Zak watches on as Gwenant, Renny and Spotty check the cow and Hef keeps an eye on the perimeter. He stays away from the cow... he wouldn't want to mess up a clue with his large and sometimes clumsy frame.
"You guys find anything odd about that cow?"
Zak also would be happy and more than honored to lead the party in the marching order. Although Gwenant might be better as Zak's Charisma might be rough when initially meeting people and representing the party etc. Perhaps Gwenant then Zak? But ultimately I'm easy!
When looking more closely at the wounds, you notice that there are tiny wood splinters in the cuts. Whatever did this must have been using very fine wooden weapons. And nothing is missing on the cow carcass, so no evidence of something eating it. You see what looks like tracks leading into the woodlands where the Old Road leads, but can't quite figure out what could have made tracks like that..
You are all now in the field near the Old Road. There are some cattle fields around you, and further in the distance, some woodlands and the start of a wooded area. The Old Road leads right through the farmlands into that forest.
Gwenant teases a splinter out of the corpse for closer inspection and says, "Splinters... Spotty, have you ever seen a weapon or something that could leave wounds like this?" To the rest of the party, she announces, "Whatever or whoever did this, they left wood splinters in the cow, and didn't take any meat. And they went that-a-ways, into the forest."
"Splinters huh..." Zak has just no idea what could've happened to the cow. He chuckles at Renny's joke and then thinking... maybe it wasn't a joke! If dragons exist, he can't rule anything out.
Zak and Hef in the lead – Renny, Spotty and Martin in the middle – Gewnant in the rear
The Old Road is large enough for people to walk side-by-side so we can have two leads, when the space will be more limited, I'll go with whoever says they take lead first.
I don't want to assume any decisions, so make sure it's clear when you are actually taking action, such as heading on the Old Road, walking to the forest and such)
Just before sunrise Martin had gone out to the city center to perform the ritual to the rising sun to gain Lathanders blessing on the upcoming quest. Just as he was finishing he saw you all rush by and gathering up his implements he rushed to catch up to see what the rush was all about. "Hey there, What is going on?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Lord Arunduil will bring death to us all"
Arutha Lvl.2 Human Fighter: Arsenal of the Orc Lord
Milamber Lvl.1 Human Sorcerer: Curse of Strahd
Masque: Lvl.5 Gith Cleric: Age of Death
DM: League of Improbable Adventurers: Chapter 1 of Arunduil's Bane
You are pretty sure it isn’t a weapon. You haven’t ever heard of any kind of weapon that causes these kind of wounds. Wooden weapons tend to be used more for bludgeoning rather that cutting and piercing.
You are also pretty sure it isn’t any kind of wild animal.
So even though you don’t know what exactly is behind the attack here, your mind has narrowed it down to some kind of magic or magical creature, some spells could cause this, or even possibly some kind of unnatural plant creature.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Spotty looks at Martin, then gestures toward the dead cow. "I think something unnatural did this... like some kind of magic. I wonder if there's some way to track it to its source..." He thoughtfully scratches his head while trying to remember what his adoptive mother taught him about magic.
You remember that there are a few spells that allow a caster to track things (Locate Object, Locate Creature, Scrying and possibly other spells from the School of Divination) but right now Spotty probably knows the best option is the ‘classic’ tracking with Survival checks. Felosial did say the attacks always seemed to originate from the Sunless Citadel, and you can assume she has used her ranger skills to figure out the source of the attacks already, up to a certain point at least.
"Hello Martin and good morning!" Zak says as he cheerfully greets the Dwarf. Probably too cheerful given the situation at hand.
Zak watches on as his comrades try and figure this cow out. He decides he better start doing something... so he wanders off on the old road up to the forest/wooded area and just takes a general look around the ground to see if he can see any type of tracks of significance that might help them figure out what came here and did this.
Zak: You notice a few tracks heading into the woodlands, almost following the Old Road path. You see a few broken twigs seemingly creating some kind of trail and whatever is leaving this doesn’t seem to have distinct footprints. Also, you believe there are more than one trail..
Renny doesn't want to get too close though.. but she hangs out by Spotty and Gwenant while taking a look.
Investigation: 8
"No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow"
"No power in the 'verse can stop me"
Zak watches on as Gwenant, Renny and Spotty check the cow and Hef keeps an eye on the perimeter. He stays away from the cow... he wouldn't want to mess up a clue with his large and sometimes clumsy frame.
"You guys find anything odd about that cow?"
Zak also would be happy and more than honored to lead the party in the marching order. Although Gwenant might be better as Zak's Charisma might be rough when initially meeting people and representing the party etc. Perhaps Gwenant then Zak? But ultimately I'm easy!
Spotty & Gwenant:
When looking more closely at the wounds, you notice that there are tiny wood splinters in the cuts. Whatever did this must have been using very fine wooden weapons. And nothing is missing on the cow carcass, so no evidence of something eating it. You see what looks like tracks leading into the woodlands where the Old Road leads, but can't quite figure out what could have made tracks like that..
You are all now in the field near the Old Road. There are some cattle fields around you, and further in the distance, some woodlands and the start of a wooded area. The Old Road leads right through the farmlands into that forest.
Dungeon Master – MelGon's Tales from the Yawning Portal
Hawk of the Night (Hawk) – Level 2 Tabaxi Ranger – Swift's Storm King's Thunder
Lavandula Angustia – Level 1 Tiefling Rogue – LMoP campaign, DM: novaskyr
Renny breaks off from the cow because she can't figure anything out and looks for some kind of tracks instead.
