Quote from LordShadowthorn >>

(That would probably be more of a Nature/Medicine check.)

You don't see anything unusual about the animals, although it's maybe a little quieter than you'd think.

 "It seems quiet.  Too quiet like," Jairus says, clearly uneasy.  

OOC: oh plague? Too soon man.

"I...illness is a serious issue," Lasair says. "Do we proceed," she asks looking wary.

Quote from AmazingAmazon >>

OOC: oh plague? Too soon man.

(Honestly didn't even think of that.  They wrote it, not me :).)

Quote from Izraal1 >>

"Plague.  That ain't good," Jairus says, assuming the sign was in Common.  "Heard tell villages that got plague would get isolated without supplies, sometimes they'd even have to burn the whole thing down if a healer couldn't get a handle on it.  You sure about this mission?"  Jairus addresses the latter towards the entirety of the rest of the group.  "I'm gettin' more confident in my crossbow shootin,' but that ain't no good 'gainst a plague."  

 “All I know is the innkeeper thought this area might be related to the source of their issues,” Tyrael says. 

He adds, “I’ll scout ahead alone if you wish to remain here.”

"If we were to wait, I do have access to disease revealing spells," Longen says, looking around uneasily. "Sadly my God hasn't seen fit to grant me the power to cleanse plague from the body..."

"Only thing my ma ever said about plague was to wear a bird mask stuffed with garlic, and speak in rhyme," Jairus says.  "She was pretty loony, though."

Flower exclaims,

"Oh no. We can go no further. Flower knows nothing of plague, but the sign says 'come no closer'! We have come all this way for nothing. Why couldn't they have placed this sign closer to Red Larch city? To save people the trip. Now we must return and drink two silver ales until we have a new plan. Flower came to hunt people, beasts, and Monstrosities not plagues. Unless you can shoot a plague with arrows. Can you shoot a plague with arrows?"

"I'll go with you but we must be careful," Lasair says to Tyrael with concern in her tone and expression.

Seeing everyone else getting worried, Kethra pulls up her cloak and ties it to cover her nose and mouth.

Quote from LakeRiver >>

"If we were to wait, I do have access to disease revealing spells," Longen says, looking around uneasily. "Sadly my God hasn't seen fit to grant me the power to cleanse plague from the body..."

"I can gather some firewood," Kethra looked at Longen with determined pale-blue eyes, ready to help. "I mean, it would also be fun to sit up there when going for watch for the night. And we don't need to get close, right? We could 'robably just yell from the mouth of the cave to make an echo and ask the 'Lord of Lance Rock' if anything strange has been happening here since...how long ago did the delegates disappear?"

Quote from Izraal1 >>

"It seems quiet.  Too quiet like," Jairus says, clearly uneasy.  

"Do you mind checking for little goblin traps...just in case?"

Jairus uses his outlander survival skills to rip a few shreds of cloth from his blanket to make a makeshift faces mask, but still seems uncomfortably entering a plague stricken area. 

(What the sign says is in the original description, at the end of the post.)

Quote from LordShadowthorn >>

(What the sign says is in the original description, at the end of the post.)

(Sorry! For some reason I misread there were two signs. I've fixed my post.)

(There are, one farther from you that you can;t read.)

 Tyrael will cautiously walk up to the next sign and read it, keeping an eye out for any surprises.  "I've neve seen a plague that could be caught from plants and trees.  If we see someone who looks really sick, we can decide what to do ... until them, I'm assuming this is to scare away the locals."

"Flower is not afraid of plague. She just was just obeying sign. We can camp here for night. She will new friends safe."

"Considering we've heard nothing of this plague till now, I've got to agree with Tyrael. This seems like someone trying to keep something hidden. What better guard than a silent, invisible killer... if it exists. I say we push forward, show whoever put up these signs that they can't scare away real adventurers!" With that, Longen sets about checking over his weapons and gear, muttering to himself darkly.

"So we move forward," Lasair replies, the druid still seems incredible reluctant and vigilant.

Perception 9

(Vigilant, you say?)

(Lasair sees nothing out of the ordinary.)

The group of you move forward cautiously through the brush to the cave mouth.  The sign at the entrance says the same thing as the previous sign, in the same handwriting (hand painting?).

(Do you enter the cave?)

"I'm still very suspicious.  I have to imagine someone alone, in a cave, with the plague, would not last very long - why not just die in solitude instead of taking the time to put up signs?"  Tyrael will look in the cave with his darkvision (Perception: 11) and, assuming no one stops him and he doesn't see any immediate dangers, will enter the mouth of the cave.

Tyrael sees nothing, and enters the cave mouth.

Within is a natural cavern, the floor and ceiling uneven.  The opening is about 40 ft by 40 ft, and narrows off towards the left.  You can see it bottlenecks to a 10 foot opening later on.

About 60 feet into the entrance, you can just barely see the corpse of a human male.  It's wearing only leather breaches, but you can't see how it died from here.  The air blowing from the back of the cave smells of death and decay.