Alden strides confidently ahead, his keen eyes scanning the dense foliage that surrounds the well-worn trail. Towering ancient trees embrace the path, their interwoven branches casting dappled sunlight onto the moss-covered ground.The scent of earth and pine fills the air as the subtle rustling of leaves accompanies the rhythmic cadence of Alden's footsteps. Nature's embrace envelops Alden's every move, guiding the party deeper into the heart of the wilderness.

Let's stay close together and keep our eyes open. Those nasty little...

You have been travelling carefully for about ten minutes when Alden, his senses attuned to the forest, spots something that doesn't quite fit. Nature, unmanaged, rarely creates a straight line and yet... Alden's eye has been caught by just such a line in the foliage. It slants up from the ground just to the right hand side of the trail. Your eyes follow it upwards to see that, although cleverly camouflaged, it is a rope stretched taut between a point on the ground and a branch high up in a tree. The branch is bent downwards, the strength of the tree creating the tension in the rope.

Alden is the only one to have seen it so far. The others are following along the trail in single file because it is too narrow to walk alongside.

Stop - stop for a moment, Alden whispers to the rest of the group.
Look here, Alden points to the well-camouflaged trap that would surely lead a layman to disaster. But his trained eye could not be fooled.
Someone wanted to leave us a little surprise. I think we're definitely on the right track.

The ranger looks to see if the trap can be easily avoided or disarmed

It does indeed appear to be some kind of trap. As Alden stops and observes the line of the rope he sees it extend out across the trail in a loop. It is some kind of snare, designed to swipe the unwary traveller from their feet.

Lukuth looks over Alden’s shoulder down at the trap, “Me bash it?”

It is possible to pick your way through the trees off to the left of the trail and skirt around the trap, although Mara's donkey probably cannot get through that way. 

If anyone wants to try disarming it, roll a sleight of hand check.

Luk will leave disarming the trap to those more agile than him. He doesn’t want to slow the party down with them breaking him out of a trap.

Aeran peeks between his companions as Alden points out the suspicious looking contraption. "Maybe a more gentle handling will yield better results?" The paladin tells Luk, before nodding encouragingly to the ranger. "Well spotted, Alden. Perhaps you can try disarming it while you are at it? Or might Mayres have a spell for that?" he adds, looking at the wizard as well. "If all else fails, we can try activating it manually with some log or branch..."

Just give me a moment this one looks quite.. 

Slight hand: (game log): 9

As you cautiously approach the trap to determine how it is constructed, you find a crude-looking but cleverly constructed pressure plate hooked to a trigger. As you gently clear the leaves and forest floor detritus out of the way for a clearer look, your hand slips. Time seems to slow right down as you realise what you've done. The trigger, carved from a piece of bone, tips to one side and you hear the thrum of the rope as the huge tension is released. The sound of leaves crashing high above your head signifies that the bent branch is rather abruptly straightening up. As it does so, a loop of rope snaps closed over the pressure plate, just where your hand is.

You hear Mara gasp sharply behind you.

Roll a dexterity save to see if you avoid any part of you being caught in the trap.

Oh damn shoots through Aldens head

Dexterity safe: 10

As the snare rope whips across the path, you just snatch your hand out of the way in time and fall back awkwardly onto your backside. You look up to see the length of rope, still adorned with twigs and leaves, dangling ten feet above the ground. Had you not spotted the trap, you would be dangling upside down from it. As it is, only your pride is damaged as you sit on the forest floor watching it swing back and forth.

As the rope sweeps up into the air, the sudden movement startles some blackbirds who had been perched nearby and they burst into the air protesting at the disturbance. This is accompanied by an equally sudden squeal from Mara, which might have been shock, or could just as easily have been excitement.

The path is now clear and you can continue.

These sneaky little...That was close. Alden stood up and knocked the dirt off his trousers

Lets go further. slowly, close together and the eyes open

Aeran instinctively steps backward as the sound of snapping rope echoes through the surrounding foliage. His heart skips a beat, but the tension ebbs away as quickly as it came. He breathes a sigh of relief, watching the empty snare sway harmlessly overhead.

