"M'not going to apologize," Zina said after making eye contact with Pettilaen. "What good is a threat if you apologize right after? Besides, you can use that handy spell of yours to clean him up. He'll be fine."
Bullden also suggests that we setup some trip wires that make noise so we are less likely to be caught unaware from any creature on the ground. Portia (high wisdon) and or Orst's wagon hands (they captured a boar) might have the best chance of setting this up.
After Kanon composes himself he comes back to the camp wiping drool and snot from his face. He avoids any eye contact with Zina, but offers to help in the defense preparation that Bullden suggests. The ale shared with him afterwards warms his stomach and his spirits are quickly lifted as the thought of wearing someone's skin slowly fades from his mind. "My thanks, Bullden. I had wondered when I might get the chance to meet you."
Portia is chuckling like she knows everything that has been going on though she appeared off in her own thoughts most of the time the dwarves were off hunting. Well, not the snoring Orst that they probably should move into the tent at some point or at least his sons could do that. He still needed a bath.
"Now isn't that intriguing." She eyes Kanon up and down. "Nope, my birthday suit won't hang on that frame right." She laughs.
She looks at Zina. "I trust him because he talked with Malark and Malark trusted him to take a book to Neiklot. Which as Orst so pointed out was a well known and respected fellow of the gate. Considering that Malark raised me like he was my father, I trust his judgment even with some wine in him. If it wasn't for him, who knows where I would be now. Though...."
She turns a grin on Kanon. "If you do anything I don't like I will make sure you get pranked and pranked hard. Though I highly doubt you will. Though it would be good to remember that Malark is not high in the temple but his connections are good from Beregost to Baldor's Gate and I might as well be his daughter."
She finally eyes the boar that the dwarven brothers drag in. "Well, here's to more pork." She starts laughing at some deeper thought associated to that.
She does nothing to help setup snares and stuff that Bullden is talking of and seems to be contemplating things as the group moves about for dinner and settling down for the night.
((Nothing like summing up and throwing out what Portia would say after being gone for 8 hours of posting!))
Rorn and Roe discourage tripwires or snares, revealing that, last time an escort used that method, Orst awakened to nature's call in the middle of the night and, partly due to dark and partly to whiskey, took a nasty tumble and got tangled such that it took an hour to free him. It might have helped if he would have stopped thrashing and cursing, but...
Rorn, the older of the two, shrugs his shoulders, "We've got plenty here to make a decent watch, sure. Especially with that fancy owl about."
In any case, the night is clear and quiet and, other than Orst tumbling from the driver's bench in the middle of the night and causing a stir, wholly uneventful.
...
The morning arrives with the same routine, though there's fresh slabs of bacon on the menu rather than the thin, heavily salted type made for durability during travel. Orst is especially cheerful, wolfing down some of the edible wild mushrooms Roe found on their hunt and saved especially for their father.
Soon, the group is on the road again, leaving behind the flat grasslands they'd been traveling for craggy hills rich with moss-covered granite outcroppings.
"Up ahead is Cloakwood Forest," Orst calls out after the group has traveled a couple of hours. "Be on your toes, lads and lasses. Some ugly stuff in that little wood."
Kanon hasn't eaten this much in a very long time. The food in Candlekeep was good, but it was portioned out to the scribes and only filled the belly as much as travelling rations. He's a bit relieved that he didn't have to put up the traps - he had no idea what he was doing anyway. Kanon slept peacefully for the first time since leaving Beregost, waking to take a watch. These companions were nice... one was creepy but he was willing to assume she was just over-protective. He didn't blame her though, it was a nice group of adventurers.
In the morning Kanon packs up his belongings along with the rest of the group and helps the dwarves with packing up their tent. Even though he had his fill the night prior, he's happy to help eat more of the boar in the morning.
Portia was just as Malark described in mannerisms as well. He could see the childish tendencies from the man's stories in the way she acted and the quick quips she had. He wondered about her obsession with bacon and her threat of pranks though.
As they get closer to the forest, Kanon is reminded of the last time he went through it. Maybe this will be the start of his first adventure! He grins stupidly to himself. The idea of becoming an adventurer felt absurd. He knew how to swing his rapier, but he never thought he'd have to use it.
