OOC: Ready Action -  He will engage anybody who advances past the others.

Caydel drops his staff and draws his rapier.  "Not so impressive....", as he watches the others.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 18:28, Tue 30 July 2019.

Amara went first, putting both daggers into the thug's chest and dropping him like a bad habit.

The other thug meanwhile pulls out his sword and stabs Kamea right in her chest. Unlike his companion though she takes the blow and stays standing.
OOC: Kamea takes 8 pts of piercing damage

Kamea's return hit likewise deals a savage wound to the thug but he keeps standing, albeit barely. Gavel walks up and punches the thug into the ground like a nail, finishing the bandit off.

With both of her backup quickly dispatched Lullaby throws her hands up as a sign of surrender.
"Oh! Sorry! I didn't...here, have my magic coin and just leave me alone!"

She tosses the coin out in front of her and then quickly mouths a spell, disappearing from sight.



Round 2

"Shes lying about the coin. Do we hunt her or let her run?"

Amara absently wiped the blood off her swords and onto the dead thug before her but didn’t put them away quite yet, she didn’t trust Lullaby in the slightest not to have something else planned for them. Who tried to strong arm a group of armed travelers with two weaklings like this?

"Fan out." Kamea moved further down the road, "She couldn't have gone far."

rolled 14 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 8.  Perception

Cathran rubbed her eyes which caused them to glow with a blue light. She looked at the coin and the surrounding area. If she was using magic on the coin or to hide herself, Cathran would be able to tell. “If she’s using magic to hide, I will find her.”

Cast detect magic and looking over the area for magical auras.

From where Cathran is standing she does not detect the presence of any magical auras.

Caydel looks down to the rivers edge for foot prints that appear and listing for wading sounds (water splash).  He picks up his staff at the same time.

"For the love of.... Fine. C'mon."

Amara kept her hands on her swords, almost casually activating her own detect magic and then following the path Lullaby had left into the woods. Unlike the others she wasn't going to hunt the rogue, as much as her trail. And she was going to do it quietly.

"Oh, and expect an ambush. I'd have one set up if I was her."

She's not the quietest, judging by how focused she is on the tracks though. Perhaps she doesn't think the others can follow her otherwise? Thankfully, the other party members won't have to try stealth from the looks of it.


Activate: Detect Magic
Survival: 26, Stealth: 9 (Nat 1), Perception: 19
10:21, Today: Amara rolled 19 using 1d20+9 with rolls of 10.  Perception (To not get ambushed).
10:20, Today: Amara rolled 9 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 1.  Stealth while Tracking.
10:19, Today: Amara rolled 26 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 18.  Survival (Tracking Lullaby).
This message was last edited by the player at 17:24, Wed 31 July 2019.

Lullaby doesn't seem too concerned about having a trail and a few minutes later when her spell expires she starts proceeding with haste through the forest. Amara and the others have little problem following her path and as Lullaby never thinks to check, even basic measures of stealth are enough to keep her unaware of her tail.

For awhile she seems headed in the same general direction as where the goblins were reported to be. Eventually the she inadvertently leads the group to a large clearing.

The borders of this clearing are unusual in that they are well-tended, clear of brush, and strewn with gravel to form a circular road of sorts.

A single dead oak tree looms at the center of the clearing, and something silver sparkles from one of the lower branches. It appears to be an amulet hanging there. The mutilated bodies of three recently slain people wearing the armor of the town watch from Roderic’s Cove lie near the tree’s roots.

Lullaby doesn't seem to pay either the dead guards or the amulet any mind. She walks along the gravel making a long circle around the dead oak to the other side of the clearing before re-entering the forest.

"That's called a trap. One task at a time, Lullaby first."

Amara follows the exact path through the clearing Lullaby does, and leaves the bodies and the amulet alone. She's cautious but quick on her feet, keeping her detect magic up and her senses on high alert.

Cathran nods. “Agreed. Clearly a trap. At least we know what happened to most of the guards. Lead on.”Cathran and Gavel take the same route.

Amara notes that the amulet hanging from the tree detects as faint magic.

Kamea followed the others who seemed to know the trail. She almost picked up the amulet in the clearing, but stopped when Amara and Cathran mentioned a trap. She retracted her hand with a faint spark of a memory warning her of how she came into the current body. "Alright. Lullaby first."

As they hit the clearing and see the bodies, Caydel mumbles a simple benediction. "May you be at the Last Inn.  And we will make sure your families are at easy."

The trail leads them to a large clearing circling a hill. Lullaby goes East at the hill and circles around to the side. From their directions the party knows that the goblin lair lies nearby to the West.

Following Lullaby they soon come upon the Roadkeeper's hideout. A campsite spreads on a gentle
slope in this hillside clearing. A single, ancient stone building and four old wagons give the
place some shape. Tall grass grows around the wagons, as if they had been in place for a long time. A wide fire pit sits in the middle of these wagons, and a few thick logs provide places to sit around the fire.

Three bandits are standing around the campfire talking to Lullaby. Both sides seem quite agitated but from the distance it isn't clear what they are saying.

OOC: The location of their camp seems to be known if you would like to go back and deal with either the guard bodies or the goblins now.

Quietly to the group, "Are they worth all of this?  I mean, we still may have some missing patrol members."

"These folks are our first clue as to what may have happened to the patrol. And besides, they are a hazard for all travelers." Kamea adjusted her grip on her glaive. "We should attack, but try to save one for questions."

Cathran sizes up the situation. “The problem is if they live, they will tell the others in the organization about us. We will then have to face all of them. Dead men tell no tales as the saying goes.”

"So you think talking is won't work?"

“We can try talking to them first. If they resist then we can make our stand. We would just lose the element of surprise. The question is why would they listen to us after we just pulverized two of their group?”

With an odd look, "Maybe they would listen BECAUSE we just did that...plus,"  with a smile that is mischievous and charming, "I can be very persuasive.  Besides, a fight can cause us just as much harm."  He pulls out a flask and shakes it.  The sloshing makes him smile.  He then looks to the rest of the group, his face questioning....

Cathran shrugged. “Ok let’s go. Who wants to help me negotiate while the others look menacing?”

"I'll go and help you negotiate their surrender." Kamea looked at Cathran, "That is the goal of our parlay isn't it? For them to surrender and give up arms?"

"We may get more flies with honey....

“Shall we go then? Be ready for them to attack us anyways.” She begins her approach with her hands held up in peace.

When she gets within speaking distance, she’ll address them. “Hello Lullaby! Sorry about the scuffle earlier. You didn’t really leave us much choice now did you? We just wanted to clear the air and make peace with you. Would you be open to that?”Gavel followed at her side in his cloak ready to take an arrow if they came her way.