Cynric of OldOak, a prodigal who joined the compact five years ago, has been running messages between Arx and the mysterious Cerise Blossom, author of a saucy saucy periodical, ever since. Unfortunately, for the first time since he started, Cynric has failed to deliver. The publisher seems to think there will be riots in the streets if this isn't resolved, but some of you are probably hoping to save Cynric rather than the documents. The road he normally travels is typically assumed to be safe. Where oh where could he be?

Kritr falls into the latter category, and when word reaches his squad in the Iron Guard he fails to understand why some people prize simple words over a man's life, possibly. He volunteers to ride out along the man's path even though it is beyond the scope of the duties of the Iron Guard. Which is also why his squad does not volunteer to come with him, that and they just spend all night on their feet patrolling the city.

Eirene just got her appointment as Minister of Grayson's Military forces, so when word comes of Crownlands trouble she decides to investigate herself. She sits astride her horse, bundled up against the winter chill, and keeps a wary eye out for anything which looks suspicious. "Maybe someone got fed up with a gossip rag and decided to Nope our for better weather," she says in her raspy tone.

Mystery. Questionable Art. Missing Persons. Saucy writing. There's no other place Denica would rather be, than unwravelling this web. It looks fun, and that's reason enough. It's also a great way to spend time with friends. Danger, intrigue, it's much easier than throwing a dinner party. As such, Denica invited a friend in the way of Lord Ian. "This is going to be fun!," the princess says to the Lord. "We will save the messenger, fight the bad guys, the streets will be filled with saucy stories! It's a win-win.," the princess looks ready to fight, arriving in full armour and with troublemaking in mind.

Beyond the gates of the city is where Mattheu is able to train and get better with riding. Outside of his brother's view, at least the horse is not trying to nuzzle up to the Marquis upon waking this way. He was challenging Campanilla to a series of runs and jumps when spotting a few that are recognized from within the city, drills over. A click from teeth closed and he and the roan gelding take to coming over to see what's up. Bells upon horse and Mattheu sing out as the come closer. A wave of his hand to them. "What's out this way then?"

Ian isn't a man who particularly thinks that ANYTHING is fun, but he is a man who has enough experience with Denica to know that somehow, no matter how safe the road is, she's going to manage to get attacked by wolves or something. So he's here, looking a lot less bright eyed and/or bushy tailed, with his collar turned up against the cold and wearing A Particular Scarf, as well. If nothing else, the smell might keep the hypothetical wolves away.

Ian gets ugly, singed, stained, multicolor scarf from Oiled leather bag.

Astride the massive grey gelding Keg, Kritr is glad to see the others who mustered to the search. "I am Krit, of Clearlake." He is wearing the crest of an Iron Guard sergeant, not that it is particularly relevant outside the walls of Arx. "Lord Kennex." He greets. He is not a natural horseman, but he knows his way around an animal. "Are any of you familiar with the missing man, Cynric? I would not know him on sight."

It is a long road but one that is comparatively well maintained. The ground is frozen, the snow a mere dusting, and its generally fairly pleasant to walk or ride along its lengths. The view is a bit boring at this time of year admittedly. Yards and yards of leafless trees all posed in similar but slightly different ways. Eventually you find your first clue: An abandoned campsite in a spot that has clearly been used for that purpose over and over again.

The first thing anyone notices about Cynric is the tattoos. Tattoos on his face. Tattoos on his hands. There is probably more tattoo than skin at this point.

Kritr checks perception and survival at normal. Kritr is successful.

Denica checks perception and survival at normal. Denica is successful.

Eirene checks perception and investigation at normal. Eirene is successful.

Ian checks perception and survival at normal. Ian is successful.

Mattheu checks perception and survival at normal. Mattheu is successful.

