Into the Hills
Subject Into the hills
The first night goes with no trouble. The party members fall into their set duties. Cai and Bel doing a bit of hunting, to supplement the food rations the group has. Salix goes out and tries to find wild fruits and vegetables to broaden the fair. Surin and Fal set up the camp, while Alatyr joins Harp with collecting some fire wood. Ran watches the group, a bit amazed at how well they have pulled together in such a short time. Of course, he remembers, these were all hand picked people, chosen because they were good at their jobs.
When Harp gets back with his last load of wood, he takes Ran aside and they discuss some strategy for dealing with the large group of goblins they are following. In particular, Harp is worried about what ever might be leading the goblins. Over dinner that night the group has some discussion about how they might approach this problem. Harp also works out a way to redistribute supplies so that Surin's pony is able to move faster. Now his heavy horse Stupid is the slowest, but there is nothing he can do about this. (OODM: Kevin, when you get a chance would you mind contacting the other party members and seeing what they can carry, in particular Derrell and Ami.)
Cai and Bel both chime in on how the chase is going. They both are confident that their prey is on foot and not mounted. However, it looks like the goblins have a couple of days head start. They are sure that they will be able to catch up, but it will take a while. The weather is a concern, since a good rain will make it very difficult to follow the tracks. The good news is that the goblins seem to be heading in a straight line for the Pass of Undulant. Unless the goblins change their course, the rangers think that even if the loose the trail for a bit, if they keep heading in that direction they will be able to pick it back up.
Early the next morning, Ran rouses the party members and they pack up camp. The rangers pick up the trail and the party heads off at full speed. A couple of hours in they come upon a camp that was obviously made by the goblins. Trash is strewn everywhere and the remains of some type of animal still smolders near the fire pit. This heartens the rangers a bit, since it shows that the goblins may not be too worried about pursuit. The rest of the day is spent in the saddle, following the rangers. Ran asks the group to push on a little longer than usual and they do so. An hour later, Harp's horse starting to show the strain, the party makes camp. The rangers are confident that they have made up some distance on the goblin. (Track rolls, best of each ranger,DC?, total: 21,24,25,25,24,27,15,19 success)
A cold camp is quickly set up. The rangers have no time for hunting, so some firewood is gathered and a fire made. The party is starting it approach to the Pass and the weather is starting to get a bit chillier. Luckily the trees break some of the chill of the wind. The birds of the party have been out in force during the day but have seen nothing out of the ordinary. Bel tells the party ?The creature that is leading them is man sized. Cai and I were able to pick out its tracks every now and then during the day. It is either carrying something very heavy or is itself a very heavy creature. From the size of it footprints I would say it is well over 6? tall and over 300lbs. I can not tell if it is human or what type of creature, since it wears boots, but it is big.?
Cai also says ?The path ahead is going to get harder to track on, the closer we get to the mountains. We still have not had any serious problems, but that is mainly because of the size of the group we are following. My worry is that with the speed we are going, we will miss the leader or some small group breaking off with the Lady and us missing it.?
OODM: Ok guys any comments/action? If you have no comments or actions please still send in a turn saying ready to sleep.
From: Kevin
Subject Entangles
Mark, what it the surrounding vegatation like? Would Salix be able to tell when we got into terrain that would not support his entangle spell?
From: Kevin
Subject Sleep
Harp is ready to sleep.
From: Mark
Subject Entangle
He will be able to tell. The description of the spell does really does not make any distinction in terrain. Obviously any place that has no vegetation would have problems with this spell working, but so long as there is at least scrub bushes and small tress etc, there would be enough root systems for the spell to work. Now if your party was above the tree line or above the snow line there would probably be a problem, but not where you are now
From: Kevin
Subject Entangle
Just so we are not surprised when Salix/Karl goes to use this spell and all of a sudden we get a "not enought root to compute" message. Salix has sufficient other spells we could use I would hate to have us waste one.
Thanks
From: Derrell
Subject Sleep
Fal is ready to sleep
From: Randy
Subject Spells
"I am concerned that use of the entangling spell may do more harm then good when it comes to a rescue mission. The entanglement will affect us as much as them and may allow some of them to escape with Lady Rochelle. It also may prevent us from making an effective pursuit. We will have to wait and see what happens before we decide how to proceed. You are right that we need to discuss tactics though. Please continue to ponder strategy and keep me informed of any ideas you may have."
From: Randy
Subject Sleep
Ran encourages the rangers to set the pace at what they are comfortable with to ensure they don't miss a sign of the enemy splitting up but to keep pressing hard.
Ran says his prayers once again asking for help making leadership decisions and expessing thanks for the companions he has been blessed with.
He then goes to sleep.
From: Rob
Subject Sleep
Bel thinks about the day ahead, and realizes that he might be able to have Ebon fly ahead and try to locate the group.
He decides to attempt to do that in the morning.
He then goes to sleep, providing it isn't his watch, and he sees someone else on watch, up and awake.
From: Karl
Subject Sleep
Salix is ready to sleep or take his watch or whatever