The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)

[Saintheart]

The Dawn Way, Ten Miles south of Skull Gorge
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Around Eleven Bells, the Eleventh of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic

Complication Dice 6 of 6

The circus tore into the leading bats like crosscut saws. Between Chatty's terrifying blurred strikes, Cyzar's sudden bounding into the fray, and Arendi joining their line under Vokon's encouragement, the two bats blocking the Dawn Way went down in sprays of blood and gore that stayed mercifully colourless in the near-darkness.

The other two immediately took the hint. With screams of what presumably was some mixture of frustration, agitation, or fear, the other massive bats immediately broke off, fleeing over the jungle canopy, clearly wanting no further part of the fight. In a matter of seconds, the circus was alone on the Dawn Way again, left with nothing but the two massive corpses to step over.

Piko gave a muted baaaa.
"(Awwk) Boy, you said it. (Arrk)."

Cyzar did briefly consider tearing into the oversized corpses, but realised in the presence of a being carrying some ungodly stink of rat and gnome that this would not at all be a proper thing to do. Instead the leopard sat on its haunches for a moment and prudently preened at one of its paws which had a little blood left on it.

Hum. The leopard decided to take another look at the lead corpse. He'd contributed somewhat, but the big man that looked like a toad but smelled of something entirely Other had done a rather impressive job with that sharp circular throwing claw of his. The gleaming half-circle was still visible where it had ripped through the bat's guts, and next to it were what looked like a couple of pouches of some kind. There was a plant-like odour coming off one, and there was a not-smell coming from the other that the leopard had learned over the years was most likely connected with the funny rocks that drove some of the short-skins mad.

Not that these were really that much of a concern to a noble erudite such as Cyzar, of course. There were other important questions for one of his station to consider than petty small material things outside the hot blood of a kill and the feeling of purring contentment he had while he was around Alastor.

Spoiler: OOC

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That's 500 XP each to the party. Chatty or anyone else who's got Scent can also probably pick up the odor of the pouches that have fallen out of what once was the bat's intact intestinal tract.
Also, it would be well known to Vokon and Chatty that bat fur or leather is sought-after enough, but the kind that comes off spellwarped types is fairly valuable as well.

Also also, I forgot Vokon's Hammer of Selune flares with light equivalent to a torch when wielded, so there was certainly enough light for Arendi and Alastor to see by.

[A.A.King]

"You know" Alastor said as he and Piko walked towards the bodies of the slain bats "these beasts look different from the one I called forth in our fight against the hobgoblins. I wonder what happened to them to make them this... warped"

He then petted Cyzar for a job well done. "That was truely a magneficinent performance from you, Cyzar. Well done!

[danielxcutter]

"Well, they're not undead at least. I couldn't tell you more than that though, it's not my speciality."

[Aracor]

They're either fled or dead. And it doesn't seem they were intelligent enough to be allies of the dragons and hobgoblins. So who cares?

Chatty, you did such a good job with the dragon, would you like to skin these as well? It's not my specialty, but these hides are likely to be valuable.

[Toliudar]

Chatty

Chatty nods curtly at Vokon's suggestion, and goes back along the path to retrieve her dropped dagger. She trots back to Along the way, she sniffs out a couple of pouches that had dropped to the ground in the battle, and tosses them to Arendi for further examination.

The bats are spellwarped. Hopefully there's nothing around here that's doing that on a mass scale, or we'll have a war on two fronts.

her hands were already spattered with bat blood, so digging in to slice the delicate fur from the lean musculature of the mutated bats was not particularly worse. Literally and figuratively, she dug in, doing the best she could

Come dawn, she could spend some time licking herself clean. The bats' strangely magical blood had a curious fizzy tang to it,like extremely sludgy root beer.

[Saintheart]

The Dawn Way, Ten Miles south of Skull Gorge
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Around Eleven Bells, the Eleventh of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic

Complication Dice 6 of 6

Arendi didn't notice what Chatty had scribed on the ground, because he was first busy with getting the pouches open, and then surprised by their contents.

