Tam shivers in the darkness, not even wanting to know what the thing was but doesn't like the sound of talk about maggots and feels awful. He feels his way towards Nolla and resumes trying to get whatever rest he can the remainder of the night. If the bear does get lit up he do his best not to look over.

Cedar looks a little agitated, but also heads to bed. As he is lying down, he laughs. "I guess this is why we don't split the party"

Caine eyes the creature that was the bear. Cedar's words make an impact.

"What if this was what the birds were circling?" he asks. "Perhaps death is not the end in this forest. Something reanimated the corpse of this bear."

He thinks back to his experiences wandering through the wilderness after the destruction that came to his monastery.

"This was not of the natural world."

Helena approaches the corpse of the fungal bear. The mushrooms on it's back release a final cloud of fumigants before becoming completely inert. And while Helena has dedicated her life in destroying the creatures that roam the darkness, she has rarely seen such a grotesque monstrosity as the one before her. 

It was once a brown bear before the decaying corruption seeped into it's body. Through the exposed ribcage, Helena can see that fungal tumors replace most of it's internal organs. Except for the stomach. It's graying fur is covered in lichens and mushrooms, which begin to wither away now the host is deceased. And yet, Helena knows that while it may be wise to burn the corpse, doing so would release and spread the spores in the air. Perhaps the safest method would be to bury it and let nature do it's thing.

The party relocates their camp before continuing their rest. Because their sleep was interrupted, in order to gain the benefits of a short rest, they will have to wake up a bit later in the morning. 

When you are ready to finish your rest, you may roll hit dice to regain HP. 

 (Edit: The poison wears off. Anyone that was poisoned returns to normal.) 

Caine agrees to burying the creature and then spends the rest of the night in trance like meditation. Come morning he feels more centered, but there is still a slight tension in his body and movements. The sudden appearance of the bear and it's quick bite and the affect on his core will take longer to shake off. While the others gather their belongings, Caine takes out his dulcimer and plays a tune he learned from his mother. From before the change. A quiet tune played often in the evenings in his village.

(2 Hit Dice: 14 )

Helena helps to bury the thing, and then starting her watch. When she finishes her trance, she starts to pack up the camp before looking up at the sky to see if those birds were still there, or if they were circling around their camp now.

In the morning Nolla would pack up her bedroll and gear, then help get the group back to the road.  She too would look for the birds from the day before.  With or without them she would ask... "So, do we go to see if we can check out what those birds were circling yesterday?" She looks to the others to see what they think.

Tam looks around, trying not to look where the bear thing was buried and asks,

"Is it on the way to where we think the mayor's assistant was taken? If it is I think we should probably look to be sure it isn't more of..." He waves at the spot the bear is, "that."

Day 2 

After the monstrosity is buried, the party is finally able to return to bed. The silent night passes without any threat, and soon the coming of dawn indicates the beginning of their second day in the Corrupted Forest. 

Nolla and Helena would see that the birds have disappeared. However, they would remember the general direction of the location they were circling, about a half-hour walk into the woods. Still, the Old Road stretches towards them, and somewhere, the deputy mayor is in the clutches of bandits. With each passing second, they are getting farther and farther away. 

(If you continue traveling, please mention what you are doing as you move. Also, if you'd like, you can choose to go at a faster pace to make up for the extra time you spend resting. You would then have disadvantage on Perception checks while traveling.) 

"Not likely."  Nolla says with a shake of her head.  "Need to keep moving ahead to get closer to the deputy."

"I don't know a single buzzard that would circle.....that" Cedar says with distaste

Helena agrees with the group.

“If we were going to find anything, it would have been before the birds left. They typically don’t leave anything behind. We should hurry our pace. We haven’t even found a trace of them yet.”

While she’s talking, Helena scans the roads again for any sign of a group traveling in the past day or so.

Survival if needed 10

Caine stows his dulcimer quickly and moves out with the others. With his own experience surviving in wild areas, he helps Helena look for any sign of anyone having passed through ahead of them.

Jaesali will help bury the creature. She listens to the others discussing, staring a bit at where the birds were, but silently agrees they should keep moving. She returns to roughly the same spot in the marching order that she was before. 

HP = 15

Tam moves along with the group, scanning for any signs of bandits as they go but his eyes keep moving to where the maggots chewed on his skin.

Perception at disadvantage: 16

"Do we take the time to see if it's still a rescue? Either way, we still need to get the bandits." Jaesali leans on her javelin, looking from one set of prints to the other, and to further down the road.

Caine looks at the footprints and then to the others. 

“Many promises of rescue were made,” he says. “I will stay to that course. There have always been bandits and there will always be bandits for those who want to profit from headhunting.”

Caine steps to follow the single set of prints, but pauses once on that trail while the others decide what they will do.

Tam shifts uneasily, letting the more experienced trackers decide the course.

"Let us follow the single prints then."  Nolla says with a shrug. If it is the place the birds were circling, then it shouldn't be that far off of the road.