Hexplore24 — Day 10
Cool for the season
Sky: Inky Pillars
They wake to dark skies, inky pillars of clouds, a coolness in the air.
We've had a few days for snow melt, so today we return to normal travel rules/costs
Well rested, they all pack up the camp and, with sad glances at leaving the hot springs behind, start on the day's journey.
Today, the cool air following several days of melt, has finally returned the soil mostly to normal – they are able to make much better progress.
Rolled 6,5,5 on encounter dice. Giant weasels... are stalking the party it seems.1
As they hike, pale rays of sunlight break through the dark sky, casting soft spotlights that slowly sweep across the landscape.
Midday, as they pause to drink and chart the next leg, Satis sees shapes - long and low to the ground in the distance, but moving towards them along a similar path. But by the time she shows Belus and Goster, the shapes are gone.
They find themselves again in the stretches of gray grass, near where they saw the Boar on their first day's adventure.
"We are so close to Beacon," Belus exclaims, "though still a day away."
"Even if we march and march?" Satis asks.
"Yes," Belus replies, "then we will not be able to make it back tonight."
Then Goster shouts, "I see them - the shapes!" and all three see, far in the distance, the shapes Satis had spied earlier.
"They're as large as horses," Belus remarks.
"But so much lower to the ground," Goster adds.
"I think they are stalking us," Satis warns.
"What happens when they find us?" Goster asks.
"Let's not find out," Belus whispers.
"But what can we do?" Goster asks, his voice tight with anxiety, "Surely we have to camp once more. Surely they will reach us in the night?"
Belus thinks, then replies, "We must take turns keeping watch tonight, so we are not surprised – and hope we are still able to reach Beacon tomorrow before they reach us."
With renewed vigor, they resume hiking, often glancing over their shoulders.
They find a sheltered place to camp with good views of the approach. They gather 13 hours of wood and prepare for what they hope is the last night in the wilds before reaching Beacon.
All three are uneasy, the shapes a constant threat.
Hoping to take their minds off the anxiety, Satis tells a story about a disastrous baking experience that had resulted in a cake suddenly bursting into an explosion of moist butter and sticky icing due to a misuse of magical aids. All three laugh heartily.
Satis takes the first watch. Belus is unable to sleep, and relieves her, and despite Satis's fears of the strange shapes stalking them, something about Belus's standing watch is comforting enough that she is able to fall into a deep sleep.
Belus, knowing a return to sleep is not in the cards for him, lets Goster sleep through his watch.
And the night passes with no encounters.
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I’ve been unhappy with how encounters work so far, so I’ve made a change. I’m now using the event die from Errant, which I call a hazard die in these notes. On a roll of a 1 we get a random encounter, but on other numbers of the d6 we get other events. Some force the party to rest or take on exhaustion, others diminish resources. here, a 6 is nothing happens, and a 5 is we have some sign or sighting of whatever will be the next encounter. I rolled up Giant weasels. Giant Weasels are very scary and two of them could easily kill my whole party. They also will relentlessly track injured prey — which is Goster. As of these rolls, if I roll a 1 on the Hazard die before they reach Beacon, the party will probably die.↩