Buried

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Let's do that thing where we go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master, going around the table starting with Laron. Hi, I'm Laron, and I play Cole Dulphang, a long-toothed shifter druid. And Lisa. Hi, I'm Lisa, and I play Elorath Beestinger, the halfling barbarian. And Kira. I'm Kira, I play Ingrid Pike, a gnome sorcerer. And Valerie. Hey, I'm Valerie, and I play Sora Greywing, the halfling ranger. So, you guys had a rough session last time. As everyone knows by now, people have voiced their opinions on the forums. So is the way of things.

You guys are moving on. I want to pick things up directly after the orc fight last time. So, you are still standing near the side of the road here. You are pretty much in the middle of the divide, so you are in the middle of nowhere. You've almost reached the point of no return, in that you either have to continue on to Donhurst, or you have to turn back and go to Durinhollow. You don't really have much of an option, unless you want to stay in the divide. So, I'm going to ask you guys what you'd like to do. You're standing next to your fallen teammates here, and these orc bodies.

What would you guys like to do? Well, with my nature check, we've already gathered that there's a place that we can go to recoup. Going there is probably the best option, and then we can make up our mind from there. Yeah, you loaded up the bodies of your friends here. You made makeshift gurneys, and you were dragging them. That was pretty much where we left off last time. So, this would be a fairly safe place to camp. There's kind of an encircled stone wall, kind of a naturally occurring thing. So, it would be really tough to surround you and get the jump on you.

They would have to come from one direction, and you would have a much greater chance of just kind of keeping an eye on that one direction. You're also fairly close to a river, so a lot of the noise from that would... Well, it's a double-edged sword, really. A lot of the noise from that would cover up any talking and stuff from that. And that would also make things a little trickier. Like, let's say in the middle of the night, if someone was trying to sneak up on you, it might make it a little trickier to hear their footsteps. But, other than that, this is a pretty good spot in terms of the divide.

This is as safe as you're probably going to get. So, what would you guys like to do here? Let's say that you've reached this spot. I think we had discussed possibly burying the bodies, because we already went through them, right? Yeah. Okay. Sorry about that, guys. I have rifled through the bodies, so sorry. Yeah. So, I think digging holes and burying them with as much haste and respect, I guess, as you can when you're on the road? Right. Question mark? It's the gesture. It's the thought that counts. We're sprinkling a little dirt on them, saying a few words.

Yeah. Trying to be vaguely respectful. So, let's do this. Let's kind of skip ahead to you digging holes, and you're placing the two bodies of Eren and Evelyn to rest. And you are being as respectful as possible while still keeping an eye out. So, hours pass. This takes a while. I would say that this would be pretty close to nightfall, like dusk or nightfall. Are you setting up a campfire and just plunking down for the evening, getting some rest? Or are you going to continue on and try and get out of here as quickly as possible? I think that after our previous battle, we should probably hunker down and at least get some rest.

Yeah. Don't you guys? I agree. Yeah, it's too dark to be going anywhere at this time. Yeah. I don't know about a fire, but... We don't want to be there, but... ...night works. Night works. [laughs] Okay, so we're going to set up camp here, and you guys got a nice little campfire going. Now, obviously, it gets a little chilly this time of year at night, so a campfire is a good idea. It also would make you a little easier to spot if someone were really looking for you. Can I try and make a stealth campfire? A stealth campfire. Like a campfire that hides behind a tree?

Maybe. Actually, I have an idea. Hey, Cole, turn into your wolf form. The rest of us will just steal your body heat and we'll ignore the campfire completely. Cuddle pile. We're tiny. We're small. We're small people. We could do this. Nature check to see if that can actually work as a thing, Jason? Well, I mean, it's not freezing at night. It's chilly. You guys would have bedrolls and blankets and stuff too, like the traditional itchy blanket that people kind of have on the road. So, I mean, if you want to forego the campfire, you absolutely can. You obviously can't cook anything or, you know, but I mean, this is a dangerous area to have a campfire, so I would completely understand if you just wanted to say.

Yeah, we don't want to attract the other tributes. And really, all things considered, we've just been handling dead bodies. Is anyone really hungry? Nope. Well. Yeah. Okay, so yeah. Yeah, I'll turn into a wolf and you all can like snuggle against me, I guess. We will just tease you as a pillow and huddle for warmth. That's -- okay. All right. Do you guys want to try and get some sleep for the night or just -- do you want to talk about anything? I mean, a big traumatic event just occurred, obviously, so again, I completely understand if you guys want to chit chat.

I'm a wolf right now, so I can't -- I can't do that. No. I've muted Cole, sorry. But does somebody want to keep watch? I'll do that first. I'll take first watch. Maybe I guess like Elorath would just say something like, I'll try to protect you guys better next time. I shouldn't run off like that on my own. I'm going to try and fight better because that was awful. It was awful, but it wasn't your fault. You did everything you could. We just -- I just can't help feeling like we're hopelessly outmatched in our mission. I'll fight better. We can do it. We got to do it.

I think we can do it. Well, I appreciate your optimism about the situation. Hey, Sora. Yes. Do me a favor, roll a perception check. Okay, perception. Okay, I got plus nine, so -- Okay. Sweet. So as night closes in around the party and the forest for the most part falls silent, you'll hear, you know, chirping crickets and the usual woodland type sounds. And with no campfire, a little makeshift camp like this can get a little creepy in the middle of the forest. There's no home base, so to speak. It's just kind of you guys in the dark. And Sora is going to peer out into the darkness for the first couple of hours and not see anything.

Every once in a while there will be a rustling in the bushes or something like that, but that's very, very easily explained by just movement of wildlife and such. And nothing is going to bother you guys, which is obviously a tremendous relief considering the day that you guys have just had. Would you guys like to pick things up the next morning? Sure. Yes. Question mark. You guys are so skittish. I'm waiting for a butt. We're a little nervous. I was kind of waiting for a butt during that entire spiel. Well, you found a good place to camp is what it kind of boils down to.

Waking up the next morning, you guys are sort of leaning against Cole, who is acting as sort of a wolfy, warm pillow. And you're going to do your wake up and stretch and your morning routine. Now, before you get started, is there anything you would like to do? Would you guys like to eat or anything like that before you get ready and hit the road again? Is there any water source nearby? There is. There's a river actually really close by. The sound is pretty noticeable. It's one of those things where it's maybe a quarter mile away. I'm going to look over to the party and tell them I'm just going to walk down to the river, grab a drink, splash some water on my face, start a new day.

At this point, I guess I'm out of wolf form. If everybody hasn't woken up, I'll just shimmy them awake, I guess, before turning back into my regular form. And yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'll join you, Ingrid. Good. You could probably do something about your morning dog breath. [Laughter] Can't help it. So taking a walk down by the river, it's actually a gorgeous sight. This portion of the river is actually fairly calm. You just kind of hear it flowing along. Down the way a bit, you actually kind of hit some rapid type areas, so it's a bit more choppy.

And if you were traveling down the river, let's say by boat, you might have a bit of a problem. But you guys are just grabbing a drink and it's actually kind of serene. You'll see, like across the way, just across the river, you'll see a couple of deer grabbing like a morning drink just on the edge of the woods. Do me a favor, both of you roll a perception check. Okay. And we know I'm so great at that, too. Ha! The only nat 20 I'll probably get all session. Oh, wow! Oh, what the hell? I actually received something. Yeah, you guys both did really well. It is not, it is obviously not out of the ordinary to see hunters out and about.

So you are going to see one of these deer get struck down with an arrow. And you're going to see someone kind of come out of the woods a little bit later. I would say like two minutes later, you're going to see someone emerge from the woods. And it's a very typical looking hunter. This is not an adventure. It's very, very clear it isn't. And they're going to bend down and start to carve at this deer with their knife. Peng Yu, no mind. There's a pretty large gap between you and them. It would take screaming, basically, to get their attention, most likely.

Human? Do they see us? Yes, human. If they see you, they don't care. They're going about their business and they might be more afraid of you than anything. Just you guys are obviously outfitted to do some damage. So you're either adventurers or you're bandits in this particular portion of the mainland. So they're just doing their thing and getting away from you. Besides, you'd either have to be expert marksmen to hit them from there or be able to walk on water. So it's highly unlikely that you're going to do anything to them. Well, Ingrid will just sort of give them a little wave and nervously.

