Satisfied that Akira has received proper attention from Merry and Karib, Rogram walks back to Lai's wagon, stopping along the way to extract his javelin from the mess of webs in which it was caught. He checks in with The Pole and Leda to make sure they are OK, and then jumps up to sit on the back of the wagon to rest until the caravan is ready to proceed. Rolling his shoulders, the half-dwarf grimaces. He really needs a good night's sleep.

A few days of respite follow the ettercap attack, and the caravan departs the forest now being dubbed by travelers on the caravan as the Spider Woods. The road levels out once more and widening and following a straight path northwest. The wagons rumble past a number of travelers moving in groups down the road in the opposite direction over the course of the next three days, and the peace allows a full recovery from the raucous events of the prior days.

Spirits around the caravan remain high, with no casualties since Losvius's unfortunate and sudden demise. Beyd murmurs to Karib that they'll need to restock the ale soon, but with the caravan picking up its pace again, they'll surely come across an inn before supplies run out.

The morning of the twentieth day since leaving Baldur's Gate, one of the wagons assumed to be run by the Cult of the Dragon calls for a halt as the caravan rounds a bend in the road.

A human head can be seen sitting in the middle of the road a hundred yards ahead.

For Karib:

Trying to avoid the humiliation of being fooled into thinking he was involved in a blooming relationship and then almost dying because of it, Rogram avoids his usual fireside haunt and ends up seeking the company of Akira. Over the course of a couple of nights, he reveals to the dragonborn that his deceased human mother had been a wizard. It is clear that Rogram misses his mother very much. He curiously questions Akira about her schooling and what kind of wizard she hopes to be.

When the caravan comes to a halt, Rogram cranes his neck, trying to see what is causing the hold up.

upon the call of all-stop, Akira will send her owl to fly a scouting pattern lower in the sky in a arc starting in front of the wagons.

As the wagons slow to a halt, Merry steps up next to Rogram and tries to peer at the road ahead. “What is it? Why have we stopped?  Is it time for lunch already?”

Karib walks to the front of the wagons then squints into the distance. "Looks like a head," he says as he rubs the grime from his face and pulls his hat down to shade his eyes. "Wait ..look there." He points to the cracks in the loose dirt nearby. "I think it might still be attached to a breathing body."

“Wait!” Merric calls to prevent anyone from approaching the head directly “It may be a trap.”  He circles out to the side of the road and moves forward, still keeping his distance, and scouts out for any signs of danger.  Perception: 11.

.

Once Merric approaches within ten yards of the man, he can confirm that he is unconscious but still alive, buried up to his neck in the middle of the road. The word "Oathbreaker" has been painted on his forehead. His hair is tousled and dark brown with streaks of premature grey at his temples, with narrow facial features.

It is obvious that the buried human is in bad shape from exposure and dehydration.

OOC: Action is on the party here, the rest of the caravan is waiting 100 yards away, so once an action is taken I can resolve and advance.

Merric confirms the man is still alive and after another quick look around for any sign of a trap, he moves forward, placing his hand on the man’s head, fills him with healing magic. He looks back to the caravan and waves them forward. “He is alive! Come help me get him free!”  He keeps watch as the others approach to free the man.

cast cure wounds.

.

The man begins to open his eyes groggily as other guards and merchants rush forward toward Merric. Seeing the man coming to, Nyerhite and Beyd call for shovels, sending a few folks back to the wagons to grab them. Edhelri and Lai, and a couple other guards share more hesitation.

"Someone, or something, went to the trouble of marking this man as a traitor and buried him up to his neck in the Trade Way. Do we really believe this is a good idea, considering what happened to your guard, Lai?" Edhelri asks.

Lai glances toward Rogram at the wagons and snorts. "She's right. We're gonna spend hours diggin' up a man that broke an oath and probably deserves being left there?" he offers.

"No, not...not a traitor," the man mumbles in a gruff voice, slurred from dehydration and exhaustion.

Akira pulls out her waterskin and takes it to him. "The oath you broke. What was it and why?", as she begins to remove the dirt from around him by hand.

Karib moves forward with the others, then frowns at Lai's and Edhelri's remarks. "Someone? You mean the people who went to great pains to torture this man, leaving him to die a slow and painful death?"

Helping Akira, he looks up at Lai, "I think I'd like to hear his side first."

He moves around the man, then uses his shield to block the direct sun. "Who's got a shovel?" he asks.

Akira casts Mage Hand and uses it to help move the dirt away.

Seeing Lai look at him, Rogram wonders if the dwarf needs him for some reason. He jogs forward, getting a better look at the situation as he approaches. What a strange thing to find. "What's going on?" he asks, his eyes on the buried man's head. After he is apprised of the situation, Rogram scowls. "I'm not the one to ask," he admits. "But if we play it safe, and everyone learns from my mistakes, we should be OK. Let me get a shovel."

"The oath you broke. What was it and why?"

"Ban...bandits..." the man manages to get out before it turns into a coughing fit.

"Who's got a shovel?" he asks.

Karib's insistence breaks the tie cast by the merchants, and those who returned with shovels set to digging around the man. It takes more than two hours to fully dig him out of the hard-packed earth. As the diggers lift the weary man up and out of the pit, he kneels on the roadside. "Thank...you," he croaks out. "Does anybody have water?"

"You can't just leave a hole in the road!" Lai shouts at the diggers, who then begin refilling the earth.

The man looks to have nothing on him aside from the loincloth he was buried in, but he seems too exhausted to care. You each note as he emerges, however, a tattoo on his arm of a harp enclosed by a crescent moon: The symbol of the Harpers.

When it becomes clear that the man will be rescued, Karib signals to those of his companions who are present and says quietly, "Given our recent history, we should keep a very close eye on this one. Tomorrow I can put them to the question about their intentions, but in the mean time, caution is warranted."

"And if he encourages you to follow him into the woods, grab a few friends," Rogram adds.

Merric nods at Karib’s suggestion and adds “In the meantime, let’s find out how he got here and why. It could help your questioning tomorrow.”  He turns back to the man, helping him stand up and giving him some more water. “Here, drink, but slowly. Bandits are just as likely to knife you and throw you into the woods, not take the time to dig out a hole.  What happened to you, how did you end up buried up to your neck in the road?”

A few nearby chortle at Rogram's self-deprecation; it seems the story of the Innevar sisters has spread through the caravan. The weary man drinks deeply from Merric's waterskin before coming up for air, exhaling gruffly before taking another drink, wincing at the feeling of the liquid entering his dehydrated system.

"My fiancee..." he starts before his voice gets too scratchy. Clearing his throat a few times, he tries again. "I broke off my engagement when I discovered her father and brothers were little more than roadside bandits. She tricked me. I refused to join them, and...their expectations obviously didn't match mine," he answers.