And so the party heads off, leaving Phandalin behind for the moment to venture to the abandoned town of Thundertree.
From the map Bern and Luminmorn borrowed from Quelline Alderleaf the Ranger estimates it will be a bit more than 2 days travel, but should be less than 3, weather and events permitting.
The first morning is an easy walk along the trail leading out of Phandalin to it's intersection with the Triboar Trail. The weather is sunny, birds chirp in the trees along the route and it all adds to an uplifting mood. For a few moments you can forget that the life of 3 dwarves, including your employer hang in the balance of your investigations.
You stop for lunch at the intersection of the trail, and Bern is able to catch a brace of conies (which gives the Triboar Trail it's more colloquial nickname, "Cony Trail") allowing you to have an enjoyable cooked meal of fresh meat along with some wild berries and roots found along the way.
After lunch the skies begin to cloud and even those of you not outdoorsmen can feel the dampness growing in the air and know rain cannot be far behind.
Another 8 miles walk and the southern edge of Neverwinter Wood can be seen on the horizon. From your prior plan, you angle a bit to the northwest in order to keep to the fields on the wood's edge.
After another 5 miles or so night begins to fall and you decide to make camp. Sprinkles of rain have been falling for the past 30 minutes or so and so you move into the edge of the forest for cover. Making a rudimentary shelter of boughs and branches you make a fire and huddle beneath the shelter with the fire keeping the suddenly cold night at bay.
No game had appeared in the afternoon so you dig into your trail rations for a cold dinner. The wet and cold making conversation unenjoyable, you settle on watches and get an early night's sleep.
Morning comes with a damp mist and fog. The rain has stopped, but the ground is quite wet and after breaking camp, it makes the early morning travel slower than expected.
However by mid-morning the fog has burned off, the grass has dried, and the travel pace picks back up.
Stopping for a trail lunch, Luminmorn engages a passing robin in conversation and learns of a pond several miles ahead, likely not too far from the end of the day's travel.
Reaching the area, Luminmorn gives the directions to Bern and he sets out to the pond to hunt while the others setup camp. Near sunset a variety of game drift down towards the pond to drink and Bern is able to bag a pheasant, which again makes for an enjoyable dinner's meal.
Once again the evening passes without event, although this evening is warmer and you stay up later talking. You recall that what you know of Thundertree is very little, but the Woodcarver's Wife did tell you, in addition to her offer of the jeweled necklace, that the town had been overrun by undead when she was a little girl, and Quelline told you the druid Reidoth would travel here from time to time to keep an eye on it. Whether undead are still about is unknown, but it should not be a widely inhabited place.
So, come morning you leave for Thundertree. Bern and Luminmorn believe it is only about a dozen miles or so off, so you should reach it by afternoon.
And true to form, an hour or two after stopping for lunch you hear running water from the Neverwinter river, which appear ahead of you. With the woods to your immediate right, you know you need to take a left and head west and after a short walk a small trail appears, which you follow.
The trail gradually leads slightly away from the river in it's westward path and swings around in a large curve until it begins to head back east. Coming over a rise you can see what must be the town before you.
The trail had already become an old and overgrown lane and ahead you can see it wind between dilapidated buildings choked with vines and brush. Ahead of you, in the middle of the settlement, rises a steep hill, upon which stands a stone tower with a partially collapses roof and adjoining cottage.
A dirt road hugs the base of the hill and wends it's way between old stone houses, many of which are roofless ruins with interiors open to the weather. Other buildings appear more or less intact. The whole place is eerily silent.
A wooden sign is nailed to a post nearby. It reads: "DANGER! Plant monsters AND Zombies! Turn back now!"
Note: Feel free to interject any conversations or actions you wish to take during the journey to Thundertree. If they would materially change the current situation I'll edit. Also, I did actually roll for 2.5 days worth of Random Encounters along the way and amazingly you had none.
You are at the yellow star on the map, which is where the signpost is. #7 is the stone tower and the winding path leads up the aforementioned steep hill to it. The ruined buildings with crumbling walls should be easy to pick out in the map image below (#1 & #2 for example). The ones that don't look ruined, are in fact intact (#3 & #4 for example).
From where you are you can only see the portion of the town showing, but there may be more hidden by the hill or by trees to the east:
The taking of the fowl had been the highlight of the day. The weather was deteriorating and he knew that rain was in the offing. The sullen weather seemed to infect the group as well, so he was content to let things remain quiet, bedding down early.
The morning was not much better. The air was almost as heavy with moisture as the ground and it all conspired to slow the group down. But he continued to lead the way. They =had= a destination!
