The Long Road - Game Thread

Hildigrim volunteers to be part of a scouting party.

Quillary also adopts a subservient posture, and goes along with Ravia on the scouting mission (as we were all "invited" to do).

This is one of those “your boss ‘asks’ if you would come with him on a business trip” situations. The choice is there, but there’s only one choice.

(OOC: It's also what would these mid-tier homicidal cultists have done, not what you would chose. You are there to follow the thread of this past memory, wherever it leads.)

I need everyone to roll three (3) Survival checks. This is for how well you are doing in finding a trail around Elmwood that would handle the wagons and not be conspicuous.

Drusk's 3 rolls:

Hey I’m not bad at that!

18, 17, 5

Survival checks with advantage due to Volo helping:

11, 17, 13

Quillary loves Survival! 26, 15, 8

Despite Jorin's mountainous origins, he is not great at survival... 20, 14, 13

edit - lol! yep

(OOC: These are group checks, so the majority had to succeed on each step.)

Jorin is out to lunch, enjoying the dream-scenery and looking for glitches in the dream-Matrix. Quillary is completely focused, keeping an eye on Ravia (who likes killing and disrupting the order of life too much). The others are busy trying to find a decent off-road path.

You are certain that Ravia is indeed skirting the road into Elmwood. (She is not taking you in the wrong direction, or otherwise doing the wrong mission.)

However, you notice distinctive landmarks appearing more than once. Jorin is certain this is a glitch in the dream-matrix (which sounds convincing to Drusk), but the others realize that the group has actually walked in circles a few times.

When Ravia is temporarily out of ear-shot, Quillary mentions that Ravia seems to be deliberately leading the group in circles. (Drusk agrees that Ravia has been very purposeful in choosing their way.) But the others don't think there is enough evidence to be certain of malice, when Ravia's incompetence in the woods could be the reason.

Quillary will test the Matrix by suggesting, at one point soon, a better path that would take us in the actual direction we are supposed to want to go. "Mistress, I think we have seen this twisted branch before. Might we go this way now?"

"If the forest is too dense to find where we need to go, I can use my familiar to fly above the trees in order to keep us from straying off course," Hildigrim suggests.

Quote from Mingofaust >>

Quillary will test the Matrix by suggesting, at one point soon, a better path that would take us in the actual direction we are supposed to want to go. "Mistress, I think we have seen this twisted branch before. Might we go this way now?"

Ravia looks like she is about to flare up at the suggestion, then gives a short laugh. “Well, it seems you are not as dense as some of the others." (Ravia was going to look at Drusk, but Jorin's Survival rolls have her looking directly at him.)

"Let me put this plainly. Ever since I found this ...” she holds up a piece of pale, white wood, capped with a falcon made of silver. “... life has been coming up roses. Those people are easy to manipulate but you all ... you all seem more difficult..."

"I'll tell you what. Jacobson is too cautious. We can save time by going through Elmwood. There’s nothing there. I’ll show you that. And I have a little thing I want to go pick up anyway... You come with me, I do my deal, we go back, and tell Jacobson we couldn’t find another way around. Caravan gets through town faster, everybody wins. Deal?”

History check on what would have been going on to support her claim that Elmwood is ... abandoned? 8

Can Pascal determine what that wood is?

(She doesn’t mean the town is deserted. She means that the people are nobodies, compared to a ruthless band of cultists like yourselves.)

Quillary nods deferentially to Ravia's masterful plan.

Jorin nods to Ravia's plan.  Seems like this is how we'll get to see what happened in Elmwood.

Pascal coughs slightly, preparing for his line, then flatly says, “Yes. This is. The best. Course of action...” He pauses, “Fire is better than people.”

Pascal is guessing it is a magical items made of wood, like a staff, rod, or wand, but he can't identify it. (She did say it made the other weak-willed cultists easier to manipulate.)

Quillary has a feeling that there is some nervousness behind Ravia's bravado. (Anything more will require a DC 15 Insight check.)

Your group leaves the forest and marches on the main path to town. There are people there (it is not deserted), but besides a pair of town guards half-dozing by the side of the road, it doesn’t seem to be much of anything except fishing boats, large farms, and something resembling a town square. Off to the east, there is something resembling a large manor on a hillside.

(Hildigrim can roll a DC 10 History check. Perhaps he passed through Elmwood as a child, as part of the family fishing business? I don't have anything in mind, but can add some role-playing flavor.)

History check it is! 8