The Next Game Master Pt. 01

The cleric nodded. They continue down the path, "Bears like to pounce on one and beat it until it is dead. If it is chasing you get into the thicker underbrush. It will snap 8-inch trees and keep going."

Flar asked, "Why am I with you?"

Raven smiled, "You do not have to be faster than the bear. Just faster than everyone else he is chasing."

Flar looked alarmed. The guys chuckled. "The truth, in your armor you are too noisy for the woods. If anyone should not be here it is me."

They followed the trail to the right. The ladies crossed the clearing and got into the woods. They continued forward. The wind was not in their favor. Raven pointed to a big tree, "Flar behind that."

Raven had the two tanks flanking as they went another 100 feet.

He pointed to another tree. "Flar move up. It knows we are here."

He traveled another 50 feet. There was a giant tree in this clearing and there was not a scratch upon it. Raven looked around this clearing. He signaled everyone to hold. He checked out all of the trees along this section. He traveled the entire perimeter of the circle.

He put his bow to his side and pointed down, "Come this way and sheath your weapons. Lirana, walk this clearing and tell me what is odd about it. Look at the tracks and the damage to the trees."

She walked around and came back over, "None of these trees show any damage. The tracks always go to the right of the tree."

Raven nodded and called out, "To the Druid who maintains this circle and watches these woods we would like to talk with you. We wish to reach an agreement in regard to this gigantic grizzly bear that we know is here. I am a ranger. I go by the name Raven. He snapped his fingers and the raven came down and sat on his shoulder.

They stood for another 10 minutes and a woman came out of the woods. He put his arrow away and slung his bow. She walked forward and he took a couple of steps toward her.

"We apologize for intruding into your sanctuary. We saw the carcass of a dead dragon had been taken and the prints of the bear. You provide guidance and protection for the bear if I am correct. As such I wanted to let you know our intention was self-preservation. We do not desire to fight the bear. We just wanted to safeguard the people we are guarding. As well as the horses we have with us."

She looked at Raven, "You left an ax in a tree back there."

He nodded, "It would be dark or close to it. That tree can be used to smoke meat. We do not hunt to excess but with the war, the 2 fire drakes, and the dragon which attacked us, hunting has been sporadic. The last wagon in our group is set up with portable smokers.

Smoking the meat uses less wood and keeps us fed when hunting was bad. We are running hickory at the moment. Mesquite grows like a weed. Pruning a trunk from a Mesquite tree does not impact the woods like overhunting. If I had been able to find Mesquite at the time, I would have gotten that instead of hickory because it takes longer to recover."

She walked around and looked at our group, "You lead this group?"

Raven smiled, "I help to guide others along my travels. In the wilderness, I am at home. The city our Paladin Marshal. If it is underground then our dwarven cleric knows the environment better. To put one person in charge when we do not know where we will have to go would not work. I guide.

The agreed-upon leader of these guards is the Paladin Marshal. Even I have had to stop him once from charging after those 2 fire drakes. We sent 6 horses down that road. We had captured them from assassins the night before. I went through and found the 6 in the worst shape. I tied there harness together to keep them on the road. To ensure they did not go running into the woods.

Forcing the drakes to do more damage would have been bad. The drakes killed the 6, ate 2 and carried the other 4 away. Our wagons were forced to stop for the night to repair the road. To safeguard the horses and wagons. Else we would have moved on. To fix the damage I pointed out exactly 4 pine trees that could be taken down without clear-cutting the area. I know pine is fast growing. It has been called a weed at times as well.

These are being buried into the road so we can leave this area. This group is on a mission that is 2 provinces away. A wizard is creating abominations. We all have an interest in stopping that from happening."

She looked at Raven, "What do you ask of me?"

Raven looked at her, "We plan to depart tomorrow afternoon when the road is repaired.

I will have our people stay out of the forest on this side of the road. I will go hunting in the morning as I normally do for our group. I will hunt on the other side where the dragon resided. When we leave, we will take that one trunk of mesquite I have marked. Any game we do catch will be clean and gutted near where the bear found the dragon.