"Well, it could be uneventful or too eventful. I can't say the trip has been boring, but thankfully not taxing either."
Portia sits up more alertly in her saddle as they approach the wood.
"So how long will it take to get past this at our speed?" She looks over at Orst driving the wagon. "Will we wind up camping for the night close or even in it?"
She knew a lot about the area, but traveling it herself had been rather rare. It wasn't until recently she had been allowed to go off on her own much.
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PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
"We'll be settin' up just outside the edge tonight," he answers, leaning back and tilting his head your direction. "Tomorrow'll be all wood, and there's no avoidin' spendin' one night there, but we'll be clear of it by lunchtime after."
He wiggles the reins to quicken the wagon's pace a bit, clearly nervous about the topic of conversation.
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PBP "Beregost Blues" - Dungeon Master of Gnome Slaying +5
"Ah okay. Figured it was something like that, but wanted to be sure." She smiles trying to look reassuring.
She heard enough tales of the place she did not find it odd the dwarf didn't want to talk about it much. So they had a night on the edge and a day and a half in it. The day after next they would be past it. There was no avoiding it and at least the road was travelled enough not to be entirely empty all the time, but could seem that way at times.
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PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
Dire wolves, drow, giant spiders, wyverns... They could take their pick of large inhabitants of the Cloakwood. At this point, Zina was getting bored with glaring at Kanon all day, so she had transitioned to playing with minor illusions as the cart rolled onward. She would focus as hard as she could, making colorful patterns into a ball in her hand, changing them rapidly. She continued to try and make the illusions more and more intricate, an old tutor's voice nagging her in the back of the head saying that practice made perfect. "I'm sure we won't run into anything we can't handle," the gnome grinned, looking back at Orst.
Kanon spent a lot of time in his own thoughts, and as Zina bored of her staring game he started to watch as she made her illusions. "You are amazingly good at that," Kanon said, "And not amazing like, 'oooh, look, magic!' but amazing like 'I've practiced illusions before but yours are amazing,' good. I can imagine what kind of shows we can put on in a town square. I can tell the story of Rorik the Bold and you can set the scene for everyone around. That would be quite fun!"
As they get nearer to the forest Kanon feels the urge to toss in a little of his own knowledge about Cloakwood. "In Candlekeep there was tell of many portals that exist within Cloakwood. All of them leading to odd places within the cosmos. According to the Candlekeep's recent history this all came about when ancient texts were discovered pinpointing Cloakwood as a site of influence from the Time of Troubles. I imagine a god's death would cause such ripples. However, the findings were proven false by an expedition into the woods launched by Candlekeep years ago. They found signs that portals may have existed, but at most they were inactive." Kanon chuckles a bit, "Lets hope they don't activate while we're passing through."
Another day churns by. As the forest nears, Orst's tales and boasts trail off to silence. Even more surprising, he takes no whiskey with lunch - or after, either. He drives the cart in sober silence, the reins clutched tight in his fists.
Aside from the regular traffic of merchants, pilgrims, couriers, and the occasional small military or diplomatic detachment, the day passes without incident. Orst pulls the cart over earlier than usual, just as the Cloakwood Forest, or simply the Cloak Wood to some, looms on the horizon.
"I'll not want to be in the sway of that wood a moment longer than necessary," he says. "Damn place gives me the shudders."
With plenty of food on hand and little to do but settle in, the group (minus any PCs who wish to do otherwise) takes their supper and shares a calm evening until the sun disappears and it is once again night.
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PBP "Beregost Blues" - Dungeon Master of Gnome Slaying +5
"You are amazingly good at that," Kanon tried to strike up a conversation with her, although Zina pointedly did not look up from her work. "And not amazing like, 'oooh, look, magic!' but amazing like 'I've practiced illusions before but yours are amazing,' good. I can imagine what kind of shows we can put on in a town square. I can tell the story of Rorik the Bold and you can set the scene for everyone around. That would be quite fun!"
