Hope walked the area with a grimace. "There's more tracks here than a fairground!" She pulls up her torch with an exasperated sigh. "I think he ran into the raiders on their way back."

Hope then followed the others to the camp. "Korym....You take first watch with Oraphina. I'll take the next, Grune if you and Einar take the last." She looked around the group for confirmation.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 171):

"Rest and regain your strength. You have paid is in full by the information that you have already provided."

Grune said as he makes the man as comfortable as he can along the speedy path of recovery.

"Anarkun? Is that your name?"

Oraphina takes the candle from Korym and smiles.  "Thanks!  Halflings are blessed with a lot of things, but seeing in the dark is not one of them."

Now that she can finally see, she makes her way over to the wounded man and frowns.  "Oh, you poor dear.  Grune is right, get some rest... you look like you've had better days."  She takes his hand in hers, and covers the back of it with her other hand, careful not to burn him with the candle.  There's a faint whiff of cinnamon as she tries to dull the pain he's in, then she steps back.  "I'm sure we'll have plenty to talk about come sunrise."

When Hope starts speaking about watches, she nods in agreement.  "No issues here," she says, "and if it comes down to it, I can probably stay up a bit past the end of my shift so you're not watching alone."

---

Orafina is spending 5 points of her Lay on Hands to help Anarkun.

Einar just nods balling up his shirt as a pillow as he starts to lay out his stuff for camp, it wasn't much but he was gonna do his damnedest to be comfortable. Unrolling his bed roll and taking a seat on it, pulling out some dry rations to munch on.

Korym nods, and says to the halfling, "You should have a torch handy, if anything approaches we will need light if we are to deal with it."

The elf will tell his familiar to circle the camp at a distance of about 30 paces [100 feet]. He will send her out once every 30 minutes or so.

The man seems somewhat confused at how nice the group is being to him and is obviously not used to this level of attention.

As he is helped to a sitting position at the new camp site, he begins to answer Grune's question until Oraphina's healing magics course through him, causing him to inhale deeply first, followed by a deep sigh. "Many thanks." He says with a smile, he then points to himself "Yes, Anarkun.

Anarkun on quest from tribe, to be named a man; make map of all world." His smile slowly turns to a frown, at the mention of his quest. "Anarkun traveled far from home, found others had already completed task. Anarkun found maps some had things others had other things, Anarkun seek to make best map from all maps. Anarkun done with quest; was headed home, until bad men took maps.

Now Anarkun will start all over."

"You have your life lad. You will complete many more things. Do not allow this to define you." Grune said sternly as he put away his medical supplies and stored them into his backpack.

"Tell us more about your maps and the wonders that you found."

"Anarkun has traveled to many lands collecting maps, seen many amazing things. Peoples of all colors and shapes, many looking like animals, Traveling across oceans on wondrous wooden ships, seeing lands of dense green trees and savage people, Islands that fly among the clouds with ships that sail between them. Anarkun even found cave leading to deep new world, where monsters are many and evil everywhere, Anarkun spent little time there.

Anarkun from land far north of here, where ice never melts and cold is all there is. Anarkun had thought whole world was like that, until strangers arrived at tribe and told of different lands, traded for supplies in shiny metal strangers called gold and silver, Anarkun had never seen anything like them or their metals. Anarkun knew then Anarkun had to scout these lands, whole world, and bring knowledge of world back to tribe, this would be a great task for becoming a man, none had ever tried it before Anarkun, Anarkun would be greatest scout of White Bear tribe.

Anarkun surprised to find that people already scouted whole world and make maps. Anarkun decided to travel world collecting maps to bring home, and show tribe whole world, and make chronicle of Anarkun's adventure.

In whole travel Anarkun had never lost all maps, some, not all... Anarkun failed task today, whole journey for nothing. Anarkun had been told rumors by travelers that raiders were in area... Anarkun studied maps and knew any raiders likely in nearby box canyon, tried giving wide distance, Anarkun did not travel wide enough..." He says resting his head back against a boulder as he goes over his decisions in his head.