As the weather improved, so did his spirits, at least. And Luminmorn's conversations with a robin yielded useful information leading to a delightful meal in the evening. He dismissed the likelihood of undead in the town. While he did not want to discount the woman's tales out of hand, it seemed unreasonable, based on the timescale, that such would still be of concern.
The remainder of the journey is straight forward ... especially once the sound of the river was there to confirm the direction. The first view of the town is a bit of a disappointment. He had expected a larger settlement based on what he had heard. The sign caused him to pause and survey the area with a bit more intent. It =was= quieter than it should have been.
"What do you think", he asked the group in general.
He had enjoyed the travel, good weather or bad, he was outside. Though he was with people, it was fewer than the many that lived in the settlement, and thus seemed to lighten his spirit further. The cold kept him from commenting too much, but the sun and easy travel gave him the opportunity to talk with a local robin. That was useful and enjoyable.
As he looked over the eerily quiet town he wondered what Ryssa suggested. Offer a prayer to the life given forces of the world, he drew upon his inner strength and concentrated. Was there evil that he could sense?
The lean mage watched their back while the paladin prayed or whatever it was he did to invoke his powers. He glanced over at Ryssa for a moment, giving her a little nod and smile if she looked his way before turning his attention back to their rear.
Luminmorn reaches out with his senses, enhanced by his beliefs to be able to detect things that emanate wrongness.
Turning slightly, in order to check as much as he can to the extent of his ability's range (60').
Looking first to the southwest (#1) he can see in the shadow of an old tree is a crumbled stone cottage with no roof. Weeds are rampant here.
Looking southeast (#2) he sees that these ruined side-by-side cottages look as though they might have been the homes of prosperous shopkeepers or well-off farmers in their time. All that remains are collapsed walls and piles of debris. Several young trees have grown up in the midst of the ruins.
Finally looking east (#3) he sees a weathered signboard by the door of this large building showing the faded image of a workhorse holding a flagon of ale. The building is sagging and dilapidated, but it is more intact than the ruins across the road. Luminmorn's senses detect a wrongness emanating from this building. One he has come to associate with undead.
Quote:
Notes on the area: Ruined buildings are empty shells with stone walls 5 to 8 feet high. Their roofs are gone leaving piles of debris inside the walls. The debris is difficult terrain. Intact buildings are rundown, ramshackle stone cottages that are otherwise still standing. Their wooden doors are swollen and stuck requiring a successful Strength check to open. The windows of any intact building are 2 feet wide and covered by wooden shutters containing 6 inch wide arrow slits. Creatures on one side of an arrow slit gain 3/4 cover against attacks from the other side. Dusty old furnishings such as simple wooden chairs and tables remain in most intact buildings. Trees average 30 to 40 feet tall and provide cover. Brush consists of large bushes that count as difficult terrain.
He points to the larger more intact building and says "undead in there." His mouth doesn't offer the ability to frown, but he is displeased. Undead are not natural and should be destroyed in his view.
The presence of 'undead' was not reassuring ... at all! "Agreed Ryssa", he said as he got his bow ready. If they were going to run into more of this sort along the way, he thought, he was going to have to see about getting a heavier blade. The rapier was not the best weapon against such. "They have no place here. Can you tell any more about them Luminmorn? Like how many or what they are?"
He doesn't need to be told twice and in a moment when the others weren't noticing, he suddenly was gone. He has headed towards the tavern and he'll be listening at the door and peering inside.
Lingo approaches the building and carefully listens at the doors. He hears nothing. He tries to crack open a door to peer inside but finds the doors are swollen and warped shut. They cannot be cracked open. The only way to open them is to pull them wide open using brute strength, which will negate any attempt at Stealth.
(Nep - If you want Lingo to break open a door make a Strength Check for each door you want to open.)
He circles the building and notes there are windows about 4 feet or so off the ground that are shuttered closed. There are arrow slits in the shutters that he could probably peer through, but they are too high for him to see. If he wants to look inside he will have to climb the walls and pulls himself up.
(Nep - If you want Lingo to climb up the wall to look in the window make a Climb check for each window you want to do it with. There are two rooms in this building, so you'd need to do it at least twice to see both sides.)
He had his bow at the ready, but Lingo was a difficult fellow to 'cover' since he tended to disappear and then reappear. Still he did what he could ...
Clutching her icon of Lathander in her left hand, Ryssa began murmuring a prayer to her deity, intensifying her concentration on her innate power of undead banishment.
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