"Perfect practice makes perfect," the gnome parroted one of her more annoying teachers, changing the illusion to be a perfect replica of Kanon's face in miniature. She turned the illusion in her hand, inspecting her handiwork from every angle. She didn't need his praise to tell her she was good at illusions, that was something she and her professors had long ago discovered. "Pettilaen is the performer, not me," she shrugged. "Crowds and I generally don't get along, which is fine. I'm an arcanist, a scholar if anything else."
"Is that so?" Kanon says as he hops off the wagon to help set up camp for the night, "Then tell me... where would you go to decipher a text made by the Mad Wizards of Thay if all of Candlekeep couldn't do it?" He thought of this as a sort of test of her arcane knowledge, but in his own mind he'd been wondering the same thing. Why was this text so hard to decipher that even the greatest sages in Candlekeep couldn't do it. Then it occurs to him... you'd go to a Red Wizard to decipher it. He pales as he thinks about who this Neiklot could be.
"Candlekeep is full of stuffy librarians," Zina scoffed, dispelling the illusory head. "You need a real wizard. The good people at Blackstaff are prats, but they know their stuff." Somehow, the wizard was able to keep her curiosity from getting the better of her for a whole ten seconds. "Do you- do you have said book on you?"
"Sure," Kanon says as he unbuckles a scroll case from his belt, "I wouldn't worry too much about it though. It's completely undecipherable." He tosses the case up to Zina, its contents consisting of many undecipherable pages from an unknown text. "These are what I'm supposed to be delivering to Neiklot. Hopefully he'll share his knowledge with me... it'd be great to learn how to decipher these in the future."
Kanon continues to help set up camp, occasionally glancing over at the leftover pork and Zina as she inspects the scroll case's contents.
Portia is pretty quiet as she helps setup camp and then enjoys the evening meal. She spends some time staring off at the wood until it's too dark to distinguish it. She was trying to determine if she could note any omen, but nothing occurred. At least they had another body if they needed to fight because she wasn't sure Orst would do more than soil his pants and hide under the wagon or even the stone somehow. Well, if the horses didn't bolt. This could get ugly, but it wouldn't be the first time probably. At least enough traffic was coming and going that maybe they would have a camp with others the next night because not everyone was going to get through the place in a day.
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PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
I'm sure one or more of you has at least SOME knowledge of Neiklot, the preeminent linguist, document expert, and code-breaker in Baldur's Gate. He's got a rather large, successful shop of scribes and language experts, but those with a truly difficult challenge take their work straight to Neiklot himself. By reputation, he's able to solve riddles and break codes better then anyone else on the sword coast.
By way of description, he's an older human gentleman with wispy white hair and bushy eyebrows. He's always smoking a long pipe and thinking about one thing or another, such that it can be difficult to gain his attention, even when he's walking along the streets of the Gate. He's been known to get so lost in thought that he overshoots his house by miles as he attempts to walk home from his shop.
As predicted, several groups stop to camp within general proximity of your group. Orst manages to generate enough cheer to strike up a rendition of "Little Brown Jug" with a neighboring camp of silk traders from Amn.
Me and my wife live all alone;
In a little log hut we call our own.
She loves wine and I love rum;
And, oh, we have a lot of fun.
Oh, oh, you and me, little brown jug do I love thee?
Oh, oh, you and me, little brown jug do I love thee!
Few of the group sleeps well. The air is frequently pierced with the distant wailing of dire wolves and other strange sounds in the night. Still, other than a false alarm when Roe gets up in the middle of the night to heed nature's call and trips over Rorn, the night passes without much fuss.
Then it's morning again. Orst shares fresh roast boar with neighboring camps so it can be used before it's wasted, receiving some small gifts in return. He gives each member of the group 5 silver coins apiece as "their share" of the coin. Everyone eats their fill, rigs the wagon, and it's on their way again.
The forest looms large as they approach it. It may be a small wood, geographically, but it's old and the trees are thick and tall. Large copses of alder, hemlock, and maple stand off the road to the west. In the distance ahead, you can see the forest closes closer to the road. By mid-afternoon, the road will be bathed in shadow.
