Anntreen froze in place with the snap of the branch beneath her foot - she knew she was carrying to much but it was all useful thing well most of it and the couple of items that was not did not seem to way anything. She watched Mina run off and could hear here acclaiming the sound was herself.
Stinking her shoulders down somberly Anntreen holds her potions attempting not t move or make a sound. A depressive look on her face she stairs at the Leaf covered forest floor.
Ferrin watches in silence as the men flash by through the forest, still ready with the spell if his hidden companions should be discovered.
At Mina's suggestion, he merely nods his head, not taking his eyes off the woods in the direction of the other men.
Krusten comes down and without saying anything makes a half mile circle around the current location trying to get a gist of the area, anyone hiding, etc. She doesn't care if she looses sight of the group, she realizes they are all over the place as it is anyway. As she does her recon she is listening, watching and having her spear ready.
Jeaal hides from the men incoming on his location. He hisses at Anntreen, "Hssst! Get down!", hoping she will hide before the men see any of them.
After they pass (if they don't notice any of us), Jeaal will nod to Mina and press a finger over his lips.
Mina nods back to the three others who've given her consent. She sheathes her sword and returns her shield to it's hook on her pack, then walks back to the clearing where the others are with the men. She passes the group to where she was first hidden and retrieves her quarterstaff and whistles for Den to return to her.
Den gracefully glides from the trees to her perch on Minas left shoulder, and gives a slight chirping sound to her. Mina smiles and pets the hawk.
Back to the business at hand, Mina walks over to Thomas, Carnosus, and Ja'laron to discuss their next move. She whispers to the others, "I was going to take the others and scout where the group of men came from but Anntreen was too laden down with gear and made all those noises. I came out only to defuse the fear of their group. Shall we still go and the three of you and Krusten go to the camp with the group?"
Anntreen, Jeaal and Ferrin try to hide in the thick undergrowth that covers the ground at the base of the tall trees of the grove. From between the bushes and vines they see two of the men hurriedly walk westwards passing more than 20 feet away from their position. The commoners are not doing anything to hide their presence, unaware of being observed.
Krusten ventures in the woods and starts her reconnaissance tour of the area around the worker's camp. Cautiously bordering the clearing, she eventually gets close to where the elves and the halfling are. She slowly approaches the three.
Meanwhile, in the clearing, something major and unexpected happens. Seeing for the first time the badge now on Ja'laron's clothes, the thugs freeze on their positions. They stare at the rogue with something similar to terror in their eyes. They lower their weapons and immediately hurry to help Tomas taking care of the dead. The man that was being questioned takes it as a chance to slip away from Ja'laron, and avoiding intentionally to meet his eyes, he joins the others in preparing a burial. You have the feeling that the balance of power has suddenly shifted again in your favor.
Tomas looks for a shovel or anything else that could be used to dig a hole. He doesn't find any but he finds instead his javelin, probably left on the ground by one of the workers. Digging the hard terrain without a proper tool would be a difficult task so him and the workers resolve to make small mounds using the stones that abound in the surroundings. Tomas notices that nobody dares to touch Albert's corpse.
Mina joins the rest of the group and updates everybody about the return of their companions, now hidden closeby, while Carnosus keeps staring at the horizon in confusion.
Out of Character: I need to know what the group plans to do now. Stefflabunny and Sgtlee tried to propose plans, as well as iCon, but until now I didn't have any confirmation on which proposal the group wants to follow. Remember that also those that are not physically present can still give their contribution "Out of character".
I will control Ja'laron until sgtlee returns, in a similar way to the one I adopted for the other characters in the past. At this moment, he was taking the lead of the group and his leadership would have been even stronger after the effect that the broach had on the commoners. But I will have to keep him on the background now so somebody else has to handle the situation if you want to get something out of this story.