Meanwhile, Ander keeps smiling and speaking soothingly to the madman outside, hoping to keep his attention away from the barn and perhaps do him a little good in the process.
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You step in a deep puddle that twists your ankle a bit, but it gives you an idea that if you dig ditches or pits, they will quickly fill with water and be most difficult to identify and could slow the attackers as well. If you put spikes or oil in there, you may be able to add additional damage to that as well.
These are two things that come to you off the top of your head. If you can think of additional things, based off descriptions that I have given, they may help as well.
"I doubt we'll get any more from this for now. I'll stow it in my pack and we should return to the others." Krissina runs through the test again quickly, trying to commit it to memory before wrapping it back up and hiding it among her other possessions.
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The man twitches and babbles, shoving past Ander to crawl into his half-collapsed hovel. You hear the crunching of the bones mixed in with the patter of rain.
You all can still see the fire from the fire pit and can hear the crones singing as they stir the pot of water there. Most of the villagers are in their hovels and you can see the light of their little lamps, before they start to go out, one after another, as people head off to sleep.
'Purloined documents aside, we should probably have a discussion about how we're best going to defend this place. I'll go get Ander so that we can all discuss it together." Shoun will wander over to where Ander is talking to the loonaman and say "Hey, I need your help with something. You might coming with me to the barn really quickly? We're going to have a discussion about how best to defend the village." When they get out of earshot of the hovel, Shoun will quietly add "Based on what Krissina just discovered, I'm concerned that the insane people we've encountered so far might be forward agents for whoever is doing this. I want to keep an eye on our local 'crazy person' to see if he is trying to spy on what we do."
Krissina will quietly disseminate the information she's gleaned to the others who weren't in the barn.
Did the sketch-map give any indication how far our this cave was? If we can be there and back in a half-day may be worth checking it out, if not then may be better leaving it until after the possible attack.
Uriah looks bored and miserable.
Someone magic us up a fire and some food.
"I'd like to check out this cave, as much for curiosity as relevance. Should someone wait behind to keep an eye on our madman?"
"I'd also like to see the cave." Eilren says this a little too enthusiastically. He is clearly not accustomed to periods of inaction.
"Well, let's go check out this cave then. We can't really plan out a defense in the rain like this anyway."
"If we're suspicious of this madman, then leaving him a babysitter would be rather conspicuous, and also likely wouldn't prove anything. Let's all go to the cave together, and keep an eye out for signs of being followed."
Uriah appreciates the fire that Balyzar makes and makes a huff as Ander insists they *all* go out into the rain and weather.
Uriah sighs loudly The things I do for a good song...
If it's less than an hour away I'd vote morning, though Krissina can see in the dark well enough...
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Through the course of the night, you can barely hear over the rain, the crones at the fire, singing. They do not seem to sleep, not at all, as they continue to stir the pot through the night.
Other than that, one by one, the lights go out of the houses as you assume each villager beds down for the night...
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Through the course of the night, you each bed down in your own ways. 'Sande curls up next to Shoun, and the milky-eyed nanny lays next to Krissina, while the other goats lay down in various spots around the barn.
Throughout the night, you occasionally can hear the singing of the old crones at the fire pit, but otherwise, the steady pattering of the rain upon the roof lulls you to sleep.
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The sun never makes an appearance the next morning. Instead, it simply gets brighter, until you can see easily through the curtain of rain. Water runs off in little streams throughout the little village. A ringing of a ladle against a pot lid resounds through the village signalling breakfast and, despite the rain, the village starts to come alive.
People begin coming out of their hovels and coming to the cauldron for breakfast. A short while passes and the din of conversation starts to become audible beyond the sound of the oppressive rain.
The conversation escalates a bit, almost into an argument, but is abruptly silenced as a member of the village stomps off through the rain.
"Hrmmm....I wonder what that was about. Us, most likely."
Krissina will approach the gathering and peers after the departing villageperson. "I do hope he didn't take offence on our account, is there something we can help with?"
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As you pack up to go explore the Dark Wood, nearby the village, 'Sande protests, "No mustin' walk da dark wood. Creatchahs widdin, deys gobble you!"
The dark wood covers a majority of the island, and if you did not have the journal, you think it would take you a large portion of the day. Even with the map, you would have to go by memory because of the rains.
It takes approximately 15 minutes to get to the area that you are certain the cave with the altar would be, though it seems not very easily found.
, Krissina can barely see the trees, never mind an actual cave.
"Hang on, let me try first" Ander says, eyeing the difficult downward climb. "Maybe I can make it a little easier..."
He then pulls out a handaxe and ties a rope to it (careful to loop the rope across both handle and head, so it can't just slide off). He searches for a good spot to secure the axe, using it as a grappling hook from which to lower the rope and assist in the climb.
The wood elf slides down the rope narrowly avoiding a tumble
Shoun gets about halfway down, then loses his grip and meets the party at the bottom.
"I'm okay. There's what looks like a cave down here."
Krissina slips down the rope with surprising grace, after peering down to check Shoun is okay.
Uriah attempts the climb, but gets distracted by his flowing locks and tumbles down the gully!
He glares at Ander upon reaching the bottom.