was--ready on three.

Cynil started coundting "Ohe...two...three and Cynil pulled as she finished "four...five."

Once Conall and he are back at the clearing the group is at once all together again. Then Cynil goes about taking care of Conall and his wound. Now that they are back the first thing ulthok wants to do is check his pack and see how much damage was done by the arrow. However when he slips his arms out of the straps over his shoulders the pack remains at his back and does not come off. If he can reach far enough around to feel and can just touch the shaft of the arrow still in his back. Surprised to find it there he will call to the other healers in the group. Seems that I have a slight problem here, there seems to be an arrow sticking from my back maybe someone could help me remove my pack and this arrow. As he looks around at the others he thinks this must look rather strange, then he notices a stranger leaning against a tree just observering all that is happening within the camp, and this stranger also happens to be carrying among other weapons a finely crafted bow coincidence Ulthok is not so sure.
So even as he waits for someone from his group to aid him with his present problem he ambles over to where Cor is and quickly speaks to the dwarf.Are we aware of the bow carrying stranger that is in our mists leaning on that tree over yonder, perhaps he has some answers to what happened out there in the woods. Now hoping Cor would at least approach and speak with the stranger Ulthok returns to his more immediate problem.Could someone please help me get my pack off and maybe this arrow out of my back.I am not sure why I feel no pain or weakness from this but it does not belong there.

Cor heard Ulthok ask for help with an arrow in his back. Taking a quick look he saw that indeed the arrow was thru the pack, and embedded in the halfling's back. All around it the skin was healed. Ulthok told him it was that way after Connel used a healing poton. "Bah, what manner of ill-whitted fool made up that potion? Must a used too much ichor of imp and not nearly enough bog weed juice. Pathetic! Properly made potions heal from the inside out and would push the arow out as the wound heals. Must have been a darn orc half-breed initiate. Those idiots could mess up a dream about a bar maid." Cor shook his head. "Well hate to tell ya but about the only way to fix this is to go over there and see if the lasses can cut it out with those fancy devices."

Cor turned and looked at the stranger. "And just who might you be with a quiver full of arrows feathered like the one in my friend's back? A coincidence?"

Yes Ulthok, I am coiming to help you." calls out Rayne who hurries over towards the Dwarf magic user.

Rayne then turned to see how Ulthok was doing.

"Hello there, Ulthok, my friend. You seem to have a sticky problems back there."

Rayne hunkers down to take a good look at how deep the arrow has gone into the dearf's back. holding the arrow steady with a firm grip between the back pack and his back she pulls his packpack off the arrow first then she cleans the old blood from around the wound.

"Cynil I could use those ivory probes of yours to get this arrow out. Rayne says and waits until Cynil joins her.

Cynil

Cynil digs out a potant spirt to cleanse her probes and thaen comes over to where Rayne treats Ulthok

"Sorry, Ully I have no more numbweed." Cynil has to cut open the wound having no idea of the lay of the arrowhead. She cross cuts the skin qquickly and follows the shaft down with the probes. Next she moves them carefully, and with some difficulty to pull apart the recently healed muscle to locate the lay of the arrowhead.

Rayne

"When they're in nod and on the count of three I will pull, Though Rayne holds up two fingers for Cynil to see over Ulthok's head. "One....Two..." Rayne entones and yanks it was free. "Three." Quickly she cleans in the wound with the probes still in it and then she removes those and staunches the blood flow only after it has a time to flow and do some self cleaning as it does.

Cynil

Cynil then entone as healing spell Cure moderate.

Finally Rayne takes the arrow and examines it carefully judging its size to the relative size of the bow draw and its workmanship. She also checks the point for any signs of poison. Many diminuative folk often use poison to take down larger foes since their strength is not enough to do much damage. She casts a glance over at the stranger by the trees. She didn't think he was responsible for all the arrows fired. He couldn't have been in two places at once.

Ulthok, I don't know who he is, but Haila was fired on also and she was in another direction altogether."

Cynil was still angry that she had been relegated to bandaging again her one chance to be aof physical help was ended before it started. She was now torn between the the tainted tree and the stranger. The tree was not going anywhere, but the stranger might.

