"Sarenrae, please hear your servant's request..."
Adara grits her teeth as the pain from her wounds are squeezed when her muscles contract as she tries to reach up. The pain as she bends the knee on her trapped leg is excruciating.
Adara grips the vine and begins to pull herself up along its length. As she creates some slack, she tries to loosen the loop pulled tight around her ankle.
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As Adara pulls herself up to see just what sort of mess she has gotten herself into, she notices that the vine is attached to a counter-weight that runs off into some rather thick bushes. From her current position it is difficult to see just what it was that she stepped on to trigger the trap.
After directing the others as to the direction of the counter-weight, Adara begins to loosen the loop around her ankle, allowing bloodflow to her foot to resume.
Adara prays to Sarenrae and feels the warmth of fire knitting her wounds back together slightly.
"Someone setting a fresh trap like this means we are definitely not the only survivors of our or an earlier shipwreck," the oracle says to the others. "Perhaps this trail will lead us to them."
Adara pauses as her fresh wounds not fully healed make her slightly dizzy.
"Though, perhaps I am not thinking this through fully. Does anyone have reasons we should not pursue this path?"
"It seems reasonable to seek out other survivors - cautiously, if they are setting these kinds of traps," saya Hana.
Estietre nods "Yes. We should pay our respects to the locals.. now that we know there are others here. Better to seek them out than be caught off guard."
Lawdrak nods his agreement, clucks to Sharpmaw, and moves to begin following the trail.
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Adding +2 Circumstance bonus now that they have seen one of the traps.
Having gotta Adara out of her precarious position, the party moves along the trail that Lawdrak had determined was most recently traveled. After about another thirty minutes of travel Adara nearly steps in another trap, but fortunately for the oracle, Dereje is able to spot the loop just before she steps into it.
You travel another roughly thirty minutes before, this time, Lawdrak prevents Estietre from stepping into one of the deadly spike-snare traps. Continuing on another thirty minutes you reach a "T" in the path. One branch north back toward shore, one branch south, deeper into the island's interior.
'I think that we may be safer camping back on the beach. Shall we backtrack, or do we want to follow this north branch?"
Adara frowns but nods acknowledging Lawdrak's caution.
"You may be right. Obviously whoever set these traps either knows something to hunt or perhaps a predator they wish to keep at bay is in this area. It may not be wise to linger in their paths while we are yet ignorant of both who has done this and for what creatures the traps have been set."
"I am no expert on the matter, but these do not strike me as kind of trap one uses to hunt game," Dereje remarks with a frown. "So I agree, we should head back to the beach."
Hana nods, but has nothing to add verbally.
"Since we're playing it cautious, I recommend simply returning from whence we arrived for now. Heading north from here still bears the chance of something unknown springing itself on us close to sundown."
Adara peers back along the track.
"And have we made certain we are not being followed? As said, we still do not know to what purpose the traps were made or if there is a reason to fear their intended targets."
Sharpmaw dances around in an amusing manner trying to get Lawdrak's attention for some snout rubs distracting Adara from any relevant observation of their surroundings. The oracle smiles at the cute display.
"I have no difficulty with navigating in the dark. Do any of you need light? Night will come soon," says Hana.
"I think back the way we came, even in the dark."
Adara agrees with Lawdrak, and she offers to light any torches with a snap of her finger.
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Having decided that backtracking a bit before setting camp is the best course of action, the group follows the trail back to the beach, and the abandoned campsite, where they had faced the yellow musk creeper zombie.
Setting up camp is a bit slow for those whose eyes are not so functional in darkness, but none-the-less camp is set.
Encounter Chance 15%:
Base Chance 25% - Modified for camp below
The night is mostly uneventful with the exception of the insects that seem to particularly enjoy the taste of Adara and Dereje.
Dereje peers over the map with a frown, looking a little worse for wear after a long night spent swatting away bugs.
"Hm. Perhaps we should travel along the coast. From the looks of it, we can make our way back to where we left off, assuming that the terrain agrees with us," he suggests, tracing a route along the coastline that leads to the northern branch in the road they had decided against taking. "That would just leave the southern route for us to take - we cover more new ground that way."
In the morning, Hana looks positively peaked. Once again, she refuses to complain, but she is shivering and has a hard time getting moving.
Despite some rather annoying insects which Adara had had to crisp by holding up a sparked finger in the night, she seems just fine.
She looks at Hana with concern. Without waiting for permission, the oracle begins to touch Hana's face and turn it this way and that, examining her.
"Let's resume the trail and take the fork southeast into the interior - someone has used that recently, and I would like to know who we might be sharing the island with..."
Adara seems more in favor of investigating who else can be on the island, but is not overly concerned if the vote is to pursue different avenues. Getting off the island is much more paramount to her for the sake of all the survivors.
"I am still in favor of seeking out those who've made these traps as well."
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The party awakens, and after a brief bite to eat heads off back down the trail in search of who or whatever has been setting the traps that they had found yesterday. After nearly two hours of cautious travel down the path, keeping an ever vigilant eye open for newly set or reset traps, the group reaches the fork.
Choosing to follow the path to the south the party travels for roughly thirty minutes before the path winds through a 10-foot-wide gulch, flanked on either side by 50-foot-high slopes. Not quite vertical cliffs, these slopes host numerous scraggly plants and a number of hanging vines.
DC 18 Trap
Hana and Lawdrak find it relatively easy to spot the snare concealed on the path and notice the vine rope of the snare trails up the western slope.
(+berries, -Con dmg)
(+berries, -Con dmg)
"Keep your eyes peeled. I don't like the look of this place..." Dereje remarks, looking at the slopes with a frown.
Adara attempts to tread more carefully this morning after her exciting aerial adventure the day before.
Chances are good she'll find another trap with her foot if her comrades don't stop her...
Hana looks up along the edges of the gulch, watching for shadows that might give away an ambush.
"Halt," Hana says quietly. At first it looks like it's because she needs rest; sweat beads on her forehead and her breath is a bit ragged. But she quickly straightens and then points. "Up there. There is a concealed space - a blind, a spot for someone to observe."
Mum puts her hand to her mouth as she looks up. "Oh... are you sure? Hmm. Well... anyone climbing the vine would be vulnerable to an attack as well, correct?" She frowns with disconcerted thoughts. "Troubling. What should we do?"
"If someone is there, they'll have already seen us. If not, it's possible someone left supplies there," says Hana. "Either way, we should investigate."
"Well, that certainly clears up any uncertainty..."
Knowing that his pistol would not do him much good at this range, Dereje sets about tackling the slope trying to get closer to the assailing savage.