We will leave those innards and excess meat there for when we leave. We always try and leave some of them back for the carnivores like my raven who enjoys quail innards best. We are not trophy hunters. We will turn in confirmation of kills like the dragon we took down.

We reused feathers for my arrow, as well as the sinew. I scavenge what I can from broken arrows to not need to make new until they are needed. Any skins are repurposing to make things like portable smokers."

She looked at Raven, "I would like to see these portable smokers you keep talking about."

Raven nodded, "May I take the trunk of mesquite as we travel back?"

She nodded, "It is better than taking hickory."

They turned and walked back out and chopped down the one trunk of mesquite.

They drug it out with us to the road.

Raven looked at Gardner, "Can you take this up to the first wagon and start putting it into one-foot logs. He nodded and Raven looked at the cook, "We have a guest."

Raven stepped up into the wagon and offered her a hand and she accepted it. He pulled back the bedrolls and showed her, "We even repurposed bedrolls, shields, and armor into the design.

That keeps any logs from catching the bottom of the wagon on fire. The one set of logs underneath each one is a precaution if a couple of these support straps break. The baskets up top where we put the meat are chainmail shirts that were taken from bandits, cleaned, and then setup. As you can see the size of the shields are relatively small and wood is fed in through the sleeves.

The bottom is open for air to come in and there are gaps up top to let some smoke out to keep the fires burning. When they are not in use, like now, there is nothing burning in them. This is a much better solution than previous wagon teams have used. Spending extra days smoking meat and hunting an area. Because their trip is now longer for having to stop. I came up with the design and the whole crew worked to make it happen."

She nodded, "You do not have a lot of excess food."

Raven smiled, "No, as I stated the war, drakes, and the dragon curtails any decent hunting. We have dry rations as well but prefer to strike a balance."

She nodded and he helped her off the wagon. Raven looked at her, "I will talk with the Wagon Master. He can direct his men. We are guards for his group but we want to be sure if they have to get up to piss, they do it on the other side. Again, I have been the only one hunting for this group for our entire journey."

She smiled finally, "Keep them in line Raven. The bear will not bother you."

Raven bowed to her, "Stay safe and be well."

She walked into the underbrush and just disappeared. Raven looked at Marshal and he nodded, "Sometimes it is best to know when not to fight."

Raven nodded, "She is likely not the only druid but one who represented them."

He grabbed his horse and Marshal got on his, "You are right about one thing. This area is foreign to me. I am more at home in a city or town."

They rode forward and found the Wagon Master and outlined the terms reached with the Druid. He nodded, "Well at least nobody got hurt."

Raven sighed, "You need to let your people know, do not go into those woods to even take a piss. Stay out of them until we are done with the road and away from here. I will hunt in the morning on the other side where they can piss."

They chuckled. "I will try and resupply us. She seemed impressed by our smokers and the fact that we were not carrying a lot of meat."

He sighed, "Druids can make our lives a nightmare."

Raven cut him off, "It is the encroachment into these woods that is a nightmare! Failing to strike a proper balance. Having a Ranger Scout will help you to avoid a lot of those pitfalls. Especially if they stay aware of what is normal and what is not. That saved lives tonight. Ours and yours."

He nodded, "I forget sometimes about your fondness for certain things a certain way."

Raven smiled. "Those things have saved your life on this trip more than once."

He laughed, "Yes they have."

Raven looked at him, "I am going to put my raven on a camp watch. Right here on the road and sleep under a wagon for tonight."

He nodded, "We are breaking into dry rations tonight as well."

Raven smiled. "I made sure all of these guys had two weeks' worth for three meals a day before we left. We have only been getting into them thus far for the mid-day meal."

He laughed, "We had the whole trip planned for dry rations. The guys have enjoyed your hunting on this trip."

Raven nodded, "I just wish the conditions were not as bad as they have been for the last couple of days. How many days until our destination?"

He calculated, "Two and a half days."

Raven nodded, "A couple of deer and a few turkeys could cover us nicely. We will see what I get."

He looked around, "My guys are watching things tonight. If you want your people to be on watch Marshal you call them out."