Approaching Alden, Aeran extends a helping hand. "You all right, Alden?" he inquires, concern etched across his features. His keen golden eyes scan Alden's form, checking for any signs of injury or distress.

Glancing momentarily at Mara, who had let out an alarmed squeal, Aeran seeks reassurance of her safety before returning his full attention to Alden's well-being.

 Ya Iam fine - not even a scratch. We are definitely on the right track and for sure there will be more of these kind of traps. We have to be careful whispered Alden 

“Goblin trap?” Luk looks at the trap in disgust.

"That would be wise," Aeran replies to Alden. "But you are doing great so far, leading us through this wilderness."

"Who knows if all this is goblin or also Redbrands' property in here," the paladin, rubbing his chin in thought for a few moments, would reply to Luk. "Hopefully we don't stay long enough to find that out."

The elf carefully navigates the trail, making sure to follow in the footsteps of those in front of him, keeping an eye and ear out for trouble from behind. It seems Mayres' spellbook must have preoccupied the wizard's attention again, but hopefully with Alden leading, followed close by by the goliath, there won't be any further problems.

After a few more hours' careful approach, Alden eventually leads the party out of the woods and into a more open, grassy area. The land here is rising and there are hills ahead. The drizzle has persisted all day so far and as you emerge from the shelter of the trees you feel it starting to wet your clothing again. Visibility is still good.

The trail leads to the base of a large hill, and from a distance of 90 feet or so, you see a stream emerging from the hillside. the area is screened by thick briars, but it appears there is some sort of opening and the goblins have headed straight for it, dragging their captives. You are currently about 60 feet away from the bottom left hand corner of the map approaching in a North-Easterly direction (North is directly upwards).

Mara is humming some sort of jaunty tune, her enthusiasm unaffected by the rain or by the seriousness of your endeavour. The water is dripping occasionally from the brim of her hat and Willow is pressed up against her ear in an attempt to stay dry. Having seemed not to notice where the trail is heading, she stops humming and asks, 

"So who are these friends of yours that we're looking for? They must be very special to you for you to go to all this trouble for them."

Thankfully, no more traps are encountered so far, and Aeran almost breathes a sigh of relief as they get out of the forest. He catches himself when he realises that now they are in a quite open area which makes them more vulnerable, and he tries to look around and listen carefully for any signs of trouble. Mara's humming is distracting him a bit, but the elf doesn't comment on it, no need to put any extra tension on any group member.

The paladin thinks for a moment what answer to give to her question. He isn't sure what brought the rest of his companions to that fateful day when they all set off to escort the wagon, but so far he hadn't disclosed to them his family's acquaintance with the dwarf.

"Gundrun and Sildar employed us to escort a wagon of supplies to Phandelin," he opts for this response, offering her almost the whole truth. "We did our job but we can't just leave them in trouble now, can we?" His eyes glance over Mara for a moment. "It is the honourable thing to do. To try and save them."

"Oh yes," agrees Mara, "definitely honourable. You seem like honourable people. But then, Elara says that I always think the best of people and that I should be more careful. Which is why I asked if you were baddies back there." She gestures back towards the trees.

"I suppose..." she ponders for a moment, "I suppose if you were baddies, you might have said that you weren't, mightn't you? And then you could have led me away to your lair and captured me." She looks concerned for a moment, and then brightens, her habitual cheerful smile returning.

"That would have been jolly, wouldn't it? We could have had a battle, then you'd restrain me, and I'd escape and get help, and then you'd be in trouble! What an adventure!"

"Anyway, these Gundrun and Sildar are very lucky that you're not baddies, and that you're coming to save them. We're coming to save them," she corrects herself. "I do hope we have some battles. Willow and I are ready, aren't we, girl?" She strokes under Willow's chin with her forefinger.

"Do you think we'll find them soon?"