It's been a few days since Tesha was taken by the people who... actually, it's not really clear exactly WHO took Tesha. They might have been abandoned, they might have been bandits preying on the fact that the Duchy is in upheaval after the death of Arn, they might be rogue elements who haven't figured out that the war is ~over~, or or or. Really. It's up in the air.

The heroes are back now though, with cavalry from the Northlands and some soldiers from the Telmarch to help aid in the search. Everyone is grouped at the base of the shale pile as the rocks themselves leave no traces to follow. Operation, FIND TESHA, is a go.

Arik is riding ahead with the Marquessa, Lord, and House Sword while twenty northern cavalry in piecemeal armor and leathers ride a short distance behind. The Sword of Whitehold looks blankly at the shale ridge where Tesha was taken, not at the ground where there might be tracks or clues but up at the ridge with a quiet sniff. "Do you remember which way the two craven bandits ran after you drove them off Lord Wyrmguard?" he asks in his rumbling voice.

Upheaval but not for long. The Sword of Telmarch is very interested in this turn of events and so he comes to aid in the search. His coif obscures most of his face, and the scarf is worn like a mask, his best sword drawn because this isn't the time to fool around. Somebody has to answer for a crime, and somebody has to be taught a lesson. Without any tracks to pursue on the rocks, he can only wait as the two who have been here previously decide on a course of action. Amund may or may not be staring at the ground for some indication or vestige about the probable identities of the kidnappers.


The War Games was something she barely just arrived in time for. Dominique however heard what happened from her cousin and so naturally, she decided to help out as she was wearing her leather armor set. It's a good thing she borught her weapon and at least one set of armor with her. Running her fingers through her honeyed chestnut locks, she glances about and simply waits, mulling things over for now.

After briefing Dominiqye on the situation, Richard is sitting slightly behind everyone as he tries to get his thoughts gathered, his expression one of intense concern. Finally, when Arik calls out to him, he snaps out of his thoughts, and considers. "Over there.." he gestures to a spot in the shale that looks like it's been recently disturbed. "...that's where we ran into the ambush. They took Tesha off to the west, and I wasn't able to capture the ones on me." he lets out a sigh at that.

Amund checked perception + survival at difficulty 30, rolling 13 lower.

Dominique checked perception + survival at difficulty 30, rolling 19 higher. Dominique rolled a critical!

"If we find them, injure them on their leg and let one go. We'll follow the trail of blood." Amund suggests, trying to find some sort of clue in the direction given. He blinks, shaking his head as he tries to focus.

Arik reins his oathlander war horse around towards the westerly direction while lifting his helmet from the saddle to plunk back onto his noggin with the face plate squeaking as he lowers it. His voice now has a muffled quality to it as he speaks in a low rumble of a voice, "Mayhap we can find signs of tracks. They must have had horses or a wagon nearby. Carrying her on foot to where ever they took her would make no sense... Sword Amund do you know of any bandits or brigands that might have a hideaway to the west or mayhap a village that might have been overtaken?"

Arik belatedly adds, "Or caves mayhap?"


Pursing her lips, Dominique is clearly lost in thought. Her gaze washes over the area, scanning it for any small clues, any trace of anything that could give them an answer. Richard would know that the gear in his cousin's are head are turning and it's after a few moments does she finally speak up. "Hoofs." she says matter of factly, pointing towards a set of clear hoof prints next to the small muddy stream. There isn't much after, but water is pretty scarce. "They could still be close. Be on guard."

Richard checked perception + survival at difficulty 30, rolling 3 higher.

Glancing aside to Dominique. "I see it.." he says, as he starts to follow the path that the Marquessa has pointed out, and then pauses, pulling up. "Got a bit of pulled up ground here." he calls out as he finds the part of the path that has been disturbed. "Not a direction or anything, but it's a start."

"Let's go." As pointed westward, and towards the hooves, Amund decides to make his way there. To Arik, he replies: "I don't know this area of the Telmarch too well, but as far as I know, nobody had the stones to be this bold so close to 'home', so to speak. We'll find out."