The two dark blue pouches, not much larger than the size of his palm, were made of some sort of oilskin, designed to keep out moisture. They'd also been wax-sealed, and maybe there was some just-fading incantation involved in them being this well-preserved. Either way, he broke the seals and let the light of Vokon's hammer reveal what lay inside.

One pouch had a a good twenty gemstones in it. No diamonds, perhaps, but some very good-looking cuts of emerald, ruby, sapphire, and amethyst mixed among lesser garnets and moonstone. Their colour and gleam was unmistakeable. The other pouch spilled a handful of what looked like miniature red straw onto his hand. But then he, and half the party, caught a whiff of the scent coming from the plant material and every eye turned with delight. Arendi might have been from a relatively prosaic god of death, but even Kelemvor's clerics knew the value of spices, and one they knew very well, the one that held the value well above gold for weight, was that known as saffron, the stamens of a purple crocus flower that made the tastebuds of rich men believe they were young again.

Spoiler: OOC

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The gemstones will need appraisal, but enough people know the worth of saffron to conclude you've got about 1,000gp worth in your hand. Also, skinning those bats will take some time and click the Complication Pool over to 1 of 6.

[danielxcutter]

"I swear this is like the second or third time we've fought off some random jungle creatures and found actual goods. Not even raw materials or trophies," remarked the greywarden.

He sighed. "Well, we don't exactly have a way to find the next of kin of this pouch, and we sure don't have the time for that either. I guess we need all the help we can get, and we've probably avenged the poor soul it belonged to anyways."

[Dexam]

Keda retrieves his annulat from the body of the dire bat, and then activates his belt of healing, touching the gash on his arm to stop the bleed and close the wound.

"Perhaps these creatures were trained? Couriers and messengers of some kind, trained to swallow objects into their gullet and regurgitate them on delivery." He looks askance at Arendi and Vokon. "Do you know if the hobgoblins associate with creatures other than the hell hounds and a dragon?"

He pulls out his curved knife and assists Chatty in removing the hides from the bats. He also helps himself to some of their fangs - they could potentially be used to repair his own oshac-spiked armour should the situation arise - and some of the more tender cuts of meat. They still had some hours of travel, and would need the energy at the end of it.

Spoiler: OOC

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Healing Belt, 1 charge: (2d8)[4]

[A.A.King]

"Certainly not intelligent enough to be true allies, no" Alastor said in response to Vokon. "They were however clearly hostile. Our current journey back to Drellin's Ferry will hardly be our last one through this forest I fear, it wouldn't hurt our chances to know what is causing this deformation. Regular beasts I can tame well enough for them to leave us alone, as you noticed when we encountered those apes yesterday. The abominations are both more hostile to begin with and less likely to be swayed by my techniques. It's probably one mystery too many for our circus to solve right now, but I have no doubts that knowing the answer to why this is happening would both make our journeys through this place easier and make the jungle an overall safer space to be.

"I guess they could be trained messengers" Alastor said in response to Keda’s suggestion "though given that they attacked us instead of delivering these gemstones I’d have to say they were poorly trained ones. I guess it is possible that they were trained messengers before they got ‘spellwarped’ as Chatty calls it. It’s hard to tell one way or the other."

"Our best course of action now is to finish our business with these corpses as fast as possible and resume our journey. We could always inquiry when we are back in town. Oh, and Chatty, if this spellwarped stuff is still edible, could you cut of a piece for Cyzar when you are done cutting the skin? He looks like he wants a treat"

[danielxcutter]

"Please. No. I’ve handled dead bodies before and these smell a bit off. It might be okay but I’d rather not risk it unless you guys are absolutely sure."

Spoiler: OOC

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This really isn’t anything mechanical Arendi’s just worried. And spellwarped creatures probably smell worse than normal ones.

[Toliudar]

Chatty

Chatty merely hefts a furry eyebrow at the confluence of competing dictates about bat meat. Well, there wasn't much eating on a bat to begin with, and if Cyzar wanted to eat some of what was left, Chatty was certainly not going to get in his way. The big cat didn't need her help to tear into the exposed muscle.

