Chapter 1, Day 2: Into the Witchwood

Hopefully not an ally, as that would place him on the wrong side of the river for our comfort. Rurik, do you know anything about this 'Dwarf Bridge'? It seems they want to use that one as well, and perhaps it would be easier to demolish.

"We're in luck there. The Dwarf Bridge has been out of use for a good while now. It was replaced with the ferry in Drellen's Ferry that you likely used to cross the river. That does mean that they'll be seeking to take Drellens Ferry, as it's their only route from the Witchwood to Brindol."

"So our next move is...?" This much talk is giving me a headache. I'm not one to make "plans". I just go and do. It's worked for me this far!

Pawetha scratches at the back of her scalp, roughing up her hair. "I say we rest a bit, gather ourselves, and secure anything we want hidden someplace in this keep. Then north to Skull Gorge Bridge and see what we can find."

The ranger knows that sometimes a certain amount of distraction is needed to keep Xara occupied, and tosses the minotaur's coin purse at the rogue. "This came from the bull; you can add that to the stash from underground. And I think the manticore's nest may still have some inventory worth tracking."

Pawetha then waits to see what the rest of the party decides.

OOC: Total inside the purse is 383 gold pieces (351 from the minotaur, 32 from the hobgoblin bodies).

"Well, I for one am exhausted." Corban says to Xara. "Let's secure our treasure and go find a nice place to make camp where we won't be disturbed by Worgs returning from patrol."

"Zaris, when I was unconscious, I think my mind put some things together about what we've been working on. We should discuss it at camp."

Corban tries on the Gauntlets, and shrugs to himself at the lack of fantastic bulging muscles emerging.

"Oh, and Z, this is for you," Corban tosses the wand to the wizard nonchalantly.

Shaking his head, Zaris looks at each member of the team in turn. Deep in thought he gazes in the direction of where this bridge would be and gestures to Corban. "I agree with Corban, scouting the bridge should be a priority. We have no idea how many goblins are involved at this point." The wizard shakes his head again and looks up at Jorr. "The gorge seems like the best next move for us."

Jorr shoulders his bow and starts towards the gate to the keep, "Shall we head there immediately, or did you want to try and find somewhere to camp first? The forest isn't a safe place. There's the old Forest Giant Fortress about halfway between here and the gorge. Given the journal of the fellow who called this place home, which looks like it was raided by giants," He nods at the large boulders and equally large skeletons, "I'm going to bet the forest giant keep isn't in much better shape than this. To my knowledge, they're the only defensible locations one might settle down to rest for more than a moment."

Pawetha nods at the suggestion. This is familiar dialogue from conversations she used to have with her comrades back home. "The fortress is a good idea," she says. "The map doesn't have that location marked, so either the hobgoblins haven't discovered it, or don't consider it worth anything. Though, hopefully it's not already occupied."

OOC: If the party heads out now, Pawetha will detour upstairs and see if she can take that item with the Continual Flame spell. Assuming it's easily transportable, that is.

Also OOC: Pawetha's fine with camping here, or at the fortress, so long as it's to make camp.

"I think it might be easier to fortify ourselves here, rather than run off wounded to possibly fight some giants in the next tower."

I vote for camping here I suppose, after Jorr's comment.

"Alright, rest here then. We don't want anymore near death experiences, right Zaris? We could set up a guard schedule or something."

"Aye, resting here will allow me to plumb the mysteries of my new treasure"

Pawetha momentarily heads to the second floor of the tower, and returns holding a large rock (well, in her hands) alight with magical fire. "Someone could probably get some use out of this," she puffs, setting the stone on the floor. "It's too cumbersome for me, but it might save you a torch."

She dusts her hands, then grabs the canvas that was previously covering the oil painting. Pawetha drags it up the stairs. "I'll take first watch from above," she says, without looking back.

The word "treasure" catches my full attention. I turn slightly toward Rurik, suspicious of his acceptance of such a thing.

You settle down in the keep and rest for a while, rotating the watch so everyone gets a good and complete rest. The sun begins to set on the third watch rotation, and by the end the moon is hanging low in the sky, hidden by the tops of the trees from sight. The night sky is cloudless and pin pricks of star light shine through the black sheet of night above.

Jorr, who was the last watch rotation, sees a glimpse of movement at the front of the keep. He slips down from the tower and quietly slips through the main chamber where everyone in resting, gently rising each of you as he creeps towards the front of the castle. As you emerge from the building you see Jorr crouched behind the collapsed tower holding up 2 fingers and gesturing out of the tower gate. Those with keen eyes (darkvision) see two hobgoblin's inspecting the corpses of the worg and worg riders killed when you made our approach to the keep.

You started the rest in midafternoon or so, so 6-7 hours later means that we're in late evening, something like 9-10pm.

You are all fully rested (long rest is a success!)
You all gain Inspiration (remember that I removed the limit on 'max 1 inspiration' so just increment your inspiration).

If you normally wear armour, you probably didn't sleep in it. Donning light armour, we'll say, takes 3 rounds. Medium takes 6. You can help someone to cut 1 round off of their donning time. Or, you can go without. It takes no effort for you to grab your weapons / shields however.

As Jorr wakes me, he silences my grumbles and I know something is wrong. Danger is near. As quietly but which as I'm able, I don my armor and grab my shield and both swords. It's still dark and I worry about the glow of my new blade.
[OOC: Taking 6 rounds to put my chain mail on.]

I'm a light sleeper, so the moment I hear Jorr's footsteps, I jump out of bed and throw on my armor.

Pawetha pockets a dagger, gathers her bow, and shoulders her quiver. She forgoes her armor in favor of quick deployment.

She nods at Jorr's signal and replies with her own. Two fingers at her eyes, then a flat hand towards the hole in the south wall. She points to herself, hits her ear, and indicates the group. Most would understand it to be "I will flank south to scout for more, and be ready to attack on your signal."

Hearing the commotion of the others, Zaris comes out of his elven trance and notices the others donning weapons and armor. He draws his crossbow and quickly loads a bolt into it. He moves into the tower room just south of where he was sleeping and attempts to climb the broken stairs to reach higher ground.

I'm not sure if that is possible, but he would try to get up and out of the way should the worgs enter the keep.

I start awake hearing the others begin moving around. I look down at my new book seeing that some of the sigils have revealed themselves to be the rituals Comprehend Languages and Unseen Servant the rest of the book remains frustratingly incoherent