It takes two hours, but the cultists manage to get their wagon ready for travel again. Some of the other caravaners have dutifully assisted in finding a safe path for the wagons, and though the going is slow, you all eventually make it to the end of the day and the caravan camps for the night.
Over the next two or three days, Carlon approaches each of you in turn, in a place and at a time when there are unlikely to be observers. He warns you to stay away from the cultists, and not to attract their attention. He's concerned that they may try to persuade the rest of the caravan to leave one or more of you behind; that seems unlikely at the moment given you are popular with the other travellers, but the cultists are tricky. He suggests you don't do anything to damage that popularity, and warns you to be on the lookout for what the cultists may be planning.
Several more days pass, and another rest day comes. The caravan is less than a tenday south of Daggerford, the only major town on the road between Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep, and many of the caravan members are talking excited of inns and taverns and beds and beer, though Beyd has been doing a very good trade so far in keeping the caravan lubricated.
Soar, as the the caravan has gone to sleep the night before the day of rest, you are taking your watch shift as usual. And once again, you notice the gargoyle moving, swatting something like a flying insect, and missing. The possible insect has a faint glimmer to it, and as it flies up into the air, and around, and then back down to hover just behind you. You see a small creature looking at you intently.
She's a little larger than you originally thought, perhaps three quarters of a foot in height. She speaks, saying something to you in a language that you cannot understand.
The caravan has stopped once again near to a small wood, although such woods have been a common feature of the last few days and you have passed by or near to several. Jalt, on the morning of the rest day the two warrior sisters, Zelina and Arietta approach you. We should check through the woods, just incase, says Arietta bluntly. Whatever caused trouble last time and got that poor kid can't have followed us, Zelina adds, but still, l think we should be cautious and assume the worst. Would you and your friends like to come?
Jalt nods. Perhaps it is prudent that we do have a look. We wouldn't want another unfortunate situation to arise. He looks to the others. I'm sure they wouldn't mind helping out. This "strike force" of ours can continue to look out for danger
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
Boar takes Caron's advice to heart. Whenever possible, she'll be seeking out ways to be helpful to the other members of the caravan. Not disingenuously -- Soar really has started to like these folks, underneath Boar's darkness and grumpiness. She lets a tiny bit of herself shine through, helping other guards patch up broken equipment, carrying water and volunteering for cleaning duty, asking those who have showed kindness to her some drips of kindness in return -- asking about their days, trying some deeply dry humor on them. She had been "practicing" with her songhorn on and off, usually grumpily in the guise of a failed musician (eliciting chortles and jesting from people who heard the squeaks and toots), but around a group campfire the night after the wagon got stuck, Boar brings out the horn and begins to play, badly. Only this time, it's a gag.
She blows, hard, on the horn, and a tiny, tiny toot splurts out. Her wide eyes circle around her at the others. She daintily puffs on the end, and a huge ribald BLURT erupts out, and she falls over on her back. When she returns to being horizontal, she's red-faced, but instead of embarrassment, she's giggling. "I suppose, after all this time and effort and training, I've found my calling. It's whatever is the opposite of a musician." She waits for laughter, and begins to make silly noises, playing along, in on the joke, and hoping the others are laughing as hard as she is.
Then, when the flying creature is dodging the gargoyle, Boar casts speak with animals. When she hovers behind her, Boar says "what do you need" in celestial, draconic, elvish, infernal, and then she tries in as many similar-seeming animal languages as she can.
(Assuming the next day, Boar is not near the two warriors?)
Elspeth understands Carlon's concerns fully, and reassures him that she's not going to do anything attention-grabbing. True to her word, she keeps a low profile during fireside gatherings and guard duty - not so much that it's noticeable, but she's going to stop needling the cultists all the time.
"Of course, no harm in scouting out our surrounding. I'll check with Eldkin, see if we can be spared."Elspeth agrees with Jalt, if she's near when the sisters approach, and then starts to leave to find Eldkin. "I'm sure I'd have seen something if more spiders were thinking of trying a repeat performance, but you never know."
