The two look past you and in the direction Marrin does.

"Good to know. We'll keep the fire high tonight," the woman says.

They listen to the description of Gillian Hargrove and nod.

"She acted as if she owned the road. We almost broke an axle getting out of the way of that crew. Who is she?"

Before Marrin can answer, Soren chimes in.

"How many days ago did you see them? How far north of Kront were they?" the bard asks.

The woman looks at the man who shrugs then over to Soren.

"Four days. We were almost at Kront when we saw them," she says then looks back to Marrin. "Who are they?"

"The people in black? Haven't a clue. The woman is a slaver and bandit, though, so I would imagine anyone associating with her is probably not walking in the light of Lathander."

Insight on why it's important to them: 14

The best Marrin can figure, the pair want to know out of genuine curiosity. The road might be dangerous, but Marrin's seen enough of it to realize that if you don't run into something that wants to kill you, there's not much else out here to distract from the cold wind and barren landscape.

-----------------------------------------

Anyone else want to ask these two anything?

Ethel looks at Soren, then at Marrin, but doesn't venture any questions for this other wagon.

[Later, when it is just the party and Soren...]

"They're taking the long way around and riding hard.  Based on those timelines, when should those riders reach Peltarch?"  

Once the wagons from their group catch up Marrin will bid the pair a safe trip.

The pair of riders wait for their own wagon to catch up, then nod their farewells to the group and move on after Tas shares a few words with the merchants of the other group.

Once on your way again, Soren thinks for a bit before answering Ethel.

"No matter how hard they're riding, unless they can get replacement horses they'll have to rest. So, I'd say three or four days if they have good weather. Longer if they hit real winter." Soren finally says.

He looks at the group for a moment afterwards.

"Cross your fingers that they hit a blizzard and we might just get there ahead of them." Soren says.

Assuming the information they found out is shared with the rest of the group, Geffroi will add in "Those mercenaries, with the red hand insignia, sound just like the group that were loading the Emperor of the Waves and guarding the chest."

When Soren isn't around, presumably when they are talking to Geff,

"Speaking of which, we probably should see what's in the chest. Especially if the Hargreaves are mixed up with the same people."

She look over to Jan.

"Unless you've already peeked?"

Jan shakes her head.

"Without knowing what's in there, I'm not willing to open it while alone in my sanctum, I've not even gone back in since leaving it there. I can bring it back out, but it will be out for some amount of time before I can go back in with it...", she warns.

((Once she uses the feature, she can't again until finishing a long rest. It may be within the letter, but not the spirit for her to pop out with right before finishing a long rest so she can return it within minutes of bringing it out, once Ethel has had a chance to inspect it...))

(OOC - was giving you some space to discuss the chest, or next steps, but if everyone is happy, we can jump ahead)

((Was waiting to see if Ava or Ethel had some thoughts on it, but-))

"Well, I för one would prefer to open it up in the daylight."

She looks over at the caravaneers and adds,

"And not around people that could get caught up in something they don't know anything about. I gotten more than my own fair share of that lately."

Looking back,

"Maybe when we split off from them?"

(Sorry, trying now to catchup after the insane weekend)

Ava let's the others talk about when to open the chest, all she knows is that it gives her the heebie jeebies and that she hopes it doesn't call upon them all sorts of creatures when they do open it.  

As Marrin suggests the daylight, Ava nods.  "At least then we can hopefully see what's coming."

"We've got it covered either way, but a bright, sunny day definitely takes the edge off a pack of zombies."

Marrin adds with a smile at Ava.

"Is Soren coming with when we split off from the caravan? We okay  with reading him in on the chest? If I bring it out in light of day, we're probably stuck with the chest until halfway through the night once I've tranced."

Ethel emerges from her quiet contemplation.  "The more I think on the matter, the less inclined I am to open that chest, or even remove it from your hiding place," she ventures.  "I have been thinking about how those dragons were able to locate that wreck - in the fog; so many miles out to sea - and I am concerned that interested parties may be scrying or using other magical means to track it."  She shrugs.  "It is just a guess."

"But if I am right, then that means its current location might be doing more than hiding it from plain sight... it may well be hidden from seers powers as well.  And I'd prefer not to bring it out until we are in a place that leaves us better positioned and prepared to deal with sudden guests."

"Are there sure ways to obscure it from divination... that don't require tucking it away in a pocket dimension? Perhaps beneath enough earth and stone it might be hard to detect... if we were to find a suitable cave of some sort? Though if it doesn't work, then I suppose we've trapped ourselves. Are there spells you're aware of that would render it undetectable?"

Marrin scratches the back of her neck and yawns as Ethel explains the scrying issue, nodding along.

"Ya, I don't know if I can sweet talk another trio of dragons, especially if they aren't just kids."

She rubs her fingers absently, looking down at the grime that came with the head scratch with annoyance, adding after Jan speaks,

"Or, and hear me out on this, you can just go in and open it up Jan. You can do that, ya? That way no one can find the box, if being there is what is keeping them from finding it. If it turns out to be filled with evil, you just pop yourself out and we'll deal with it later. If it is filled with not-evil, you can take a look and report back."

She starts prestidigating the horse smell and hair off her clothes as she continues,

"I know it maybe isn't the safest plan, but I do think we should know what is in that box before we run into those black and red mercenaries the Hargreaves are buddying up with."

"And while your sweet talking is top tier, I'm not sure you could sweet talk that same trio a second time, if we happen to be in the area they sniff out the chest again. Rather think that might be too much coincidence for them to let slide."

"Yyeeessss... I could do that. I'm not sure what would happen if I die inside my ring... I mean, hopefully it doesn't come to that... but there's at least a chance that if when I open it, I'm killed on the spot," she snaps her fingers, "that the ring could shatter and you'd have the open chest to deal with, as well as my corpse. Again, hope that isn't going to happen, but would want you to be prepared. If it's locked or trapped, I can hopefully bypass that, but I'd have liked to have Ethel's mind to analyze whatever is inside."

Jan sighs, "As much as I dislike the notion... not knowing what's in there could present the greater danger in the long run."

She straightens her shoulders, "Very well... I can pop in and see what's what... either way it'll give us more information than we have now. Do we want to hold off until we split? I think it's best to do it as we make camp?"

((When Jan's ready to make the attempt, what do folks have to juice her rolls?))

Avaria's eyes widen a bit as talk turns to Jan opening it on her own in her pocket dimension.  "Is there any way I can come with you?  Can you bring me along in your ring?  I just... I don't like the idea of you handling this on your own.  I mean, I'm sure you'll be fine.. but just in case..."

"If it's not coming out, tonight is probably fine. Don't worry, it didn't seem like it was the source of the dead bodies. Probably."

((A bardic inspiration from Marrin to help Jan, along with a double thumbs up!))

Jan shakes her head, "I wish I could... I'd feel a lot better about it if you were at my back! Perhaps in time*, I'll be able to, but for now I can only manage myself."

((* At 10th level, she'll be able to bring 5 willing creatures in with her, and anyone in there will be able to gain the benefits of a short rest with 10 minutes resting inside, and she'd be able to keep everyone in there for a full 8 hours to be able to safely long rest.))