Suddenly stopping, Victor looks at Belril a bit puzzled. "Well? Why have we stopped? Do not tell me we have lost the trail." Receiving no response from Belril, Victor just throws his hands up. "Well that is just great! Now what are we going to do?" Victor complains. Then it occurs to him that maybe he can find the trail. "Wait! Maybe I can find it. Here, I will try. It cannot hurt." He then attempts to see if he can locate it, possibly bumping into the others during the process.
As they hurry to rejoin the others, he tries to strike up a conversation. "So you said you picked Camlo up on the Mwangi coast? Do a lot of travelling, do you?"
Then her face flushes with embarrassment, realizing she's been rambling. She clears her throat and says But yes, to answer your original question, I have travelled quite a bit. Most of the Inner Sea region and some beyond that.
When they reach the cave entrance (assuming they don't run into delays), Eponine will stop and examine it for a few moments. Looking to Kern, she'll say I'm thinking about planting a sunrod here to make it easier for the watch to find, especially after dark. Help me find a good spot that will make it easy for them to see for a ways.
Victor's voice rolls out from the darkness of the trees, "Well that is just great! Now what are we going to do? Wait! Maybe I can find it. Here, I will try. It cannot hurt."
Trying to find the trail again Victor starts scrutinizing the ground as he heads back towards the coast. It seems that he is not finding anything that indicates the trail of your quarry.
Just the Four of Us:
"Wait! I think I found it." He looks and looks and notices nothing. "Nevermind. It is nothing." Shrugging, he hears Belril mutter something under his breath. "Hm? Did you say something, Belril? I could not understand you. It must be my hearing." He attempts to clear out his ear with his finger. "You know what they say; the hearing is the first thing to go." He claps him on the shoulder, smiling at his own humor.
At Wren's request, Victor thinks that's a pretty good idea. "It could not hurt." He shrugs. "I nearly found the lost trail, so I am thinking the darkness had an affect on me. I think I was pretty close. Maybe some more light will help. That way, Belril can assist me in finding the lost trail this time." He gives Belril a thumbs up on his good plan. "Come on Belril my good ma... halfling! We can re-find this trail!" He says in quite the chipper tone, oblivious to how much irritation Belril is suffering because of him.
Victor looks up at Sophy, deathly afraid she might start crying again by the looks of it, and lies. "No, no, no, Miss Sophy, we are not lost. Belril has re-found the trail; it is right over here." He vaguely waves nowhere. "I was only kidding." He laughs terribly bad and then clears his throat to help cover it up. "We are just taking a rest. We all are quite tired, you know."
You know he's lying. We are lost and crying is really the only option at this point.
After Eponine mentions hearing something, he strains to hear too. "I don't hear anything, but I'll take your word for it. Let's get moving!"
Victor's voice carries in the gloom of the coming dusk, "Wait! I think I found it....Nevermind. It is nothing...Hm? Did you say something, Belril? I could not understand you. It must be my hearing....You know what they say; the hearing is the first thing to go....It could not hurt....I nearly found the lost trail, so I am thinking the darkness had an affect on me. I think I was pretty close. Maybe some more light will help. That way, Belril can assist me in finding the lost trail this time.....Come on Belril my good ma,halfling! We can re-find this trail...No, no, no, Miss Sophy, we are not lost. Belril has re-found the trail, it is right over here....I was only kidding." He laughs terribly bad and then clears his throat to help cover it up. "We are just taking a rest. We all are quite tired, you know."
Eponine follows the sound and comes into view of the others, with Kern right behind her. Victor appears to be failing at calming down Sophy who's eyes are larger than a spotted owls. Wren is holding her magical light high to aid Belril as he searches the ground. Just as the re-joiners arrive Belril exclaims, "Here it is." The halfling is kneeling by a moldy stump where he has found the tracks of a boot clad humanoid carrying a heavy load. The trail heads north with an easterly slant.
Eponine and Kern emerge from the woods behind the group. I'm so glad you are okay!
She walks up to Victor and gives him a hug before handing off a longbow and a quiver with twenty arrows in it. I have Savah that little tiara we found on the demon for the bow and Kern's new flail. I'm honestly not sure if that was fair or not; we can balance up with her if we need to when we return with Ameiko.
Victor breathes a deep sigh of relief that Belril has found the trail. As he's about to check on Sophy, he's taken by surprise at the arrival of Eponine and Kern. "Yes, we managed to survive. And thank you for the bow. Hopefully I can avoid breaking this one." He smiles as the lie suddenly pops back into his head. "Oh, Miss Sophy! You see?" He points to where the trail is. "I told you we had not lost the trail. I was not lying at all." He says, quite relieved.
I gave Savah that little tiara we found on the demon for the bow and Kern's new flail. I'm honestly not sure if that was fair or not; we can balance up with her if we need to when we return with Ameiko.
** spoiler omitted **
"Nice to see you two again. Well, are we ready to keep following this trail? Quicker we get goign, the quicker we find Ameiko."
All of you follow along as Belril leads you through the woods. In about half an hour you reach the Lost Coast Road. The trail blends into the the merchant travel, but Belril is able to pick it out again after a few moments and you continue on East. An hour later you have traveled the Ticks Wood and the Shanks Wood and crossed over the Thistle River. The trail turns abruptly north crossing over a patch of grass lands as it heads into the Nettlewood.
You press on into the thick tangles of the woods following the trail, sensing the change in the air indicating you are getting close to the coast again. As you pick your way around thickets of briars and patches of spiny thistle bushes you soon discover a trail that has obviously been used by goblins. Could this be the way to one of the lairs, Shalelu told you about?
