Barthrum says, "Ok, I feel better now and feel like we should stay until the exploration part here is done."

He goes and checks up on the dwarves and takes a look at the corridor where the latest ooze came from.

"Have you found any other doors so far?"

The corridor is empty.  "We found one, but it only connected back to the big hall." "Indeed, I think we've found everything that can be sold around here. If there's anything else, we won't find it soon." "We'll head back to our clan tomorrow. It was nice meeting you though." "Hey Dis! Come over for a moment!" When Dis comes, he hands her a note. "We need you to send this message to Harbin Wester again." "And make sure it gets to him this time, yes?" She takes the note from him and reads it. "It's a bit too long... I'll try but they might forget some of it on the way. So," she turns to you, "will you be leaving, now that you're done?"

Thenmer looks around at the others

"I think we will be heading back if you are all safe here. Do you need us to carry a message?"

"It's fine, Dis has it covered." "Besides, she needs to improve. Thank you for the consideration though."

Barthrum says, "Oh, Dis is coming back to Phandalin with us? Wonderful!"

He turns to go, takes a couple of steps and stops, then turns back around, visibly having an active thought.

He says, "she has to memorize and deliver a message that you have already written down? Why not just hand her the note instead? I understand if you don't want to give it to us, but she already knows the contents anyways...?"

The dwarves look at you, slightly confused. "Go with you? I could but there's no reason to. I only need to go far enough to find a bird or a squirrel to deliver the message for me. Also, why would I have to memorize the note? I have it in my hand right here." An awkward moment passes before one of the other dwarves understands what's happening. "We didn't tell you, did we? Dis... can you show them? I'm sure that will abate some of the confusion." Dis thinks for a moment, then begins to walk in the same direction as Barthrum. "Sure," she says, "I'll go with you three until I find what I need and then show you. Come, let's go. Tell me if you see a bird sitting on a tree, a squirrel or another small animal."

She leads you out of the canyon and from there you start heading north-east towards Phandalin. After less than one hour of walk, you leave the mountains behind and begin walking in the grasslands that are so common in this area. "Start looking. Even in it's not a forest, there are plenty of animals around here."

Everyone - please make a Perception check. Dolgrim can make it with advantage for being in his favourite terrain. (Edit: I am aware that this isn't what the feature usually grants.)

Perception: 4

((a few moments before we left the temple))

Dolgrim is woken up by the miners voices. When he looks at the crowd it seems they there is some discussion going on between Dis, the miners and Dolgrims companions. Unsure of what is going on, Dolgrim gets up packs his belongings and prepares his hammer and shield. When he sees that the others are leaving the temple he puts the shield back on his back and sighs in a relief. No more jellies it is then. That's good, it's no fun fighting something that has no bones.

When the party finally leaves the temple, a bright light blinds Dolgrim for a while.

I am a dwarf, but these caves are not for me. This fresh air and buzzing of insects is much more to my taste.

Grumbles he

Barthrum looks around (perception: 17), but also keep talking to Dis, "But.. we are heading there anyways and could deliver the note. I am so confused, but also intrigued."

(Perception check 5 )

"We are heading back and I would rather go sooner rather than later. The longer we leave it the more risk there is of orcs coming to find out where those ones are that attacked us"

Dis stops and looks at Barthrum. "Well, if you still don't understand, don't you find it peculiar that we arrived at the caves not long before you came to help us and were waiting there for help? If someone went to Phandalin to tell Mr Wester about the situation, why didn't they come back with help, or at least with weapons? If no one went to Phandalin, how could Mr Wester know about our whereabouts, if we found the place by chance? It's not like postmen are going from that settlement to Phandalin." While she speaks, Barthrum notices a movement behind her. He can see the tall grass moving in a straight line from the left of Dis, behind her, to your right. It's about 20 ft. away but it's rather quiet - at least quiet enough so that you can't hear it while Dis is speaking. It doesn't seem like the others noticed it.

