Welcome!
Finn hops off her seat and bids a jaunty farewell to everyone in the tavern. She gives a tug on Ira's tunic and says, "Time to go meet the others." She heads outside where she looks for Tensen and waits for Gimlet.
Ira, very relieved to be exiting the tavern, and civilization in general, follows after Finn silently.
"Ira, it looks like Tensen is off tending to his Lion, Lilith, and I have no idea what happened to Gimlet." She sighs deeply. She may be friendly and outgoing, but she seems to have little patience. "I wonder where they could be. Maybe we should just go back inside and wait for them... who knows something else might turn up... there was that nice half elf, and the gorgeous human in the strange hat. Maybe they will want to hunt that bounty with us... or just explore." She shrugs and smiles a little, not her usual bubbly self, a bit more subdued.
"I so want to be out and DOING something, yanno?"
Ira shrugs noncommittally, she seems to be content following the gnome in whatever is next.
Tensen strides up, shortspear in one hand and light wooden shield strapped to the other. "Ready to go, finally?"
Lillith pads up beside him; the lioness strikes an imposing figure and looks at Finn with her big, brown eyes. She moves towards Finn and gives her a playful bat with her paw, rolling onto her back. She gives a small roar, begging to be scratched.
Tensen smiles a bit at the great cats antics. "She seems to like you already, good. Earn her trust and she may even let you ride her." Tensen taps his foot with a slight impatience and wonders aloud, "Now where is the small one with the mask.. As soon as he is here we can set off."
"Hi, Tensen! Good to see you, I was beginning to wor... ry?" Her voice goes up almost an octave as she gets batted by the lion, but when it doesn't hurt her she grins and reaches out a tentative hand to scratch the proffered belly. "Oh... my... she's... beautiful!" Finn's eyes tear up as she speaks and rubs the lion's chest and belly...
She half turns to Tensen without quitting the scratching. "Haven't seen Gimlet yet, he didn't come downstairs while we were in the tavern. Haven't seen Chuff either, and no sign of his wolf... I wonder if they left in the night. There are two new people in the tavern, a human and a half-elf named Ax."
Ira doesn't seem at all anxious, or impatient. She has taken the sword from her back and now leans against it, swaying back and forth as she waits.
After a glorious long dream involving slimy pickles, Chuffy enters the deserted common room and dashes outside screaming, Don't leave me yet! We haven't even gone anywhere! Chuffnose here, present, accounted for, ready
Ira, still leaning on the sword, gives Chuffy an uncharacteristically jaunty wave.
"Good morning, goblin!"
Scittering to a halt, Morning?! Yes, it is morning! Not too late at all! Time to go! Ride! Charge that way! pointing wildly towards the west.
A bit more calmly, We are going yes?
"CHUFF! I thought you weren't coming! Good to see you. I'm sorry to say we haven't heard anything from Gimlet, but with four of us, I guess we're kinda good to go. Where's Nose?" Finn greets her fellow small person warmly and smiles at him.
To all she says, "Well, shall we move out?" but she doesn't wait for an answer, hefting her pack and starting to walk to the west, trusting that with her slow small-person speed, the others will be able to catch up with her in no time.
Ira follows after Finn excitedly, in a much better mood than any of her companions have seen so far. She doesn't speak.
As you are exploring the hilly woods just west of Fallsvale, you encounter a number of kobold tracks, headed NWW.
"Ira, you look like you're positively glowing. I guess you weren't too comfortable in town. The wilderness definitely agrees with you. I'm glad to see you so ... happy."
FINN! Mask is here![b] peering around Somewhere. Perhaps he has turned invisible?! You never can be sure with witchy gnomes.[/b] With a word, which wanders from whine to woof, Nose appears from the shade of the stable. Chuffy gleefully scrambles aboard the noble beast, which seems, almost, to bear a martyred expression Time to go, to fight, to steal, to BURN! And with that rides off to the west.
That last for about 15 to 30 minutes, depending how interesting 'over there' was before running back to see what the rest of the party is up to. This will be the pattern, more or less, Chuffy follows during the day as the party explores the hexes. Actual time away from the party varies depending on how far he needs to go to help the party explore, and if he finds something interesting that must be shown to Fionn right now. At night Chuffy will always rejoin the party, unless something noteworthy happens
Tensen checks out the tracks and gives a quiet scoff. "Some prey to match the size of the majority of our companions. I think it would be wise for us to start a map and fully explore each area. As it stands there is no record of what lays in the wilderness."
Survival check for 1st hex (Tensen, Lillith):
When Nose stumbles across the tracks he sniffs around a bit and clearly indicates that the kobolds traveled NWW.
