A Simple Walk Almost Turns Into A Bad Day
Oz rarely walks the dirt road anymore but today he wanted to go visit a friend in Ferravale, Oakenpaw, and before it got cold weather.
What the badger doesn’t know is he is being watched by a wildcat, watching his every move for the past half an hour. With him is 5 rats and he singles for them to wait.
Patchfur is also here, back to his watching the roads sometimes and wears a hooded cloak to hid his ID, he peers out and whispers” That’s the badger from the abbey, I don’t think he is a threat to nothing, he’s also blind”
Oz is alert and may be blind but his hearing and sense of smell is very high, he stops as he listens thinking he has hear something and then proceeds on, now at the half way point of the Redwall Abbey and Ferravale.
Morgan gives a single and the five rats surround the badger and then he slips out as well, “What do we have here, traveling the road, you know that’s not always wise and” He glances around “Being alone as well.”
Patchfur smirks as he comes out “Yeah, alone is good for us, not so for you?”
Oz recognizes the voice “Patchfur, interesting that you’re here and you seem to have a friend with you today.” He grips his staff a little tighter and listens to all sounds around him and pays attention to what direction the wind is blowing.
The wildcat simple smiles and his tail rises, which singles the rats to attack, not to kill but what they usually do and that’s rob and maybe injure also. They are quick on their foot paws and one has a dagger.
Patchfur watches for now, seemly bored as he wanted a little bit more excitement than this.
Oz narrows his eyes and grips his staff, the rats soon find out it isn’t just a walking staff as he slams one in the head and another gets a good whack in the chest. He jumps back and starts twirling the staff faster and faster. He hasn’t fought in a while but he has been practicing with his staff lately, before and after the abbey was temporally taken over.
The rats gasp, the one head in the head falls over and the other gets the wind knocked from them as the last three back off and look at each other, Morgan growls. “Attack him already!” They go in for attack and one tries to sneak up behind him with a dagger.
Patchfur blinks and rubs his eyes as he watches this, yeah he is seeing this correctly and frowns. ‘How is he doing that!”
Oz manages to duck one dagger, only just barely and moves his staff around and knocks another rat out, so far he has only knocked out two and one will have a serious headache when they awaken, He listens closely as he twirls his staff, “Your helpers are loud and..” He slams his staff into one sneaking behind him, “And fail to be downwind”
The wildcat growls deep “This is why I ..HATE STRIPEDOGS!!” The rat behind the badger groans and falls unconcious, and the other two are unconcious leaving just 2 of the 5 rats still in front of the badger. The wildcat then pulls out a long sword, “I say game over”
Patchfur starts to cackle with laughter at this, “Yeah..kill it”
Oz hears the blade being drawn and keeps a flat tone, “It’s unwise to use such language sir cat and yes I know you’re a cat and judging by the growl, a wildcat most likely.” He stays alert and somewhat calm as he listens to the wildcat’s voice and where Patchfur and the other 2 rats are.
Morgan keeps a close eye on Oz and nods for the two rats to attack him. One draws a dagger and the other goes to kick him in the leg. The wildcat waits to attack.
Patchfur smirks, he just watches as he is more interested in any valuables the badger may have.
Oz steps spins his staff and ends up making one rat lose a couple teeth when the staff slams into the rats face, he tenses up when kick connects with his knee and growls a little as he moves back almost tripping when he does so.
Morgan shakes his head, ”Idiots..” He mutters, more to himself than anyone else. He goes to circle the badger as he holds the sword; “Back off” He tells the one rat and Patchfur as well, “I can handle a badger, especially a blind one”
Rayen happens to be coming up the road about then and looks over towards the two beasts and frowns at any possible fight that could start, she frowns more at the word blind, “Well this could end badly” She mutters to herself quietly and selects an arrow and aims towards the wildcat, her hood stays up as she goes to fire.
Patchfur grins and seems ready to do a happy dance, “Can I watch..please?”
Oz grips his staff tighter again and stands ready for the wildcat, he relies on his hearing and sense of smell to locate the wildcat but not knowing when something could happen still worries him some.