Ian is like many sailors in that whatever the opposite of a good horseman is, that's him. Someone has found a very patient horse for him, and he's staying astride it somehow, but that's it. It has been taking all of his commands as vague suggestions since they started out. Fortunately, the road is well marked and all the other horses are going this way. "Lord Kritr." There's understated surprise in Ian's voice when Kritr joins them. "It's good to see you."

Wandering down the road with a skip in her step, the princess looks excited to be out and about. Too much time inside, perhaps causing some restless energy. Kritr's question catches her attention, because it's a very good question. "I haven't a clue," she shrugs a bit as they come towards t

Wandering down the road with a skip in her step, the princess looks excited to be out and about. Too much time inside, perhaps causing some restless energy. Kritr's question catches her attention, because it's a very good question. "I haven't a clue," she shrugs a bit as they come towards the camp.

At the campsite, Ian doesn't dismount so much as execute a fairly well controlled fall off of his horse, grabbing the saddle in time to keep from crumpling all the way to the ground. He retrieves his cane from where it's been lashed to the saddle, and then wanders over to the campfire and uses the cane to stir the ashes. "Campfire's cold. Doesn't look like it was put out. This guy was expected what, a couple of days ago?"

Eirene grunts a hello at Kritr. "No clue. I've heard he's a reliable courier but not what he looked like. I don't read gossipy crap social rags," she says as she glances at Denica as if assuming the princess does. "So unless he's running secret messages, I don't know why anyone would waylay a messenger." She slows as she spots the camp and glances around to make sure things are clear. Seeing no threats, she hops off her horse and strides to an abandoned medical kit she spotted, similar to the one on her pack saddle.

Kneeling, the physician pulls a small icy bottle half buried in snow. "Blister ointment. And a bandage for it. Someone probably had sore feet and treated it," Eirene says confidently. "Which tells me he either left in a hurry or got yanked, nobody leaves a med kit behind unless they have to. Especially a veteran of winter blisters."

Kritr's expression at finding the campsite is boisterous. "Here we are! The trail should be here! I will find something to confirm we are in the right place." He loosely drapes the reins of his horse over a branch and strides off with his axe slung over his shoulder. "Well, I have heard only that the man has tattoos. Where I come from, that is not notable." Which might explain his presence, a prodigal looking out for another prodigal. He fixes on a tree and unties a cleverly concealed rope. A bag of rations falls out of the tree at his feet. "Bearbag." He can tell it has food in it, but he doublechecks to see how old the food is anyway. Just tears off a hunk of bread with his teeth and chews loudly.

The bread is frozen solid.

Kritr gnaws loudly on frozen bread.

Mattheu slips from his horse with a jingling nod to Kritr. He spends some time patting at the gelding's nose and feeding it what looks and smells to be ginger cookies before dropping the reins and saying something to the horse in Ravashari. Slipping back within a footstep he bows into a flourished and jingling motion, "Lord Mattheu Rivenshari." A little grin as he takes a moment to look at the campsite, turning back with less of a look of knowing what he's doing to spot and wave to Ian as he notices a rope which he starts to pull upon. Bring through the snow the loose rope that ends with a frayed broken end from the tree where its tied. "This doesn't look good. Rope's been snapped."

"It might not be Compact secrets, but people will do crazy things to keep their own personal business secret. Maybe Lady Sweetness doesn't want Lord Grand Tower to know that she's about to split for Baroness Greener Pastures," the woman shrugs a bit. "People have strange motivations-- especially when it comes to their social interactions. Maybe our messenger knew too much?," the woman supposes and then looks around. Denica looks down at the ground and then she crouches to get a better perspective. "I see horse hooves, it looks like someone took off in a real hurry."

Eirene asks, "Panicked horse?" She motions to Denica's tracks and Mattheu's rope.

Still standing near the extinguished fire, Ian eases some of his weight onto his cane and surveys the evidence as it starts to come to light. "Huh," he says after a moment when Mattheu produces the broken rope and Denica finds the hoofprints. "Does it look like a person followed after?" This asked to Denica while he walks over to survey... not the rope, but the ground in a circle a little bit around it, possibly in search of some sign of whatever might have caused a horse to panic. Like those wolves that he suspects Denica's going to some how manage to piss off.

