"Thank you Ms. Daywalker," Ebony says softly to her, "I'm sure you have enough things to attend to before this evening, we will prepare and see if we can come up with a game plan for tonight, we will see you then." Ebony looks at the emotionally worn woman with empathy and admiration. She has been striving against hope to help her people survive to see the end of this, and he can't help but respect that strength.

Turning back towards the group, he speaks up to them. "So, what shall we do while we wait for nightfall? I figured some of us could attempt to talk to some of those in town and gather any information about the area that we can, especially that forest the young try to venture into at night. We could find a lot of perils within the tree's shade even before finding the cause of these accursed nightmares, especially at night. I also don't feel like we are going to be solving this problem for the town without some form of confrontation, so.....it might be wise to assess our individual skills and resources...and figure out how we can pool them together in some manner of cohesion. We are in this together, I'd like to think that whatever happens, we can work together to get through this."

"Yes. I could try to change my vehicle into a Swift Vehicle, too make it faster, and more maneuverable in a forest. One other person can ride on it with me. We should gather information."

Ash shakes his head "The vehicle will not be suitable if we wish to follow a child. It will be too loud unless we want to follow far behind and if we do that we will lose them. I can follow them without them seeing me, and I will find the location where they are headed. When I have, I will report back."

"While I don't want to question your ability to remain undetected, going alone may lead you to danger as we really don't know what to expect, and having no back up and no way of long distance communication will leave the rest of us with no way of being able to react in a timely manner. Though, maybe we could meet in the middle. One of us could sneak ahead to follow the child and leave some form of trail for the rest to follow from a further distance back. That way, incase something were to happen to the scout, we would already be on the trail to find and help them. Kane and Grumm, what do you think of this idea? Do you two maybe have any others we can consider?"

Kane thinks for a moment. “Well, it would be foolish to only send one person to follow the child, but also equally foolish if we all followed the child, wherever they went. This situation is a difficult one. Perhaps if we spilt up, one group follows the child, and the others are in standby. A smaller group would be more likely to remain undetected.”

(For reference, I was not trying to be an edgelord but reading it back that is how my first post sounded 😅)

Ash ponders it for a moment then nods "Alright. I would rather not go alone either..."

(It's all good 😁)

"That's not a bad idea either. We can choose those best for stealth and recon to go ahead then. Lets talk to some of the townsfolk and get an idea of what we can expect to potentially face in the forest, outside of the source of this problem. Then we can split into two groups of three, with those best suited for sneaking around at night taking up the task of scouting. Evas, you mentioned you can change your behemoth into different forms? Would one of them be better suited for traveling in the forest?" Ebony says, turning to look at Evas.

"Yes. I can change my vehicle into Arvanthoth's Speed, a Swift Vehicle. It's much smaller and faster compared to Arvanthoth's Shield, A Shielding Vehicle. It still wouldn't be that maneuverable, but I could carry it with some magic. I probably should be one of those on standby. While I can be sneaky when I want to, I am a creature who emits light, and my armor makes it hard to hide." Evas turns towards the door. "We should talk to the townspeople as you said. They will be our best source of information, unless we want to scout out the forest now."

"Maybe we can spill up to cover more ground," Ebony suggests. "Who is confident in there ability to scout out the forest. Ivory and I tend to feel more comfortable out in the wilderness ourselves, Though Ms. Daywalker also suggested that Ivory could help entertain the children, get their minds off things for a short while."

"I would like to accompany the forward group. I may not be the most stealthy, but the wilds are my heart and home, and this is my Quest. Wise or not, I would see it through from the fore."

"That is reasonable my friend. Kane, what of you? Do you feel you can be stealthy if need be?"

“How about we cover more ground in getting prepared for this evening. A couple of us can start scouting the area in the direction where Ms. Daywalker stated the young have attempted to leave towards, while the others enter the town and speak to the locals and gather some information. I know Grumm is at home in the wilderness and I have much in the way of wilderness experience myself. Kane, since you are able to understand Ivory, could I entrust his safety to you while we scout ahead?  I know he wishes to see if he can help bring a little bit of a distraction to these weary people and a little dragon would certainly be something to catch people’s attention. Evas and Ash, you both could aid Kane in talking to the others unless one of you wishes to scout with Grumm and myself. We should make the most out of the daylight we have,” Ebony says after thinking a bit more. 

Evas weighs his options. "Well, I'm not nearly as attuned to the wilderness as Grumm is, I mean, look at me! Except, I am pretty good at investigating things, something I picked while I was searching for a certain Ecubi. Sometimes it gets hard to talk too, those of flesh. I don't have many tricks for them other than glowing, showing them my car, or making a glass creation for them on the spot. Actually, that could be helpful. They might like a new glass charm or piece of jewlery. Though, if I search the forest, I could end their nightmares faster, and then make something for them after." He pauses for a moment, "I think I will accompany you and Grumm through the forest, unless Ash wants to go."

((what's happening? Are we continuing or...))

(I'm not sure, I hope so)

(Yeah, sorry. I've been busy lately, with college classes. I'll write up the next post today. Give me a bit of time. Again, I apologize for the delay.)

(No worries! Oh, since we also seem to be soon moving towards utility/combat encounters, could you shoot me whatever you have for low levels of occultist stuff? I realize that I never actually got that stuff from you, and it seems like it might be super helpful in the upcoming encounters.)

*Is this thread dead or just waiting?*

(Third I believe has been busy with college so he hasn't had time to post what we are doing next. Hopefully he will have some free time soon)

(Yes, sorry about that. RoughCoronet0 is correct, I have been busy with college. My finals are this week, but I should have more time from now on. I still am invested in this campaign and want to see it continue. Let's get this up again.)

So, those of you that are leaving to search the forest (that is the plan, right?), make a Survival check to try to find tracks from the people from previous nights that have left. The DC will be pretty high.