EntQuest, the Battle for Hector.

[hectorberlioz]

Hector, still overwhelmed by the destruction of the band, sits in grief, weeping over the lack of a good soundtrack.

[Mari]

"Oh no you don't! And get lost again in the process?" Resolutely Mari grabbed Hectors hand and pulled him on his feet. "Let's get going before the others are out of sight. You can always hum a song if you want music. That's what I do anyway."

[Grey_Wolf]

Heading the Gang, Sis leads them with a firm hand through the forest, keeping a sharp eye out for malicious elves.

[The last sane person]

Sis isn't the only one keeping a watch for said elves, Sane and her Merry Banditios were on high alert in the face of this ever present and all too familiar threat. Sane had sent her merry men to create a perimeter around the group in a loose box formation, with Sane herself only a little ways ahead of Sis.

Sitting like a ramrod firmly in the saddle, Sane cast a wary eye to their surroundings. Muttering to herself, "Great, now that the band has gone, you can finally anticipate danger without their damned soundtrack blasting behind you." With the group traveling at a respectable pace, and so far all in the clear, Sane eased her mount back next to Sis.

"Ah, wondrful, no? Just the sounds of the woods? Oh, by the way, I think we still owe each other a good few nights of howling at the moon, seeing as the whole bolt/wraith thing kinda got in the way. Your ministrations were greatly appreciated, and no fear, even in my sleep I have trouble bringing myself to hit something so good looking. That and next time we camp, if you could give me a back rub, I’d forever be in your debt. I think I wrenched my shoulder again, playing with my assorted pets.”

[The Sasquatch of Fangorn]

Fredrico looked up at the sky. "Looking at the stars are we? I uess you never realy-ISSAC!" Just then, a red and black dragon landed next to Sas. "Sane, Sis, Hector, Mari, Nautipus, TF, Nicro, GW- I'd like you all to meet Issac! My dragon." Issac seeing Sane's dragon roared proudly

[hectorberlioz]

Hector talked to Sane. "You know, the soundtrack kinda helped when identifying the bad guys. Didn't you notice they switched to creepy music whenever there was evil around? Those guys were talented!"

Hector stole some of Sane's candies and ran off.

[The Sasquatch of Fangorn]

"SANE HAS CANDY?!" asked Sas wildly "Can I have some? Please, please, please, please PLEASE?!"

[The last sane person]

"Uh, no I don't have candies, unless you mean by the mangos I brought along?" Sane eyed Hector dubiously, wondering exactly what it was he palmed. Obnavat noted Isaac's roar, gave Sane the scouting debrif and rocketted back skyward for more scouting.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Sis smiled and shook her head. "I'll be happy to do both howling and back-rubbing, suppose we get a campsite, eventually. (And the dragons don't eat us out of house and home.) But it's the sounds of the woods, actually, that concern me, right now. I was expecting to hear water on the path ahead. We should be fording a little river, soon. But what I'm hearing doesn't sound fordable. Can you hear? That sounds like big water, to me. If the snow melt is early..."

[The Sasquatch of Fangorn]

"Sane did the MB find anything like that?"

[The last sane person]

Sane paused and listened intently, "Hmm, well, it certainly is no little trickle. I wasn't aware of the early snow melts, that's odd... We patrolled here a week ago and the river level was stable."

She signalled for Obnavat to come back down, "Obnavat, what's the state of the river?"

The imperial dragon shook his wings and shrugged, "Kind of hard to tell at the altitudes I fly at, but I'm sure that it's getting high, seeing as I can see the snow melts starting to trail down into the river. Nothing substantial, so far, but it's starting to get warmer."

Sane grimaced, "Joy...well, if it just started, it had to be less then a week ago, so it's probably not too high yet, Sis, as to be unfordable. Obnavat, stick close with us on the ground though, we may just need you to find a way to ferry us across if the river proves us wrong."

The beast nodded and started flying low over the treetops. "Well it seems that the campsite is sounding even further off now. Oh well." Sane grinned and relayed the news with the rest of the crew.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

"It always is." Sis commented ruefully. "Still, I'd feel safer if we could get to the King's Road, soon, but I don't think this group can make much distance after dark. At least across the river we'll have accomplished that. Do you know of a defensible area a few miles up? I don't think we'll need much more than camping space. It's warm enough."

[Acalewia]

Acally rolled her eyes.
"Hector will you quit fooling around," She watched as Obnavat rocketed back toward the sky. "Glad to see we have two dragons doing ariel scouting. Isaac is scouting, right?" Acally frowned at Sis' words.
"It does sound bigger than it should be," She said. "If the spring thaw has come early, it will be harder to cross. I'm sure the current will be stronger as well,"

[Nautipus]

"Mmm. What will we do with all the mounts once we reach the water", asked Nautipus, "I wont risk my horse's legs in a fast current. It would be nice if we could get the dragon duo to help us along, yeah? They could maybe carry one person cross to rig a line, and mabe fly some of the heavier stuff themselves as well."

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Sis overheard Nautipus. "Naughty. Aren't you one of the chief villians who got us started on this enterprise? What are you riding, a racehorse? This is a QUEST. We'll drag through untold miles of wilderness, studded with short-tempered enemies and natural hazards. Along the way, we'll sleep on the ground and look for roots and berries, and the BEST outcome of the whole thing will be that hector talks MORE than he does now, not being interupted by being stonified at intervals. If, now that everyone understand this, anyone wants to go with my original plan, which involves a lawn gnome and some swell landscaping, we will entertain a motion to adjourn.

Even if the water isn't high now," she pointed out, "It will be, for the return trip."

[Nautipus]

"Whoa, now", Said Nautipus, "I didnt get us into anything, I merely followed along, although I did get a little lost along the way. But I've mainly been hanging back, watching our rear. I'll follow you, Sis, and can rough it with the best of them. But I dont think anyone here wants to have to deal with a lame horse."

[The last sane person]

"Actually, Naughty was thinking along the same lines I was. I don't want to sacrifice Bahar's life for Hector's motormouth, I happen to like my horse. But at anyrate, for the return trip, who can say, it could take months or, God Forbid, years. We can't count on things like river levels Sis. I'm kinda partially up for a lawn gnome, but Mari has too soft a heart for that, she'd wind up kissin' 'im again, and I DO like to spare her from that, at least." Sane shook her head and kicked her horse into a canter, to check the water levels.

A short while later she returned tothe main group with the news. "It's not bad, the current isn't too bad, and if we cross further upstream it wont bother us at all, unless you have serious problems with wet feet."

[Nautipus]

Nautipus stroked Farhan's neck, "Sounds good, as long as we get a move on. Let's get on over it and make camp before nightfall, if at all possible. It'll be chillier nearer the water, so we should start movin."

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

"Excellent" Sis urged her horse forward again. "I just get cranky when I'm too far from the ground. No offense sweetheart," she finished, patting Nestor's neck. "And I'm sorry, Naughty. I'm just about to drop, myself."

[Nautipus]

"You need'nt apologize. That's why we have these conversations: So that we can thresh out the situation and come up with what sounds like the closest thing to the best course of action. Once we find a suitable place to camp I'll take first watch. I dont want any interupted sleep if I can help it." Nautipus follows closely behind Sane and Sis.