"No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow"
"No power in the 'verse can stop me"
Gwenant teases a splinter out of the corpse for closer inspection and says, "Splinters... Spotty, have you ever seen a weapon or something that could leave wounds like this?" To the rest of the party, she announces, "Whatever or whoever did this, they left wood splinters in the cow, and didn't take any meat. And they went that-a-ways, into the forest."
Hef only half-consciously moves between the group and "that-a-ways."
Renny looks back to Gwenant, "Are trees killing cows?"
"No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow"
"No power in the 'verse can stop me"
Gwenant looks at the bloody splinter in her hand, then shrugs at Renny. "Maybe?"
"Splinters huh..." Zak has just no idea what could've happened to the cow. He chuckles at Renny's joke and then thinking... maybe it wasn't a joke! If dragons exist, he can't rule anything out.
Zak thinks we should all go that-a-way into the forest. We get the marching order down yet?
(What I got is this:
Zak and Hef in the lead – Renny, Spotty and Martin in the middle – Gewnant in the rear
The Old Road is large enough for people to walk side-by-side so we can have two leads, when the space will be more limited, I'll go with whoever says they take lead first.
I don't want to assume any decisions, so make sure it's clear when you are actually taking action, such as heading on the Old Road, walking to the forest and such)
Dungeon Master – MelGon's Tales from the Yawning Portal
Hawk of the Night (Hawk) – Level 2 Tabaxi Ranger – Swift's Storm King's Thunder
Lavandula Angustia – Level 1 Tiefling Rogue – LMoP campaign, DM: novaskyr
As he inspects the wounds, Spotty frowns. "Wooden weapons, maybe? Hm..."
INT roll: 17 (with an extra +2 for Arcana or History)
(Sorry, Got busy, I'm here.)
Just before sunrise Martin had gone out to the city center to perform the ritual to the rising sun to gain Lathanders blessing on the upcoming quest. Just as he was finishing he saw you all rush by and gathering up his implements he rushed to catch up to see what the rush was all about. "Hey there, What is going on?"
"Lord Arunduil will bring death to us all"
Arutha Lvl.2 Human Fighter: Arsenal of the Orc Lord
Milamber Lvl.1 Human Sorcerer: Curse of Strahd
Masque: Lvl.5 Gith Cleric: Age of Death
DM: League of Improbable Adventurers: Chapter 1 of Arunduil's Bane
Spotty:
You are pretty sure it isn’t a weapon. You haven’t ever heard of any kind of weapon that causes these kind of wounds. Wooden weapons tend to be used more for bludgeoning rather that cutting and piercing.
You are also pretty sure it isn’t any kind of wild animal.
So even though you don’t know what exactly is behind the attack here, your mind has narrowed it down to some kind of magic or magical creature, some spells could cause this, or even possibly some kind of unnatural plant creature.
Dungeon Master – MelGon's Tales from the Yawning Portal
Hawk of the Night (Hawk) – Level 2 Tabaxi Ranger – Swift's Storm King's Thunder
Lavandula Angustia – Level 1 Tiefling Rogue – LMoP campaign, DM: novaskyr
Spotty looks at Martin, then gestures toward the dead cow. "I think something unnatural did this... like some kind of magic. I wonder if there's some way to track it to its source..." He thoughtfully scratches his head while trying to remember what his adoptive mother taught him about magic.
Arcana again, if necessary: 20
You remember that there are a few spells that allow a caster to track things (Locate Object, Locate Creature, Scrying and possibly other spells from the School of Divination) but right now Spotty probably knows the best option is the ‘classic’ tracking with Survival checks. Felosial did say the attacks always seemed to originate from the Sunless Citadel, and you can assume she has used her ranger skills to figure out the source of the attacks already, up to a certain point at least.
Dungeon Master – MelGon's Tales from the Yawning Portal
Hawk of the Night (Hawk) – Level 2 Tabaxi Ranger – Swift's Storm King's Thunder
Lavandula Angustia – Level 1 Tiefling Rogue – LMoP campaign, DM: novaskyr
"Hello Martin and good morning!" Zak says as he cheerfully greets the Dwarf. Probably too cheerful given the situation at hand.
Zak watches on as his comrades try and figure this cow out. He decides he better start doing something... so he wanders off on the old road up to the forest/wooded area and just takes a general look around the ground to see if he can see any type of tracks of significance that might help them figure out what came here and did this.
Survival: 22
Zak: You notice a few tracks heading into the woodlands, almost following the Old Road path. You see a few broken twigs seemingly creating some kind of trail and whatever is leaving this doesn’t seem to have distinct footprints. Also, you believe there are more than one trail..
Dungeon Master – MelGon's Tales from the Yawning Portal
Hawk of the Night (Hawk) – Level 2 Tabaxi Ranger – Swift's Storm King's Thunder
Lavandula Angustia – Level 1 Tiefling Rogue – LMoP campaign, DM: novaskyr
Renny watches everyone, "So, do we go now or.. later?"
"No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow"
"No power in the 'verse can stop me"
Zak comes back and tells the party about the tracks.
"I found some tracks over there around where Gwenant was pointing earlier that go into the woods... how about we follow them?"
(when you say more than one trail, is it more than one trail to follow, or multiple things creating the one trail?)