The mules, well trained and road savvy, are easy enough to move.  With the sun beginning its descent to the horizon, the group sets off.

Exiting the gates, you begin on a wide and well traveled road.  Orchards and pastures dominate the landscape as you follow the road to the southeast.  Later, the land to the east begins a rise into rolling foothills.  You occasionally pass merchants headed back into Sumberton, but they become less frequent as the daylight comes to a close.  The rest of the day passes uneventfully and you estimate having traveled about halfway to where the original caravan was attacked.

Night falls and you pull over to a clearing on the side of the road.  Haajyayn tends to the mules and ensures they are fed (provided by the Chicane Guild) and secured properly.  After eating your own meals, you set a watch order and head to bed.  The night passes uneventfully.

OOC:  I'll deduct from you rations unless you want to forage for food.

In the morning, you find yourselves back on the road with much of the same as the previous day.  The hills to the east have risen higher and the sun takes a little longer to appear over them.  The morning passes, and around noon you come upon a spot where an obvious scuffle as taken place.  Double checking the map, you figure this must be where the ambush took place.  A couple pieces of broken armor are discarded along the sides of the road, and the dirt still appears to be scuffled.  Human, horse and some other type of tracks are prevalent in the area.

Haaj walks around in the area of the attack and east a few yards scrutinizing the scene. "This is the place for sure. Goblin footprints all over the place.
But over here..." He indicates to the east side of the road. "...are five sets of goblin prints."
"I'll scout ahead. Don't follow too fast with the wagon, they will spot it in seconds."

Haaj heads off east, following the tracks into the hills, keeping to trees, vegetation or just the ground where nothing else can really hide him.

---

OOC:
Hide: rolled 11 using 1d20+4
Move Silently: rolled 26 using 1d20+7
Spot: rolled 14 using 1d20+8

Scalesa nods and loads her crossbow, and sets her backpack on the wagon, but does not leave it -- yet.  If she would be needed to move about, carrying all that around wouldn't do her any favors at all.  The half-elf glances about quickly, from left to right...

---

OOC: Spot: Rolled -1 using 1d20-4

Guelph nods to Haajrayn and waits a while, but does turn the cart off the road to follow him before he moves out of sight.

 After a first day of walking easily without her armour, Desra had decided to put it back on for the rest of the journey. This time they were bound to hit some trouble.

 When they reached the dangerous area, she remained quiet and waited for their scout to return, hopefully with good news. While waiting, she gathers the pieces of broken armour that were lying around. Piecing them together, she tries to understand what kind it was ; perhaps who it belonged to ; what kind of craft it was...

Remaining close to the cart, Mina lets her gaze fall over their surroundings, keeping watch for trouble nearby as more seasoned members of the group scouted further afield. She hoped that they wouldn't encounter trouble too soon, but she couldn't help but worry that the goblinoids wouldn't forsake an ambush point that had recently proven lucrative.

OOC: 11:55, Today: Mina Black rolled 15 using 1d20+1. Spot.
Additionally, a new day means new spells prepared. As the old list, but replace one of the Prestidigitation castings with another Acid Splash.

You watch as Haajrayn treks into the sparsley wooded landscape.  You're able to keep eyes on him until he crosses over the first ride, and then his disappears to the other side.

About 15 minutes has passed since you lost sight of him.

Is the wagon now far enough away from the road to avoid being seen by passers by?

"We should move cart over ridge. Too close to road," Guelph says as he tries to plot the course of least resistance to the top of the hill.


OOC: fyi

Game Master:

It'll be hard to hide the cart completely.  The surrounding area is comprised of sparse trees and brush.

"He told us not to follow to fast, not to refrain from following." Mina steps away from the cart, walking toward a set of wagon tracks and pointing in the direction they lead. "We'll move the cart to where it's off the road and out of sight from there, but our priority should be to catch up, or at least not trail too far behind."

"Very well," Guelph says as he turns the cart to follow the wheelruts up the hill.

If he can find a suitable place to leave the wagon he will get out and continue on foot with Mina and the others.

Haaj comes walking back to the group after a few minutes.
He points in the genera direction he came from.
"The tracks leads in that direction, towards what looks like a canyon."
"So lets just get the cart with us, as far as we can. I will scout towards the canyon."
Haaj moves off again towards the canyon he talked about.

  "All right, lead the way and we will follow."

 Desra will help in getting the cart out of the road and into the more rugged terrain. The mules will have no problem dealing with the treacherous path, but the cart might need a push from time to time so as not to get stuck.

