The trail stayed close to the Crookleg River as it headed south for the rest of that day. The stops for the care of the horses were the only ones they took, and even those were accomplished swiftly, with purpose. There was little talk among them, the shock of what they'd seen was still too fresh in their minds. It was going to take time for memories of the raw-edged brutality of the slaughter to fade back to a place where words would fit around them.

By the time Khevar called a halt for the day and the care of their tired steeds had begun, the shock had passed, somewhat. The routine for setting up a night's camp was established, and moving in those set patterns was oddly comforting to human and horse alike. Jardanth moved among their horse-kin, the touch of his fingers soothing the ache of strained muscles and tendons, monitoring their health, making sure they'd be fit to ride the next morning. As horses do, they'd put the traumatic events of the day behind them, content to graze for what green grass was available near the river until their ration of grain was distributed.

By common, unspoken agreement they opted for a fire that evening, though there was precious little cooking to be done. But, it allowed them to heat water for tea, and someone passed around a skin of Cascadian thesker gotten at the kum al-kidret that seemed so far gone now, and these three social lubricants did much to ease the flow of words, the saying of things that needed to be said.

The thesker warmed Mari through her exhaustion and the silence making her feel the need to talk about what she had seen with her companions. “So much destruction, for what? To kill a Priest Knight, and kidnap some women and horses? How do we sneak up on a man who can see with his mind? What could he want with our women? Are we enough to stop him? Will he harm our women? What makes a man that cruel?” Once she opened her mouth, all the questions she had started spilling out.

Duras, still quiet, sat at the fire after the caretaking of the horses had been attended to. He turned down the thesker, passing the skin to the next person instead. Once tea was brewed, he happily helped himself to that.

Listening to Mari's questions, he shook his head. "I don't understand the politics of the world. Like Rhenn, I profess to be a simple, direct man." He turned his gaze to Rael and Cady, "Is there any light you can shed on this? Why would Clan Jackalbane be singled out for this attack? Why would they capture our people - to what end?"

Rael shook his head as the skin was handed to him. He passed it along and settled back into the position of Still Waters.

"This attack," he began, "was most unlike typical Hunter behavior. A Hunter will call out their prey. They will bring them into the open and have them face death alone. Wholesale slaughter is not something they practice unless..."

Rael's eyes closed for an instant. When he opened them again he looked directly at Cady. Did the leaders of Sun Ya learn about your mission, he wondered.

"Unless," he continued, "they wish to send a message. This attack could very well be their way of warning the Bak'tiar of what might happen should they align themselves with Cascadia in the upcoming war."

“They don’t know the Bak’Tiar very well then. This will not scare us off it will only make us a stronger enemy.” Mari said.

Rhenn knew the answers to some of those questions, he had seen them before with his own eyes, but he did not speak to answer the why's. He drank deeply on the flask, when it was his turn."What makes a man that cruel? He has a great gaping hole in him. Right through the center of him. He knows only hatred, he drinks on lust, and feeds on despair.He awakened Cumlach, before he drowned him, he wanted him to fear, he wanted to revel in the cruelty. He spends his life, trying to wreak vengeance on the world. To get payback. "

Sipping his tea, Duras nodded, frowning. Payback... oh, Ch'dar, please keep Rayna safe.

"Payback for what?" Cady asked as she took the flask from Rhenn and sipped at it greedily. Squinting as the harsh spirits washed over her tongue, ever so eager for it to dull the pains in her body.

"For being born." From the tone of his voice, it was apparent Rhenn knew the feeling.

Kassus turned down the drink as it was offered to him. "Magic and spirits don't always mix well." He fed a stick to the fire, more to keep his hands busy, as it was doing quite well all on its own. "One thing we can perhaps be glad of. This Hunter is strong, and he is ruthless, but..." here Kassus smiled wryly "he is also most likely quite arrogant. With such power at his disposal, he wouldn't think to do mundane things like cover his trail, or check for survivors, apparently. This will tip the balance in our favor, I think. How much, though, I couldn't say."