The mood turns somber as the wagon rolls north...
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PBP "Beregost Blues" - Dungeon Master of Gnome Slaying +5
"M'not going to apologize," Zina said after making eye contact with Pettilaen. "What good is a threat if you apologize right after? Besides, you can use that handy spell of yours to clean him up. He'll be fine."
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
Bullden also suggests that we setup some trip wires that make noise so we are less likely to be caught unaware from any creature on the ground. Portia (high wisdon) and or Orst's wagon hands (they captured a boar) might have the best chance of setting this up.
After Kanon composes himself he comes back to the camp wiping drool and snot from his face. He avoids any eye contact with Zina, but offers to help in the defense preparation that Bullden suggests. The ale shared with him afterwards warms his stomach and his spirits are quickly lifted as the thought of wearing someone's skin slowly fades from his mind. "My thanks, Bullden. I had wondered when I might get the chance to meet you."
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Portia is chuckling like she knows everything that has been going on though she appeared off in her own thoughts most of the time the dwarves were off hunting. Well, not the snoring Orst that they probably should move into the tent at some point or at least his sons could do that. He still needed a bath.
"Now isn't that intriguing." She eyes Kanon up and down. "Nope, my birthday suit won't hang on that frame right." She laughs.
She looks at Zina. "I trust him because he talked with Malark and Malark trusted him to take a book to Neiklot. Which as Orst so pointed out was a well known and respected fellow of the gate. Considering that Malark raised me like he was my father, I trust his judgment even with some wine in him. If it wasn't for him, who knows where I would be now. Though...."
She turns a grin on Kanon. "If you do anything I don't like I will make sure you get pranked and pranked hard. Though I highly doubt you will. Though it would be good to remember that Malark is not high in the temple but his connections are good from Beregost to Baldor's Gate and I might as well be his daughter."
She finally eyes the boar that the dwarven brothers drag in. "Well, here's to more pork." She starts laughing at some deeper thought associated to that.
She does nothing to help setup snares and stuff that Bullden is talking of and seems to be contemplating things as the group moves about for dinner and settling down for the night.
((Nothing like summing up and throwing out what Portia would say after being gone for 8 hours of posting!))
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain
PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
Rorn and Roe discourage tripwires or snares, revealing that, last time an escort used that method, Orst awakened to nature's call in the middle of the night and, partly due to dark and partly to whiskey, took a nasty tumble and got tangled such that it took an hour to free him. It might have helped if he would have stopped thrashing and cursing, but...
Rorn, the older of the two, shrugs his shoulders, "We've got plenty here to make a decent watch, sure. Especially with that fancy owl about."
In any case, the night is clear and quiet and, other than Orst tumbling from the driver's bench in the middle of the night and causing a stir, wholly uneventful.
...
The morning arrives with the same routine, though there's fresh slabs of bacon on the menu rather than the thin, heavily salted type made for durability during travel. Orst is especially cheerful, wolfing down some of the edible wild mushrooms Roe found on their hunt and saved especially for their father.
Soon, the group is on the road again, leaving behind the flat grasslands they'd been traveling for craggy hills rich with moss-covered granite outcroppings.
"Up ahead is Cloakwood Forest," Orst calls out after the group has traveled a couple of hours. "Be on your toes, lads and lasses. Some ugly stuff in that little wood."
Kanon hasn't eaten this much in a very long time. The food in Candlekeep was good, but it was portioned out to the scribes and only filled the belly as much as travelling rations. He's a bit relieved that he didn't have to put up the traps - he had no idea what he was doing anyway. Kanon slept peacefully for the first time since leaving Beregost, waking to take a watch. These companions were nice... one was creepy but he was willing to assume she was just over-protective. He didn't blame her though, it was a nice group of adventurers.
In the morning Kanon packs up his belongings along with the rest of the group and helps the dwarves with packing up their tent. Even though he had his fill the night prior, he's happy to help eat more of the boar in the morning.
Portia was just as Malark described in mannerisms as well. He could see the childish tendencies from the man's stories in the way she acted and the quick quips she had. He wondered about her obsession with bacon and her threat of pranks though.
