Chapter Seven: The Stalemate At Loton's Cove

The party takes a short rest.

Adjust HP and spells as needed. What next? Are you going to take to the hills and proceed directly into the valley, bypassing Old Hilltown entirely if possible?

Proceeding with the back way route later today unless anyone vetoes this plan!

Works for me

Leaving their horses to graze at the sparse grass on the roadside, the party heads north, up into the low rambling hills that curve up toward the high ridges that run along the west side of the destination valley. Mordred goes on ahead of the others, keeping an eye out for the scouts and their wolves, guiding the party away from their sightlines.

Before long, Mordred reaches an elevation that gives him a good view of Old Hilltown, spread out below on low mounds and sprawling plateaus. The wood and good stone that had been left in the abandoned settlement was looted a long time ago, leaving only midden heaps, the outlines of foundations, and ruins of brick and rough stone. A large bonfire burns near the north end of the town. A small number of shadowy figures move about between the ruins, and a few guttural shouts carry, but the number of orcs inside Old Hilltown itself does not seem great -- Mordred estimates fifty? Sixty? But there's no telling how many may be concealed within cellars or caves within the town, lurking as orcs do.

To be continued, unless anyone has some actions or statements to make.

The party presses on, taking a circuitous route to avoid a scout and his wolf and finding a ravine partly hidden under overhanging scrub that threads toward the valley. The party descends into the ravine while Mordred maintains a parallel course on higher ground.

Mordred, make a Perception check.

Something keeps drawing Mordred's attention to the skies above the valley, but he can't quite consciously put his finger on why.

Down in the ravine, Leth and Zangua look skyward. They don't see anything but clouds.

Before long, the ravine widens, and Mordred descends again to hike with the others as dusk settles over Bload. Soon the earthen walls to either side of you level off, and a wide elliptical bowl of brown grass and earth stretches before you from north to south. On the east side, opposite you, steep rocky cliffs and gravelly slopes wall off the far side of the valley. A few miles to the north, the hills on either side of the valley converge to form the entrance to a mountain pass leading up into the Lesser Dulehans.

Of the massacre that occurred here of late, little visible evidence remains.

Everybody can make a Perception check.

As they emerge from the ravine, Leth and Zangua look up again. At the north end of the valley, several vultures are circling.