Unlike the foolish rats he knows to try and stay downwind, he is an assassin after all, he gets a little closer as he circles around and then suddenly rushes forwards with a sword move that is very hard to block, he grins at almost victory when a pain enters his shoulder and he yells in pain, stopping right before the blow would of hit.
Rayen watches and steps closer staying in the tree line of the woods and being as silent as possible, she has been trained to step softly.
Patchfur blinks and looks around, “When arrows fly from nowhere I leave, this rat not dumb!” He then disappears into the woodlands, most likely back to base camp.
Oz backs up and bumps into a tree, he rubs his head and frowns not knowing what’s going on now, he does know the blade came real close to his neck, as he backed off he swings his staff in a large arch forwards.
Morgan growls, he growls even louder as the staff hits him in the snout and causes blood to start flowing. He already has blood flowing from his shoulder and an arrow stuck in it..”Something DIES! I don’t care What it is!!” His five rats, 4 of which start to slowly wake up and one that’s still awake is beside him.
Rayden speaks “Wow, your like just so full of anger huh big guy, maybe you should calm ya self.” She moves and makes some noise on purpose and throws a rock further away, she speaks again after a while, “Why you want something ta die so much, I know..” Suddenly an arrow fires and purposes lands in the neck of the only rat he has there, well that’s awake anyhow, ”There,ya happy big guy, you said you didn’t care so there you go,ya welcome”
Oz tilts his head trying to locate the vixen, he is now turned around and has no clue what direction is which right now.
The wildcat is not concern with Oz right now, he holds his blade and glares at the trees, “Come Out!..Face me!” He yells.
Rayden tosses an apple at the back of the wildcat’s head and quickly moves,” Seems you need to find whatever healer ya need, that arrow wound looks nasty, so does the nosebleed..” She slips behind the confused Oz and without a warning grabs his arm to yank him into woods, ”Come on before Mr. grumpy pants decides to kill us both.”
Morgan hisses loudly when the rat, one of his best fighters falls over dead, not to add the apple hitting him. He spins around and his eyes flash pure hate when he sees the badger gone, he sways some from blood loss and sits down as one of the rats tends to his wound and yanks the arrow out, that causes the wildcat to yell out in pain and pass out, the rat finishes tending to him and it would seem the wildcat will be alright but few live very long after managing to get a good shot on this wildcat, just more to add to his you die list.
Oz decides to trust the vixen, least for now. He holds his staff and lets her lead him elsewhere, “Where are we going?” He asks “And do you know that wildcat?”
Rayen walks along a short while and stops, “Here sit on the log and just a campsite and do I know the cat, nope.” She sits down, “He was going to totally kill you, I mean fight a blind beast that’s just wrong.”
Oz sits down and sniffs the air, he listens and then says, “I may be blind but I am not totally helpless, I do thank you for helping me, it does seem you saved my life. Still I was on my way to Ferravale and now I am a bit turned around.”
Rayen sighs “Sorry on getting ya turned around there woodlander.”
Oz frowns, he stays polite, “Its Oz..not woodlander, and who are you miss?”
Rayen nods “Nice to meet you Oz, I am Rayen. You can trust me not to harm you or kill you. I am sorry no clue where Ferravale is, I do know a large Red fortress is south, maybe 1/3 a day’s walk.”
Oz nods “That is Redwall Abbey, my home and Ferravale is ½ day North of it up the road and then west of the bridge.”
Rayen nods “Oh well the bridge is fairly close, but I say wait for that wildcat and the rat patrol calm down, not to worry.”
Oz doesn’t look worried, but he does seem a little annoyed at the vixen but she may have a point, it would be best to wait till the rats and Morgan are further out of the nearby area before they head to Ferravale which he can only hope is close by.
--This happens a couple hours later when Oz finds a hare in the woods and the hare wants to know why Oz is feeling trees and walking around them for:P—
Oz sighs and tilts his head towards the hare "Beside moss grows on the north side of a tree, and if I find it I will know directions, first the rats and then your friend got me all turned around"
The hare nods “If ya say so wot, I gotta go find my friend” He heads off .
