Barnaby is quite certain, based on what he can see of the stars, that the party is entering the valley from the east, meaning that you are going to the west. It just doesn't make sense, considering the road from the coast was pointing you, generally, eastward, and it seems quite unlikely that you could have swung all the way around to be pointed the opposite direction from where you came. But here you are, nevertheless.
Fope, you left those columns a day or two ago. You are welcome to go looking for them again, if you wish to study them, and you think you can find them. You don't recall any markings or anything on them.
I await your guidance on how you wish to spend this day. It's morning time, you have Level 1 Exhaustion, and the thicker fog means that food & orienteering checks will be at a -2 penalty. For a total of -4.
During the night, Fope dreams several times of something soft touching his face. Each time he awakes with a start and sees nothing, in the darkness and the fog, and he groans at the disruption to his precious sleep. It keeps happening, to the point where he eventually realizes something *is* there, and *is* messing with him. But at least, when a little light leaks through the morning fog, he realizes he is otherwise unmolested.
You have Level 1 Exhaustion. That means -2 on all ability checks. Also, the fog is more dense this morning, so your checks for finding food and orienteering will be at a -2. So your survival checks for those purposes will be at -4 (set off against your usual bonus there, which also still applies).
In the morning, you can either gather food or go somewhere, or try to do both. As we've discussed. I'm assuming, with 4 days' worth of food, you will try to go somewhere, but feel free to explain for yourself. Then roll two 20-sided dice, roll with advantage for food, orienteering, or just roll once for each.
The wagons continue on a wide, well-used dirt road. You all have dark vision, but that's only good for 40'. In the bit of starlight coming down from direct overhead, you can tell you passing through a dense forest. There is an occasional faint whiff of decay; the woods seems almost impossibly crowded with massive trunks of towering trees.
After several more hours, you pass through a village. It is silent, with only a few people visible on the streets or in windows. The town of Barovia, Menidetto explains. You continue onward.
About another hour and a half, the carts leave the road and turn north onto a smaller road. The road gradually disappears and is replaced by a twisted, muddy path through the trees. Deep ruts in the earth are evidence of the comings and goings of wagons.
The canopy of mist and branches suddenly gives way to black clouds boiling far above. There is a clearing here, next to a river that widens to form a small lake several hundred feet across. Five colorful round tents, each ten feet in diameter, are pitched outside a ring of four barrel-topped wagons. A much larger tent stands near the shore of the lake, its sagging form lit from within. Near this tent, eight unbridled horses drink from the river.
The mournful strains of an accordion clash with the singing of several brightly clad figures around bonfire. A footpath continues beyond this encampment, meandering north between the river and the forest’s edge.
Home at last, says Damia, though she seemed more energetic and fun back on the night you first met her.
“Excuse me, um, Menideto, it seems we were going east but then we...no, west and then ea...well, I’m not really sure, but by what little I know of the stars, I’m pretty sure we’re in the ocean right now. Does this make more sense to you than it does to me?”
He only seem to half-hear you. “It was a winding road, little friend, but we found our way.” He helps you down from the cart and the Visanti commence unloading the caravan.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Føpé will attempt to find his way back toward civilization and the town they came from. He uses his crook to leave markings on the path every few feet as he walks. Survival: -3 and for my second roll: 17
You get a natural +4 to your survival rolls, and I never said you should take that away. So you get a penalty of -4, and you also get your ordinary +4. And, if it's the only thing you're doing in the morning (instead of also looking for food), then you get to do it with advantage. As I explained. So that 5 should be a 9, and you get one more roll.
Fope finds the road with little trouble. As he makes his way back west, though, toward Daggerford, something seems wrong. The fog is thick today - thicker than the day before - but he is quite certain that he sees, through the mist, the road rising up the slope of a mountain. He is one hundred percent certain he is going the right way, and one hundred percent certain there was no mountain on the way here.
The rest of the morning passes quietly, as he makes progress up the slope. The road has also now narrowed to a path.
It is now afternoon. Decision time again! Food, orienteering, or both? You have 3 days' worth of food at the moment, and haven't yet marked off today's ration. You can explore uphill or downhill (back the way you came) on the road, or try leaving it. You don't have great visibility.