Looks like he's eating good today. I don't... Oh, I don't know that I could handle anything with blood. I think I'm permanently a vegan. Ah, well, I'll tell you, when it comes to certain cuts, you'll probably have a different opinion. But yeah, that looked like a pretty healthy deer. Ingrid's just going to shake her head. She just doesn't have the stomach for it right now. I'll leave the raw deer to you. At least for now. Just because I can turn into a wolf doesn't mean I like everything raw. Oh, come on. I bet you do. You're going to tell me that you've never gone scampering through the woods, taken down a deer and just eaten right there.

I mean... Yeah, but like once or twice. I prefer cooked food. Mm-hmm. I don't know. I bet that... When you're a wolf, would it even really matter to you? I'm still me. I just can't talk. Entirely. I just can't talk. Huh. I don't know. I think you're the only person I've ever met who can change into an animal. Oh, that makes me feel special. You're very special, Cole. He's going to smile. Maybe we should get back to the others. Yeah, we should do that. We should probably get going if we're going to keep going. Yeah. Alright. Party reunited. You guys are ready to set off.

I'm going to ask one more time, is there anything that you guys would like to do before you start back down the road? I'm going to do a perception check around the area so I can see if there's any herbs or interesting looking stones. Go ahead. Hey! 31. A perception check around the area so Cole's going to look around. First of all, it is a gorgeous day. You couldn't ask for a better day to do what you're doing. Considering you are traveling on foot, it's going to take a while. And considering that this is not one of the greatest areas in the world, a bright clear day is good news for you.

Because, let's say it were overcast or rainy or god forbid foggy, it is very easy to get jumped. So, hopefully, your luck will be a little better today. Now, taking a look around the area, Cole's going to notice a few things. Scanning a nice wide berth around this campsite, you are going to notice that some of the trees in the area have arrows near them. Which probably means that either someone was hunting and tried to get the jump on something and maybe missed, or they were hunting someone and hopefully missed. There are going to be some, some of the rocks nearby have some dried blood on them, which again could be from an animal or people.

You are going to notice some broken branches. Just a little ways from the campsite. Now, to Cole, these broken branches would indicate that something large has moved through the area, but not recently. You are guessing maybe judging by the tracks, they are a little bit faded, so it is probably somewhere in the area of three or four days. But this thing looked fairly large. If you had to guess, maybe a dire bear. Okay. Yeah, that is not something you would want to run into. Yeah. Yeah, that is not, a regular bear would not be something you would probably want to run into.

But, dire bear is very bad news. So, yeah, that is going to be pretty much what Cole perceives in the area. Again, the road ahead of you is completely clear. You are not even seeing any merchants on carts, anything like that. It is just you guys. You do not hear anything other than that river. How many arrows do I spot? Two. Two? Okay. How many of the stones are coated in blood? Just a couple of them, and this is not too far from where those arrows were. Okay. Is it a thing for me to roll to tell what spilt this blood? Like if I rolled a nature check? The nature check would have to be extremely high.

Okay. But there is a chance, yeah. Alright, I am going to go on and do that. I am going to Dexter this blood splatter. I got a 25. I do not know if that is good enough. So, Cole is going to lick his finger and sort of try and rub at this rock a little bit and then lick his finger afterward again, putting some of this blood in his mouth. Right. And it is going to taste vaguely familiar, but he is not going to be able to quite put his finger on the pulse here. He is not going to be able to quite tell if this is human or animal. Okay. Alright. He is totally going to side-eye the blood licking.

Because you just said you preferred to eat your meat raw or cooked and you are licking blood off of stones. Did you say that or are you looking at me like that? I actually said that. I am going to stop what I am doing, give Ingrid a quick look and then just go like a bit. It is like a bit of a, yeah, okay. It is a mixture of yeah, okay and a bit embarrassed and Cole is just going to go, shut up. She is just going to laugh at him. And I am going to gather the two arrows that I see and give them to Sora. Oh, cool, thanks. Can I do something as well? Sure. Okay.

I want to go over to Eren's grave with Hunter and set him down and just say, you don't have to come with us. If you want to stay with Eren, we all understand, but if you would like to join us, I would appreciate it. Do me a favor and roll a nature check. So you are physically setting, you are setting Hunter down, right? Yes. Okay. Hunter is going to kind of like motion forward for a second and then get ready and scamper back towards Sora's leg. Okay, I will pick him up and say, I am glad you decided to come with us buddy. And then I will walk back towards the group.

Who would like to be the Rondorola flat D20 for me? Not me. I will give it a try this time. Okay, here is what I am going to ask you guys to do. Roll a D20 plus two because of how nice a day this is. In this particular area that is going to give you a bit of an edge. Plus two for good weather. Right. So 13. 13, alright. You guys are going to walk along the one path that leads through the divide that splits these two forests in half. And that is the Deadwood and Pyre Forest. Now, Deadwood is what you are predominantly crossing here. The most of it. You guys are going to walk for hours and not see another living soul.

You will see a little bit of wildlife here and there. Nothing big, a lot of birds, nothing dangerous. And then eventually you are going to see another group of people up the road ahead of you. Walking in your direction. Everyone do me a favor and roll a perception check. 27. Oh, not 20. 27 as well though. She is like super vigilant right now. Cole and Elorath are going to see that these people look to be fairly well armored. A couple of them are wearing actually pretty nice leather armor. None of them are in anything other than leather though. Which gives you the impression that they are either hunters or bandits.

They seem to be led by a tiefling. The rest of them appear to be human. They do look like they are outfitted with short swords, daggers, bows and arrows, things like that. So again, could be hunters, could be bandits. You are not quite sure. One thing is for sure, they look like they could do damage to something. Can we tell if they have seen us yet? You would guess that if you can see them, they can see you. Fuck! Is it too late to hide behind a rock? Why don't we just keep cool? Just keep walking. Let's be neighbors, you know? We are both neighbors out on a walk in the morning.

You just kind of smile and wave and you keep going your own way. You want to Leonidas this shit? It's not like we can't be civil. Give him a little bro nod as we go. Yeah! That's what you say. The chin up nod. Okay. Okay. Just be prepared, I guess. It appears as though there are six of them in total. Be very prepared, I guess. All I'm saying is if we hide, it looks like we're hiding something. That is true. But... Right. Alright. As you walk along, you can feel the tension in the party between your teammates. You can feel it. And as the gap starts to close, you can see the tiefling fall back just a little bit.

And whisper something in the ear of one of the men closest to him. Can I get a diplomacy check on my bro nod? Perception to possibly hear? It would have to be remarkably high to even get, because there's still a good 35-40 foot gap between you. I'll try anyway. Go ahead. Nope! 22. No. That's not going to do it. This gap is going to close fully. And your party is on one side of the road. Their party is on the other side. And just as you two are about to cross paths... Sort of ships passing in the night type of thing. You said you were doing the bro nod type of thing?

Yes. Tiefling is going to do the same. And you can tell these guys are sort of eyeballing you. Maybe they're thinking the same thing you're thinking. And just like that. Maybe they're thinking the same thing you're thinking and just waiting to see if you're cool. We're all cool here. We're all cool. I'm a dude. He's a dude. She's a dude. And they're all dudes. Hey! The tiefling is going to stop. And sort of hold up his hand to the rest of his party. Just as you guys would be side by side. What brings you folks into the Divide today? We're just passing through on our way to...

Where are we on our way to? The other side of the Divide. I will pick a town at random. Anywhere but here. It's Don Hurst. It's Don Hurst. Anywhere but here. Are you stopping to talk? No, we're keep walking. Ah, son. We can talk while we walk. Can we slow and say, nope, we're on our way to Don Hurst as we continue walking? Friendly like. Okay. Let me do a little something here. This tiefling is going to... you can feel him staring at you. And he's going to lean back and whisper. Just whisper into his comrade's ear again. And you guys are continuing to walk. And you can hear him sort of elevate his voice just a little bit as you start to get out of earshot.

Well you folks take care now. Yes! You too. Oh my god, fuck yes! You too. And Anchorage is going to give him a little wave. Keep on truckin'. You can hear them start to pick up pace again and walk in the opposite direction of your party. I did it! It's kind of sad that we're that gun shy of it. A party of just random strangers on the road is slightly terrifying. Two of our party mates are fucking dead. I know, I know. Okay, so we keep on walking. Mm-hmm. Damn straight. Ingrid's going to take like a breath of just, "Thank god they didn't kill us." So our mate sure dropped the mic as we walked past the...

You guys are going to walk for a few more hours. You would have a map on you. And judging by your map, you would know that you are just a couple of hours shy of leaving the Divide. This forest is going to start to thin and there's a point where the road crosses this river. Now there is a bridge and it's a really wide, thick, sturdy bridge. So it's not like a shoddy rope bridge. But there are some nasty rapids underneath of it. Like this, if you were to fall in, it could be bad. I say this not because it's an actual danger, just more FYI. Do me a favor, roll a perception check for me.

