Athene, you have finally made it to the forest border of your people's land after days of traveling.  What defines the border is hard to explain--it's not a token or an artifact, not a line, but rather a feeling, maybe a smell. As such, the border would be imperceptible to outsiders. And for this reason it is sometimes visited by outsiders, sometimes for ill purpose, sometimes not. You smell the air. It has not been visited by outsiders recently. And yet, the air smells different. It smells...bland. Like the absence of smell. This is new. You put it in a pocket in your mind for review later. For now, you must continue on. 

This is a trip you have made before, sometimes on orders, sometimes not. Each time, with each step beyond the border, you can feel your senses awaken, as though every pore in your body is aperture on its widest setting. Your movement slows involuntarily as you take it all in. It's almost like you are memorizing the patterns of nature around you, but these are foreign patterns, like a different alphabet, and are harder to decipher. It is intriguing to you - but you are on orders and speed is essential. You must find the source of this mold, and to do that, you must find its path. 

OOC: Can you describe how Athene behaves in these scouting missions? Does she have any rituals or habits or rules? 

Athene dropped to the forest floor. She swept back her hood, exposing shoulder length silver hair and a pair of hawkish yellow eyes. She glanced around the clearing cautiously. This mission had taken her farther from the border than she'd ever gone before. Out here the woods were truly wild, without even the gentlest nurturing of the elves of Aelmistra. The Blight festered unchecked in these woods, and danger lurked behind each tree. Her mother's training came back to mind. 'Be one with the woods,' Strigia had taught them, 'Lose yourself in them. Only when you are attuned with the current can you sense that which disturbs it.'

She took care to move silently. 'Silence is life,' her mother had instructed them. She was careful as well to leave no trace. The vaelahryn were always worried about the possibility of unintentionally guiding outsiders to Aelmistra was unthinkable. She traveled light, carrying only her weapons and a small pack. A vaelahryn was expected to survive on what nature provided, to carry only what was required. Athene carried something else, one of her favorite trinkets from her collection: a small glass sphere filled with shimmering multicolored smoke in a small leather pouch. 

She could feel the strangeness in the air. It was like stepping from a warm room into the cool air. As if on instinct she hunched down and readied her bow. Her eyes scanned the ground ahead, seeking the source of the strange energy.

The trees in this part of the world are old and tall, but as you follow the trail you have decided to follow, you notice they become newer and shorter, but denser. The ground underfoot is wetter, too--you must be close to the lake now which is where you've been told to go--the Blight has travelled there, so your goal is to see where it is now and move backwards until you see its origin. 

Please roll a survival check to see how your journey is going. You can roll here, or in D&D Beyond--I accept either. 

Survival Check: 10

With a 14 you are doing OK--navigating around the soil that is becoming increasingly wet and boggy. Your step is light but occasionally you feel your feet being almost sucked into the soil--it's not a pleasant feeling, but you are able to quickly turn over your feet to avoid being stuck. 

Your trip is definitely slowing down as the forest floor is becoming wetter and you are needing to be more deliberate in picking your way through the mire. But you are still advancing forward and know to be going in the right direction.

Eventually you see that the trees are thinning--they are still large and old, but there is more space between them. You can see the lake now too, up ahead. You get ready to start up again but then you hear something crying out. It is a screech--no, more of a wail. It is coming from nearer the lake and it sounds anguished. 

(OOG Assuming you are not going to decide to turn around and head back, I have a puzzle for you to do here but the other two parties are not as quick as you are so I may not be able to proceed until they are ready. Can't predict when that will be but stay tuned!)

Athene immediately hunches down, draws her bow, and nocks an arrow. She moves forward, staying behind tree trunks for cover, keeping to the shadows and the underbrush. Her eyes scan the way forward, hunting for the source of the wailing. She was perilously close to some known outsider settlements. If she was seen . . . well, she would deal with that if it should happen. For now she merely hid in a thicket and scanned the shoreline.

Love this. As an aside, you are a great writer!! This is going to be so fun!

As you are scanning the shoreline you see an awkward movement about 150 feet away. It's a large creature, bipedal, but taller and broader than a human but smaller than an Orc, or even a half orc. As your eyes focus you see that this creature is armed with a quarterstaff and has a tail. This is an Outsider, certainly, but you cannot say from where. Certainly if you have ever seen Dragonborn before they are rare. 

You watch as it--she?--scans the muddy forest floor. It---she?--has heard that wailing too, and searches for it. 

What do you do?

***

[OOG I am going to start a new thread shortly as one member of the party has arrived at Kindermarsh.]

Athene lets her bowstring slacken, but she doesn't drop her guard. All she knows of the dragonborn are stories told by travelers she's eavesdropped on and illustrations in books she's snatched. The dragonborn's robes certainly look familiar; she's seen other outsiders wearing similar ones in the past. She notices that the stranger also seems to be looking for the source of the noise. For now, Athene follows at a distance to see what the Outsider's intentions are. 

OOC, can I do a history check or something to see if I know anything about the Academy?

I'll give you a freebie--there is no uniform at The Academy so you wouldn't really be able to tell if someone were around on Academy business. 

But yeah if you want to know more, do a history check. 

History check: 0

With an 8 I think that the only thing you can think of is that the Academy is a large school for magic users to the northwest of here. 

So far the Dragonborn has not seen you but is not moving forward. They seem to have noticed something on the ground near them and from their movements you can tell it's likely the blight, only you can tell they are meeting it for the first time. 

Athene gets into cover, out of the line of sight of the dragonborn, and calls out, "Don't touch that. It's dangerous." She stays in her hiding spot until she thinks she has a chance to move undetected.