Marshal smiled, "I will be up with first watch and Gardner will do second. The others need to recover spells and the like."

Raven looked around and found his bedroll already laid out under the second wagon. His 2 ladies waited for him. He tied off his horse. "Scout camp." The bird flew off and into the trees. Raven got the saddle and saddle blanket off. He crawled under the wagon and the ladies looked at him and smiled. Then Shia threw back her blanket and she was naked.

He looked over and so was the other one. He slid out of his armor and clothes and asked them, "How are you going to keep from waking the whole camp?"

They shrugged Ersa looked at Raven, "Did not care."

He smiled. "We are under a wagon so ladies ride away but whoever is riding is going to be in a perpetual kiss with me."

Ersa threw a leg over and she grabbed the underside of the wagon. She slid all the way down and moaned, "I wanna scream!"

He laid back and grabbed her tits while Shia waited her turn. They had this planned. Ersa started riding him hard and fast which caused the wagon to rock. She kept it up. He focused on holding back that first climax and for once succeed until she screamed out.

He let the jets of cum fly into her and she howled. She actually howled. She came down and kissed him, Then she slid over and Shia slid her cunt down onto his cock and she already started wailing. He decided to send her into overdrive and started playing with her clit. She thrashed and gyrated over his cock. She screamed and came again.

She repeating this for a good 20 minutes and finally, she clamped down. She let out an ear-splitting scream and he shot a load into her cunt. She caught her breath and continued until he stopped coming. The Wagon Master knocked on the wagon. Raven asked, "Who is it?"

He heard chuckling from around the camp. The Wagon Master chuckled, "The representative for the rest of the camp. Now that they have gotten both of them off can we call it a night?"

Raven smiled, "Just as soon as they finish cleaning up, we will be off to sleep. The ladies slid their asses out from under the wagon and sucked Raven clean. He got dressed and he looked at them, "Don't forget the other two locations."

They slide back under the wagon. He stepped out finished getting his clothes on.

The Wagon Master stood there, "They always like that?"

He shrugged, "That was actually pretty tame. I only came twice. The first night the 3 of us hooked up I came 5 times. Then one blew me in the morning followed by Lirana hopping on for a ride. I have fucked all 3 of them. Plan to do so again time permitting. Just not tonight."

He laughed, "I am going to lay down."

Raven heard clapping from around the camp as the ladies moaned into each other's cunts. He cleaned up his bedroll and slid back onto it. "Come here my little minxes."

He whispered, "We get to the next inn and we will have a fourth joining us for the evening. She is not in the party or the caravan. I was just told to arrange it with you 2."

Shia looked at him simply held his hands together as if praying. She looked at him, "Really?"

He nodded and Ersa was wide-eyed, "No turning that down."

He smiled, "Not that you would even want too." He realized at that moment that he actually loved this goddess. As hard as he tried not to, her beauty and actions had won over his heart. He still had one concern. He saw a lot of Kerria in Ersa. He did not think she had been treated fairly in the gear coming toward the party. He wanted to address the issue.

They giggled and he pulled their naked bodies next to him. He was off to sleep again. This time he found himself in a forest near a clearing with a pool and a waterfall. She was in the pool naked.

He looked at her, "The ladies are looking forward to the encounter in the bedroom. This has been a very refreshing game so far. I respect what you are doing and what you have done for me."

She giggled, "They made enough noise tonight. I am happy to hear you are enjoying being in my world."

He laughed, "They could have made more."

She nodded, "They wanted too. You know you leveled again. I threw 3 of my rarer encounters on that road at you and you nailed them all. Let us start with the fire drakes."

He looked at her, "I knew what the Paladin's reaction was going to be. I also knew that it was suicide. None of the fighter types picked up any ranged; something he has to address at the next inn. Then the horses, considering I tried to give away half of those horses the night before and he would not take them. We gave away about 20% of the spares to the drakes.

Feeding time at the zoo. I wanted to see if Marshal could come up with the answer. Not quite there yet but he did ask for advice which was a start. I had to get him to see his job to fight evil is one thing. His honor to protect the caravan was another."