As they get closer to the forest, Kanon is reminded of the last time he went through it. Maybe this will be the start of his first adventure! He grins stupidly to himself. The idea of becoming an adventurer felt absurd. He knew how to swing his rapier, but he never thought he'd have to use it.
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"Well, it could be uneventful or too eventful. I can't say the trip has been boring, but thankfully not taxing either."
Portia sits up more alertly in her saddle as they approach the wood.
"So how long will it take to get past this at our speed?" She looks over at Orst driving the wagon. "Will we wind up camping for the night close or even in it?"
She knew a lot about the area, but traveling it herself had been rather rare. It wasn't until recently she had been allowed to go off on her own much.
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain
PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
"We'll be settin' up just outside the edge tonight," he answers, leaning back and tilting his head your direction. "Tomorrow'll be all wood, and there's no avoidin' spendin' one night there, but we'll be clear of it by lunchtime after."
He wiggles the reins to quicken the wagon's pace a bit, clearly nervous about the topic of conversation.
"Ah okay. Figured it was something like that, but wanted to be sure." She smiles trying to look reassuring.
She heard enough tales of the place she did not find it odd the dwarf didn't want to talk about it much. So they had a night on the edge and a day and a half in it. The day after next they would be past it. There was no avoiding it and at least the road was travelled enough not to be entirely empty all the time, but could seem that way at times.
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain
PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
Dire wolves, drow, giant spiders, wyverns... They could take their pick of large inhabitants of the Cloakwood. At this point, Zina was getting bored with glaring at Kanon all day, so she had transitioned to playing with minor illusions as the cart rolled onward. She would focus as hard as she could, making colorful patterns into a ball in her hand, changing them rapidly. She continued to try and make the illusions more and more intricate, an old tutor's voice nagging her in the back of the head saying that practice made perfect. "I'm sure we won't run into anything we can't handle," the gnome grinned, looking back at Orst.
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
Kanon spent a lot of time in his own thoughts, and as Zina bored of her staring game he started to watch as she made her illusions. "You are amazingly good at that," Kanon said, "And not amazing like, 'oooh, look, magic!' but amazing like 'I've practiced illusions before but yours are amazing,' good. I can imagine what kind of shows we can put on in a town square. I can tell the story of Rorik the Bold and you can set the scene for everyone around. That would be quite fun!"
As they get nearer to the forest Kanon feels the urge to toss in a little of his own knowledge about Cloakwood. "In Candlekeep there was tell of many portals that exist within Cloakwood. All of them leading to odd places within the cosmos. According to the Candlekeep's recent history this all came about when ancient texts were discovered pinpointing Cloakwood as a site of influence from the Time of Troubles. I imagine a god's death would cause such ripples. However, the findings were proven false by an expedition into the woods launched by Candlekeep years ago. They found signs that portals may have existed, but at most they were inactive." Kanon chuckles a bit, "Lets hope they don't activate while we're passing through."
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Another day churns by. As the forest nears, Orst's tales and boasts trail off to silence. Even more surprising, he takes no whiskey with lunch - or after, either. He drives the cart in sober silence, the reins clutched tight in his fists.
Aside from the regular traffic of merchants, pilgrims, couriers, and the occasional small military or diplomatic detachment, the day passes without incident. Orst pulls the cart over earlier than usual, just as the Cloakwood Forest, or simply the Cloak Wood to some, looms on the horizon.
"I'll not want to be in the sway of that wood a moment longer than necessary," he says. "Damn place gives me the shudders."
With plenty of food on hand and little to do but settle in, the group (minus any PCs who wish to do otherwise) takes their supper and shares a calm evening until the sun disappears and it is once again night.
"You are amazingly good at that," Kanon tried to strike up a conversation with her, although Zina pointedly did not look up from her work. "And not amazing like, 'oooh, look, magic!' but amazing like 'I've practiced illusions before but yours are amazing,' good. I can imagine what kind of shows we can put on in a town square. I can tell the story of Rorik the Bold and you can set the scene for everyone around. That would be quite fun!"
