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"The plan is also not to get killed while running around a corner into a dozen warjacks," Arkady muttered. "And remain quiet enough to get whatever information we need. Only once we know what it is we are facing can the firestorm commence, and I will happily provide that," he said while inconsciously stroking his mechanika weapon.

"That about sums it up gentlemen. We should get moving."

Konrad then mounted his horse for the ride out of town.

The adventurers mounted up and headed north. The steppe was broken only by the occasional copse of trees, the long grass waving in the late summer wind. They made good progress, covering most of the distance before sundown. Oleg directed them to a copse of trees. "We can camp there and not be seen."

Guren looked around the copse and nodded sagely. "It's a good spot. We can make an early morn' recon pretty easily from here." he tapped his chin. "Aye."

Arkady whispered to his raven, which was dozing on his shoulder: "Go scouting ahead to make sure the copse is secure". He put a hand to his crossbow, and once more looked around his shoulder, inspecting the steppe.

The bird circled around and came back. "All clear boss."

After Arkady signalled his recon had shown no threat in the stand of trees, Konrad rode up to them to set up a simple camp. He was eager to get some rest, but held his carbine at the ready in case the bird had missed anything.

[/i]

There were no problems that Konrad could detect. It was, simply, a copse of trees.

Arkady dismounted and tied his horse, and unstrapped his Staff. He asked Oleg: "How long does it take to reach the village from here?"

"Half day, maybe less," Oleg replied. "More in the dark."

"Then we can make good way tomorrow if we depart early in the morning, make a recon, and if need be, come back here to prepare an assault".

He sat on a fallen trunk, and checked on his spellbook.

"What's the best way to get close to the village unspotted? Is it harder by horse? Does it offer a lot of opportunity for ambush, and is it easy to spot patrols from a good distance and follow them unchecked?"

If we assume the village is not used as a base or lair by whatever is responsible, then we may have to search the whole countryside for tracks or a residual presence. Which is where we are happy to have a nature guy on our side.

"Horses are a big target." Guren said, shackling the ankles of his mount to keep it in place. He rose up and rubbed the beast's snout. "On the other hand, if things go sour, they might be useful for a dash." he looked over at Oleg. "So aye, what's the terrain like for horseflesh?"

Konrad waited for the trapper's respose near the edge of the wood, keeping a close watch on the area, as well as mulling over what lay ahead.

If I had just raised a town and then killed a company of Wintergaurd, I'd be thinking of ambushing anyone that came snooping around afterward. About this far out is where we'd run into that sort of thing. Unless it was a hit and run operation. Come to think of it, all this could have just been a set up to lure out the Wintergaurd to be destroyed. Fuck it. Debating all the possibilities is next to worthless at the moment, as I have no facts. Oleg better know a good way into town; we are certainly paying him enough.

"No real good place to sneak up," said Oleg, "no good place really. There's a patch of woods not too far from it, I guess you could use that to sneak close. Of course, if anyone is watching closely they will see you before you get to the woods."

"Cover part of the way is better than none. We could move in at night to cover our approuch. Or we could dash in quick with the horses during the day. There are benifits and drawbacks either way. Regardless of what we choose we'll have at least a few hours to sleep."

"Indeed," said Arkady, "though cover works both ways. If somebody is lying in ambush within the woodpatch, we might find ourselves in more disadvantageous a position than in the open."

"Alright, here's a plan. We move up to Korovo on horseback right before dawn. I don't fancy showing up any later then that. If we run into more than we can handle, we flee into the woods. Unless you can hide us magically Arkady, that's about as good as it''s going to get. I'd say the best thing to do now would be for us to get some rest. We'll have to get up damn early to make the villiage by dawn."

"Waking up before dawn?" Guren squeezed his eyes shut. "I hate tactics some times. I can't fault the plan."

"I have neither the spells nor the raw power to hide us all conveniently. I could try casting a spell of invisibility on each of us, but doing so would seriously deplete my magic, and achieve little considering that it would not last long."

He secured his spellbook, and kept his weapons within reach. "Sycorax and I will take first watch," he said despite the raven's protests. "I need a minimal length of uninterrupted sleep in order to cast spells efficiently."
And prepare spells adapted to a fight.

"Right then."

Konrad settled in for the night.

We'll need the rest. Tommorow is probably going to be a long day.

The night passed easily enough. Except for the distant howling of hungry wolves, nothing disturbed their sleep.

Guren rubbed his eyes, then shifted his hand to touch the butt of The Person in the Forest. With mage-lock steel against his fingers, he felt sharper, more alert than he had any right to be that early. immediately moved out of his bedroll and began packing it away.

Arkady finished preparing his new allotment of spells, and packed his things. "Get up, lazy bird!" he told his familiar. "Or we're setting off without you."

"You know that you won't get far without me boss, and I'll catch up with you even with a wing tied behind my back."

"I'll be curious to see that. I'll ask Oleg for some rope."

"I wouldn't want to savage your pride boss."

Konrad had been edgey alll night; he had snapped fully awake several hours before dawn. It was time, and he was all business. He checked his ammunition one last time, then said,

"Alright Oleg, bring us into the town. Figure it's best if we stay fairly close, we don't want to lose each other in the darkness. Let's see what happened here."

Konrad worries about his ribs, which were still unhealed, the fact they didn't know what they faced, and that Oleg was still unproven in a fight all melted away. They were replaced by a giddy anticipation of what lay ahead.

No use denying it, this is the shit I was born for.

The adventurers crept through the forest, weapons in hand. The trees thinned out as they approached the place the village once stood. Charred ruin marked the places where barns and houses once stood. The mostly eaten carcasses of men, horses, and cattle were strewn everywhere.