Oscar & Ettamri & Renauld
Ettamri first starting drinking from what was left of the bottle she had passed around. The first watch seemed uneventful at least. More than once she had taken the liberty of moving around, careful not to look at the fire directly or to trigger any of the traps the ranger set up. A form of patrolling but mostly so she stayed warm.
After a while however, she leaned on the tree where Oscar was, bending it slightly with her weight. "Hey."
Oscar was deathly silent upon his perch on the tree. When ever he went hunting in the reserve, he always made sure that he was just as quiet as his surroundings were. It was routine for the ranger to not speak or even make any major movements when he was hidden from plain sight and waiting. He was mainly focused on listening to the sounds of the environment, waiting for that loud snapping noise that would alert them that something, or someone, was getting too close to the camp. But he also took note that the larger woman seemed to have a more amicable side to her rough and gruff personality as she chose not to harm Muu in any way and instead walked away from the smaller woman after speaking her piece.
Though, when the large woman leaned on the tree he was perched after she had done her patrol, he tensed up slightly. But he soon relaxed when she simply greeted him. Looking down from the tree, the ranger greeted her back.
”Hey yourself.” He wasn’t sure what their party leader wanted to talk about with him, but he simply waited for her to speak.
She remained silent for a bit, simply leaning on the tree silently. It was times like these she was glad to have the mask on.
"A-apologies." She started." For getting worked up."
It was all she said before she left.
To say that Oscar was surprised was an understatement. Less than an hour ago the tall prideful knightess and the ranger were viciously bickering with one another. Now she was the one to apologize first for the event prior. The ranger regained his sense of time when he noticed Ettamri a short distance away.
”I apologize for my shortcomings. ” He pursed his lips inward and swallowed his pride.
”You are the designated party leader and I should have listened...I’ll do better next time around.”And with that, the ranger goes back to his duties and keeps an ear for his traps.
It was nearing the end of the first shift when he heard one of his alarm traps trigger. The ranger furrowed his brow and let out a hushed curse underneath his breath as the thought of some filthy mud goblin managed to track them down with the near impossible circumstances. Nonetheless, the ranger hopped from tree to tree heading to where the sound originated and when he was 5 meters away from the East area he stopped and squinted his eyes. Trying to identify the silhouettes illuminated by the dim light cast by the campfire. Arrow nocked and ready to be drawn and loosed at whatever decided to enter the camp’s proximity.
Ettamri opted for a slower more deliberate approach, lest she trigger anything else or trip over something. Yet still, she approached sword drawn. There wasn't any cause for alarm, not just yet.
Even at a distance of only five meters, it was difficult to make out any concrete shapes through the heavy snowfall. Was it a shadow that Oscar saw, or merely a trick of the light? Had something nefarious triggered the trap, or had the wind simply been powerful enough to dislodge the trigger? Regardless of what the ranger thought, it was Ettamri’s approach that revealed more. In the near-nonexistent light, the warrior could only barely make out the traces of a bipedal creature stopping right before where the wire must have laid, appeared to step around a bit more, before heading back the way it came. The tracks were undoubtedly fresh, but her own experience was insufficient in gleaning anything more from this incident.
The ranger stood atop the tree in the near complete darkness of the night. He was unsure if the shadow he saw was someone or something that had ill intent to the party. The heavy snow fall’s ability to obscure its shape irked the ranger to a degree, but no matter. Weather or not it was an actual being or a trick caused by the dim light and the falling snow, the ranger drew back the bowstring and kept his aim on the silhouette. If Ettamri were to show any signs of distress or was attacked, that figure would be getting an arrow to the back at over 60 meters per second…
“Ranger.” Ettamri spoke simply, enough for it to carry to the man in the trees in the silence. “I see, tracks, two legged, but otherwise nothing. See if you can find anything else. Oh and perhaps double the traps if you can.”
Oscar nodded slightly to the large knightess’ suggestion. He was going to do it either way, but it was good to know that they had similar thoughts on the matter. If nothing were to occur this shift, Oscar would create more dangerous traps to ensure whatever tried to approach the camp again would have a strong idea that it is not welcome.
It was as Oscar knelt down to reset the triggered trap that the ranger drew in more details. Smaller, or perhaps, lighter tracks revealed that whatever had approached the perimeter of the camp to begin with had also walked the length of the eastern section, or maybe even circled the camp completely. They weren’t goblin tracks either, the footprints smaller, three toes splayed out instead of five. A small relief, perhaps, that they weren’t being tracked after all.
"Can you identify these tracks, ranger?" Her eyes flitted here and there, wary of any danger. "We might have to sleep with one eye open from now on. I do not like this feeling I am getting."
"Three toes on each foot...at least we can rule out goblins." Oscar said as he racked his brain to what kind of creature could have left these kinds of footprints but no matter how hard he forced himself to remember, he couldn't pin down the idea of what it was. "Well, whatever it is it was curious. See how it walked the entire Eastern section. Possibly even scouted the whole perimeter...get some rest, Ettamri. I'll deal with it." Oscar then quickly reset the trap and started walking back to the cart, seeing the horses shivering in the snow caused him heartache. As he walked to the Northern section of the camp to put a secondary layer of traps, he asked Ettamri if it would be possible for her to bring the horses closer to the campfire. He was confident that she would make the right call and then headed off to set up the traps. This time, these traps were meant to maim or kill.
