The Saga of Gerwin - Episode 2 (Treachery in the Trees)

Gerwin looks at the spiders. That kind of animals never made her much difference though the sheer size compared to regular ones was quiet impressive. She had no reason to face these animals, but then again they had none to pray for her, specially not with the carcass of the boy behind. That alone should have been enough for the present wildlife to feast. And if these animals were the ones to have caused death of the boy why would they now pray for her? Would the meat not have nourished them enough? What could possible make them act this way.

One thing was certain. Gerwin had no intentions of killing a wild creature if not in life danger and there for simply pressed her two feet against the horses stomach and ordered it to ride faster away from these uneven numbered fight.

Init:
Dice Roll: 1d20+2
d20 Results: 3 (Total = 5)

she will try to ride past the spiders if they are in her way if not she will simply ride away as good as she can.

Directing your horse forward, you are only able to move several meters before the spiders reach you, their unnatural speed helping to quickly close the distance. You could attempt to ride forward and through them, or attempt to weave around.

As well, you could always retreat, back towards the young boy's corpse...

Gerwin is surprised the unusual speed the beasts have. Putting things this way she might not be able to flee as she had hoped to and would rather stand a fight against them. She pulls her horse around and tries to cover the most distance she is able. She had made her choice she would go this path. Not travel around. But for now she needed a little more space between her and her prayers.

As she grips onto the reins with one hand her other searches for a flask in her pack. As she has covered at least a bit she tries to dismount. She would not risk her greatest good to be hurt at this time.

Gerwin turns back, toward the corpse and dismounts getting out a flask of oil.

The spiders may be fast, but they cannot match the speed of a well-trained horse, and you easily manage to get as far back as you like. The spiders advance, but pause well short of you, unsure whether to continue chasing you, or to retreat back.

For now, it is Gerwin who will dictate the flow of this battle.

If she wanted to go this way it was clear she had to pass the spiders. It would be hard to pass them without nether getting hurt, nor having to hurt them. Sure she might as well try to jump over them or leap past them with her horse, but it would not be a wise choice since they might easily jump after or be lucky to strike her horse with their fangs. This was not something she wanted to happen. At any cost. Her horse was to precious to her, and did deserve better treatment.

She looks at her mount and orders it to stay, even though the words would do no good they were some comfort to the woman who had to act quick and had no time to tie up the animal to some place. Gerwin then proceeded on foot towards the spider, not before lighting a torch in broad daylight which she has in the hand were before were the club that is now easily to get in her belt. As she is in reach she aims at the nearest beast and throws the flask of oil at it, hoping it to scatter and then to torch the beast, that in a scheme to frighten of the other two spiders.

ranged:
Dice Roll: 1d20+3
d20 Results: 10 (Total = 13)

Gerwin will move as far as needed to perform the actions listed above. and then move back towards the spiders.

Gerwin heaves the lighted flask of oil, and though her aim is solid, the flask barely misses directly impacting the spiders.
It does, however, burst into flames right in their midst, sending flaming oil in all directions. With a horrible screeching sound, the creatures scatter, disappearing completely into the environment.

And once again, you are alone...

Up ahead, the path continues as before, dull, dirty, and rocky. Your progress is unfettered by spiders or other creatures, although occasional chitters and screeches draw your attention, reminding you not to let your guard down.
Shortly, you reach another fork in the path, though this one is unmarked. Directly in front of you is a large cliff, perhaps 40 feet high, preventing further travel forwards. The road diverges to the left and the right once again, and once again you are faced with a decision.

To the right, you can barely make out the tops of tall pines off in the distance, a hint of green on an otherwise bleak landscape. The path is much as before, dirt and rock as far as the eye can see.

To the left, mountainous peaks stand tall on the horizon, each seemingly taller than its neighbor. The path seems to have seen more use, and prints dot its dusty length, though none appear human to you.

Left or right? How often decisions as small as they were were to important to take onto the light shoulder. On the other hand life matters often did take no time at all to decide and would allow no pondering if it was so. Gerwin had learned so today. She had to admit she was lucky to be able to torture herself with such thoughts as to go left or right. Nine flasks to go, she had thought ironically checking her inventory once she was more confident the arachnoid creatures would not try anything on her again. She had kept her torch alight just in case for a bit longer but did suppressed the flames in the end so she might be able to use them in the dark if need was for such matter.

Only as she was getting close to the latter intersection did shed her club that she had gotten out as soon as her projectile had burst into flames on the ground.

Once more she took her time to ponder. The footprints on the ground did say nothing to her. Only the missing size of a regular human seemed amiss and that scared her of. As well as the hopes of the trees far away kept her adrenaline in flow which had come to a decrease since the spider incident. All the same she would probably spent the night in the open, she supposed. No house in sight. No traveller near by. That was a blessing and a curse at the same time. Fellow travellers would have granted her protection but then again they might want to rob her or even worse. As well she could say of luck that this was no heavy travelled road since it certainly would have attracted bandits and worse foes with the masses passing true...

Things were good as they were she thought. As well as the mountains were a impressive sight. She decided to carry on towards the woods in the far. Turning right.

Heading right, you remember that Aleru had directed you to a woodland region called the Archwood, and feel confident about your decision to head this way.
The path is long and uninteresting, the occasional animals fleeing on sight.
Many hours later, you are still riding, the trees you saw earlier still far off on the horizon. Night falls, and your horse begins to slow, whinnying nervously.

Presently, you find yourself in the center of a long dirt path, bordered on all sides by rocks, small shrubs, and an occasional tree.
To your left, a series of large dirt mounds sit some 80 meters off in the distance.
To your right, a patch of small pines stands a couple dozen meters away, and up ahead the path winds on, mystery and adventure aplenty.

"Well it seems as if we are of to camp in the wild." Gerwin speaks rather to herself than to the horse ironically out aloud. Then she dismounts and starts marching towards the patch of pines, hoping it to be a good place to make camp and to conceal her horse as well as herself from eventual fiends.

Unwary she taps sleepy in the dark towards the promising camping ground. Well a inn would have been more pleasant but she was used to the rocky ground and more then prepared to create a more or less cosy sleeping area, from the travels with her Husband. She kept an eye out for unpleasant surprises as she walks slowly across the waste land.
rolls

The pines provide a good place for a campsite, and their thick trunks and lush needle-like foliage serve to help hide Gerwin and her horse. Though it is a cold, frigid night, it is thankfully uneventful, and you awake in the morning refreshed and ready to push forward.

Several hours later, the sun hits its peak and begins to slowly flutter downwards, the afternoon heat becoming more tolerable as the sun wanes. Not a single creature crosses your path, be it human, monster, or animal, and the path winds on.

Presently, you find the path blocked by a large overturned cart, its contents and passengers spilled out onto the dirt. The cart itself is burned to a crisp, its wheelbase and steering assembly the only recognizable pieces left unscathed.
On the ground, numerous cloth-wrapped bundles lay haphazardly scattered, some opened and others intact. From the contents of the opened bundles, this appears to be a merchant caravan carrying trade goods from one of the nearby Dales, as foodstuffs, rich clothing, and metal tools lay scattered about.

On the ground around the caravan, four corpses lay in the dirt, presumably the caravan's former occupants. One of them is clearly a woman, her clothing torn and her body gutted, laying face-down in the mud.
Next to her, the frail shape of an old man, his head caved in by something large and blunt.

And off to the side, two fully-armed warriors lay dead as well, one with a sword in his side, the other suffering from horrible stab wounds in his legs. Both seem to have bled intensely, the ground all around them stained dark red.

The smell of death is all-encompassing...