(Elsara will help the driver, being a bubble passenger seat person and keeping an eye out, so advantage to whomever rolls.)

(Animal Handling, with advantage thanks to Elsara; 11 )

(Edit; uuups) 

(Ah... hm... that ain't good.)

Monsoon 11
Time: 11:00 AM
Location: Row 8 Column 8

Though the blinding speed of the lizards are significantly reduced in the forest, they are still quite fast. Val, with his animal empathy finds it still relatively easy to handle the lizards and drive the carriage through the trees. Vandanore forest, at least the part of the great forest is a massive forest that covers approximately a third of the entire island of Lun. The great forest is not so thick however, that the carriage is having difficulty in moving around the trees, at least the part of the forest that's on this side of the Evie River. However, the canopy of the forest casts it in deep shade. Combine that with the monsoon season and the increased moisture in the air and you get ground that doesn't dry easily. It is not muddy enough to be anything more than a mild annoyance. If anything, the damp soil is perfect for preserving the tracks of the nobleman's carriage.

You take in the cool, damp air of the forest and listen to the sound of birds and cicadas as you weave between the trees, the wheels of the carriage rattling away and the lizards occasionally making lizard noises. Slowly as you move further and further south, you start to hear the sounds of running water. It seems you are getting closer to the river proper. Then a pungent air assaults your nostrils. It smells like something is rotting. Before Val can register the smell properly, the lizards dash towards the stench, being primarily scavengers who relish rotting meat. He tries to control them and would have had some success but that was when they hit a downward slope. The vehicle bounced, popped and dashed as it rolled down the incline, being pulled by very fast lizards that are running at near full speeds. Val manages to swerve around trees to not have the carriage slam into them. Finally, the vehicle slams on to the hard ground of the river bank as the incline flattens into a gravel rich ground bordering the river. The sudden slam puts too much pressure on the already over stressed wheels and cause two of the four wheels to snap into multiple pieces and fall off the carriage. The carriage remains upright and no one is hurt but it is broken again.

Good news is that the lizards brought you straight to the end of the trail 30 minutes ahead of schedule. They also brought you to the source of the stench. Two rotting carcasses of horses on the river bank. The wreckage of the noble man's carriage is not too far off from the rotting horses. It seems like it's been there for at least 4 days. Compared to what's left of the noble's carriage, the party's got off very well. Where the party had just had two wheels shatter, the noble's carriage is toppled over to one side with a part of it collapsed. Bent and broken metal and rotting wooden pieces scatter along the bank around it. Strangely the noble himself is nowhere in sight.

"Well... I think it would have been worse..." says Val to the others " Everyone is alright? Good good... Let them feast... " he says looking at the lizards. " They deserve it..." he looks towards the noble carriage. 

"Perhaps we could salvage it's wheels to subsitute ours... and I could try to locate the noble.." 

( Val will look for tracks of the noble: Survival: 17 )

Devarus just laughs hysterically from the floor of the carriage in answer. "Yep! All good in here? I only felt my hip get jarred back and forth out of place, but it's allll good!" He called out. Sarcasm aside, he will eventually crawl his way out of the carriage, if albeit awkwardly so. Once he sees the damage from the outside, Devarus lets out a long, exasperated sigh. "We just fix that a day ago... Ffffudge monocles." He then looks over to the lizards and somehow manages to both grimace and smile at the same time. "Well, at least they're happy. Saves us feeding them for a day.  What's this about the... Oh... yes, it does seem he's not here either. Right then."

After taking another minute to make sure all his gear was in place, as well as check on the other ladies, he is soon following Val's lead.  His and Elsara's lead perhaps, if the two were to combine their talents.

Looking around for tracks, there seem to be none on this side of the river. Given the damp nature of the gravely nature of the river bank, it's unlikely there would be tracks here. However there are no tracks going away from the river either so this is a good indication that the nobleman crossed the river. Unless of course, he flew but why would he do that?

Can runt attempt a survival check to see if she can find signs of what killed the horses?  

(Assuming that's what survival does, idk)

Go ahead.

Val looks for a safe way to cross the river

( Perception or survival same mod: 24 )

The location they are currently in is a pretty safe location for crossing the river.

Elsara will check over the carriage again after the accident, judging how long it would take to [Tooltip Not Found] it. If it will take hours like last time, she will inform the party and recommend making sure the lizards are properly secured before following any tracks.

It would take hours to mend it using the Mending spell like last time but this time there is a complication. Because of how the wheel broke into multiple pieces and scattered about, you'll have to find all the large chunks of the wheels before you can fix it. The smaller mixing splinters and metal shards can be ignored as the spell will take care of it.

After helping Elsara with the lizards Val says "Wouldn't  be easier if we use the wheels of the noble carriage? "

DM: I forgot to mention this. The noble's carriage's wheels are also very broken. Though... It might be possible to salvage them enough to fix them via Mending.

The noble's carriage is toppled over to one side with the now "top" side having caved in. Two of the four wheels are cracked and broken and trapped under the carriage itself as the carriage fell on that side. The other side has one wheel that is bent and the other wheel is missing.

You can easily get the bent wheel off of the carriage and fix it up with Mending to place into your own carriage. To get the other two wheels however, you're going to have to find some way to flip the carriage over so the crushed wheels are facing up instead of being stuck under the broken carriage's weight.

Group STR check to flip the cart over so you can get the other wheels. DC is 50 (All your rolls will be added together and then compared against the DC )

Devarus had largely been keeping lookout for any other dangers that could be lurking about while the others investigated for tracks. Once it becomes known to him that they might be able to salvage at least a wheel or two, he makes a show of pulling back his sleeves as he got into position to help. "Can't say my hip is gonna particularly appreciate any unnecessary exertion. But, a group effort is a group effort." He would say and smile before waiting for the countdown.

(Apologies for being presumptuous assuming no magic might be involved to make things easier. But if it is, assume Devarus will do his best to help however he can.) 

((You can use magic like Guidance on one person but can't take the Help Action here because you are going to have to make the check yourself to add with the rest of the group's rolls))

(The help action is in reference to anyone coming up with alternate means to lower the DC outside of a direct check, but need the help to do so, or calling him away to help with something else instead.)

Elsara will help out if the group wants to grab the pieces to be secured for fixing on the way back. They can pop them inside of the carriage to protect them a little from the elements.

Athletics: 9

((Damn. That brings down the DC to 33. Between Runt and Val, they must roll at least one 16 and one 17 to succeed now.))

(Maybe Val can persuade the lizards to help nudge it, lowering the DC?)