Kritr paces across the campsite thoughtfully, scanning the area that Denica points out. He looks for other spoor. "Maybe a pack of wolves. They would chase the horse off, then return to hunt the man, if they are hungry enough."

When you look amongst the horse tracks carefully you do indeed discover signs that someone followed the horse. Whoever it was seems to have been alone and wearing boots. You cant find any tracks that suggest the animal was being pursued by other animals.

As a self-proclaimed 'cat person' it is without doubt that Denica will encounter conflict with canine creatures. The woman also looks a little suspect when it comes to horses. Lips press together, "I ... it looks like there's some footprints?," she squints. "Something sure scared it though...," she says thoughtfully, also with suspicion.

Hunting for tracks around the area of the horses picket doesn't initially bring any results but if you go far enough out you do find some bear scat.

Mattheu is much better upon the rivers and seas. Even frozen water upon a ground isn't his best direction. Though he's trying, he's trying to stare at the rope and then staring at where the others are going. The cold is starting to get to him as he pulls at his coats and scarves to be huddled more within them. A nod to Denica as she says she found footprints."

Ian is familiar enough with tracking at this point to have opted for inspecting a slowly expanding circle, which means it takes him a minute or two to get to the bear scat, but he gets there. "This is too big for a wolf. Bear?" He looks up at Kritr for confirmation. "Big enough to scare a horse, at any rate."

Kritr returns to his own horse, lashes his axe to the saddle again and mounts up. "Maybe he has a new horse and it is poorly trained." His skepticism evaporates however when he spies something newly laid in the snow along the way. "Ah hah! It is a bear to blame! Follow after!" He picks up the pace as much as he can without losing track of the trail. He does sound excited to be coming to grips with a bear.

Eirene isn't one to sift through bear crap to determine what it is exactly, but she starts to follow the footprints in the direction the horse went off in. "So something spooked the horse, he ran after it.... and hasn't made it back." She grabs her reins and leads her own mare carefully through the snow, as so not to disturb the trail. "And this was a few days ago based on the fire and other supplies. Good thing it hasn't snowed recently or we'd lose the trail."

"Bea... Bear?" Mattheu stops as he looks to the others, his head tilts a little as he rolls the name around in his mouth. "Which land animal is that?"

Ian is cautious about getting back to his own horse. He's clearly not too sure of his footing on this snow-covered ground. But he doesn't mount his horse, instead opting, even though it's really going to slow him down, to be on the ground where he can easily follow the man's footprints through all of the other stuff that might have muddled the trail. "Please tell me you're kidding," he says absently to Mattheu.

"Seriously," Eirene says, echoing Ian's credulous nature. "A bear..."

"Bear!?!," the short princess blinks. Denica is presses her lips together, she takes a very noticeable step behind Ian.

Kritr says, "No. Not a bear. A BEAR!" Kritr roars with a laugh. "A hungry one to pursue a horse. And brave Cynric to follow after!""

Mattheu stares at Ian, "I've heard of bears. Never seen one."

Adding in Mattheu tries to shape with his hands. "Are they the big ones? or the small fuzzy ones?"

You are following the trail when you hear a whicker and the horse in question comes out of the underbrush. It's covered in little cuts from its dash through the trees, and its saddle is adorning its belly instead of its back, but its otherwise alive and well. The saddlebags are gone though.

A short time later you find the corpse of the bear. An old and emaciated creature, torn and bitten. Theres blood in the snow around it, lots of blood, but its impossible to know if it is human or bear. What's strange though is the number of canine tracks in the snow around the corpse and the human bootprints. At least a dozen dogs and half a dozen people. The tracks mill around the bear carcass in a chaotic mess. One track over another over another. Then the tracks head west.