"There is at least one archer with them, of considerable skill, as well." Rhenn pulled his pipe, from his pack, and his tabac pouch, and began to load the bowl for a rare smoke. "We should try to account for him, in our planning, as well. If the Hunter can indeed watch his backtrail, and has the will to do it, we can't count on surprise, obviously. Deception, and guile, and taking advantage of his pride and hubris, will serve us well."

Mari thought for a moment then said, “Maybe we could act as a delegation from the Bak’Tiar to get close to them?”

"Risky. We risk giving him the initiative on a silver platter." Rhenn thought about the idea, plainly considering the ins and outs of it, it was surely a good idea, better than a frontal assault. It was just so ..... risky. It niggled at the back of his mind.

After another deep drink from the flask, Cady considered Mari's idea and nodded her head. "Offer me up as a hostage. The Emissary from Cascadia would prove to be an interesting barter. Offer me in exchange for Rayna and the others. He may not give everything...but it will certainly give you some power to negotiate." Her tone was serious and nonchalant as she made her suggestion.

Duras quirked one eyebrow, surprised and, yes, impressed, by her suggestion. "It certainly would make for quite the distraction," he commented, sipping his tea.

"He'll won't kill me. Not right away. It would give you time to get some of the women out, and I'll escape before he tires of me." She handed the flask back to Rhenn, repositioning herself a bit as she tried to find a position that didn't hurt so much.

Khevar sat quietly carving on the staff he was turning into a bow. It held only the mearest hint of what it would become. As his knife peeled off large chunks of wood, he spoke up quietly. "Given that our opponent has overwhelming force on his side, I don't think we really want to approach him openly. He showed no sign of decency. If we approach him openly, what would stop him from killing us and capturing whatever or whomever he wants?" He paused to take a small drink. "Also, negotiating with him doesn't honor the Red Arrow. Or Duras' oath. We have a mission of vengence, not peaceful negotiation."

Duras favoured Khevar with a nod of gratitude at his last statement. His hand twinged a little, but the pain was a welcome thing now.

"There would most certainly be some details to work out, and I could help with that. However to answer your question, it would be his curiosity and arrogance that would allow him to underestimate such a small delegation. There would be no thrill in slaying us upon our approach." Cady shrugged her shoulders, "...and I'm not suggesting for one moment we allow peaceful negotiations to steal your revenge. Only to get your Bak'Tiar brethren out before we do."

Completely taken aback by Cady’s offer, Mari wasn’t sure how to respond at first. She let her mind wrap around the fact that she was willing to offer herself up to the very real possibility of death, and almost fell out of the conversation. She was pulled back in once again by Cady. “There is no reason that the negotiations have to be peaceful at all. My suggestion was only to get close to him. When we have had a chance to get into his camp and size him up we can do whatever it is we feel is necessary.”

"Your idea of deception has merit...but walking into their camp with any intentions of baring our fangs, would not bode well for our success. I agree with Khevar on this. We would need a detailed plan and I do believe that freeing the captives should take immediate precedence over seeking the vengeance that you all deserve and desire. Once your sisters are safe, then you seek what is rightfully yours, and we spill their blood into your lands." Cady could feel the first trickle of the thesker as it began to slightly tingle at the back of her neck.

“You are right, the safety of our sisters and horse friends is our first priority, then we need information from the Hunter, after that we can kill him.” There was a note of finality in Mari’s voice. “How would you suggest we approach him with you as the captive Cady? Rael, is there some sort of sign that we can give the Hunter saying that we come in peace?”

"Well...ideally we'd get a message to him. I don't know if there is a magical means to do that or not, or if perhaps WindClaw could slide in undetected and leave it where their sentries would find it." She shrugged her shoulders. "It's something that I'll need to think on. Urilia will show me a way."

Mari nodded in response to Cady, trying to think of alternative ways to get a message to the Hunter. None of which seemed plausible.

