Draíocht notes Adger's stance on Sandford with a soft grunt. Huh. After her statement on goblins he gives her an annoyed look. Not so much for the statement against elves, which he expects from a human, but for what he sees as an inaccurate analogy. "Goblins are not beasts." he says in a matter-of-fact tone, "A wolf or bear kills out of necessity. Any perceived torture in its hunting methods are incidental to the need to feed. But goblins do so out of malice. They take pleasure in inflicting pain. A beast's actions are divorced from morality. A goblin's are filled with evil." He heads over to a window and gazes out of it. "Anyways, how big are their groups? 2-3? 5-7? Could be useful to know what to expect."
Valar - Sister Gwendoline reaches out and touches your shoulder, imbuing you with the effects of the Bless for the duration of one day. So you can add 1d4 to all your attack rolls and saving throws for 24 hours. "Go in lightness, noble brother. Bring your god's justice to this land."
Draíocht - Adger seems slightly taken aback by your forwardness and maybe slightly impressed by your knowledge of nature. "We usually see them in scouting groups, maybe 3-4 goblins and a worg or 2. Sometimes they hunt, so 2-3 goblins riding as many worgs. Sometimes, and only rarely, they are led by a hobgoblin. But they seem to have retreated up to the Slopes. Clearly the hobgoblin's have something up their they want to protect, leaving the goblins down in the Dim Wood to do their nasty slaving business." She removes her hand from her head and puts it to her side, seeming slightly at a loss for what to say. "Is there any more information you need to know?" This directed back at Amiz, clearly more comfortable talking to the leonin than the elf.
Ok so at this point it seems to me you've found a few points of interest, let me know if you have any other ideas but this is a summary of what you've talked about so far.
1. Go into the Dim Woods, where there are a bunch of baddies: Sanford, Goblin Slavers, a Ghost to the south.
2. Head south-west to Luethanos Pass, the entrance to Alaria, where some ghouls were sited a couple weeks ago.
3. Travel through the Dim Wood, and onto the Neurath Slopes, and eventually Kholias.
Valar, having told what the sister had explained to him, "Seems it doesn't matter, darkness envelops this place. Anywhere we can go and bring Justice would be of a great service to these people."
So you'll head into the Dim Wood. If anyone wants to buy any supplies before you do, now would be your chance.
What approach will you take once you're in there? Are you going to try to track Sanford, or immediately head south towards the ghost. Either way you should all define which rolls you're going to perform while travelling. Here are some that i've seen players use in the past, although if you wanted to do something else, we could easily find a way for you to make a roll for it:
Leader - Keep the moral of the party up and focussed on their goal.
Quartermaster - Keep track of recourses by carrying them or working out the best way to use them.
Sentry - Keep an eye out for potential dangers and pitfalls.
Scout - Travel ahead of the party and make sure they're heading in the right direction while also reporting back when they've found something.
Looks like Thalanis can act as the leader for now. These rolls aren’t locked in by the way. It’s just a fun way of having everyone have a turn at chipping in to the travel.
"Looks like we're heading East." says Draíocht. He says to Thelanis, "I'll make sure to report anything of note to you." And to Valar he says, "Hopefully nothing comes up on us, but if it does I rest easy knowing your watchful eyes are ready." He takes the lead, looking for signs of tracks. Both bestial and humanoid, searching for evidence of creatures passing through. He's most interested in trying to see warg/goblin tracks for evidence of their quarry. He asks the land for guidance as they go.
As the travel, Valar will look and listen to the woods around them for anything that is out of the ordinary. Smells, when birds stop chirping, anything that could warn of someone or something nearby (Perception: 20 Nature: 7 Survival: 3 )
You all enter the Dim Wood. It truly lives up to its name, as soon as you enter the large leaves from the trees above block out most of the sunlight. You hear owls hooting in a bizarre facsimile of night.
Draíocht moves ahead of the party and begins to search for tracks. For the first part of the day you seem to be blindly moving in a general easterly direction, but then you suddenly come upon some tracks like a large wolf, with more humanoid feet. Definitely a worg, and judging by the depth of the indentation, it clearly has a small humanoid rider. These tracks seem to patrol in many directions, but always return to the south-east, towards the base of the southern Neurath Slopes. Perhaps another day’s travel.
Valar spends the day acting as sentry to the group as they move through the forrest. As you move all you perceive are small forrest animals and plants. But if something were to sneak up on you, you know you’d be prepared.
Can someone roll a d12 for a random encounter? You’ll get an encounter on either a 1 or 2, but a roll of 1 will get a deadly encounter.
Around evening you walk past a gruesome sight. A dire wolf impaled on a stake in the ground. Next to it is a crudely drawn sign. “Tharrak’s Forrest, go back!” Clearly written in an unintelligent goblin version of the common tounge. It seems you’ve entered the territory of the slavers. You’ll likely arrive at their base in the morning.
