DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Fantasy SKT: The Storm King's Thunder 3T - Who ya gonna call? Troll hunters!

Jaliera

"Whisper has followed the trail left by the trolls. They seem to be fleeing at speed for she didn't catch them up. They passed through a burned area with a large hole. Reminded me of the story that Glork told us."

She thanks her familiar. Looks like they will follow the sack.

Pavel

"Zindra I gave the items back to you because you were the one who found them. How you guys distribute them is up to you." Pavel states as they wait for Jaliera to communicate with her familiar.

But when she does there seems to be no further answers but possibly more questions for him anyway,

"Glork?" He whispers under his breath. Must be something of their earlier travels. Then he remembers the tales told by Sindar the night before and puts two and two together to realize Jaliera must be referring to the ogre the party met.

"So our best bet is to trail the sack that was dragged?" he asks. "But do we want to look at that large burnt out area?"

Aubric

"Our primary mission is information gathering about the attacks, and I'm not sure that will help," Aubric offers. "I'd suggest following the sack or troll trail for now. Once we have enough information for the letter, and if we're all still alive, we can possibly split up and have some of us investigate that... or if it's not too far out of the way, just visit on our way back."

Kriv

"This relates to prior outstanding missions before this latest assignment. We are beholden to investigate, those who are only here to deal with the trolls have no such obligation. However, I concur that focusing on the trolls is the current immediate priority." Kriv interjected.

Zindra

"Then that's that."

Nobody seemed to oppose following the sack trail so she called upon Bern to help her and began to track. She suggested that they move ahead of the party stealthily.

Zindra Track (Survival Skill) - if Bern assists, with advantage
Neptune rolled 1d20+5 and got 24

Note: I don't think the assist was needed based on the roll, but Aqua's running this scene so he adjudicates. We really never discussed how tracking works and about assists. In order to track, one needs the Survival skill and it's a roll based on difficulty class:
5 - Very easy
10 - Easy
15 - Medium
20 - Hard
25 - Very hard
30 - Nearly impossible
It's the DM decision about what DC to use. Aqua, let me know if you need that second die.
As for why Bern can assist, both he and Zindra are proficient in survival. Two trackers are better than one so we get to roll 2 dice. Note that both are +5 to their roll.

BTW, they're also both quite perceptive and stealthy.

Davroar

He will walk alongside Jaliera as they let Zindra and Bern to follow the trail.

DM

As the party follows the trail northwest from the troll encampment, they continue to navigate a patchwork of marshland, tangled undergrowth, and rocky terrain.

The sack drag marks, and the foliage they disturb, are so obvious, that even a child could probably follow that main part of the trail. It takes very little more effort to spot the giant footprints sometimes a bit to the side of the sack, but often wiped out by it. Bern's expert tracking does help her identify that the other set of footprints, apparently belonging to a troll, depart from the main path and then meet up with it on a few occasions, accompanied by random frootprints indicative of a fight, as if that troll was trying some sort of rescue of whatever, or whoever, is in the sack.

But it's Zindra who notices something unusual not far away from the third such intersection. A crevice in a nearby rock shows evidence of dried green blood below it, and closer inspection reveals a troll's arm wedged tightly into it. The remainder of the troll is nowhere to be seen, and it's not too difficult for Zindra to pick out that troll's tracks amidst some blood spatter continuing along a parallel path to the giant's sack.

Jaliera

Linking her arm through Davroar because it feels good and because she can then see through Whisper's eyes, she sends her scouting ahead so the group get an early warning of anything they are likely to encounter.

Pavel

{OOC: Yes Aqua I see it... but Pavel is not making sense of the tracks at all since he has almost no skills in tracking}

"Bear with me for a second because I am utterly clueless when it comes to tracking," Pavel said as the group came to the curious area and the tracks that Zindra was pointing out. "Are we following a troll? Or do we think a giant is dragging a troll in a sack? Or is it a combination of both? As I am not understanding any of this."