Hope listened to the story, her interest perked as he mentioned the raiders. “Wait…,you know where they’ll be? Did you see this canyon at any time - maybe some caves in or out of there not widely known?”

The half elf had a slight smile on her face as an idea came to mind.

"Anarkun stayed in canyon once, when passing by this region before. Canyon is formed from flat top mountain in this shape" He says drawing a horse shoe shape in the dirt.

He then points to the narrow open part of the horseshoe. "This is only way in and out, loose rocks and many high hiding spots, good place to hide and attack with surprise."

Anarkun then points to the back of the canyon, or the opposite position on the horse shoe, and says. "This area has large cave, cave does not exit to outside... Strangers cannot go, too dangerous." He says a worried look on his face.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:09, Thu 23 Sept 2021.

"Do not worry to much of our saftey Anarkun, we are warrior who are here to deal with these.... Bandits. He offers a smile from his bedroll and pats his shield which is set to one side of him. "If we get your maps back would you be willing to make a copy of some of them for us?"

"Anarkun, where I live, in a city called Silverymoon, there is a large building call the Maphouse, that is filled with more maps than you can imagine!

I would like to show it to you one day. If ever get back there."

Korym then points at the closed end of the horseshoe, where the caves are located.

"Is it possible to get to here, without moving through the whole canyon floor?

And about how far from here to the canyon entrance?" he asks, pointing from the caves to the opening of the horseshoe.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:29, Sat 25 Sept 2021.

Hope, crouching as he explained the map, had a concerned look on her face. "Though good for ambush, it's also good defensible position. Anyone wanting to approach would be bottle necked through here.." indicating the horseshoe opening. "...We could descend on ropes, but we risk being seen. We know they have magic users, as well as that big half dragon bastard. He could wait for us and just attack - slaughter. No - we need another way, quiet."

He looked at the man. "Are there any mines or mineshafts on the land behind the cave?"

She taps her cheek, then looks at Korym. "Any chance you can send your friend to scout - see how many people are in the canyon, and the layout around it?"

"Anarkun cannot ask this of strangers. Anarkun will do as stranger asks if strangers are able to bring maps back, Anarkun will do gladly."


Anarkun's eyes widen at the mention of the Maphouse. "Anarkun would love to see this place."




Anarkun looks to Korym. "Canyon is big, maybe one thousand feet long almost five hundred feet wide at narrow points."

"Only way in and out." He then points once again to the entrance.

He pauses for a moment before speaking again. "Can climb cliff here." He says redrawing the horse shoe in a more accurate orientation and shape to reality. "North part of canyon has brush leading all the way to cliff, can use as cover." Anarkun says pointing to a region near the opening of the horse shoe. "Also has brush on top of flat top in area too." He says before pointing to the back end of the horse shoe where the cave is, which is now oriented east. "Could climb here, here there is brush leading to wall like north, but no brush on top of flat top for cover."



Anakrun shakes his head yes. "Inside canyon many nooks and small caves, none lead outside canyon." then points to the east side of the canyon again. "Only brush out here." He says reaffirming his previous statement.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:51, Sat 25 Sept 2021.

Korym nodded. "Shadow can certainly fly ahead of us and look about, but counting and identifying humanoids is beyond her ken.

But, if I am close by, say 30 paces, I can see and hear through her eyes and ears."

Pointing to the map in the dirt, he adds, "It looks to me our best course is to approach from the north, and stay in cover to observe the camp.

The Governor wants information, and even if those cultists were exaggerating, there are probably far too many for us to overcome."

Oraphina smiles at Anarkun.  "It's a convenient meeting of fates - you need help, and you found us, because we're super helpful.  Pretty great, right?"

She squinted at the makeshift map.  "So we're planning on climbing down the cliff, or just staying on top of it and observing?"

Hope chewed her lip in thought. "If one of those shafts leads to the caves we can come from behind....scout what their hiding."