Eirene says, "Babies are small. Adults get huge...."

"Babies mean momma is nearby, which is usually much worse than just an adult bear.," Denica gives her basic knowledge of animal things, without any real backing, but she probably heard this somewhere.

As they come to the end of their trail, Ian is able to gesture to the remains of the dead bear in illustration to Mattheu, and this is the point where he mounts his horse again. This takes him a couple of tries. From the increased height, he surveys the ground; his gaze follows the tracks that lead west. Then he looks at Denica. "I feel like we've done this before. Hopefully I'm not going to have to get myself captured this time."

Eirene stays well away from the tracks but circles the beast. "Don't bears usually hibernate in the winter months? This one looks like it was starving. Maybe it woke up for food." She points to dog tracks, assuming they're dog, and says, "Hunting party by the looks of this? But I don't know if they had any much meat off the bear."

Mattheu stares at the bear corpse with some interest. He's not about to get close to it with all of the blood settled around the animal. As he shakes his head. "Oh. Not at all what I thought." A click of his teeth and he nods to the horse in a bow, as the horse looks to bow to him as well. Getting onto the horse is much easier when the animal bows down to you. Watching Ian and the others set to swinging onto their horses leaves him with a grin and shake of his head.

Kritr has enough animal ken to calm an already domesticated horse. He does want to lead the tracking though, so after resaddling the beast, which presumably belongs to Cynric, he'll tie the reins to his saddle and forge ahead again. (Belonged?)
Kritr reins his horse Keg to a halt a distance from the bear. No need to spook the animal. He's not that good a horseman. "An unhappy hunting party I think." He concludes, since the carcass was savaged instead of harvested or turned into a trophy. He looks to the West speculatively. "Perhaps they mistook Cynric for shav..."

Looking at Ian, the princess has this, we've been here before feeling too. "We have, let's call getting captured plan B.," she winks at Ian. Then she looks very serious because of bears. "It's possible. I mean, things like that happen all the time, unfortunately. I highly doubt it had to do with his naughty packages, it's more likely he was targeted or just in the wrong place at the wrong time," she says thoughtfully.

The bear doesnt seems to have been butchered or skinned.

"Or figured he might as well be one," Ian supplies to Kritr. "This wouldn't be the first time in the last couple of months we came across people who figured someone was fair game because they were a prodigal." 'We' probably refers to himself and Denica, based on what he said before. "Either way, this is the only way he could have gone. If they're just nursing him back to health, it'll be a simple matter to get him back." He doesn't sound like he's expecting this outcome.

The tracks continue west for a while before you start hearing the dogs bark,bark,barking and the distinct sounds of someone telling them to shut up. Laughter is heard. Then you come around a particularly big tree and discover the scene ahead of you. Looks like you are just in time for a lynching.

(The dogs, you will be happy to hear, have been tied to a tree on the other side of the large clearing. You probably wont have to fight a dozen angry hounds. Hopefully.)

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Ian says.

Eirene mounts with a measure of practice. She's better than Ian but not anywhere near Mattheu's skill. "We follow that trail, let's find out if this is a case of banditry or good citizens." She sounds as dryly skeptical as Ian. But as they round the tree and she sees the strung up rope, her hand tightens on the leather reigns. "Former," she says grimly. She looks at the others with arched eyebrows.

Mattheu holds close to his mount as Ian and Denica discuss how prodigals are left for *open game.* Pulling at reins to follow along with the rest after the tracks. The scene that is before him. Under his breath, "No. Not for fucks. We stop this."

"At least they were not waiting in ambush for our man. This is what is called a crime of opportunity, not of prematuration." Kritr decides. "To the West! And be wary of bows. They are probably hunters." He rides with the same purpose but less enthusiasm than before. So it is with some hesitance to his demeanor when the party breasts the scene of the prodigal being threatened. Rather than act rashly, he casts his gaze to the side to see what the others intend.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Denica echoes Ian's words as she takes in the sight of the scene. Teeth clench and fists tighten.