Having done what she could to gather the skin of one of the bats, she tucks it away in the bag, and holds the bag open to receive Keda's work on the other bat.

Shaking drops of residual blood from her claws, Chatty made eye contact with the group to ensure that all were ready to proceed, and once again took to the road.

[Saintheart]

The Dawn Way, Swift Creek
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Around Four Bells, the Twelfth of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic

Complication Dice 5 of 6

The next six hours or so were perhaps the most tense. It was during the watches of midnight that Chatty and Keda recognised the stretch of the Dawn Way they were crossing through. It was the stretch passing closest to Vraath Keep - the ruin they had raided and which had cost them a companion's life. Somewhere, not far, off to the west, her pyre was likely still smoking. Their passage over the causeway at Cold Creek felt to have been the longest the neraphim and the wererat had ever experienced. Every moment seemed to be too loud, even quiet as shadows though they were.

And yet - and yet - for a miracle - nothing interrupted them or challenged them. Not one hobgoblin passed their way. There were occasional signs of a hobgoblin presence -- a log which had clearly been cut to block the road, but easily passed, the occasional sign of the last embers of a campfire -- but they seemed to have somehow chosen exactly the moment when any hobgoblin patrols through here were off the Dawn Way at that moment. Maybe they were at the Keep caucusing; maybe they were already headed north just as the circus was headed south. Either way, Chatty and Keda saw no hobgoblins and with every moment that they were over Cold Creek without being challenged, their tension sagged, just a little more. By about three bells, though still alert enough, both scouts were fairly certain they'd somehow missed the worst of it.

The road then brought them towards Swift Creek. Here, however, it proved to be poorly named. A wide expanse of dark water had flooded the jungle in this low valley. Trees still protruded from the calm, dark waters here and there, bu many large reaches seemed to be little more than open pools of algae-choked water. The trill of frogs and the whine of insects filled the air. The Dawn Way led right down to the edge of the flooded section, up to a somewhat rickety-looking causeway made of thinner stone that was slick with black algae and moss. The causeway ran several hundred feet through the boggy patch, only a foot or so above the water.

Across a particularly sluggish-looking patch of black water Chatty and Keda could see the wreckage of a wagon, lying on its side and half-sunk in the flooded forest, about thirty feet from the causeway. Having looked around briefly, Keda and Chatty were getting close to the wagon.

Behind them, on the causeway, the water erupted.

Six reddish reptilian heads, swinging and hissing like loosed kettles, shot from the water. The pyrohydra had been all too camoflagued in the darkness and the dead logs in the swamp. Now all six heads erupted in a six great gouts of flame that washed over the scouts' companions, caught out in the middle of the causeway...

Spoiler: Tactical Map

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As before, if in doubt, the grid references are to be considered accurate.

Spoiler: Tactical Notes

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Some damage was done:

Arendi takes 13 [fire] damage, failed Reflex save.
Vokon makes his save and takes 6 [fire] damage.
Jim makes his save and takes 5 [fire] damage.
Alastor takes 14 [fire] damage, failed Reflex save.
Cyzar and Piko (who Alastor is riding) both make their saves and suffer no damage at all due to Evasion!

No surprise round, or rather, we just had it.

Initiative Order:
Everyone!
Pyrohydra.

As usual, 48 hours for everyone to post.

Notes about the terrain:
- The causeway stones are slick. It takes a DC 10 Balance check to run or charge on it; failure means the character can't move.
- Move action to scramble up onto the causeway from a square of shallow bog.
- Shallow bog is all the lighter green swamp near the water, it's about 3 feet deep. 2 squares of movement to move into a square of shallow water, and it's a +2 to Tumble DCs in these.
- Deep bog is all the dark green closest to the water, which is about 5 feet deep. It costs 4 squares of movement to move into.

Complication Dice went up to 5 of 6 because of the danger of passing Vraath Keep.

[A.A.King]

Alastor looked at the great beast that had appeared from below the waters. Such a magnificent creature would have made a great addition to the circus or so he thought to himself but right now was neither the time nor the place to try and persuade it to change sides. He looked at the water it was standing in and noticed that only a small part of the creeked seemed to actually be big enough to hide the massive body. It seemed to be rather stuck in place. There seemed to be only on sensible solution

"GO" he shouted to both Piko and Cyzar and as fast as they could without slipping on the stones they moved down the causeway, hoping the others would follow them.

