Hubert sang quietly to himself while he foraged,
"Deep inside the forest is a door into another land, here is our life and home.
We are staying here forever in the beauty of this place all alone.
We keep on hoping that maybe there's a world where we won't have to run,
and maybe there's a time to call our own, living free in harmony and majesty.
Take me home, take me home"
At first, Harlow finds the usual leaves, berries, and mushrooms. Then, suddenly, he notices a patch of flowers that he knows have edible bulbs. He digs up more than enough to sate his hunger, putting the rest in his pack for later, or perhaps for someone else, if they need it.
As he forages, Harlow looks for a straight, stout stick that he can use as a walking stick or, in a pinch, a weapon. Perhaps if I figure out a way to put a point on it I could use it as a spear.
Jolly pulls two large books bound in strong leather with colorful pictures. One is the 'Flora and Fauna Guide' written by druids. The other is a book of maps--'Your Kingdom' written by the Royal Cartographer.
Jolly shows you how to read the maps and look at the catalogue of creatures and plants. Some of the creatures, such as winged horses and pixie dragons seem exotic, but Jolly assures you they exist.
He hands you each a quiver of 20 crude arrows to practice with.
You spend the rest of the day hiking well past twilight. The rugged pace causes you to push the last hour in a daze with feet numb.
"Settle down, tomorrow we shoot some game.": Jolly says.
The foundling simply keeps up, moving with the rest while trying not to stand out more than he has to.
Once he finishes his nightly meditations, he will work to find space to try to practice some with the bow while the others continue sleeping.
endure march
The final hour of the day's hike left Hubert feeling more physically exhausted than he'd ever felt in his whole life, but that was a good thing. That was why he was here - to get plenty of exercise and build up his endurance. He found a comfortable patch of earth and settled down for the night.
Con Check:
Morvas hikes along and barely feels the effects of the long days march. He notices one of the humans slowing down and having some difficulty near the end of the day.
"Come on friend. Just a little longer and soon we can relax. I believe your name is Hubert? I am Morvas. Just a bit further and we can rest."
Aid other:
Although he is less exhausted than some, Harlow is as glad as any of them to stop moving, climb into his bedroll, and quickly fall asleep.
Adolpho gasps for air as the trek reaches its final leg. Shockinlgy the young man offers his first full comment to the group, his Iberion accent thick on his words.
I thought I was ready. Im thinking I was foolish to believe so...]
Enjoying the first day's march, Liam thinks, Jolly sets a good pace. Those books were interesting. I wonder if we all get one when we become rangers? Speaking up, he asks, "Jolly, those books you showed us. Does every ranger get those?"
Late in the day, Liam notices some of the others flagging. He slows to match their pace. Stepping over to the Iberion in particular, he tries to encourage them to keep going. "Not much longer now. We'll be there soon. Just one foot in front of the other."
When they do make camp, the young man helps to set up. He make sure that everyone has made it and distributes all of the excess he foraged throughout the day to those who do not have enough before settling down for the night.
Jonah surprises himself while keeping up. I guess my high spirits helped me out today. Not too bad is it Harlow Giving a good slap on his back. Well best set up camp
Jonah attempts to make a fire.
Hmm not quite right guess I sleep in the cold tonight.
Adolpho turns at Liam with a sort of intense look...that softens after a minute as offers a slow nod and does his best to act on the other man's encouragement.
Adolpho does wait bare minimum he can to help set camps as he finds he is too exhausted to be of much help.
Hubert huffed, "Hi, Morvas. Yes, I am Hubert. I am a little embarrassed for being so out of shape, but thank you for the encouragement. I hope I do better with tomorrow's challenge."
"I am sure you will. What did you do before coming to training?"
His accent is rather thick, and it is obvious he is from Picta.
"I was a student," responded Hubert. "But I felt unbalanced living that life, so I decided to do something else entirely. And you, Morvas? What did you do?"
"I??? Umm..I did ..well nothing! I was an orphan from a place called Glenrothe in Picta. I was recently given over to the local orphanage and from them to here. I suppose that they felt if I was able to survive on my own for a number of years in Picta, maybe I would make a good Ranger. Who was I to argue with that! What did you study? Ah, looks like we are here...see I told you that you could make it! Now lets set about getting the camp setup!"
Jolly prepares a 'hot camp' with a roaring fire. The berries and mushrooms make an excellent soup with a few spices he has found.
The next morning he scratches his head. "Let's hold off on shooting the bows for now. See what you learned yesterday."
Rising the next day early he sends you off in teams of two to navigate from one area to another and meet at a rare grove of trees. "This is the navigation part. Let us see how you do."
Adair and Adolpho, Ascan and Harlow, Huber and Jonah, Liam and Morvas, then the two Skandian brothers.
The two Skandian brothers went to bed tired to the disappointment of Jolly. "You Skandians are supposed to be hardy."
The next day, through either skill or luck, both brothers manage to navigate their way to exact spot and find the special grove of trees.
"Uh, hi. So, we're supposed to work together on this, right? I'm thinking we should head this way to find the grove he was talking about."
"These look like the right kind of trees, though, right?"
Hey Hurb! Over here we got grouped together so lets do this.
The moss here says that east is this way so so it must be this way.
Jonah Manages to point in the right direction.
get close
get closer
"The name's Hubert." Hubert took Jonah's advice, which seemed helpful. Putting their new knowledge to good use they soon found what they were looking for. "You sure do know a lot about moss, Jonah. Were you a moss-farmer before you decided to join the rangers?"
