You make slow progress, but it's steady and you're sure you have a firm lock on the trail. Though Incantis stumbles once or twice, attracting startled glances from small creatures, overall you're pretty quiet. The rest of the party follows on behind, but you don't detect anything hostile that you need to warn them about.
The trail holds together well; about twelve goblins, dragging two objects; often the grass shows little trace of their passage but travelling slowly, you are able to pick up on the odd footprint here, a place there where the drag mark remains clear. Until late evening, when suddenly the trail becomes twelve goblins and two... something else. It might be dwarves, and this gives you hope that Gundren's brothers were alive, at least when they were taken.
After a solid eight hours of travel during the day, you come upon the Triboar Trail where you had passed by only a couple of days before. The trail is faint, but you pick it up the other side of the road as it heads north into the black, ominous mass of trees that form the Neverwinter Wood. You're getting tired, and Sildar suggests you stop and make camp.
You stop and make camp near the Triboar Trail, far enough from the road not to attract much attention if there are any people around, though there don't seem to be.
Varinth, your first watch passes without incident. You get a very clear view of the night sky and notice that one star - one that seems not always to be in the same place - is twinkling a lot and seems to be in the direction you are all travelling. Please make a wisdom saving throw.
Strix examines the area around the camp, looks for the 4 most likely spots to approach for an ambush and sets up 4 tripwires using his bells, string and pitons for tensioning.
He then sets up his tent, a little bit further back from the fire than the others have located themselves because sleeping under the stars is for chumps. He sets his bedroll up away from the tent though over near the rest of the group, but not because he's a chump - with the tent just containing his wolf chain and manacles suspended from the central beam, any attempt to disturb it will cause a jangle that will alert the camp.
Satisfied, he snuggles up by the fire. If he catches Varinth's eye he shrugs, offering "Just hate sleep 'ttacks.."before turning in.
He'll take Second Watch though, 16 Perception
Would it be cheating to adopt a suitably monk-y yoga sleep pose (like a collapsed Marjariasana) so that he's not quite prone if they get disturbed?
Strix, you are able to set up your traps, but your watch passes peacefully and your wolf chain remains unjangled. You do observe a small family of wolves in the distant north, but they are headed west to east and come nowhere near your camp; it looks to be a male and female with three young.
Scupper, the wind picks up and the weather becomes noticeably chillier during your watch, and nothing to do with your own natural coolness. There are more clouds in the sky, and you suspect the northerly wind is bringing a late winter spell from the frozen north of the Sword Coast. You don't notice anyone or anything in the nearby area that poses a threat to the camp, though.
Scupper pulls his clothes tighter about him, realizing that cold from outside his body apparently still bothers him.
"Feck. Miss that hin lass for company...and warmth about now."
He continues the watch, making images in the campfire of a less than subtle nature but they always become outward expression of a darker nature. Lovers become enemies grappling for weapons. He tries again and again to keep his thoughts and animations in the fire light or at least carnal, but they mutate seemingly of their own will to reflect his bloody mood and the bloody weather.
Dekhan will take 4th watch. Perception 16 he takes the opportunity to get in a little meditation and appreciate the nature around him as he watches the sky begin to lighten.
Dekhan, the chill air seems to help your meditation, and you are able to focus on the land around you; you seem to sense some of the spring growth bracing itself for the coming spell of colder weather, but with confidence that it will not last long.
You pack up camp as the sun is rising, and resume your journey northwards, Scupper and Incantis taking the lead once again. The trail continues only an hour more before you find yourself once again at the threshold of the great Neverwinter Wood. This forest is ancient and full of mysteries and dangers; you all can't help but feel a little intimidated as you enter. All except Dekhan, as you feel a strange sense of welcome as you take your first steps.
You walk on, for three more hours. The forest becomes denser, more oppressive. The chill is severe now, and you can see your breath condense in the air as it leaves your mouth. The trail seems clearer; the path you follow is regularly used by groups of goblins, and perhaps some bugbears and other creatures too. You start to find apple cores, old discarded scraps of cloth and armour; not much effort has been made to hide this route.
