Lost Scout

[StarrNico]

Strider dismounted to look at the orc's prints closer "Yep, these are the same ones I was following. They took the rider away on foot." He moved around until he reached the outward trail then looked back at the group. He was worried that he had yet to find any sign of Reba among any of the trails he had followed since that day. He glanced up at the sun then along the new trail, ready to chase after the orcs again

 

[Frundette]

Reba caught herself against the wall and turned. She stood tall, glaring at him defiantly for a moment before forcing herself to turn to the work. She knew she needed a weapon to fight them, but had been unwilling or unable to just go along without a word. 'This is not the time to fight, not yet' she told herself, though it would have to be seen if she could follow her own advice.

( Totally OOC, but this story made me think of the old hobbit cartoon...

Where there's a whip, there's a way!)

 

[StarrNico]

(lol)

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

LOL, Frundette! That is totally bizarre...

I'll try and reply tomorrow morning at some point!

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Ezra jumped off Panago and moved to the front of the group by foot so that he could see the tracks. Thankfully Panago was a calm, well trained animal and showed no signs of rushing off as his rider dismounted and left him untied. Several items were scattered randomly in the dirt, including a pocket knife which Ezra picked up. "This is Danielle's," he said, holding it up. "She definitely met something here."

He put the knife in his own pocket and looked a little bit deeper in the forest beside the road. "We won't be able to follow any tracks on the road, but they had to have taken her somewhere. My guess would be deeper in the woods, to remain hidden. Anyone could come across them on the road."

--

"Thank you," Emma gave a small nod to the blond haired man. In response to the second man's question she nodded again and said, "yes, he left yesterday afternoon with another man to search for the missing scout. I fear that Danielle tried to follow them, but she is only 14 to be out there by herself!"

 

[Frundette]

Aelfric nodded, investigating the tracks for himself and coming to the same conclusion that Ezra and Kane had reached. "If the rider was on foot, that is good news," he said to Ezra, hoping it was some small comfort. "She was not badly injured." As Kane paused and looked back at them, Aelfric met his gaze. "Did you find something?" he asked, walking toward the other man, glad to have the skilled tracker join their excursion.


--


The man chewed the side of his cheek and furrowed his eyebrows. "I heard Aelfric went out lookin' for her. It was just Aelfric and Ezra, then?" he asked, even though Emma had just said as much.

"Here comes Lord Ragnar now, goodwife," the younger said, pointing to a dark haired man dressed in plain tan breeches and a white shirt who was walking down the path toward the building, ready to spend another day working to get the roof finished on the hall before the weather turned. The only thing that marked him as a man of nobility was a gold ring on his finger with his family's seal.

( OOC: I wasn't sure how the men would address Emma. Got the term 'goodwife' here: http://www.medieval-faire.com/speak.html )

 

[StarrNico]

"Trail goes into the woods here." Strider answered. "Looks like the same three I was following earlier. " He looked back to the tracks thoughtfully.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Though not as skilled as Aelfric and Kane in the art of tracking, Ezra was well versed enough to at least follow along. He could clearly see the smaller prints from Danielle next to the larger prints from the orcs, the sight made him hopeful that his daughter was still alive, being held captive somewhere. The fact that they hadn't killed her outright meant that they wanted her for something... and Ezra wasn't very fond of that idea. "Should we continue on foot?" He looked to his companions for their thoughts. "Who knows how far this goes, but it will be easier to remain undected without them."

--

(I like it!)

"I think they were looking to find another person to join them." Emma replied to the first man. "I don't know if they found someone though."

When Lord Ragnar showed, Emma quickly turned to face him and did a polite curtsy. "Lord Ragnar, my name is Emma, wife of Ezra the farmer. I apologize for coming to you at this hour and in this way, but I desperately seek your help. My eldest daughter, Danielle, has been missing since last eve, and has not showed this morning. It is not her to wander off, I fear she may have tried to follow her father in search of the missing scout."

 

[Frundette]

Aelfric gave Ezra's suggestion a few moments of consideration. "If we need to run, our chances of outpacing the orcs on horses is better," he said, almost as much to himself as to Eza. "But you're right. Our approach would not go unnoticed. Let's find a safe place to hide the horses."


---


Lord Ragnar did his best to hide his annoyance at dealing with Emma's issue. But it was part of his responsibility to his vassals to hear their issues and deem if his intervention was warranted. And so he listened patiently as she explained the issue to him and frowned slightly as she finished. "If you believe she went after her father and he has not returned yet, then it is likely that she is with him," he said. "If your husband accompanied Aelfric, it is a three day ride to follow the trail the scout Gytha would have taken."

He was not about to waste the manpower sending yet more of his men out scouring the countryside. "If she does not return with your husband, I will send a search party to look for the girl. In the meantime," he looked at the younger of the two men handling the roofing, "Charles, put word around the settlement that the... that Danielle is missing. See if anyone has any news."

 

[StarrNico]

Strider nodded and started looking around for a safe place to put the horses for the moment. He came to a ravine and followed it until it ended. He scouted around some more, but that was the only place he could find so he returned to the group. "There's a ravine that we can put the horses in. It dead-ends in a cliff after a couple hundred feet." He told them and waited to see what Aelfric and the others would say.