((Did I write con? Must have still had shatter on the brain!

I suspect con was a stronger stat for the tree than wisdom, so good catch 😁.))

Jan slashes quickly with a dagger, then as the tree gives her a bit of breathing room, unleashes a pair of crackling bolts of force before falling back up the train in the directions of the departing wagons. She's still worried about the embraced Ula, but getting grabbed herself isn't likely to spring the dwarf.

Dagger Attack: 20 Damage: 5 piercing

Eldritch Blast Attack: 20 Damage: 13 force damage + 6 necrotic
Eldritch Blast Attack: 8 Damage: 12 force damage + 3 necrotic

((The first EB also has 3 bludgeoning tacked on. Bardic from Marrin won't make that nat 1 hit, so I'll hold onto it.))

Jan cuts a gouge out of the side of the tree and as it moves quickly away, the blast of eldritch energy causes it to collapse, falling still, leaving Ula wrapped up in now lifeless root tendrils.

Ula quickly untangles herself, gets up and takes a deep breath. She spots the still standing tree and Avaria putting distance between her and it. Not sure she has the energy to stand toe to toe with another one of these trees, Ula instead focuses on the wave medallion around her neck, speaks a short prayer and flings her hand forward. A flash of light, rolling like a crashing wave slams into the tree creature, causing black ichor and bark to fly off in all directions.

The tree spins from focusing on Avaria to looking at Ula. As it decides which target to come after, two arrows, one after another race out of the darkness. One ricochets off the trunk, but the second one sinks deep into the bark, causing the tree to grumble loudly.

The creature looks to be on its last legs.

Rather than continuing to fight, it disengages and starts heading north.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Ethel's up.

Ethel looks at her ghostly spirit and points to the fleeing tree-monster.  "Pursue it and attack, until either it is slain, or your tethers to this world are broken."

Then she goes to check on the others.  

Marrin says,

"Oh no you don't. You don't get a chance to ambush the next traveler on the road."

She looks over Jan,

"Let's finish it."

She'll move to 60 from it and shout,

"Are those leaves or feathers? You're a chicken tree!"

Vicious mockery (DC 16 Wis save): 4

She'll also put away her rapier and start fiddling to get her crossbow out.

Jan will flick her fingers from the downed tree to the one fleeing, muttering in as she affixes the hex to her new target and sending a pair of crackling blasts at it.

EB Attack: 11 Damage: 11 force + 1 necrotic
EB Attack: 22 Damage: 8force  + 4 necrotic

(First one to hit gets extra 3 bludgeoning damage.)

With a combination of eldritch energy, biting insults and spectral dark magic, the second tree creature falls to the ground as if hewed down by a massive axe.

(Out of initiative)

Soren steps from the shadows, shoulder his bow, while looking in the direction the two 'trees' had come from.

"I've seen those in the distance before, but always in the forest," Soren says. "They never come out here onto the road."

He stops and looks for a moment longer then shakes his head.

"Something's changed," Soren says then looks at the group. "Is everyone okay?"

Before anyone can answer, everyone hears Hammerdasher's unmistakable voice shouting from down the road.

"If you're done playing with the trees, stop your lollygagging and get a move on. We're not staying here tonight."

Jan will make sure Ula and Ava are steady, before moving up to see what she can glean about the magics that created and animated these trees.

Arcana: 8 + 5 bardic

Marrin will gingerly turn her neck and wince. She'll ask down to Ula,

"How you feeling? Those things hit like an out of control wagon."

She'll offer to get Ula her horse and ask if she needs help up. Once Ula is set she'll head off after the wagons, given Ava's made herself known.

Avaria walks back to the group now that the trees have fallen and smiling at Jan as her friend makes sure she's ok, she pats her on the shoulder, "I'll be alright.  Thanks for your concern, but Hammerdasher is right, we need to get out of here."

She looks around for a small critter or beast or something along those lines...

Perception  16

"I'm standing," Ula says to Marrin with a smile. "I'll manage. But yeah, I don't want to run into another one of those things tonight."

The wagons halted once the trees were down and Hammerdasher comes back, leading Ula's pony.

"Dwarves don't usually deal with trees. That's more of elf work," Hammerdasher, says first to Ula then to Soren.

Soren smiles at Hammerdasher "I'd say it's been awhile since either of those were a true tree."

Jan can't make out much more than it's likely necrotic magic of some sort that animated those trees.

As Avaria looks around, she doesn't spot anything. The noise of the fight has probably scared off anything small, and anything large for that matter.

Soren catches up with Jan, "The stories of the Rotting Man have always had one thing in common. He has the power to use some sort of blight to animate the plants and trees of the woods. But like I said, they never come out of the woods."

"Something drove them out of the woods then... If they don't normally come out of the woods, I wonder if that is by the Rotting Man's will, or their own nature... and what has changed now."

Jan will mount up and ride, checking back in with the wagons. 

"I don't think we're stopping just yet, I'll ride up and scout again, but keep sharp eyes to the sides and behind us."

If the group is continuing on, let's get a few more perception checks to avoid breaking an axle or to spot any more trouble.

Jan Perception: 23

 Jan is too lost in her own thoughts, trying to figure out the encounter with the animated trees to be of much help as an active part of any watch while you keep moving.

She's focusing a bit too much on her horse, comforting it as a way to comfort herself after the disturbing encounter with the trees.

She will have to run it by Ethel and the others later, but what if the trees could sense what the dragons could not? She'd been avoiding returning to her sanctum, not willing to trance there with the chest, and for now the consensus being to wait on bringing it forth.

Marrin will give Ula a pat on the arm before riding ahead to the wagons. She doesn't have much to add about the people eating trees, but does have a song about a dwarf that decides to be woodcutter forming in her mind. She tries humming a few possible melodies as they go.

Marrin will put the light spell back on the lead wagon and stay close to the middle and on alert.

Perception: 8

((That one point of difference will reveal all for Marrin's eyes!))

Ouch, nat 1!

Perception 6 for Ava.  This isn't going to be good.  C'mon Ethel!!

((Let's see if we can get a small straight, looking for a 5 or 9!))