Unanswered Questions

As the morning sun rose in the sky, Fe'male's heart sank. The scout had not returned.
As unwise as it was to venture forward into the unknown dangers ahead, maybe they could sneak in and figure out what happened. The human seemed especially opposed to the idea, but he followed along as the only alternative was to be left alone in the woods.

They slowly crept through the forest as quiet as possible. The human jumping as each branch cracked under Fe'male's foot. Finally they heard the sounds of a camp. Carefully they approached and tried to flank the area, looking for any sign of Lume the scout.

As they scanned the camp, she saw a familiar face. Fe'male's face must have looked ablaze, the bronze scales shining with anger. The tiefling was sitting on a bench with his hand on the back of their companion, Lume.  He was laughing.

Fe'male stood tall and entered the camp, taking the hobgoblin guards slightly by surprise. She bounded towards the tiefling. Luckily, the paladin spoke first with remarks of relief for Lume's sake. Fe'male stood by his side and did not take her eyes off of the tiefling. She heard little of the explanation of how Lume came to be so drunk or how the tiefling had arrived before them. Her head swam with rage.

She forced her emotions to subside just in time to hear the paladin agree to the hobgoblin's generous offer of staying the night, but just a single night. They were given directions towards the nearest town, only 2 days walk from here. If the innkeepers family had been in trouble out this way, it is likely that they would head for that town to seek aid.

Fe'male found time before they retired to sleep to make mention of her distrust for the tiefling. During the day the party was witness to mourners who lamented over a lost boy. Fe'male could only assume it was the same boy that the tiefling was 'nursing' to health. Why would he come and not mention the boy? What plans did he have for the hobgoblins? for themselves?

Second-Guessing

They sit in the woods in silence, waiting for any sound. It had only been hobgoblin youngling splashing in the river, but where there are youngling ...
Fe'male suggested they send a scout. Lume, the half-elf, was the lightest on his feet so he took off into the forest as the sun began to set. Fe'male watched him weave through the trees until she lost sight of him.
In battle Fe'male would have sent a scout without hesitation. She was not these men's commander. Instead, she was an equal and did not feel that ordering a man into the forest to face a war party was her command to make.
The paladin took the first watch.


Fe'male saw her brother. He was right in front of her. 
He was yelling orders, but she could not hear his voice. All was silent. 
She was on the shoreline, surrounded by dragonborn soldiers. 
She turned to her brother again. He was clad in battle-ready armor, weapon raised.
He faced ahead and made the call to charge.  Something was wrong.
He ran ahead. Fe'male tried to keep up. 
She struggled to run but everything around her moved forward faster.
Fear and anxiety washed over her as the army began to enter the mountain pass ahead.
The entire army had entered the pass and she was still struggling to run.
Finally she entered the pass but to her horror all she saw was slain dragonborn.
She ran past them searching for her brother.
In the distance, she saw his armor leaning against a tree. His back was to her.

"It's your watch" the paladin woke Fe'male.
It was not hard to stay awake. Her heart was pounding.
The scout had not returned during the paladin's watch. Surely the camp had not been very far. The youngling group would not venture out too far from camp. Fe'male tried to decide if the anxiety she felt now was truly about the scout's well-being.

Wasting Time

Perhaps it was fate that these four were at the inn when it became obvious that the lady innkeeper was in a bit of trouble. The paladin, Roland, would say it was Avandra looking over them.  The human, Merghast, would say he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Fe'male believed that while this was a diversion from her main task of returning to her own family, that reuniting this family in need was a worthy diversion.

Now, faced with the grim discovery before them, had the whole thing just been a waste of effort?

However, this was just one body. If it truly was the innkeeper's husband or son, where was the other? Surely the only need to separate would have been injury. The survivor should have headed back to the inn for help. After a quick but thorough search of the surrounding woods, it was decided that they would have to continue searching. Perhaps there is another close house that could know what came of these men.

As they ventured forward they could hear a strange sound on the wind. It sounded of splashing water and voices. Fe'male smelled something on the air.  She would have to stay as the rest ventured quietly ahead to scout it out. Merghast chose to stay as well, so she wouldn't have to stand alone. He was definitely not afraid of the unknown possible stampede of strange animals ahead.