Aurelia follows, casting light on her staff

As you march through the tunnels, the sound of rats echoes throughout. You see their beady, red eyes open in the darkness... There are quite a lot.

Dahme'dre attempts to move more cautiously and quietly.

(Stealth: 10)

(niceee. Btw the ratties are the small, numerous kind that are hiding where the light can't quite reach.)

Dahme'dre steps quietly and cautiously. The rats seem to keep their distance... For now.

You reach the outside of the tunnel. It is dark outside now, but the sky is illuminated by the fires that have been set to the buildings in Ardev. The church is due east of your current location. How do you proceed?

(OOC How far is the church? Will we need to find horses to get there in time to help, or is travel by foot faster?)

Slade whispers to the group, "The church is not far, let's stick to alley ways and stay out of sight. Not a fan of a mounted charge right now. There's a dragon up there somewhere. The less of a target we make ourselves the better."

He then cautiously begins the pick his way across the terrain in the direction of the church, sticking to cover whenever possible.

(Stealth: 18)

Aurelia will follow, extinguishing the light on her staff to avoid notice.

Dahme'dre opens her pack and the torch extinguishes itself in the dirt before it is placed back in its pouch inside by the spectral hand that was carrying it.

It is much faster to approach by foot than go looking for horses that may or may not be there. As the group travels, you avoid detection fairly well.

The church is about 300 feet to the east of your current location. It would take the equivalent of 10 rounds to reach your destination.

Slade and Dahme'dre rolled well for stealth and can move in the front. Aurelia and Ashehee may stay closer to the rear.  Dahme'dre can choose to stand closer to the back of the formation if she chooses. If Aurelia or Ashehee want to travel near the front, they must roll Stealth check for me. 

Additionally, everyone should post about 2 posts. Every 3 posts, give pause so I can let you know if you are in the clear or not, as cultists and the like are patrolling the area, and you may have a chance to ambush or skip fights.

After everyone has posted at least twice, you will reach your destination so long as you don't get into any fights ... ;)

Aurelia will stay in the rear as the group moves carefully forward.

Dahme'dre keeps about 20 feet back from Slade

Ashehee stays in the rear as well, following the group.

Slade creeps forward, keeping a keen and eye out for any patrols.

(OOC: It would be easier to post with some more narrative description. Also, if nothing eventful happens I'm fine with just saying we get to the Church and go from there.)

(I'll be honest, I was under the impression you guys wanted to RP a lot in this game, so I am trying to create opportunities to do that. If that isn't the case, I can skip segments like this. I just worry that I am not sure what you guys want. This campaign, I am realizing, is reaaaally combat heavy. And if I DM it like I would IRL, it would literally just be a cutscene to fight to cutscene to fight. Can we get a consensus on what everyone is looking for here? Do you want me to just make cutscenes that lead to fights until we reach short/long rest scenes, or what would you like? I am pretty sad, because now that we've been playing this, I am seeing that Hoard is very combat heavy and railroad heavy.)

(I like RP but not sure what to do here. There doesn't seem much to talk about if we need to quietly move to the church)

(I think this is where the difference is between tabletop RPG roleplayers and the kind I usually moderate. I have friends who could, and would want to, write like 3 paragraphs about how they are feeling, the way the sky looks to them, the goals they hope to achieve, blah blah blah. If I skipped to a fight, they would get reaaaal pissed off lol.)

Aurelia asks the voice inside her for guidance. Again, there is just silence. Nothing since that first call to come here. She thinks back to the last few hours, a hectic run from a caravan of strangers to now sneaking in city streets on the way to a church. She feels like she's been swept up in a wave of events beyond her control.

(OOC: I like to RP but I usually prefer some it with sort of context or conflict that moves the story along. Plus, we have been talking about getting to this church for a while now so I am getting antsy.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking for all combat.)

(Happy to RP, but I need a prompt, you know.  Problems to solve, baddies to foil, even "use the post to introduce your character" was good. Usually I've little to say about Dahme'dre's feelings except how she feels about what's happening.)

(No worries! This is just a healthy dose of the differences between my different groups. From DND to freeform strangeness. I'll try to do better at setting things up. I have to say... HotDQ's first bit is really very go to point a to b to c with almost no context other than: just do it. I'm really struggling with this one, which is kinda embarrassing to admit... :( I'll try harder!)

The gang make it to church with little to no harassment. It seems most of the cultists seem to be focusing less on causing chaos and more on concentrating their efforts... (Insight DC 10 to have your character know the spoiler.)

 Outside the church, you manage to find some good ground and a hiding spot to get a look at the place. Initially you don't see anything, but then from the northern part of the building you see what looks like a patrol round the corner. No, patrol isn't quite the right word. An angry mob more like. It consists of 10 kobolds, 3 cultists, and 2 drakes. The cultists lead in the front while the kobolds follow. The drakes seem to meander in the front and the back. The cultists and kobolds scream and shout for blood. They speak in tongues that seem more like gibberish at first, but Aurelia and Dahme'dre are soon able to make it out:

 The patrol roams, chanting deep and gutturally. They round a corner as their madness continues.

What do you do?

(Here is a link to roll20. FYI you guys are not as close to the building as depicted... I just needed to put your tokens somewhere that made sense lol. Once you join and I have time, I'll assign your token to you.)