The following day Sandru wakes up the caravan early and you leave the city of Jol back eastward in the direction you came.
GM Rolls
The caravan makes really good time covering the terrain that you have already seen and you can see off in the distance that the terrain is getting decisively more wooded to the north.
On the third day of your travel, you reach the fourway intersection in the road where you had come from Brinewall and Sandru leads the caravan to the left to go north where the sign points toward the Grungir Forest.
Around noon Sandru call to a halt as he sees a large herd stampeding towards the caravan. Due to his guile, the majority of the stampeding wooly rhinos stay clear of the caravan, however 1 makes their way towards you.
Initiative: Vermundr , Ahiko , Takeshi , Kalistrine , Sandru , Ameiko , Rhino
Sandru, Ameiko, Rhino, Ahiko, Vermundr, Kalistrine, Takeshi
Round 1
Sandru, who was tying down the horses, takes a quick shot at the first rhino with his shortbow miss.
Ameiko who was helping him with his duties, whips out her bass samisen and plays inspire competence for Takeshi giving him +2.
The Rhino powerful charges Sandru hits causing worth of damage and he is knocked unconscious.
Ahiko
Ahiko yelps in surprise as Sandru drops to the ground unconscious... she looks with fear and trepidation at the rhino. She moves forward, closer to the unconscious Sandru, hoping to get in close enough to touch him next time... however at this time, neutralizing the rhino would seem most advantageous, and touching Sandru would require her to be too close to the beast. She casts glitterdust on the rhino, hoping to blind it, praying that if it is blinded, it will wander off in a random direction rather than charging someone else.
Rhino Will , fail the rhino is blinded but seems even more agitated.
Vermundr
Pleased with himself both for the fantastic tumble he had in Jol and with the gift he found for Shalelu, Vermundr can't help but grin as he enters the edge of the camped caravan with Kali. He studies the quiver one more time, admiring the craftsmanship. It was made from soft doeskin and died a deep shade of green. It was slimmer than a traditional quiver too, designed to be lighter and have a smaller profile underneath a cloak - a welcome blessing for long days ranging.
Vermundr flags down the elf as soon as he spots her.
"I trust it's been quiet?" the young ulfen asks even though he already knows the answer.
"I got you something while I was in town."
***
Vermundr curses when the beast comes into view and slams into Sandru, wounding him badly.
"Holy s*+&?! What did we do to piss it off?"
The young ulfen pulls the bow off of his back and fires an arrow.
Vermundr hits the rhino.
Kalistrine
Kalistrine attacks the rhino with her ranseur and misses.
Takeshi
Takeshi moves towards the rhino drawing his blade. Muttering an incantation, he causes his blade to crackle with energy before he strikes at the creature.
Takeshi hits the rhino.
Round 2
Ameiko plays a tune and casts cure light wounds on Sandru . He is stabilized.
Due to the rhino's scent ability, he attacks Takeshi hit
Ahiko
Ahiko touches Takeshi with a healing hex.
Vermundr
Vermundr continues to fire at the sightless beast.
The first arrow misses wide whereas the second one finds its target.
Kalistrine
Kalistrine attacks the rhino with her ranseur hit
Takeshi
Takeshi withdraws from the creature and sheaths his blade.
Round 3
Ameiko moves to flank the rhino miss
Rhino detects Kalistrine's scent DC18 and then moves and attacks her and does damage.
Ahiko
Ahiko moves to aid Kali and puts a healing hex on her.
Returning to camp from town, Kalistrine walks up to Sandru with a grin on her face. "Well, if it isn't the Trade Prince of the North!" she says, slapping him on the back a little harder than most would. "Problem as I see it is, you don't look it. More like a Sczarni rogue out to steal men's daughters!" she chuckles. "But, lucky for you you got me looking out for you." She produces a package wrapped in brown paper and hands it to him. "That'll make you more presentable."
------------
On the road... seeing Sandru trampled by the Rhino, she goes into a rage. "SANDRU!" she shrieks and redoubles her attacks on the blinded beast.
Vermundr
Vermundr sinks more arrows into the angry rhino.
"Someone get Sandru out of there!"
Vermundr strikes the rhino twice with arrows from his bow.
Kali tries to hit the rhino but her ranseur attacks just seem to bounce off the wooly leathery skin.
Takeshi
Keeping away from the creature, Takeshi points a finger at the large creature and a beam of searing heat shoots from it's tip, boring into the creature.
Takeshi hits the rhino with his fingertip heat.
Round 4
Ameiko flanking the rhino miss
Rhino 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28 and does 2d8 + 13 ⇒ (2, 2) + 13 = 17 damage.
The rhino bucks in the air and then runs as fast as it can as it regains its eyesight and runs away.
Combat Over
Ahiko moves to Ameiko and heals her with a hex.