You’ll have to set up camp somewhere around here for the night. Too much further and you’ll be too deep in goblin territory.
Draíocht notes Adger's stance on Sandford with a soft grunt. Huh. After her statement on goblins he gives her an annoyed look. Not so much for the statement against elves, which he expects from a human, but for what he sees as an inaccurate analogy. "Goblins are not beasts." he says in a matter-of-fact tone, "A wolf or bear kills out of necessity. Any perceived torture in its hunting methods are incidental to the need to feed. But goblins do so out of malice. They take pleasure in inflicting pain. A beast's actions are divorced from morality. A goblin's are filled with evil." He heads over to a window and gazes out of it. "Anyways, how big are their groups? 2-3? 5-7? Could be useful to know what to expect."
This is a signature. It was a simple signature. But it has been upgraded.
Bel, Aarakocra Hunter Ranger, Friend Campaign
Screechirk, Aarakocra Light Cleric, Wages of Vice
Darath, Goliath Battlemaster, Into the Overlap
Draíocht, Wood Elf Moon Druid, Kholias
Eggo Lass, Drow GOOlock, 100 Dungeons
Drako, Dragonborn Tempest Cleric, Dragon of Icespire Peak
Phait, Mountain Dwarf Wild Magic Sorcerer, Shadowglass
Get rickrolled here. Listen to awesome music here. (selection 27, 4/23/24, One Voice)
Valar - Sister Gwendoline reaches out and touches your shoulder, imbuing you with the effects of the Bless for the duration of one day. So you can add 1d4 to all your attack rolls and saving throws for 24 hours. "Go in lightness, noble brother. Bring your god's justice to this land."
Draíocht - Adger seems slightly taken aback by your forwardness and maybe slightly impressed by your knowledge of nature. "We usually see them in scouting groups, maybe 3-4 goblins and a worg or 2. Sometimes they hunt, so 2-3 goblins riding as many worgs. Sometimes, and only rarely, they are led by a hobgoblin. But they seem to have retreated up to the Slopes. Clearly the hobgoblin's have something up their they want to protect, leaving the goblins down in the Dim Wood to do their nasty slaving business." She removes her hand from her head and puts it to her side, seeming slightly at a loss for what to say. "Is there any more information you need to know?" This directed back at Amiz, clearly more comfortable talking to the leonin than the elf.
Ok so at this point it seems to me you've found a few points of interest, let me know if you have any other ideas but this is a summary of what you've talked about so far.
1. Go into the Dim Woods, where there are a bunch of baddies: Sanford, Goblin Slavers, a Ghost to the south.
2. Head south-west to Luethanos Pass, the entrance to Alaria, where some ghouls were sited a couple weeks ago.
3. Travel through the Dim Wood, and onto the Neurath Slopes, and eventually Kholias.
Valar, having told what the sister had explained to him, "Seems it doesn't matter, darkness envelops this place. Anywhere we can go and bring Justice would be of a great service to these people."
Sister Gwendoline holds out her hands with a knowing smile. Seems about right.
[[
Personally I'm thinking:
1. Take care of the goblins. Free up resources for tackling Sandford.
2. Secure the town more by helping out with the ghouls.
3. Hopefully with a more secure homepoint, head out into Kholias?
]]
This is a signature. It was a simple signature. But it has been upgraded.
Bel, Aarakocra Hunter Ranger, Friend Campaign
Screechirk, Aarakocra Light Cleric, Wages of Vice
Darath, Goliath Battlemaster, Into the Overlap
Draíocht, Wood Elf Moon Druid, Kholias
Eggo Lass, Drow GOOlock, 100 Dungeons
Drako, Dragonborn Tempest Cleric, Dragon of Icespire Peak
Phait, Mountain Dwarf Wild Magic Sorcerer, Shadowglass
Get rickrolled here. Listen to awesome music here. (selection 27, 4/23/24, One Voice)
Amiz would vote for number 1 as his goal is remove Sanford as a threat.
So you'll head into the Dim Wood. If anyone wants to buy any supplies before you do, now would be your chance.
What approach will you take once you're in there? Are you going to try to track Sanford, or immediately head south towards the ghost. Either way you should all define which rolls you're going to perform while travelling. Here are some that i've seen players use in the past, although if you wanted to do something else, we could easily find a way for you to make a roll for it:
Leader - Keep the moral of the party up and focussed on their goal.
Quartermaster - Keep track of recourses by carrying them or working out the best way to use them.
Sentry - Keep an eye out for potential dangers and pitfalls.
Scout - Travel ahead of the party and make sure they're heading in the right direction while also reporting back when they've found something.
[[ believe we're dealing with the goblins first. Are they in the North or South of woods? (wondering if it's the same reigon as the ghost) ]]
Draíocht looks forward to the cleaning up they'll be doing in the woods. "I can scout ahead if you want."