If this was another recruit to the hobgoblin army he had to admit though that he was impressed. Hell hounds, manticores, dragons and now a hydra. Somewhere in that army there appears to be a trainer with some tricks Alastor hasn't learned yet

Spoiler: OOC

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Both Piko (and therefor Alastor) and Cyzar double move down the causeway. This puts them 80 ft. away from there original position. That would put them of map I think. It just seems pointlessly risky to fight this thing.

[danielxcutter]

"Everyone move, now!" shouted Arendi, casting a spell on himself and moving away from the beast - maybe they'd be able to take it in ideal conditions, but here? No.

Spoiler: OOC

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Cast Longstrider on self, and move to (M, 12). While it doesn't apply yet, he's using Iron Guard's Glare.

[Dexam]

Surprised by the beast that neither he nor Chatty had seen lurking in the murky waters, Keda grabs his bow and pulls out an arrow. He steps to stand by Arendi - with so many heads, it would be better to (hopefully) divide up it's attacks amongst multiple targets, rather than allowing the creature's head to latch onto a single member of the party. He snaps a quick shot towards the bulk of the beast, hoping to distract it while the others made their move to safer grounds.

Spoiler: OOC

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Moving 10' to M-11, activating Skirmish.

Attack with longbow: (1d20+11)[18]
Damage: (1d8+3)[9] plus Skirmish: (2d6)[9]

AC: 21

[Aracor]

Vokon snaps into action as Arendi shouts.

Fighting this thing on its home ground seems silly, and since its fire breath seems short ranged, better to try to escape WITHOUT engaging it if possible. But he readies his trusty hammer just in case running fails.

Spoiler: Actions

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Vokon will double move to N11, positioned so he can defend Arendi, and hopefully leaving room so that Jim can get past him to safety.

[Toliudar]

Chatty

Concerned that the great beast might be hunting in tandem with another threat up ahead - the phrase 'out of the frying pan and into the fire' might be especially grimly appropriate in a case like this - Chatty moves further out ahead of the group, sniffing out further dangers.

Spoiler: OOC

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Chatty will double-move 60' further down the path. Swift action to switch to Flame's Blessing stance to give fire resisitance 5.

Spot (1d20+16)[27]
Listen (1d20+10)[25]

[Saintheart]

The Dawn Way
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Around Six Bells, the Twelfth of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic

Complication Dice 6 of 6

Even though the creature's breath had been fearsome and singed a good portion of the circus, its ferocity was not, apparently, matched by real mobility. The pyrohydra did turn southward to follow them, but its slow wading through the swampy, muddy water and onto the shoreline made it abundantly clear that the circus's best weapon lay in speed. So they simply increased their pace, leaving the Creek behind in moments, and the pyrohydra's frustrated roar followed them into the darkness. Nothing else sprang from the road to oppose them by Chatty's observations, and after a couple of minutes they slowed back to a hustle.

The path came out of that part of the jungle dominated by swamp soon enough, and the flagstones of the Dawn Way became large and solid once more. It seemed hard to imagine, but it looked as though their path wouldn't be opposed by any hobgoblin forces. Though they hadn't seen this patch of road before, their path turned southeast in what they could all recognise was the last fifth or so of their journey.

Chatty wasn't off alert yet, though; neither Keda. The array of creatures they'd run into thus far made it clear that Shaareach Forest was no place for the unwary, especially if the hobgoblins' presence had made it any easier for beasts like the hydra to creep in. And, throughout their journey, there remained that strange feeling that had been upon them from when they'd first come under the jungle's branches: the feeling that, quite apart from the hobgoblins, some power was roused or awake in this wilderness. One that could perhaps only be safely confronted with an army at one's back ... the problem being, of course, that the Red Hand had a literal army behind them.

