Gotur, the squire still looks stunned. He is still charmed, and so is quite friendly and forthcoming with his response "Aye. I do.... er, I mean... I did... yes, right, I did. But now I don't! Please, let me live..."

The squire then hands the great sword over to Alton without any issues. The knight glares at him when he does this, but doesn't say anything and just gives an approving defeated nod.

Zhoggab the mule sways a bit to get some flies off its body. 

Professor Landy says "Atta lads! Teach this snotty nosed brat a lesson. I highly doubt this buffoon is a real knight given how he is actin'. He'd be lucky to stop his antics right about now or heaven's forbid y'all run into him again!"

Combat is indeed over. The knight is still kneeling down in the middle of the spikes from Gotur's spell, he's not moving, just looking at you all, almost about to cry at this point like a kid who has had a toy taken from him. The squire also kneels down. 

They both request and ask if they can be let go. They both promise to clean up their acts. The knight sniffles: "you have the sword. I have forsworn my creed. Please, let us go... er... and the spikes in the ground... can you make them go away?" 

Actually the squire might not even want to leave with the knight anymore, at least while he's charmed. 

Feel free to take any other actions here, and then we will move to the next part of the late afternoon and proceed to camp. 

(If you want to continue to interact further with the knight and squire by all means do so, otherwise I'll assume you guys snatched up the great sword, made sure they will stop their racist ways, made them apologize, ended the spike growth and charm, and then sent them on their way. If perhaps you had other plans for them, or one of them, let me know)

6

(The second night's camping is equally as uneventful and peaceful as the first nights. Go ahead and consume any rations and/or scavenge a bit if you'd like, and then take a nice long rest as you all sleep peacefully again under the stars. The professor would likely talk a lot about the knight and how crazy he was. She can't believe folk would still have those types of values in this day and age)

Let me know if you guys are good to go and we will start morning #3 of travel. The destination (Havel's Cross lodge) is only a few hours away, and you will arrive around noon hour. Our current location has been updated on the Sword Coast tab.

"Squire, what is your name, and that of your master, and from were do you hail?"

((Assuming the charmed squire tells him...)

Gotur strides forward, dismissing the spike growth, squatting to speak closely to Carl.

"I have your name, and I know where your family lives. When I find myself there again, I'll ask up about you. And I'd better be hearing how you've turned your life around and are working to make up for your sins, how you're making amends for the lives you've ruined, or you and I will be having a very, VERY different conversation. If you think that this little chat wasn't much fun for you, I guarantee that one will make this one look like we're old chums catching up over a pint. Goodbye Carl, and try to be less of a worthless boil on the ass of civilization."

Gotur turns to Alton, "I appreciate it, and while I'm big enough to heft it, I've no training it in... but I'm not leaving it with that idiot."

As they head onward, Gotur is not very talkative, unless someone is purposely attempting to draw him out, but not volunteering conversation unprompted. 

Alton will eat another ration and is then ready to go.

Gotur, the squire is still charmed, and also is still scared of all of you, so is quite forthcoming once again. "It's... Peewee, Mr. orc-sir. Peewee Higbee. Master? Ain't got no master but Carl here. Psssst.... Mr. orc-sir, he's not actually a 'knight'...."

Carl interrupts "PEEWEE! like honestly? We are already defeated, why don't you go and make it worse why don't ya" 

Charmed Peewee continues: "Lu.. Luskan. We are from Luskan. Been tryin' to get on the boats lookin' for work but haven't been so lucky as of yet. Been chummin' around with Carl here until something comes up. Anyhow, thank you for sparing my life. Hey, can I ask... how do we know each other? Bah, oh well. I'm just glad I have you guys to help me with Carl."

Carl doesn't really respond to you Gotur, other than some mumbling emo grovels and agreements that he will shape up. "Alright, alright."

 The next morning, the party packs up and heads out on the last little bit of the journey to the lodge....

Will continue ASAP ->

"Peewee Higbee. Be a better man. What is Carl's last name? Surely it's not really Cleanser?"

"Bah, cleanser... I didn't even like that nickname. His last name is Karlsson. Yup Carl Karlsson." Carl shakes his head listening to Peewee go on. "Don't even know if his ma and pa are even in town anymore. He didn't talk about 'em much."

"Say, you actually gonna come to Luskan one day and ask about us?"