"There are many miles, and many days between here and there." Rhenn said simply as he drew a tinder from the fire, and lit his pipe. Taking a few light puffs, when he spoke again, his words were accomapnied by roiling pale smoke. "Discussing options is fine, but as we travel, other options may become available. I'm not so sure that he can look over ten days worth of backtrail, the only thing I know is he can see a few hundred yards, over a hill. If he can see us coming he may leave troops behind to ambush us. So if we run into that, we will have our proof. If we overcome that, his 'overwhelming force' is lessened." Rhenn used Khevar's term overwhelming force, with obvious disdain, as if he didn't think the odds were that bad.

Kassus spoke up from where he'd been sitting silently, listening to the exchange. "It's unlikely that he would be able to see 10 days back on his trail, whether he would think to check or not, which is another matter entirely. A few miles, I wouldn't put that past him, but even that would take a great deal of concentration, whatever his power level, and he is traveling as we are, with captives and unruly mercenaries to boot. I doubt he has the spare time to make that sort of effort often. Even if he did, though, the many miles between us and them would be too much for any mage, no matter their level of skill." Kassus spread his hands.

"As for the plans of attack... I cannot make much in the way of judgement one way or the other. I've been in battle, but on the seas, where attack is as much a matter of timing as it is force. Perhaps we should consider when our best bet for a successful raid would be. At night, when most of the force is asleep... we could try their tricks against them, get the captives out quickly, then come back to make the kill later." He smiled here, with no humor at all. "After all, I am a mage as well, and while I cannot cast balls of flame as this Hunter can, I could set fire to the whole camp, if I had to. I just need a target. With the element of surprise, I doubt the Hunter would have a chance to fight back effectively."

"Set fire to the Hunter; the rest of the camp will panic. Khevar's arrows and blades from amongst them will do the rest," Duras said.

Rhenn smiled at that, and took another deep pull on the thesker, grimacing a bit as it warmed his throat, and stomach. "Many miles, and all sorts of options."

"We must remember our numbers. Blood lust must not cloud our minds while we plan." Cady's own mind was a bit cloudy as she spoke her words of wisdom. She took the flask from Rhenn again and resituated herself so that her back was leaning comfortably against his broad arm, and took another swig.

Rhenn smiled a bit around the stem of his pipe, and wrapped an arm around Cady. "There are other things to be considered, besides just numbers, arina. We may well have the element of surprise, and this Hunter is fearsome, when its on his side. Forewarned, is forearmed, or so its said. We can stay spread out, so he can only attack one of us at a time. There are those amongst us who can move without being seen. Others may perhaps be better off drawing a lot of attention. One of us can give them things to attack that arent there... we are only outnumbered 3 to 1. I almost feel sorry for them." Rhenn smiled large, at this last.

Cady's long black hair tickled Rhenn's arm as she nodded her head. "Whatever. I'm in no hurry to sacrifice myself. ...but if it becomes the best option, and Urilia wills it, then it will be done. Besides, he can't take anything from me that I chose to give in exchange for our sisters." Her words were murmured loud enough for everyone to hear them, but they seemed more a spoken thought than an actual contribution to the conversation.

Rhenn nodded in agreement with Cady's sentiment, if not her idea. He looked over across the dancing orange flames at Kassus, and asked rather suddenly. "Can you conjure a fog, Kassus?"

Kassus shook his head. "I cannot. But... I could. A spell like this is similar to the magics I can do already... elemental, simple. I would have a much better chance at creating fog than the tracking spell, honestly, especially given the time frame we are dealing with here." He looked at Duras steadily, "It would be more likely to help you rescue your sister."

Lips drawn in a tight line, Duras nodded to the mage. If the mage was looking for 'permission' or acceptance, that was the closest he was going to get from the river runner.

Mari’s mind was racing. There had to be something she could do. The only problem was distance. Could she get close enough to cast any illusions? Did she really have to? All it would require would be to get close to some of them. “How superstitious would the Hunter’s people be?” she finally asked aloud.

