Act II: Ill Fortunes

[Ikoma]

The river crossing passes uneventfully.  The bridge is solid and made of stone.  A well built affair, it will last for centuries.  An hours ride past the river, the road turns north, entering the edges of the Svalich Woods.  Ireena gets nervous.  These woods are dangerous places.  After all, the villagers more than once spoke of this dark in the night that made it unsafe to travel.  Unsafe enough that they preferred the thought of facing an undead apocalypse rather than try to run through the woods at night.

Adam is excited.  He can feel the presence of something nearby.  An answer to prayer.

The trees grow every stronger on the east side of the road and eventually, you can no longer see open grassland or the river.  The sun has moved on and the day is growing late though there will still be hours of sunlight as the sun drifts ever lower before dropping into the canopy of dark green.  Up ahead, the road widens a bit.  Dim grey light filters through the trees and the ground is choked with undergrowth.  A wide swath of clearer ground forms something like a path or trail, though there are no clear marks of anything passing this way recently.

(Need a Spot check from everyone.  And go ahead and feel a bit nervous in your post.)

[Marius Ionescu]

Marius watched the features of the forest, and glanced at his friend Adam smiling, "I am happy to see you smile, hopefully you receive whatever it is you asked for."  Marius enjoyed the wilderness, this is where he felt the most at home but there was something about these woods, it didn't feel right - almost like they were being watched.  He tried to get his nerves under control, he tightened his hand on the reigns and let his elven eyes focus before realizing the sun was in his eyes.  It was futile.  If something was watching them it picked a good spot, what better way then to hide in the rays of the sun.

Spot=8 (I love this die roller  )

[Ioan Nicolae Costache]

Ioan rides high in the saddle, nervous and alert, but not effectively so.

Spot=10 (manual roll - Invisible Castle is down)

[unkabear]

Hassid felt StarDancers nerves through is legs.  He began to take notice and in doing so he reached back and drew his sword, he rested it on the saddle, but it was now close at hand.  He began to scan everywhere, but continued to find only his friends, Still he remained ready.


spot = 8 I am in the same boat with you Marius.

[Yemam Silverman]

Yemam rode next to Ioan and let his eyes scan the area completely.  The idea that another fight might occur started to get Yemam blood rushing.  He started to sweat, his pulses became elevated, he tightening his grip on the throwing axe in his hands.

A moment later, he lets his nerves calm, and his eyes truly do the work that they have done over and over again.  He concentrates on differing colors, on unnatural differences in the road ahead, on things that should not be.  As his eyes scan the landscape his ears perk up as well, but as he sits up in the saddle, a bug flies by his head and all Yemam can hear is its infernal buzzing.

Spot = 26
Listen = 12 (natural 1)

[Marius Ionescu]

Marius senses tried to warn him, he couldn't see it, but something wasn't right.  "Yeah dad I know ..." he whispered to himself.  Seeing Hassid and Yemam draw their weapons Marius brought his nervous hand to his quiver and took out his bow, maybe they saw something I didn't he thought to himself ...

[Adam Godson]

Adam watched his companions and felt their nervousness in the air.  Adam theought he recognized this area from the entries in Danovich's journal.  This was were both Doru and his mother had been killed.  This is were the evil tome had been discovered by Danovich.  This was indeed truly dangerous grand. 

Excitement still made his heart beat, but caution made him draw his greatsword and warn Ireena to do the same.  There was no need to warn his companions as they were already well aware of the potential danger.  Adam begins to scan the surrounding area looking for potential enemies. 

Spot Check (1d20+2=17) 

[Ikoma]

Yemam spots the elf moments before he steps out from behind a tree.  A bow of exquisite workmanship is in his hands, an arrow notched to the string.  He shouts forth <Shar aelor pai o shol ailai sor thysaer?>

((PM me if you have any languages other than common and let me know what they are.  If you've lucky, I'll reply with what he said.  If I don't reply, it means he's speaking a language you don't understand.))


((You are south of this map about a single bow shot.))

[unkabear]

Hassid reigns in StarDancer at Yemam's spotting of the elf as his eyes caught the movement himself.  He cursed himself for not spotting the man earlier.

[Ioan Nicolae Costache]

Ioan halts his horse and opens his hands in front of him, gesturing that he means no harm.

Diplomacy (1d20+5=10)

[Marius Ionescu]

Marius smiles toward Yemam and half-whispers, "nice eyes my friend as always," he keeps his hand tight on his bow but does not raise it, instead he concentrates on the elfs words trying to make sense of them ...

[Adam Godson]

Adam looks to the others to see if they understand the elf.  He surely doesn't understand what is being said.  He is not sure if the elf is questioning them or warning them of some impending danger.  This was a delicate situation since it appeared that the two parties couldn't communicate and each group was openly bearing arms.

He turned to Ireena and asked her if she knew anything about elves in the Svalich Woods.  He also asked is she understood what he was saying.  Until it became more clear to Adam that the elf was offering a greeting or question Adam halted his horse and laid his greatsword across his lap. 

[Yemam Silverman]

Yemam tightens his grip on his axe.  The elf would surely get a few bowshots off before Yemam would be able to hit him, but that doesn't mean he isn't prepared. 

(If I don't understand the words) Not knowing what the elf is speaking, Yemam holds, not moving forward or back.  Hopefully someone can understand the elf.

[Marius Ionescu]

Maris concentrates on the word and picks up the dialect, he smiles and rides up to Adam, "the elf says - "What evil do you bring into this forest? - you are better at diplomacy then I, what do you want me to convey?"

While waiting for Adams response, Marius motions to the party to lower their weapons.  He holds his bow across his lap and slowly crosses his arms across his own chest - a typical sign of peace in elven hopefully he got the sign right.  This is one of those times I wished I'd listened to you more dad Marius thinks to himself.

[Adam Godson]

Adam smiles as Marius translates the message.  The man was full of unpredicatable talents.

"Tell him that we bring no evil into the forest and we work to rid this area of foul influences.  Let him know that we've rid Barovia of an undead infestation and we go to visit the Vistani to gain greater clarity about its source.  Tell him we would welcome him as a companion in our fight against and mean him no harm, unless he attempts to thwart us in our goal."

As a sign of peace Adam resheathes his sword and asks the remaining party members to do the same.  He waits for the elf's response.