"Can ye see?" Trom asks, looking a little confused. Spotting Jurin, the dwarf realizes what's happening. "Oh, aye, ye can see, but only if ye can speak the magic words." Muttering the incantation, Trom waves his hand, then snaps his fingers, once again allowing the energy to flow to his hand. Electricity dances between his fingertips before Trom closes his fist. "With the right studying, you can do that someday too."
With a pleasant smile, Trom turns to catch up with his companions and get ready for the trip.
The girl replies with the Dwarven word for "Great!" It isn't quite the word a Dwarf would have used in this context, but she isn't a Dwarf.
Perhaps your right, i've had Frost for a few years. i'd hate to lose her. Leaving the cart then, but i'm bringing my horse. if we can rig up something along the way that should work. We can use the cart for other things, Frost is war trained so she'll be quite a bit of use i imagine
The most direct path to your goal would have you take one of the oldest lumber roads up towards the woods, almost straight north. The land closer to town is more lightly forested; stumps show signs of cutting. In some places, new trees have been planted and whole stretches are roped off. If you look closely you'll recognize these as being places where darkwood saplings are being planted.
DC 12 Knowledge (nature) or (history) would tell you that darkwood is strategically important to Andoran as ships made from it are so much stronger. Some historians believe that if it weren't for darkwood, Cheliax might possibly still control Andoran.
The further north you travel the more forested the land becomes; it's a gradual transition into forest. You are approaching the areas of the Darkmoon Woods not yet opened by the Lumber Consortium to the different competing cutyards and their bosses. The trees are larger and the land rises towards the mountains. As you approach, the Woods looms over you.
After about three hours, you find yourself standing quite literally in the shadow of the forest, which rises towards the mountains for miles. The road here heads into the forest, but a lane off of it rises to the last unforested hill on your left.
Atop the little hill is the blackened husk of a building you have heard mention of. It is, you have heard, an old orphanage.
Odd'n marches on ahead, assuring the group that he knows the woods from his time working for one of the local lumberyard crews.
Skirting the right side of the road (), Odd'n keeps a keen eye on the shadows, brush, branchs, road ahead, rocks and far to many other things than is necessary or useful.
His eyes occassionally linger on the odd mushroom and he can't help but question himself if he should sample it for Laurel.
Gimble travels as stealthily and wary as he can. He keeps his crossbow at the ready and his knives quick to hand. He doesnt move so slowly as to maintain perfect silence, but tries to do as best he can.
perception
stealth (if needed)
survival to find tracks (if needed)
"Come on now--I was only joking," Livlena tells Scipio. "I'm sorry if I offended you."
"I don't mind taking point," Livlena tells the others. "My armor slows my pace a bit, though."
Survival; Knowledge, nature: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 91d20 - 1 ⇒ (11) - 1 = 10 Ha, what you think Tarren.. does he sample the random 'shrooms?
Hennie says nothing about the horse to Scipio, in fact it's hard to tell whether she was aware Liv was joking, or was following the chain of communication other than simply relating that horse could be yummy.
She falls into line wherever there's a space to do so. She gathered all the information she could in the form of text notes and drawings she made about the appearance and growing places of the plants they'll be looking for. She repeats things under her breath to herself over an dover, like she's trying to memorize it all.
Low whisper, doesn't look in the burnt orphanages direction we're being watched
[dice=perception]1d20+5
[dice=nature]1d20+2Low whisper, doesn't look in the burnt orphanages direction we're being watched
"Someone small. Maybe a human child, a gnome, or another halfling. If we're unlucky, it's a goblin. Whichever, it seems to be watching from those burnt out buildings, but it hasn't done anything yet. "
Hennie is far too busy muttering to herself and trying different ways to carry her spear to notice the figure.
Trom stumbles over a tree root as he walks. "Goblin? What goblin?" he asks, looking about wildly.
Odd'n looks up at Trom shouting about goblins, the mushroom he had picked inches from his lips.