Elspeth, you are with Jalt when the sisters approach him. Eldkin readily agrees to let you and Jalt search the forest: A sensible precaution. Don't take too long, though. However, she insists that the other guards - Cove, Harriman and the brothers - remain behind to guard the caravan.
Jalt, Zelina and Arietta spoke to you and Elspeth; it's up to you if you want to send word to Nate and Soar, or anyone else in the caravan, to assist in this.
Soar, you can make a Performance check to perform comically badly. Are there any caravan members you are particularly spending more time with?
The small flying creature doesn't respond to Speak With Animals, nor to Celestial, Draconic or Infernal. With Elvish, she cocks her head a little, and then shakes it and shrugs, and once again speaks something in the language you don't know.
When Carlon came to speak with Nate, Nate would listen intently to him, and apologize/explain about earlier. He is also taking his advice to heart. "Honestly I was just trying to get them riled up to allow someone else to go get a better look at their belongings... it can't just be stolen goods, can it? Anyhow, I won't get in their faces again. I was barely able to keep it together. I suppose we just have to wait until something might present itself? What do you suggest we do?
Also, if/when Nate hears word of a potential second scouting mission into the woods, he'd happily agree to join Jalt and Elspeth. He'd say in private to them once he joins them "Is anyone else feeling that we are running in circles with this cult? Any of you see anything yet?"
If Eldkin is unwilling to spare any of the guards under her command then Elspeth will recruit among the other guards of the caravans, mostly so Nate and Boar can join if so they desire, but she doesn't have much reason to deny volunteers. She doesn't make a public announcement or anything like that - as she makes a circuit of the closest caravans, she'd discreetly let the guard in charge know that they were taking care of scouting the surroundings while they rest, and let them decide whether they'd want to join in.
Nate, Carlon responds: Perhaps it is just stolen goods, perhaps not. My mission was just to find out where they are going, and try to get eyes on that location. Infiltrate if possible, but I don't think that can be done. They are so... closed. Those I travelled with were a little different - they worked hard to ingratiate themselves with the rest of the travellers, even though they were as secretive about their own business. That was what did for me, in the end. He smiles ruefully. This lot are a bit less skilled; perhaps that will make your mission easier, depending on the specifics. What exactly were you asked to do?
Elspeth, you speak to a few guards, as well as Nate and Soar. Sulesdeg is willing to aid the search if Nate wants to stay behind, and Leda likewise will stay and guard the caravan if Soar wishes to search, or she will search if Soar stays back. You get one other volunteer - Achreny the trader, who seems to take this as a chance, however slight, to find the creature that killed Bodoric.
Boar will focus on basically everyone in the caravan - perhaps a bit more on the people she has determined have a bit more influence and who are listened to (guessing the people who engage with the party?).
Performance: 5
When the small creature cocks her head at the elvish, Soar says, “can you understand me now? Not all is as it seems here and I do not know the full story. Do you need help?”
Soar is fine going with, if Lasfelro is okay with it. She checks in with Leda too, asking if this is a bad idea.
Soar, you spread yourself pretty thin, and you find that people groan each time you take your instrument out. They found it amusing at first, but now just want it to stop. During one session, you glimpse out of the corner of your eye a traveller with a tomato in her hand; she hides it away as soon as she sees that you've seen her, but there's no doubt she was thinking of throwing it.
The small flying creature just shakes her head with exasperation, and say, in extremely poor elvish that suggests these are the only two words she actually knows: NO SPEAK!!! She looks a bit dejected, and flitters away into the night.
Arietta and Zelina appear to have given this some thought. They suggest repeating the same approach as before, with searchers in pairs and keeping some distance between them. Zelina offers to partner with Jalt, and Arietta with Achreny. It's up to you if you're happy with that, or what else you would like to do. You would also need to arrange the other searchers: Soar, either Nate or Sulesdeg, Elspeth and Carlon who also volunteers to join.
