Season 1 - Episode 3: Into the Coastwood

[Iain_IF]

Three wolves, three goblins, says Paladin. Betcha they are right over there roasting her. Let's use Jumbles as a distraction and rush them!

[Birthright]

Regaining his strength as a result of Nivek's prayers and as the pain eases, he places his right hand on the dwarf's shoulder and thanks him for his ministrations. After a quick check of his remaining wounds, Tannen hauls himself to his feet and looks around.

"Well, we need to get out of here as quickly and quietly as possible. I suggest no noise and..." - here he glances briefly at Paladin - "...no throwing rocks. I wish we could investigate further, but we would likely end up as further victims of those gobs. Our best bet is to rest up, regain our strength as quickly as possible and then return in a few days. If Alma managed to survive this long, she'll likely last a few more days.

Hiker, do these wolves look anything like the ones that attacked you in the fields back at the farm that day?"

Tannen then ensures that Hiker and Doughbert are ok... "It's good to see you too still drawing breath! I feared we'd lost you before this little expedition really got underway."

Finally, Tannen shakes Karl's hand and congratulates him on his sword-work with the wolves before loading any gear onto Jumbles. Tannen can assist the wounded members of the party out of the forest and/or they can be placed on Jumbles. If need be some of the gear can be left behind although, Tannen would prefer to take everything with him.

"I suggest we head back to the farm right now."

[JoeCarr28]

I'm going to be travelling with work for the next couple of days, so my next post will be on Friday. In the meantime, see if you can reach a consensus amongst the group as to what to do next. Investigating the source of the smoke seems to be one suggestion. Retreating from the forest to recuperate seems to be another.

Remember, Jumbles' load carry-capacity is only 200 lbs which would just about accommodate Hiker and his gear. Someone will have to carry / support Doughbert. As a group, you're not going to have a movement rate higher than 10', which works out at only 3 miles per day in the forest and 4 miles per day in open countryside. So if you decide to retreat, it's going to take 2 - 3 hours just to clear the forest, and then a couple of days to make it back to Northridge at normal rates.

[SmootRK]

"Perhaps we should simply get some distance then set up a camp to rest a couple of days. I don't want to lose the trail. While we rest I shall pray fervently for our recovery (cure minor wounds x3 for each day), for the Forge Lord rewards those who persevere on their tasks", remarks Nivek. "Lets get to forest edge and set camp somewhere secluded."

[Eevans]

Hiker, do these wolves look anything like the ones that attacked you in the fields back at the farm that day?"

"Well," and Hiker looks at the dead wolves, "I suppose they might a bit, Uhh, I dont know all them woofs kinda look the same." Hiker gives out a big sigh and sits back down.

[ooc: Hiker will do whatever the group wants to at this point]

[Birthright]

"Perhaps we should simply get some distance then set up a camp to rest a couple of days. I don't want to lose the trail. While we rest I shall pray fervently for our recovery (cure minor wounds x3 for each day), for the Forge Lord rewards those who persevere on their tasks", remarks Nivek. "Lets get to forest edge and set camp somewhere secluded."

"Sounds like a good plan" Tannen says.

OOC: I think it's a REALLY bad idea for us to pursue the investigation unless most if not all of us are back to full hp.

[actingkeith]

"The dwarf has the right of it," Karl said. "Traveling with wounded is ill-advised. We'll go back along our path, and set up in a defensible place near the wood's edge."

[Iain_IF]

OOC: My back of the envelope calculation says it will take six days to heal back up to full strength. We will run low/out of provisions by then, not to mention the potential for wandering monsters as we camp in the woods.

[Birthright]

OOC: My back of the envelope calculation says it will take six days to heal back up to full strength. We will run low/out of provisions by then, not to mention the potential for wandering monsters as we camp in the woods.

[OOC: If Tannen (and any other movement 10' characters) shed non-essential gear (Heck eating two more days rations alone will put Tannen back to a lightg load) such that we have a 20' move we can probably force march back to the farm in a single day. There we can get bed rest and heal at 2 up/ day plus whatever Nivek can supply through his blessings. That should solve the ration and wandering monster risks?]

[JoeCarr28]

Deciding that discretion is the better part of valour, you gather your belongings and prepare to retreat from The Coastwood. With a little bit of a struggle, you manage to hoist the wounded Hiker up on to the back of Jumbles, although the pony seems less than impressed by this turn of events. Leaving the carcasses of the wolves behind, you turn and head south.

The going is undoubtedly slow, but you have little difficulty retracing your steps through the forest. Tannen and Karl take it in turns to carry Doughbert, and whilst the halfling is certainly less stout than his kinsman, his near deadweight quickly becomes a burden. The forest meanwhile is oblivious to your predicament and remains every bit as alive with the sounds, both familiar and less so, of its denizens.

[Rolls]

The first hour or so passes without incident. As you pause briefly to allow Tannen and Karl to swap halfling-carrying duties, you notice a large shape heading towards you through the trees from an approximately north-easterly direction. In the gloomy forest light, it’s not immediately apparent what it is, but the creature is clearly heading directly towards you on four legs and at a faster rate than you are capable travelling. As the ‘thing’ closes to around 30 yards you begin to discern the unmistakable outline of a bear, and a sizable one at that - a grizzly by your reckoning. The bear halts, rears up on it hind legs, fixes you with its stare, and lets out an almighty roar ...


Doughbert: HP -7/5 … stabilised and conscious
Hiker: HP -7/9 … stabilised and conscious
Karl: HP 7/8
Nivek: HP 4/7; no ‘0’ level spells remaining today
Tannen: HP 1/9
10 am, 27th day of Harvestide