"GOBLINS?!? Wha...where?" His simple brain connects the comments regarding burnt out buildings to these supposed goblins, leading the man to run to put himself between the 'goblins' and his party as he rapidly advances upon the burnt out structure.
Apparently only Gimble and Scipio (helped by his low-light vision perhaps) were able to catch a fleeting glimpse of the figure, a silhouette beneath a tree.
"Not to worry, friends. It seems our observer has moved along. I believe we should as well."
Gimble continues to move ahead, crossbow now conspicuously loaded.
Whatever it was, you do not see it again. If it watches you, it joins the other creatures undoubtedly peering at you from the darkness that surrounds on all sides. The woods is dark even in daylight, particularly since the Woods falls into shadow much of the day.
There are cut roads into the Woods, rough and bumpy and narrow, but, it is true that a sled could be pulled along these trails behind a horse if there were a reason to rig one up. The sled may tip a few times, but if you needed it, you could do it.
You follow the trails, and, when one branches off, you always head north. In several places, you pass piles of logs that have been stowed away in sunny and dry spots but which have never been dragged out of the woods. Most of them look rather puny, and you suspect that lumber crews fell them to clear the trails, but have never been desperate enough to drag them out. They don't look recent anyways. Anything you may have heard about crews being shy of going too deep into the Woods these days seems to be true.
After travelling for several hours, you reach an obstacle: the Darkmoon River. The river seemed a lot smaller on the hand drawn map you were shown. It isn't very deep, but it is fast and very cold.
Stomping back and forth along the river's edge, Odd'n tries to measure in his mind the distance to the nearest tree or hefty stump in hopes one might act as an anchor for his grappling hook; the new crew might get a little wet but it would at least help prevent someone accidently getting washed away by the rapids..
[Dice=Swim]1d20+4; 1d20+4; 1d20+4
[Dice=+1 round swimming]1d6
Trom looks at the water a little nervously. "Are we sure that there be no bridge nearby over this water?"
There should be, it wouldn't make sense for there not to be. Scipio Gives a look around for a bridge somewhere
"If there's no bridge, perhaps we can drag one or two of those logs back yonder over, and make our own. I dont think I'd make it across the current flowing this fast."
"At the very least, can we see if there's a thinner patch o' water, and mayhap stretch a rope across to help with the crossing? Those of us not as strong in the water would find it a great help to have something to be holding onto," Trom suggests, still eyeballing the water suspiciously.
Hennie enjoys the walk in the forest very much, but she doesn't pay any particular attention to exactly how they are getting to where they're going. When they find themselves at the river, Hennie is as flummoxed as everyone else. She figured they'd go around it rather than across it, but here they are.
Gimble's mention of the downed trees sparks an idea though.
"I think it would be hard to drag a tree trunk big enough for us to walk on over here, and then we'd still have to get it stretching across the river somehow. But if we got several small tree trunks and lashed them together, like making a raft, we'd have a lighter bridge that's easier to move. It would also be flat, which is easier than walking on something round. We can stretch the rope that's across tight and tie it to hold onto for keeping our balance."
someone go downstream, i'll ride up stream and look Scipio jumps on his horse and rides up stream to look
someone go downstream, i'll ride up stream and look Scipio jumps on his horse and rides up stream to look
Scipio, riding upstream 100 yards, rounds a bend in the river and finds even more piles of logs along the bank upstream, cut, piled, and marked with a cutyard's mark. They are ready to be dumped into the stream and carried down river. You saw people at Falcon's Hollow sorting logs like this.
The river hasn't narrowed much and, seeing now around the bend, doesn't seem to narrow for some distance upriver.
"It's probably not wise to split up...especially if we're being watched," Livlena comments. Proving that she's not particularly wise, Liv tells Hennie to join her downstream and asks if one more from the group wants to accompany them.
"If we split into two groups of three that ought be safe enough," she reckons aloud.
Finding some dry sand, grass and leaves, Odd'n grabs handfulls of the stuff and rubs it all over his body to absorb as much water as possible and dry his skin and hair to help reduce any further heat loss.
