"Well, imagine a horse. Now imagine a wolf capable of single handedly killing and eating said horse."
Thosar gesticulates using his left hand clamping onto his right hand.
He then addresses Galen's comment. "I suspect it involved these." He takes a turnip labeled bottle from Fheiss. "We found three of these. The exact composition I could not identify, but it seems much like the bottle found earlier."
"Blast it all," says Keranos. "So what if the demon-wretches are only leaving the cave? How does that help us get any where?"
He looks back and forth between Thosar and the tracks. "Dire wolf tracks? What does it all mean?"
He squeezes his fists together and stamps his foot. "I can't work out what's happening here. Why can't this all be straightforward and easy to figure out? There are villains about; we ought to be able to simply destroy them!"
He kicks a tree with some moderate force, though not hard enough to hurt himself.
The elf raises a hand. "Easy now. We've got a trail to follow yet, Keranos. It looks like hobgoblins or their masters came through here, converted the gnolls to their cause, and provided a means of power through the contents of these bottles. We can follow the wolf tracks and perhaps find the source of the problem. Now, as for who knows how to control or even domesticate dire wolves? Hmm.."
((I would just like to make it clear that Galen would be all for having a domesticated dire wolf. It can follow the party around and be a sort of evac unit for the dying. Or it could last long enough to die a heroic death holding a bridge against unspeakable terror.
((I almost didn't see the parentheses there and was about to respond with Ludwig smiting the Great Stalinist Deku Tree.))
With multiple party members failing to make sense of the tracks coming out of the cave, Ludwig beams at the opportunity to use his old tried and true methods of preaching about the market to convey the matter to them. "Ah, yes, I can help make sense of them."
The paladin reaches into his satchel and drags out a large, wooden slab used to draw on. He props it up against a tree like a medieval chalkboard. He reaches back in for some chalk to place beside it, along with a small pair of glasses, which take several awkward tosses to put on without hands. Once those are donned, he gets to addressing his audience.
"Now, these gnolls and their evil rituals have been a problem for some time," Ludwig says in an artificially calm voice. "We've followed them to this cave, but we just haven't had any luck." He then draws a few shoddy looking gnolls and a cave entrance on the chalkboard hunk of wood. "No clues in the cave, just footprints leaving. But connected to who?" Ludwig draws a copy of an abyssal gnoll's footprint, along with a picture of a goblin, some lizard people, and for whatever reason, King Dio on a throne made of commoners, all haphazardly connected by arrows.
"How do these connect, you ask? If you take a closer look at the footprint of the gnolls we followed, it's a simple design, an angular paw pointing outward with corruption seething around it. But! If you look at the ones by the cave!-" He dramatically spins the board to the other side, revealing a picture of a dragon flying over a savannah leaving a trail behind it. Beneath it is a caption in draconic:
The government-sponsored magic trails from dragons are poisoning the water supply.
Ludwig frantically erases away at that while stuttering, his radical talk show host persona slipping. "W-wait, uh, you can ignore that, earlier speech in Baglahm, guess I haven't wiped off this board in a while. Anyway, what I wanted to show you was this." With a bit of quick scribbling, he draws a circle for a cave mouth and a gnoll footprint facing away from it. "If you go back over to the prints, you'll see the angular, front part of the prints all point away from the cave. Not one is going in. That must mean that something was making the fangs appear in there. Maybe it's related to the potions you found."
Ludwig begins putting the supplies away and says "Anyway, if we feel we should follow the giant dire wolf prints first, that's fine by me. We may want to try to barricade the exit to this cave though, so that if any more nasties appear in there, they at least have a harder time leaving."
Fhiess is impressed by how quickly the throne figure was drawn, considering the detail it needed. Fhiess then thinks for a moment, "Could it just be that the prints going in the cave, uh, disappeared after awhile and we just see the new prints?" He starts to look around for something that could be used to tie a mount, "Maybe they kept the wolf tied up outside somewhere."
Sagishi had not paid attention to the paw prints before but with everyone talking about them his interest is piqued.
"You know, Nyx and I also found wolf prints back when we checked out the camp with the murdered hobgoblin."
Thosar is far too engrossed by the original content of the board to continue listening to the rest. After a few moments following the Jraffa's presentation, he interjects. "Wait, dragons don't leave magic trails. What in the world are you talking about?! Even if they did, it'd be like drinking water mixed with unicorn feces, quite healthy by the way, a bit like drinking a rainbow.
Is there some sort of Baglamian dragon I am unfamiliar with that literally defecates its own flesh over fresh water sources to poison them for... Reasons?"