Everybody? Everybody. Okay. Hey, look at that! Twenty-four. Again, continues to be a gorgeous day. If you weren't in the area that you were in, it's actually a great day for a hike. I mean, as days go, very nice. It's not raining, you're not out in the weather, it's nice. I miss days like that. Sorry. No, no, no. Elrath is going to hear a sound. And this is a sound that is very much in the distance. And it sounds like a man screaming. And then about half a second after that, you're going to hear growling. And then more screaming. Like, what kind of growling? Sorry, could I tell?

Roll a nature check for me. Okay. Oh, nope. Nope! That one, people. This could be anything. This could be a rabid human you don't know. A boat. This could be... A growling boat. Could be a boat, guys. A box could be anything. It could even be a boat. It could be boats. And we're fighting the king of red lions. Hey Cole, are you hungry? It could be a stomach, that's a good point. Well, she'd probably tell, like, stop for a second and hold up her hands and just be like, did you guys hear that? I heard nothing. Would I have been able to hear some of that with my .22, Jason?

It would be just out of earshot. This is just, like, she could just pick this up. Okay. Okay. I just heard a man screaming, or somebody screaming, and then the sound of something. Like an animal or something. Which direction did it come from? This is coming from the north. This would be coming from the thicker portion of the woods. Let's go not that direction. But there's someone who needs help. God fucking damn it. Um, that wasn't a character. Just going to look at Sora and be like, we've been doing so well and nobody's died today and it would be really nice if we had a day where no one died.

That would be good. Can we stick with that, please? If we don't help, that man is going to die. We don't know it was a man? Elareth, you know it was a man? Um, didn't sound like no lady. Are you sure it was a person? Maybe it was a tree falling in the water? Maybe it was a goat? You know, I hear that they sometimes sound like humans. They do scream really loudly. Goats. They do. They scream. We're seriously playing Scooby Doo right now? Do we need Scooby Snacks to do this? I can't, what's going on? Yes, I am certain. I'm just saying that we don't know. Can we at least check it out?

We're... How much further is it to... Dawnhurst? It would be about three and a half hours to Dawnhurst, but you're, you're about... It'd be about two hours before you'd completely leave the area of the Divide that's the most dangerous. Okay, so we have... And how late is it in the day? Um, it's, it's, it's like mid-afternoon. So if we go and we investigate this noise, we might end up stuck here in the Divide at night, again, and we won't make it to Dawnhurst today, depending on how far away it is. Jason, Dawnhurst is to the east, right? Yes. And the noise came from the north.

Yes, but, um, close enough that it would be in earshot. Right. Would it take us too far out of the way? Oh, you'd definitely be leaving the road, but it's not, it's not miles off the road, it's... Yeah. Perception check to see what's, what we're all surrounded by now? Sure, go ahead. Well, that has actually been covered by your perception check just a couple seconds ago. Okay. The way the Divide looks is there are scattered trees near the road itself. For the most part, these trees are pretty unremarkable, they're just big, thick trees, but they're, it's a very sparse grouping of them.

The further you go north or south though, the thicker the woods get. And if you were to travel, you know, if you were to leave the road, go north, the tree line would be a lot thicker. So it would technically be easier for something to get the jump on you theoretically. Okay. Ingrid is just going to look at Cole and just say, "Cole, please, help me out here, do you really want to go out of our way to investigate a random noise that we heard in the woods when we could be on our way out of the Divide?" Normally, I would agree. But given what we were told by Bree about fucking werewolves and how we only came to survey, this might be a thing.

So this is what I'm proposing and I make sure I look at each and every one of you, especially Sora. I will go investigate. You guys stay here. I'll turn into my wolf form, keep myself from prying eyes. If it is out of our league, I will come back and let you guys know and we will move the fuck on. How does that sound? Do you think that you'll be able to do that without attracting attention? I'll have enough cover. It looks like I'll have enough cover, even in my wolf form. Well, if you feel comfortable doing that, then I'll be okay. I don't like you going off by yourself, so you got to be careful.

We need you. Cole's going to visibly look a bit awkward, but then he's going to fix himself. Alright, I'll be right back. I'll come with you. You sure? Yes, I have good stealth and I can run back if anything happens. Alright. Cole's going to turn into his wolf form and he's going to head in the direction of the scream growl death thing. Elerath's probably just going to point and be like that way. And Sora will follow behind. Alright. I would like both of you to make a stealth check for me, please. That I can do. Alright. You are in your wolf form, Cole. Do me a favor.

You can add a plus two to that. Alright, so 19. Alright. That is not abysmal, Sora. Not terrible. Not great. You two are going to move as quickly and as quietly as you possibly can in the direction that Elerath was pointing. And as you close in, you are going to start to hear what sounds like someone running and yelling. It's going to become much more noticeable the closer you get to them. After just a couple of minutes, you are going to be able to close in on the sound of this noise. And both of you do me a favor. Roll perception. Okay. Ooh. No, you're not. 27.

Oh, man. The way the treeline works is the sound is sort of echoing and bouncing off of these trees. So it's really tough to pinpoint exactly where this is coming from. But you are going to hear someone, the rustling of leaves, someone running, someone, it sounds frantic. They are screaming. After a while, you are going to hear what sounds like someone fall over. And you are going to hear the sound of multiple wolves. Cole's going to pinpoint it and see just how many wolves are there. He's going to pinpoint it and see just, just through the treeline. It looks like a human man has just fallen over a really large tree branch and is sort of on his back now.

And there are two wolves that are closing in. It looks like they've just run this poor guy down. So, were wolves? Wolf wolves. Yeah, just wolves. Oh, God. Yeah, they just, it looks like they just ran this poor guy down and he did everything he could to get away. And one of these wolves is going to lunge forward just a bit. And this guy is going to raise his boot and kick it in the face. And as he does, the wolf is going to let out this quick whimper. And then back off and let loose this deep guttural growl. And you can see the other one sort of moving to flank, like moving around.

Would you guys like to do anything? A few questions. Mm-hmm. Which one looks like it's the alpha? One is slightly larger than the other and that's the one that just got kicked in the face. Okay. But yeah, that doesn't seem to have deterred it for long. It just kind of took a step back and then it looks like it's recomposed itself and it's moving back in. This guy will not last long. So it looks like the other wolves are following that one's lead? Looks like it. Okay. So they're backing off of him or? No, no, no. This was just like this wolf gets kicked in the face, backs off for just a second, recomposes and it's coming right back in.

How did the other wolves react when it got kicked in the face? Well, there's only one other wolf that you see. Okay. That wolf didn't seem to take much notice. It looks like they have a job to do and while they're kind of hunting like raptors in that while you're paying attention to one. Right. Yeah, wolves sort of hunt in packs. So there may be more than the two but you're not sure yet. Right. And that's all I can see. Just the alpha and the one that's flanking, right? That's all you can see through the tree line right now. Alright. Can I shoot an arrow in a nearby tree to distract the wolves?

You can give it a shot. Okay. What should I roll? So you're trying to distract them. You're trying to just kind of like maybe let this guy start running again? Yeah, just like give them a noise to kind of take their eyes away from the guy. Okay, so do me a favor and for this one roll a hmm. Do me a favor, roll a nature check. Okay. Which may sound strange but I'm going to explain. Go on. Okay, so that's a 20. So, uh, so we're just going to fire an arrow here and she knows enough about wolves to know that they are slightly opportunistic. And unless they're really hungry, they, they will regroup.

They're not going to, like, if there's, if they think that there's a chance that they could be outnumbered and picked off, they probably won't attack. So she's going to fire an arrow at this nearby large wolf that first attacked this guy. And as soon as it strikes the tree, the wolf is going to turn in the direction of where this arrow came from. No, he's not that smart. He looks at, he looks at the arrow, right? And you can see the wolf scanning the tree line trying to find, like trying to find where that came from. And let's see if the wolf notices.

No, he doesn't. So the wolf's gonna, the wolf's gonna roll a perception check and as long as it doesn't beat your stealth check, you're fine. Yes. That matches your stealth check. What? Oh, my stealth check, like a million years ago? Yeah. Oh, so there it is. Wait, so if it matches, does that mean I win? No. But he said, but you said, as long as it doesn't go above my stealth check. I didn't say above, I said beat. And matching beats. This wolf is going to lower its head and then start to take off in the direction of where this arrow came from. The other wolf is going to take a second and then get ready to advance on this guy again, this easily downed prey.