Ian looks like he's just gonna ride on over like he has every right to be there. Or like he's trying to get himself captured by slavers (lynchers?) again.

Probably not slavers. It looks more like a gang of farmers than a bunch of professional warriors.

Mattheu follows Ian upon horseback to be closer to both his teacher and to those that are in the process of trying to setup their ropes. He shifts just enough so the glaive is seen better upon his back and on the chain with bells around his front.

The princess follows Ian, she adjusts her ridiculous coat and tries to also look like she belongs here. "I think we can take them," she whispers to the Kennex Lord. Looking over her shoulder, she aims to see what the others are planning on doing. "I can try talking to them first?," ever the diplomat, Denica suggests while holding her blade, because that's more effective.

"I'm not really interested in beating up a bunch of farmers today," Ian comments to Denica, thus casting his vote for 'let's see if we can talk our way out of this'.

The good news is that the lynchers seem oblivious to your presence. The bad news is that there is more like twenty than six. The really bad news is that if you don't do something right this moment, Cynric is going to die.

Kritr doesn't even take the leather padded wrapping off his axe. When it is clear that his instincts are correct or at least won't embarass him, he lifts his heavy weapon over his head and spurs his horse into a gallop. "FOR THE NORTH!" He yells.

"Fucking animals," and Eirene's not talking about the dogs. She shouts out, "Drop that fucking rope and back away. If that man swings, there will be a metric shit-Ton of trouble dropping on your square heads."

No time for diplomacy, Kritr is going in for the fight. The princess holds up her scarmasax and if people are yelling and running towards danger, so is she. "FOR FREEDOM!," and in she goes.

Ian adds, on the heels of Kritr's war cry: "... But I guess that's what we're doing." His horse has decided to follow the northman's for whatever reason, so it's not like he really has much of a choice. It's not an especially impressive charge. Hopefully everyone is more concerned with Kritr and his ax right now.

The yell and the sight of a horse galloping headlong towards them and especially the sight of Kritr's axe glinting in the icy sun causes absolutely chaos. Several of them immediately run for the trees. Some of them simply turn and stare. The rest react with violence. Fortunately the one holding Cynric's rope is one of the ones who is merely staring with mouth open. Even with some of them running away and some doing nothing at all just yet, you each end up facing off against two of the would-be-lynchers. Most of them, whilst unarmoured, have axes and other sharp and nasty tools to further balance the odds.

Denica checks dexterity and small wpn at normal. Denica is successful.

Ian checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Ian is successful.

Kritr checks dexterity and huge wpn at normal. Kritr is successful.

Eirene checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Critical Success! Eirene is spectacularly successful.

Mattheu checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Mattheu is successful.

Mattheu checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Mattheu is successful.

Kritr checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Kritr marginally fails.

Ian checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Ian is successful.

It doesn't take long before Kritr's target paints the snow with the first blood of the day. The man tumbling down into the snow with barely a sound. All of you reap a savage harvest during that charge as you take out the first person to cross blades with you. All of you except Eirene that is.. Eirene kills that one, and another, and quickly finds herself all alone amongst the chickens. The reprieve granted by your shock arrival only lasts a moment. As that first blood splatters the men and women who were staring in shock make their decisions. Roughly half of them join the fight whilst the other half run away. Just two of them choose something else: The one with the rope starts hauling on it as if his life depends on it.. and it might... because there is nobody inbetween him and the tornado of death that is Eirene right now. And whilst that first man hauls Cynric up into the air another one runs to release the hounds.

Denica checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Critical Success! Denica is spectacularly successful.

Eirene levels her bloody blade at the man with the rope. "Drop it," she says grimly. "And run," she says, giving him an order. The two who set on her are probably going to live if she decides to play doctor instead of avenging angel."