"I have paper and pens and ink for making maps, but no skill in cartography. When we do stop to work on maps, I'd be happy to turn the job over to someone with some skill if anyone has any... otherwise, I'm also good with trying my best at it."
Finn, while not as comfortable in the outdoors as everyone else, seems ultimately adaptable and her irrepressible good spirits are undeterred by the hardships of hiking through forest. She does her best to keep up, but ultimately is just not as fast as the others, so she does slow the party down some, but that just gives Chuffy and Nose more time to scout around.
She watches the others with their survival skills and comfort in the wilderness and tries to emulate them, but to no real avail.
As everyone gathers in for the night, Looks like the dragon toes are going where we are going. We must be very careful. Nasty trap makers are sneaky and devious, with lairs full of all manner of unexpected death!
"Dragontoes?" She giggles at the name. "Well if they are going our way, you are so right, Chuff, we will have to be cautious. I brought this long pole so we can check for traps... if you see an area that looks like it might contain some, we can probe ahead for danger."
Survival for 2nd hex exploration:
; Survival 10
Survival for 3rd hex exploration:
; Survival 12
Survival for 4th hex exploration:
; Survival 10
Survival for 5th hex exploration:
; Survival 23
Survival for 6th hex exploration:
; Survival 26
And food... not assisting this time, separate checks on each day.
Survival for food 2nd hex:
; Lion is sad
Survival for food 3rd hex:
;
Survival for food 4th hex:
; Tensen is sad
Survival for food 5th hex:
;
Survival for food 6th hex:
; Lots of food this day!
Tensen stretches out next to Lillith at the end of the first day of travel, seemingly much happier in the wilderness than he was in the confines of the tavern. "I would not follow the scaled ones... Chuffy has the truth about them. We also are in a bit of a race, it seems, to collect this bounty. But why not take the time to really... subjugate the wilds while we are out here! Tensen lets out a booming laugh, as he references the contract that Gaius had luckily crossed Finn out of.
Ira also seems much happier out in the wilds, although her mannerisms more closely resemble Lillith's than her humanoid companions.
"So, what exactly are we doing? We need to capture a man, right? Where is he?"
Finn giggles slightly at Tensen's mention of Gaius' contract, but it is a nervous sounding giggle, then she laughs outright and earnestly. "You're right about the race, but if we don't collect the bounty, perhaps we'll find something else of greater value in the long run. The bounty was only 100 gold alive, 50 gold dead. Surely we can find something even better if we lose the bounty. I'm not worried about it. As for subjugating ANYthing, it's not exactly in my nature. I don't think the wilds were meant to be subjugated. I like them wild, it seems... somehow ... right that they are what they are."
She shrugs slightly and stokes the fire gently, just enough to give off a little more light for her vision to kick in so she can keep watch for a while. "I'll wake Ira later so she can watch after me... then Chuffy, then you... we'll each get enough sleep but no one will be deprived."
The first night passes without note.
The second day, the party stumbles across a rather small pool in a clearing. Nose, after stiffing around for a bit, directs you to an old sock hanging from a tree. It doesn't look like the sock has been hanging there for long, since the it's still smelly. Nose indicates that the scent attached to the sock continues south.
Tensen lets Lillith get a good sniff of the sock they found on the second day, that she may be able to detect the scent if she finds it again.
"Should we follow the scent south then, or continue on our planned route? It could belong to Bawldok, or it could belong to someone in Gaius' party. She giggles at this last thought, then shrugs, willing to let Tensen make the final decision here.
A Sock! We should follow and see what we can smell. Since there is one sock, perhaps it is a one legged man?
"Or perhaps it was someone scared off before he could collect it - perhaps by another passing party - one without benefit of Nose and Lilith. I agree, perhaps we should let the animals track the scent, see where it takes us. Wonder what Tensen thinks about this idea."
Tensen gives a big shrug, curious as to why he is being asked to decide the direction of the party. "We are likely to lose the scent if we continue towards are location." He pauses to think for a moment before nodding. "We will follow this trail, none should leave their man-made belongings in the wilds. Green one, lets send the animals to lead the way." Lillith gives a great roar, seeming excited to hunt, and begins to follow the scent trail.
Finn smiles and follows along, letting the animals and the big folk lead the party. She shivers a little when Lillith roars, the lion beautiful, but loud. I hope it turns out to be this Bawldok who lost his sock here... it would be good to return to town to collect our bounty while the others are still hunting. Then we can go out exploring again, maybe find that old mansion near the goblins.
Ira follows in the back, warily watching all around her. She appreciates being on the move, and for once with some company!
"I wonder what this place has in store! Is it not exciting to walk into unknown places?"