Aspiring Heroes of Faerûn

Got it! Just remember we also have our friendly neighborhood kobold excavator...

Madame Zoar does not show up in the common room during the morning. With a simple inquiry to the innkeeper, you learn that she is off meeting with her deputies, which considering the troll attack last night, makes sense. They obviously play an important role in the safety of Calling Horns an its citizens. He says that he would be glad to deliver her a message for you if you wish to leave one. 

Assuming that you don't want to wait around for her, you finish up your morning meal and ready yourselves for another day of travel. Shouldering your packs once again, you leave the inn and head outside to the cairn of weathered and lichen-covered orc skulls that marks the intersection between the Evermoor Way and Jundar's Pass trail. Turning south, you take the right hand trail and soon leave the village behind, walking along a relatively good path that crosses over open, slightly rolling tundra that's filled tussocks and fields of wildflowers. The air is warm today, and the sun shines brightly overhead, and any coolness that came with morning is long gone. 

After about 2-3 hours, you come to the Dessarin River, one of the major rivers and commerce routes that flows through the Savage Frontier from the High Forest to Waterdeep, where it empties into The Sea of Swords. The trail hits the river at Dead Horse Ford, a shallow stretch that allows safe passage across the wide waterway at a sandy bank. The steady flowing waters of the Dessarin are cold, but offer welcome relief from the heat of the day if you were to dunk your heads or splash it on yourselves. You also see small schools of fish swimming below the surface. 

You also see a slightly less prominent trail that leads east along this side of the river. This is Dead Horse Path, and it's the route you'll take to Noanar's Hold, which, according to your directions, would take just another few hours of walking to reach. Even if you dawdled, you could easily make it there well before nightfall.

Lumen definitely splashes himself a bit to get the dust of the road off. On the other side, he says, "well, shall we?"

Chrys takes some time to drink deeply from the river, refill her waterskin, and splash off the dust and dirt gathered from the trail.  "We could stop here fer lunch, if ya wanted.  I'm more of a mind that business is pressin', an' so we should be marchin'.  'Course, I'm a soldier, that's what we do," she grins.  "Pushin' on, then, or anyone need a short break?"

Regardless of the situation, Chrys will keep an eye on their surroundings - the rampaging trolls have left her feeling uneasy, and she watches for any signs of danger.

Perception: 11

Krackle likes to dig holes!

Krackle would take time to dunk his head into the water and drink until his small stomach sloshed as he walked. "We can take brake if you want but I think I am OK to keep going." he would say with a smile. 

Following a quick dunk in the cold, refreshing waters of the Dessarin, you continue on the left hand path and follow the trail alongside the river for a few more miles under the heat of the mid day sun. The path appears to be well traveled and it passes next to the many stands of willows and larger cottonwood trees that line the bank, and you see many birds and a variety of small rodents and other critters that make their home in this environment.

After a couple of hours you round a small bend in the trail and see something up ahead in the road, (about 100 feet away), and realize that it's a person. It appears to be a human man, and he's kneeling down in the sandy soil, while picking up a variety of supplies that are scattered about on the ground, and shoving the items in a backpack. 

"Could be what we see. Could be a trap. Could be post-trap. Shall I loop around through the trees a hundred feet and come upon him through the trees while the group approaches on the road? Don't want surprises." Lumen whispers. 

If no objection, he turns into the trees in a jughandle turn looping back around to the path and the person packing back up. Stealth: 22

"Sure. I think that it's a good idea."

"Let me be the vanguard.  It's what I do," Chrys says.  Waiting for the others to decide what to do, once they've settled, she slings her hammer onto her shoulder casually and marches ahead in plain sight, whistling loudly.  Raising a hand in greeting to the person, she yells "Ho there!  Are you havin' some trouble on the road?  Need any help?"

As Lumen sneaks off to the left and does his best to remain hidden among the sparse brush and trees, he skirts ahead and emerges back onto the trail near the man just as Chrys approaches him with her hammer plainly visible on her shoulder. He doesn't see anything out of the ordinary on his short, clandestine circuit.

The man looks up at Chrys, almost in surprise, and answers her greeting. 

'Er... um... Hello," he says with a startle. You can see that he's a human male of slight build with a young face, a light complexion and a neat black goatee. He's wearing a simple dark colored traveler's cloak over what looks like a suit of studded leather armor. The items you see on the ground appear to be a mix of common things one might find in an adventuring pack: a couple of candles, bundles of cloth, miscellaneous food items, including a couple of apples, a small knife and whetstone, a few sheets of paper, a few copper and silver coins, a set of dice, some string, and various other trinkets.

"Madame dwarf, I am having troubler indeed. Or rather, I was. You see, I was looking for my ink pen... I had an idea I wanted to write down before I forgot, as I often do, and I could not find it on my person. After rifling through all of my pockets, I became quite vexed, and in my frustration, I dumped my entire pack out here on the trail. I'm afraid you have caught me the process of trying to put it all back."

"You're the first person I've seen all day. To tell you the truth, I'm a little relieved. The roads are often more dangerous when you're alone, you know. Are you folks headed to Noanar's Hold?" The man looks up and gives a friendly nod to the rest of you, giving Lumen a confused look when he sees him coming out of the woods.

Kess nods with a neutral expression of her face, but doesn't speak; she was hesitant to reveal everything about the party's intentions to a complete stranger.

((DM, based on what we see and hear, is this man lying to us, or is he giving the impression that he's really  that clumsy?))

Lumen doesn't recognize him from the last town, does he? He's also listening for anything hinky (insight: 14) and looking for evidence that anything is not as it appears, like odd footprints, evidence of someone else lying in wait (perception: 23).