Soar's pretty dejected after her failed attempts to win over the crowd and speak to the fairy-person, such that there's seemingly little Soar left, almost all Boar, by the time the hunting party assembles. Her inner self is still optimism galore but it's very very easy for her to be Boar on the outside after two failures like that, and feeling alone from the rest of her friends.
"Why hunt here, today, and not the last few days? Seems arbitrary to me. But I can't let the rest of you go off and get eaten by something new, so I'll come along to be a minder. Let's stay within sight of each other, even if we're spreading out to cover more ground to chase ghosts."
(She will insight check these two warriors to see if they see what kind of thing they might be concealing about the reason for their proposal, since Boar's pretty skeptical: 5)
Because here is where we are camping for a full day, retorts Arietta, annoyed. Where a beast might feel more confident that it has time to stalk and kill its prey.
Don't be rude, Arry, Zelina says to her sister in a light tone. Boar, we would welcome your help. It will be hard to stay in sight and cover the ground we need to, but let's see how it goes.
You don't get any sense that they are being dishonest or hiding something.
Nate responds to Carlon "Closed is right. It's so obvious that something is up... they get spooked every time anyone goes near their wagons, they don't seem to help when the caravan is in trouble... we were supposed to stay close to the cultists, the core group of them, observe their movements and follow them if they decided to depart. It's been over a month and as far as I know we still don't really know anything more about them than we did when we arrived in Baldur's Gate to join this caravan. Perhaps it will be different once they reach their destination?"
Boar tries to pull one or two of his friends aside and quietly say, "should one of us stay here to keep an eye on our real quarry, make sure they don't get into any trouble, turn the others against us? Zelina and Arietta seem trustworthy but maybe this is the opportunity the thieves are waiting for to move against us, like our new friend has warned us about. Ach. Maybe it's paranoia. I'm doubting myself after a rough few days."
It takes two hours, but the cultists manage to get their wagon ready for travel again. Some of the other caravaners have dutifully assisted in finding a safe path for the wagons, and though the going is slow, you all eventually make it to the end of the day and the caravan camps for the night.
Over the next two or three days, Carlon approaches each of you in turn, in a place and at a time when there are unlikely to be observers. He warns you to stay away from the cultists, and not to attract their attention. He's concerned that they may try to persuade the rest of the caravan to leave one or more of you behind; that seems unlikely at the moment given you are popular with the other travellers, but the cultists are tricky. He suggests you don't do anything to damage that popularity, and warns you to be on the lookout for what the cultists may be planning.
Several more days pass, and another rest day comes. The caravan is less than a tenday south of Daggerford, the only major town on the road between Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep, and many of the caravan members are talking excited of inns and taverns and beds and beer, though Beyd has been doing a very good trade so far in keeping the caravan lubricated.
Soar, as the the caravan has gone to sleep the night before the day of rest, you are taking your watch shift as usual. And once again, you notice the gargoyle moving, swatting something like a flying insect, and missing. The possible insect has a faint glimmer to it, and as it flies up into the air, and around, and then back down to hover just behind you. You see a small creature looking at you intently.
She's a little larger than you originally thought, perhaps three quarters of a foot in height. She speaks, saying something to you in a language that you cannot understand.
The caravan has stopped once again near to a small wood, although such woods have been a common feature of the last few days and you have passed by or near to several. Jalt, on the morning of the rest day the two warrior sisters, Zelina and Arietta approach you. We should check through the woods, just in case, says Arietta bluntly. Whatever caused trouble last time and got that poor kid can't have followed us, Zelina adds, but still, l think we should be cautious and assume the worst. Would you and your friends like to come?
Jalt nods. Perhaps it is prudent that we do have a look. We wouldn't want another unfortunate situation to arise. He looks to the others. I'm sure they wouldn't mind helping out. This "strike force" of ours can continue to look out for danger
Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
"Ive heard it both ways."