Are there any indications of how much other traffic there is on the road/path? Are there signs of any recent travel here? Has the fog abated at all with the change in elevation? Is the path still beside the river? Did the direction of the flow of the river change: If I understand the geography correctly, in his effort to return to the town they started in, he should have been headed downstream, but water usually doesn't flow up and all that.
You can no longer see or hear the river. The road was never right next to it. You know, however, that this direction of the road is west - because it was east in the other direction - so the river should be to the south. Your left.
The fog is not abating. If anything it is getting thicker. You begin to wonder if it is unnatural.
If the river is indeed to your left, the south, then either it is flowing uphill or there is a cliff out of view, perhaps, accounting for how it flows from east to west.
I’m pretty sure I got all those ordinals right but I wouldn’t swear to it.
It is very difficult to check for tracks or whatever in these conditions, but you have seen no travelers nor heard any activity you might associate with them.
You went east from daggerford, on a narrow road on the north side of the river. You will see there are mountains there, but you know you did not reach them. You have not traveled that far.
You traveled west to east for most of a day in clear weather, on flat land. You encountered the Vistani, spent the night next to a tree, fought a monkey, found some berries, and hit the road again. You believe you are going west now, but a mountain has risen out of the thick fog where there should be no mountain.
As you stare at today’s rations, you ponder your next move.
edit: Also, you continue to notice things out of place. The trees, when you can see them, are bare. Strangely warm breezes blow through sometimes. You see another column, just at the edge of the road. Remembering the curious columns from the day before, you take a closer look at this one. It's unremarkable, except that it's downright strange that it would be standing here in the middle of nowhere. You certainly did not see any on the way here.
The fog has been gradually increasing? Was it increasing when he was looking for food, or only while he was moving along the road? He also traveled in a number of different directions since he first left the camp. That is to say, does the increase in fog seem to correspond to his chronological or geographic location?
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Wondering aloud, If the magic of this place is increasing with time, then I must find help, and all roads lead somewhere. I should head on. If the magic increases as I travel west, then then I should turn around and head east to escape.
...
Talking aloud doesn't make any sense when there are no sheep to listen. Føpé studies his crook as he thinks. It was so much easier to think on the Soft Plains.
...
I do know know if this road leads to help nearby. I see no signs of frequent use.
Perhaps if I continue up, I will rise above this cursed fog and get a lay of the land. But I think this fog is a curse, and may not behave as other fogs do.
Føpé wonders, If I follow the river downhill, perhaps it will take me toward the sea, away from this magic. Frequently settlements can be found along rivers, so perhaps this will solve both my problems.
Føpé will return along the road until it gets close enough to the river for him to find it, and then attempt to follow along the river downhill. Survival -4 with advantage: 11
The trip back down the road does not lead you any closer to the river. You don’t hear it or see it.
The road flattens out and then rises a bit, and you turn back to look and realize the road goes downhill behind you and uphill in front of you, as if you’d never turned.
The road evens out again and you see a figure in it, seated in the middle. The figure, you can just make out, looks like a child.
Say, would you folk have much experience with performers or mummers? This fog reminds me of a comical show our troop once saw on the road. It was a farcical tale of a man named Grilled Bear, or something like that, who fancied himself a great wilderness survivor. He spent his time wandering about in the fog and dark, fighting badgers and squirrels for nut and berries. At one point he peed on a skunk and ended up eating his own left hand by accident. Ended up 10 yards away from where he started. Most entertaining diversion.
Has Føpé seen the marks he left in the path with his crook?
Føpé approaches the child, alert for danger monkeys. Hi there.
As you approach the child, she turns to look at you. You realize that she is not fully there. Made out of condensed mist, or something, but her form is filled out enough that you see before you the image of an 8 year old human girl, dressed for farming. She just looks at you when you speak.
Say, would you folk have much experience with performers or mummers? This fog reminds me of a comical show our troop once saw on the road. It was a farcical tale of a man named Grilled Bear, or something like that, who fancied himself a great wilderness survivor. He spent his time wandering about in the fog and dark, fighting badgers and squirrels for nut and berries. At one point he peed on a skunk and ended up eating his own left hand by accident. Ended up 10 yards away from where he started. Most entertaining diversion.