Eventually you arrive to a spot where the briars and thistles grow even more dense and tangled. Although not quite dense enough to block the sound of waves crashing on the unseen shores to the west, the undergrowth is certainly thick enough to block sight and access to the coast. Few trees grow this close to the edge of the sea, but the briars themselves often reach heights to rival them; here, the patch is nearly twenty feet high.
The tracks you have been following have disappeared, covered by dozens of goblin tracks. It has now been about three hours since you left the caves under Sandpoint. You are tired, hungry and starting to feel the chill of coastal air.
Victor stops a moment to stretch out his back before speaking. "It is getting dark. And now it seems we have found us a new set of 'friends'." He looks at the tracks, shaking his head in irritation at the thought. "Just great." He pulls out his bow, testing the string. "Well, unless we plan on resting for the night, I suggest we prepare ourselves for these little monsters." As the string seems taut enough, "Alright then, let us proceed."
Sophy shivers in her light street clothes, hugging her arms around herself as she watches the halfling finish his snack.
Noticing Sophy, Victor pulls a blanket out of his pack. "Here, Sophy. Let us put this around you." He places the blanket around her shoulders. "Did you not bring anything with you?" He asks with a worried tone.
"We really should have picked up some camping supplies while we were in town," Kern says to Eponine. He turns to the others and says, "Who has food and who doesn't?"
"I ... I didn't know we were leaving Sandpoint," she says apologetically, wrapping the blanket around her more tightly. "I thought I'd be ... home tonight." She looks toward Kern shamed-facedly. "I don't have anything but some ink and paper. Not much use out here."
Kern shrugs. "That's all right. I didn't do any better. I didn't bring anything either, and I was just in town a short time ago. Anyone up for some hunting?"
"I've got three days worth of rations, some water, and a bedroll with me. We can divvy up the food and water, but the bedroll's mine!"
Victor digs into his pack again. "Here. Take this as well." He takes her hand and places some rations of his own in it. "Eat up. The last thing we need is you drying up and blowing away on us." He smiles jokingly at her. Turning to the others, "Well, are we to stop and rest here? Most of us, if not all, are tired and possibly hungry. But, we also have a great sense of urgency in finding Ameiko. So I will ask again: Are we to rest here, or, press on until we either find Ameiko or drop dead in the process?" He asks matter-of-factly.
"If we're going to be out here, I'd as soon be doing something," Sophy offers softly. "I don't think I could sleep out here anyway, wondering what might find us. Whoever it was couldn't have carried Ameiko much farther, could he?" she asks, already tired from just carrying herself. "If we find where he took her, maybe there will be some sort of shelter." And real food, she goes on silently, chewing the dried rations dutifully but without enthusiasm.
Eponine will accept food from others, shaking her head that she didn't think of that while they were in town. Too focused and too scatterbrained at the same time...
I think we should push on as well. I hate to think of Ameiko in goblin's hands. But, none of us can see in the dark, right? And any light we use will be like a beacon to them.
Victor shrugs. "It matters little. Let them come. That way we do not have to go looking for them." He states emphatically.
Everyone takes some time to fill their growling tummies, the food boosts your energy giving you a sense you can a will go on to find Ameiko. Once the food is gone and you are done taking your first break of a long day, you are tired but ready to continue.
But where will you go? The thicket here is a giant wall of thorns and briars that blocks your way. There are goblin tracks all over the place, leading in all sorts of directions.
"On with it then. As many goblin tracks as there are here, let's just pick one and follow it. They probably will all end in the same place."
The tracks are difficult to follow here, there is a large cluster of tracks that indicate comming, going, and general milling about. Going away from the northern thicket the tacks on the path you arrive indicate the largest amount of movement which and is probably the they way the raiders of Sandpoint came and went. Tracks that indicate patrols, possibly with goblin dogs, head out and back the other ways. You also think there are some tracks that were made by two or three different humans, or possibly elves/ half-elves. Belril even finds a print that makes him think there is a bugbear milling about as well.
The area where Eponine finds a lot of milling about... BF25 around through BE28. She is going to check for any sort of concealed entrance into the thickets there. She'll take 20 to do so. Do any of the tracks right next to the thicket seem to be half in the thicket and half out?
Eponine searches and disovers a mat of woven thistles wedge up concealing an opening in the thicket. A four-foot-high tunnel winds through the dense briars and nettles. The floor is hard-packed earth, with patches of wiry plants growing stubbornly here and there.
As he leans over to peruse the hidden tunnel, Sophy notices Kern wince in pain. "Oh, you're hurt," she breathes, reaching out instinctively to him. Her compassion blossoms over the touch, flooding him with a momentary sense of warmth that washes away some of the pain of the previous battle.
Kern takes a deep breath and sighs contentedly. "Thanks, Sophy," he says. "That helped a lot."
Eponine lets Belril continue to lead the way, though she stays close behind to help watch for traps in the tunnel.
As Belril ducks into the briary tunnel, Sophy struggles to get Father Zantus' wand out of her pack and touches Eponine with it.
Wren uncomfortably follows the others in the tunnel. She kept quiet so the others could search for traps.
Seeing the cramped quarters, "This just keeps getting better, does it not? Now we have to fight with our knees hitting our chins." With a resigned sigh, Victor follows the others into the deathtrap. Finding it difficult to maneuver, "How do you small people live in such confines? It must be difficult." He asks Belril.
Kern bends down and squeezes down into the tunnel. He chuckles slightly at Belril's response to Victor.