Hilmir Enters The Wood

Dani takes in a breath and lets out a deep sigh. "I've only been pushing up against The Order the last couple years, and that's been hell on earth... I couldn't imagine what it must have been like to grow up in that." She then appears to disassociate for a moment, staring into the fire.

Elara chooses to break the awkward silence by addressing Hilmir, "Do you think you could get back to where you met the Frogmen? Humans aren't welcome in their village, so there's hard to come across unless ya catch 'em on a patrol. They're among the quietest creatures in these woods, so that's not easy."

Dani snaps out of her haze, "If you two just came here, there's probably other newcomers... that means Elara and I got some work to do. Hilmir, if we give you and Dreli five days to come back to this spot, do you think you could bring back a Frogman willing to help?"

Elara and Dani glance at each other for a moment, and exchange looks that seem to reflect a silent conversation between them. Elara appears to concede the point to Dani, who answers Dreli, "There's a strange magic coursing through these woods. No matter how far you walk in any direction, and I've tried them all, you find yourself back at the valley." She pauses for a moment and shakes her head, before continuing. "You might not like the woods, but you definitely wouldn't like the valley. Especially not at night, after dusk that's where The Order hang out."

From your current location, the area Hilmir last encountered the frogmen is to the north-east. The valley Dani warned about (which is also the one Hilmir got a view of earlier), is to your east running somewhat parallel. This leaves you three possible paths to reach your destination:

Path A)
Go through the deepest part of the wood from where you are now. The Order does patrols of the woods during the daytime, but they usually stick to the less dense areas. It is also much easier to remain unseen in this part of the woods, but harder to travel through so it would take about 1.5-2 days.

Path B)
Go to the less dense part of the wood, closer to the valley, and walk along the edge of that. The Order focuses most of their energies here, and it's harder to hide here, but it would take about 1.25-1.5 days.

Path C)
Go to the valley, and walk through that instead of the woods. Elara warns that there is an Order settlement there, and at night The Robes guard over it instead of doing patrols in the woods. It would be very difficult to hide because it is quite wide open here, but the travel would be about 0.75-1 day. This means that there's a chance you'd make it through before it got dark, but everything would need to go very smoothly for that to happen.

Decide which path you'd like to take, and overall what your approach would be. Are you marching through and eating rations? How quiet are you trying to be? Etc.

The travel for the first half of the day is uneventful. Dreli and Hilmir notice some small animals, and find some evidence that some larger creatures (about the size of a deer) were recently near, but nothing gets in their way. One thing they notice are traps in some of the trees, several in the area they are in now. They can't tell if something has been caught or not from the ground, but it looks as though many have something small inside. Perhaps a bird, squirrel, or similar.

Do you investigate more in this area, or interact with anything, or keep proceeding at the same pace? If you proceed, it will still take over 1 day total even if things keep going this smoothly, so think about what your intentions are for the period where night begins to fall.

Also, since this is an area under patrol by The Order, roll a DEX and WIL Save each. This will determine how silently you're moving through the woods, and if you manage to spot any of The Robes out on patrol so you can adjust course accordingly. Failures won't necessarily result in a confrontation, but could end up on the path towards one.

The pair keep moving through the woods swiftly, but occasionally Hilmir makes a bit more noise than intended. Dreli spots a trio of Robes from quite far away, your course is adjusted slightly to avoid them costing a little bit of time.

As it starts to get closer to dusk, Hilmir and Dreli recall that the Robes patrol the woods in the day, and the valley at night. Their current path rests between both, meaning that in about an hour the Robes will be leaving the woods en masse and there's a good chance some of them will be coming through this area, but once it gets dark they'll all be in the valley.

Let me know what you intend to do as it gets dark, and what your plan is for the nighttime. The woods are varied in this area, so if you're looking for a certain feature (tree strong enough to climb, big rock, thicker brush, area adequate for camp, stream, etc) as long as it's reasonable assume you can find it nearby.

Also remember that you can always pitch a complex or difficult series of actions as long as it is something possible for your character to achieve. It may involve a series of rolls and there may be risks associated with failure, but you're welcome to think outside the box.

Each of you please roll a WIL and DEX save to determine how hidden you're able to make the spot you find.

Hilmir and Dreli search the area and find a spot with a large rock that can be climbed for greater visibility, that is close enough to a stream to refill supplies without drawing unwanted attention.

While they work together to assemble their camp, the noises from the woods shift as the nocturnal animals begin to wake up. They both see some movement in trees high above them, not directly above the campsite but in the general vicinity.