- As the mink rose from the pond, the group attempted to hide with only partial success.  The creature bore down on them, demanding to know who they were and why they were there.  Clove was nearly captured, but in the end the three managed to make their escape.

- Retuning to the Blue Thistle Inn, they found Nendole already tending to the sick mouse, though she didn't seem terribly interested in the moss they'd gathered.  As she tried to leave, Hakett lost his temper and grabbed her, causing her to shriek until his patrol mates freed her.

- Having seen to Tom as much as they could, the patrol left Copperwood heading back to Elmoss.  They hoped to find some sign of Tom's wife Vereena, but none was found.

- When they arrived at Elmoss, they found that the settlement had been "closed" - and was no longer recognizing or allowing entry to Guardmice...

- The patrol headed north in search of the healer-mouse called Nendole.  As they approached the area in which her hut was rumored to reside, they encountered a number of crude, mouse-like totems hanging from the surrounding trees, and Hakett's superstition and believe in the mystical overwhelmed him - causing visual and auditory halucinations of fog and menacing crows.  The noise from his defiant cries attracted the attention of a nearby otter, whom Nipp just barely managed to convince that the armed guardmice would be more trouble than they're worth.

- Clove found the dead stump perched on the riverbank that contained the recluse's hut.  They eventually convinced the eccentric mouse to speak with them, and even got her to begrudgingly agree to help.  She sent them a bit further north to a pond to gather the necessary "springfire moss" - an plant which Nipp had never heard of.

- Locating the pond in a basin near the river, Nipp and Hakett went down to the water's edge to gather the very normal-looking moss, while Clove kept watch from the hilltop.  It wasn't long before she saw the forms of a small band of ferrets making their way through the forest directly toward their location.  More worrying, however, was the large mink now rising out of the water in front of Nipp and Hakett...

- The Patrol entered the settlement of Copperwood and made their way to the Blue Thistle Inn.  Tom's condition had continued to deteriorate, and a faint with a nasty fall rendered him all but unconscious.  Nipp attempted to help the local doctor - a young mouse called Riley - with his care, and had the physician tend to her own wounded leg as well.  Unfortunately, Tom's wife hadn't made it to the inn, much distressing the innkeeper - her brother Bander.

- Meanwhile, Clove and Hacket met with Orpha, a captain for Copperwoods army, and discovered the largest problems currently facing the settlement were the driftwood that had dislodged from a beaver dam upstream and made the harbor and docks all but unusable, and the fact that a large and irritable snapping turtle had taken up residence a little ways downstream.

- While having dinner that evening at the Grainbarrel Tavern, they patrol met up with part of another patrol led by a mouse called Marta.  She was interested to hear about the group's encounter with the ferrets and had Nipp place the location on their map as best she could.  They had come down on Gwendolyn's request to speak with the leaders of the Copperwood army about their current strength and readiness, which they were so far evaluating as mediocre - but the efforts to clear the docks had taken most of their energies.

- The next morning, Riley was waiting for Nipp.  Tom's condition had taken a bad turn in the night and his fever began to spike again.  Riley's efforts were proving ineffective, and Nipp couldn't think of anything else to try herself.  It was then that Elsie, the inn's chambermaid, hesitantly suggested that....maybe they could seek out a mouse called Nendole.  A witch that lived in the forest north of town...

- The massive owl loomed out of the shadows, landing on the ground before them.  It told them it was the hare it was after, and that the mice were free to leave.  Rather than attempt to fight the enormous predator, Nipp tried instead to convince it that the hare had been poisoned by nearby ferrets and that eating it would in turn poison the owl.  The owl seemed disinclined to believe the mouse, but as Nipp continued her insistence, it eventually became unwilling to take the chance.

- Unfortunately, Nipp convinced the owl not to eat the hare before she could direct its attention to the ferrets she knew were nearby, and the owl instead turned on the mice.  Swooping down upon them, it grabbed both Nipp and Clove and began flying off with them.

- With some effort, Clove managed to free herself from its talon, but held on and made a heroic effort to free Nipp as well.  Before she was able to, however, her grip finally failed and she fell back to the forest floor.  Meanwhile, Nipp was able to identify a weak point in the bird's talon, and biting hard into it got the owl to drop her as well.

- Hakett, Tom and the hare began to make their way in the direction the owl had flown and, much to their surprise happened upon Clove and Nipp.  At that moment, however, two of the ferrets from the burrow had caught up with them and were just about to leap onto the group when the owl suddenly swooped down on them from the darkness.

- As the predators struggled with each other, the group made their esape.

- Tom thanked the Guardmice for their aid and asked if they could take him to Copperwood where he hoped his wife was waiting for him.  After 10 days of cautious travel, they arrived...