Scalesa, too, assists in moving the cart.  "I've got some tools that might help out in a pinch, if anything on this gets damaged..." She offers.  Indeed, inside of her robe one can see the occasional glint of metal.

Travelling off the road is a bit slower going, but the previous cart trail does a good job of keeping you clear of obstacles.  Haajrayn takes the lead and scouts ahead as the rest of the party marches along with the cart and mules.

Traversing the hills is more difficult than the road however, and by the time the sun begins to descend in the sky you are fairly tired.  Coming to rest at the top of a ridge, you can see (much closer now) the canyon that Haajrayn mentioned earlier.  It appears to be a box canyon, opening to the north and ending in what appears (from your vantage point) to be a dead end.  Still, the cart tracks lead you in that direction.

You estimate it's only a mile or two left to travel towards the canyon, but the sun is setting and following the tracks in the dark could prove difficult.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:52, Wed 14 Aug 2013.

"No closer, we stop here. Eat, and set watch," Guelph grunts as he brings the mules to a stop and gets down from the cart. If no one objects to stopping, he will unhook the mules and tether them to a tree nearby so they can graze, and sit back in the cart to eat.

Scalesa shrugs.  "Sounds good to me..." She, too, gets off the cart, and stretches.  "So, are we going to be sleeping in shifts, or anything like that?"

  "We need to. It is dangerous out there, and treacherous creatures could slit our throats open without a sound..."
 Her tone is surprisingly calm, and cheerful even, when mentioning the grisly end they could meet.

  "But not if we watch and stay alert through the night ! There is five of us, it should not be too tiring."

 Desra is of no help in cooking, and her experience with mules is rather slim. She is willing to help though, and will assist whoever needs her. Gathering wood, preparing a small fire, fixing a shelter if need be.

ooc : given the opportunity, Desra will edit her spell list for the day
This message was last edited by the player at 10:04, Fri 16 Aug 2013.

"I will watch first. You sleep," Guelph says as he eats his meal before taking up a patrol around the perimeter.

Mina nods, setting up her bedroll near a cart, wanting to have things set up before "indulging" in her trail rations. "So long as all spellcasters receive adequate rest, I'm fine with whatever guard arrangements are made."

"Agreed." Scalesa sets her bedroll up near the protection of the carts, too, and gets to work on her trail rations once everything is in order.

The night passes without incident and the morning greets you with a clear and beautiful day.

The group quickly takes down camp and sets forth following the trail.  As expected, the trail leads to the entrance of a small box canyon.  Walls begin to rise up on either side and in front of you.  You proceed into the canyon, half expecting to run into a dead end or an ambush, but neither happen.

As you enter, you begin to feel as if the area is tainted with a hint of otherworldly evil.  Towards the back of the canyon, you find a rough opening seemingly hewn from the ground, all signs indicating that it might have once been a natural fissure or crack in the earth.

Do you mean a cave entrance or just a crack in the earth?

Sorry, should have been more descriptive.

Peering down inside the fissure:

This 10-foot-wide tunnel descends into the darkness.  Timbers shore up its walls and ceiling, and loose stone litters the floor.  A long rope has been attached to the middle of the tunnel floor with pitons every 20 feet or so.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:13, Sun 18 Aug 2013.

"Go down?" Guelph says as he gets off and peers into the hole in the ground.

Haaj walks up to Guelph and looks down.
"Yes, we should go down."
Haaj pulls out his bow
"You and Desra go first, I'll cover your decent from here."
Haaj steps away from the rope and let the others have some room.
He knocks an arrow and keeps the aim at the area below.

Ok.

Domain spell : magic weapon
Orisons : unchanged
1st lvl : command & protection from evil

"My people cannot see in the dark," Guelph says, peering into the fissure.

There are no lights inside the tunnel, and with the daylight shining you can see perhaps 60' inside.

The rope is mainly used to climb out of the tunnel, you can maintain your balance (without the rope) while walking down the slope.

"And," Guelph adds a bit disappointed,"I have no light."

Desra gladly accepts to take point and climb down with Guelph. She cannot see well in the dark either, and does not have a lantern or torch at hand. If no one has any, she will cast a light spell on her sword. She has put her shield behind her so as to keep a free hand during the descent.

Guelph grunts in appreciation before following Desra down into the fissure.

"I can call lights, but only for a brief period of time each... About a minute, enough to impress an audience." Scalesa offers.

"I can go first, if one of you carry a torch behind me, then I should be able to see fairly well." Haaj says as he stops his decent and pulls a torch from his pack.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:38, Tue 20 Aug 2013.

Guelph waits while Haaj light the torch then offers to carry it into the fissure.