Sindar

He had a theory, since he understood how humanoids interacted. But he kept his mouth shut and let the more experienced trackers make their comments. If anyone wanted his opinion, he would offer it, but he mostly kept his eyes open, watching around them.

Aubric

"I'm not familiar with troll familial units," the elf replies, "but if I were to guess.... and it's just that, a guess, I suspect it was a troll in the sack and a family member trying to rescue it." He shrugs. "Alternately, it may have been last night's dinner and a hungry troll trying to get it back."

Sindar

He nodded in agreement with the theories. He had similar thoughts.

Zindra
She came back with Bern to the group and relayed what they saw.

"There's an arm and green blood and some of the tracks were those of trolls. But the tracks we followed were made by a giant's feet and the sack that they were dragging around."

After Pavel asks his question, Zindra replies to him first, "I see a troll arm. There's no body. I'll guess there's a chance the troll is alive. And those giant tracks are hard to miss, even for you Pavel."

Then, answering Aubric, "I think it's safe to assume there are trolls and giants in our near future. How many of each is still unknown."

She concludes by saying, "I think we should sneak up on them and definitely use Whisper's eyes to scout first."

Davroar

He moves closer to the severed arm, bending down to take a closer look at it and the surrounding ground. He tries to determine how long ago this fight happened by feeling the arm and blood for any warmth, or how much the blood has congealed.
After a minute or so, it seems he does not have much of answer.

Standing back up he asks Bern and Zindra, "Do you think we should follow the attacking trolls path to see if its still alive too?"

Davroar Examine arm and blood (Survival)
Dugan rolled 1d20+4 and got 10

DM

The severed arm appears dead, completely inanimate, bereft of life. It rests in peace. It is an ex-troll-appendage.

It's not recent, nor can it have been overly long either... it seems entirely consistent with a timing of just prior to last night's attack on the stables.

Zindra
"I think our mission obligates us to follow, but I think we need to do so carefully, using stealth. Bern, we should sneak up separately but stay close enough to see and defend each other as we do so. Jaliera should probably follow close behind with Whisper flying above and ahead. We can go slowly, Jaliera needs to stop to see with Whisper's eyes, but we're in no rush. Everyone else should stay close enough to come to our side if we encounter something hostile but back far enough to not give us away. What do you think, Bern?"

DM

Whisper flies ahead of the party, scouting ahead on the sack-drag path. Even from the air, the path is easy to follow.

A bit over a mile ahead, still in a northwesterly direction, Whisper can see something unusual, a vision she reports to Jaliera on her return:

Jaliera

"Agreed. Looks like Whisper has reported our destination as the tracks lead into a cave about a mile ahead."

She goes on to fully describe the scene.

Pavel

"It sounds like they were excavating for something. Everything I've ever heard of trolls is they are primitive so not prone to be organized like that. It sounds more like something more intelligent was directing the digging. What are the chances that the giants took some trolls as slaves to do the digging?" Pavel said after hearing Jaliera's description.

Zhu

"All signs point to more Fire Giants as well."

Aubric

"Do trolls speak the same language as the Fire Giants? Does anyone in our party speak that language?"

Zhu

She nods. "I speak the Giant language."

Jaliera

She smiles at Zhu. Always knowledgable.

"So do we have a plan for the cave? I can't imagine they would be sitting in the entrance waiting, so we need to infiltrate. Considering one is a giant, there should be no tight squeezes but that might offer us an escape or approach opportunity."

Zindra
"FAm forbaus ildjotun com treke zo nar levendehule" she whispered to Zhu in Giant (rough translation: I will sneak up to giants and you will follow to their cave).

"I think Bern and I should approach quietly from two flanks giving each other support. Jaliera should hide nearby. Let's see what we're dealing with before attacking directly.

Sindar

He nods. Being one who sings for a living and for pretty much everything else, he will wait for the recon.