"Hmmm. This seems a rather ominous portent. It seems to me that we should either try to travel far and fast, or seek shelter and prepare a defence - perhaps in that abandoned temple."

Petcan snaps his fingers and nods, pointing at Z in approval before he starts heading for the temple. 

Pepin hasn't noticed the quietness, still being pretty focused on the items in his hand and thinking who could have taken the others parts, and where too.

Tempe is studying the book while touching the hilt of his new sword, he looks up and quietly says. "What?"

@All

You all know that if any undead are lurking about at night it is unlikely that they would be able to set foot on holy ground. The temple has been abandoned but not desecrated. It still counts as Hallow ground.

@Pepin

Even though a war is either imminent or in it's very early stages and you are near Laurentiis, it would be the place with the most sages and schools of knowledge. (New ones were springing up all then time.)

Randall:

"Let us go to the temple and take our ease tonight.  We can set up strong defenses and take watches, preparing to leave early in the morning," says Randall, already considering how best to cover up the pile of treasure on the carpet so as not to tempt thieves.  He starts by pulling his blanket out of his bag of holding and spreading it out over the coins and gems.

(How far is it back to Laurentis?  Randall will probably use his Sending spell to communicate with the temple priest and have him send out a covered wagon to meet them, so when they enter the city the size of their "donation" will not cause panic.)

Pepin is eager to get back and investigate, but decides that now might be best to focus on where they are currently at.

Zenodor suggests: "Let us use the hallowed ground of the temple to rest for what remains of the day, and to make a camp for the night. We can then make our way back towards Laurentiis at first daylight so that we have a whole day to travel in the light." (i.e. let's long-rest in the temple until dawn. And keep watch as it sounds like we could be attacked)

(If we can spare some minutes for a short rest, Z will also change his attunements, given the new items they now have)

(short rest = 5 min. and long rest = 1 hour... you still have to sleep 6 to 8 hours each night, take watches etc. all the regular stuff.)

You find the temple in good shape, just vine-covered and neglected, leaf-strewn floors and pews. It has a small iron woodstove that just needs some wood. As you go about getting ready to take refuge here you each think back about the siege line around Laurentiis, the plan to have Skrud become king of the goblins, and who if anyone is behind all this. With all the arcane references thru-out it would take great magic to orchestrate the Goblin Horde, an adult Black Dragon, and even those strange 3-headed Chimera.

Skrud volunteers to gather up some of the deadwood around the temple.

"Skrud can gather wood from nearby and help clean-up, but without an axe I can't chop any down! Aww! Who Skrud kidding, never been good with axes, find them too heavy to lift."

Skrud begins to start heading outside, sporting a small walking stick he acquired from when you finished helping the Battleforce Angel.

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

(short rest = 5 min. and long rest = 1 hour... you still have to sleep 6 to 8 hours each night, take watches etc. all the regular stuff.)

 (Given that it's still daylight, I would assume we should have plenty of time for each of us to have a sleep (some earlier, some later), and have a watch rota. Do we need to actually work this out, or can we assume our characters as seasoned adventurers know how to do this? Should we each roll something for each of our shifts?)

(Whenever you camp for the night feel free to post anything for the night before if you want to know something specific, or the next morning if you're ok to continue.)

Randall:

Randall uses Sending to inform the Laurentis temple high priest that they hope to return late tomorrow night with a sizable donation and would appreciate being met by a covered wagon.

He then sets Guardian of Faith sentries as night falls on each of the temple entrances.  He volunteers to take the last watch, as he always enjoys seeing the sunrise.

Pepin will happily take the first watch.

Petcan will take the first watch, trying to gently soothe everyone to sleep after a hard day with soft music from his enchanted lute

Pepin and Petcan settle in to pass their vigil within the abandoned temple. The wind dies down to a mere zephyr and time itself seems to stretch out. A dragonfly buzzes around and lands on the back of a nearby pew. It crawls slowly along the back of the pew. Each time you think a quarter hour has passed something draws your attention back to the crawling dragonfly and you realize by how far it has moved that it has actually only been a few minutes.

After dumping some dry wood in a pile Skrud quickly drops off to the gentle and soothing tones of Petcans playing, luckily tonight he is not snoring.

Zenodor will take one of the watches, and when he does he will also have Irraxan circling around in the air to keep an eye on things.

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

 

After dumping some dry wood in a pile Skrud quickly drops off to the gentle and soothing tones of Petcans playing, luckily tonight he is not snoring.

 "Thank you, Skrud. That is extremely helpful." Z will use the wood to kindle a fire for the group to rest around 

Zenodor and Irraxan don't notice anything unusual during their watch.

Everyone's watch is actually uneventful. There are no patrols from the Goblin Horde this far away from the besieged city.

Having rested overnight, Zenodor tries to get the group up early for a full day of swift travel back to the city (or as far as they can get) during daylight.