"I'm glad you asked!" Ludwig says to Thosar. "You are correct, Dragon's don't naturally leave poisonous trails during flight. But in Baglahm, there is no shortage of secret interaction with the hegemonic leaders of the land and its dragons. Some of those touch on how to keep the populace under control. To that end, with a bit of magic and engineering, many dragons have become capable of leaving invisible chemical trails as they fly around. It looks no different than normal, but it's easy to see it turn the various populations of Baglahm into sheep."
In response to Fheiss's question, he frowns and says "I guess that's possible, but those corrupt prints have some staying power. I'm pretty sure there would still be signs of them going into the cave if that was the case"
When Sagishi chimes in, he says "The dire wolves could have been rode to that last camp too? We may be on to something here!"
((Disclaimer: Ludwig's conspiracy theories may not be an accurate depiction of the world's state.))
The gnoll cave seems to have yielded all the revelations it likely going to: The creatures encamped here long enough to fill one of the chambers with the remains of their animal prey. At some point, they were visited or joined by another party, and the leading suspects are the hobgoblins. The recovery of three empty vials from the cave combined with the evidence of the same number of Fangs of Yeenoghu exiting the same cave could possibly indicate that whatever the vials contained was responsible for the transformation (which would in turn imply that it has a drastically more pronounced effect on gnolls than hobgoblins, if that is the case). The party that camped beneath the tree above the cave entrance had dire wolves big enough to mount and ride, and those tracks lead deeper into the woods and beyond.
The gentle rain begins to intensify as the rangers return to the clearing. "Look," one of them says, holding aloft a tuft of gray fur. "They've got wolves."
But, of course, the Endowed already knew that.
"We followed the tracks for about a klick," says the female human captain. "They go straight into a gully with a stream running along the bottom. No way of knowing which way they went or where they got out of the water, and with this rain..."
<So the new Grass starter in Pokemon is in fact the ghost of Coriolis back to seek vengeance as an archer after getting stuck in the wrong timeline.>
Fhiess listens to the observation given of where the tracks lead, but seems confused himself, "But that's impossible, unless the water was ankle deep."
The human male ranger quirks an eyebrow at Fhiess's observation. "About mid-shin, actually," he says, "'bout a yard across. Not exactly a roaring river."
((As a general reminder, the man doing weird eyebrow acrobatics is not Galen; do not assume, just because the description technically matches, that it is so.
Sorry, that description keeps coming up, and I had to make this distinction eventually.))
"We could attempt to pursue," Galen says, "at the risk the rain makes the path treacherous. Is it possible to follow the gully from the top? We may yet find something."
((Also, I failed in my quest to find an animated gif to commemorate the rangers' return, but I found something close enough:
"Indeed, with 4 capable trackers I imagine we could ascertain their bearing quickly enough before their trail goes cold. No time to confabulate, we ought to be ambulating to the scene!" Thosar points in the direction of the wolf tracks.
Ludwig nods, expecting the Rangers to be useless nature bureaucrats. "Mhm, mhm... Well I guess that's that then."
He then turns to his fellow endowed and says "If we set our minds to it, I'm sure we can pick up the trail again. Wolves that big would leave traces once they got out of the stream, surely we can find where they came out if we put some grit into it."
Fhiess hms, then chimes up after the Ranger helps clarify the observation, "Oh! I understand what you mean now."
He turns to the other endowed, and suggests, "Ah, perhaps the giant wolf helped get them past the flooding river? Leg deep for us would be ankle deep for something much bigger."
The captain pointedly pulls her hood over her head to guard against the rain and eyes the gloomy skies. "We were ordered to report by nightfall," she says. "We need to start heading back if we're going to be out of the woods and back to our horses in time."
She sticks her hand into her pouch for a moment and withdraws what appears to be a kidney-shaped river stone. Closer examination reveals that one side of it has a series of ridges and depressions that vaguely resemble that of a humanoid ear.
"Take this in case you find anything we need to know about."
Keranos says nothing and barely acknowledges the team of rangers as they part ways. His frustration has simmered down, but a close look would reveal that he is still not in the best of spirits. He merely follows behind the resident trackers, hoping to himself that they find something.
Galen accepts the stone, asking "Should we need to use this, how, exactly, does it work? It won't do to find something and be unable to make it known."
He also makes a point of asking another, also pertinent to the party's current goals, question: "This gully, where might we find it?"
"It's a sending stone," the captain explains. "Basically you hold the thing in your hand with the intent to use it, and we'll be able to hear anything you say on our end. They're made to be easy to use."