Barthrum says, "Yes, yes, continue please." and quietly snaps his fingers a couple of times to draw the attention of others and points left and behind, also putting his finger on his lips to indicate no sudden changes of movements.

He carefully unsheathes his longsword and positions himself on the other side of Dis - between the tall grass and her. He indicates with his head that Dis should continue walking and he will stay with her.

Narrowing his eyes Barthrum sniffs the air and is ready to use Divine Sense as soon as something becomes visible.

Thenmer tried not to visibly sigh at the apparent sign of trouble. There was little he could do now but he mulled over the very few options he still had.

As you keep walking and talking, the thing that was in the grass seems to be following you for a bit more but then takes a turn away from you. 

Dis tries to keep talking, but eventually runs out of things to say. "Well, what is it?" she says. "If you just want to hear my voice, I'm sorry but I'm not just walking you for fun." She stops and tries to listen. 22. She moves a bit forward, extending her arms to the sides to tell you to stay back. She then jumps into the grass and a moment later, you see fast movement in the grass, followed by Dis' hands rising, holding up a black rabbit. Her head follows up and she makes her way back to you. "Was this the thing that bothered you? Really, what brave warriors you are." Her voice is teasing, rather than sarcastic.

She sits down and takes out a morsel of food. Out of one of her pockets and feeds it to the rabbit. She then starts speaking to it. If you choose to, you can make an Arcana check, DC 10, to notice her words are enhanced with magic.

"There. Now, go to Phandalin and find a pompous man who hardly leaves his house. He'll be an average height person but slightly overweighted. He's also completely bald and his skin is dark. Tell him this:" she takes out the note she received and reads it out loud. "The dwarves you sent to help us were a great save. GIve them the full reward. We'll send a detailed letter soon. Take care - Dazlyn." As the rabit dashes forward with incredible speed, Dis stands up. "Now do you see why I couldn't have you deliver this message yourself? There's no way that old mule would believe you. Well, this is where we say goodbye. Watch for small animals in case I send you a message in the future, take care!"

Barthrum chuckles throughout this interaction and concludes, "We will see, we will see. The mayor is really weird."

He bows as Dis is leaving, "Thank you and stay safe. Would you please send us a message when you are done with the temple so that we know it all ended safely."

He pulls out two of his javelins, "Here, take these in case you do need to defend yourself there from whatever."

"Thank you Dis, that was most interesting as well as helpful."

"I do hope we have a chance to meet again"

15

 Dolgrim seems confused by what he has seen. He is quite used to talking to animals...well insects at least, but they never seemed to reply. He've also heard about using pigeons and ravens to send messages, but he never imagined it be so... direct.

So, you must be one of those forest witches, like some of the pointy-ears are? Fascinating, I've never meet one before. I hope we will meet again some day. For now, farewell.

Dis takes the javelins and thanks you all again. She seems amused by the 'forest witch' description. She thanks you again and hurries back the way she came after promising to send you a message once they leave the place. You look up and see that you should hurry too. There're still a few hours of walking to Phandalin and it's no longer sure you'll get there before sundown.

Barthrum says, "Up for a little jog, gentlemen? A bit of a on-and-off walking and jogging to get some exercise in before the next adventure?"

He tightens his gear, flexes his hands and arms and is expectantly looking at the other two.

"What say you? First up to that large pine at the bend there and then walk a bit and see what we pick for the next target?"

Thenmer stares at him

”I think I am built for a steady pace, but it will be as quick a pace as I can manage”

98

You walk quickly, even run occasionally. Though two of you are too busy focusing on not tripping over large rocks, Dolgrim's knowledge of the terrain allows him to be alert to dangers, even if no such danger presents itself.

When you get to the hills on which Phandalin is settled, the sun already begins to set. When you enter the town through its southern side, the last of the sun's light is already dimming. It's dark already but many houses are still lit by the light of torches, oil lamps or a hearth. Although it's still summer, the air feels rather chilly for the season. Normally, you'd expect a few more tendays to pass before nights are getting cold enough for people to light hearths. It's not unbearably cold, just not what you'd expect of this time of the year.