He chuckles and looks back into the fog
The fog let up considerably, when you passed through the gates. It's not the starry night you might expect by a campfire, but it's not the gloom you were traveling through on your way here, either.
The Visanti carry on unloading wagons and breaking down their gear.
Barnaby is quite certain, based on what he can see of the stars, that the party is entering the valley from the east, meaning that you are going to the west. It just doesn't make sense, considering the road from the coast was pointing you, generally, eastward, and it seems quite unlikely that you could have swung all the way around to be pointed the opposite direction from where you came. But here you are, nevertheless.
Fope, you left those columns a day or two ago. You are welcome to go looking for them again, if you wish to study them, and you think you can find them. You don't recall any markings or anything on them.
I await your guidance on how you wish to spend this day. It's morning time, you have Level 1 Exhaustion, and the thicker fog means that food & orienteering checks will be at a -2 penalty. For a total of -4.
From above.
I've distributed the Exhaustion Table as a handout, for those interested. It's in Roll20.
Barnaby, Kif, and Puddin:
The wagons continue on a wide, well-used dirt road. You all have dark vision, but that's only good for 40'. In the bit of starlight coming down from direct overhead, you can tell you passing through a dense forest. There is an occasional faint whiff of decay; the woods seems almost impossibly crowded with massive trunks of towering trees.
After several more hours, you pass through a village. It is silent, with only a few people visible on the streets or in windows. The town of Barovia, Menidetto explains. You continue onward.
About another hour and a half, the carts leave the road and turn north onto a smaller road. The road gradually disappears and is replaced by a twisted, muddy path through the trees. Deep ruts in the earth are evidence of the comings and goings of wagons.
The canopy of mist and branches suddenly gives way to black clouds boiling far above. There is a clearing here, next to a river that widens to form a small lake several hundred feet across. Five colorful round tents, each ten feet in diameter, are pitched outside a ring of four barrel-topped wagons. A much larger tent stands near the shore of the lake, its sagging form lit from within. Near this tent, eight unbridled horses drink from the river.
The mournful strains of an accordion clash with the singing of several brightly clad figures around bonfire. A footpath continues beyond this encampment, meandering north between the river and the forest’s edge.
Home at last, says Damia, though she seemed more energetic and fun back on the night you first met her.
“Excuse me, um, Menideto, it seems we were going east but then we...no, west and then ea...well, I’m not really sure, but by what little I know of the stars, I’m pretty sure we’re in the ocean right now. Does this make more sense to you than it does to me?”
He only seem to half-hear you. “It was a winding road, little friend, but we found our way.” He helps you down from the cart and the Visanti commence unloading the caravan.
Føpé will attempt to find his way back toward civilization and the town they came from. He uses his crook to leave markings on the path every few feet as he walks.
Survival: -3 and for my second roll: 17
You get a natural +4 to your survival rolls, and I never said you should take that away. So you get a penalty of -4, and you also get your ordinary +4. And, if it's the only thing you're doing in the morning (instead of also looking for food), then you get to do it with advantage. As I explained. So that 5 should be a 9, and you get one more roll.
Fope finds the road with little trouble. As he makes his way back west, though, toward Daggerford, something seems wrong. The fog is thick today - thicker than the day before - but he is quite certain that he sees, through the mist, the road rising up the slope of a mountain. He is one hundred percent certain he is going the right way, and one hundred percent certain there was no mountain on the way here.
The rest of the morning passes quietly, as he makes progress up the slope. The road has also now narrowed to a path.
It is now afternoon. Decision time again! Food, orienteering, or both? You have 3 days' worth of food at the moment, and haven't yet marked off today's ration. You can explore uphill or downhill (back the way you came) on the road, or try leaving it. You don't have great visibility.
Are there any indications of how much other traffic there is on the road/path? Are there signs of any recent travel here? Has the fog abated at all with the change in elevation? Is the path still beside the river? Did the direction of the flow of the river change: If I understand the geography correctly, in his effort to return to the town they started in, he should have been headed downstream, but water usually doesn't flow up and all that.