- Outside, the three had a brief discussion on what to do about the situation.  Hearing something moving clumsily in the wood some distance away, Hakett decided to go investigate while Nipp & Clove decided to sneak in and attempt to free the captured mouse while the ferrets slept.

- Hakett happened upon a hare that had been injured by a ferret's spear.  Unable to help the animal himself, he decided to return with Nipp.  Meanwhile, Nipp and Clove discovered the door to the cell with the mouse was locked and neither were able to pick it open - fortunately, Hakett arrived and told them he thought he could get it open.

- While Haket climbed up and attempted to open the door's lock, Nipp used some oily supplies from her medicine bag to keep the hingest from squeaking.

- After freeing the mouse, they slipped out just as the ferrets began to wake.

- Hakett led them to the injured hare, but just as Nipp began to examine the animal, Hakett spotted a great owl leaving its perch...

- The patrol headed northeast from Elmoss back to the Tomstead with the intention of pursuing the ferrets they believed had been present and at least partially responsible for its destruction.

- Locating an old trail, they followed it for the better part of a day almost due south until they came to the entrance to an old ground hog burrow.  They watched it for some time, seeing one ferret return.  Later that night, they sneaked in and found a crack in the burrow wall leading into what must be a portion of the Darkheater - with a few ferrets inside.  Listening to their conversations, they came to believe that the ferrets had captured and were holding one of the mice...

- Kole ran back to the shop to get Clove as Nip and Hakett engaged the spider and attempted to clear a path between it and the settlement's gate - eventually getting it open and letting the creature out.  After ensuring that a couple of mice who had been bitten had received treatment, Nip returned to the shop to keep an eye on things there, while Kole, Clove, and Hakett went on to find the shopkeepers brother for questioning.

- The found Vessmer, a blacksmith of sorts, in a temporary shop outside his house on the north road. He was friendly enough until he caught sight of Kole and flew into an indignant rage, accusing the latter mouse of cheating in a previous card game.  Clove and Hakett were able to subdue and calm the mouse enough to get some information out of him.  He didn't like Kole but, while he may not have been a master craftsman, he thought his work seemed adequate.

- Upon returning to the shop, the resumed their discussion with Baddisk about Kole's pay.  The shopkeeper tiredly proposed paying Kole half of what he had previously agreed.  Kole wasn't especially pleased with the situation, but decided he was unlikely to get any more and agreed.  Nip wrote copies of the document which each of them signed.

- Having settled the last of their commitments in Elmoss, the group set off for the Tomstead - hoping some trace of where the ferrets had gone remained...

- Nipp attempted to push her hot-tempered tenderpaw out of the common room at Solomon's Inn, but Clove was both stronger and more agile than her mentor.  The drunk mouse Dranden engaged in something of a shouting match with the young mouse about the flaws of the guard wherein it came to light that he held them responsible for the death of his daughter.  As Dranden ran out of energy and Solomon intervened to convince him to go home, the situation dissolved - but there seemed to be a significant number present who shared his thoughts.

- The following morning, the local mouse Kole arrived to take the Guardmice to the shop where he'd done his work and not been paid.  They examined the worksite and spoke with the shopkeeper who told them he had to get his brother Vessmer in to "fix" Kole's poor work.  As they made their way to Vessmer's house to ask him some question, they found that a large wolf spider had emerged in the center of town where preparations for Vernalstar were taking place...

- Hakett, already somewhat tipsy, returned to Solomon's Inn on the east road in Elmoss.  There he amused himself telling tall tales of giant weasels to one of the younger waitstaff, and was asked by a local mouse called Kole if he could help get his pay from a withholding shopkeeper.  Hakett agreed, but the errand would have to wait for the following morning.

- Nip and Clove made their to the upper tree area of the settlement and spoke with members of the Guild of Moss about purchasing a few rolls for the Lockhaven apothecary.  Elmoss' own supply was low so the price was somewhat inflated and in order to purchase most of what they needed, they also agreed to carry additional moss to Sprucetuck.

- Nip and Clove then met back up with Hakett at Solomon's for dinner, where a drunk mouse was beginning to cause trouble for them...

- The patrol did their best to fight off the squirrels who'd set upon the caravan's grain, only losing one back in the process.  They managed also to avoid the attentions of a kestrel.

- The group continued safely to Elmoss, where the city guards seemed less than happy to see them.  Hakett returned to a favorite pub called the Pillbug to do some thinking and take the edge off the journey's trials while Nipp and Clove delievered the mail, secured lodgings, and discovered where to acquire the moss Konrad had sent them for.

