The sun is just beginning to creep up over the horizon, like a thief climbing the wall surrounding a rich man's estate.  Krojun's men are busy placing the last of their supplies on the backs of their mounts.  Their leader stands before you, arms crossed.  So if you head west until you come to the foothills, and then head north, at the end of the foothills head towards the mountains.  Moon Tower sits at the base of the mountain furthest north.  He nods in the direction he was telling you.  If you head straight there from here, you may be able to stay ahead of the Cinderlander.  That is, if he's tracking you.  If he gets ahead of you, there are two places he could ambush you:  first, there is a canyon about ten miles from here.  You can avoid it if you take a detour north about a half day.  Otherwise, you'll have to scramble up the sides of the cliff and down the other if you don't want to go through the gulch.  After that, you'll come to a dried up river bed.  There are places along it that offer high ground to a man good with a crossbow.  And he is that:  good with a cross bow.

Sial sighs and shakes his head.  I don't think it would be a problem.  Do you? he adds, turning to smile at all of you.  He seems confident that your silence last night to his question meant you agreement.

Their destination now much more clear, Izzick nodded. "Are you certain you wish to come? We might be followed and attacked if it wasn't clear and the journey already seems perilous." While Sial and his...mistress hadn't caused trouble, they seemed all too eager to follow for Izzick's liking, and the half-orc already had a strange feeling from Krojun's turn of face.

His daily card reading hadn't helped either. "The Lost". The insane and hopeless, forever tormented in their own thoughts. It certainly summed up how he felt in this situation. "I'm not sure how many ruins we'll find along the way."

Since I keep forgetting I took Harrowed, I figured I'd actually draw a card this morning. The Chaotic Evil card of Wisdom. But +2 to one Wisdom based check today.

I figured I'd go ahead and apply it as a Sense Motive to Sial.
02:26, Today: Izzick rolled 11 using 1d20+3.  Sense Motive.

So much for that!

In reply to Izzick (msg # 2):

Sial smiles.  Ruins are interesting.  But I feel like your endeavor will be much more...stimulating.

Izzick, Sial isn't being too subtle.  It is pretty clear to you that his interest was, from the beginning, with your group.  And he knows you know he's lying.  It seems to amuse him.

But you do sense that he seems to have no current ill will towards you.  Current that is.  You get the feeling he could betray you in the future.  But today...you think he would be an able enough ally for the present time.

In reply to The Dealer (msg # 3):

Chandanar sighs. Whatever. The more the merrier is my vote. Did you guys wanna detour north to avoid that cannyon?

"I suppose that we could try and avoid an ambush that may help to prove that the Cinderlander is tracking us."  Zuni mused, her gaze falling on Sial and his companion.  She did not trust either of them and the mans comment about their adventure being more stimulating was curious.  She was pretty sure that Sial would either just watch them get attacked.  On the other hand, keeping him out of sight would just make her wonder if he was stalking them like this Cinderlander was. Best to keep the suspicious folks close.

"I'm all for heading right to the Moon Tower, through that canyon.  If we move fast enough, Cinderlander won't have time to see up an ambush."

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 5):

And so you set out. Your guides to now turn back. They do provide you a map and see you are provisioned. Your mounts are freshened as well. So making good time is not an issue.

The gnats turn out to be more of a nuisance than the heat. A dry breeze blows from the west managing to make the temperature tolerable. Your horses are used to much worse conditions. Shortly before noon, the land starts to rise. Soon, you crest a small hill and spy the canyon.

The canyon splits the scrub lands for several miles in each direction. Gullies and washes criss cross the main channel of the canyon like twosts and tunnels off the entrance of a laybrinth. Fortunately, the way across is fairly straight forward. You will descend into the canyon through a long but gentle slope. You will cut across the canyon floor to the northwest, and then climb a series of small slopes up the other side. Assuming there are no issues, you can be through within an hour. Easy Peasy.

Any special precautions/actions you guys wanna take here? Thanks

Anyone?

Zuni wiped her brow as she looked at the entrance to the canyon.  The canyon just screamed of trap or ambush, but at least they had some time to prepare.

"Anyone got something that we can use as an eye in the sky?" she asked, pointedly looking at Selvin.  The Half-Elf could fly but she never did find out the duration.  He had other talents as well, but maybe there were others in the party who could take on a similar role.  She was not about to fly, unless someone threw her.

Setting down her pack, Zuni took a hearty swig from a bottle of wine and then unslung her bow and pulled out a couple of arrows.  "I can take point, if the rest of you want to follow a short distance behind."

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 8):

Hold up a mo... Chandanar closes his eyes and chants, than reaches out, touching each of you. The moment his fingertips make contact, you feel a slight warmth and the air seems to smell of chamomille. Sial laughs. You are too kind, he says after his turn. Chandanar shrugs. We are allies, right? Temporarily.