"West and tracks, we can follow them until we see anything else strange... But Marquessa and Lord Wyrmguard you should ride in the lead since you're spotting so well. I don't want the troops destroying the tracks by riding to close to heel." Arik explains and gives the cavalry a sign to ride a decent distance back. "Lead the way."

"If you do not mind if I take lead, Marquessa?" Richard asks. She can probably tell he's feeling the guilt over Tesha's kidnapping as he pulls his lips into a thin line. "We can stick close so that we do not miss what the other may see."


Not wanting to show up her cousin, she knows when a man's pride is on the line. "Go ahead, cousin." Dominique replies, offering a reassuring smile as he continues to glance about, looking for more clues or just keeping a wary eye out for bandits.

Off they go, heading deeper into the mountains. They descend the far side of a mountain, having to pick their way carefully to be able to keep their animals from tripping on the hazardous rocks underfoot. Every now and again they see another hoof print to show that they are probably going the right direction. At least, they do, until suddenly they don't. The stream seems to vanish from sight from one side of a bush to another, and moving beyond the water the trees thicken visibly.

"Anyone know anything about the forest we're heading into?" Richard asks the others as he frowns, glancing up from his search as the foilage thickens, dissapating the stream, and leaving them to deal with more lush vegetation that can easily hide tracks, his eyes going to the sky to look for any tell-tale whisps of smoke that may hint of a nearby camp.

"I think we should be on the lookout. If we have anyone here well-versed with bows, might be interesting to draw one." Just in case. Amund continues to have his horse set in an amble, frowning. Looking up to the foliage for a moment, as if trying to spot something, his attention turns to the stream. "We might want to follow it, assuming it isn't deep. Because if it's shallow, that's how they made their way."

Arik rides along and comes up short when Richard asks, "I've only been to Telmarch a few times. A thick forest would be a decent place to have a camp though, less merchant travel and wandering sorts." there is a look towards Amund and a call back to the cavalry, "Archers." and five of the twenty pull out riding shortbows.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Richard before departing.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Richard before departing.


"Definitely not well versed with the bow." Alas, there's a soft pout on there as she scans about and spies the foliage not too far away. Glancing about, she finds a big stick and instead of poking, Dominique throws it at the bush, cause... why not? It was the stick or her sword.

There's the sound of water splashing as that stick hits the bush and then, ZIP. The stick is gone. Maybe there is something behind that bush. Too bad it has stickers on it that are quite pokey.

Arik checked command + leadership at difficulty 15, rolling 36 higher.

A pokey bush that pokes back... This is a job for commoners. Arik calls back to the cavalry "I need four riders up here, dismounted, to hack this bush." they probably listen... He is their Lord, Sword, and Warlord afterall but it is a pokey bush so he looks back at them (there are women in there too) to see if they bring their axes to hack it up.

"Someone want to set fire to the bush?" Richard asks before he smirks. He takes a moment, and glances aside to Dominique. And then he urges his horse forward towards the brush - just before Arik calls foward the gardening brigade, and he backs off, waiting.

"Better move slow towards it," Amund suggests, nodding to Arik after his call for archers, and then the latter prompts an amused, brief grunt. His sword drawn once again, held rather comfortably in his hand while he watches the gardening squad's full array of volunteers. "I'd be partial to setting fire to the bush. I've developed an allergy to trees of all kinds, but that's neither here nor there."

Arik suggests to the soldiers, "You can burn it if you're afraid of splinters." suggests the man who won't do it himself.

It's a good thing that Arik is so very commanding. His soldiers dismount their horses and stride forward, pulling out small axes that probably help them with their fires at night. There is a quick bunch of hacking... which reveals that the bush is actually designed to be lifted on some ingenuous hinges. This entrance was SUPPOSE to be able to be used again. Alas. It won't be now that the COMPACT has arrived. The hole itself is wide enough for a horse but that the horse PROBABLY won't like it.

