You are members of the Army of the Freeland of Amerys, a newly reformed country and the first to bring Democracy to Valcia. Your missions will involve the safety and protection of Amerys, the expansion of your lands through the conquest of or alliance with new territories, and the abolishment of slavery.
Two days later, you come upon a small spring where you stop to fill your waterskin. As you sit crouched on the bank, you hear heavy, weary, footfalls approaching from the opposite side of the spring.
What do you do?
Trio:
Two days later, you hear the sound of a fresh spring off in the distance and decide to fill your waterskins there. Cyrus realizes that a source of fresh water would be precious in this enviornment and is likely watched if not defended.
Mortimer stays calm, confident in his ability to escape if necessary. He double checks that his spellbook is hidden away, then finishes filling his waterskin and watches where the footsteps are coming from.
Hp 81/81 AC 24 (21) (+12 Perc; +4 Init; Fort +9, Ref +10, Will +7)
DM / Trio:
We don't need fresh water, Esther can create at will gallons of it. Ether will have a look to see if anyone is currently watching the source of fresh water. If needed she will send Cyrus to have a look around
Cyrus and Erianna crep forward to find Mortimer, alet and attentive beside the pool. Clearly he heard you coming, but he is searching in the wrong direction.
Hp 81/81 AC 24 (21) (+12 Perc; +4 Init; Fort +9, Ref +10, Will +7)
yes, just outside of the city we encountered a men with his two sons, we know that he has talked to you, did you enchant up his chest? And in the forest close by a squad of solider were brutally killed by three people who didn't leave a single tracks as they left the killing field. she whispers back to him
A handfull of minutes later, 5 men bearing skins and buckets enter the clearing and begin filling their containers.
The men work efficiently, clearly having done this before.
They are a wirey sort: clearly stron, yet accostomed to a life of hard labor and want. Each carries a number of weapons, most of which seem to have known use as tools as well.
I did Cyrus, thanks for the reminder though; it is so easy to forget the little things :)
The men continue their work in silence and when the last container is full the make ready to leave. However, the man that spotted two of our heroes makes a curious gesture with his hands: a thumb drawn across the throat followed by two hands pulling down (like a pull-up or donning a shirt).
Instantly, all five reach into the satchels at their hips and slip on fine chain shirts of blood red links. The shirts are finely made and clearly designed to don and doff quickly.
Now armored, the men gather the water and troop off in the way they had come.
KN: LOCAL DC 19:
Those chain shirts are the signature marker of the Red Shirt Mercenaries from the impenetrable Ledranos Mountain to the north. They are fantastic warriors and even the very worst of them is said to have the skill of 2 or three Amerysi soldiers.
Anyone retaining even one such fighter is considered very well protected indeed. To see five at once should cause concern at the very least...
Once the men have left, Erianna turns to Esther and Cyrus again - "Good to know that, but what are they doing here? And what now friends? Should we wait for Mortimer's infiltration to pay off, and his contact?"
"It's the kind of plan you don't half-ass can't exactly turn back now with half the country looking for him. Might as well follow through and hope for the best at this point."
You may do whatever you wish. You are supposed to be "tracking the rogue wizard" down, you could follow the mercs, you could head back to the road, you could try tracking the bandits yourselves, you can simply travel on to the capital to report and/or start back the other way.
Erianna stands and adjusts the weapons on her belt. "As long as it looks like we're tracking that 'scoundrel', we're fine. Anything else is gravy."
The three wander about, following the "tracks" Cyrus finds. By the end of the day, the three are good and lost, knowing only that the road lies to the west.
I made a KN: LOCAL and and INT check for you since you don't have local.
What little you've heard of these red shirt mercenaries makes you wonder if they are in league with the bandits. Also, they are carrying far more water than the 5 of them would need...
Hp 81/81 AC 24 (21) (+12 Perc; +4 Init; Fort +9, Ref +10, Will +7)
I am having enough of this. We need to find some solution to our tracking problem this can't go on for ever. I am going to have to learn this stuff she says venting her frustration as she beds down
After an hour or two, Mortimer's pursuit of the Red Shirts leads him down an embankment and into the root system of a massive oak tree. Once through, the ground opens up into a wide hollow with massive roots closing in two sides and a rock face closing in the last.
This place would only be visible from the sky, and with only one entrance, easily defended...
What is odd, is that there a wooden posts littering the landscap in here, and men walk along wooden boardwalks between the posts.