Short and slender as a willow compared to the stranger (Human? Elf? She will speak an appropriate language.) she advanced on him like the bear she had been earlier and nothing was going to stop her.

Her green eyes flash with fire and she comes up to the stranger.

"Seems to me that bow has got the draw size of those arrows we've been picking out of our friends. Wasn't it enough that they were fighting the Mongrelmen and already injuried before you started shooting them? Are you also responsible for the tainted trees around here?"

She finally takes a breath and continues, "So what do you have to say for yourself? Why are you even here? What have we ever done to you?"

She continues to glare up at the stanger. Words had failed her anger.

Cor turned as he heard the words coming from Cynill. He was suspicious of the stranger and certainly wasn't being overly friendly but she was outright hostile. This meeting could go very bad, very fast.

As soon as Ulthok asks for help there is an imidiaentresponse. Rayne is at his side examining the arrow sticking from his back. As she prepares to remove the arrow he can hear Cor carrying on about what type of healing potion Conall must have used. "Bah, what manner of ill-whitted fool made up that potion? Must a used too much ichor of imp and not nearly enough bog weed juice. Pathetic! Properly made potions heal from the inside out and would push the arow out as the wound heals. Must have been a darn orc half-breed initiate. Those idiots could mess up a dream about a bar maid." Ulthok can't help but to laugh at Cor's antics even though he knows he is in for some pain.
He braces himself as best as he can for what he knows is coming. To help with this he removes one of his daggers from his hip and puts the handle between his teeth so he can bit down when the pain gets intense. He feels Rayne remove his backpack and then as she feels around where the arrow enters his back. He feels it as she cuts into his back looking for the lay of the arrow head that is not to bad but when she starts to stick those ivory probes into the wound he bites down on his dagger handle very hard he knows she is helping him but it takes all his will power to not pull away anyone looking can see the anguish on his face. Having just watched them remove the arrow from Conall legs he knows that when she tells Cynil they will pull the arrow on three he knows she will do it on two he tries to stay relaxed for he knows the arrow will come out easier if he is not tensed up, but he can't help himself and he can feel his body tense as she counts, and try as he might he can't stop or stifle the little cry of pain that he lets out when she pulls on the arrow ahhhhhh Friggen helllllllllllllllll the knife falls from his lips to the ground, and then it is over and they are cleaning the wound and Cynill cast a healing spell on him.
Once it is all over he reaches down and picks up his dagger and returns it to it's place on his hip then
He thanks the two ladies for there help Thank you for your excellent work and I am sorry for my little outburst there. You do fine work. Then Rayne speaks to him about the arrow the stranger and the fact that Halia was also fired upon. Ulthok, I don't know who he is, but Haila was fired on also and she was in another direction altogether." He thinks about this for a moment and replies You know that may be so, but in this world I have seen stranger things than that I am not convinced he is not to blame for this.
As Rayne and Ulthok are talking Cynil takes it upon herself to approach and interagatethe stranger who seems to be just contently watching us from his spot leaning against one of the trees.Seems to me that bow has got the draw size of those arrows we've been picking out of our friends. Wasn't it enough that they were fighting the Mongrelmen and already injuried before you started shooting them? Are you also responsible for the tainted trees around here?" "So what do you have to say for yourself? Why are you even here? What have we ever done to you?"
Ulthok also had some questions he wanted to ask the stranger however he didn't think the way Cynil was going about it was going to get them the answers, as he remembers an old saying his pappy used to tell him and his siblings You will catch more game with sweet bait than with sour.Before he makes any move he will look around at the others and see what if anything it looks like one of them might be getting ready to do.

Cynil was the chipmunk, boldly defending her hoard of nuts from a hungry bear. Those nuts being her fellow travelers. Only the stranger was now the bear.

One hand on her Staff and the other on her hip, she continured to stare him down, well up really.

"So," her breathing was deep and quick, "do we get an answer, an explanation, something, anything?"

Her emerald eyes flashed with blue fire, as she blew a stray lock of hair out of her face. It was comicall to see, though Cynil was not feeling comical. Her worry over the others, from the moment she had been left with Althena, all through the incident with the tree and then being kept from going to anyones aid had taken a toll on her.