Boar takes Caron's advice to heart. Whenever possible, she'll be seeking out ways to be helpful to the other members of the caravan. Not disingenuously -- Soar really has started to like these folks, underneath Boar's darkness and grumpiness. She lets a tiny bit of herself shine through, helping other guards patch up broken equipment, carrying water and volunteering for cleaning duty, asking those who have showed kindness to her some drips of kindness in return -- asking about their days, trying some deeply dry humor on them. She had been "practicing" with her songhorn on and off, usually grumpily in the guise of a failed musician (eliciting chortles and jesting from people who heard the squeaks and toots), but around a group campfire the night after the wagon got stuck, Boar brings out the horn and begins to play, badly. Only this time, it's a gag.
She blows, hard, on the horn, and a tiny, tiny toot splurts out. Her wide eyes circle around her at the others. She daintily puffs on the end, and a huge ribald BLURT erupts out, and she falls over on her back. When she returns to being horizontal, she's red-faced, but instead of embarrassment, she's giggling. "I suppose, after all this time and effort and training, I've found my calling. It's whatever is the opposite of a musician." She waits for laughter, and begins to make silly noises, playing along, in on the joke, and hoping the others are laughing as hard as she is.
Then, when the flying creature is dodging the gargoyle, Boar casts speak with animals. When she hovers behind her, Boar says "what do you need" in celestial, draconic, elvish, infernal, and then she tries in as many similar-seeming animal languages as she can.
(Assuming the next day, Boar is not near the two warriors?)
Elspeth understands Carlon's concerns fully, and reassures him that she's not going to do anything attention-grabbing. True to her word, she keeps a low profile during fireside gatherings and guard duty - not so much that it's noticeable, but she's going to stop needling the cultists all the time.
"Of course, no harm in scouting out our surrounding. I'll check with Eldkin, see if we can be spared." Elspeth agrees with Jalt, if she's near when the sisters approach, and then starts to leave to find Eldkin. "I'm sure I'd have seen something if more spiders were thinking of trying a repeat performance, but you never know."
Elspeth, you are with Jalt when the sisters approach him. Eldkin readily agrees to let you and Jalt search the forest: A sensible precaution. Don't take too long, though. However, she insists that the other guards - Cove, Harriman and the brothers - remain behind to guard the caravan.
Jalt, Zelina and Arietta spoke to you and Elspeth; it's up to you if you want to send word to Nate and Soar, or anyone else in the caravan, to assist in this.
Soar, you can make a Performance check to perform comically badly. Are there any caravan members you are particularly spending more time with?
The small flying creature doesn't respond to Speak With Animals, nor to Celestial, Draconic or Infernal. With Elvish, she cocks her head a little, and then shakes it and shrugs, and once again speaks something in the language you don't know.
When Carlon came to speak with Nate, Nate would listen intently to him, and apologize/explain about earlier. He is also taking his advice to heart. "Honestly I was just trying to get them riled up to allow someone else to go get a better look at their belongings... it can't just be stolen goods, can it? Anyhow, I won't get in their faces again. I was barely able to keep it together. I suppose we just have to wait until something might present itself? What do you suggest we do?
Also, if/when Nate hears word of a potential second scouting mission into the woods, he'd happily agree to join Jalt and Elspeth. He'd say in private to them once he joins them "Is anyone else feeling that we are running in circles with this cult? Any of you see anything yet?"
If Eldkin is unwilling to spare any of the guards under her command then Elspeth will recruit among the other guards of the caravans, mostly so Nate and Boar can join if so they desire, but she doesn't have much reason to deny volunteers. She doesn't make a public announcement or anything like that - as she makes a circuit of the closest caravans, she'd discreetly let the guard in charge know that they were taking care of scouting the surroundings while they rest, and let them decide whether they'd want to join in.
Nate, Carlon responds: Perhaps it is just stolen goods, perhaps not. My mission was just to find out where they are going, and try to get eyes on that location. Infiltrate if possible, but I don't think that can be done. They are so... closed. Those I travelled with were a little different - they worked hard to ingratiate themselves with the rest of the travellers, even though they were as secretive about their own business. That was what did for me, in the end. He smiles ruefully. This lot are a bit less skilled; perhaps that will make your mission easier, depending on the specifics. What exactly were you asked to do?