Still holding the rope, Odd'n performs walking lunges to warm himself up as he searches for a place where he might be able to tie the rope off.
"Hey, Odd'n! Can you make a fire? I would light a torch and throw it across, but I dont think that's a great idea. Were working on a bridge or raft or something, just sit tight big guy!"
"Hey, Odd'n! Can you make a fire? I would light a torch and throw it across, but I dont think that's a great idea. Were working on a bridge or raft or something, just sit tight big guy!"
Collecting a variety of drier twigs and dead brush, Odd'n takes two solid sticks and begins rubbing them together quickly enough that a small ember forms in no time. Gently, he places some of the smaller twigs on top and begins blowing on the ember to help the small bits of wood catch fire. Fishing a thicker branch out from the rivers edge, Odd'n begins hammering it into the ground with his fists. Giving the branch a kick to check its stability, Odd'n is satisfied and ties off the rope on the top to prevent any of its length from dipping into the water. Free of his shackles he begins scouring for a few heftier dry branches to throw on his fire.
His fire roaring, skin and hair dry, Odd'n settles down to wait, watch, and warm up.
"Hey, Odd'n! Can you make a fire? I would light a torch and throw it across, but I dont think that's a great idea. Were working on a bridge or raft or something, just sit tight big guy!"
Gimble sticks with the rest of the group, but tries to keep Odd'n in sight.
Gimble sticks with the rest of the group, but tries to keep Odd'n in sight."Hey, Odd'n! Can you make a fire? I would light a torch and throw it across, but I dont think that's a great idea. Were working on a bridge or raft or something, just sit tight big guy!"
Gimble sticks with Scipio for the time being.
Seeing the party split up, Trom chooses to go with Liv and Hennie.
Hennie follows Liv, pouting a little that her bridge idea went nowhere.
Heading downstream a bit, Hennie, Liv, and Trom come across something. At one point, the river gives way into a little water fall while the rocks on the bank maintain their height. It looks like someone built and hung a decent footbridge over the rapids, attaching it firmly to larger trees.
It would have cleared the height of the river by three or four feet, allowing the cut logs to pass beneath the footbridge.
Unfortunately, the ropes that held it on the other side must have either given way or been cut, because the footbridge now is only attached on the side you are on. It's fallen into the river and been dragged with the current so that instead of spanning the river, it lies along its south bank, hanging over the rapids and half in the water. It's long enough and seems in decent condition, so that it could span the river if you could figure out a way to reconnect it on the other side.
"Hey, doesn't that guy on the other side, Odd, have a grappling hook?"
His party seemingly disintegrating right in front of him, Odd'n bites his lip thinking what he should do. Feeling a rumble in his gut and tasting a bit of his own blood from piercing his lip reminds the man how hungry he is so, naturally, he decides some fresh fish cooked over his fire could only be the logical next step. Rigging up some twine to a fish hook, tieing a stone sinker to the twine a foot from the hook, and finding some grubs under a rock to use as bait, Odd'n casts his little hook out into the river and settles in.
His back to the fire, it isn't long before he feels a jerk on the line. Pulling in his catch he is disappointed to see it is a small juvenile trout. The small ones do get nice and crispy though.. he thinks to himself with an approving nod before impaling the fish on a twig and holding it over the fire.
not finding much Scipio rides back to meet everyone else Nothing upstream but more cut logs. river rounds a bend and doesnt get thinner
"Let's see if I'm strong enough to pull the bridge out of the water," Liv comments aloud. "If I can, we can have Odd'n throw his hook across to us, tie it to the bridge, have him drag it to his side, and then tie it off there."
"Let's see if I'm strong enough to pull the bridge out of the water," Liv comments aloud. "If I can, we can have Odd'n throw his hook across to us, tie it to the bridge, have him drag it to his side, and then tie it off there."
"I have some rope and climbing stuff, but I sure ain't strong enough to pull these big boards and logs around. Maybe the horse can help, Scipio?"
yeah, she's a warhorse. Pulling that's simple work