"Thanks Ahiko, but Sandru needs it more than I, I wasn't even hurt." says Ameiko.
Ameiko moves to Sandru and puts a healing hex on him.
Vermundr doesn't keep firing but keeps his bow trained on the beast in case it turns around. When it looks like it's gone for good, Vermundr rushes forward to help the wounded up.
"You still with us Sandru? Can't have you dying on us pretty-boy."
Kalistrine drops her Ranseur, her fury washing from her as quickly as it arrived. She drops to her knees next to Sandru, fumbling at her belt for a vial of healing potion. "Sandru? Sandru? Is he..." she asks, her expression one of fear - something you've likely never seen on her face before.
Sandru's eyes open and he looks down where the mighty tusk tore his shirt and chuckles to himself. "Right quick wadn't he..."
He then gets up and says, "Is everyone else alright?"
He looks at the Ulfen and says, "Who you callin purty, i've been doin da durt long 'fore you was burn.. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
Vermundr answers the wounded Sandru with a laugh. "Let's keep an eye out for anymore of those. That thing was mean."
Kalistrine rises with Sandru. "You're a lucky son of a b!*(#." she says, looking relieved. She doesn't slap him on the shoulder though, staying near to him instead.
Sandru looks at Kali and says, "Couldve been worse, were it a Smilodon, he would have eaten me... "
The caravan halts until the stampede passes and then Koya heals Sandru fully during this time and once all of the rhinos are gone, Sandru starts the caravan anew.
Around nightfall is when the caravan stops for the evening and Shalelu rides back to camp. She looks a little worse for wear with her horse having a large gash on its side and her bowstring starting to fray.
"Sandru, them rhinos came out of nowhere. Luckily I made it to a river where most stopped and took a drink. How are you holding up?"
Vermundr frowns in concern at Shalelu’s return. ”I didn’t know you’d left to range. You should have taken me with you. The beasts out here are dangerous.”
Shalelu laughs, "My job on this trek is to range, I scout alone. You can also scout but it defeats the purpose to do it as a team, make too much noise cannot bring down the best game."
The day after the rhinos, Sandru gets the caravan moving at daybreak to make up for lost time
GM Rolls
Perception DC 18
At about noon on the first day the caravan still on the trade route enter the Grungir Forest following it northward toward Losthome.
Grungir FOrest Knowledge Geography/Local DC 15
Linnorm Kingdoms’ wilderness. While fey,
wild animals, monsters, and linnorms reside
everywhere humans do not, in Grungir Forest, they rule.
The forest is home to Fafnheir, said to be the oldest and
most powerful of the linnorms, as well as to numerous
enclaves of strange and powerful fey creatures. Portals to
the legendary First World flicker within the woodlands’
tangled depths, and in places the very trees themselves
move and speak in thunderous tones.
Grungir Forest spreads across the central southlands in
a nearly unbroken mass, with only the Thundering River
and a few roads providing a break in the eastern reaches.
While humans engage in logging and trapping around
the forest’s eastern outskirts, particularly in the vicinity
of Losthome, they are careful not to harvest too deeply
into the woods—even for rare and valuable hardwoods,
it’s generally not considered worth the risk to travel far
enough in that you can’t see the forest’s edge. This same
reluctance to explore does not apply to the numerous
adventurers from across the Inner Sea region who have
been drawn to Grungir Forest, eager to plumb its depths
in the hunt for unique creatures or secret places of power.
Yet despite the number of explorers, Grungir Forest has
always proved more than their equal, and to date, it has
kept the majority of its secrets quite well.
By the second day the caravan reaches the Thundering River and is able to see more and more Ulfen settlements along the river where mostly loggers live. Sandru is sure to sell some of his wares to the locals and make a steady profit.
On the third day you by nightfall you reach the bridge to Losthome.
Kalistrine sees nothing of note during the trip. She stays close to Sandru during this time.
”The perfect place for an ambush”, Vermundr muses aloud while he surveys the scene with his bow in hand.
The fourth day from the rhino encounter Sandru getst the caravan moving and does not cross the bridge Losthome but mirror the river as it by midday bends in a north-westerly direction.
GM Rolls
,
During the Day:
DC 22 Perception check
the same raven comes back every other day and you notice that one of its wing pinions is blood-red in color
At night:
An extremely heavy fog rolls in
as evening sets, reducing visibility below 50 feet and
making the nighttime camp much darker than usual.
While walking around the caravan wagons in the fog as the rest are eating dinner, Kalistrine sees a group of women lurking in the forest.
Brandishing her Ranseur, she peers into the fog at the women, then calls back to the caravan. "HO! Someone out here!" she shouts, before backing away cautiously, watching them.
Ulfen
The women run away at breakneck speed using the soupiness of the fog to get away quickly.