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The companions continued along the stream, splashing in the shallow water. Tuk could smell pollen drifting through the air as they walked. Small flowers could be seen blooming amongst the foliage, dollops of color here and there. The sun shone bright in the sky, and it was a peaceful afternoon.

(BTW, do you want to fill your water skins? Because you can if you wish)

Raven sighs and stops in her walk beside the stream. Looking around she calls out to the others, "Hey everyone. Let's stop a moment and see if we can't put some plans together. We don't want to get spread out and we need a new marching order also." While she waits for the others to gather around her she retrieves her water skin and empties it into the stream before refilling it.

Tuk stops when Raven mentions needing a plan which is true for they came out here with none and it cost them a member of the group already. Closing his eyes, Tuk takes in a deep breath then smiles before following Raven's lead to refill his waterskins.

The smile was brief as memories of the last fews came back in force.

Raven sits beside Tuk as he refills his water skin. "First thing we need to do is decide on a marching order but we also need to decide how we are going to proceed. That...and where it is we are going to go. Right now I don't think we have enough coin to even go back to a village and buy food."

Raven continues, "Ideally we would have a good fighter in front and another in the rear with two people out scouting but...unfortunately we have neither the numbers for that nor the experience. I don't think of myself as a good fighter but I will go in front and I think Howell should take up the rear. You, Caesar, and Caoilfhinn should stay between us. We should all stay close together and always stay on the look-out not only for anything trying to sneak up on us but also for cover. We don't want to look for a place to duck behind at the last second."

"As to where to go...well either deeper into the Ruined Land or possibly try to find where those goblins are coming from and devise some way to pick them off in small groups." Raven pauses and lowers her head. A look of pain crosses her face as she remembers loosing comrades while in the Guard. A moment passes and she shakes her head and squares her shoulders, a look of determination on her features. "What do you all think?" she asks, looking at Tuk, Caesar, Caoilfhinn, and Howell.

Howell nods his head in approval. "Those sound like good ideas to me" he replies.

Caoilfhinn pulls up short when all the others stop moving. She listens to them, not really sure why the order they walk makes any difference but, being new as she is to actually traveling in a group, she decides to go along with their suggestions. When they get to the idea of where they are going she keeps quiet, she's tagging along after all. But when the suggestion is brought up to go after the goblins she can't help but finally speak up, "Why do you want to kill the goblins? I mean, they aren't very nice, but you killed the ones that attacked you before, why go after ones that haven't attacked you at all? That seems like just asking for trouble."

Raven looks at Caoilfhinn and nods. "Ordinarily I would agree with you. I'm even debating with myself as we speak but...I can't help feeling that they are going to be chasing us anyway, no matter what we do. If that is the case then it seems to me that it would be better to seek them out on our terms and take them out in small numbers at a time rather than risk having them come at us by surprise in numbers we can't hope to fight off."

Tuk listens as the big folk talk but when the talk of actively hunting the goblins just because they might chase them was to much. In a firm voice, Tuk states his opinion "No. I will not hunt goblins just because of them maybe hunting us. I believe in the cycle of life and hunting them for no more reason than they might and yes I said might come after us is wrong. Now if we were going to hunt an animal for food, sure no problem. If we have to kill them to defend ourselves, ok I can agree to that. To just hunt because of a maybe, no that is wrong".

Tuk put the waterskin seal in harder than needed then steps out of the stream "I say we deal with them as needed but not to hunt them just to hunt them. I refuse to stoop to their vileness" and looks at the group with a angry frown that goes with the way his hair is standing up. It reminds people of a small puppy that is growling while it is upset.

(At this point it's about 3:30 p.m.)

As the companions talked, the normal sound of insects grew slightly louder, gaining volume as time passed. It was now abnormally loud, even disrupting the conversation.