(@Kina

I agree- it's a difficult task. Leon is just too bent on vengeance to realize it. Here's a check: 9) 

It doesn't take long before Leon realizes that he just doesn't have the tools to make a proper spear or even a decent club. He'd need a hatchet at the very least. The soldiers are continuing to work at looting Hon, but it won't be long before the sun rises and the group loses their cover. If they stay to observe the soldiers or even wait for them to leave, the entire group will need to make a stealth check to avoid being spotted by the well-trained soldiers, given that the youths are untrained and wearing unsuitable clothes for sneaking around.

"We need to move," Kallista says, "quickly."

Leon tosses down the whittling knife in frustration, but decides to keep the half-carved branch he's scavenged.

He wearily says to the group, "I think it's time to leave now for Guiston. Those soldiers are sure to spot us if we stay." 

“Should I try to keep us on target using the stars? Like I said, my father and cousin did teach me some. We could stay near the road but not on it. I think our only other option is the road itself, and I think we get seen easily on the road.”

Aelar glances at the slowly brightening sky, nervousness plain.

In his mind, he reaches for the presence from before. Are you there? Can you help us again?

Finally able to see things, Hyre goes and picks up the knife Leon tossed away. "I understand the frustration, but we need anything we can use. Don't toss things away like that."

Hyre looks at the town he'd grown up in. He wants to hide and wait until the soldiers go, and make a last check to see if there's anything left behind they could use. Even some rags they could use as blankets at nights. He looks back at the party. Could they all hide? Is it worth the risk? He looks at what Kallista brought. Would this suffice for them until they get to Guiston? He's not sure. 
In the end, he makes up his mind and says: "I want to stay and search for more supplies. It seems, however, that most of you prefer heading out now. I say we go to the river and follow it on the way to Guiston. This way we'll at least have water to sustain us."

"If we get desperate we can always come back," Kallista says.

There was no answer to his desperate plea but for some reason, Aelar just sensed the Dragon still lived.  But can I trust it?  He thinks about the voice, how it sounded, trying to remember all the things his mother had told him about understanding motives and reading people.  As the person who actually sold his father's silver-work, that was part of her job.

Insight: 6

"I think staying here is a bad idea.  From what Kalista says, it seems like those people in our town are setting out our stuff for someone to come and get.  Whoever it is could already be on the way.  And if the metal people from the wagon figure out we escaped, this is probably the first place they'll come looking."

Turning to Hyre, he says, "I don't want to take the river to Guiston.  I'm scared of whatever might be living around it.  Plus, the river is closer to the Skell and the road is farther away.  That's all I need to know.  I don't have any problem telling you all I'm scared of running into more Skell and being locked up again."

"We should make tracks away from here- I agree.  But as to whether to go overland or follow the river, I couldn't say what way was safer." Lazlo says. It was clear to him that they should start moving- he didn't feel safe.  "Overland or the river? What do you all say?"

OOC: do we know who/what the 'Skell' are? Do we know anything about the fauna in these parts to make us think the river is unsafe (for instance- are there crocodiles, etc?).

ooc: We have the map that was posted and I think we are allowed to have a working knowledge of that.  Aelar has referenced it in the past without DM-issue :).  So we should know where the Skell holdings are, on the other side of the river.  As for the other, in the campaign intro, the DM spoke eloquently of the danger in the lands between the cities, how after the gods got done playing at war all manner of new creatures made the countryside their home which is why the cities and even towns all have walls.

(All the characters know that the wilderness is not to be traveled lightly, and rivers are often home to predators, big ones, that know that prey will eventually come to them, but with the sun coming up, it will be fairly easy to see them coming, especially if the group just follow the river and don't get too close to the bank. The rivers flowing into Blackrock Lake are quite wide, big enough for commercial barges shipping goods between the cities. Port Krell is a major shipping hub that supplies Rondo, Guiston, and Valis with 'heavy goods', so the rivers are wider and deeper than the map conveys. I did just kinda crank it out in 15 minutes ;3 )

ooc: Thank you both!

Balgrim

Balgrim who has kept to himself quietly with his thoughts speaks up, "Aye, tha river be somethin' ta avoid.  Mayhaps we follow tha road but stay off it a safe distance ta where we ken hide if need be." He then takes a mournful look at Hon before turning towards the path ahead.

Leon agrees with the idea of traveling down the road. He only hopes they won't face any dangers on the way to Guiston. 

(The group knows that from Hon, the river is about a half hour's walk. They can be close enough to the river to get a drink if they need to. It branches away from the road the closer they get to Guiston, but water isn't that far away, less than a day's walk at worst, so they can follow the road without risk of dehydration. To get to Blackrock Lake is a 2 day walk, if they want to get right on the shore, for instance, so Guiston and Hon both hug the waterline.

That said, has the group agreed to use the road, but stay near the treeline?)

ooc: I believe so, yes.

(Wrote a long comment of my character arguing about needing water just to see that it's actually close to the road :/ I guess we do as you said.)

(His argument was still valid, though; traveling by the river would have the advantage of stealth, avoiding any possible Skell search parties, and getting a drink whenever someone got thirsty wouldn't be a bad thing.)

((Kallista would agree about staying by the river))

Ooc: I’m good with either choice.