Champawat looks at Goivan "thank you brother. It is good to be out of the fortress. An impressive structure, really, but I prefer the freedom of the open road. I will take the fresh air of the outdoors over stone walls and portcullises any day. You should not go alone, though Goivan. Why don't you take Qahnaarin with you. I'll stay back with Prar and Gunther. Besides, two eyes are better than one."
Qahnaarin would be more than happy to join a scouting mission.
Day 6 Mid-Morning to Noon
The group makes decent progress as you travel north. Goivan and Qahnaarin pair up and scout ahead, although hopefully this close to the fort you will not encounter anything dangerous, but it is a good precaution to take and you get into the routine of taking different routes and work out a signaling system in case of any danger.
The overcast day looks like it may rain at any time. Champawat and Gunther lead the group in reading the map and making sure they avoid any natural hazards and don't get lost.
Goivan and Qahnaarin focus largely on the scouting. Prar is able to point out an interesting aspect of the map and the terrain to aid in not getting lost, but Gunther and Champawat are experienced in the wilds and lead the group expertly.
The group pauses at one point for a midday meal and decides to discuss the coming challenges. Based on the map and current travel speed it may take you another four days to reach the region you will be scouting to intercept and eliminate the unit of enemies you are assigned. You decide to discuss marching order, night watches and battlefield tactics. Much of your discussion may center on terrain and the situation at hand, but you may wish to clear up a few things initially.
"I would propose a marching order of either Goivan or Qahnaarin, followed by Prar, Gunther, and I'll bring up the rear. If combat starts, I'll do my best to protect Prar and Gunther so they can utilize their ranged abilities. Goivan, you and Qahnaarin can engage as soon as possible. I don't really have a preference on watches though, I can take any watch needed."
Gunther nods wordlessly, eyes still peeled for signs of danger.
The group pushes on and continue through the lands near the fort. At first you stayed on trails used by the loggers, miners, trappers and hunters, but as you get further away from the fort and head north, these trails are becoming less frequent, and they do not tend to go north. Before long the evening rolls in and you leave the trails seeking a spot to camp for the evening.
With Gunther and Champawat's outdoor skills you take up shelter on an outdoor hilltop with a rocky outcropping on two sides that would take quite a bit of agility to scale without making noise. More or less protected on those sides you make the camp and focus on keeping watch as what little sun there was drops below the horizon, the days gloom growing darker and darker.
The group settles into their watch rotation and the night goes smoothly.
Day 7 - Morning
You waken and realize it has been a week since you were catapulted into this world and forced to survive and make your way through a variety of difficulties. Now you have allied at least temporarily with some locals in a fight with the hope that they can help you. You pack up your camp with your missions in mind, and set out on the trail. The day seems slightly more sunny than the day before, and you start off making decent time. By now you are into the wilds and trails are rare, perhaps the occasional campsite from a hunter or trapper you run across, or signs of some abandoned broken gear, but this is rare. The terrain gets more rugged, and you realize you are several days away from your destination but the going will get tough as you approach the mountains. Luckily the map has you sticking mostly in the valleys and lowlands and you won't have to traverse any mountain ranges.
By midday you spot the hint of smoke in the air, and before long catch the sight of the plume wisping in the distance. You suspect it is someone's campfire and take it to be several hundred yards away across a lowland that may have a small creek running through it.
Qahnaarin attempts to reconnoiter the source of the smoke without being observed.
Qahnaarin moves towards the sign of the smoke growing ever more stealthy as he approaches. Creeping within earshot, and then within visible range, using the underbrush as cover he sees a single person sitting at a campsite.
It seems to be a human woman perhaps in her twenties. She is wearing leathers and appears to have hunting and trapping gear with her. She is sitting at the campfire and seems to be singing poorly to herself. Occasionally she gets up and attempts an awkward dance with a pretend partner. It isn't clear if she is drunk, or just perhaps a bit odd, but it does seem strange behavior to be doing. There isn't anything wrong with it per se, but it seems out of place. You reason she may just be a whimsical light hearted soul.
The woman does appear to have a dagger at her belt and a longbow strung and some quivers nearby. You also see a stout walking stick which could double as a quarterstaff.
Qahnaarin quietly withdraws and return to the group. He relays his findings. "Shall we circle around, or try to make peaceful contact?"
Prar, who has grown increasingly frustrated with trying to read and walk the trail at the same time. Snapping his spellbook shut he looks at Qahnaarin.
"Yes let us see what charming denizen of this land we've encountered now." he says, seeming fairly irate.
"A female human hunter? Out here alone in the woods? This seems...unusual. I say we circle around and avoid her. I can't imagine she would look favorably upon monsters coming out of the woods at her. I would not want to be forced into combat with her over a misunderstanding. Still, if you wish to approach this woman, now may seem like a good time for Goivan and his disguise ability. She may have friends nearby, or it may all be a trick. Assuming it's not and everything goes well, what do we hope to gain from this encounter? We have food, and a map. I don't think we need any additional delays. Like it or not, if you wish to attempt communication with the woman, I will help however I can."
Gunther nods in agreement. "I ain't good at th' diplomacy stuff, but movin' around somebody in th' forest? That's me game, alright."
