Pass on what you have learned IC

[Daryk]

Atan

"I don't know, Liam. Unless peasants around here are a whole lot braver and more desperate for stone than the ones up North, I don't think they'd come this far. I'm no conjurer, but didn't the story have something to do with a summoning? Is it possible some of the stones went home with the demon or whatever?" Atan asked, looking up from the floor of the basement. Gesturing in a broad circle, he added, "Or maybe the explosion was so forceful, it flung the missing stones out into the forest?"

[Greyen]

Lirt

The halfling brewer looks at the wreckage and down into the cellar, I think its more likely that this has become a 'bogey-man' for the village. Something this close has been picked over by every adventuring party that has ever landed in town. We should probably start moving on.

[Daryk]

Atan

"Bogey man or no, something isn't right, and I'm curious to know what it is. I doubt enough adventurers have been through to remove so much stone. I mean, how many souvenirs could they take?" Atan asked, pacing a bit in the cellar.

[Wiz]

Liam Ravenquill

Liam frowns, looking thoughtful. "Well, maybe this 'demon' was something else. You know how peasants might characterize any summoned creature that was violent as a demon. Perhaps it was something earth-elemental based, like a Xorn, that eats rock?" He shrugs, "Unless someone sees tracks to identify which way somebody has been going, perhaps with the rock, I'm supposing we probably should move on."

[Irrealist]

Somewhat disappointed Azurous climes back out of the pit and approaches Epsun, showing his wounded hand he asks “Can you magic heal this?”

Epsun takes a good look at your hand. "This doesn't look serious." He further inspects the wound then pulls out a small leather pack, from which he takes a clean piece of cloth. He drenches it in water, and wipes your hand clean, then takes a bandage and wraps it around your hand to protect it from dirt, then cheerfully pats you on the back. "Now it should be ok. By tomorrow it will be a lot better already. When the wound is closed, please wash the bandage and cook it before returning it to me."

Turning to the rest of the party, he adds to the discussion: "So Atan, you want to go looking for missing stones? I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish here."

[The_Snark]

Nuale

Nuale nods agreement. "I don't really see what it has to do with us, unless we plan to camp here sometime."

[AngelForm]

Azurous

After being treated by Epsun and thanking him Azurous considers for a moment before giving his opinion of the situation. “We are probably missing something here, but I think it best we move on. We don’t have the spells to search effectively or to track anything powerful enough to do this. Given our time is limited I propose we finish the task we have been set. We can return to solve this mystery when we have greater magic’s at our disposal.”

[Wiz]

Liam Ravenquill

Liam nods, "I agree... makes sense to me. Let's go find those lizards."

[TwoCents]

Minya Istaya, Waterdeep Elf

"It is a puzzlement, but let us move on. Perhaps we can learn more later." Minya climbed up the rope and rearranged her clothes for overland travel. "So, brother, ready to lead off?"

[Daryk]

Atan

Retrieving his rope, Atan again cast a wistful glance about the site, but then pushed it out of his mind. Answering his sister, he said, "Ok, where were the lizards again? I know somebody looked into it..."

[Irrealist]

Emmis comes forward: "I've got the map of the forest I found, but it's only a rough one. Not much detail at all."

[Wiz]

Liam Ravenquill

Liam glances at the map. "They like swampy areas and riverbanks for their nesting sites... perhaps where this stream enters the forest, and follow it in?"

[AngelForm]

Azurous

“Lets head towards the river then.” Azurous studies the map for a moment then looks around. He points in the direction he believes the river to be, “That way is probably our best bet.” Looking to Atan he asks “Will you scout again?”

[Daryk]

Atan

"Certainly. Shall we head through the forest straight to the river, or back along the road to the village first?" Atan asked.

[harmonictempest]

Epsun

After looking over the map, Epsun chimes in. I'm not sure why we'd go back to the village - I say head toward the lizards, which seems to be along the river.

[AngelForm]

Azurous

“It is unlikely we will find the lizards on known paths, lets move through the forest.”

[Wiz]

Liam Ravenquill

Liam nods, "If we can be sure of our directions... why not?"

[Daryk]

Atan

Not hearing any objections to a direct path, Atan nodded and headed off into the forest.

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Do I need a survival check, or will taking 10 do the trick?

[Greyen]

Lirt

Lirt follows along quietly, his line of mules more his focus that the surroundings though.

[Irrealist]

You fall into the same marching order you have agreed on earlier that day, and trot off, following Atan's unerring lead. With the mules taking all the heavy load, the march is more like a weekend hike to you. The undergrowth is only a minor nuisance to you, and you try to avoid the brushier patches without making too long a detour. You try hard, but keeping up your guard for hours at a time proves difficult. Hours pass uneventfully, and the sun is setting in the West, as it is supposed to.

[TwoCents]

Minya Istaya, Waterdeep Elf

At one of the rest breaks, Minya asked a question of the group, her face pinking with embarassment. "Um, I don't recall. Are these lizards we're looking for diurnal or nocturnal?"

[Wiz]

Liam Ravenquill

Liam frowns, "I don't recall, precisely. I do believe they have very good night vision, so they might indeed be nocturnal." He looks around, "Actually, this might be a good place to camp... it is getting late."