Elspeth, you speak to a few guards, as well as Nate and Soar. Sulesdeg is willing to aid the search if Nate wants to stay behind, and Leda likewise will stay and guard the caravan if Soar wishes to search, or she will search if Soar stays back. You get one other volunteer - Achreny the trader, who seems to take this as a chance, however slight, to find the creature that killed Bodoric.
Boar will focus on basically everyone in the caravan - perhaps a bit more on the people she has determined have a bit more influence and who are listened to (guessing the people who engage with the party?).
Performance: 5
When the small creature cocks her head at the elvish, Soar says, “can you understand me now? Not all is as it seems here and I do not know the full story. Do you need help?”
Soar is fine going with, if Lasfelro is okay with it. She checks in with Leda too, asking if this is a bad idea.
Yikes any chance for advantage on that check? Really hoped it wouldn’t fail utterly....
Soar, you spread yourself pretty thin, and you find that people groan each time you take your instrument out. They found it amusing at first, but now just want it to stop. During one session, you glimpse out of the corner of your eye a traveller with a tomato in her hand; she hides it away as soon as she sees that you've seen her, but there's no doubt she was thinking of throwing it.
The small flying creature just shakes her head with exasperation, and say, in extremely poor elvish that suggests these are the only two words she actually knows: NO SPEAK!!! She looks a bit dejected, and flitters away into the night.
Arietta and Zelina appear to have given this some thought. They suggest repeating the same approach as before, with searchers in pairs and keeping some distance between them. Zelina offers to partner with Jalt, and Arietta with Achreny. It's up to you if you're happy with that, or what else you would like to do. You would also need to arrange the other searchers: Soar, either Nate or Sulesdeg, Elspeth and Carlon who also volunteers to join.
Soar's pretty dejected after her failed attempts to win over the crowd and speak to the fairy-person, such that there's seemingly little Soar left, almost all Boar, by the time the hunting party assembles. Her inner self is still optimism galore but it's very very easy for her to be Boar on the outside after two failures like that, and feeling alone from the rest of her friends.
"Why hunt here, today, and not the last few days? Seems arbitrary to me. But I can't let the rest of you go off and get eaten by something new, so I'll come along to be a minder. Let's stay within sight of each other, even if we're spreading out to cover more ground to chase ghosts."
(She will insight check these two warriors to see if they see what kind of thing they might be concealing about the reason for their proposal, since Boar's pretty skeptical: 5)
Because here is where we are camping for a full day, retorts Arietta, annoyed. Where a beast might feel more confident that it has time to stalk and kill its prey.
Don't be rude, Arry, Zelina says to her sister in a light tone. Boar, we would welcome your help. It will be hard to stay in sight and cover the ground we need to, but let's see how it goes.
You don't get any sense that they are being dishonest or hiding something.
Nate responds to Carlon "Closed is right. It's so obvious that something is up... they get spooked every time anyone goes near their wagons, they don't seem to help when the caravan is in trouble... we were supposed to stay close to the cultists, the core group of them, observe their movements and follow them if they decided to depart. It's been over a month and as far as I know we still don't really know anything more about them than we did when we arrived in Baldur's Gate to join this caravan. Perhaps it will be different once they reach their destination?"
Boar tries to pull one or two of his friends aside and quietly say, "should one of us stay here to keep an eye on our real quarry, make sure they don't get into any trouble, turn the others against us? Zelina and Arietta seem trustworthy but maybe this is the opportunity the thieves are waiting for to move against us, like our new friend has warned us about. Ach. Maybe it's paranoia. I'm doubting myself after a rough few days."
From their time traveling together, would Jalt have gotten a pretty good read on Zelina and her sister?
Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
"Ive heard it both ways."
Jalt can make an Insight check, but with disadvantage as he didn't really go out of his way to spend time with her or learn about her.
Insight: 14
Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
"Ive heard it both ways."
Jalt, you haven't picked up anything strange about the sisters.