Eylf Athletics:- 5

( I'm gonna call that a win.)

Indeed. You are somehow able to catch the pup, but it continues to wriggle in your hands as you fumble with the ration bag. 

" Any advice?  This is the first living thing I've held that wasn't me..."

Athene carries hers by the scruff of its neck. "You've never carried an animal? Don't they have animals where you come from?" Admittedly most of the animals Athene has carried have been dead, but every now and then she's carried a live animal.

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Athene carries hers by the scruff of its neck. "You've never carried an animal? Don't they have animals where you come from?" Admittedly most of the animals Athene has carried have been dead, but every now and then she's carried a live animal.

 " Um....there are some rats and mice....and pigeons in the quadrangle.  One of the professors has a cat but it doesn't like me."

Athene nods along, having no idea what any of the things the stranger mentioned might be. "We should leave. Follow me." As they walk Athene mulls what she's seen today. The first outsider she's actually spoken to. And they seem to know something about the Mold too. "Does this 'Academy' know how to stop the Blight?"

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Athene nods along, having no idea what any of the things the stranger mentioned might be. "We should leave. Follow me." As they walk Athene mulls what she's seen today. The first outsider she's actually spoken to. And they seem to know something about the Mold too. "Does this 'Academy' know how to stop the Blight?"

 " Not yet, no."

" But they are very smart and the team they sent out before is, I'm sure, hard at work on a solution."

" We just need to find them.....in the village."

Athene stops in her tracks and wheels on the outsider. "More of you are coming? Are you going to enter the forest?" Her tone is sharp, her eyes fierce. "That . . . is a bad idea."

" As far as I know they're already here.  Well, in the village."

Athene expertly leads you both back to safety, and where the trees are less dense. The deepening sun casts golden-orange light on the boughs of the trees. It will be night time by the time you reach the village if you decide to go now, or you can find a place to rest for the night unless you have other ideas? 

Athene weighs her options. Staying in the forest is a bad idea for the outsider; the Vaelahryn do not suffer trespassers lightly. And this group holds the promise that maybe there is a way to stop the Blight.

"The village isn't far. We should go there." She sets the wolf cub down at the edge of the woods. "My name's Athene. Yours?"

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Athene weighs her options. Staying in the forest is a bad idea for the outsider; the Vaelahryn do not suffer trespassers lightly. And this group holds the promise that maybe there is a way to stop the Blight.

"The village isn't far. We should go there." She sets the wolf cub down at the edge of the woods. "My name's Athene. Yours?"

 " Eylf.  I know....I don't know where it came from....maybe it was the first word I said? I don't remember."

"I was named after an owl, to be swift, wise, and watchful." Athene considers if there are any wolf packs in this area that might take the cubs in.

Nature check: 15

Athene it's curious, now that you're thinking on it. You haven't seen nor heard a wolf in as long as you can remember. But you know their dwellings well, and you know that there is one in the direction of the village, but it would require you to enter (or perhaps deepen entry of) your territory of the forest with Eylf. It would also add a few hours to your journey to the Village. 

"There's a den that way," she says, pointing out into the woods. "It will delay our arrival but we can leave them at the edge of that pack's territory." 'Hopefully no one else is patrolling that area,' she thinks to herself.

Before they depart, Athene takes a knife and cuts a few long strands of her white hair. She ties them around a sprig of holly and ties it onto a branch just above head height. It is a sign used by the Vaelahryn, left for thise who come after them. "I will return".

Eylf watches with interest not really comprehending.

Athene you lead the way back into more familiar territory--despite the setting sun, you know this land better than you know your own hands. But your companion's fatigue from a long march, and the thudding clumsiness of her form, and her large flat tail--not meant for deftly navigating forests in the dark, are they?--slows you down significantly. Sometimes you find yourself in a rhythm, hopping here, stepping to the right there, just to find that you've put a hundred or so feet between you and that you need to go back. It's exhausting and frankly, a little annoying. 

Eylf, you find you are getting exhausted and in fact within an hour of trying desperately to keep up with this elven creature who speaks in riddles too sophisticated for you, find that you have reached exhaustion such that you can't take any of your surroundings--trees, brambles, roots, leaves all a blur in your mind. These are hard hours and they pass with excruciating slowness. 

When night does eventually fall do you get out a source of light? If not, your walking speed slows to 15 feet. Athene how do you feel about this...limitation? And in broader terms, how are you interacting with each other during this time? 

Eylf is definitely not used to all this physical exertion and she is barely managing to keep placing one foot in front of the other, most of her interaction with Athene is in the form of grunts or head nods or shakes.  As it grows darker she keeps stumbling, eventually she pulls out a torch and lights it with a flick of her tail ( Prestidigitation).

Athene is focused on what she considers their mission to be. She speaks only when spoken to, and even then her replies are curt and to the point. The pups are stored in her pack, their heads poking out from the open top. She's getting somewhat frustrated with the slow going. Any decent elf could navigate this forest blindfolded, why was the stranger struggling so much?

The light draws a calculating glare from Athene. "Keep it dim. Don't announce your presence." She stays persistently ahead of the dragonborn, out of the torch's light.