She smiled, "The dragon."

He sighed, "I put an arrow into it and then moved with my sword forward from the direction it had come from based upon the raised ground. Trying to see if the others could finish it off. Then it was off to the races as it took off. I pinned it and the barbarian took its head. I knew where she was and if I stopped its momentum she could get in a big hit. Dragon's trap the fuck out of there layers. Fact, they hate intruders.

Sending in Shia to deal with the traps was the best solution. Then her and Flar gathering the stuff."

She looked at Raven, "You explained well to the others what you did not see that you should have seen. Those things that were unusual. Pulling everyone into the clearing was a ballsy move."

He shook his head, "Lirana explained what she saw, I told her to look. I did not explain it to them, I had Lirana do it from her observations. Druids do not want to despoil the sanctity of their temples to the gods any more than a cleric would.

They will typically listen to reason if you approach them with logic, your concerns, and put your weapons away. The bear was her companion, lover, herself, a sacred animal, a werebear druid society, it did not matter. Werebears run good-aligned. Normally. We just needed to reach a short-term solution with them."

She looked at Raven, "There were only 2 candidates to be the father."

He nodded, "I know that is why there are no half-dwarves all over the place. The dwarf didn't know that."

She laughed, "So you did it to scare the shit out of him."

He smiled, "Partially to motivate him into doing what I asked. Partially to see how well he knew the race and class he was playing. That is part of the problem they are not all playing characters that they know.

The wizard and cleric are the most obvious. Gardner, Lirana, and Marshal like to play it up close. Shia has a bow now but does not use it very often. She prefers her throwing a dagger. If the paladin were a cavalier paladin I could understand. The wizard though is another matter.

The one thing that has been really missing though in terms of gear is wands. Our poor evoker. She is so underwhelmed right now because she has a slow firing crossbow. You have provided gear for everyone but her; even with the dragon's lair. I looked it over and you have handicapped her.

She is getting really good with that crossbow when she can be there to engage. Often the daytime encounters the party is split. Do you really want to test her? Not to kill Ersa please, I have worked hard to get them this far. Have an encounter like a pack of wolves attacking the horses in the back while everyone is working on the road except for a couple of characters.

You can always have the druids call them off. The wolves just did not get the memo."

She laughed, "You want them to see they can succeed on their own. Especially Ersa."

He nodded, "That is one goal. I want you to see how much she has improved. You have obviously not seen it hold her back like this. Once Marshal saw he could lead a small set of the group he had more confidence. He made the call to go after the bear. I just stopped it after I figured out what was going on. After Lirana noted the oddities so she learned and explained it to the others.

I did not tell her what was wrong just where to look. Gardner is the hardest one I have seen not engaging; at least not with me around. He did well with the Paladin in that fight. He watches his back constantly. He took down one of the eight bandits coming toward me.

Else I have not seen much of Gardner's combat skills or Flar's skills. Yet they have gear suited to there characters. You have not been fair with Ersa. These characters do not need to know the numbers but they should understand the description of their abilities. Like the arcane focus and the wizard.

She would have done better as a sorceress. More castings with fewer spells. When characters have this much trouble and are struggling, they should be able to access the relevant description of the ability.

Even if it is in a personal journal that helps them outline the character. Not every character and not every time. Just when they have been struggling as they have been. Speaking of which we are way behind on adding spells to my spellbook."

She smiled, "What did you have in mind."

He looked at her, "First level, SnapDragon fireworks, and feather fall. Second levels scorching ray, mirror image, and invisibility."

She laughed, "SnapDragon, I cannot wait to see what you do with that one."

He smiled, "When and if you die and start at a higher level do you start with the gear you had at the time you entered the inn?"

She smiled, "Yes, with the exceptions we already talked about on the sword and armor. You have your point-blank shot now."

He nodded, "Next level my metamagic I will take Quicken spell."

She looked at him, "You will not be able to use it for some time."

He nodded, "I just want it in there. I have one required magical feat and that is the one I want. I will need it later on for some of the crazy things I have planned. If the situation is right."