In answer to the question about the gully, she points due south into the trees. "About a kilometer straight that way. The tracks are unmistakable until you get there, at least until the rain washes them away."
Fhiess perks up excitedly when they receive the sending stone, "Ah! I remember seeing a prototype for that device at the university during a public demonstration of the arcane sciences. I think at the time it used a more costly and scarcely found gemstone." His enthusiasm is very apparent, "I never would have fathomed that they would solve the limitation so soon in my lifetime."
"Seems simple enough, well designed." As the mage gives the small item an appraising look. His face betrays no curiosity, but the lingering look is telling of a greater interest. "Galen, as you seem most capable of tracking these vagabonds would you take the lead? We'll be right behind you."
Galen pockets the sending stone as he answers Thosar.
"I shall do my best," he says.
((While Thosar may have asked Galen to track, I do like the idea of Nyx and Sagishi trying to take part as well. I'm not entirely sure if that might cause issues, but it sounds like something they could try.
At least the party knows where to expect to find the tracks going anyway, so that should possibly make things easier. Since I assume this is not some manner of humanoid tracking expedition, Galen is simply at "vantage."
As far as "pocketing" the stone, what size is it? This is important for some reason.
Ludwig opts to stand back and let one of the party members with hands take the stone. As he's not a seasoned tracker, he lets Galen, Nyx, and Sagishi figure that out. However, part of the discussion on the sending stone gets his attention.
"Did you say costly and scarcely found gemstone?! Any idea if it's near impossible to duplicate with magic? Hmm, I may need to add some of that to my stock..."
((Yeah, an 11 on a survival roll doesn't get you anything more than what the rangers have already disclosed. The stone's about the length of the palm of one's hand.))
Thosar's knowledge of history would allow him to recall that goblins are known to have tamed normal wolves enough to use them as mounts, while hobgoblins have historically favored riding worgs. Worgs are fairly intelligent and independently minded, however, and only half so fierce as a dire wolf. It makes a certain kind of sense that hobgoblins would seek out a creature that is not only more pliable and obedient, but also more ferocious. They would be the first to make any sort of concerted effort to domesticate dire wolves, however.
Fhiess grows uncertain when Ludwig presents his idea, not having nearly the vast knowledge of gemstone values as Ludwig might, "Err, I don't think it was that wouldn't already be used for priceless jewelry. I recall it was a ruby or something similar."
Though the tracks are going on three days old, the rangers did not bother to conceal their passing in following them, so there are a quartet of boot prints in the mud and composting leaf litter on the forest floor that even someone who has never spent more than an hour in the woods would be able to follow.
The tracks end at the gully the rangers spoke of. Years of water erosion have carved a path through the stony soil; both sides are more gravel and pebbles than dirt. Every step sends a small avalanche of rocks tumbling towards the water with more falling in to fill the new gap, meaning tracks are erased almost as soon as they're made. As described, it is only a little more than a stride across and shallow enough to walk through, though the streambed is made up of water-smoothed stones covered in slick algae and makes for trecherous footing.
In consulting the map, it seems you are at a tributary that has branched off the river the runs through the woods between Kingsword and Kingsgate. Following it upstream would take you--generally speaking--northwest, while following it downstream would obviously go southeast. Given that you're on foot, following the stream to the river would be at least a day's travel, and it's already late afternoon. Even if you turned back now, you wouldn't be back at the wagon until well after dark, so it seems a certainty that you can expect to spend at least one night camping in the woods.
((I know it's likely not of the utmost importance, but I was looking at the map, and I couldn't find the exact location the party might be at, as I'm not sure the tributary is shown on the map. I made a few quick notes anyway.
And, of course, I can remove the image if you want.))
Galen stands at the edge of the drop, peering into the water, as though there is some chance something will present itself. When it doesn't, of course, he turns to his companions.
"It appears the trail, in some sense, ends here, unless we are able to pick it up further along. Alas, we cannot be certain which way they have gone.
"Chances are they didn't walked through the water for very far. I think maybe Nyx and I can pick a direction each and see if we can find the point where they left the stream again," Sagishi suggest when the group arrives at the small brook.
((I know it's likely not of the utmost importance, but I was looking at the map, and I couldn't find the exact location the party might be at, as I'm not sure the tributary is shown on the map. I made a few quick notes anyway.
And I just noticed, where on the map can we find our fancy dead tree spelunking grounds? Is it a phantom tree? An illusion? The work of dragons?))