This is a signature. It was a simple signature. But it has been upgraded.
Bel, Aarakocra Hunter Ranger, Friend Campaign
Screechirk, Aarakocra Light Cleric, Wages of Vice
Darath, Goliath Battlemaster, Into the Overlap
Draíocht, Wood Elf Moon Druid, Kholias
Eggo Lass, Drow GOOlock, 100 Dungeons
Drako, Dragonborn Tempest Cleric, Dragon of Icespire Peak
Phait, Mountain Dwarf Wild Magic Sorcerer, Shadowglass
Get rickrolled here. Listen to awesome music here. (selection 27, 4/23/24, One Voice)
Valar can serve as a sentry with his skills
Out of those roles, Thelanis is only suited to leader., although she's not a bad tracker.
Liarin: Against the Cult of the Reptile God
Adewild: Shadows and Light 2
Brother Thaddeus: Rime of the Frostmaiden.
Cool so Draíocht is your scout. You don’t know where the goblins are, but there’s more congregating towards the Neurath Slopes, to the east.
Looks like Thalanis can act as the leader for now. These rolls aren’t locked in by the way. It’s just a fun way of having everyone have a turn at chipping in to the travel.
"Looks like we're heading East." says Draíocht. He says to Thelanis, "I'll make sure to report anything of note to you." And to Valar he says, "Hopefully nothing comes up on us, but if it does I rest easy knowing your watchful eyes are ready." He takes the lead, looking for signs of tracks. Both bestial and humanoid, searching for evidence of creatures passing through. He's most interested in trying to see warg/goblin tracks for evidence of their quarry. He asks the land for guidance as they go.
Survival: 15 + 5 + 2 = 22
This is a signature. It was a simple signature. But it has been upgraded.
Bel, Aarakocra Hunter Ranger, Friend Campaign
Screechirk, Aarakocra Light Cleric, Wages of Vice
Darath, Goliath Battlemaster, Into the Overlap
Draíocht, Wood Elf Moon Druid, Kholias
Eggo Lass, Drow GOOlock, 100 Dungeons
Drako, Dragonborn Tempest Cleric, Dragon of Icespire Peak
Phait, Mountain Dwarf Wild Magic Sorcerer, Shadowglass
Get rickrolled here. Listen to awesome music here. (selection 27, 4/23/24, One Voice)
I’ll wait for anyone else who wants to make a travel roll to do so, then I’ll describe your first day travelling in the Dim Wood
As the travel, Valar will look and listen to the woods around them for anything that is out of the ordinary. Smells, when birds stop chirping, anything that could warn of someone or something nearby (Perception: 20 Nature: 7 Survival: 3 )
I’ll just take the perception roll as that’s the only one I’d need.
Alright I’ll just move forward with those rolls.
You all enter the Dim Wood. It truly lives up to its name, as soon as you enter the large leaves from the trees above block out most of the sunlight. You hear owls hooting in a bizarre facsimile of night.
Draíocht moves ahead of the party and begins to search for tracks. For the first part of the day you seem to be blindly moving in a general easterly direction, but then you suddenly come upon some tracks like a large wolf, with more humanoid feet. Definitely a worg, and judging by the depth of the indentation, it clearly has a small humanoid rider. These tracks seem to patrol in many directions, but always return to the south-east, towards the base of the southern Neurath Slopes. Perhaps another day’s travel.
Valar spends the day acting as sentry to the group as they move through the forrest. As you move all you perceive are small forrest animals and plants. But if something were to sneak up on you, you know you’d be prepared.
Can someone roll a d12 for a random encounter? You’ll get an encounter on either a 1 or 2, but a roll of 1 will get a deadly encounter.
12
This is a signature. It was a simple signature. But it has been upgraded.
Bel, Aarakocra Hunter Ranger, Friend Campaign
Screechirk, Aarakocra Light Cleric, Wages of Vice
Darath, Goliath Battlemaster, Into the Overlap
Draíocht, Wood Elf Moon Druid, Kholias
Eggo Lass, Drow GOOlock, 100 Dungeons
Drako, Dragonborn Tempest Cleric, Dragon of Icespire Peak
Phait, Mountain Dwarf Wild Magic Sorcerer, Shadowglass
Get rickrolled here. Listen to awesome music here. (selection 27, 4/23/24, One Voice)
Around evening you walk past a gruesome sight. A dire wolf impaled on a stake in the ground. Next to it is a crudely drawn sign. “Tharrak’s Forrest, go back!” Clearly written in an unintelligent goblin version of the common tounge. It seems you’ve entered the territory of the slavers. You’ll likely arrive at their base in the morning.
You’ll have to set up camp somewhere around here for the night. Too much further and you’ll be too deep in goblin territory.