Lee is making his way south along the dirt road with his family, back to Redwall. "Ahhh, it'll be good ta see 'ome again, right me love?" He hugs Streamheart as she nods. "Yes, it will."
Oz grumbles, hearing voices he grips his staff and follows the sound, he smiles as he recognizes the voices heading their direction, still staying alert at the same time.
Lee has not yet spotted Oz as he smiles at young Konrad. "We should get there at around nightfall if we keep up our current pace."
Oz is not too close yet, he slowly gets out of the woods and closer to the dirt road, but it does take a little time as he wants to avoid trees, which is hard in the woods but he has his staff to help avoid them, sadly he misses the tree root and falls forward with a whoa, he catches himself with his paw and goes to rub the knee that hit the tree root, "Why is it/always/ that knee."
Lee rounds a bend in the road, still chatting with his wife. Konrad skips ahead a little ways, but Streamheart calls out, "Don't go too far, Konrad!"
Oz stands up slowly and dusts himself off, he hears the otters very well now but he is a lot closer to Konrad than Lee and Streamheart.
Konrad sees Oz, and runs toward him, calling out, "Papa Oz! Papa Oz!"
Lee sees his son run off into the trees suddenly, and goes to follow, yelling, "Konrad, come back 'ere!"
Oz is lucky very close, well to Konrad anyways, and waits till he is closer and goes ahead and knells down to his level , "You should stay close to your dad Konrad." He listens to any other sounds as he slowly stands holding the dibbun, "Also not good idea to yell too loudly, bad beasts may be close by"
Lee comes running up, panting lightly. "Oz?!? Wot are ye doin' out 'ere in the woods? Shouldn't ye be at the Abbey?" He frowns. "Nothin' bad 'as 'appened, I hope..."
Oz shakes his head "To the abbey, no...I was simply on my way to visit Oakenpaw and run into some trouble, got turned around afterwards." He sighs "There is some trouble, some group of thieves or robbers or something been on the roads and one was in the abbey, they are no longer in the abbey now thank goodness."
Lee sighs as Streamheart approaches. "A thief, *inside* the abbey? 'Ow on earth... Oy, I can't even leave for a couple o' weeks without somethin' 'appenin'..."
Oz nods, "Yes" He still holds Conrad, "And they attacked Lacota and may have Leon, not sure on the having Leon but he hasn’t been seen for a couple days." He doesn't mention the novice and has yet to learn about the rat wanting Zork dead.
Lee shakes his head. "Attacked the Friar? Taken the healer? Why did no beast send me a message? It was no secret I was at Camp Willow..."
Oz says, "I am unsure, I thought one would of been sent. Lacota was passed out but is awake now. I am unsure what all happen as I was not in the room at the time."
Lee hmms, nodding. He looks up at the sky. "Tell me more, but we should get moving... It will be dark before we know it, and if there are bandits about, I'd rather not be out on th' road at night."
Oz nods "Sounds good and the abbey is closer than Ferravale now I am thinking, let’s go"
Lee helps Oz back to the road. Streamheart smiles. "Hello Oz."
Oz smiles "Hello Streamheart, I am glad you and Lee and the family are safe and doing ok"
Streamheart nods. "Yes. Camp Willow was very nice... But it was good to get home to Redwall."
Oz nods as he walks beside them, If Konrad wants to stay in his arms that’s fine or just walk beside them if he wants to, "The rats have this wildcat friend as well by the way, I am sorry I can't tell you what he looks like."
Lee frowns. "Any idea how many rats?" Konrad is happy to be carried for now, and he giggles.
Oz hmms"4 maybe..5 if count Patchfur causes a fox killed one rat"
Lee nods, hmming. "This sounds like somethin' I need ta look into..."
Oz nods as he keeps walking, he also listens to sounds "Yes and I am unsure if the fox, a vixen is friend or foe, she may just dislike the wildcat"
Lee nods. "Did ye catch 'er name?"
Oz tries to remember" Rayen"
Lee says, "I'll watch for 'er."
The group makes it back to the abbey safe and sound and decides to rest.
