The Wildemount Irregulars (2020)

There's no response, not even a flicker. It looks like these will be hard nuts to crack, if Silent wishes to persist. Fortunately, the journey to Zadash is likely to take more than ten days, if you follow the roads. You do have the option to cut across country, though this would be hard on the wagon and take you away from the patrolled routes.

Let me know if you're travelling at fast, normal or slow pace, and approximately what route you plan to take.

Silent dismisses his Echo and, switching back to Common, mutters, Right pair o’ sods we got here. 

At some point during the day’s travel Silent will relay to Balassar that the prisoners are staying mum.

He’ll return to the carriage to keep an eye on them, and will pass the time by twanging out a few old Xhorhasian folk songs on his lute (his skills probably quite rusty). 

Alton will let Balassar pick their direction and travel speed. Seeing as he probably knows the best way to Zedash. Though, when they stop for the night, Alton will open up that sealed note to look at their instructions.

Balassar begins to lead them on the roads down Rillway towards Alfield at a normal pace "We should stick to the roads since they are patrolled, we'll head to Alfield and then up Amber Road to Zadash."

You set off, through the bare fields of Felderwin as winter fast approaches, the town receding behind you and the small villages you pass strangely quiet, though with the odd gawker at the expensive-looking carriage as it passes.

We're going to break the journey into three parts. The first part is about six days, and represents your journey to Alfied. There are various tasks; you'll need to pick one to devote your time to - for simplicity's sake, let's not split into smaller bits! :)

One person needs to drive the carriage; you are now quite skilled and your horses know you well enough, so no need to make an Animal Handling check. The driver will make the perception check for the day’s travel. 

Those who are not driving can take one of the following: 

• Attempting to talk to the prisoners – Persuasion/Deception/Intimidation, depending on your approach. 
• Puzzling out Alton’s journal and notes (Alton only) - Investigation check 
• Bonding with and training Ghost – Animal Handling check 
• Helping with any of the other tasks (give advantage to that player)

Everyone should give me a separate Perception check for keeping watch at night. 

So, I need three things from everyone:

• What you're doing
• The roll associated with what you're doing
• The Perception roll for keeping watch at night.

Silent, still spending most of his time inside the carriage, casually shoots the breeze with the prisoners while practicing the lute - really just attempting to build a one-sided rapport rather than attempting to immediately convince them of anything. 

Persuasion 8 

Perception 23 

Alton would mostly be driving their spare cart during the daytime. While before going to bed try and puzzle out any more clues from the journal and notes, if possible.
Investigation 10.

Also, he will get with Silent and Balassar on their first night to go over the instructions for the prisoners.

Night watch check, Perception 26.

Balassar just keeps the cart going forward as he keeps a look out on the road.

OOC:

perception check for day: 25

perception check for night: 17

 Well, if you're taking the extra cart with you, then yes, Balassar and Alton will both need to spend their whole time focusing on driving. So I guess you have one horse hitched to each?

Silent, your efforts don't appear to be bearing much fruit. The two drow occasionally look at each other, and that's the only time you ever see any emotion on their faces - sadness, but determination. Otherwise, they are stony faced and ignore your music and words in equal measure.

Alton, you spend the evenings mostly tending to the horses; there's no time left really to investigate the journal and notes, not with any kind of focus. You waste time flicking through the journal each night before tossing it aside in frustration.

Balassar, you similarly are focused on your task; the road is not too busy, but you meet a few travellers each day headed towards Felderwin. You meet a small troop of Righteous Brand soldiers, newly finished their training and headed to the front. You meet merchants, with a pair of colourful wagons headed up from the Menagerie Coast. You pass by farms and villages, the folk busy with their tasks but friendly and happy to talk.

Alton, you open the instructions you received. There is a paper and another sealed envelop, address to Lawmaster Orentha Stonegrasp with a seal that you think is the Lawmaster of Felderwin's. The paper reads:

When you reach Zadash, give the enclosed envelope to any Crownsguard at the gate. Take a room at the Song and Supper Inn, but wait overnight with the carriage. Do not let the prisoners leave the carriage during the daytime. Deliver the prisoners to Lawmaster Stonegrasp and no other.  Thank you my friends, and good luck.

You notice a change in Ghost's behaviour. He roams further in the day, and seems less eager to return to you. At night, you hear him howling - he seems sad, and restless. He tags along, for the moment, but you're not sure how far this will last.

You are still two nights before you expect to arrive in Alfield. It's during Alton's turn at watch, so Alton hears clearly the sound of something approaching, sneaking through the night. Without clear sight into the darkness, you cannot see what, and Ghost is not around at the moment. What will Alton do?

Alton casually rests a hand on the hilt of his rapier and mumbles under his breath, "I really need to find something that lets me see in the dark." He turns in the direction he heard the approaching sound from and calls out, "I'd leave if I were you. You wouldn't want to wake up the dragon, bad luck that is to wake a sleeping dragon. Might end up burnt or skewered." 

Alton, you hear a growl in response, and the sudden sound of many feet running towards you.

The call is enough to wake Silent and Balassar, but you'll start combat prone and without any shields donned (if you used a shield).

Everyone roll initiative please.

(If anyone was in the carriage overnight, let me know.)

OOC:
Initiative: 6

(OOC: Realistically, if Silent wasn't on watch, he'd be sleeping in the same carriage as the prisoners in case they tried anything) 

Initiative 10 

Alton pulls his rapier from its sheath at the sound of the growl.

Initiative: 7

20
7

Round One:
Gnolls
Gnoll Leader
Alton, Balasaar and Silent

Gnolls burst from the darkness. Seven of them in total. One, the toughest looking, jumps up onto your cart as the others swarm around him and towards you. They snarl as they run, wide-eyed, maddened. These don't look quite like the gnolls you've encountered before. They look less disciplined, and much, much hungrier.

Alton, Balassar and Silent are all up.  Balassar and Silent are prone.

Groggily blinking the sleep out of his eyes and muttering something about "five more minutes...", Silent's old military training kicks in when he hears the snarling and he scrambles to his feet, unsheathes his greatsword and stumbles headlong out of the carriage, moving 15 feet (his entire movement after getting up from prone) to get behind Balassar (in the square immediately to his left on the map).

From this position, he uses a bonus action to Manifest an Echo directly adjacent to Gnoll 3 and the Leader (i.e. flanking gnoll 3 with Balassar). His two greatsword slashes for this turn will originate from the Echo and are both aimed at the Leader. 

Attack 22 Damage: 13     

Attack 12 Damage: 12            

The Echo appears. Its first attack is a narrow miss, the second more successful; the gnoll leader growls as the magical being appears next to it, and fails to dodge, taking a solid slash across the side.

Alton and Balasaar are up.

(Balasaar doesn't get flanking advantage from the Echo because it's not a creature, is that what we decided?)

Balassar will stand up grabbing his shield and drawing his sword as he just shouts "Alton, wanna try the new trick?" he says enhancing his size.

OOC:

Movement: Standup

Action: Grab shield and draw weapon (I forget if this takes an action or not so going to let DM weigh on it)

Bonus Action: Giant's Strength