Ahead of you looms a shape; you don't see it well through the trees, and the gloomy light seeping through the canopy doesn't help. A large building, short and squat. You get closer, and begin to make out a small castle, a keep. And now you can see that once there were several towers, but these have crumbled to ruin. Only the ground floor remains habitable, though that's more than could be said of the ruins you saw at Old Owl Well and Conyberry. You see now walls with holes, stones lying here and there on the ground, vines and other plant life creeping up the walls, but this small castle is still standing, intact and, you suspect, in use. Up ahead, your trail converges with others at the large wooden doors; you are still behind the tree line, likely hidden from any watchers, but you risk discovery if you step further.
With your keen Aasimar eyes Dekhan, you can see that the doors are broken and collapsed, so there's no barrier to entering the castle. The tracks tell you that goblins and bugbears walk around the castle from time to time, but not enough to be regular patrols. You notice arrow slits in the external walls near the doorway; it's likely that someone could get an easy shot at any strangers approaching, if they were noticed.
There's nothing to stop us from entering, lads, but those arrow slits could be a problem if they see us coming... Strix, could you do something with that globe of darkness I saw you conjure with Fekhar? There's plenty of gobb and bugbear tracks around, but nothing to indicate any regular patrols, it seems like they lack organization... we should be alright here for the time being. What are we thinking for angle of approach? Sneak in through the doors? Scale the walls? I'd love to get an idea of how many hostiles we're dealing with.
Scupper, you don't see any sign of traps between you and the castle's main door, though you are too far, and at the wrong angle, to see inside the castle itself.
Perception 17
Is there a way to warn Incantus that his stealth is less than nominal?
14
You make slow progress, but it's steady and you're sure you have a firm lock on the trail. Though Incantis stumbles once or twice, attracting startled glances from small creatures, overall you're pretty quiet. The rest of the party follows on behind, but you don't detect anything hostile that you need to warn them about.
The trail holds together well; about twelve goblins, dragging two objects; often the grass shows little trace of their passage but travelling slowly, you are able to pick up on the odd footprint here, a place there where the drag mark remains clear. Until late evening, when suddenly the trail becomes twelve goblins and two... something else. It might be dwarves, and this gives you hope that Gundren's brothers were alive, at least when they were taken.
After a solid eight hours of travel during the day, you come upon the Triboar Trail where you had passed by only a couple of days before. The trail is faint, but you pick it up the other side of the road as it heads north into the black, ominous mass of trees that form the Neverwinter Wood. You're getting tired, and Sildar suggests you stop and make camp.
I'll take first watch Sirs
Vaz takes out food for the evening meal.
We far enough away for a fire? If everyone agrees Vaz will start a camp fire, and set up his bedroll.
Perception: 19
7 2
You stop and make camp near the Triboar Trail, far enough from the road not to attract much attention if there are any people around, though there don't seem to be.
Varinth, your first watch passes without incident. You get a very clear view of the night sky and notice that one star - one that seems not always to be in the same place - is twinkling a lot and seems to be in the direction you are all travelling. Please make a wisdom saving throw.
Who's taking second, third and fourth watches?
Strix examines the area around the camp, looks for the 4 most likely spots to approach for an ambush and sets up 4 tripwires using his bells, string and pitons for tensioning.
He then sets up his tent, a little bit further back from the fire than the others have located themselves because sleeping under the stars is for chumps. He sets his bedroll up away from the tent though over near the rest of the group, but not because he's a chump - with the tent just containing his wolf chain and manacles suspended from the central beam, any attempt to disturb it will cause a jangle that will alert the camp.
Satisfied, he snuggles up by the fire. If he catches Varinth's eye he shrugs, offering "Just hate sleep 'ttacks.." before turning in.
He'll take Second Watch though, 16 Perception
Would it be cheating to adopt a suitably monk-y yoga sleep pose (like a collapsed Marjariasana) so that he's not quite prone if they get disturbed?
Strix, Shifter Shadow Monk in Lost Mines of Phandelver ¦ Sihegiall Human Soulknife Rogue in In Search of Molly McGuffin
Strix, you are able to set up your traps, but your watch passes peacefully and your wolf chain remains unjangled. You do observe a small family of wolves in the distant north, but they are headed west to east and come nowhere near your camp; it looks to be a male and female with three young.