After about 2 hours of walking on morning #3, the professor leads you east on a path that branches off the high road. The terrain is much rougher than the high road, and the more open lands and meadows you previously travelled on now give way to the forest outskirts of Neverwinter Wood. "Ok evvvrone', we're almost at the lodge! Yip yip yee haw I'm gettin' excited to see what they've found!" Landy lets you all know that the Havel's Cross Lodge is only a few minutes away. I have updated your location on the sword coast map.

With thoughts of a relaxing afternoon and a full lunch spurring you on, you all push forward the last few steps and arrive at the entrance gate of the lodge. At first glance it would be easy to mistake the three story building for a small fortress, with narrow slits for windows and tough looking stone walls. As soon as the lodge comes into view though, it is clear that something is wrong. 

The oaken door at the front of the building is thick and sturdy looking, but has been thrown wide open and swings gently in the breeze. 

There is also a dead horse in the middle of the path.

Professor Landy immediately panics and bolts closer to the east, clinging on to the gate. She yells, "shit shit shit!! What the hell happened to that horse!"

There is a new 'Havel's Cross' tab in our google sheets which has a large map which you'll have to scroll down to see where you currently are. 

What would you like to do?

"And when I do, you better believe I'll be asking if people know the two of you, and I'd better hear good things."

"Yes, yes but of course, Mr. orc-sir. Of course."

(new post above this is now updated and ready, just don't want it to get lost!)

((Gotur wasn't much in a mood to go looking for food, but was there grass enough for Zhoggab to forage, or shall I deduct a some of his feed?))

Gotur hustles over to the horse, getting the wall between him and any arrow slits in case there are hostiles inside, before looking its body over to try to determine the cause. ((What sort of check would you like for that?))

((There was enough grass, but he'd prefer the feed, and would take offence if you made him eat grass. :) I also meant to have you roll an animal handling check at least once during the trip... but I forgot. Will make sure to do so on the way back to the city))

 ((Medicine, please!))

((Actually, the module says medicine, but I think investigation would also work, so whatever Gotur would prefer))

Medicine is better: 20

Ralfaen will walk over to the dead horse. "Interesting, this is. Take a look, I shall." Ralf will make an Investigation check to try to figure out what happened here.

Investigation: 10 + 4

Gotur, the dead horse is partially eaten. From your experience with wild animals and more specifically canine bites, these wounds did not come from a wild dog or wolf, but something more human sized, with sharp teeth. There are also signs of deep claw marks. 

Ralfaen, you also walk to the horse and notice the same things that Gotur did. It's clear to you that the horse definitely did not die of natural causes, that's for sure.

You both have a bad feeling about this. It's eerily quiet except for the creaking front door of the lodge that is slowly swaying back and forth.

Professor Landy interrupts the silence and yells out quite loud to you "Hey! What you reckon happened here guys!!!?? What happened to that horse?!" 

Map is updated! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JMcWkjg_2bADKFk72NcYqCT9q6iqli_XAHA77ojzLz0/edit#gid=1515927733

"Eaten, this horse has been. An unnatural death, this was. On our guard, we should be."

Ralf will make a Perception check to see if he can see anything else in the area, but mainly looking for other creatures. He will also use his Eyes of the Grave feature to detect any undead within 60ft of him that is not behind total cover.

Perception: 18 + 3

Ralf, you quickly but thoroughly take a mental stock of the immediate area. You don't see any other entrances to this fortified lodge other than the main entrance which is wide open. Even though you are still close to 100 feet away from the door, your keen senses notice movement inside the lodge. You can't make out what exactly what was moving as you are too far away and there are stairs leading up to the actual floor of the place, but after the professor is done yelling her question, you are able to hear very faintly what you think is goblin-speak coming from inside, as the movement inside increases as well.

You do not feel anything when you tap into your Eyes of the Grave sense.

"Old, my eyes may be, but movement inside that building, there is. Goblins, perhaps. Proceed with Stealth, we shall, and when close, we are, have them taste the rainbow, I can. Blind them, in other words."

"Yes, let's keep it quiet. Give me a moment, and I can investigate the building... I can... take on forms of various animals, I can become a spider, scurry up and through an arrow slit and check out what's in there... of course, if they are getting ready to run out and attack, it may not do much good."

((If it sounds like a good idea to the others, and an attack is not actively happening, Gotur will shift into Spid-tur and skitter across the yard, up a wall and in an unattended window or arrow slit.))

Alton gives a nod of affirmation to Gotur before he himself begins to try to sneak up to entrance of the lodge without being noticed. He doesn’t actually want to go in. 

Stealth: 13