Where the Cold Winds Blow... A Lost Mines of Phandelver Story

Droknin does indeed confirm those were Orc tracks and that they were a day old.  On that, at least, the little goblin was correct.  Further, Droknin counts the tracks of five Orcs.  They were moving slowly and carefully... likely a scouting party.

"Perhaps we could follow these fellows, maybe they can give us a tour of the castle!!" Says Droknin jokingly. (He will take last watch.)

Droop hisses and spits at Droknin's suggestion.  "No filthy Orcs at castle.  Cragmaw clan is goblin clan.  Just with bugbear king.  And some other bugbears in other boss positions.  But no stupid Orcs."

The night passes without incident.  Droop takes the first watch, followed by T'laren and Droknin.  The night became especially cold as morning drew near, and there is just the hint of frost on some of the smaller forest floor plants.  Your breath is visible in the morning air, but as the sun begins to poke through the trees the temperature warns enough to be more comfortable.

Droop remains excited.  "Droop knows it can't be much further.  This is how many days long we walked when Droop came south to human town with bugbears."

Keashirryl groggily gets to her feet, spends some time away from the others in meditation, and returns short after. She takes a quick stroll around the vacinity and looks for any sign of something or someone watching their troup.

Perception: 18  

"Maybe we should stop setting a fire at night. These patrols are unnerving, and if we are as close as Droop claims, it is only going to get worse", she claims upon return. 

After Droops excitement, pats the little one on her shoulder. "Very well my little friend. Do allow me to take a look around before we move on." He looks for the tallest tree near the group, and he tries to go to the top to see if he can see any castle.

Athletics: 25

Garrin is frustrated, but happy to settle in to camp. 

Keashirryl, your stroll around the perimeter finds no sign of threats.  You do come across the first real sign of animal life since you wandered into the forest.  Not far from the camp, you come across the bedding area for a troupe of wild boars. They didn't spend the night here last night, likely due to the proximity of your camp, but the area is littered with tracks, hair and pig droppings.  The tracks initially concern you given the previous encounter with the wereboar, but closer inspection confirms these are smaller, more 'normal' sized boar tracks.

Droknin, you nimbly scale a tall red pine.  It towers over the other nearby trees, clearly an old survivor from some ancient storm or wildfire that felled the other trees of its generation.  You are just taking in the nearby sights and wondering why you can't see this castle everyone is talking about when the branch you're pulling yourself up on snaps with a gut-wrenching crack.  You start tumbling down, snapping off other branches and sending clouds of pine needles into the air.  Make a DEX save DC 12 to slow your fall or take 15 bludgeoning damage; take half that on a successful save.

Droknin DEX Save: 6.

Droknin can't seem to find whatever Droop is claiming, but he is enjoying the view from up the tall pine tree. He takes a deep breath from up there, and decides to make his way down. He makes a careless move, and he starts to fall from the tree. He tries to grab onto something, but it has been a while since he last climbed such a tall tree, and he falls with a loud thud onto the forest floor. It takes a little while, actually a little longer than Droknin was hoping, but the Leonin eventually gets up. "Hummmm...." He tries to hide the pain in several places of his body. "No longer a cub, apparently." That is all he says for the rest of the day.

Garrin makes a very awkward attempt to rub Droknin's back after taking such a fall. 

"There, there. Just relax. No reason to go taking unnecessary risks." 

T'laren leans across to Keashirryl and remarks with a deadpan expression. "At least he didn't get stuck up there and refuse to come down while hollering for one of us to come up and get him."

(Call for the fire truck!!)

Quote from Wolfy911 >>

(Call for the fire truck!!)

 Bring ice

"We could've shaken the tree" the cleric replies in a low voice, wrapping her arms around her chest. Her lips twitch in a way that has equal chances of being a dissatisfied grimace and a smile.

T'laren shakes his head regretfully, rolling up a sleeve to expose some thin pale scars on his forearm. "In my experience, the claws only sink in deeper."

Droknin was about to gesture for the party to get going, but he winced in pain when moving one of his arms. The jovial Leonin is not present at the moment, and he is unusually quiet for the day. "Where should we go little one?" He asks Droop briefly.

If we are ready to head out, T'laren will range ahead of the party to scout, but with patrols in the area, will keep a bit closer to the group.

Droop is excited to get moving.  Along the way she seems to have forgotten you have rough business with the Cragmaw goblins and is just excited to be going home.

””We are looking for a big rock with some scraggly vines on it.  Once we find that, I know the way back to the castle.  It should be somewhere in the forest here.”

Garrin begins to hum. "When you get to be my age, you find yourself getting pretty comfortable with being lost. It's fine. We'll get there, we just need to keep going." 

Keashirryl keeps towards the back of the group, looking nervously back over a shoulder. "Let's just hope we all will live long enough to get to be that age", she mumbles.

"Very well." Droknin says to Droop. "I will go ahead and scout the area to see if I can find this rock."

Survival: 9 (If perception -2)