Dmitri secures his shield from where it was on his back and draws his longsword. He falls back to form a rearguard away from Bob's flame lighting the way for Gillain and James.

Perception: 20

Tio will stick to James as Gillain leads with Bob, and Dimitri guards the rear with Ermren. In a calm non emotional tone “You said your name was James, yes? Perhaps we should stick to the middle of the group.” Tio will keep to the middle of the group as they walk forward. Keeping her eyes out for any wolves.

Perception: 14

OOC:[Also Tio has the sack of coins what was inside it?]

In response to Ermren's inquiry, Dmitri replies "Forward comrades! Let us be away from this twice accursed mist. I would hate to be caught out here in the dead of night.” Dmitri keeps a wary eye upon their flanks and occasionally turns to regard their back trail as well.

 Bob cowers behind Gillain as they march forward, holding the flame high so his keen Dwarven eyes might spot any would-be attackers before they sprang from the mists.

Perception: 17

Gillain instinctively marches at dwarven-pace, based on the make up of the group. And would naturally move slightly ahead of Bob, to give him some cover (even if he wasn’t already cowering marching just behind). She sets a medium pace, unless anyone urges her to go faster or slow down.

She shudders (at the cold, or the circumstances, she doesn’t know). “Someone just walked over my grave...”, she says over her shoulder to Bob, and then adds “that’s what my mother says at least, when she shivers...”, to try and take the unintended spooky edge off it a little.

Wet muddy roads seem to weigh you down with each step as you slosh through the mud and muck. Ever so often, at an uneven interval, the party hears the howl of a wolf, sometimes it is far away, sometimes it seems close by.  The mist seems to cover everything and a light rain starts and stops randomly. 

About two 1/2 hours into this long miserable hike:
Perception rolls:
Bob: 26
Dmitri: 6
Ermren: 15
Tio: 18
James: 14
Gillain: 18

A strange scent comes to the noses of everyone but Bob and Tio. It is the sick, sweet smell and each of you know, something is dead nearby.

Gillain wrinkles her nose and holds her spear up to signal ‘stop’. She mouths ‘shhh’ to the others and attempts to sneak towards the source of the smell...

Perception: 24

Stealth (disadvantage for heavy armour): 4

Bob very nearly bangs into the back of Gillain as she comes to a halt, but his beady eyes are opened wide enough in fear that he sees her gesture with her spear and he stops as well. He looks at her, mouth agape, as she starts to creep away from the rest of the group. Then he turns and looks at the rest of the party and shrugs helplessly. With a flame flickering in his hand and heavy dwarven feet he wasn't going to help her much when it came to staying hidden. So to make himself at least somewhat useful he peers back down the road to spot any wolves trying to sneak up on them.

Perception: 18

Ermren makes a face at the smell, watching Gillain move forward on her own for a moment before nudging Dmitri forward to watch her back while he moves to stand with his back to the group watching the rear. 

Dmitri moves to the front to check on Gillain as the mist has enveloped her. Dmitri catches the eye of each party member as he passes them in an attempt to instill confidence.

Perception: 19

Stealth: 3

The party follows the smell a bit and finds it leads to the left, off the roadway.

Does everyone continue?

Ermren pauses at the edge of the road, "Why do I get the feeling if we leave the road, we won't be able to find it again?"

"Anybody got some rope? Have Gillain hold on to one end and you can hold onto the other, Ermren." Bob tries to sound helpful and reassuring but there is a rising note of panic in his voice as one by one the rest of the party heads off of the road.

Dmitri whispers, "Yes! Bob has the right of it! Good idea comrade. We should tether ourselves together to not get lost in this Hellish fog!"

Bob rummages in his pack as Dmitri speaks until he finds his rope. He uncoils fifty feet of hempen rope and hands one end to Ermren. "A-alrigh', here I go!"

Taking a deep breath he sets off after Gillain into the mists, clutching his end of the rope for dear life.

When Bob starts to hand him the rope, Ermren looks at him for a moment, holding a staff in one hand and a torch in the other, before planting the torch in the ground nearby and taking the rope. 

(OOC: I could easily have Bob hand the rope to Dmitri if that makes more sense, haha)

Gillain begins to creep towards the awful smell, just as one of her companions approaches with the end of a rope. She nods, and ties the end around her waist, before continuing on...

Quote from stronglyworded >>

(OOC: I could easily have Bob hand the rope to Dmitri if that makes more sense, haha)

 (Dmitri was headed after Gillain. This works, Ermren should make a good anchor, lol.)

So we have Gillain tied to 50ft of rope; and Dmitri, Bob, Ermren, and the others spaced along the rope holding on (each about 10ft apart?). This lets Gillain venture up to 50ft (ish) off the road in search of the cause of this foul smell (before having to consider whether they all leave the road). Gillain will search out off the road up to 50ft...

In fact, Gillain has another 50ft of rope. If she doesn’t find anything in the first 50ft, she’ll look back towards Dmitri, and check she can still see him before tying the ropes together and searching on for another 50ft (a total of up to 100ft off the road).

((woo! :-) post #100!! ))