((Agreed - we need a survival roll to - I think Dvark has the best modifier there))

{{with my recent posting schedule slow is good for me 😅}} 

Dvark begins attempting to follow the trail working with the hound master.

Survival:9

The noise from the other groups grows quiet as you begin to follow the trail. As Yntar has said, Leander slinks back into the forest and quickly becomes unseen. His presence is still felt, but distant and muted. Once in a while, you can see the half-white half-black raven flapping its wing above the hoof print trail or Leander motioning you to veer slightly off the trail to avoid wolves and bears. 

Your movement is slow and quiet. A sense of weariness pervades your instinct the farther away you are from Erdelun. Eremoz's warning hangs heavy as the smell of wilderness and people grows along the trail. Everything clicks suddenly. It seems that you are not alone in following the trail. Someone or something has been following the trail in front of you a day or two earlier.

The search is difficult and, despite Leander's help, you can barely follow the trail as the forest grows denser and thicker the further southwest you go. Several times you have to double back to retrace your steps before you find the trail again. A couple of times already the trail suddenly stops, forcing you to spread out and scour the forest floor before finding the start of the trail again about 30 to 40 feet away as if the horse jumped away. You do notice that sometimes, the new trail is in a different direction entirely; it always leads southwest, but sometimes the new trail suggests that whatever horse left this hoof prints not only can jump quite a distance but also turn while still in the air. 

It is an hour after midday and you have traveled perhaps 5 miles away from the split point. You are faced with your first conundrum. The trail continues southwest for who knows how long and it will take about two to three hours from this point to return to Erdelun. On one hand, continuing forward can possibly lead to a clue about the kidnapping, but there is a chance that you will have to camp in the forest for the night if the trail hasn't ended by sunset. On another hand, returning now to Erdelun will see you back to the conclave and the warmth of a tavern bed by sunset, but there is a chance that you will lose any clues that you may gain today.

{{I will need another Perception and Survival check for both scenarios, but the DC will be lower if you decide to return to Erdelun for the day and continue the search tomorrow. Make both with an advantage, but I want one person to make the Perception and another person to make the Survival.}}

Cob looks at the sun's position in the sky and looks back, estimating the distance they've come.

"I think we'll end up camping out here tonight," Cob says. "We don't want to have to retrace this trail again tomorrow."

Drexon nods in agreement with Cob, "I think you are right, if someone else is ahead of us we need to know what they are up to as well".

He will lend his aid to those keeping lookout and following trails.

{{ Those doing the perception and survival please add 1d4 for Guidance unless DM does not approve }}

Survival: 6

Guidance (if allowed): 2

{{I will allow guidance. We'll wait another day for the Perception check before we continue. If you don't want to make one, we'll get Leander to make one with the advantage and it will be a 25 + 1.}}

I mean it would probably be suboptimal but it would be obvious to Karm to keep a watchfull eye.

perception: 16 + 4

{{just realized that Karm is proficient in perception. That would actually be a 20 total}}

{{Alright, Karm and Leander technically have the same roll, so we'll use Karm's roll with Leander helping him.}}

{{I usually use Survival to determine the time you spend tracking and looking for prints when following a trail.}} 

The decision to continue seems to be simple. The knowledge of the other group ahead of you keeps you focused. 

It is easier this time to follow the trail. The hoof prints are becoming easier to identify despite the thickening underbrush. You have entered a routine to keep looking slightly ahead and spreading out a little bit to find the trail when it disappears so suddenly. In less than two hours, you have traveled as far as you have in the morning. 

{{The Perception is for something unrelated to the tracking.}}

It is then, at around three in the afternoon, that Karm notices something particularly strange with the landscape. The hoof prints that scorch through undergrowth and roots slowly begin to follow a clear, defined, and overgrown dirt path. It is barely noticeable, but the dirt path is definitely there if you clear out the undergrowth around it. It has a slightly denser feel to it as if it had been traveled on many times and only recently abandoned. Instead of heading further southwest, the trail -- and the dirt path the trail is now on -- begins to turn east.