Question. Yes. What would I need to roll in order to play Ventriloquist with the forest? What? I want to throw my voice, I want to howl, and I want to make it sound like there's multiple of me. I don't think that's physically possible. Well, it was hard for us to pinpoint the location. Right, that didn't sound like there were multiple guys, it was just kind of like echoing through. Well, that's why I kind of want to imitate that. That's how I was. It was an idea. Right, no, no, no. That would be a pretty hardcore bluff check. Like you can make it a little harder to pinpoint, but the problem is this wolf has already spotted Sora.

Okay, alright. Yeah. Fuck it then, it's fine. What I will do, can I roll a perception check to see where the alpha is advancing from? Oh, you see it. Okay. Yeah, it's running right for Sora. It's got a bit of a gap to close, like you guys are... Is it just focused on Sora? Looks to be. Okay. I'm going to move the source left and prepare to pounce when it crosses my path. Okay. Okay, so with that nature check, the 20, can wolves climb trees? Not so much, not really. Okay. Cole, can you climb trees? Not in wolf form. No. And if you ask me that in character, I'm just going to look, give that, "Are you fucking kidding me, Husky?" Look, like, "No, I can't.

I can't say no." So I just look at you like, "What? No." Okay. How quickly can you shift back into human form? Almost instantaneous. So do you want to climb some trees? Sure, I have a decent acrobatics roll. Awesome. That's all I need. I'm going to climb the nearest tree. Sora is going to scamper up this tree fairly easily. Now, this wolf is advancing rapidly. It's closing the gap quickly. So, Cole, what would you like to do here? Alright, if anything, I can just drop from the tree when it gets close and try and pile drive him or something, some shit. Yeah, I'll climb up a tree as well.

I'm out of my wolf form. Alright. So, uh... Do me a favor, roll an athletics check. Athletics? Athletics. Alright. Oh, Sora rolled acrobatics. That's okay. We'll... He's climbing. Well, that's more of an athletics thing you're using your upper body and stuff like that. Acrobatics is more jumping, leaping, that type of thing. Jumping, leaping, climbing on trees. I'm leaping into the tree. You're leaping into the tree's tender embrace. So, Sora has crazy ups. Let's just say that. Cole, on the other hand... I've missed a couple of days at the gym. That's fine. Cole is not the best tree climber.

And Cole is going to start to make his way up this tree. Have you ever watched someone climb something and it looks like they got a really good start and it's like, "Oh, they got this." And then almost instantly they run out of gas? That's what's happening with Cole. I was that person. I was too. Um... Uh... So, Cole is going to get a real strong start and for some reason or another just maybe can't find his footing, can't get a grip. But this is not working out for Cole. This wolf is going to have closed the gap by now and is going to leap at Cole. Now, I'm going to have the wolf run an acrobatics check.

If that beats Cole's fortitude, then Cole is going to get knocked down here. Oh, wow. Shit. Yep. That's a crit. This wolf is going to leap at Cole and knock and clean off this tree. And then they're both going to go into a tumble and roll on the ground here. And the wolf is going to reverse, get its footing, and then sort of level. Like get real low. You know when something's about to pounce? Mm-hmm. Get real low and let loose one of those growls. I'm going to shoot the wolf. Okay. Do me a favor. Roll and attack. Just a basic melee. Or, well, ranged. Okay. Yeah! Oh, that's a crit.

This arrow is going to let loose from the tree and strike the wolf dead in its eye. Yes, that's what I was going to say! And the wolf isn't even going to get to let out a whimper. It's just going to fall down dead instantly. I'm going to give Sora a nod and then take off toward the other wolf. All right, let's do this. Sora scampers down from the tree, I'm guessing. I don't know. Do I have a nice sniping point up here? The tree line's going to make it kind of difficult to see up in the tree. Or you can just be a badass and just jump from tree to tree. Can I be a monkey?

You can attempt. Is that acrobatics? That's acrobatics. Yeah, okay. Come on, please. Yeah! Wow. So, Cole is going to take off running in the direction of the sky again. And Sora is going to start leaping from tree to tree and do an excellent job. Actually, Sora seems to be more graceful leaping from tree to tree than she was running. And there's a couple of points where Sora barely makes contact with the tree. Just sort of uses her hand, just swings on by and just keeps going. Like, barely makes contact. Almost elven in how graceful it is. Cole is going to leap over tree branches and logs and just keep taking off.

On the way, you're going to see this guy frantically reach back for a downed tree branch near this wolf. And take a swing just as the wolf comes in contact with his ankle and just belt this wolf across the face. The wolf is going to stumble back, turn around, and then get ready and lunge at this guy. What would you like to do? Pounce. So just full wolf form, pounce at this thing? Yeah. Do me a favor, roll an acrobatics check. Whichever is better? Athletics. Nah, come on! Come on! Come on! Eleven. Cole is just going to miss this wolf. The wolf just was too damn fast.

And it's going to pounce on this guy and start to bite into its shoulder. I want to shoot him. The guy lets loose a scream. Like, you can hear him. He's going to try and pull the wolf off of him, but this thing is strong. And it's obviously got the leverage. Sora, what would you like to do here? I want to shoot the wolf. Alright, do me a favor, roll a ranged basic attack. Come on. Oh. Sora's arrow is going to let loose from the tree and maybe, maybe she fired a little soon, just didn't quite have her bearing. It is going to go wide and miss this wolf. The wolf is going to rear back and start to bite into this guy's shoulder again, drawing massive amounts of blood.

Going to shoot him again? This dude is going to stop screaming and his arms are just kind of feebly pushing against the wolf, but the thing is not letting up. Cole, what would you like to do here? Fucking Grasping Claws. Okay, go ahead. Alright. Oh, that'll hit. Alright. This wolf is going to stop its attack against this guy and roll off to the side of him. So it's no longer on top of him and it is going to turn around and square up with Cole and it is going to level down again and it looks like it's going to lunge after a second. Sora? I'm gonna shoot him.

Can I use a careful attack? Since we're technically outside of combat, just keep it ranged basic right now. Okay. That is going to hit and hit quite a lot. Your arrow is going to plunge into the side of this wolf and it is going to stumble just for a second and then fall over dead. Both of you, do me a favor and roll a perception check. Both of you got a 22. Yep. There's going to be an eerie silence after the second wolf falls. And both of you are kind of stuck still waiting to see if there are any other wolves in the area. And then a long silence. And you don't hear anything.

So it would appear as though those two might have been hunting alone or they're far enough away from their pack that they didn't hear this commotion. This guy on the other hand has suffered a massive amount of blood and he is lying there prone, not moving. I want to get down from the tree and run over to him. Okay. Yeah, this guy is... it doesn't appear as though he's breathing. Can I feel for a pulse? Sure. Go right ahead. Do me a favor and roll a heal check. Okay. Come on. Come on. Ten. Sora is not an expert healer. Just kind of knows really, really basic triage like bandaging up small wounds, things like that.

This guy does not have a small wound. And she's going to feel for a pulse for a while and she's not going to feel anything. Well that doesn't necessarily mean that he doesn't have a pulse, right? Right. But to Sora, all indications would be this guy is dead. Right. Can I take a whack at it? If you doubt Sora's ability. I doubt my ability so I'd like to go right ahead. Alright, I'll take a whack at it. A slightly better whack. Cole is also going to feel for a pulse and again, all signs of life seem to be gone from this guy. Okay. Perception check, I guess. I'm going to get right up to this guy's mouth with my ear to see if I can hear him breathing.

So perception, I guess? I would say that would be part of the heal check. Ah fuck, alright. Yeah, I would say that would be part of like checking for, like you're seeing if the guy's alive. So like I'd say like you check for a pulse, see if he's breathing, like that kind of thing. Alright. I'm going to look at Sora. Should we take him back? If the rest of the wolves come, they'd just tear apart his body. Yeah. Let's take him back, maybe somebody else will have a better chance than we have at making sure this guy survives. How much does he weigh? Does it look like I can pick him up?

Pretty average build, so he's small enough that you could throw him over your shoulder. It's going to slow you down, obviously, but you could carry him. What if he goes into his wolf farm and then me and the guy ride on his back? Okay, Cole is not a large enough wolf to pull that off. You can ride on my back. You could, probably. Like that could, you know, it would be awkward. It would be like watching a toddler ride the German Shepherd, but like it could be done. Also, I'd be mushing the guy back to everybody. Are you doing anything to bandage up this wound right now?