- The patrol kept an ear out for the sound of whatever was approaching, but decided not to venture out to investigate.  Whatever it was seemed to pass them by.

- The following day brought the storm Hakett had predicted, and the group holed up and waited it out.  The only incident occurred when a box turtle began making its way toward their shelter.  Nip was able to establish some very rudamentary communication with it and convinced it to look elsewhere.

- The following day, the caravan once again headed out toward Elmoss.  They decided to stop at a local wilderness homestead for wheel repairs, but found that it had been smashed and burned out.  Their investigation turned up skunk tracks and ferret fur.  The patrol discussed splitting up to go after the ferrets, but eventually decided their first duty was to the caravan.  After the wheel was repaired, they set out again for Elmoss.

- The following day as they travelled down the road, Nip noticed they were being tailed by a grey squirrel whom she though might be after the grain in their carts.  As she was relaying this information to Hakett, another squirrel burst onto the path from the right, smashing into one of the carts and tipping it over...

- After yelling to the others about the approaching snake, Clove leapt onto the creature's back.  Hacket and Nip arrived shortly to help, and the three managed to kill the serpent before it could swallow Clove.

- The crew finished work on the bridge the next day and continued on toward Elmoss.  As they went, Hacket noticed the change in the wind and told the group they would need to hole up somewhere because the next day was sure to bring a violent thunderstorm.

- The patrol was unable to find an ideal shelter, but they did find something passable a little ways from the road.  It took some doing, but the group managed to reach relative safety before nightfall.

- Unfortunately, they efforts to get the carts of grain into the shelter had resulted in a broken wheel.  The caravan leader Jayma told them about a homestead a bit further up the road.  If they could rig a usable wheel to get them that far, the carpenter that lived there could probably give them a more permanent solution.

- As the group was winding down for the night, they heard something moving out in the forest - some distance away, but getting closer...

- The patrol spent a few of days at the Sunflower Inn and providing lookouts and support for the spring foragers around Ivydale, encountering a belligerent groundhog and some gathering crows.

- After a few days the grain shipment to Elmoss was ready to depart and the group began its escort to their next stop.  On the second day, they came upon a washed-out bridge that would have to be repaired before they could continue.  While out cutting small saplings for support structures, Clove spotted a water snake closing on the mice's position...

- After speaking to a few mice in town, the patrol set off into the foraging grounds to find the errant mice - two children, Kenley and Todd, belonging to a mouse called Bellatine.

- After talking with a few mice and following tracks some distance along the river away from the grounds where the other foragers had been, they determined that one of the mice must have fallen into the water and been washed downstream.

- The group found them camped under a rock overhang just as a young raccoon was closing in.  Hakett managed to get the beasts attention and led it on a chase away from the others while Nip & Clove prepared to move the freezing children to a new location where they could make a larger fire - this was complicated by the fact that the older mouse, Kenley, appeared to have sustained a concussion and they were not able to rouse her to consciousness.

- The following morning, the mice returned to Ivydale and delivered the unconscious mouse to the local healer.  They touched base again with constable Tanner, the mayormouse Melta, and Ranleff, the quartermaster in charge of the grainstores. 

- The most pressing needs in Ivydale were to get the wall repaired where it had been smashed by a fallen branch, to make sure the mice foraging in the field were safe - especially after some tracks were found - and to escort the first spring shipment of grain from their winter store down to Elmoss.

Having been unable to run my normal, in-person games for some time, and with things looking more and more like it'll be a while before I can, it seemed like it might be time to start a remote-play game.  Since Taylor & Dave had been begging me for some time to run some kind of Mouse Guard game, it sounded like a good choice.

System: Fate Core

Setting: The Mouse Territories

Players: Sheri, Taylor, Dave

Schedule: Remote play, TBD

Characters:

- Hakett [Dave] :: Crabby Patrol Leader

- Nip [Sheri] :: Field Scholar Guardmouse

- Clove [Taylor] :: Battle-ready Tenderpaw

Session Highlights:

Hakett received a mission from the matriarch a bit earlier in the season than is usual.  He and his patrol were to make their way southwest to the fallen settlement of Walnutpeck to look for evidence of new weasel activity.  They'd still need to perform the other expected Guard tasks for this time of year, however, and on their way to the first stop at Ivydale encountered a section of the road that had been completely washed out.  Deciding not to perform the 'quick fix' through the brambles atop the hill, they backtracked to the neighboring valley and cut a new path south.  While doing this, they encountered a wandering badger, which they managed to avoid - but its presence so close to Lockhaven and Ivydale was concerning.  Upon reaching the settlement the next day, the guardmice discovered a pair of young mice from the settlement had gone missing...