"I agree Champawat. No need to bother her with our forms and possibly cause a misunderstanding. Plus I see nothing to gain. Let's go around."
Qahnaarin will help the group to stay at least 100 yards away from the campsite as they circle around.
As Prar stumbles through the woods to avoid the human woman, his irateness is apparent on his face. He says nothing though and continues to attempt to keep his clothes clean and sap free as possible. He might be grumbling buy it comes out as a low hissing gurgle.
Day 7 - on into evening
The group skirts wide around the woman leaving her to her woodland antics and continues to move north. You make steady if slow time, and follow natural terrain formations to keep your hindrances down.
Both Champawat and Gunther, skilled outdoorsfolk, prevent the group from any real dangers, keeping Prar from falling into a ravine twice as he walks studying his books. The group follows the map expertly and at the end of the second evening selects a decent campsite, close to fresh water and somewhat sheltered from the wind which has picked up a little.
The group figures it will rain, as you can feel it in the air, and distant thunder rumbles slightly. It may be a damp evening.
Prar puts away his book and anything else perishable in water and settles in. He would actually enjoy the rain as an Ophidian his skin was actually most comfortable when wet.
Champawat pulls out her tent and stakes to begin erecting her temporary structure. She works quietly, as if lost in thought.
It seems so long ago now, and yet it has only been a week or so. That life of comfort, of happiness. Learning from the master. Watching my siblings grow. Seeing his smile as we advanced in our training. He was genuinely happy for us. Such a shield. A shield from the world that is. A shield from those that would harm us simply because of what we are. It is now time for us to be the shield. We are coming master...hold on.
Champawat perks up as a thought occurs to her. We should be recording our journey. I'm sure master would be curious.
"Prar, do you happen to have any spare paper? If not, I guess I'll just write in the back of my formula book, but I think we should be writing about our adventure in search of master. Keeping a journal, if you will. I'm sure when we find him, he'll have a so many questions and I know I won't remember everything. What do you think?'
Qahnaarin knows little of what he is doing, but makes himself as helpful as possible.
The group settles in and a few sprinkles to fall at some point and put a bit of a damper on the party. The group turns in to get some well deserved rest as it will be another long day of travel ahead, and many more after that. You take your watches and the night falls, darkness surrounding you.
Day 8 - Morning
The group wakes again to some low lying fog which hopefully will burn away as the sun climbs higher in the sky or the group moves out. The group takes some breakfast and packs up once again, pressing onward.
The terrain has gotten more rugged and hillier. You estimate your first day out you may have covered more than twenty miles using trails as you could, less the second day as the terrain was hillier, perhaps twelve miles. Another day of rugged trackless terrain lies ahead but you hope to put on another twelve miles. By the end of the day you should be almost 50 miles from the fort. You keep wary now. Advance scouts from the giants could be encountered. Head Marshal Hawke warned of hellhounds and wargs as well as aerial creatures like manticores and wyverns.
Indeed, only two hours in to your morning trek, you discover the corpse of a wild boar, savagely mauled, burned and mostly eaten. It is very freshly killed and evidence of the struggle is still plain in the dirt and debris scattered. No other scavengers have had a chance to even take their pick of the remains. Parts of the boar are scattered about, bones and blackened flesh are really all that is left.
The kill had to have been this morning. The group is immediately wary.
"Gunther, cover me while I take a closer look?" Champawat attempts to move slowly and cautiously up to the remains while looking for tracks of whatever had made the kill.
Once next to the remains, she will kneel down and examine them, trying to determine the size of the creature that did this.
Once done, she will scan the treelines and then the sky.
Champawat creeps up to the kill and starts to examine it. The boar was taken down by a pack mostly likely of wolves or other canids based on the tracks nearby and the bites. The burnt and charred remains reminds you that Hawke mentioned hellhounds. You may already be in the territory it seems where their advance scouts are overlapping with your path. The group listens and Gunther scans the treeline but nothing leaps out. The pack is already gone hours ago.
You see nothing in the sky although several crows wait patiently now in the tops of nearby trees, cawing and signaling to each other that food is nearby.
Goivan curls his lip at the gore, but sneers at the crows. "This is a beacon that scavengers and others will flock to. We should keep moving. Hellhounds..."
"Agreed. Let's be off. We're definitely in enemy territory now, stay alert.
"Or a dragon..." Qahnaarin put a hand to his brow to block the sun as he surveys the landscape. "Either way, we should put distance from this place."
Gunther nods as he continues to plod along through the wilderness. His eyes continue to scan the area for signs of danger.
The group presses on making solid steady if slow progress and keeps an eye out. After a few more hours the group spots an abandoned old stone tower. You wonder what the heck this is doing way out here. You are perhaps a quarter mile away from it yet, but you can see it clearly on a nearby ridge. Perhaps at one time it was a remote sentry post as it has a decent view of the surrounding terrain.
"Unless we need emergency shelter, let's skirt around it."
"I don't know. It might give us a good vantage point to survey the land. If we do need emergency shelter, we should probably make sure it is clear of any threats before any emergency forces us into the shelter. Anyone else have any thoughts about the tower?" Champawat stares at the tower intently, pondering the likelihood of the opposition occupying it.
