"I concur."
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The smell of rotten fish assaults your noses as you continue exploring along the banks of the Thorn River. You come upon the corpse of a very big fish. At least, most of the fish. The back end of the fish. It’s five by six feet and you can tell it’s probably been either bitten in half, or more. You never knew that such large fish could live in freshwater rivers. You never knew there was anything that could bite a fish that big in half. Then you see a left-over tooth from whatever it was that bit the fish in half. It’s a little under nine inches long and serrated along one side. Good gods above. This thing could probably have eaten the fish whole! The stench and decay on the corpse let you know that this was not recent—probably two or three days ago.
There is nothing else unusual at this place, and no big killer crocodile-mutants (or whatever killed the fish) are in sight.
Rillka will gather the tooth up and take compass readings and measurements for updating the map. She will follow along with the tall folks.
Do you know what creature would have such great teeth? she asks Urlok specifically, but everyone in general? Can you imagine what being bitten by this thing would be like. Rillka shivers at the thought.
No idea... - says Annurian, looking clueless - I understand more of the arcane arts than big animals.
The bloodrager scratches his fur for moments.
At least I would say, 'let's not cross this river here'... If it's something that was in the river as well. For now, I say we continue our journey.
Urlok studies the tooth Rillka shows to him.
"Hmmmm..."
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A mystery... Urlok can't fathom which kind of animal the tooth is from. Maybe a dragon? Or something like it? But in the water? Is not a river dragon tooth, that is for sure.
Tooth image
The night gets you arriving at the place where the Thorn River meets the Shrike river, and you set up camp there.
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The night goes uneventfully, the sound of the river filling your dreams.
---
You spend the day investigating the area.
Where the Thorn empties into the Shrike it becomes very shallow and wide, not exceeding 3 feet in dept. It is a good place to ford the river.
If I might... Rillka waves the tall folks to come look at the map she is making. We are here, she says, pointing to a spot on the map with the wand she uses as a walking stick, and up here is Fort Serenko. The Shrike River runs from there to - it would seem - here. The tip of the wand passes over an empty area of the parchment to the party's current location.
She looks at everyone to make sure they are following along, Now, I don't know the river, but if we could float it with a raft or some small boat, we could potentially explore from the Fort to here a lot quicker than on foot. Plus we could float supplies with us and check out some of the inland areas. If we want to do that though, we should probably continue south or west for now, otherwise we have to backtrack toward Olegs and head northeast.
Figure out what you want to do tall folk, I'll map wherever you go.
Annurian taps gently at the map, and he speaks pointing back at the horses.
Let's keep riding downstream Shrike, on the shores, to the southwest. I'd like to establish a circle perimeter near Oleg's, so this way we're closing a good triangle, assuming it keeps going towards the Thorn. - he says, then continuing - When we close the triangle or if we find out the river has a different way, then I say we hit Oleg's and establish a small trail on the closest path to the river and start building a boat.
Rillka listens and nods as Annurian speaks and waits for the other tall folk to discuss the options.
Really. How interesting.... Un-nav-ig-able she sounds out each syllable slowly as she adds the note to her journal.
She nods thanks to Gird and gets prepared to get on the trail to the Southwest, not looking forward to fording the river - while 3' might not be much to the tall folk, it would still be over her head.
She carefully removed the riding gear from Lucca, allowing him to doggy paddle unencumbered if needed. She tied all his tack to Chetak's back and climed up atop the pack saddle of the great horse.
I wonder what drowning would be like...hopefully I won't come close to finding out.
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You cross the river without much problem, Rillka even keeps herself mostly dry, and then follow the river downstream, to the south-west.
And, in the distance, there it is.
A hill topped with a fort. Not a nice fort, but a fort nevertheless.
The Bandit's leader fort, no doubt.
The Stag's Lord Fort.
You remain in the hidden in the closest trees, a mile away.
Annurian sees the fort from a distance, and signs the others. As silently as he can be, he motions his hands and speaks.
It looks like we found the Stag's Lord Fort, folks. - he states the obvious - We should probably prepare a lot more before advancing. Now we charted our way here, it's the time to angle and go for the next point. I don't want to stick around for too long and risk being captured by a regiment of bandits.
He points another direction, right after that signing the Halfling to pull back the map.
Following our plan, now it's time to ride Northwest for some miles, parallel to the Thorn. Once we move about the same distance we took to get here, we go back Northeast towards Oleg's and close the triangle.
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You move northwest, alert to the presence of bandits, feeling in the back of your necks the eyes of the Stag Lord behind every tree and hill.
You manage to put some miles between you and the fort before nightfall. You reach a big forest, and from a hill, you also see another river, which you imagine is the so-called Skunk River, which flows in the middle of the Nalmarches Forest.
Rillka smiles at Gird's "in over our heads" comment. I am already in over my head, tall folk. She nods agreement with Annurian and Gird's assessment and plans, including the proposed watch order.
Once a camp location is reached Rillka will take care of Lucca and Chetak, then string up a hammock, and offer to assist the others.
After dinner she will use all the measurements and journal notes to update the map with notations for the ford and Stag Lord's Fort, Skunk River and Nalmarches Forest.
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Rillka mutters some harsh words at Andreas snoring. The pre-dawn hours are cold and the sleep is heavy, but the halfling explorer refuses to sleep and let the makeshift camp unguarded.
Suddenly a mighty roar is heard near the middle of the camp, and a large grizzly bear stands on two legs, trying to chase you off from the camp!
Iziqalekiso!
Rillka moves to 30' of the bear and gestures and speaks an arcane word.
You unleash a powerful scream, inaudible to all but a single target. The target is dazed for 1 round and takes 2d6 points of sonic damage.
A successful save negates the daze effect and halves the damage.
If the spell affects the creature:
If the bear saves:
Bear in camp! Look Out!
The skinwalker wakes up, confused with what's happening. Hearing the halfling's screams of warning, he stands up pulling his longsword and growls menacing towards the animal, showing his gore with bestiality.
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Dart, Urlok and Andreas make a run for it, looking for trees were to climb away from the bear.
The bear, feeling Annurian as the biggest threat, makes a swipe for him as he reaches for his weapon.
But Annurian manages to duck under the big bear's arm.
The bear, still standing, roars mightily again, trying to scare you off from your camp once and for all.
Lucca, Heel!. Rillka calls for her canine companion and watches to make sure Annurian is going to fall back. Annurian, climb a tree, get away!!
Once she is sure that everyone is safe she will withdraw with Lucca.
No reason for you to stay behind, Rillka! Come, let’s go!
Annurian was brave, but far from stupid. He withdraws with the others but keeping and eye on the halfling to make sure she’d come with them.