Ereworn Under The Shadow

"If everyone is done eating, it is time to gather what travel supplies we can and decide what task is next,"  Ardwynn spoke softly as she looked about the room. 

"That is, if we are agreed we are going to go back into the Wood."

Barn gulps down one last massive mouthful of porridge and grins as he buses the bowl (and anyone else's bowl) for Clotha.

"R-right, Wynn.  No place else to g-go but the Wood if we w-want to start f-fixing things.  And m-maybe find something for Fabian's quest..."

[Reg] As the group prepared to go at Ardwynn’s urging, the man shouldered his bag, staff in hand. “Well, Barn, why don’t you lead us to that clearing…with the mounds. Let’s get that spirit of yours settled.”

As an afterthought, he asks the big-man, “Say, you didn’t happen to put more water in that chalice of yours last high, did you?”

The big man's childlike hazel eyes turn to the trapper, respectfully as always, though he shakes his head.

"If I h-had the chalice, I guess I w-would have forgot to fill it, Reg.  But I d-don't have it.  You w-were the last one of us who had it, I think?  And you g-gave it to Clotha for her to drink on our w-way back.  Not s-sure if she gave it b-back to you?"

(OOC:  Barn doesn't have the chalice.  It's on his inventory with quantity 0, which I set it to when he gave it to Reg.  Post 755 is the last time I can remember any PC handling the chalice, with Reg handing it to Clotha to drink from.)

Either way, Barn is ready to lead the group into the woods, taking over for Caelen.  Though in his heavy armor, anyone who isn't deaf will hear him coming.

The group prepared to enter Gallows Wood once more, they could easily find their way to the hollow oak tree once more but from there there were only two trails leading on one to the east which lead to the glade with the burial mounds but through the clearing with Nuadas hut, the other led west to an unknown location......or they could take one of the many game trails and try and work their way roughly southeast hoping to find the glade once more.

I will need a-

Survival Check- DC 13

and a 

Nature Check- DC 14

To try and find your way through Gallows Wood if you take the game trails.

Jack Survival check 16

Smiling Jack rolls in game log

 nature 3

Survival 6

Facepalm 

Ardwynn

Nature check:  15

Survival check:  8

Barn's Survival:  10

Barn becomes hopelessly confused searching for game trails headed toward the glen, and hopefully has the sense to follow (pockmarked) Jack.

Galaren

Survival: Dice rolls not yet available for this section.

Nature: Dice rolls not yet available for this section.

OOC: Getting error "Dice rolls not yet available for this session" above. If you don't see this ignore these replacement rolls.

Rolled in game log.

Survival: 10

Nature: 16

95

( That'll do)

The companions headed into the dark trees, the weak sunlight only barely visible through the canopy and the cloying fog....they managed to head roughly south but the lack of landmarks led things slightly off course and the companions were beginning to feel they had ventured to far.

The thick bank of mist seems to grow ever more opaque around you. Only the leaves underfoot and the looming trunks passing close by prove that you are still within the forest. Suddenly, between one footfall and the next, you hear the muffled sound of a hunting horn and the distant baying of hounds. The noise seems to be coming from the North West and moving rapidly in your direction.

Ardwynn - History Check: 19

Hearing the horns blow and the sounds of hounds baying, Ardwynn looks about, trying to find a stream or climbable trees.  "We have to move.  Either into a moving stream or up into the trees."

She frowns as she searches, "I hate to think we are perched on limbs with hounds surrounding the trees and I seriously doubt Barn could get up a tree.. even if he wasn't wearing armor.   We need a hidey hole or a stream to cross, NOW."

"And does anyone have a trick to throw dogs off the scent?   Carrying some spices or ground pepper?  Perhaps some kind of mummery that creates a stink or blooms to cover our tracks? Or even some spell to cover us with fog?"

Barn hears Wynn, and while he does not fully agree (I think I could climb a tree if I had to!  Whether it would do any good, or a branch would even bear my weight is a different story...), he is ready to follow anyone who thinks there is a viable place to run (such as across a stream).

But if there is no such option seemingly available, Barn does what he does best.  The big man stands his ground protectively, halberd in hand.

IF that happens, at the last moment, if and when it sounds like the hounds are upon them, he closes his eyes briefly, reaching out to the connection he has always felt to the spirits of the Wood.  Old trees, we seek to honor and restore you, protect us in turn from dark foes.

(IF it gets to that point, at the last possible moment, Barn would cast Bless, targeting himself, Smiling Jack and Ardwynn.)

The Recluse had wanted to avoid Nuada and Macha as much as possible. He was likewise wanton to avoid straying off the path, yet here they were, struggling to find the mound glade and Abram’s ghost promise. He made no attempt to navigate around the forester’s hut however, as he lacked any skill to do so. He simply followed the others.

Pockmarked Jack seemed to do well, and S Jack was always rooting around for the trails and paths Reg never knew existed. Ardwynn and the new guy Galaren appeared to know something of where they were headed so the trapper bothered not to try. Then the horn sounded…

Ardwynn had asked for a distraction…all he could do was say in a hushed voice, ‘scatter’. 
He moved away from the group (25’) in a direction perpendicular that no one else took. But in doing so he also grabbed a piece of wychwood from a pocket and casts Dancing Lights. He creates four orbs between 90 and 110 ft away in an arc 20 ft from each other further in the woods to the Southeast. He then looks for cover.