"Perfect practice makes perfect," the gnome parroted one of her more annoying teachers, changing the illusion to be a perfect replica of Kanon's face in miniature. She turned the illusion in her hand, inspecting her handiwork from every angle. She didn't need his praise to tell her she was good at illusions, that was something she and her professors had long ago discovered. "Pettilaen is the performer, not me," she shrugged. "Crowds and I generally don't get along, which is fine. I'm an arcanist, a scholar if anything else."
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
"Is that so?" Kanon says as he hops off the wagon to help set up camp for the night, "Then tell me... where would you go to decipher a text made by the Mad Wizards of Thay if all of Candlekeep couldn't do it?" He thought of this as a sort of test of her arcane knowledge, but in his own mind he'd been wondering the same thing. Why was this text so hard to decipher that even the greatest sages in Candlekeep couldn't do it. Then it occurs to him... you'd go to a Red Wizard to decipher it. He pales as he thinks about who this Neiklot could be.
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"Candlekeep is full of stuffy librarians," Zina scoffed, dispelling the illusory head. "You need a real wizard. The good people at Blackstaff are prats, but they know their stuff." Somehow, the wizard was able to keep her curiosity from getting the better of her for a whole ten seconds. "Do you- do you have said book on you?"
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
"Sure," Kanon says as he unbuckles a scroll case from his belt, "I wouldn't worry too much about it though. It's completely undecipherable." He tosses the case up to Zina, its contents consisting of many undecipherable pages from an unknown text. "These are what I'm supposed to be delivering to Neiklot. Hopefully he'll share his knowledge with me... it'd be great to learn how to decipher these in the future."
Kanon continues to help set up camp, occasionally glancing over at the leftover pork and Zina as she inspects the scroll case's contents.
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Portia is pretty quiet as she helps setup camp and then enjoys the evening meal. She spends some time staring off at the wood until it's too dark to distinguish it. She was trying to determine if she could note any omen, but nothing occurred. At least they had another body if they needed to fight because she wasn't sure Orst would do more than soil his pants and hide under the wagon or even the stone somehow. Well, if the horses didn't bolt. This could get ugly, but it wouldn't be the first time probably. At least enough traffic was coming and going that maybe they would have a camp with others the next night because not everyone was going to get through the place in a day.
PbP - Beregost Blues - Portia Starflower, Half Elf, Cleric, Life Domain
PbP - Tome of Annhilation - Vistani Mocanu, Human, Bard
I'm sure one or more of you has at least SOME knowledge of Neiklot, the preeminent linguist, document expert, and code-breaker in Baldur's Gate. He's got a rather large, successful shop of scribes and language experts, but those with a truly difficult challenge take their work straight to Neiklot himself. By reputation, he's able to solve riddles and break codes better then anyone else on the sword coast.
By way of description, he's an older human gentleman with wispy white hair and bushy eyebrows. He's always smoking a long pipe and thinking about one thing or another, such that it can be difficult to gain his attention, even when he's walking along the streets of the Gate. He's been known to get so lost in thought that he overshoots his house by miles as he attempts to walk home from his shop.
As predicted, several groups stop to camp within general proximity of your group. Orst manages to generate enough cheer to strike up a rendition of "Little Brown Jug" with a neighboring camp of silk traders from Amn.
Few of the group sleeps well. The air is frequently pierced with the distant wailing of dire wolves and other strange sounds in the night. Still, other than a false alarm when Roe gets up in the middle of the night to heed nature's call and trips over Rorn, the night passes without much fuss.
Then it's morning again. Orst shares fresh roast boar with neighboring camps so it can be used before it's wasted, receiving some small gifts in return. He gives each member of the group 5 silver coins apiece as "their share" of the coin. Everyone eats their fill, rigs the wagon, and it's on their way again.
The forest looms large as they approach it. It may be a small wood, geographically, but it's old and the trees are thick and tall. Large copses of alder, hemlock, and maple stand off the road to the west. In the distance ahead, you can see the forest closes closer to the road. By mid-afternoon, the road will be bathed in shadow.
The mood turns somber as the wagon rolls north...