The wererat and neraph slowed at the same moment. This time the reason for their sudden halt was clear and apparent. Neither did it spring at them, which was a decent change. But neither was it exactly anything to make light of. They were about a half mile from where the trail that led to Jorr's house crossed the Dawn Way. And the Dawn Way, here, was blocked.

Ahead of them, and thankfully a fair distance ahead of them thanks to the slight rise Keda and Chatty were on, a good sixty square feet of the Dawn Way was moving.

Or rather, sixty square feet of the Dawn Way's flagstones were teeming with insectile movement. Swarms. Centipede swarms. Keda and Chatty hadn't seen this particular variant before - they seemed to have blood-red bodies with large head-fangs that glowed blue in the starlight - but the Dawn Way had become some great plain of repulsive, heaving movement as the swarms rose, fell, and teemed on the flagstone. Keda had a feeling that some sort of habit of behaviour was involved here; maybe some sort of mating madness, or maybe some sort of reaction to a thaumaturgical source of some kind. But even if it was purely random, it remained the fact that if the circus wanted to continue down the Dawn Way directly, they would have to deal with the millions of centipedes frantically swarming over the Way at this point.

[Aracor]

Libby, can you check to see how wide this is? If we keep our distance, maybe we can just let them pass and move afterwards.

Vokon surveys the teeming mass of creatures, and involuntarily shuffles back half a step. My hammer will not be effective at fighting so many tiny creatures.

[Saintheart]

"(Squawk) Y'know, one of these days some halfwit mage is going to make some sort of airborne construct that can do this sort of stuff, and you'll be able to control it with some sort of piece of metal in your hand and not force magnificent specimens like me to have to go flapping around in the dark where there's hungry stuff flying around ohfinefinefinefine already, I'm going, geez, Vokon, if your face gets any harder than that it'll actually turn into granite and not just look like it ... (whistle)"

Libby's wings came rustling back a few moments later. "(Awk) Yeah, I'd say that's a good sixty square feet, so you're looking at a solid thirty feet of centipede goodness to go stamping through if you really want. I wouldn't. I mean, they're tasty little crunchers, don't get me wrong, hard outside, soft on the inside, but gods they can move when they want to. Right now, though, just having a good old centipede party before daylight. As you do. Not that I know much about the subject, I mean, do you study the reading habits of oranges? No? Didn't think so. (Squawk)"

[A.A.King]

"Can't say I disagree" Alastor said with a big laugh to Vokon as Libby flew away. "She means well though"

"If they aren't just crossing the road that certainly makes it harder to just wait them out. They could be doing... whatever it is they are doing for hours... If they are mainly on the road I guess it is always an option to go round them, venture into the forest for a little bit until these things are well behind us?

[Aracor]

Vokon chuckles in response. She's still willing to help, so I'm willing to accept a little bit of mouth from her in exchange.

Thank you, Libby. If you weren't here with us, I don't know how we'd learn as much as we do. We'd probably blunder into something and get ourselves killed. Then he pulls a bit of food from his pouch and offers it to her. Still friends?

He sighs heavily.

If they're really just milling around, our best option really does seem to be going around them. It will cost us time, but who knows how much more it'll cost us to hang around here and wait for them to disperse.

[Toliudar]

Chatty

The wererat nodded her agreement, and glanced up at Keda for his thoughts. Although the strange frog=man had only been with them for a couple of days, she already felt like she had been relying on his cunning and keen eyes for much longer.

A swarm sixty feet across was indeed a daunting thing. Allowing for some drift and a desire not to be noticed, give it a hundred feet of clearance, then? She attempted to illustrate with her hands giving a wide berth to the centipedes, waited for the more verbose in the group to verbosify, and then set off in what seemed like the less swampy direction.

Spoiler: OOC

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Barring further discussion, Chatty will wait for Keda, and then lead the group about 150' off the path, then turn to move parallel with the path for a thousand feet or so, before trying to turn to turn back to meet back up with the road. Rather than scouting far in advance, she'll stay close enough to the main group to ensure that they can keep her and Keda in sight.