She looked at the others and shrugged

Anarkun nods and returns Oraphina's smile. "Strangers too nice, Anarkun fears for strangers going to canyon."

------

The night in the wilderness has passed without incident, Shadow was able to detect the movement of some Gnolls about half a mile from the group and heading away; it seems they did not catch wind of the group.

Anarkun escorts the group for several hours before having to stop to rest, still not completely recovered from the blood loss; however he manages to describe in enough detail the route the group must take to reach their destination by their desired time, without him.

----

As the group nears their destination, a large mesa can be made out from a distance, it stands an impressive one hundred fifty feet tall and stretches for a great distance, with a sheer cliff face, heavily weathered by time; large chunks of the wall, over time, have broken off leaving countless ledges and grooves ideal for hand and footholds, the base of the cliff is littered with rocks and boulders some as large as small houses.

Following Anarkun's directions has led the group to an area where the grass grows tall, reaching almost six feet high, providing a decent amount of cover as the group advances and observes the cliff.

From the group's vantage point no guards can be seen upon the top of the mesa, but the top of the mesa is covered in tall grass as well, like Anarkun said, and could be concealing lookouts.

Hope walked at the front of the group, her eyes ever sharp as they made their way.  When the time came to separate from Anarkun, she smiled and nodded too him.

Onward they traveled as they came to the mesa, the long grass ideal for concealment. She showed the others how to best stay hidden, not taking chances as they came towards the appointed spot. "Wait here....i'll scout ahead."

Before anyone could argue, she slipped into the grass, the curtain barely even rippling at the half elf's movement.

o.o.c. the base of the cliff is littered with so many stones, ranging from small pebbles to large boulders, that it forms a slight incline up to the cliff face that it all fell from. Hope finds nothing of interest in the area.

But this close to the cliff it becomes clear that the climb will be doable with plenty of hand holds.

Mechanically there is no skill check required to climb this cliff, it is simply considered movement, but more like difficult terrain where every foot of movement costs 2ft instead.

Unless you want to try and push yourselves and climb faster, then there is a DC 10 STR (Athletic) check involved.

Grune settled the weight of his backpack on his "good" shoulder and began his climb up the rockface.

"Slow and steady, everyone," offered Oraphina, then turned and watched as Hope disappeared into the heavy growth.  "That girl," she said, shaking her head and looking to the others.  "The way she just up and vanishes like that, you'd think she's part ghost."

Einar does his best taking it slow after hope disppears, up the wall he goes not bothering to push hard and fast right nwon as they could always do that later if someone was in danage.

Korym is the last of the group to start the ascent. Like the others he takes his time.

[Language unknown: Anywhecon, ee wilantthe wilno sslar vorforwit lar le mo ughre strevewit ch hou hi ivha ic mi not hisstande sasta hoprri Thuch i Illooftr n Ecadse el Utsino.]

The little bat jumps from the elf's shoulder and heads to the top of the ridge.