I was going to attempt. Yeah, I wanted to put pressure on his shoulder. Okay, so while you're taking him back, at least try to stop the bleeding a bit. So let's cut back to Ingrid and Elarath, because time is going to pass. We're hanging out, having a thumb war. Right, but I would say 10 minutes pass and you're not seeing anybody come back out of the woods. Like for them just checking to see what's going on, like it's taking a while. Do we hear anything? Do me a favor, roll a perception. My perception sucks, but okay. Both of us? Yeah. Oh, hell yes, I'm perceiving things.

At least for me, these are high rolls. At a certain point, both of you are going to hear the guy screaming eventually, because it happens in rapid succession over and over again. And then you're not going to hear anything. And then minutes go by and you're not going to see Cole or Sora either. So eventually, I would imagine there's calls for concern. So Ingrid's going to look at Elarath, and since we did hear the screaming and don't hear anything else, do you think we should go check, see if they need us? We could try. We probably should. We just have to be careful.

We don't want to lose anybody else. Let's sneak over, see if we can see anything. Okay. Do me a favor. Both of you roll stealth checks. Okay, let's try this. Hey. Not bad at all. You are going to creep into the woods here, and after a couple of minutes, you're going to see Sora and Cole carrying the body of this blonde-haired guy. Fairly average-looking guy. And Sora appears to be putting some pressure on his shoulder. This guy looks to be in rough shape, maybe dead. Just kind of hanging limply from Cole's shoulders here. So Cole and Sora wouldn't see you. Well, do we see anything that appears to be any other danger?

No. So I'll just step out towards them carefully. Are you guys okay? We heard the screaming, but you didn't come back and we were worried. We're fine. And then I nile at the guy. He's not. Doesn't look like it. What happened? Wolves. Regular wolves. Not- Okay. Not bullshit wolves. Wool-wolves. What's a bullshit wolf? What we're looking for. Oh, there aren't supposed to be any of those there, are there? That's why I wanted to make sure. No, but it was just regular wolves. Do any of you guys know how to check for a pulse? I can try. So Ingrid will try, but my healing's not very high, so.

He's dead. There's nothing left to do. We can go through his pockets for change, but there's nothing else. He's dead. Yeah, this is the third party member that has pretty much declared this guy DOA. Like, it's, yeah. Elorath, you try. I heard this thing about feet with humans. I don't know, let's see. Nope. No. Dude is guttled. She like holds up this guy's foot. No, he's dead. I mean- She just picks it up, drops it, watches it thump. Well, I mean, we could kick him and see if he makes noise. Wow, that is- That's nice. Well, he's dead. So you kick him? Kick him while he's dead?

Well, it won't hurt him if he's dead, and if he's not, maybe he'll make a noise and indicate something? So this has turned into the Therian version of Stand By Me, also. Well, you did bring a corpse back to us, I mean- We were hoping the corpse was still alive. In the good way, not the undead way. It should be noted that Sora's, uh, Sora's, like, hands are just coated in blood. This guy is losing a lot of blood. So, wait, so he's still bleeding and we're doing heal checks on him and we aren't sure if he's alive? Our bandages weren't good enough? I mean, the bandages are, like, I mean, her hands would still be- she's still putting pressure on the wound, her hands would still be coated in blood.

He's not, like, dripping blood, but, like, he lost a shitload of blood. Alright. So does his bleeding indicate that he's still alive? Well, he's being hung, like, over Cole's shoulder. Okay. Right. It's not like spurting blood, it's not like a- That's what I was gonna ask, 'cause, like, how is it if checking, 'cause it was like, "Does it appear to be an arterial spray?" There was a hand gesture that went with it. Ring in CSI. Has rigor mortis set in? Yes! Has rigor mortis set in? What's- what is the temperature of his liver? I would say, based on all of your heal checks that I've been looking at, that you guys wouldn't know an extensive amount.

Wait, Elorath, are his feet swollen? If he's hung over Cole's shoulder, his feet will be pooling with blood. Uh, do these look like normal human feet? I don't know. She rolled a four. I rolled a nap. She was lucky to find the feet. That's true. She just picked them up. So, um- For every indication to you guys, this guy has died. You were just a little too late. Okay, so we have another body to bury. Let go through his pockets, bury the body, and get out of here. What do we find? This guy appeared to be a hunter. Is it the same hunter that me and Ingrid saw? Who knew?

He was far away, would we even be able to tell? Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, this would be- yeah, it would be a little tough to tell. Dressed fairly similar, if it were the same, it would be kind of tough to tell just because hunters sort of outfit themselves in the same type of gear. You're just pretty much prepared to camp out in the forest if you need to. If you're, say, tracking something for a couple of days. That depends on what you're hunting for, obviously. If you're hunting for food, it's usually just a day trip going out. If you're hunting something specifically that's maybe been attacking a campsite or something like that, that may be a little tougher.

Especially if it's like a dire bear, wolf, something like that. Now, you don't know if these wolves got the drop on them. If you were hunting for them and agitated them, you're not sure. You are going to find 50 gold and then just really standard. A couple of daggers, the guy had a bow and arrow. But it appears as though he lost his quiver somewhere along the way. And, yeah, other than the gold, there's not really much of value. Fucking blood money. Now, are you laying this guy down while you dig? Are you digging a hole for this guy or is it pretty much just, let's keep going?

I want to bury him. How much longer until we get to Dawnhurst? Yeah, do we have enough daylight to do that? You would have enough daylight if you were to just continue after this. You'd probably just get there as the sun was setting. Maybe just after. If you dug fast. Let's just dig a hole. We'll throw him in. We need to get going. Okay. I didn't want to deal with another corpse. You guys are going to dig a hole for this guy and get ready. Who's going to roll the body in? I assume Cole would since it's a human and bigger than us. Yeah, makes sense. Do me a favor, Cole, roll a perception check.

Okay. Oh no. What if we bury him alive? No, damn it. 24. Cole's going to get ready to roll this body in and notice something. Oh, thank God. This person appears to be sweating. Oh my God. Oh my God. We just looted a live body. Does that mean we have to give the gold back? Yes. Yes, that's exactly what that means. The wolves ate the gold. It was the strangest thing. It fell out of his pockets as you were carrying him back. The wolves were related to a red dragon. So they were very greedy. They knew exactly what they were looking for. I'm totally going with it fell out of his pockets.

No, we're giving everything back. I know. Well, obviously Cole would know that dead bodies don't sweat. Sorry. Does Cole relate this to the rest of the party? Yes, yes, he fucking does. We spent this time digging a hole for nothing. God damn it, not dead bodies. It bought us time. If we didn't dig the hole, we would have left him here and he would have been dead anyway. That is very true. Alternatively, if Cole's perception check were a little lower. Oh yeah, shit. Oh my God, we almost murdered somebody. Can it murder him? I'm crying. I said almost. We were trying to do the right thing.

All right. Now at least bury him. Geez. I guess who wants to spend the heal check is the next question. I think I have the highest. Well, something that might be discussed in the party now that Aaron's gone, who would be your designated "healer"? Like who would be your medic? Does anyone have, I have like a plus one to heal. I have a plus seven. Well, I guess that'd be Cole. Really? I have a plus two. And I have a plus four. Yeah. So Cole would be your designated medic. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. It's not the best of situations. You did save my life though.

Well yeah, because I have a, oh shit, no, I'm not spending a daily on this guy. I'll just run a regular heal check. You're worth a daily, Eloraf. D'aww. Thanks, boo. Anytime, babe. Oh, there it goes. Fuck, you find his pulse now. Cole is, obviously directly after like spawning, he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This guy's sweating. This is, okay, wait. Cole would also know that maybe that's either a sign of it being a nice warm day and the guy is just naturally sweating or infection is starting to set in. Or it could be a couple of different things.

There are diseases you can get from wolves in Theria, though the turnaround is pretty quick for that to be a thing. Now, this guy is out. Stone cold, unconscious, he lost a lot of blood. So the best you could do is stabilize him for now. Like, he's not going to bleed out. You did bandage him. He is kind of lying down prone. He's not draped over your shoulder all willy-nilly. So that's good. But he ain't going to be walking anytime soon. We have to take him with us to Dawnhurst. I was just about to say, if I were to carry him, would we still make it to Dawnhurst in the time you said we would?

You could carry him, yes. Jostling this guy around isn't the best idea. But again, beggars can't be choosers. Alternatively, you could take the time to create another makeshift gurney. How long would that take? It's going to probably take you about an hour to lash everything together. I'll carry him, it's fine. Okay. We can trade these. If he dies on the way, Yeah, Eloraf- because we decided to carry him. We can carry him together. That is another option. Eloraf can carry Mjolnir, so we can definitely trade him off. Yeah, I got me a mew. Me a mew. I had to throw a little Darcy joke in there.