[Saintheart]

Libby looked up from where she was trying to crack the macadamia nut Vokon had offered. "(Squawk) She's saying she's going to try and take us around the centipede swarm, trailbreaking through the jungle. At night. Because nothing terrible ever happened to anyone who wanted to go offroad in the middle of a jungle swarming with thaumaturgical mutant bats and pyrohydras and Silvanus-knows-what-else, and yes, parrots do have a deity, because I've been praying to him for the past two days straight, and twice as hard when we brought a four-legged predator into this circus (Arrk!)"

If Cyzar understood what the parrot was saying, he didn't say. There were more important things to contemplate. Such as the optimum distance for one to spring through the air and take the parrot off Vokon's shoulder without doing damage to the rest of Alastor's band of servants.

Spoiler: OOC

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More seriously, I'm going to assume Keda's most likely to volunteer coming along with Chatty if for no other reason than that, despite not even being from this plane, he's still a better likelihood of taking the circus through trackless jungle successfully than Chatty, i.e. on Survival rolls. :D Either way, though, cutting around raises the Complication Pool by 1 as it does involve taking some risk - in keeping with the scouting rules.

Dexam, let's have a Survival check if this is all okay.

[Dexam]

Keda eyed the swarming mass contemplatively. Giant bats, massive beasts, and now swarms of arthropods. With such am abundance of natural resources practically falling at their feet, combined with the forest itself, it puzzled him why the hobgoblins would feel the urge to go to war in the first place.

Keda eyed the loquacious bird. "You can fly across. I could most likely leap across. Chatty and the cat could pass by going branch to branch along the trees. But the rest of House Bremer Circus, however, must go around, which requires making our own trail. Alternatively, we back-track and find one of the existing trails we passed earlier; or we build a large fire and hope to disperse the centipedes with smoke and flame. All options take time and carry risk, but trailblazing is the one with the most unknowns. Shall we see what the unknown brings?"

With that, he draws his curved two-handed blade and ventures off the road and into the forest.

Spoiler: OOC

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Survival check: (1d20+9)[10] with +2 if you include an assist from Alastor.

Edit: well, that could've gone better.

[Saintheart]

Somewhere east and north of the Dawn Way?
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Dawn, the Twelfth of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic

Complication Dice 1 of 6

Dawn wasn't visible. Although it was clear from the ambient light that the sun was somewhere in the sky, it wasn't apparent exactly where from the great verdant canopy above the circus, and which they'd been under for the entirety of the time between striking off road and sunrise.

That, in turn, appeared to be because they were, in fact, lost.

Keda had suspected something was wrong in the first fifteen or twenty minutes. Even with Alastor's helpful contributions, though, he knew they should have at least come back to the road by now. But there'd been a fallen tree they'd gone over, and then a thick stand of wanderwoods in the way. Maybe it had been the changing light, or maybe just the weariness of a long night on the road. But whatever the reason, he'd clearly turned left when he should've turned right ... or the other way around when he tried to correct their course ... and now they were somewhere north and east of the Dawn Way, with no sign of the road thus far. The neraph could sense the heat beginning to build in the air below the trees, and it surely wouldn't be wrong to assume another blistering, boiling day below the jungle's branches. To say nothing of the fact they were all near exhaustion from the full night of travel, and with Drellin's Ferry surely not far from here.

Spoiler: OOC

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So, as said, it occurs that you are, in fact, lost. Ever since Keda and Alastor led you off the road you haven't seen any waterways and you haven't seen the Dawn Way, and about all you've got is that you must be somewhere east of the road and south of Swift Creek. What do you do now?

(Also note: Fort checks will kick in again, once per hour given the severity of temperatures in here.)

[Dexam]

As the ambient light grows, Keda becomes increasingly concerned and agitated - surely they should have met back up with the Dawn Way road by now? It was the strangeness of This Place again; too many things remained constant that shouldn't; too much was far too alike - it confused senses that were honed to a landscape in perpetual turmoil.