Gunther weighs the options and decides that Champawat has a point. "I usually ain't one for trustin' things like this, but she's right 'bout it bein' a good vantage point."
Goivan gives a cautious nod. "A good tactical position to have. I say we risk it."
The group watches the tower for some time, listening and seeing if anything stirs among the ruins. Seeing nothing, they proceed cautiously forward.
There appears to be an old main central keep area, and the single lone watch tower. Birds seem to have made their home in the tower and you see quite a few swallows flying in and out of the old window openings.
As a wizard, Prar had an innate interest in abandoned towers in the middle of nowhere. "Hmm, perhaps, after we find Father, I can live here." he mutters. "Arcane sanctum location good as any."
Qahnaarin joins any who wish to investigate.
"Let's all go in. Since we're in enemy territory, we shouldn't separate. Let's all stay together. I'll bring up the rear."
The group creeps closer to the old tower, watching for anything suspicious. They circle around it as stealthily as they can, and watch and observe. In time, seeing nothing abnormal they approach closer. The underbrush has had quite some time to grow right up to the walls and doorway of the place. grasses and weeds grow right in a walkway and it does not appear to have been tramped down or any sort of pathway except by perhaps small vermin or other animals.
You peer in the dark open windows. The chirping of dozens perhaps hundreds of birds, swallows likely, inside in their nests echoes through the cavernous empty keep.
The group looks into the keep and steps in the doorway carefully. The old hearths have not seen a fire in some time. A doorway opens to an old abandoned storage/pantry to one side, and to the north opens into the base of the tower, with crumbling stairs leading up.
"This place hasn't seen visitors in quite some time it would appear. I'm going to head into the tower and climb to the top to see what I can see. Spread out and look around, but try to maintain line of sight to each other." Champawat gingerly walks into the middle of the room, trying not to disturb anything and begins to sniff the air. This place seems abandoned, but why? And what was its purpose? she wonders to herself.
Champawat steps into the abandoned tower and some vermin go skittering. She paws away years of cobwebs and spiderwebs trying not to breathe in the dust and mold but taking in the earthy damp scent. In the cool dark dampness she and the others quickly explore the various rooms popping their heads in for quick glances to make sure the place is empty.
Champawat offers to go upstairs, gingerly heading up the steps, wary of the crumbling stairs. The stairs spiral to the top and open into a large upper area with small crumbling chambers.
Champawat smells the air up here, its a bit fresher, all the windows are long since rotted out and the tower is open to the elements. Much of the stonework is moss covered and in one of the rooms is a large rotten trunk, covered with debris, bat droppings, and cobwebs.
Qahnaarin calls up. "Champawat! Does it look like anything lives here!?"
She calls down "I have not seen anything other than some vermin. Although these webs make me nervous. I hate spiders. There is an old chest up here though. I'm going to have a look. Everything okay down there?
Champawat moves closer to the western window to have a look outside before moving over to the trunk to investigate.
The group calls back and forth to each other and startles a few birds, but the place so far seems empty. Champawat looks out the west window into the sun and has quite the view of the area. She gazes to the horizon hoping maybe to see a sign of enemies, but nothing is revealed.
She sets about inspecting the old chest, blowing the cobwebs away and carefully looking around it and inspecting it. Something doesn't feel quite right and she feels nimbly around its edges and sees a thin metal set of strips. She realizes it is trapped, and some sort of blade would spring out between the strips probably slicing or chopping off a hand or pair of hands depending how the lid was gripped and lifted. Purring inquisitively, tail swishing, she sets about disabling the trap. After a short time of poking and prodding she is able to remove a small plate and pull apart a set of spring loaded gears.
The chest itself is still locked. She marvels that the chest has stayed more or less intact through the years and that the trap still is functional given the exposure to the elements up here. Perhaps the chest is a more recent addition and not left behind by the original inhabitants.
Below, the group pokes and prods around more, looking in the fireplaces and checking the rotting barrels and crates in the storage area. Whatever their contents vermin have long devoured them, or they have rotted and turned to unrecognizable clumps.
As the group waits for Champawat's update on the chest, a chill runs through everyone, the hair standing up on their necks and arms.
A long shrill wail echoes from somewhere beneath the floor of the keep. Within seconds you hear noises as if something is trying to dig its way out from under the floor. In horror you see and hear the thumping against the thin masonry floor as the flat stones are being dislodged as something digs up through the floor!
Champawat purrs with content at her own success in discovering the trunk's defenses. She peers intently at it trying to appraise it's age and worth, but given the new world she has found herself in, she is reminded that she would have no basis for comparison of such things. She shrugs, and as she begins to contemplate unlocking the chest, she feels the chill run through her. She begins to look around quickly, startled by the recent turn of events.
The chest is old, and definitely battered and shown some wear and tear, but compared to the nearly destroyed or rotted other things here not as bad as you would think. Its value is hard to place. Perhaps with some carpentry and rework it might be decent, but its covered on some much dust and dirt you would need to wipe away some grime before taking a better assessement.
"Divine hellfire, what is that!?"