Meanwhile, she took care of the horses, noting the fire has gone down a bit. Adding to the fuel, as well as putting the horses a little closer, she pulled the cart closer as well. Never hurts to be prepared.
The wind continued to howl, a sharp screech through the white night. The fire crackled back to life as Ettamri tended to it, the horses stomping the ground, unnerved by the foul weather. And then, sharply, clearly, there was another snap in the air. West this time. The trap left by Oscar was triggered, another alarm splitting the night.
The ranger was soon in the area, hopping from tree to tree with bow and arrow at the ready, expecting their mystery creature be present this time around. Ettamri waited for confirmation from the ranger, wary of it being a diversion for the enemy to swoop in from another side.
The weather, once more, was against him. Hopping from tree to tree had been difficult enough in the sparsely-wooded area that they had sought shelter in, and by the time Oscar arrived onto the scene, all he could see were more figments of imagination, shadows that may not even exist. Ettamri’s instincts, however, proved right, when, quite suddenly, the back end of the cart burst with noise. Though her night-vision had been hampered somewhat by tending to the fire, it was still clear enough that some small creature, perhaps half the size of a goblin, had hopped out from the covered cart, a bulging leather pouch strapped onto its back. Without looking back, it shot off, footsteps muffled by the environment but not completely out of sight yet.
Now the ranger was irritated. Not only were the creatures toying with them, now they had the gall to attack the cart? This will not stand. Turning to face where the cart was, he called out to the tall woman.
"Ettamri! Breach! Breach!" hoping his voice reached her. The ranger hopped down from the tree and began dashing through the snow. Hellbent on killing whatever did this chaos. She stayed behind, rousing the others first before going to look after the wagon and horse. "Wake, we are being raided."
Oscar was long-legged and accustomed to movement, but the creature had the agility of a small beast and a headstart on the ranger. By the time he had closed the distance enough to get a proper visual on the creature, they were already at the perimeter of the camp. It was a stout, black-skinned thing, white fur pulled over its body to shield from the elements. Compact, the creature moved as if perpetually leaping, and it had a tail that whipped from side to side. The sack lashed onto its back was perhaps four times the size of a man’s fist, and a small knife, chipped and dull as if crafted from stone, hung from its hip.
The ranger snatched an arrow from his quiver and drew back the bowstring in one motion as he slid to a halt in the snow. He likely had only one shot to kill this thing. He took aim at the leaping thief and took a shot aimed at its body. Aiming to kill or even maim the creature. By sheer luck, the arrow landed its mark and soon killed the creature. Approaching the trail of blood and grain, he inspects the corpse before grabbing it and returning to Ettamri.
"Any idea what this thing is?" He asks her while presenting the small creature's corpse.
"Some kinda rat?" She dismissed the others once she was satisfied there was nothing else.
Shrugging, the ranger simply removed the bloodied bag of grains from the body and did his best to salvage whatever wasn't soaked in blood. Other than that, he left the 'rat' corpse beside the campfire. Hoping someone from the party could properly identify the creature.
Soon enough things settled down and he managed to reset all his traps before returning to his favored Y tree. He was the only person in the current party that Oscar had known and a prior friendship with, as he routinely joined his usual party and acted as the group’s scout and ranged attacker. He never really knew why he wasn’t with the usual party and chose to form a new one with everyone present. Oscar kinda liked working with the old group; they already had great party synergy and he was already more than used to working with them. The transition with new groups was always hard at first, but Oscar never remembered it being
this hard.
Perhaps he could elaborate on that matter in the near future?
As of now they needed to focus on guarding their resting companions and make sure that no more beasts or monsters could interrupt their well deserved rest.
Renauld was tired, mildly wet from the snow, but his body was functional. He was awake enough to make it past the two hours watch, but it wasn’t too pleasant of a time. He carefully emerged from the hovel, careful not to accidentally wake up anyone else. With everyone inside acting as a space heater, it was rather pleasant. Well, it wasn’t. Compared to outside, it was heaven.
When he emerged, he didn’t really say much. He only gave Oscar a nod with little effort and sat down. He just tried to keep his wits about him for the long watch ahead of him.
The ranger offered the caster a faint nod in return, if he bent his head any further, the snow that had accumulated on his wide brimmed hat would have likely fallen onto the man below him. So that small gesture had to suffice. There were no words spoken between the two in the cold. But in the dim light that the bonfire radiated in the distance, one could notice a faint smile on the ranger’s face if one would look close and hard enough. No words needed to be spoken. He was content with the caster just being there accompanying him on the watch.
The second was not as eventful as the first, but at the very least no more of those creatures appeared or set off his alarms. Soon enough the quiet two hours pass and it was time for Oscar to finally get some rest. As the ranger bundles himself up in his bed roll, he can only hope that the others would have a less...exciting time while on watch. For now, the ranger falls into a shallow sleep.
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