[Daryk]

Atan

Seeing the others begin setting up camp, Atan headed out to hunt.

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Taking 10 on a survival roll for a total of 14. Since he's only foraging for two rations worth (vice three), he can accomplish that in about four hours with that result, right?

[harmonictempest]

Epsun

Seeing the camp begin to take shape for the evening, and realizing he would have little to add to the tent-raising and dinner-cooking efforts, Epsun cast about for something else he could add. Seeing Atan headed out of the camp to hunt for dinner, he hurried after him. "Atan! I don't know my way around a hunt like you do, but I'm not bad with a crossbow, and I know a decent bit about what's edible, easy to find, that sort of thing. Mind if I help?"

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If he's allowed to come, Espun will let Atan do the searching for prey while he keeps more of an eye out for edible plants, berries, and anything else that might better suit elven or vegetarian members of the party. When Atan finds something promising, Epsun will let him take the lead, backing him up with the second shot or pair of eyes where necessary. Not wanting to tread on Atan's toes in his area of expertise, he'll let Atan run the show, lending support where he can.
Survival Aid Another: 2 (blech - I wasn't planning to roll, but I didn't know if you could take 10 on Aid Another)
Knowledge (nature): 24
Search (in case it's appropriate): 10

[Daryk]

Atan

After Epsun spooked the third rabbit in a row, Atan looked at him with an exasperated expression. "Look, Epsun. I know you're trying to help, but... please. Maybe you could just stay here for a few minutes, or head back to camp? Looks like you've got a decent lot of berries, there..."

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A 1? I just couldn't let that one lie...

[AngelForm]

Azurous

As the group begins to set up camp Azurous considers his food supply, he sees Atan leave to go hunting, Epsun in tow. Well we seem to have some time on our hands. Come on Scrya, time to catch supper.

Leaving most of his gear in the relative safety of the camp and taking only his weapons Azurous sets off in the opposite direction to Atan. No point competing for game.

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Ok taking 10 on survival gives 14 so I should be able to get food for myself in the time Atan is out, I do my own hunting
I’m assuming a ferret in the woods can keep itself fed.

[Irrealist]

Atan moves through the forest like a trained woodsman, stopping here and there to pick up some edible plants. Even if his hunt would be unlucky, he still would have enough food to survive. He looks for some animal tracks, and is lucky, only to lose them again after some time. Another pair of tracks leads to a small waterhole, and he sets up camp there for some time, hoping to catch a thirsty deer. He waits in vain, maybe it is already too dark for most of the animals to be active. After a while he gives up, making his way back to the camp in order to arrive in time for his watch duty. He has collected enough plants, leaves, weeds and berries for Minya and him to even have a nice breakfast.

Azurous first moves deeper into the forest to get away from the noisy camp, then starts looking for tracks and other hints of animals in the area. Despite the sun already setting behind the treetops, he is lucky, stumbling across a patch of wild berries while he is looking for tracks. He pads his belt pouch with leaves, and plucks as many as he can, storing them in his pouch and in a fold of his shirt that he holds up. He can still drop them if something better shows up. Just as he finishes plucking berries, he hears something rustle nearby, and spots a rabbit sitting only about two dozen feet away. He reaches for his crossbow and loads, and the rabbit innocently starts hopping away. Azurous sneaks after him, and when the rabbit stops again, he is ready. The rabbit drops dead immediately. Happy, Azurous walks over to the body and removes the bolt. Grabbing the rabbit by the ears, he makes his way home, backtracking the way he came.
Even sneaking carefully after the rabbit, the hunt had taken less than half an hour from the patch of berries, but after more half an hour of walking back, he has not reached it yet. Under the darkening sky, the forest looks so so different, and after some more searching, it dawns on him that he is not going to find the way back to the camp anytime soon.

Back at the camp, Emmis wonders why Azurous is not back in time for his watch. Trahone volunteers to assist him. "Azurous does not have a reliable means of measuring time, so we can't expect him to be punctual. I can take over the first hour of his shift. If he still is not here by then, we should start to worry".

[Wiz]

Liam Ravenquill

Liam sets his bedroll near the fire, he looks concerned when there is no appearance of Azurous.

[harmonictempest]

Epsun

Epsun, taken aback by his unusual clumsiness in the hunt, nods, and returns to camp after assuring Atan that he usually isn't nearly as bad in the woods as all that.

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Oh, I wouldn't have let it lie, either. :-P

[AngelForm]

Azurous

As the light fades and the camp continually fails to appear Azurous stops to consider his options.
It did not take this long to get out here, it seems unlikely that this is due to malicious action on the part of anything else. If it was I would probably be dead by now. Still without my spellbook sleeping out here would be a waste of resources regardless of danger.

Scrya looks like I will be relying on your eyes to get us back. Enthusiastic as always Scrya replies I will find the way! Azurous places his familiar on his shoulder and the pair move off hopefully towards the camp.

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What happened? How can I get lost with a 14 on survival?!
Ok rant over
Azurous will continue trying to find the others for as long as low light vision is effective. After that I will think again.