High-Haven Farm

[dainul]

The sun was finally rising after a long, tense night. Where, when Velnashar last saw this land, it was a fertile farm, just over half the fields were scorched black under the morning sun, and two of the barns were likewise destroyed. Sergeant Althar walked slowly through the wreckage he and his men had spent so long over night trying to protect, and stops at the line that marks the edge of the destruction, where they had finally managed to stop the fire. If truth be told, Althar had been quite suspicious of joining Erathil, but when Warryn had offered his people sanctuary, it seemed only right to continue to protect his people here. The idea of marching to war under the High Elves' banner was not an appealing thought, but...

He turns his back on the destruction and looks across the farmland before him, allowing a sense of satisfaction to push his exhaustion aside. This, he could live with. Then he turns back to his men, waiting patiently by the edge of the destruction, and particularly to the shadow elf scout who'd been only slightly more use than the pair of fire elves last night. "Well?"

"Definitely deliberate, sir. Some beast-kin, by the tracks, rat or mouse, but the fire wiped out most of it."

Sergeant Althar's expression, always neutral, became positively rigid at this news. The destruction of the farm meant less food for the people of the new Kingdom, and any fool could see that it wouldn't be the army who'd starve. This 'Clandestine' was a clear threat to his people. "We search the area. Thoroughly. I want to have something to report on those vandals by this evening."

From the shadows and cover offered by one of the surviving fields, a pair of small eyes cautiously watch the soldiers.

[Litzana]

There were a lot of things that captured the young Bard's attention. Sometimes she couldn't walk down a hallway without some elf carelessly saying something as she passed... Sometimes useful, sometimes not, but she collected these tidbits of information, hoarding them away in case they happened to be helpful in a situation.
Of course, at the moment, her mind was set on finding out about the 'Clandestine'. That group of rebels that defied Erathil's rule.
So when she heard of the attack on High Haven farm, she'd leapt at the chance to go.
Well.
She wasn't actually supposed to be there, which was why she was hiding in a shadow at the edge of the field, straining her pointed ears for any useful information.

(Shadowkin's active atm)

[Litzana]

[dainul]

Litzana remains still for a long while as the dozen soldiers fan out under the earth-elf's orders and go over the ground carefully and intently. Well, apart from the fire elves, who seem more interested in chasing imagined movement than searching for more subtle clues. She can't be sure when she looses track of the Shadow elf, but after a while, she notices that he has disappeared, either out of sight or into the shadows himself. There is a muttering from the elves a few times, but usually too far away to hear. What she does pick up is something along the lines of "Look at this," from another earth elf.

It seems she will have to either wait until they leave and case the place without them, reveal herself, or try to sneak closer to their search and risk being spotted if she wants useful information.

[Litzana]

Brown eyes scan the area from her hiding place, looking for anything that could be useful. There's a sticky moment when she has to recast her Shadowkin, and she decides she needs to move from her current location.
Her ears prick up at the Earth Elf's words, and she moves as close to him as she can without breaking her spell or stepping out the shadow.

[dainul]

As the morning continues to extend, the length of the shadows shortens, though there is still enough for her to move relatively freely for now, Litzana knows this will not last forever. Closer to the two earth elves, she can see that they are looking over a broken glass bottle of some sort. The Sergeant straightens up and calls out "Sassaril!" in a voice so souddenly loud it is quite startling. A few moments later, a shifting of the bushes turns into the shadow elf Litzana had seen earlier.

He moves over and peers at the bottle, then carefully picks it up and sniffs at it. "Oil. Probably what they used to start the fire. Ground's too wet for it to have started unaided."

[Litzana]

Oil? She filed this piece of information away for later. She was stood on the edge of the shadow she was hiding in, and took a couple of steps back, as quietly as she could.

[dainul]

The shadow elf looks up as Litzana moves, and peers in her direction, though he doesn't seem to see her. He sniffs, shrugs and looks back to his Sergeant. "Anything else, sir?"

"No, carry on." The earth elf returns to looking around the area while the shadow elf melds back into the shadows.

[Litzana]

She turns round and walks back into the center of the shadow, chewing her lip and thinking. The only thing I've got from this lovely escapade is that they used manual means, and not magic, to light the fire. Nothing on where they could be, or what they're doing now. I'm beginning to think it was a waste of time.

[dainul]

Behind her, the earth elves resume their undramatic search of the farm, as yet unaware of their unseen observer./