((The ambush happened three hexes down the road from Kingsword, and you guys are currently one hex south in the forested area, though nearer the bottom than the top of it. Everything in the forest thus far has taken place in that hex, so somewhere in there is the dead tree and gnoll cave. The tributary is way too small to be listed on any map at this scale. On foot through the woods, you guys are going to be going about a hex a day. To get to the village as fast as possible, you're looking at a day's travel to get to the river, however long it takes to cross it, a day's travel to get to the road, and another day's travel along the road to get to the village.
The ruins is just the village that bore the brunt of the exodus from Telmur and the arrival of the two hosts from the Kingsforts. It's been overrun and the surrounding land has been torn up for fire wood, food, latrines, etc.
Fhiess sits down on the ground as he looks at the map and writes notes on it in charcoal (particularly adding "employed by Hogan's Exports in Remdormo" next to "merchant lord")
Examining the map, he says, "I assume if they crossed the river they wouldn't need to follow it any longer. Crossing the river would bring them closer to the forest's edge as well, if I understand where we are correctly."
Ludwig steps over the small gulley, looking for traces of lupine activity. In response to Sagishi's words, he says "I was just thinking the same thing, we can surely find them if we check both directions. Still, it may be good to prepare communication if they traveled a good distance in the river. Do we have any long-distance ways to reach each other?"
While inquiring, Ludwig looks around for any traces of gnolls and opens his paladin senses, in the off chance any residual traces of the abyssal gnolls remain in their surroundings.
Keranos's lip quivers in silent rage. "These cowardly creatures will know true vengeance when finally they present themselves," he says icily. "How can I be of assistance, to any of you? I have no tracking skills to speak of, but I would prefer not to stand idly by while the woodsmen among us do their work."
"Unless this was an army of footpads, it seems the threat is not as immediate as I'd feared. There were only 2 to 3 individuals passing this way. I think we should travel along the stream up river, in case they traveled that direction. Failing that, we'll end up back at Kingsword and return to our original goal of, well, saving the world from eindescribable evil. We can't get mired in this just yet."
The scholar begins extracting pen and parchment from his pack. "We'll need to inform Barrow that he should meet us back at the Kingsword fort unless we simply wish to turn back now."
Fhiess nods, "I am starting to think that we may find more answers at Bellows- continuing to give chase would simply lead us back to the roads we had just came from nearest Telmur. Ah, I fear how it looks back in the East by now, what if a battle had broken out by now, I wonder?"
((Well, Keranos could always project his consciousness forth -something Galen does not know about and cannot suggest- to search for some manner of clue, and Galen has Primeval Awareness, though it seems likely the party's quarry would not fall under his specific purview.
Also, I just thought I should probably bring up a section of the description for the revised ranger's Natural Explorer feature:
UA The Ranger said:
In addition, you are skilled at navigating the wilderness. You gain the following benefits when traveling for an hour or more:
• Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group’s travel.
I actually almost didn't bring this up because I rather like the idea of difficult travel having some affect, but I thought it was probably best to mention this regardless.
And of course, the map is returning, and it is slightly upset it does not include the location of the hobgoblin attack. Sorry, map.
"It does seem it may be prudent to take the course that will return us on the path toward our overarching goal," Galen muses, "yet the other way leads toward the misplaced masses of Telmur, as well as a fort with a significantly lessened garrison."
He turns toward Thosar. "Be those we follow so few in number or not, there may be more where they are heading. Should we find nothing, it would be prudent, at least, to give warning as to the direction they have likely gone."
Considering the stink from the cave couldn't Sagishi in fox form or Nyx in one of her animal forms not simply sniff the direction they went? The scent would be in the air not in the water after all?
((Wow, nixing favored terrains and blanket application of Natural Explorer to all forms of wilderness is quite the boost for Rangers. Each hex is about 5 miles, which I realize makes this a ridiculously small world. But hey, you're on a moon.))
Nezumi:
((Awww, that Google Doodle was the best. Anyway, owing to the fact that the guys you're after camped outside and behind the gnoll's stink pit rather than inside it, that they intentionally traveled through the water to mask their scent and tracks, and that they have a three-day head start, any smell that would have been in the air is long since gone at this point. However, you'd be able to pick up where they left the river, provided you guys went the same direction))
((It does provide quite a boost. In fact, it may have been better if they had opted to add some of the features over the course of the first few levels, rather than giving everything in Natural Explorer at level one.
I do understand why they did it, though, as a lot of these could be argued to be important to the concept of the ranger class, and people would prefer to begin with that concept intact. In any case, it's entirely up to you how you would like to handle that.
I have also been curious as to how to properly refer to the Kingsfort rangers. Should we be capitalizing "rangers," or it it not meant to be capitalized?))