Maybe it was because of the tree, maybe it was because of her wish to be of some physical help to the group and not just someone to patch them up after the fight.

Tears of frustration and of the aftermath to the tree's suffering welled at the bottom of her eyes, she tried to dash them aside, but her eye lids just filled again. Through it all she faced the man a waited for some sort of reply.

The party once again all together, with arrows removed and wounds healed now turned its attention to the stranger in their midst.....

THE CAMP SITE
Leaning against a tree, as he had since first introducing himself, the Human Stranger quietly watched as arrows were removed, spells of Healing cast and as a Bear became a Female Elf once again.
That same Elf having done what was needed to help her friends was now headed his way, a look of murder mayhap in her eyes, as she stopped before him and started to speak, the Dwarf in the heavy Plate beat her to it.

"And just who might you be with a quiver full of arrows feathered like the one in my friend's back? A coincidence?"
Before the Stranger could answer the Dwarf before him, the female Elf spoke quite loudly.

"Seems to me that bow has got the draw size of those arrows we've been picking out of our friends. Wasn't it enough that they were fighting the Mongrelmen and already injured before you started shooting them? Are you also responsible for the tainted trees around here?” A slight pause for the Elf to catch her breath
"So what do you have to say for yourself? Why are you even here? What have we ever done to you? So, do we get an answer, an explanation, something, anything?"
The Stranger looked to Cynil, a smile in his eyes and his face, and having an opening finally responded.

“My aren’t you the feisty one my Lady Elf, perhaps we have chosen wrong, hmmm.... well no matter. Yes the arrows do belong to myselfs and I, as these are our lands we must fight to keep them so. Your friends were surrounded by twice their number in enemies with no clear shots to be had, we had no choice but to fire as we did.”
As the Stranger talked Conall, as with the rest of the party, had gathered closer to the man so all could hear his explanation. Without being obvious he called upon his ability of Detect Evil and focused it upon their visitor finding him lacking of such.
Yet the Paladin felt something was not right about the man, call it intuition, call it experience, something felt wrong.

Regaining his posture the Stranger moved deeper into the camp to stand at its middle, the fire pit before him, the skull pile at his side and thus surrounded by the party. Kneeling he picked up one of the top most skulls from the pile next to him, cleaned it of dirt and held it as if lovingly as he once again spoke

“As I said before these are our lands and you are welcome to stay here at this camp as long as you need, but only at this camp. Do not wander the woods or disturb the trees in any way and know that no harm will come to you while you are here. There is a cost to stay, but only if you stay, and only at the end of your stay will it need to be paid.
Or you can leave now and in doing so incur no cost at all. The choice is yours and must be made now as the sky is turning to night. Before you ask the nature of the price, know this, it will only be told to you if you agree to stay and then it must be paid, if you gather your things and leave now, no word shall be spoken of it.”
With that the Stranger awaited the parties’ choice....


(OOC: OK a little info here if you decide to leave.
1st note) Brianna this as you have seen is the last opening in the trees for many, many miles as you found out when you did your patrol. If you decide to remain airborne you will be separated from the party for an unknown number of days, possibly weeks, as you do not know where the woods end. The choice is yours, travel by flight, or travel with the rest of the party in the canoes.

2nd note ) Night is falling as all around you is becoming dark if you chose to go I will not consider any of you having slept or relearning spells as your moving and not at rest

OK Next post next Wednesday but I may this week interject a post or two depending on your responses to the Strangers words.)

"No," Cynil all but shouts the word. "We do not stay, we do not pay. The trees here are tainted, an old and deep taint. Possibly as tainted as the people that inhabit this place."

Not just the tree bothered Cynil, but the way the man handled the skull.

"No choice but to fire you say, daft ye are say I. Seems that none of us were in any danger from those filthy weaklings. In fact the only real wounds have come from your arrows. T'would be more than justified to consider you an enemy for such actions. Now you claim ownership of this land and demand payment for hospitality that even a poor farmhand could better. And then will reveal not the cost until after a decision is made. You walk a fine line lad. I know not if you are a madman or a fool but we shall not stay here even out of curiosity."

Cor turned and headed towards the nearest canoe.