"Agreed. Did Kav tell you anything else, Merrick?" 

By the front door are four packs. Each packed with 10 days rations, 2 potions of minor healing. Pinned to one of the bags is a note.

"See you later, A."

"Merrick, see if you can copy the map for Ragnor and leave it with his pack."

Louis grabs his pack, leaving the potions for the other two, and waits for his fellow party members.

"Louis I appreciate the gesture but if I'm unconscious I would rather you had a potion you could give me to hand rather than hunt through my pack, and you never know if you'll need one if your spells run out." 

Kaemar hands back the extra potion and steps out ready to hit the road.

"Let's get a little way clear of town and then see what the land looks like, we can plan the route in more detail then, I have no idea how Ragnor is going to catch up though, he might not even bother - I wish Tuugum had another recruit here to bolster our numbers, we could have done with someone who handles a sword as well as we do with our spells and Merrick does with his bow!"

// just re read Duke's statement and realized each pack had two potions. Lol //

"So gentlemen, if you are ready shall we make tracks. I suggest we head to the first junction before deciding which route to take, if we decide to turn off the road earlier we will have to go through the dangerous area but if we hold to the road we will end up having to cross the river right by the mine and if there is any danger there I guess we will be likely to be seen. But we can hold off the decision for a bit and give Ragnor a chance to catch up with us."

Accustomed to being listened to Kaemar shoulders here pack and begins off down the road assuming that Louis and Merrick will go along with her plan.

 // I assumed that we had started hiking already and that Duke would let us know once we get to a decision point (bridge, etc) given that we may run into something before then - didn't think we'd need to exposition every action, but sure why not... //

Louis, seeming to be patiently waiting for the other party members to grab their bags and get going, starts walking down the path once Kaemar starts to move, but then stops and says, 

"Merrick - you have the map, perhaps you should be the one guiding us to the mines." 

Following the road the three of you move on. Ragnor has stayed behind under orders from Tuugum. You travel all day and in the late afternoon come to a fork in the road. 

Not sure if we're going to see Frozen again so we'll retcon that he's staying behind for something else. I'm recruiting players to join the campaign so the encounters can be a little more rough and tumble. I'll bring them in narratively in the next little bit. 

Drive the story forward as you see fit and I'll jump in to flesh out interaction with the world and establish pacing. 

"Well, here's the fork - perhaps we could observe the mine from the other bank without crossing the bridge - ah... never mind, they said don't camp along the river.  Well, I don't mind taking the more dangerous path if it means remaining unobserved from the mine. I guess that'll be my vote - what say you two?"

Given the previous encounter the day before, Louis will try to be a bit more observant than usual.

"I'm fine with that, I think we will be ok if we keep our eyes out, we might be able to sneak past anything we encounter anyway. Merrick are you going to scout a little way ahead? Not far though - we should stick together as much as possible I think. If you give a hand signal I can whisper a message to you and you can reply with what you see if you need to."

Kaemar pulls out a copy of the map and starts looking at it herself, turning it around and trying to match it up with the view in front of her, she sees Louis staring at her and the copy of the map

"What, this? I took it from Ragnor's bag, he might not even need it and if he does Kav can draw him another one. I didn't like the idea of only having the one copy, what if something happened to Merrick's one, or Merrick" she says smiling and waving to Merrick a little way off ahead.

So is it safe to say that the three of us are moving along the route towards the area marked danger! If so can we organise a walking order, I respectfully suggest Merrick, Kaemar then Louis but I'm ok with an alternative suggestion. Again I'd suggest we could be described as moving cautiously although still making some progress. If the others agree then we can write it in character.

// Going to respond to you in character, if you all don't mind, so that we can proceed; I'm eager as I'm sure you are, too. //

Louis responds, "The idea is sound to me and I'm fine bringing up the rear. I agree, as cautious and as quiet as we can muster.  Merrick, just don't get too far ahead of us in case we need to run up to support you."

//  Stealth: 11 , Perception: 18 //

// sigh - natural 20 on stealth loss due to disadvantage from heavy armor... LOL //

"Louis is right, Merrick, stay near enough that we can help if necessary and don't take any risks - together we can do great things but any of us could be vulnerable on our own."

Kaemar turns back to Louis, gives a nod to signify she is ready, adjusts her pack and follows Merrick down the trail trying to stay stealthy.

Stealth 7

You take the western fork in the road and progress in order. The road is long and the forest grows thick. After an hour you can't see more than ten feet into the forest on either side. 

 After a couple hours the shadows grow long and night will fall soon. 

What will the party do in the night?

OOC: Reminder that I'm out on vacation this week so posts will be slow. Feel free to play Merrick if need to be move things along.

Merrick is happy to scout ahead. "Scout ahead? Sure! No problem!" Merrick is proud to take point for his friends, his little chest swelling with pride. "I'll send you hand signals for danger, okay? Unless you prefer bird calls. Hmm, maybe if it's dark then hand signals would be bad. Maybe bird calls and signals? Or I could just shout DANGER. That works too."

"So should we get off the road and make camp a little way off over there somewhere? I have to confess I don't have a huge amount of experience of camping out and sleeping under the stars. Do you think we should make a fire, I assume we'll get cold without and you two will need to be able to see too, I can see well enough in the dark to not need the light but if we are going to set a watch will you both be able to manage?"

Kaemar's anxiety comes out in a flurry of questions.

// Sorry everyone, phone issues + all day conference with the boss. //

"Yes, off the road would be a good idea," Louis replies.  Then looking around, "We should see if we can find a copse of trees or other defensible position that at least somewhat hides us."

// Survival Check (not proficient): 11 //

"We should pass on the camp fire - it'll bring us unwanted attention. I'm not sure how cold it necessarily gets around here, but a lone camp fire in the forest in the area Kev marked 'dangerous' is liable to get spotted."

After finding what seems to be a suitable campsite, "We should also set up a watch. Merrick and I don't have the best of eyes in the dark so perhaps he takes the first watch and I'll take the last watch, leaving you with, unfortunately, the darkest part of the night.  We'll be fine - don't get nervous. Just keep an eye out for trouble and if you're not sure, wake us up anyways - preferably quietly in case we haven't been spotted." Louis reassuringly pats Kaemar on the back.

Louis' calm, military manner helps quell Kaemar's nerves and she settles down to rest ready to take her shift in the middle of the night.

The party sits down to rest for the night. Tucked in amongst the trees off the road. Merrick's watch, while extremely creepy, passes without event. He wakes up Kaemar in the middle of the night to take over. 

An hour into Kaemar's watch she hears a twig snap in the distance. 

Perception Check

Perception 3

Edit: Oh dear, sorry folks.