WOT Adv 52 - The Taraboner Camp

--- The Wheel Turns ---
"Many thanks, friends of Maer," You shout as they leave. "Good hunting, and may you find shade at the end of your journey."

They wave farwell and are soon lost to view.

You continue skinning the mountain lions.

"Uh, Maer," Keb asks after a few minutes. "What're you doing?"

"I want to cure the hides of these mountain lions." You point at them with your bloodied knife.

Keb crinkles her nose and steps back. "Ew! Can't you do that some other time?"

"Sqeemish? You run men through with your 'sword'," you say it with a disgusted tone at the barbaric weapon, "and you don't quail, why with a dead beast?"

"I don't cut them up after I kill them. They're dead and I'm done with it."

You shrug and continue cutting.

"Maer," Maeslyn says. "We need to move quickly. Can't you find time to cure lion skins later. We have townsfolk to aid."

You sigh and wash off your knife, lamenting that you won't be able to get both of them skinned. One of them is done, though and you hang it up in a tree to dry and decide to come back later for it. These women just don't understand.

(GM Caveat -- I have no idea what's involved with curing a skin... so fill in the blanks, but I assume some drying is involved.)

You then follow Hurin's directions and finding the small hollow that Hurin mentioned, you pick up some more hoof prints that go over rolling hills for about a mile.

It is near dusk as you crest a hill. And there you pause; for you see in the distance an efficient, well-organized camp sitting atop a low, treeless hill. You motion the others to stop behind you,

"What do you see?" Therlin asks grufly.

"A wetlander military camp."

Therlin moves up beside you and also looks down at them and gives a low whistle. "Well, well. Those are Taraboners all right. Look like you may have found them."

There's a handful of small tents surround a much larger tent at the crest of the hill. At the northern end of the encampment is a timber-fenced pen, while a dozen or so horses are strung together at the southern end. A few soldiers stand around campfires, their cloaks flapping in the chilling breeze.

You survey the area surrounding the hill and you can see it is clear in all directions except to the southeast, where light woods meet the base of the hill perhaps fifty feet from the edge of camp. You can see that the rolling hills provide cover in other directions, but only up to about a hundred-fifty feet from teh camp.