Chilling Adventures in the North

Shad will follow the others, hoping for a better cave. He keeps his eyes on the last place he saw the wolf and walks backwards next to Arogna. He will climb up next to Qinfaren.

The wolf sticks to the back of the cave, knowing that it was out matched in the battle. It licks its wounds, but it is unclear as to whether it will survive the night.

Bjorn follows the rest of the group, "Come on. There must be somewhere we can rest."

You climb up to the next cave, moving north. You are now thirty feet above the frozen lake below, and your boat looks small below you.

When you enter into the cave you find a passageway the extends seventy feet away from the mouth before it splits into two. One path leads towards the north and one continues straight on to the east. Up here it seems quiet and still.

"Let's move further in. Let's get away from the cave entrance and the sound of the whistling wind."

"Excellent plan," Shad says. He will move along with the others, trying to be stealthy (13), and holding his crossbow. He watches ahead for any kind of movement. 

Qinfaren, calls the flame blade back to his hand. The fiery scimitar reappears, casting some extra light on the cave.

"So far so good," Qinfaren says.

He looks at the ground around the fork in the tunnel, looking to see if there's any sign of footprints or any indication that the anglers might have come this way.

Perception: 11  

(OOC - assuming still have some of the initial 10 minutes of spell time left for the flame blade).

Arogna gazes around her warily. "'S too quiet," she mutters, holding her hammer ready.

Staying hidden, Shad creeps along next to his friends. He has his crossbow ready, but hopes for rest more than a target.

Shad manages to keep quiet as he moves through the tunnel. However, Qinfaren is unable to find any signs of the anglers. You continue on in until you reach the split in the tunnel.

“Straight?” Qinfaren asks and then continues on if no objection.

"Yeah, good by me," Arogna says quietly. "We gotta find somewhere safe soon."

Bjorn shrugs his shoulders and follows Qinfaren. The tunnel opens up to an icy bridge over the frozen river. You realise that the bridge is twenty feet above the frozen river that you were standing on not that long ago. The bridge itself is made from natural stone but it is covered with a slippery, icy glaze. At the other end of the bridge, you see another tunnel.

Qinfaren looks down at the icy bridge and the iced over river below.

"Want to rest here?" Qinfaren asks the others. "Maybe not the best to have two ways to approach us, but maybe we should be well rested before taking on that slippery bridge."

Arogna scowls over into the river. "Not'n'less we wants a bath before bedtime," she says. "Anythin' coming from there's gotta cross the bridge an' all, an' they're gonna hafta do it slowly."

"Hmm," says Shad. "I think it is worth the risk to try and rest here. Especially, if the bridge looks rarely used." He'll examine it without getting too close, looking for footprints or other signs of passage: Perception: 19 (and Survival in case you'd like that, TheBritGeek: 23).

Footprints, especially fresh ones, might lead Shad to change his mind.

Shad finds evidence of people walking across the icy bridge. However, the markings are certainly not fresh.

"See these markings," Shad says. "Do you think they belong to the fishers? Ugh. Should we rest here or try to catch up to them? They can't have passed through here recently," he says.

Qinfaren looks down at the prints that Shad found and then remembers the humanoid bones and all that fresh meat.

"Let's rest and then we can look for them fresh," Qinfaren says. "Tired and we're more likely to fall off that bridge and then we'll need rescuing too."

He looks over the bridge and then back the way they've just come.

"I can sit watch first," Qinfaren volunteers.

Perception for watch if needed: 23  

Passive Perception: 16

"Thanks, man. Wake me when you gotta sleep," Arogna says, bundling up her cloak under her head and lying down on the rock floor. The stone and the cold do not seem to bother her, and she dozes off quickly.

Perception for watch when time: 7

Bjorn's perception for watch: 24

Shad's perception for watch: 18. He considers building a fire but instead grumbles and pulls his coats tighter, watching for movement behind them and over the bridge.

Assuming the night goes well, without interruption, Shad stands in the morning.

"It is good to commune with the Cat Lord!" he says. He stretches, arms above his head.

"Time to cross that bridge," he says. "Thank you for giving me time to rest."