                                                               ┌──Watch tower
                           ┌──Watch tower                      │  On raised ledge (25ft down from top of mesa)
                           │                                   │
                           │                                   │         ┌───Royal Pavilion Tent
                           │            Party                  │         │
                   xx      │               │                   │         │
                xx  xxxxxx │               │                   │         │
                xxxxxx   xxxxxxx           │                   │         │
                     xxx   │    xxxx       │    xxxxxx         │         │
             xx         xxx│x       xxxxxxx│xxxx      xxxxxxxxx│         │
          x   xxx          │xxx            │                   │xxxxxx   │
          x     xx         │   xxxxxxx  P◄─┘                   │     xxxx│
            N    xxx       │   TT    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx          │         │xx
            ▲      x       └──►TT   ┌─────┐         xxxxxxxxx  │         │ xxx
            │      xx             ┌►│     │                 xxx│xxx      │    xx
        W◄──┼──►E   xxx  ┌────┐   │ └─────┘       ┌─┐ ┌────┐  x│   xxxx  │     xx
            │         xxx│    │◄──┤               │ │ │    │  x│      xx │      xx
            ▼   x       x└────┘   ├─Shoddy Tents  │ │ └────┘  x│  TT   xx│       xx
            S    x       xx       │               │ │   ▲     x└─►TT    x│        xx
                 x        xx ┌──┐ │               │ │◄──┐      xx        │x        xx
                  xx       x │  │◄┘               │ │   │       xxxx     │xx        xx
                   xxx      x└──┘                 │ │   │          xxxxxx│ x         x
                     xx      xx   wwwwww          └─┘   │          ┌──┐  │ xx        xx
                      x       xx w      w Good Quality  │          │  │◄─┘ ┌─┐Cave    x
                      x        xx       ww  Tents ──────┼────┐     └──┘    │ │       xx
                      x         xx        w             │    │             └─┘       x
  Slave Cages &   ────────────────────►    w            ▼    │           xx          x
  Prisoner Crucifixes  xx          xxx      www   ┌─────┐    ▼         xxx          xx
       area              xx          xxxx      w  │     │ ┌────┐     xxx            x
                          xx            xxxx   w  └─────┘ │    │   xxx              x
                           xx               xxxxxx        └────┘xxxx               xx
                             xx                   xxxxxxxxxxxxx                   xx
                              xxxx                                              xxx
                                 xxxx                                         xxx
                                    xxxxxx                              xxxxxxx
                                         xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx





O.O.C. Sorry for the poor quality of the map, did my best using the RPOL resources in Games Haven, this was the fastest way and most acurate way for me to convey what it looks like in there without resorting to drawing it all out one box at a time.


The group makes it to the top of the mesa with little issue, and along the way has found several small caves in the cliff face that are just big enough for the group to shelter in if they need cover and time to rest.

Neither Shadow nor Hope has spotted any cultists in the area the group has climbed to, and the grass in this area of the top of the mesa has grown almost seven feet tall, providing a good amount of concealment for the group.

----

Once the party makes it to the inside cliff of the canyon they are greeted by an impressive sight. The canyon spans almost five hundred feet to the other cliff face and the ground level of the canyon gently slopes downward toward the east, where a massive and ominous looking cave entrance lies.

Dotted all about the canyon are tents of varying quality, toward the entrance of the canyon they are much more shoddy and almost primal in their construction, ranging from animal skins with fetishes and bones adorning them, to the central area of the canyon where the tents become more like military pavilion tents, and at the far east lies the largest pavilion tent which looks like it would belong to a general or a king in how fancy and massive the tent is.

North west toward the entrance of the canyon stands a twenty foot tall guard tower, and another is on an elevated plateau rising one hundred twenty five feet from the canyon bottom, and is twenty five feet from the top of the mesa; meaning the roof of the twenty foot tall watch tower is only five feet down from the top of the mesa and while observers in it might be able to see movement along the cliff of the mesa facing the canyon, anyone moving further away from the canyon cliff face and more toward the cliff facing the plains would be less likely to be observed moving along the mesa by this watch tower, though it is all open ground.

There is a ladder against the canyon wall leading to the plateau, and another from the plateau to the top of the mesa, so guards could funnel up to the top of the mesa if need be from this location; but there are also dozens of other ladders dotting the canyon cliff face leading to the top of the mesa, so the cultists would be able to make it up to the top of the mesa in every direction given the need to.

At the south end of the canyon there appears to be some kind of slave labor camp, with dozens of cages; lining the area are large crucifixes where it appears some have been crucified, likely to keep the other slaves in line.

While it is hard to tell who is who, and what is what from this great height, you can easily tell the smaller kobolds from the larger humanoids; the kobolds who are not in their tents and simply mulling about in the open are at best count one hundred before giving up trying. They are more clustered toward the entrance of the canyon and the shoddy tents, while the cultists and raiders walking about are counted around eighty before stopping, and tend toward the center of the canyon in the nicer more militaristic tents.