Elera follows along behind Ludovic as she ineffectually attempts to aid him in setting up their hiding place. She doesn't manage to meaningfully impact his already exemplary demonstration of bushcraft skills.

OOC: 19:36, Today: Elera Nehnisa rolled 5 using 1d20+3 ((2)).

I agree Elera.  We have time and the more we understand of this world the better our chance of success.  The less people that know about us the better.  Let us move off the road and stay out of sight.  I can make water so that not an issue.

OOC:
Stealth to get everybody off the road and out of sight.
18:20, Today: Shadowdale Greenleaf rolled 26 using 1d20+7.  Stealth.

"Fine!" Thaddeus said at the prospect of sneaking around. He was more of the grunt, solve your problem openly kinda guy.

OOC:  Today: Thaddeus rolled 11 using 1d20+2 ((9)). Stealth.

Ziklag silently headed for the cover, hoping to avoid causing trouble for the child.  How horrible would it be if one of their first actions in the world were to bring wrath down on the innocent?


OOC: Sorry, thought I had posted this earlier today, but it apparently didn't go.

Skeeve scampered with the rest into the cover

20:09, Today: Skeeve rolled 15 using 1d20+8.  Stealth

The little girl approaches the place where the party left the road. She looks off into the woods, and after a minute, she turns back towards the house.

Approaching from the house is another child along with an adult hobbit.

[Do you stay hidden?]

"There is a lot of speculation, and I am far to ignorant of goblin culture to assume what is going on. Hell, I've gone down a few rabbit holes already to presume the real seal is a living thing, after all the seal is adaptive to awareness."

"Being the monster guy, if I was them, I would set it up so the smaller races are the labor force. Easy to control and often are happy to get by, by getting by." Still, he was impressed by the desire to not endanger the girl. It was a good call.

He was already starting to craft a few things, Ludovic did not do well sitting idle.

Elera remains crouched down in the cover as she strains her ears in an attempt to catch anything that might be said. She whispers, "Should we want to wait for them to go back in before we send Skeeve to eavesdrop on them?"

OOC: 10:37, Today: Elera Nehnisa rolled 17 using 1d20+8.  Perception: Listen to a conversation from a distance.

"They must've gone to ground when they saw Beeza coming," the younger girl hobbit says as she, an older-looking youth, and the adult gaze north from the road.

"Y'did good coming to get me," the adult says.  His voice creaks with age.  "As long as we're hosting we can't let the geflicka get close to the house.  Don't take it personal - they don't know who they can truck with."

"I dunno, da," the older girl says.  "They didn't look like geflicka to me.  They looked tall, like foreigners.  One of 'em had tusks."

The adult shakes his head.  "No way for foreigners to get this deep into Varnield.  Would've been caught and eaten by now.  They probably looked tall 'cause they were skinny."

"What do we do, da?" the younger girl asks.

He looks west.  "Still got three hours of daylight left.  Have ma wrap up dinner, give it to 'em if they pop out before dark.  Let 'em know why they can't stay here."

"We're hostin', the Flaxfeathers three farms to the west should be safe, don't be on the road after dark," the older girl recites from memory.

"Good girl," the man says as they turn to head back towards the house.

"We'll pray for 'em, right da?" the younger girl asks.

The man's answer, if any, is lost on the wind.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:05, Sun 22 Jan 2023.

Elera relays what she’s heard to the party as she says, “It sounds like they’re tentatively open to speaking with us and giving us the lay of the land, but it sounds like something’s staying in their house that they don’t want to see us. It’s probably okay for us to step out so long as we stay out of sight from the house.” She pauses before continuing, “It sounds like something happens to the roads after dusk, but there is a sympathetic family 3 farms to the west.”

"Well, seeing as nearly everyone around here so far are hobbits, I can cook up a few youth potions. They will only last for two hours and I can only make four of them at this time. But it should give us at least some 'glance over' cover."

The two girls re-yoke their beast close to where you left the road and resume plowing there. One of them has a sizeable cloth bag she didn't have before. It's about three hours until dusk.

Are you making any movements before dusk, assuming nothing else happens?

Elera looks between her companions as she asks, “I’ll step out and ask them for the food and then we can start making our way to the family that will shelter us for the night if we don’t have any strong feelings about what we should do.” She waits for any objections to be voiced before she starts to creep out of the foliage.

Ziklag nodded to Elera.  "I agree.  If we've got food and a sympathetic family that will help us as we are, we might as well save any time that could be spent on preparing those potions, for now.  Personally, I look forward to getting a little bit of context directly from them."

[Is Elera emerging alone, or is the group emerging?]

Shadowdale says.
I will stay back.  We don't want to show our true numbers.

Ludovic was not sneaky and he was making things so he stayed put until he was told to move otherwise.

Ziklag concentrated for half a moment to shift his garments from the high-quality red robes he had been wearing to  simpler garb, much like those the hobbits wore.  "I'll come out as well."  He whispered, doing just that.

Elera nods at Ziklag’s statement as she whispers back, “Are we planning to pretend to be geflicka, or do we want to admit our own lack of knowledge. I think that I could obfuscate the truth, but this is probably the best chance to learn what being a geflicka means.”
This message was last edited by the player at 19:10, Wed 25 Jan 2023.

"We actually don't know that we're not geflicka," Ziklag said quietly.  "Let's accept it for now and get out of their hair so we don't endanger them.  We can find out when we're in shelter at the other farm and off the road."

As Emera and Ziklag emerge from the woods, the older of the two girls stops their animal and dismounts to approach them.

"Hi, I'm sorry you can't stay here," she starts, "we're hosting.  The Flaxfeathers are three farms to the west."

With widened eyes, she looks up, and up, and up at the adults nearly three times her own height. "Are you humans? How did you get here?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:39, Wed 25 Jan 2023.

Elera raises one hand in a slow wave as she approaches and says, "We heard from where we were hiding. Thank you for doing this; I hope that it doesn't cause you trouble." At the smaller one's question, she grins as she says, "I'm mostly human. We walked here, and I imagine there's a lot of that in our future." She lets the grin slip off of her face before adding, more seriously, "At least, I hope so."

The girl takes the pack off her shoulder and hands it to Elera. "Try to get to the Flaxfeathers before dark. They travel at night. A prayer to Yondalla may help you move faster."

"Gramma says prayers don't work anymore," the younger girl says, having approached but staying behind her sister.

"Maybe they still work for humans," the older girl insists.

Elera takes the offered pack and pulls it onto her shoulder while she asks, "Do you know how far the Flaxfeathers are from your farm? It would be helpful to know if we need to hustle in order to make it there before dark."

After the exchange between the two sisters, Elera offers a half-shrug as she says, "It certainly won't hurt."

Concealed by the roadside, Skeeve considered whether to try to move closer to the hobbit's farm. His whiskers twitched with the temptation, though he stayed put for now, sending one of the two rats instead - the one whose scent-name most closely translated to 'Loam'