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Dahn draws a pair of daggers, keeping watch over the others, and of course, himself.

Ouragana's main concern is not to trip over branches or get caught by a vein as they move. She tries to concentrate on sounds not made by the party.

"Follow me, carefully." Arei says taking the lead behind Grey, her vision scanning the area for places to stay hidden. "Could you stay in the middle?" she asks the new Dwarf, "Near the Kohen."

The party carefully enters the jungle, staying to the shadows and moving as quietly as they can. They do not make it very far before encountering something. At first, it is an odor--the stench of decay. Then the noticeable buzz of insect swarms becomes louder and louder. Looking up, they spot corpses hanging from the trees. They are all short and stout; the corpses of dwarves and gnomes.

"By Gonto's Grace," says Dalaim. "Nine, ten, eleven...It seems we've found the good captain's missing crew, save for one. There are eleven here, and he said he lost twelve."

Jocelyn looks up with a small frown, but overall she doesn't seem to be too terribly phased by the disgusting sight. "It might be a bit harder to reason with these people."

Jenara wrote:"Follow me, carefully." Arei says taking the lead behind Grey, her vision scanning the area for places to stay hidden. "Could you stay in the middle?" she asks the new Dwarf, "Near the Kohen."

"Aye, I'll do that," Oren says drawing his battle axe and carrying it before him as he walks.

HorizonsDream wrote:Jocelyn looks up with a small frown, but overall she doesn't seem to be too terribly phased by the disgusting sight. "It might be a bit harder to reason with these people."

Val isn't too bothered from the hanging bodies, she'd seen worse, however when Jocelyn speaks she stops in her tracks
"Reason with them? Kidding right?" Looking Jocelyn square in the eye, she continues "We'd best be all on the same page here 'fore the fightin' begins."

"Val, Jocelyn, you both have a point there" Ouragana says, her voice serious. "Of course we have to be prepared to fight and win a battle. But I do not think that trying to kill all the people here who oppose intruders is our best option. Remember the bird people? We were sent out to fight them, but talking to them was the better solution after all.

I have prepared a spell that I could use as a diversion, to make people believe someone is approaching from another direction. So if we see their camp or village before they see us, I could use it. Unfortunately, that's all I can contribute to a fight, really."

"Hmm, interesting," Dalaim says, adjusting his glasses while peering at the hanging corpses. "They're largely intact, but they appear to have been dead for nearly a month. Too long for me to interrogate, I'm afraid. All the pity, as they might be able to tell us something useful about the natives."

"You can speak with the dead?" Ouragana looks at Dalaim with large eyes. "I didn't know that was at all possible"

Dalaim nods to Ouragana. "Gonto is the goddess of knowledge, among other things. And that knowledge can come from anywhere, even the dead. Such is the power of Gonto."

"We fight who we need to fight." Arei says turning away, trying not to show her disgust, "We do tend to encounter Dwarves in this manner. The last were skulls..."

"You can talk to the Dead? That would make sense, their spirits have departed, but I assume they would have some connection to the bodies for a short time." She comments to Dalaim.

"Oren, is there some rights you could carry out? Some way to ensure they pass suitably?" She pauses, "And there appears to be one left, perhaps he can tell us what happened?"

"No, I'm not really kidding," Jocelyn said before she motioned to the holy symbol around her neck. She was a follower of Octhanus, so she figured what she said made sense. "Though, fighting them, at this point, might seem like the better option."

"Kidding how?" the elf asks.

"So, just so I know. You all think we can talk about this." Waving her hand at the swollen dwarfs. "What makes you think you even see anythin' 'fore you got arrows in you."

She thinks a bit, appears almost in pain before announcing "Me help, but don't like this."