Torrent looks at the frozen, crushed path of the toads, and says, "Bah.  Aye, it looks they've moved on.  We'll need ta pursue.  Remember, the goal's ta get em one at a time."  He notices the symbol, "Ya know, we should figure out what the symbol is.  They're all over the bog."

"Right," Aluzira says in acknowledgment.  "Maybe they were made by the same people we heard playing the drums?"   Aluzira, thinking of something, goes over to look at the frozen pool of water to try and see how clean it is.

Perception: 14

Although frozen on the surface, the water in the pool retains the clouded, murky appearance distinctive of the waters of the bog in general, which are known to be unsafe to drink unless properly filtered, or unless a rare untainted spring can be found.

"I was hoping they marked the locations of clean water, but I guess not,"  Aluzira says, smiling with a shrug.

Can Ulben look around for the stuff he used before to purify the water?

14

straight d20 roll, let me know what to add to it.

No need to add anything. Ulben sees several types of moss in the area, but has no idea which of them, if any, are clonna.

Can I get a clear declarative statement of what each character is doing? It is now late in the morning. The sun climbs toward noon, and the bog shows no sign of thawing today. Is it the party's intention to spend the rest of the day/night/forever in this place? If you are going somewhere, tell me where, at what pace, and what each of you are doing for the duration of your journey.

Torrent will lead the way, trying to follow the path that the toads took in order to find them.

(I'm not sure if the party has caught up with Anakis yet. If they have, she will have pointed out where the toads went to and is ready to head in that direction. If they haven't, she is staying put. I've just had a look back through, but can't seem to find it - did you say the pool at the bottom of my tree wasn't looking like fresh water? If it looks fresh, Anakis will fill her waterskin.)

(The water is murky and unsafe)

Aluzira offers to share her water with Anakis, giving her half a full waterskin, and follows Torrent as he tracks the toads.

Tarek will try to decipher the symbol quickly (History: 5 or Religion: 6, depending on which one is needed) before following close behind Torrent, keeping watch for any threats around (Perception: 6).

Anakis, the post where the party caught up to you is post #560. I stated that the pool is cloudy in post #555 and again in post #563 just above here. So no, the pool doesn't look like "fresh" water.

Just a reminder that not only are Anakis and Aluzira now running low on water, but that everyone will need to refill their waterskin at least once today or risk becoming exhausted.

Tarek, what do you do to try to accomplish your goal of deciphering the symbol? 

Torrent, make a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check, again with advantage, to see if your attempt to track the toads is successful. Also, what pace do you set for the party?

Well, Tarek is first going to look for any religious significance, having lived practically his whole life in the temple, perhaps looking for a holy symbol of another deity? If he finds something, he'll try to use his knowledge of that deity to figure out the meaning of the symbol. If he doesn't find anything of religious significance, he'll try to look for some kind of cult symbol or a governmental symbol, or a symbol of some other entity. He'll also try to figure out how long ago this symbol was placed here.

(Rerolling History and Religion checks. History: 3. Religion: 17.)

Survival: 23

I will set a moderate pace, aiming to catch the creatures as soon as possible without drawing more attention to the party storming through the bog.

Tarek, you don't recognize a symbol that belongs to any deity, per se, but rather some symbols that were taught to you by the priests in the temple as having belonged to the Old Faith that was practiced by the people who lived in the area of the Clouded Bog before Ekuepool was founded long, long ago. These bog-men, as they are commonly referred to, were supposed to have disappeared generations ago, having retreated farther and farther into the bog to hide themselves from the encroachments of the city-dwellers. Nowadays, they are only a legend used to scare children.

You recognize two symbols in the glyph. One is the symbol for "bright" which the priests taught you to show that the bog-men were actually worshipers of Pelor in the guise of the Old Faith. The other is the symbol for "spirit" which you were told indicated that the bog-men were people that believed, like the followers of Pelor, in the souls of the living.

So the symbols themselves are very ancient, but judging by the fact they are carved into the bark of a living tree, they couldn't have been put there more than a few years ago.

Torrent, I'm not sure what's going on with the die roller today, but maybe you need to edit your post or try your check again?

(Weird, it said 23.  But I'll reroll again here)

Survival 8

(Sorry, I read that as that as they were still coming. My bad.)

"Thank you for the water," Anakis says to Aluzira as she takes a sparing sip to conserve water, "I should have gotten more before I left the camp yesterday."

Anakis follows alongside the group, keeping about 20ft or so off to the side and moving in and out as the terrain requires it. She tries to remain stealthy just in case there is something waiting for them (Stealth check: 18). She's also keeping an eye out - unfriendly creatures, trinkets or items that may have been dropped by some unfortunate soul trudging through the bog, or holes in the ground for that matter having seen the toads dig burrows the night before (Perception check: 2).

(I'll have to remember to mention filling my flask as well next time we're near water to add to my supplies.)

(If those rolls don't show, as it seems a few people's haven't - Stealth = 19 & Perception = 9)

"No problem," Aluzira says in reply to Anakis with a smile.

I'd forgotten about your flask, Anakis, but even with that additional pint, your full water-carrying capacity is only enough to have lasted until sometime in the predawn hours as you kept watch up in your tree. You can have stretched that water out for a longer period, but by the end of the day you would still need more water. What Aluzira has now given you is enough to keep you from automatically suffering from exhaustion at the end of the day, but you (and now Aluzira) will still be at risk if some source of water isn't found before then. The rest of the group each have just enough water to last the rest of the day without risking exhaustion. Finding water to drink overnight will also affect how much water will need to be found tomorrow.

You're unable to remain stealthy while keeping up with the rest of the group, Anakis, because of the speed at which Torrent is tracking the toads, which, while not heedless, doesn't allow the level of caution required to exploit the contours of the land and the concealment provided by dense vegetation.

The toads' meandering path leads to and fro through the bog, as you follow it throughout the mid-day. They certainly seem to have had a busy night of hunting, visiting several locations during the night. In the early afternoon, their trail takes you through a squishy marsh, slick with frost, which is difficult to move through, and which is raised at its center, forming a low dome in the landscape. Up ahead, on the other side of the dome, a dense stand of redwood trees marches in from the right, wrapping itself around a frozen pond. Emanating from the redwoods, you can hear low-pitched snores and short grunting sounds, indicating that five large creatures are sleeping in the woods about 80 feet in front of you in the direction of the tracks you are following. 

(Sorry for ruining that for you Joos! :P)

Torrent stops the group and starts whispering.  "Right.  So I hear 'em snoring and gruntin' just a ways up here.  We kin surprise em right now, but we have to be careful.  We need ta pick em off one at a time, otherwise they'll just gobble us up.  We also need to prevent em from fleein' which'll probably be the bigger challenge.  I don't know about y'all, but I don't wanna foller em on a merry chase for the rest of the week.  Any ideas?"