Looks like I'll take third watch and feck it up for the rest of us hehe. Jest kidding lads. Sleep sound. I got this.
14 perception
Scupper, the wind picks up and the weather becomes noticeably chillier during your watch, and nothing to do with your own natural coolness. There are more clouds in the sky, and you suspect the northerly wind is bringing a late winter spell from the frozen north of the Sword Coast. You don't notice anyone or anything in the nearby area that poses a threat to the camp, though.
Scupper pulls his clothes tighter about him, realizing that cold from outside his body apparently still bothers him.
"Feck. Miss that hin lass for company...and warmth about now."
He continues the watch, making images in the campfire of a less than subtle nature but they always become outward expression of a darker nature. Lovers become enemies grappling for weapons. He tries again and again to keep his thoughts and animations in the fire light or at least carnal, but they mutate seemingly of their own will to reflect his bloody mood and the bloody weather.
"Jest my luck I'll freeze te death by morning."
Wisdom: 15
Dekhan will take 4th watch. Perception 16 he takes the opportunity to get in a little meditation and appreciate the nature around him as he watches the sky begin to lighten.
Dekhan, the chill air seems to help your meditation, and you are able to focus on the land around you; you seem to sense some of the spring growth bracing itself for the coming spell of colder weather, but with confidence that it will not last long.
You pack up camp as the sun is rising, and resume your journey northwards, Scupper and Incantis taking the lead once again. The trail continues only an hour more before you find yourself once again at the threshold of the great Neverwinter Wood. This forest is ancient and full of mysteries and dangers; you all can't help but feel a little intimidated as you enter. All except Dekhan, as you feel a strange sense of welcome as you take your first steps.
Dekhan studies the keep and it's surroundings looking for any indication of guards, possible guard placement, or sentry routes. Survival 21
"Dekhan, what do your Aasimar eyes see?" "They're taking the dwarves to Isengard"
With your keen Aasimar eyes Dekhan, you can see that the doors are broken and collapsed, so there's no barrier to entering the castle. The tracks tell you that goblins and bugbears walk around the castle from time to time, but not enough to be regular patrols. You notice arrow slits in the external walls near the doorway; it's likely that someone could get an easy shot at any strangers approaching, if they were noticed.
There's nothing to stop us from entering, lads, but those arrow slits could be a problem if they see us coming... Strix, could you do something with that globe of darkness I saw you conjure with Fekhar? There's plenty of gobb and bugbear tracks around, but nothing to indicate any regular patrols, it seems like they lack organization... we should be alright here for the time being. What are we thinking for angle of approach? Sneak in through the doors? Scale the walls? I'd love to get an idea of how many hostiles we're dealing with.
Let's keep an eye out for traps as well. The wee fecks have a cruel streak I could almost admire.
Investigation 19
Scupper, you don't see any sign of traps between you and the castle's main door, though you are too far, and at the wrong angle, to see inside the castle itself.
Incantis warily contacts the mind of Scupper, filling the halfling's head with bardically inspiring music.
"I'm more partial to sneaking in, though maybe Vaz and I can devise some arcane ruse to draw anyone out."
Incantis, half-elf warlock (great old one) 4/bard 1 ● Thorok Earthhand, hill dwarf mountain druid 6/grave cleric 2
Cragmyre Ironseed, earth genasi ancestral barbarian 3 ● Cyrus Natriallae, aquatic half-elf warlock of the deep 3
"make dark, yes. But dark have no friends, blind all. But we sneak, is easy. Will show."
Can buy us pass without trace for 2 ki?
Strix, Shifter Shadow Monk in Lost Mines of Phandelver ¦ Sihegiall Human Soulknife Rogue in In Search of Molly McGuffin
((Scupper has bardic inspiration))
Incantis blinks curiously at his monk friend. "More tricks from Strix?"
Incantis, half-elf warlock (great old one) 4/bard 1 ● Thorok Earthhand, hill dwarf mountain druid 6/grave cleric 2
Cragmyre Ironseed, earth genasi ancestral barbarian 3 ● Cyrus Natriallae, aquatic half-elf warlock of the deep 3