"I don't know much about mercenaries, or soldiers, but I know that the commoners of Sun Ya believe in spirits,much the same as our Shaman do". Rhenn thought back to his days in the refugee camp, as he pulled on his pipe once more. "Spirits in wood, stone, water, spirits of the dead, that sort of thing. I'm not sure if that counts as superstitious, though."

"Either way, there should be ways to scare them." Khevar considered the thickness of the bow stave while he spoke. "Even if you can just distract them from where an attack is coming, it gives us time to trim the odds and spread confusion." He tossed the partially completed stave to Cady. "Here, bend this."

Between the flask in her hand and her clouded mind, her normally quick reflexes didn't catch the staff. Instead it bounced off of her and fell to the ground next to her. She reluctantly sat up from her nestling position within one of Rhenn's broad arms and picked the stave up obediently. Bending it a few times at his request, having no idea why she was doing it and no energy to inquire. "Can I be done now?"

Rhenn half rolled out of the way of the flying half formed bow. He nodded in agreement with Khevar once more as he said, "Poor blighters, they wont know what hit them."

"A distraction? How big of a distraction?” Mari began to sing, causing the smoke above the fire to turn into a miniature band of elves marching in formation. They then morphed into a group of 3 trolls running with mouths open, waving clubs. Finally a dragon soared above the fire looking down at it as if trying to find it’s lunch. “Too much?” she asked with a nasty grin.

"Wowsa." Cady half exclaimed at the bard's display. "That is truly amazing Mari. If they believe it to be real will they be hurt by it? Or just piss themselves?"

“They will most likely believe it is real. Of course some people cannot be fooled by illusion, but chances are the majority of the mercenaries will accept it as truth.”

Jardanth stepped out of the shadows and spoke with a voice with no warmth, no pity. "There is nothing to pity about them, Rhenn. The less they know about how they are fought and destroyed, the better for us. I am making a potion that will put them to sleep if they eat or drink even the smallest drop. I offer it to be used to render them helpless. The only thing I ask is that they are destroyed once we have what we need from them."

He looked into Rhenn's eyes, his own without compassion. "They have the shape of men, but they are not, they are an illness to be cleansed from the world. They deserve nothing more."

With that he walked to Cady and took a long drink from the flask in her hand. "As you are clearly not thinking clearly, I will not consider what you said about WindClaw to be of any worth. Be aware that MY sister is not tame. And although I will always be a healer, because it is as much my nature as it is hers to hunt, sometimes neither am I."

"You underestimate me Jardanth. Which is fine." Her tone was nonchalant but her words were heavier than usual from the thesker. "However, tame or not, you might be underestimating your sister. Don't make that mistake. She sacrifices much to keep your company."

"Healers must know the most intimate details of a person to be able to fix their pain. It would stand to reason, then, that they would know as well the best ways to cause pain." Kassus examined Jardanth's face, the details made harsher by the uncertain firelight. "I suspect that all of us will do things we hadn't thought possible, by the time the situation is resolved. Perhaps things that will weigh heavy on the soul." He looked away, back out into the night. "We will have to be careful not to chase him straight down into his pit of darkness, in our fervor." He let the comment hang in the air, then glanced back at the group. "It is getting late, we will have to ride long tomorrow. Perhaps we should consider trying to get some rest for the evening."

Jardanth nodded, "I have seen something I did not know was possible. Something worse than any terror dream I have ever had in my life." He took one last drink of the flask. "I will sleep but I may never truly rest again."

Rhenn just shook his head once more as he stood up, and picked up the Spear of the Silverplains. "Perhaps you should save your effort on your sleeping potion then. If a condition of its use, is that I have to kill men in their sleep, I want nothing to do with it. You may feel they are not men, I know better. The Hunter is cruelty incarnate, but that doesn't mean the mercenaries are." Rhenn pulled on his pipe once more only to find it spent.

"I have killed men. I have never murdered. I will not start now. If you want to drug them and murder them, then you can do your own dirty work." With that he tapped his pipe out on his heel, and put it away.

A moment of surprise crossed Jardanth's face, then he nodded. "You may be right." A pained look crossed his face and his voice drifted away. "But I would never ask anyone to murder..."