"It was probably a trap anyway." Arik decides rather loudly in his muffled helm as he has apparently destroy some manner of contraption. The soldiers all look at him... he looks back and then says, "Lord Wyrmguard, what do you think?"

"Wonderful, we march on foot." Amund dismounts, glancing around briefly to lead his horse to a place near a tree. He won't need the fella if he somehow decides to amble his merry life away, but the Sword of the Telmarch has been a footsoldier most of his life. Certainly it's understandable he prefers to take a stroll, right? Either way, with sword in hand, he'll start to make his way to the revealed entrance. "Got a torch? Might as well throw one in there so we don't fall to our certain deaths."

"We're going on foot from here." Richard agrees with Amund on this as he dismounts, setting his feet on the ground. Once he's settled, he moves to glance at the entrance, and then starts to make his way down into the hole.

Arik brought cavalry and so he tells them, "Watch the horses, detain anyone without a Telmar sigil that comes snooping around, if anyone attacks you... Make sure they're shavs or bandits before you kill any of them." and then dismounts to follow along.

Amund definitely snatches a torch from a soldier who seems like they'd rather stick with the horse watching crew. Definitely also throws it into the cave, because it pays to shine a light before you dive headfirst, straight into the Abyss.

Richard is the smart cookie in this group, holding the a primitive torch in his hand. Amund is the out of the box thinker. He throws the torch higghhhhhh and it soars beautifully, like a phoenix rising.... until it stops and falls to the ground. One second there is a view of a cave that opens up into a warren-like complex and the next, darkness again as the torch hits the wet ground and sputters to death. At least Richard has a torch so he can illuminate the area better?

Arik follows the torch user and the torch abuser further into the tunnel.

As the torch comes flying past his head, Richard hisses at Amund. "Do you /mind/?" he asks the man takes in the paths ahead and as he gets closer, he kneels down. "Marquessa." he says quietly to Dominique. "Help me find the most travelled path - the most warn - that's the path we're going to want." he tells her quietly.

"By all means," Amund gestures with his now free hand to Richard, in a swinging motion towards the cave. Satisfied it is not some kind of elaborate pitfall, he starts to make his way, keeping to himself.

Arik checked perception + survival at difficulty 30, rolling 0 higher.

Amund checked perception + survival at difficulty 30, rolling 13 lower.

Richard checked perception + survival at difficulty 30, rolling 13 lower.

Dominique checked perception + survival at difficulty 30, rolling 2 lower.


"I can try. I might have just gotten lucky earlier." And the gods only know just how lucky she was earlier. Squinting, perhaps it's the fire and the darkness, but it's difficult to really see anything and she's struggling... clearly.

Arik makes a squelching sound as his plated boot sinks into something and there is an audible sigh. "This way." he motions the torch bearer to... the RIGHT!

Richard checked dexterity + stealth at difficulty 30, rolling 20 lower.

Dominique checked dexterity + stealth at difficulty 30, rolling 4 higher.

Arik checked dexterity + stealth at difficulty 30, rolling 2 higher.

Amund checked dexterity + stealth at difficulty 30, rolling 15 lower.

Richard checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 28 lower.

Amund checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 20 higher.

Richard's little light shines a great big target on his chest. That's where the people who kidnapped Tesha choose to aim. Thankfully, they're not the most talented in these close confines and so it hits his shoulder instead of his chest. 56 inflicted and Richard is harmed for moderate damage.

/CLANG/ the sound of armor caving as the arrow punches through Richard's armor echoes and reverbs about the cave as the torch is knocked from his hand as the Wyrmguard lord is knocked off of his feet and onto the ground by the force of the hit as he reaches up to grab his shoulder. Hopefully someone else in the group is a medic, or he'll be all physician heal thyself.

"Get back," Amund hisses at Richard after yanking his left shoulder back at the very last second, as an arrow hits the wall, or the floor. Assuming the shooters are close enough to be intercepted, that's where he's heading.