Karm, you also notice that Leander's raven begins pecking a tree and bristling its own feather. When you look in the raven's direction, you see shadows pass by a distance away -- perhaps 150 - 200 feet away due south -- from the raven's perch. The shadows don't seem to be traveling directly at you but parallel with the direction you are heading before returning. It returns and follows the same path back. It seems to be patrolling an area and doesn't seem to notice you are there. You can make out humanoid figures, lightly armed, but you cannot see their number or anything more without closing the distance. 

Karm taps whoever is in front of him on the shoulder and mentions to those behind to stop. He then signs to the others:
He points in the directions where he saw the figures, then lets a fingerman walking on his other hand and counts his finger up from 1 to 3 and shrugs.
Then he pats his body on places where armor would be, such as chest, shoulders, legs, etc, and shows his index finger close to his thumb, indicating 'not much'

Drexon looks at Karm's hand signals curiously before reaching out telepathically.

"You've spotted something?", he says directly into Karm's mind. "If you tell me, I can pass it on to the other's", he adds.

He will try and remain quiet and hidden whilst he looks to where Karm pointed, then telepathically pass on to the others what he sees and what Karm explains.

Stealth: 7+4=11
Perception: 18+5=23

{{ OOC: He will not use telepthy with Leander }}

{{No need for Stealth. The slow travel pace makes you hidden unless you do something that can be considered flashy or loud.}}

Drexon, now that Karm has pointed it out, you can see that amongst the tree there are some humanoids patrolling the area. Their path hasn't crossed you yet and doesn't seem to.

You look for a while as you share Karm's findings and catch a slight clearing between the trees to see them better. With a wider point of view offered, you can see that the humanoids have a red or pink tinge to their skin. They are wearing hard-boiled leather armor with swords at their hips and bows in their hands.

You know them as hobgoblins, a people that rarely venture out of their demesne deep in woodland, forest, or jungle. Unfortunately, that's the extent of anyone's knowledge of them. Even in this day and age, not many hobgoblins can be seen in the countryside, much less in a city. They are very reclusive people and surprisingly self-sustaining, never really having the need to trade with the cities or villages. You only heard of them from hearsay and the rare hobgoblins that worked as bodyguards in certain establishments. 

"we could try following them to see where they lead us? Or try and sneak into their perimeter and surprise whatever they are guarding?" Dvark asks when when Drexon messages him pointing out the group. {{Oops I forgot all my gear. I'm just in my clothes with a holy symbol lol.}}

Given the potential enemies Karm swishes his hand from his head over his body the air around him flickers for a moment as if it was freezing cold (mage armor)
He then does the same for Dvark.

Cob watches the hobgoblins from a tree branch before moving closer to another branch.

Is there any sign of a creature with burning hooves with them? Do the prints go anywhere close to the direction of the hobgoblins?

Perception: 17  

{{Dvark, technically I allowed you to retain your armor and AC, but if you want to play it without armor, you can. Just note your new AC, especially with Karm giving you mage armor now.}}

Cob, you leap from branch to branch soundlessly with your wings aiding you. Fifteen, thirty, forty-five, sixty feet you move south from the others, closer to the hobgoblins, before you see that the hobgoblins have also stopped their movement. From this distance, you can see that there are five hobgoblins readily holding their bows as they scan their surroundings tensely. You see their mouths moving rapidly before you see them nod to each other and alertly continue heading west, disappearing into the thick forest. You stay there for a moment before a different group of hobgoblins emerges from the place the first group has disappeared, going west -- the opposite direction from the first group. It seems that these hobgoblins are patrolling the area south of the trail. 

{{For simplicity, the trail heads southwest before turning to the east. About 200 feet south of the trail, you see hobgoblins patrolling east to west and vice versa. The patrol route is parallel to the trail, but you don't know whether it will merge down the line yet. You still haven't reached the end of the trail.}}

Drexon reaches out to Cob to initiate a telepathic link before he moves too far away, so the group can keep in touch.

"They may be nothing to do with our mission, but it does seem odd they are here", he says in reply to Dvark. "Maybe it would be wise to investigate what they are here for".

He also decides it is time to armour up.

"Do any of you speak their language?", he asks indicating he does not himself.

Give me 10 minutes and i could understand them... whispers Karm back

I dont speak goblin. But lets just hope it won't be neccessairy

“No goblin. I’m moving up with Cob.” Eremoz makes his way forward, following the fairy.

{{I handed Dvark a spare longsword.}}