We could. I mean, we'd still get there- We could just take his pockets. We don't have time, we can just carry him together. Alright. That would keep him as stable as you can without taking the time to build a makeshift. Yeah, okay, yeah. Ingrid, are you serious about taking the gold? Not entirely, no. I would not let you guys. Let me tell you right now. Same. Well, I mean, if she stealthily took it- If I'm doing a thievery thing, you would theoretically not notice. Right. Totally possible. We could see how sticky Ingrid's fingers are. It's not like he can roll a perception check.

Right, he's not gonna- He's not gonna notice shit, but you guys have fairly high perception and I'm not actually a total asshole, so no. However, suggesting payment for services rendered later on. That I would do. Well now, this is getting interesting. You guys are going to continue to walk carrying this guy. Do me a favor, roll a perception check, everyone. Okay. Yeah! 22. So much fat. Oh my. Poor Ingrid. I'm too busy counting his gold. I am too busy muttering to myself about the fact that we're hauling a not dead corpse to Donhurst with us. Let's see here.

Cole, Elrath, and Sora. Time is going to pass. And it is becoming obvious that this guy is slowing you down. Just a bit. Obviously you are not going to be traveling as fast as you would if you weren't physically carrying another individual. Two hours are going to slip by and you are almost completely out of the divide. You're realizing something. You are not going to make it to Donhurst before the sun sets. So I'm going to ask you all. You have about another hour, maybe hour and a half of daylight left. And that will still place you a few miles away from Donhurst.

What would you all like to do about this? We would be out of the divide, right? You'd still be out of the divide. You'd still be out in the wilderness. How dangerous is it outside of? Compared to the divide, the divide is about a ten for people like you. Newer adventurers who aren't maybe as salty and streetwise as people who have been doing this for a while. The divide is a ten. You are stepping into around a six and a half or so. So if we run into any trouble, we just throw the dead guy out of as bait and run. Human shield. A literal human shield. I'm all...

There's a part of me that wants to just like, let's just book it and just get it to Donhurst, but yeah. It's another option. I mean you guys can just try to sprint and beat the sun like that is an option. It's only what, a couple of miles after dark? Yeah, it could be around three, four. We could do that. We can do that. A couple of miles in how many hours? We're small. We don't go fast. You guys don't have a wide gate. Cole kind of has to slow down to match your speed and you're carrying a guy. So yeah, I'll roll a nature check and see how it is once we get out of the divide.

Because you said at our pace we'll be out of the divide by nightfall, right? Right. You can again gauge the area and at least take a look around, see if you spot any tracks, anything maybe has attacked anybody recently, anything like that. You can get a vibe. Yeah, I prefer to be out of the divide though. But I'll roll the nature check first. Well let's, hold on one second. Okay. Okay, let's take that nature check, but let's see something here. Alright. Who would like to do me a favor and roll a flat d20? Shit. Damn it. Plus two. I'll do it. Alright, don't fail me.

Pep talk. I'm like rubbing it with my little hand. Here you go. Ready? Yeah. A ten. At least it's not a fail. It's not a two. Yeah. Well you physically could not get a one. Not something. Sorry. Time is going to pass. And you guys are hot and getting tired carrying this guy. Keeping your ear out for any potential threats coming out of the woods or coming up the road. Two and a half hours are going to pass and you guys are going to finally exit the divide after two very long days. And you will be, you will be fairly close to the city of Donhurst. The sun is going to slip down beyond the tree line and night is falling right now.

Cole's going to take a look around. He's not going to see any recent tracks. There's going to be the regular signs of wildlife. Wolves, bears, deers, things like that. Not going to see any potential threats, at least recent. So if something were to attack you, it would have to be something that would sort of be out of the blue. It doesn't look like this area has been the site of any recent activity. So as traveling at night goes, this looks like you have a pretty straight shot to Donhurst, at least relatively. It is up to you guys whether you'd like to continue, though.

We probably should continue because this guy's not in very good shape and if you're that concerned about him surviving, we should probably get him to someplace with healers. Yeah, I don't think he's going to last the night. Agreed. How's the cloud cover looking? I know you said it was clear during the day, but starlight, moonlight? You've got no moon right now. You do have some starlight, though. It's a fairly clear night, so at least your path will be relatively lit. It might not hurt to get a torch or something going, but again, there's a risk involved with that.

Torchlight is obviously going to speed you guys up. You don't have to constantly look at your feet to make sure you're not going to trip over something or run off the road itself or be attacked. However, torchlight is going to illuminate you and perhaps signal something to your presence. I could take point. I have low light vision. Hey! Good idea. So I think that's what I'll suggest. You guys just follow me. I'll go in front and I can at least make sure that we don't walk ourselves off a cliff or anything. Yeah, that works. Who would like to do me a favor and roll one more flat d20 before we get to Dawnhurst?

I think it's my turn. Yeah, I was going to say nose goes. Do we still get the +2 or...? It's night time now. Damn it. Alright. Oh. Damn it! Oh shh. Shh. Got it, Sura? You rolled a 4. Okay. Thanks for the reminder. The next couple of hours go very slowly as you navigate your way through the dark. Even though Ingrid can see, the rest of you can't. And it's more like, "Oh, log coming up on the left. Look out for that. Oh, there's some horseshit. Don't step in that." Like that kind of thing. You will get to the city of Dawnhurst to find that the gates have been sealed shut.

And there doesn't appear to be anyone on the outside to let people in, let people pass. There are normally torches on the outside and while the gates might not necessarily be wide open, there would be someone, a few guards posted to kind of keep an eye on things and keep things safe. So in case there was an attack, they would shut the gates. Now it appears as though everything sort of slams shut. And you're not sure if it's for the night or if it's some sort of permanent lockdown. But, being as how you guys were attacked by orcs, you could kind of maybe see where they're coming from.

Who would like to roll a history check for me? Nah, dude. My history is not very high. I only have a +3. Who's higher? Nope. Yeah, Elrath doesn't strike me as the book-learned. Sora? I have a +2. Same. Okay, so I guess I'm up. Ingrid, you're up. Yeah. Yeah. 17. Nerd. Sorry. So, Ingrid would know that obviously, Donhurst didn't always have big walls and a gate and such, and they were built because of the problems with the orcs in the north. They would frequently be attacked, and things like farming and just day-to-day hunting were perpetually a problem. Eventually the orcs would sort of raid the city and just randomly murder and slaughter until they could mount some sort of defense.

Eventually they had a lot of trained guards and soldiers, things like that, and they repelled the orcs long enough so that they could take years to build these really nice walls that you see surrounding the city. Again, normally these would be open, even at night. Even open just a bit, so that they could let travelers in and stay the night. Night time obviously is a very dangerous place to be traveling. Theria itself is obviously very dangerous, at least the mainland, and night time is specifically dangerous. So the fact that these gates are shut is a problem for your party, obviously.

What would you guys like to do? Is there any sort of like a guard shack? Not outside. Could we knock on the door like we're entering the Emerald City? Fell out of order. Please knock. Well that's a horse of a different color. Come on in. Yeah. The witch's door thing? You could try to pound on these gates. These are big, solid, reinforced wooden gates. What if I use Milner? Yeah. I could just like beat at it. Wait, can Hunter do something? Could Hunter what? What does he get up for, for us? I don't know. Like... Like... Crawl under the door? Like see if anybody's there or something?

Well okay. For all intents and purposes, this is a rat. Yeah. I'd want, like, this is the equivalent of a pet. It's not, it's not like a familiar or a kindred spirit or something like that. And Sora just kind of came in possession. Now over time you may form some sort of bond and be able to train Hunter to do very small menial tasks. But it's not exactly like a messenger bird or something like that. It's pretty much just a rat that lives in your pocket. Okay. However, if Ingrid wanted to use her flail and smack the shit out of this door to try and get someone's attention...

That would be Elorath with the flail. Elorath? Why did I say Ingrid? Because I was the one who did the street trick. Yeah. She'll probably try to do that. If there's no knock or anything she'll probably just be so frustrated she'll drop this guy's, like, feet. Because I assume she just grabbed his feet. Yeah. Probably because that would be the lighter part. Let's bring him down gently though. I'm just going to indicate to Elorath that you want to hit it with the thing. See if he can knock. Yes. Yes. On it. Okay. Elorath's going to wind up and there's these big iron strips that sort of reinforce this wooden door.

So obviously you can't just chop it down. It kind of binds the whole thing together and makes it a bit stronger. In case someone tries to take a battering ram or something and it'll buy some time. Elorath is going to wind up and slam the shit out of this door. Do me a favor. Roll an athletics check. I was hoping you'd say that. Come on girl, let's do this. Ew. Wait, but the plus ten is still a fifteen. Yes. But still a decent knock. She's tired. As knocks go, this is an attention getter. She is going to just sort of swing this thing like a ball bat. Strike the door.

