Above & Below

A few hours later, just as Ava predicted, the road forks to the right. Eastward, toward the coast. You do as planned, and start venturing in that direction. 

As you walk along, Effort senses a bit of movement through the trees off to your right. Tensing up and readying for another battle, she is about to call out to you all when a small, deer-like creature appears from between two trees. Then another, then another, until a small herd of about a dozen of the ungulates become visible. They root around at the base of some thorny bushes. A few have their ears perked up and trained toward you, watching carefully. They all have antlers, although each one is simply straight and comes to a point, with no branching. 

"I would rather we do not fight this herd of creatures, unless we have need of meat," Effort says under her breath to the others.  "However, if we do require meat, I can stun them first."   She waits patiently for the others' response, being careful to appear disinterested in the herd.

(If Effort can insta-ritual-cast Comprehend Languages already, she would do so right about now, just in case these things are intelligent enough to talk)

Just by looking, it seems like they're run-of-the-mill hooved woodland creatures. Effort may not have, but the others have probably seen something similar in Oshait, although these are smaller and the antlers are definitely different. 

(I mean Effort can Hypnotic Pattern these guys and we can feast, but do we really need to?  LOL)

Quote from Enkida >>

(Sorry for being absentee!)

"That was a respite," Effort tells the others as they begin their journey back down the road.  As the group journeys down the road, she takes stock of her belongings, pulling out the basilisk eye she'd stored in the vial.  "Hmm... do you think this might prove useful in our interaction with the Sister?  I'm sure it has magic properties of some sort, but I've no idea of how to harness or utilize them.  It could be a bargaining chip in our favor, though," she muses to the others.

"It probably cannot hurt to offer it I suppose."  Kurama commented, "Though as enigmatic as they are, it's impossible to know what will gain their favor and assistance."  

Quote from Billtacular >>

A few hours later, just as Ava predicted, the road forks to the right. Eastward, toward the coast. You do as planned, and start venturing in that direction. 

As you walk along, Effort senses a bit of movement through the trees off to your right. Tensing up and readying for another battle, she is about to call out to you all when a small, deer-like creature appears from between two trees. Then another, then another, until a small herd of about a dozen of the ungulates become visible. They root around at the base of some thorny bushes. A few have their ears perked up and trained toward you, watching carefully. They all have antlers, although each one is simply straight and comes to a point, with no branching. 

 "I would leave them be.  I see no reason to attack them if they're not being violent or aggressive towards us and we're not in dire straits (ooc: I'm assuming) in regards to food at the moment either."  Kurama commented

Yeah - we don't really do rations. I tend to think they're kind of boring to keep track of, unless you guys are really into it. Instead, I like to offer benefits to having a big, satisfactory meal. Advantage on checks or plus something to something...that kind of thing. 

Despite their recent meal, a a loud grumbling sound comes from Brask's stomach.  Fine, he says, no hunting the weird beasts.  Let's keep going.  He continues under his breath, Probably poisonous anyway.

You continue on your way. The scenery hardly changes as you continue eastward. You pass through a hilly section of the forest, cresting and descending a few times before things level off again. Eventually, you notice the sky begin to darken. You're guessing nightfall is approaching, although you're not sure how soon before the sun actually sets. An hour, maybe two. 

Perception to see what's around us (near and far) that would work as a camping spot for the night: 16

Though she doesn't feel particularly uncomfortable in this new world -- apart from the incessant danger, lack of sunlight, and bothersome swathes of wilderness, that is -- Effort feel bothered by Kurama's concerns about the makeup of the world and its state of decay.  When Kurama points out a spot that he finds best for setting up camp, Effort takes some time to cast guidance on herself, and then try to attune herself to whatever ebb and flow of energy she can feel within the land itself, to see if there are any strange knots, blocks, or flows in the eddies of magical power that can't be traced by the visible eye.

Arcana: 17

The landscape is fairly homogeneous, with little clearings between the dark trees here and there. Any of them seem like they would serve as suitable camping locations. There's not much in the way of natural cover, unfortunately.

Effort, you don't get the sense that anything is wrong with this world, per se, or that it's decaying...but you do sense that the energies within it are different than those of Oshait. They feel heavier, as if they're weighing down on you more as you meditate. They seem darker, somehow, and the darkness only grows as you reach out your own energies toward the coast.

"... It's strange.  Didn't Gil and Ava say that the spot with sunlight was somewhere on the ocean?"  Effort muses aloud to the others.  "It feels to me that the coast is where the dark power here grows darkest.  What do you make of that?"

Picking one of the nearby clearings, Kurama led the way to it before beginning to set-up their camp for the evening.  As he did so, he kept an eye out for any movement around them, not wanting to be surprised by any person or creature lurking in the area.

• Perception - 15

Quote from Enkida >>

"... It's strange.  Didn't Gil and Ava say that the spot with sunlight was somewhere on the ocean?"  Effort muses aloud to the others.  "It feels to me that the coast is where the dark power here grows darkest.  What do you make of that?"

"Perhaps it's the light within the darkness?  Though it's tough to know for sure."  Kurama pondered in reply.

Dunno, says Brask.  This place is weird.  Maybe the rules aren't the same, you know?  Or maybe the darkness is chasing after the light, trying to hunt it and kill it.  He shrugs.  Who knows how magic works.

"That's... actually a fairly compelling theory," Effort says to Brask's guess.  "Hopefully, we will find a way out of this world before we have to dive to the depths of any sort of mystery of this nature ourselves."  As Kurama looks around, Effort assists Brask with the pitching of the tent.  Afterwards, with Kurama's assistance, she strategically places caltrops along the campsite to better help defend the group during the night.

"Shall we split our watches up?  Cadmael and I can take one in the depths of the night, as our vision is fairly good.  Pip can likely help one of you see through the darkness, though as always, my lantern remains available for either or both of your watches."

(Effort will take 2nd or 3rd watch, whatever the party prefers!)

(Kurama will offer to take the first watch)

Brask will take second, with Pip.

Someone give me a d20 luck check and then 1d6 as well. 

luck 8

2

You nervously take turns keeping watch, until...the sky slowly starts to lighten. Other than a somewhat restless sleep in this cold, dark place, it seems the night passed without any lurking creatures or undead coming upon your camp. A distant coyote calls as you all start to stir, and a small flock of sparrows pick their way across the camp, darting from bush to thorny bush. 

"That...wasn't so bad!" Pip cheerily starts packing up his things.