He calls a halt to their trek, and looks apologetically at the party, four-fingered palms upturned and outstretched. "I beg the forgiveness of this House... I fear that I have led us astray from our intended path. I will try to put things right, but if you no longer trust in my judgement in this matter, I understand." He looks around, and finds a tree of suitable size and height for climbing. "I will try to regain my bearings. If all else fails, I can retrace our trail with ease, though such a move will cost us much time we had hoped to gain." Checking that his gear is secure, he begins to climb, trying to get above the canopy.

Spoiler: OOC

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Climb check: (1d20+7)[18]

[Saintheart]

Somewhere east and north of the Dawn Way?
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Dawn, the Twelfth of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic

Complication Dice 1 of 6

Of the trees around him, it was the Pallaris Palm with its blue-green leaves and smooth-as-silk yellow fruit he chose that seemed most familiar to his hands. It had been a while since he'd scaled such a thing, but familiarity with the shifting structures of Home made the job much easier. The climb took him a good forty feet above the ground, where the leaves of nearby trees fought for the best possible access to sunlight.

At the top, he took stock of the surroundings. The sun was, indeed, just coming over the horizon, and judging from that he could at least tell which direction was east, and from there the other directions did become apparent.

Landmarks were more of an issue. With the forest in every direction, it wasn't easy to see much in the way of anything distinct in terms of landforms. There were the Wyrmbones Mountains, far and away off to the horizon, which weren't of much help. What he could see, though, was immediately helpful: on his estimate given the horizon was about seven miles away at this height, there was a clear gap, like a long, thin line, running through the treeline off to the south about two miles out. That scar presumably had been generated by something that cut through the trees continuously ... in short, the Dawn Way. They were about two miles north of the Dawn Way, from what he could tell. Northward, he could also perceive the land falling in on itself and perhaps the glint of water that presumably was Swift Creek, but that was a much greater distance off. And well off to the east, into the rising sun, presumably would be the Talar River that Drellin's Ferry lay on ... albeit going that way would involve a straight trailbreak through Shaareach Forest.

When he was satisfied he had his bearings, he made his way back down the tree.

Spoiler: OOC

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What now? It'll still take a Survival roll to head in any of these directions, whoever is chosen to make it. :D

[Toliudar]

Chatty

While Keda and Alastor struggled to regain their bearings, Chatty maintained a keen watch on their immediate surroundings. She felt shame that she had been incapable of navigating a forest in the dark. Chatty had no illusions that she still had much to learn.

Clenching and unclenching her hands in frustration at her own incompetence, she simply waited for the others to determine the best route out of this preposterous situation.

[A.A.King]

"It's a dense and strange forest Keda, I think we'll have a better chance trying to navigate as a group and even then we may have to rely a little on Tymora's luck. I am sure that the information you gained from climbing up high will be invaluable for getting us out of here and past those damned insects." Alastor said to Keda, trying to reinsure him that he was not to blame for the circus being temporarily lost in the woods.
“Libby, I going to need you to help us get out of here too. You have an easier time getting us a view from above”

“(Squawk) Yeah, yeah, I get it. You can’t fly so I have to do it for you. Just know that if I don’t come back, it’s because the cat somehow got me! (Squawk)”

Alastor looked at Cyzar who just looked back at him with a closed-eyes look of contentment. Sometimes he didn’t get what Libby was saying, how could something so harmless be looked at with fear?
Before he started trying to navigate, Alastor cast a little spell, a little prayer to Tymora. He usually only did this right before in front of the audience, but with a forest as dangerous and difficult to navigate as this they needed every bit of help they could get.

“We need to go this way” Alastor said, and they began moving

Spoiler: OOC

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So, as explained in the OOC post. Alastor's "prayer to Tymora" is the spell Improvisation. It gives him a luck pool of 12 points and for 6 rounds he can boost a skill check (or other check) by spending up to 3 points to get an equivalent luck bonus to the roll. So Alastor is trying to get the circus out of the forest with

1d20 + 12 (his Survival Mod) +3 (Tymora's Luck) +2 (Keda's Aid Another) +2 (Libby's Aid Another).

If anyone else wants to aid, they'd have to roll. Only Keda and Libby have a survival high enough to auto-succeed the DC10 roll to Aid.

So let's see if this time we we have more luck

Survival: (1d20+19)[32]