Sial laughs again. <Orangw>10th lvl Protect from Chaos Communal on all ya'll</Orange>. Chandanar turns and nods towards the canyon. I'm ready when you are.

Sial glances at his chain wrapped companion. She bows and takes to the air. He looks at you all. She can assist in the aerial reconnaissance.

Thus prepared, you begin to m9ve forward...

Zuni, make me three perception rolls please. Thank you.

Chanting a few moments, his moon tattoo glowing upon his face, Izzick places a protective spell over himself. Just in case.

<orange>I'll cast Resistance on myself.</ornage>

Zuni took a long moment to examine her hand where Chandanar had touched her.  The slight warmth from the spell was...odd?  Interesting?  She wasn't sure which, but there was no time to ponder it.

"Right." Zuni said, her tone commanding.  "Let's get moving.  The more time that we wait around, the more time that Cinderlander has to get ahead of us."  Bow drawn, Zuni started forward.

OOC:
Perception -> 29

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 11):

Good roll

As Selvin takes to the air alongside the chained woman, you creep closer to the entrance of the canyon. <Purple>Zuni</Pur0le>, you notice some odditites up ahead. You were so focused on looking for sighs of humanoid tracks that for a moment, you almost overlooked the set of indetations in the desert floor. But now that you see them they are plain as day.

There is a set of tracks belonging to something, or somwthings, that lead up to a set of boulders on the slope you will need to ascend. The tracks look like scorpion or arachnoid in nature. Five, maybe six of the creatures.

Izzick looked down as the tracks were pointed out and grimaced, "Any idea what they are?" He asked, first to Zuni, then to the others. Perhaps at least their resident archaeologist and demon had a clue as to what ran around these parts. He certainly didn't recognize the local fauna here. But he kept his eyes sharp, as least as sharp as he could, as he began to make sure there was nothing ready to bounce down.

In reply to Izzick (msg # 13):

The boulders look to be shell like. Whatever is is there, it has a pretty thick skin. This must be something local to the Cinderlands. Because none of you are familiar with it.

Zuni peered at the indentations.  "I have no idea what those could be." she said.  "I'm a little out of my element here.  Maybe if we were back in the city...It's big and there's more than ones that can't be all that good."

"Maybe we can sneak around them?"  Looking around the canyon, Zuni eventually looked back at the stranger the they had picked up.  "Hey Sial.  How much do you know about the critters in the area?"

OOC:
What knowledge would need to roll try and identify the creatures?

Unfortunately I have Arcana and History so I probably won't be helpful IDing them.

Izzick waited for an answer, but either way warned, "We should probably keep our eyes open regardless of what they are. In fact," he said, trailing off as his fingers grabbed something from his component pouch and a few words later his form was turning invisible. "Stay here and I can check near the boulders to make sure we're not getting ambushed."

You know, I almost forgot I had this because Selvin tended to take point, so Izzick will cast invisibility and then I'll try to head up to check near the boulders / where the tracks lead.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:34, Fri 23 Mar 2018.

In reply to Izzick (msg # 16):

Sial shakes his head.  These are nothing I'm familiar with...

Izzick, you creep up the slight rise towards the nearest boulder.  As you approach, you can make out regular grooves on the surface of the rock.  It appears the rock face is pasted on some kind of shell underneath.  Whatever this is, it's like some kind of slug maybe.  Or...hmmm.  A crab perhaps?

As you are thinking that, the boulder begins to shudder.  Then it rises, six stalk like legs underneath it  propelling it up into the air.  The boulder rotates as it rises.  On the side facing away from you was an armored face of sorts, two antenna like appendages jutting out from the sides of the wide mouth.  Two thicker arms ending in mean looking cracker claws hang out from under the body just beneath them.

You seem to have run across a pack of giant desert stone crabs.  With shells of actual stone.  And they do seem hungry.

Five of 'em.  Ya'll get init.

15:28, Today: Izzick rolled 8 using 1d20+6.  Initiative.

Retreating backwards while invisible, Izzick figured he knew one spell that would serve equally as a warning and get off the first shot. He  began to chant as he ran, turning and pointing his finger as it slowly faded back to visibility and created a point of fire that shot forward and detonated. Immediately the mountain side was an inferno and Izzick yelled down, "Rock Crabs. Or something. Get ready."

Leaving the Blast range and then fireballing
15:32, Today: Izzick rolled 43 using 10d6.  Damage. (Ooo, I got a good roll)
+1 for my Half-Orc favored bonus.
44 damage. Reflex DC 19 for half.

In reply to Izzick (msg # 18):

The blast of flame licks odf the rock wall like a gout of lava bursting through the thin sheet of a volcano's side.

Two of the crabs stumble. The other four charge forward, smoke streaming off their exposed flesh.

The air smells delicious. If only you had some butter...

The two on point are fifty feet away from you Zuni. Izzy, closest one to you twenty feet.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:07, Thu 29 Mar 2018.