And it is going to let this, this ungodly sound is going to ring. It has this huge clang. That's actually probably better because I don't want to bust it down. I just want people to let me the fuck in. Yeah. So that's what I was going for. You're welcome. Good job. Yeah. B+ pressure. Brought to you. Ingrid's going to give her a thumbs up. Good job. There's a long beat. And then nothing happens. No activity coming from this door. And you're going to hear a voice behind you. What? No. Say, no one's going to open that door for you, you know. What? And Ingrid's going to leap and scream.

I turn around to see who said that. There is a man, a human, standing behind the party. Kind of a long dark hair. And everyone do me a favor and roll a perception check. I perceive nothing. Hey, 25. Hey, Cole, we got this. High five, bro. High five. The, wow, Ingrid. It's a vampire, isn't it? So everyone's going to see, no, it's just, we'll see. So everyone's going to take this guy in, sort of a leaner guy, which is probably how he got behind you. Something that Cole and Elorath are going to notice immediately is he is wearing one of the White Raven armbands.

Oh, thank God. Brother. And he's going to notice that he startled you immediately. I'm really sorry, I wasn't trying to give you any fright or anything. But I was sent to make sure that we intercepted you. We had a feeling you'd probably stop at the city. And I'm sorry to tell you, they've been on lockdown now for almost a week. What happened? Orcs. Orcs happened. They've been on a rampage. They lost their leader a while back. And every orc in the nation, apparently, has decided that they want to be the new one. So one of two things is happening right now. Either there are orcs who are a little higher up the food chain, taking groups out to prove dominance and bring back the most loot.

Or there are orcs challenging each other to singles combat. And apparently the last one left standing gets to be a leader. Would there be any orcs left for them to lead after that? Hopefully not. That's probably not where our luck's gonna land. There is a camp not too far from here though. I could take you to that and you can get some rest for the night. What's wrong with him? And he's gonna point to the body. Wolf attack. He's not quite dead. Shit. Can you help him? I can't, but Shenala can. I could take you to her. She's at camp, so that fits perfectly. Would you help carry the body?

Yeah, how long have you been carrying him? Few hours. Huh. Yeah, sure. Yeah. And he's gonna run over and scoop up the legs. So, can it take some of that? Yeah. Once again, grab the hands or the shoulders or however I've been grabbing them before. Yeah, I'd say you'd probably wrap your arms around his chest, something like that. Yeah. So his head isn't just like limply swinging back and forth. Like how bullshiters hold a baby. Yeah. What? Sorry. Support the head. Exactly. Not everybody does that. Oh. So, about 20 minutes away, you guys are finally gonna get to this camp.

And they have a fire lit, and it's actually a pretty nice camp, like, as camps go. There are tents set up and everything. These aren't just bed rolls under the starry sky. This is... there are fairly lush tents. They can hold like three, four people. And you're gonna see a female elf next to the campfire. And as soon as she sees the party, she is going to jog over to the two of you carrying this body. What happened? Wolf attack. Place him by the campfire. I'll take care of him. And this guy helping you carry is going to swing over by the campfire. You people can make yourselves at home if you like.

I'm sorry. I'm rolling. And he's gonna hold his hand out. Cole's gonna shake it. Cole. This is Ingrid, Ella, Raph, and Sora. What's up? So, you guys are the new recruits they're sending out here. Well, what's left of them? Yeah, I was gonna mention that I was expecting six of you. Yeah. We didn't have a good time in the Divide. We found those orcs. Or they found us. Really. Really sorry to hear that. If there's anything I can do for you or any one of your party, please let me know. In the meantime, get some rest. There's plenty to eat. We've actually been fairly well outfitted recently, so...

If there's anything your party needs in terms of supplies, take whatever you need. Do you have a masseuse? You could speak to Barnus about that, but I doubt he's gonna want to give you a rubdown. He's got nice strong hands, though. You see a little dwarf running around? That's the guy to talk to. Well, it was worth a shot. Can I survey the camp to see, like, what type of people are there? Sure. Go right ahead. So, I guess that's perception? Please, yes. Again, as camps go, very nice. Sort of posh for camping. Nice tents, nice, like a big roaring bonfire going.

There does appear to be a few chests scattered about. They have, they kind of have this roasted boar going on a spit. And this is... Being out on the road to have a hot meal like that, that isn't something like some warmed up rations or dried meat. That's pretty awesome. And being as how you guys just got out of the woods, probably, you know, probably the best sight you could hope to see. You're gonna see the female elf, obviously, going to work on this guy right off the bat and roll in here. Those are the only two people you're going to see, though. Okay.

No Barnus? No Barnus. Darn. So I guess it's safe to assume that everybody who is there is asleep, I guess, outside of, you know... You just said his name. Roland. Okay. Outside of Roland and... That's a hard... That's a hard... In my defense, that's a hard name to... Shalala. Shalalalala. Don't be scared. Shannala. There you go. Shanaynay. Okay. I was about to say, where are we... Shannaynay. Shanaynay the elf. It's totally graceful. It's a family name. All right. I'll check up... I'll check up on those two and see how the hunter is doing, I guess. So while Cole's doing that, Roland's gonna address the rest of the party.

So they're sending you into Lockford. Yeah. They've, you know... Are having us do reconnaissance. Of course, there have already been two parties who died there, so... Maybe they just want to add a third. I'm sure they have their reasons why they're sending you. Those people need help and... We're in a bit of a state of flux here. We've lost some people ourselves. There used to be eight people here at this camp and... We're down to three. We're expecting some more people but they probably won't be here for the next two or three weeks. Seems like maybe we've all bitten off a bit more than we can chew.

Well, I look at it like little small victories. You might have saved that guy's life. That's a start. Maybe. He's gonna get ready and take a seat next to the fire here. You can all sit down and take a load off. Barnas is probably doing rounds, so nothing's gonna get the jump on us. Ingrid will sit down, kind of keeping a bit of space though. So if you don't mind me asking, how did you... How'd you come to be with the Ravens? You're coming from Overwatch, right? Well, we started out there. And I joined. I thought I would be able to help. I'm just starting to think that I am in way over my head.

He's gonna motion over to Sora. What about you? Why I joined? Yeah, let's start there. Well, the old town that I lived in... Bad things happened to it. And I wanted to do everything in my power. To make sure that doesn't happen to anyone else ever again. He's gonna give this solemn nod. And then... Elorath, right? And he's gonna look at Elorath? Yes. What about you? I wanna do good. She's gonna nod. No, that's simple enough. That's her way of being simple. I want to do good. Well, trust me, I know how hard it can be getting started. I could lie to you, but it's not gonna get easier.

And if you're waiting for someone to give you a nice hearty pat on the back, or tell you you're doing a good job, it's few and far between. But... If there are enough of us doing everything in our power just to balance out the scales, the attacks, the bandits, and, god, just general wildlife... Then I gotta imagine somewhere down the line that things'll even out. It'll get better. I hope so. I'd just really like to live to see it. Yeah, you and me both. We got word about the war. That's amazing. I honestly never thought I'd live to see the Overwatch fall.

Yeah, I'm glad they're gone. I just worry about how things are gonna be now without them. At the very least, it kind of gave everyone a reason to join together. Without them, who knows what'll happen. How has the city taken it? I mean, I can't imagine most people there welcomed you all with open arms. Not really. They're going to have a tough time there, I think. Maybe it'll get better. It's early days. It's hard to say now. Well, I've met Leora. And she seems to have a pretty good head on her shoulders. I'm sure she'll make a good queen. I think she'll do a good job.

Maybe if there's anyone who can get the place into shape, hopefully it's her. How about we catch up with Cole here? Okay. So, Shanal is working on this guy, checking his bandage, replacing it with a clean one. Sort of keeping this guy warm next to the fire and doing everything in her power to bring him back for the brink here. Is there anything you'd like to say or do? Yes. As I approach Shanala, I am going to converse with her in Elvin, just to let you know. Mm-hmm. How is he? She's gonna turn around slightly surprised that you know Elvin. And then she's gonna reply in Elvin, "He'll live.

It's probably gonna be a little touch and go for a while, but I think you got him here in time. With some medicine and some rest, I think you'll be fine." And then a beat. You speak Elvin and you're a raven. My parents taught me, Elvin. And I say that with a smile. Well, you'll probably go pretty far then. So what happened? Why is it just you? Well, there were eight of us. Until about four weeks ago. We just started losing people. We lost two in a battle with orcs. And we lost three more about a week ago. We're choosing to lay low. Which is something we were advised to do originally, but we took a more proactive approach.

