Heathcliffe quickly replaces his sling with his dagger and scimitar as he treads softly into the brush, hoping to utilize the natural woodland stealth of his people and ambush any of the alerted bandits.

Remaining still and listening, you hear nothing out of the ordinary.  Off in the distance through the woods, as far as you are able to discern due to the echoes, is the occasional snapping of a branch, growing fainter by the minute.

Semina cautiously walks out of the dense woods in front of Naren.  She looks back towards the road to check the activity once more.  'Nothing still' she concentrates.

She decides to walk over to Naren while trying not to block his view,  "I took one down in forest," she whispers. "As far as I can tell no one is coming back for the other who cried out."  

Still on alert, she looks at him for clues to where the others are hiding.  "I am not sure what awaits us next, but if we are to follow rest of the party, then we must make haste," she whispers once more.

Sander lowers his mace and approaches Naren and Semina. Once he reaches them, he softly asks:
"What's the plan? Do we follow Thraim, or wait for him?"

"Maybe it's just instinct, but something tells me we should be on the move." Naren paused, looking a bit worried. "It's too quiet after that shout."

Naren begins cautiously following Thraim.

Realizing that his hidden ambush attempt will be compromised momentarily, Thraim steps out of the brush and starts walking towards the group.

Once he gets near everyone, Thraim says "well, it seems that luck may be on our side this morning, and the shout was not heard.  I think that we should stick to the plan and follow them to the meeting."

"Paranoid though it may be, but after the shout I'd assume they know we're here until we know otherwise."

(Where is everyone, anyway? Anyone got mapping skills?)

Semina moves her head back and forth between Thraim and Naren.  She listens to both suggestion offered to everyone.  

"I don't think you are paranoid Naren," she gazes at him.  "Either way if they heard the scream, then we are sitting ducks even if we find cover.  For they might hunt us down, while we wait" she whispers.

"Sure we can hide and hope to out maneuver them, yet I was at least 15 yards ahead of the scream and heard no one rouse to the bandit's cry," she speaks softly once more.

Semina's head now turns to Thraim.  "Either way, my vote is for following the rest of the party, but I will follow the majority's decision."

(OOC: Semina is standing off to the side of the road, facing Naren.  Sander and Thraim approached us, as far as I can tell from the previous post.  No map making here.)

The woods sound like they have returned to normal while you discuss matters.  Birds screeching occasionally, squirrels chattering to each other in the trees, and a gentle breeze rustles the branches high overhead.

"Everyone mount up and get ready to ride," Thraim says in an authoritative voice.

Turning to Semina, Thraim says to her, "you should find the man you took down and check his possessions.  Maybe he has a missive or document that may provide us a clue about him or his group.  I will search the other body as well."

Thraim walks back over to the body of the bandit and begins to search his body for valuables, information, and clues.  Once he finishes with the body, Thraim tries to loosely conceal the body by pulling it farther off trail and obscuring the body with branches and leaves.

Semina nods at Thraim's request, and pauses for a moment to looks at Naren.  "If you wouldn't mind Naren, when you retrieve your horse will you bring Icerick back with you as well," she says calmly.  "He knows you better then the others and won't throw a fit if you handle him for me," she gently smiles.

Semina begins to head back into the forest towards the body.  She searches the carcass for clues, valuables and any other information about his party and where they were headed.

As soon as she finishes, she will head back to the group, give details of her findings, and mount upon Icerick.

Sander follows Thraim's order and mounts his horse. He then looks around for Heathcliffe.

(Naren gets the horses. Just woke up; can't make that interesting)

Assuming he does not encounter anything nearby, Heathcliffe returns to the others.

(Ok, looks like everyone is mounted up and ready to go, what are you doing next?)