"Well, it's definitely in this direction." Liam heads off looking for the trees. After a while he stops scratching his head. "I know we're in the right area, but do you see the grove Jolly was talking about?"
Having completed this task perhaps a little early, Hubert searches for a descent club.
DC 12
Adolpho nods at the elf Yes perhaps... The young man pauses. No I am certain it is this way.
Leading the pair of them in the other direction Adolpho looks out at the nearby trees.
Yes I agree. Those are certainly the trees we are looking for.
No Hurbert I just got lost in the woods before. Had to move out every now and then.
Knowledge-Geography:
Knowledge-Nature:
Looking around Morvas realized that he is not really sure which way to go. Luckily Liam figured it out, and he follows meekly behind.
Once they get to the right area, however, he has no clue what trees they are looking for and wanders about a bit lost.
Liam continues looking for a distinctive grove in their vicinity, falling back on his years growing up in forests to keep from getting lost. Liam looks over to his partner. "Well, those trees look different from the others. Maybe that's where we're supposed to be."
Harlow, shocked at what is perhaps the first time someone has ever looked to him to lead, mumbles, "I-I, think we might consider going that way. What do you think?"
Jolly sees everyone at the grove except Liam and Morvas, and they were not far off. He is back with that pair in less than ten minutes.
"Good!"
After more hiking he explains the situation:
"We need to work on your stalking skills. The ability to move unnoticed."
With that, a short, mousy man touches Jonah on the shoulder startling him. The man is wearing a cloak that blends into the grove of trees and some natural foliage adorns the hood of his cloak.
"I am The Wisp. As a member of the Shadows, we provide the kingdom help in areas the rangers cannot. Just like the druids, we are full Auxiliaries to the Rangers. We move around cities and people as comfortably as the rangers move in open spaces. Many of us have led colorful lives and been offered the King's Pardon to work on his behalf. We are going to have you trained to avoid detection. If you can't be targeted, you can't be killed."
The Wisp instructs you on how to stay out of sight. Things you hadn't thought of, like predicting shadows. Which typed of cover will break up your silhouette. How to walk on your toes to soften your step.
You are split up into pairs and given another map. You are to sneak up on The Wisp in a meadow of waist high grass. You are in your same pairs and need to accomplish your task.
The northern brothers seem somewhat adept at stealth. They arrive in place and make it to the outer circle. The rogue catches them before they make it to the inner circle.
"Well, we should work together to find the spot, again, but I think we should try approaching from different angles. When I had to filch something from a food vendor, having something distracting him made it much, much easier. Besides, if the goal is to surprise 'The Wisp', why make it easy on him?"
This time Hubert cannot find his way. "Jonah, I've lost my bearings. Which way does the moss say to go?"
Feeling bad about not knowing how to get to the grove, Morvas bends his efforts to doing well in this next test.
Knowledge-Geography (Untrained):
Stealth:
"That's okay. I can make my around a map. Let's head out."
Upon reaching the terminus, Liam suggests, "I say we circle around to the far side. He'll be expecting everyone to sneak straight up to him."
Second stealth check required?
Take 10 on Stealth: 17
At first disoriented about the new location, Adolpho follows Adair who capably guides them to the circles.
At the elf's recommendation on approaching from separate angles the Iberion claps Adair on the shoulder and swings to the other side. The two of them capably infiltrate and meet each other in the middle.
Thanking Liam for help getting to the field, Morvas agrees with his idea about circling around. He takes his time in approaching the Wisp.
Take 10 on stealth: 10+8=18
Adolpho and Adair approach. They disagree about which way to go and decide randomly, not having a coin to flip. Though they have different stealth strategies, both are good.
After the moderate success of the northern brothers, the game turns to a demonstration for the trainees.
Adolpho and Adair find the spot and sneak inside the inner circle to tap the blindfolded rogue on the shoulder. Jolly is practically beaming with pride. The cocky rogue had blindfolded himself, but his handicap turned out to be enough for the trainees to take advantage of.
Liam expertly guides Morvas to the circle and aids him in making it to the inner circle before discovery. Once again another pair succeed in actually touching the rogue before discovery. Jolly smiles again and suppresses a giggle.
Hubert walks around several more trees inspecting their moss and says "Honestly, Jonah, I don't know which way to go. What do you think?"
Harlow, his skills honed by years of avoiding awkward situations by disappearing, finds the task an easy one. He reaches the Wisp shortly after Ascan and stops slightly more than an arms-length from the Shadow. "Err, n-now what?" he mumbles, uncertain how the test ends.
He seems an interesting man. Perhaps I can talk to him.
Hubert does his best to entertain himself while Jonah gets his bearings. He practices cartwheels and juggles pine cones and considers juggling pine cones while doing cartwheels.
Jolly looks around for Jonah. He tried to help Hubert find the way, but the pair had gotten somewhat lost.
"I am going to see what happened to him. Wisp, you show the recruits how to climb while I am gone."
Jolly doubles back to find the lost trainee while Wisp takes out a hemp rope with a grappling hook and instructs you to do the same. After throwing the hook up a fifty foot ledge, the group is urged to attempt the fifty foot climb. From the top the Wisp arranges a harness to belay you as you climb.
The Wisp smiles:
"After today, we force march to the contest. A race of all the ranger recruits to see who can make it to the finish line. Your group is better prepared than most I have seen."
"Jolly washes out Lance the first day and loses Jonah. He will push you guys the next days!"
Alpha
Beta
Hubert was glad to be back with the group. "Hi, everyone." He immediately attempted to climb up the cliff-face, but ended up dangling from the safety line partway up.