Ian's terribly unimpressive charge ends even more unimpressively when his horse realizes at the very last second that no, no, this was a bad idea, this was very much a bad idea, and rears, sending Ian tumbling off. But where Ian has no skill whatsoever with riding, he's had over a decade to become very, very good at falling. Somehow he manages to get his alaricite sword free from the cane still lashed to the saddle on his way down. Somehow he twists in the air, both dodging a swing by someone who figured he'd be an easy target and also landing in the snow on his shoulder in a way that probably didn't do any real harm to him, and when the person who swung at him comes to finish him off, he spits the poor guy on his sword for his troubles, getting the weapon up only just barely in time.

Eirene checks command and intimidation at normal. Eirene fails.

Kritr checks dexterity and huge wpn at normal. Kritr is successful.

Mattheu taps heels to his horse's side and takes in a run at those in the clearing. Slipping glaive from his shoulder to spin the post and knock anyone he can get close to upon the head with posts end. Enough to put them out, or that the least to be woozy that if they were to seek a weapon they'd be dizzy in the matter.

Kritr would have ridden past the remaining farmer, intent on saving his fellow prodigal, but the knave has grabbed his reins confused the dauntless but also rather dim gelding. He swears in a foreign tongue and kicks at the man. "If you like your teeth you'll leave off!"

Denica checks dexterity and small wpn at normal. Denica is successful.

The knife in the princess's hand is comfortable and as the fight breaks out, she gets in a few decent hits. What she seems especially good at, is getting out of the way. It's probably all that ballroom dancing, or avoiding responsibility. Still, she's got her eyes elsewhere, and so while she's out of someone's reach, she's getting into someone else's personal space. The man that holds the rope and is trying to lynch Cynric is now the princess's focus. Denica goes in from behind, without little hesitation as she tries to stab the man in the back.

Ian checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Ian is successful.

Mattheu checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Mattheu marginally fails.

Ian checks dexterity and dodge at easy. Ian is successful.

Mattheu checks dexterity and dodge at easy. Mattheu is successful.

Kritr checks dexterity and dodge at easy. Kritr is successful.

Denica checks dexterity and dodge at easy. Denica is successful.

|Several more of the murderers turn to run away as combat continues and Eirene's commanding voice cuts across the clearing although it is unlikely that her shout as opposed to the rather one sided nature of the combat is responsible. The guy on the lynching rope's face goes two shades closer to white and he starts pulling faster and faster instead of dropping the rope and running. Eirene may still have helped though since Denica manages to lead her opponents a merry dance around the clearing until she is close enough to the lyncher to stab him dead (maybe nearly dead. Who has time to stop and check these things?)

At the end you are just fighting a single killer each (except Eirene who is still being carefully avoided). Cynric is flailing around on the ground with his hands clawing away at the rope about his neck. He'll be fine for the moment. Worryingly the man who ran for the hounds has reached them and started to fumble at the leashes. His actions made clumsy by panic.

Still on his back, and now with his sword stuck deep into a now dying farmer, Ian gets his knife free just in time to bring it up in what turns out to be a pretty elegant parry of the pitchfork that's being stabbed down at him, forcing it to the side so that all of the imparted momentum intended for him instead impales it deep into the ground. Bracing on the haft, he hauls himself at his feet while also using it to block an ax being swung at his head, and then gets his sword free, whips it up, and cuts down the axman with the pared down brutality of someone who doesn't really have the luxury of mercy right at the moment.

Kritr kicks the farmer away from his horse. "That's a Crownsworn man you're hanging! Gods blast it you'll be done for murder!" He isn't using his full force, conscious of the fact that these are not soldiers he's fighting, just bigoted or misguided Arvani. "If you let those dogs loose I'll kill every last one of them!" His rage growing. Also, he's not fond of dogs in the first place.

Kritr checks dexterity and brawl at easy. Kritr is successful.

Ian checks dexterity and medium wpn at hard. Ian is successful.

