Vandeyr looks around at the darkening sky. 

"We'll have a downpour before the night is through, and any tracks will be gone. We'd best hurry if we're going to have a hold of finding anything valuable." 

Quote from Wizardously >>

As you're searching, you find a broken hand cart, half-buried in the mud and water; and near one of the bloodstains, you find a broken spear and a couple buttons bearing the snowflake of Neverwinter.

You find tracks heading north from further south of a few booted feet (at least two adults and either two children or halflings/gnomes) walking alongside a handcart. These tracks start walking, but shortly start running before they're joined by booted human feet coming south from the north, and all the tracks are mixed up in battle as a large number of bipedal lizard tracks of various size attack from the west. Afterwards, there are strange ruts in the mud, likely some sort of sled, that is heading back west. The ruts are quite deep. Along the top of the mud along the sled tracks are several trails of slimy residue, like those created by slugs or snails.

The blood stains are large enough to indicate significant damage, but no arterial sprays or anything guaranteeing death.

 With some assistance from Vandeyr, Tor attempts to piece together what happened.

"Okay, so. It looks like the patrol ran into some other travelers - maybe a family? There are smaller feet here, it's either children or one of the smaller races. I think the travellers were being chased by some lizard folk, the patrol engaged in battle, but they lost. Doesn't look like anyone died here, but there's a lot of blood - at least one person has to be badly wounded. The patrol and the travellers are being transported on a sled of some sort, pulled by... giant snails? Does that make any sense?"

He shakes his head at what he's saying. Giant snails.

"They're headed west. If they've taken everyone alive that means they have some purpose for them, and I don't much want to think on what that might be. We should get a move on before we start finding pieces of soldier."

Rawlings silently waits as her companions put together some pieces of the puzzle.  She hasn't been to the mere before, and the area intrigues her.  She spends her time looking around just seeing if there is anything interesting that might catch her eye.  She figures the others are working on their mystery, so she waits to hear what they find.

Perception  4

When Tor and Vandyr speak up, she heads back to them, "Yes, lets get moving.  If you have found something to follow, I'd hate for the rain to wash away the tracks.  Let's see how far we can get."

(that poor 4 lol)

"I'm sure we have time to catch up if they're moving at a... snail's pace." Vandeyr appears pleased with himself at the joke. 

Any chance I know anything about giant snails? Arcana/nature/religion/history 27 

[on mobile so I can’t be verbose but wanted to get this in]

Sigi shares his vision with the others.  Such things are subject to interpretation, but this is what he believes…

• There are living captives in need of rescue
• The captors are taking them deeper into the marsh
• They are being pursued by a predator 
• Additional, even more dangerous predators lie in ambush ahead
• The captors are aware of both threats, and plan on leaving some of the captives behind to keep the predators busy and buy themselves time to escape.

Timing is critical.  We must hurry and we must be prepared as we will almost certainly have to fight off both monsters, and the original hostage taking lizard humanoids.

With the new information, anyone can make a nature check to gain more information about the tracks found and what kind of creatures might make them.

Nature: 12

(I don't know if Tor would make the same leap but I had assumed the spider with the sword markings was supposed to be US, rather than another predator. Of course it's very possible I'm wrong, and Tor would want to be prepared for the worst outcome.)

Dice didn't show up. 

Van's nature roll for identifying the creature 19 

Quote from EMIW >>

Nature: 12

(I don't know if Tor would make the same leap but I had assumed the spider with the sword markings was supposed to be US, rather than another predator. Of course it's very possible I'm wrong, and Tor would want to be prepared for the worst outcome.)

 That's what I thought, too lol

Brother Siegfried looks curiously at the others.  Why would the spider represent us?  He is about to dismiss the idea until Tor mentions the sword pattern.

The old dwarf turns red with embarrassment.  “Yes, I see it now.  Forgive me Chauntea, your visions are a masterpiece, but your servant can be a nearsighted fool at times.  Of course… swords for the “Swords of Leilon.””

"Who knows Brother, maybe it's literal and there's a giant spider out there waving swords around. I wouldn't be surprised in this place..." Tor looks around at the gloomy mire of the Mere. "Or maybe it's just some bugs doing what bugs do. But if you think there's something in this from your god, I'd rather be prepared. Let's move quickly, but as quietly as possible."

Tor will use his Merge With Stone trait to cast Pass Without Trace, then will continue as quietly as possible.

Stealth: 9+10= 19

The ground beneath their feet absorbs the sound of their footfall, as they silently make their way west.

Vandeyr tries to follow, and keep from clattering and clanking as he goes.

stealth 12 

Sigi joins in the pursuit, doing his best to keep up despite his shorter legs.  The vision said the enemy would know they were coming, but he nevertheless tried his best to be as quiet as the others.

Stealth 15 

Tor is pretty sure the trails were indeed made by giant snails, but beyond that you're just guessing.

As the Swords move forward, they do their best to be stealthy. The very ground beneath them seems to help, as the ruts and trail they're following seem easy on the feet. The mud doesn't seem to suck at your boots as you might expect it to and the water seems to slosh slowly rather than splashing. The darkness helps being stealthy, but also limits vision. 

(For party stealth, I generally like to do an average of the entire party; so just need Rawlings' stealth. I'll also need at least one survival check to track, though everyone who's proficient in it can attempt; and everyone can make perception checks; this is for the first three hours before nightfall and the rain starts).

(Doesn't pass without a trace give everyone a +10 to their stealth check?)

Rawlings stealth  15 + 10 if included

Perception  8

Quote from kqstark >>

(Doesn't pass without a trace give everyone a +10 to their stealth check?)

 (Yep it does, I've only been looking on mobile, I can't see if people have been adding the 10. Don't forget, people!)

[oops.  I rolled with advantage instead of adding 10 to the roll.  Just take the first roll and add 10 - I can’t see it, also on mobile this weekend]

Quote from nschrock >>

Vandeyr tries to follow, and keep from clattering and clanking as he goes.

stealth 12 

 My b. Add 10 for 22 stealth

(So, I just realized no one is proficient in Survival, so everyone can roll a survival check to attempt to follow the trail. It's mostly pretty easy to follow, but there's places where it's harder. Also, if you haven't made a perception check, please do so.)

Survival: 7

Perception: 20