Who’s this polite on the road!  Insight check time! 21

Seeing that the man seems nice, Krackle would quickly race forward and begin loading items into his bag. "Hi! I'm Krackle! Let me help pick that stuff up." He would say as he quickly begins collecting the items for the young man. 

((I'm gonna take Chrys' lead here! Insight time: 4 ))

(FYI, when you roll Insight checks, make sure you also include thing things your character is looking for or trying to read/notice about the person or situation, like what Lumen did. Also, make sure you RP your own dice rolls.)

The man seems a bit startled when Krackle rushes forward, and he flinches a bit, but at the Kobold's introduction and helpful demeanor, he relaxes, accepts the help and says, "Why thank you my good...  er.. person... ah... hmmm... I'm sorry, what do I call you?"

Lumen

Chrys

Kess

(Sure, I was just waiting to see what the result was so I'd have an appropriate reaction ;-) )

Ain't nobody that polite when travelin' on a road this tough in the wilderness, Chrys thinks as she eyes the man up.  Her nose tickles as her eyes travel over his dark cloak, and his, at least to her, bad acting.  A tendril of worry rises as Krackle, openly trusting, approaches this unknown quantity, and her hackles go up.

Chrys stops and puts her hammer down with a thunk, tensing.  She smiles thinly, keeping a careful eye on the man and his proximity to Krackle.   "Krackle... give the man some room, he's obviously in a lil' bit o' trouble there, an' could use the space.  Probably don't want nobody touchin' his things, neither."  Focusing her attention on the man, her grip on her hammer changes subtly.  "Our friend there was good enough ta give you his name, but we're still waitin' on yours, stranger.  Seems odd, in a country harsh as this one, that a young fella like you would be travelin' all by himself.  Ink pens an' ideas, huh... ain't many scholars who have the wherewithal to defend themselves from them wild wolves, or trolls on the road..."  She trails off significantly, eyes narrowing.   "... or thievin' bandits, fer that matter.  So tell me, ya got any friends out here that we should be aware of?  Or someone like ya just too vexed to travel with company now?"

(Got it, DM! I was in much the same boat as Enkida! :) )

At first, Kess breathed a sigh of relief, before hearing Chrys raise her concerns and suspicions in her dwarven brogue. They'd been milling about for some time now, and it seems that this man was indeed what he stated himself to be: a clumsy sort, who was quite careless, and quite easily taken by surprise. Kess figured that she shouldn't be surprised; after all, they were on a stretch of road that placed the Pie Pals between Yartar and Silverymoon. It wasnt' unheard of to run into travelers. She visibly relaxed, trying not to laugh at the poor man's misfortune.

That is, until Chrys said her piece, which immediately put Kess back at unease. Now that she thought about it, thanks to Chrys' remarks... there was something strange about the man. Though Kess herself was fairly well-kept, travelling through the north was arduous.. and very dangerous to do so alone. Unless one were extraordinarily skilled, travelling the Silver Marches alone was a fool's gambit. 

And even worse, another possibility now arose: that the party was being baited into an ambush or a trap.

Kess closed her eyes, and began to listen very carefully for anything that seemed out of place: the snapping of a twig, the animals ceasing their song... the subtle stress of a bowstring being drawn back...

(( Kess listens for anything out of place: 17 (Perception) ))

Krackle would have his small arms nearly full of the mans belongings as he quickly replied "i'm a kobo..." He would stop talking as Chrys addressed him before putting the belongings he had collected in the mans bag and backing up behind the dwarf. "I don't think he seems bad... I have seen a lot of mean people and he doesn't seem mean..." Krackle would say quietly looking up to the dwarf. He would then give the man a quick look up and down.. spending some time looking hard at his face trying to see if he picks up on any signs of his eyes glancing towards any particular direction nearby or any signs that he actually hates kobolds.... 

insight? 11

The man finishes stuffing his belongings into his pack, then grabs it by the straps, and smoothly slings it on his shoulders as he stands up to face you. 

“Well... no one ever accused a dwarf of being overly subtle. Your tone is not lost on me, though, m’lady with the hammer. One never knows what to expect when meeting a stranger in the wilds. A healthy dose of suspicion often keeps one alive, or at the least, alert to danger. I will admit, I’m not a scared, vexed wanderer, but I often prefer to walk alone, simply because I find most common folk to be rather dull.” 

”I am called Antonio, and I can assure you, even though I like to travel with pens and parchment, I also travel with blades and the knowledge of how to use them. Can a man not be versed in both ideas and weaponry? I’m fully capable of defending myself against a few wolves... trolls, not so much, but I’m rather good at avoiding them. As your half orc friend here can do, I can move quietly through the brush when I need to.”

”As for bandits... In my experience, they’re often just poor, selfish opportunists, and not usually tough fighting types... such as yourself. They certainly don’t carry hammers and shields. Kill one, and suddenly the weaker ones decide that they don’t want to die, too. And no, I can assure you, I do not have any thieving friends out there that you need to know about.”

”What about you folks? You’re a rather diverse bunch, aren’t you? An elf, half elf, half orc, dwarf and a kobo. Im sure that no one ever accused you of being a dull group. Am I right?” 

Kess listens for any signs of danger, but her keen elven ears don’t pick up any noises out beyond the immediate area, other than the normal sounds of nature: the breeze rustling through the grass and leaves, the steady flow of the Dessarin and the constant songs of the birds.

Krackle listens to the man and watches his movements and expressions, but sees no outward signs that there is anything mean about him.