Mattheu checks dexterity and archery at hard. Mattheu is successful.

Eirene checks dexterity and medium wpn at easy. Eirene is successful.

Denica checks dexterity and small wpn at easy. Denica is successful.

Mattheu checks dexterity and archery at daunting. Mattheu fails.

"Mattheu! The dogs!" Ian doesn't even give the poor pitchfork farmer a second glance, instead lurching away, still not totally stable on his feet, and just flat out grabbing the person facing off with Mattheu and clocking him upside the head with the pommel of his sword, then hauls him around so that, just as the farmer with the pitchfork gets it free, he has an unexpected human shield. There's not a lot that's more demoralizing than accidentally stabbing your buddy with a pitchfork, and this definitely seems to be the case here, as the farmer holding it drops it in shock.

With the lyncher hitting the ground, Denica kicks at him to see if he's dead. Maybe, maybe not. She's not a physician and someone's coming at her with an axe in the meantime. No time to hesitate, she goes in with her blade. Eirene comes in sight and she gives the other woman a look of solidarity and they work to take axe-guy out.

Eirene makes sure their target of rescue is on the ground before she faces off with the axe-wielded closing on Denica. She looks for the tactical angle and moves in to finish him off. "Ah fuck, the hounds," she says as a few get loose.

Teeth do fly as Kritr's kick lands. With his reins free at last, he stands up in his stirrups to strip the leather padding off his axe blade. Then he rides for Cynric to cut through the rope with his axe. "Flaming dogs!"

Mattheu turns in his seat upon horse to pull at bow and fire off a volley after the man running to release the hounds from their ties, only to be left to spin and pull upon reins of the gelding when seeking to get away from the fray which he was just in. His eyes off of the intended target in the split of a moment then to turn back to see where he's struck the man while seeking who else might need a good slap to their head to allow them a moment to rethink the choices they are seeking after... He looks fallen as he spots the man's body with arrow stuck to back. Pulling hard to reins and swinging back around with bow now aiming at whoever he can. "This needs to stop now! We're not here to fight you!"

The last bit of fight goes out of the remaining lynchers when the man formerly fighting Ian stabs his former comrade with a pickaxe. Silence would fall over the clearing if it wasnt for the soft groaning of some of the wounded, the yells between the group, and the angry baying of the hunting dogs that have just been loosed on you all. The man who was cutting the hounds loose gives the melee a final 'oh fuck' kind of look before turning to run away as well. Cynric gets up and runs for the tree, climbing up it as if he had a dozen hunting hounds on his ass and a bear and a pack of wolves.. the rope still trailing behind him.
ut the hounds aren't after Cynric. They are after YOU.

Eirene checks command and animal ken at normal. Eirene fails.

Denica checks command and animal ken at normal. Denica fails.

Kritr checks command and animal ken at normal. Critical Success! Kritr is spectacularly successful.

"Woof," it's a terrible attempt. Denica Thrax is a cat person, the dogs no doubt sense this. There is nothing about anything she does that is helpful in this situation. To the point, her face is red and her eyes are wide. "Bad doggy?," she bites her lip and looks around for help stepping back, because she is going to make this worse.

Cynric is Kritr's priority, seeing the man intelligently scramble back up the tree, this time for safety, he turns his attention to the baying pack of oncoming hounds. He doesn't trust Keg to lead a pack of wolves so he dismounts and stalks toward them with the intent of intimidating them into coming for him. Armor has a purpose after all, and as long as he can keep his feet, he assumes it will keep worst of the bites off him. Perhaps this complete lack of fear works in his favor.

Eirene tries to shout commands at the dogs but she's not an animal person. Especially not angry riled up dogs.

Mattheu checks dexterity and athletics at normal. Mattheu marginally fails.

Ian checks command and animal ken at normal. Ian is successful.

Kritr checks command and animal ken at normal. Kritr is successful.