Clearly conflicted, he struggled with it, "I am tired of losing kinsfolk to these things, men if you say they are. I can't see any being that aided what was done to our people there as either man or animal. To me they are a disease on my people. But I am no murderer. And I guess if all of you are going to still consider them men, then I will leave how you fight them to you.

"I will fight when you need every hand for fighting, but otherwise I will heal and be happy that I don't have to think on this further."

He turned to Cady, "Good advice is welcome from all quarters. I am not wholly myself, I see that now. Consider anything I have said to you before as the words of a man who needs to spend some time with his own healer. That may not be even a good apology, but its the best I can do for now. The sooner this is over, the faster I myself will heal."

Cady regarded Jardanth and nodded her head. "I hope you can find your peace."

Rael watched and listened to the plans and schemings. He watched the group wrestle with and discuss the options they had as well as the machinations of the Hunter and his mercenaries.

"Know that this Hunter does not and will not view any of us as anything other than a nuisance. An obstacle. He will take and use every advantage that he can find or create to achieve his mission." The monk slowly stood and paced a little to the left, then to the right, before he continued. "There is, however, one person and one thing we have at our disposal that might cause him to behave more recklessly than he would if he had all of his wits about him. You see, I am, obviously, of Sun Ya descent. While I am not a pureblood, he will recognize me as well as the fact that I am a monk. The other thing," he said as he drew forth the blessed katan, "is that he will be more than a little upset to see that Cumlach's blade now resides in the hands of another Sun Yani, and so quickly after Cumlach's untimely disposal at the Hunter's hands." Rael looked at them all earnestly. "I believe you have your bait. I am more than willing to draw him out and let you all sieze the opportunity we can create when his anger and passion cause him to behave most aggressively."

Khevar took the half-carved bow back from Cady. "For someone anxious to learn to use the bow, you aren't very anxious to get one made for you," he grumbled as he went back to carving. From the lack of effort it took her to bend it, the stave was about the correct thickness, now it just needed to be finished. She offered him a sultry pout as her only defense.

Looking at the others Khevar shrugged. "My biggest concern with any plan to bait or distract him is the danger to everyone. When you bait a lion, the bait gets eaten. I'm sure you are all willing to die nobly, but I'd rather have a plan that doesn't require that. In order to negotiate, we need a position strong enough to convince him not to just take what he wants. If we offer Cady for the women, we need a reason he can't just take her and keep them. If we bait him with Rael, we need to keep the hunter from just roasting him from afar." Khevar shrugged. "I'm not a warrior, so maybe I'm missing something."

"I do not think you understand the mindset of a Hunter when that hunter knows there is a Sun Yani priest-knight or monk nearby. Once he is aware of my presence, and following, we might not have the luxury of me not becoming bait."

"I'm with Khevar, in this, and think he has the right bead on the target." Rhenn said simply. "All possibilities are worth a look, but we should look for a better way."

Finishing his tea, Duras said simply, "As long as we do not lose all opportunities looking for a "better way".

"We seem to have many options to choose from, and still a little while before we reach the Hunter. Let us sleep, for in dreams answers are known to present themselves.” Mari got up, buckled on her sword preparing for her watch she walked to the perimeter of their camp and looked out over the peaceful plains. Tonight she felt only sorrow as she looked out at the beauty before her.

Cady took another sip from the flask before retiring it for the night, handing it back to Mari for safe keeping. She left with the others, after getting a hand up from Rhenn, steadier on her feet than most might have expected. The thesker had dulled the pains of her body but had done much to deepen the lingering sorrow within her from the slaughter they beheld earlier in the day.

After tossing and turning for a few moments, she got back up and joined Rhenn in his lean to. She didn't consider that her company might not be welcome, as she went to seek comfort of mind and body in his strong arms.

Rhenn welcomed the company, and warmth without complaint. (Though he did surreptitiously check for rocks in her hands before he got too comfortable.)

GM OOC: Color codes stripped. Chapter 4 opener being written.