That didn't work out. I assume the reason why the gates aren't open are because of said orcs? She's just gonna nod. Of course. Well, are you expecting more? Orcs? People. We got a message about a day ago. We're obviously expecting you. And you can take anything from the camp that you might need. You're going to need it going to Lockford. Beyond that, we're not expecting anyone for at least two or three weeks from what I gather. But it should be a fairly large battalion of ravens, so if they can make it through the Divide, then we'll be in good shape. For such hospitality, that's a lot of ifs.

Well, you yourself know what it's like. You start with six people, and then you lose a third of you. Even so, it feels like you might need those reserves more than we do. Well, the plan is to regroup. Bolster our forces a bit. And this is really just supposed to be a checkpoint for people like you on your way somewhere. From what I gather, they're going to be sending a lot more people east, so... I believe you're supposed to be getting reinforcements in Lockford shortly after you arrive. Shortly being two or three weeks. Well, I hope you're right. They wouldn't send you out there alone.

Not to fight anything, of course. No. All the same, I would be very careful. Given what our people and your people have been through so far from what I can imagine, that sounds like all we can do. You should hear the stories from Lockford. Actually, I'm sure Roland can tell you all about that, so... If you want to know what you're in for, he would be the one to speak to. Okay. Cole's going to look at the hunter. So that's the bite of a normal wolf, right? That's what you said got to him. That's what it looks like to me. Okay. I'm just making sure I... To a certain extent, I don't like surprises.

If it were a werewolf... And please don't take offense at this... You probably wouldn't be standing here talking to me. Cole's going to chuckle. Fair enough. So... If it's just the three of you... How have you been getting by? Well, we have all the supplies we need and we're just really keeping an eye on the road. Actually, the first time we've had to really leave camp and look for anyone was... We got word about you and we figured you'd swing by Don Hurst. Other than that, it's been keeping an eye on the checkpoint and making sure that we resupply anyone who needs to wander through.

You're the first visitors we've had in over a month. This look of somberness and irritation is going to present itself on Cole's face. But he's visibly going to hold back... Verbally expressing said expression. I see. Well... I should probably head back to my party. Keep me updated on this man's status if you don't mind. She's going to give one very slow nod, of course. Thank you. And that's not just for this conversation. For everything. Trust me, it's not a problem. With that, Cole's going to nod and head back toward the party. So Roland's kind of holding court near this fire.

And he's going to give Cole the head tilt up, just welcoming into the circle here. So, Ingrid's going to ask Roland, have you been here for a while? I've been a Raven for about five months now. I've been stationed at this camp for a little over four. Has... have you by any chance run into someone named Henrietta? I can't say the name rings a bell. You know what she looks like? Not a clue. Alright. We promised someone we'd ask around about her. She's been out of communication for a while. And, well, I did promise, so... Well, I'll keep my ear open. If anyone with that name wanders through, I'll try and get word to you.

Thank you. Cole... Cole's going to use some common sense and probably assume that if the city is closed off, and Artemis hasn't received word from Henrietta in a while, then there's a good chance that she might be in the city. Well, but we don't know that she was here. Right. Cole's just thinking that, though. He's just putting two and two together in his head, that's all. He does that sometimes. That's a good skill to have. So, when is your group taking off? Well, what's the next town on our way to Lockford? Well, that depends. Honestly, the next actual full-fledged town is going to be Lockford.

And how far away is it? You're talking days on foot. We'll probably have to head out early if we want to get there. Obviously, you're all welcome to stay the night, and it'll probably be the best night's sleep you've had in a while, accommodations-wise. You can take food with you, and if you need your weapons sharpened, armor cleaned, let us know, and... Cole's going to look at Roland. What's it like there? In Lockford? Yeah. Do you want the honest truth, or the really honest truth? I want whatever truth keeps us alive. Alright. Well, I had family in Lockford, and I would visit them occasionally.

I haven't needed to go back there in a while. They've had a problem with werewolves, obviously, for a while, but things got really bad a couple of months back, and then really bad about a month ago. Frequent attacks, the town really has no walls to speak of. More of a guideline of where the town begins and ends, but... SORA could probably leap over that. Ingrid's going to look at Roland and ask, "If they've had a problem with werewolves for that long, why haven't they built walls?" Well, if it's not a new thing, aren't they worried about their own safety?

Honestly, Lockford's just sort of given up as a town. Most people fled after the writing was on the wall, and the attacks weren't going to stop. The people who did stay are mostly hunters, and where they have a farm nearby, something like that. There are no real attacks during the day. It's incredibly rare, so they just sort of lock themselves behind their doors at night and hope for the best. That doesn't seem like any way to live, though. But they have provisions to stay alive, right? Obviously silver, things like that. Well, from what I know, silver's in high demand.

There's a merchant or two with some silver, but even that's not a guarantee of survival. It's not like it repels werewolves. It just stops them from growing over their wounds. I take it none of you have actually encountered a werewolf? Not really on our to-do list. Pass. Personally, I'd be happy to not encounter a werewolf ever, but we don't seem to have the best luck, so I'm not holding my breath. Well... picture... Speed and ferocity incarnate. Honestly, if you're anywhere near the Silverglade at night, well, don't be near the Silverglade at night. That's a start.

When you finally get to Lockford, try to arrive during the day. That's good advice right from the get-go. I don't know if they'd even let you into the city after dark. Well, if they don't have any walls, how would they stop us from getting in? Well, there are guards posted. You could try to sneak in, but we've gotten some reports of people doing that. It doesn't end very well. How long would it take us to get there in the day when we leave camp? I'd say it's probably two and a half, maybe three full days. It depends on how quickly you were moving, and obviously, you had no interruptions.

My understanding is you're just there to give a status report, and hopefully find out what happened to the previous two teams they sent there. That's what they told us. Did they ever come by here? They didn't swing by here, but at that time, Donhurst was still open, so they didn't really need to. They did check in, though. We got some messages from them. Up until they...well, you know. What were the messages that you received from them? Mostly status reports. Just letting us know how many people are left in town, how sparse things are. Everything I'm telling you is pretty much secondhand information.

They didn't send anything that might indicate what happened to them? The first team that got there, it was pretty clear that the attacks were frequent, and it wasn't something that was going to stop anytime soon. The second team was there to give them backup, but they didn't arrive in time. By the time the second team got there, they were told to lay low, wait for reinforcements. We're not sure if they didn't listen, or maybe something got to them before they got the message. We're not really sure. The first team, they were actually expert hunters. We figured that they might be able to lend a hand in the Silverglade, and at least repel some of the attacks, keep the town safe until we can get some real muscle there, but that didn't quite work out that way.

It is possible, and I guess this is the best case scenario, that both teams decided to abandon post and just leave the Ravens wholesale. Though, we're guessing that's not the case. Did they strike you as the sort of people who wouldn't listen to orders or who would abandon their posts? I didn't know them personally. I never actually met them, but from what we hear, that's an outside chance. These people were chosen because of their bravery, loyalty, that type of thing. These, again, were not new recruits. My advice to you would be keep your head low, send word back as soon as you can, let them know what's going on.

We're going to check in with them as soon as you leave, and let them know that you've made it this far relatively safe. We'll make sure to keep in contact. Please do. Is there anything you guys would like to do here in camp? Dwarven masseuse? There is no sign of Barnas yet, and- Damn it, Barnas, where are you when we need you? You're guessing that he's pretty much on guard duty, so you might not even see him till morning. Is the camp lit up enough for me to be able to see the exterior of Donhurst? That's quite a ways away. This would be more a small patch of woods near Donhurst.

Okay. Okay, yeah, okay, that makes sense. Guys, I think that may be a pretty good time for us to wrap up for the evening, and then you can start your journey toward Lockford the very next time we sit down. You don't want us to start out so we can fight something? Because we could totally fight something. Do you want to fight something? I totally want to fight something. I can't help it, I just kind of do. Pillow fight. Yep. I don't think I would have had the heart to tell you guys, like if you were to have buried that guy. That he was still alive. I don't think I would have had the heart.

I've never known. I was like, he's alive and we just don't know, and it's going to be horrible, and I, Valerie, would have to live with that. Let me handle this. Hey guys, Brianna back again. I hope you enjoyed that episode. Don't forget to like and favorite us on Twitter and Facebook. Leave some positive feedback on iTunes because that would really help us out, and check out our forums. But most importantly, check out Rain on Kickstarter. Thank you so much and we'll see you next time. Bye!