Ian brings his sword around as the dogs charge, showing a fairly unsettling willingness to run through a good boy who's just doing what it's trained to do, and it might be something about that unflinching confidence, paired with a clipped and commanding: "SIT. THE FUCK. DOWN." that has the effect of encouraging the dogs charging him to rethink their collective life choices. Bears are one thing.

Eirene lets the people who deal with animals deal with animals. She scowls and eyes the dogs carefully, but she starts seeing to the wounded and making sure nobody dies...

Mattheu still hasn't gotten a good eye on the one that sought to let the hounds loose. It's the barking and sounds of them charging at them that leaves him to find the closest tree and start working on climbing up it to get away from the evil land animals. Calling out in Ravashari as he does.

Mattheu says in Ravashari, "Nope! Mother was right..."

Kritr swirls his cloak around him to make himself look bigger and more intimidating. He has no qualms about killing an animal if he has to, even a domestic hound. More importantly, he has a sense for which of these dogs is the true leader, and once the pack comes to a circling halt around Kritr and his companions he stares that one down. Slowly, incrementally, his intent becomes clear, and it is the dog on the defensive now, its authority challenged by this new pack alpha. An unspoken silence lingers until some signal passes between Kritr and the mastiff, then they lunge for each other simultaneously. The dog didn't really stand a chance one on one against an armored Northerner. Kritr isn't apparently a man of his word though, he spares the hound and it's brethren and sistren.

One of the dogs actually does sit down when Ian demands it. Sitting with its tongue lolling just in front of the cane-sword-wielding Kennex.

Another dog gets hold of a mouthful of Mattheu's trousers as he goes to climb the tree but the Ravashari is lucky enough to tug free as he climbs. Thats when Kritr's actions manage to throw the pack into a sense of confusion and the dogs turn from active attacks into a variety of growls and stalking whilst the top-dog has its face down with the northerner. Eventually though the alpha dog whines and lowers itself into the dirt. Tail thumping in that uncertain rythm dogs apply when they suspect they might have been bad. Thanks to a few yelled words from Ian and the actions of the Northerner the dog-battle of 1019 is thankfully averted.

Eirene finds that many of the injuries were less lethal than they could have been due to the actions taken to hit with blunt parts instead of sharp. Cynric is pretty beaten up but its nothing she cant fix with some medical knowhow and time. Denica will be glad to discover the saddlebags complete with the missing pages.

Eirene does her job to save as many as she can from permanent injuries. Farmers need their limbs to do their jobs. "You may have heard, but lynching someone is illegal," she lectures with a growl. "Citizen of the compact or Abandoned. And right now, they're the same under truce. So. You go home and tell your friends not to fuck with the shavs, or I have Kritr arrest you and haul you back to the Iron Jail. And consider yourself lucky to be alive."

Mattheu yelps as the dog tries to get purchase of his backside and scampers up the tree as if its a mast upon ship. Quickly. Settling along a branch and hand to main trunk he looks over to offer a jingling nod to Cynric. "Lord Mattheu Rivenshari." He offers with a kind smile. "Are you Cynric?"

Oh look, the manuscript. While Eirene sends a clear message to the farmers, Denica is flipping through it and bringing over to Cynric, so he can finally deliver his message. "Here you go! This is going to be great!," she's peeking. Oh yes. But she does hand it over to the rightful 'deliverer'.

Once the dogs are no longer a threat, Ian picks up the dropped pitchfork to use as a makeshift walking stick and goes in search of his horse and (more importantly) the other half of his cane.

Cynric's voice is very hoarse but he still manages to tell Mattheu "I am." as he peers down at the chaos of dogs and wounded lynchers and manuscript peekers going on below. "Thank you."

Kritr returns the hounds to their kennelmaster, if any of them are still hanging around. It doesn't look like murdering people is on the agenda any longer. "Thank you Lady Eirene. It's just Krit though." He soothes his horse and presents Cynric with his mount, slightly the worse for wear.