You can no longer see or hear the river. The road was never right next to it. You know, however, that this direction of the road is west - because it was east in the other direction - so the river should be to the south. Your left.
The fog is not abating. If anything it is getting thicker. You begin to wonder if it is unnatural.
If the river is indeed to your left, the south, then either it is flowing uphill or there is a cliff out of view, perhaps, accounting for how it flows from east to west.
I’m pretty sure I got all those ordinals right but I wouldn’t swear to it.
It is very difficult to check for tracks or whatever in these conditions, but you have seen no travelers nor heard any activity you might associate with them.
Here is a map of the region:
https://goo.gl/images/xUqruV
You went east from daggerford, on a narrow road on the north side of the river. You will see there are mountains there, but you know you did not reach them. You have not traveled that far.
You traveled west to east for most of a day in clear weather, on flat land. You encountered the Vistani, spent the night next to a tree, fought a monkey, found some berries, and hit the road again. You believe you are going west now, but a mountain has risen out of the thick fog where there should be no mountain.
As you stare at today’s rations, you ponder your next move.
edit: Also, you continue to notice things out of place. The trees, when you can see them, are bare. Strangely warm breezes blow through sometimes. You see another column, just at the edge of the road. Remembering the curious columns from the day before, you take a closer look at this one. It's unremarkable, except that it's downright strange that it would be standing here in the middle of nowhere. You certainly did not see any on the way here.
So many to choose from - https://toppsta.com/blog/view/alice-in-wonderland-quotes
The fog has been gradually increasing? Was it increasing when he was looking for food, or only while he was moving along the road? He also traveled in a number of different directions since he first left the camp. That is to say, does the increase in fog seem to correspond to his chronological or geographic location?
It’s hard to say. You haven’t traveled that far in any one direction. Your visibility is about 30’.
Wondering aloud, If the magic of this place is increasing with time, then I must find help, and all roads lead somewhere. I should head on. If the magic increases as I travel west, then then I should turn around and head east to escape.
...
Talking aloud doesn't make any sense when there are no sheep to listen. Føpé studies his crook as he thinks. It was so much easier to think on the Soft Plains.
...
I do know know if this road leads to help nearby. I see no signs of frequent use.
Perhaps if I continue up, I will rise above this cursed fog and get a lay of the land. But I think this fog is a curse, and may not behave as other fogs do.
Føpé wonders, If I follow the river downhill, perhaps it will take me toward the sea, away from this magic. Frequently settlements can be found along rivers, so perhaps this will solve both my problems.
Føpé will return along the road until it gets close enough to the river for him to find it, and then attempt to follow along the river downhill. Survival -4 with advantage: 11
The trip back down the road does not lead you any closer to the river. You don’t hear it or see it.
The road flattens out and then rises a bit, and you turn back to look and realize the road goes downhill behind you and uphill in front of you, as if you’d never turned.
The road evens out again and you see a figure in it, seated in the middle. The figure, you can just make out, looks like a child.
Has Føpé seen the marks he left in the path with his crook?
Føpé approaches the child, alert for danger monkeys. Hi there.
At one point Kif turns to his companions
Say, would you folk have much experience with performers or mummers? This fog reminds me of a comical show our troop once saw on the road. It was a farcical tale of a man named Grilled Bear, or something like that, who fancied himself a great wilderness survivor. He spent his time wandering about in the fog and dark, fighting badgers and squirrels for nut and berries. At one point he peed on a skunk and ended up eating his own left hand by accident. Ended up 10 yards away from where he started. Most entertaining diversion.
He chuckles and looks back into the fog
As you approach the child, she turns to look at you. You realize that she is not fully there. Made out of condensed mist, or something, but her form is filled out enough that you see before you the image of an 8 year old human girl, dressed for farming. She just looks at you when you speak.
No signs of danger monkeys.
The fog let up considerably, when you passed through the gates. It's not the starry night you might expect by a campfire, but it's not the gloom you were traveling through on your way here, either.
The Visanti carry on unloading wagons and breaking down their gear.
My aside was probably made before we hit the gates while we were on the road. Times a little flexible while we are split like this
<edit>until you tell us it isn't