Altea: A New Town

[Huggles]

Aye, agreed. Which is why I figured it'd be best for us all ta be there before we decide what ta do. After this little sidetracking, though, I doubt we have enough time ta look fer Skar. I'm guessin' it's been close ta thirty minutes. We should probably be headin' back and hopin' Darius and Doriavan managed ta find 'im.

[Dan2]

Darius: When you and Doriavan look around, you manage to determine that Skarrandar wandered into the river, but no tracks lead away from it...
Whatever happened, Skarrandar is probably further downstream.

I'll not be here for a couple of days.  Tests are gonna kick my ass.
Feel free to continue however you can.
I'll try to keep up if I get some breaks.

[ymir]

"Agreed. Let's be off, then." Carric heads back to the meeting place with Telchar, keeping an eye out for anything interesting, along the way.

1d20 7=24 Interesting = worth stealing or out of the ordinary

[Darius Stronghand]

This looks less than ideal... We go farther downstream.

[Dan2]

Carric/Telchar:

You find a number of houses that look fairly succeptible to break-ins.
The shops are, for obvious reasons, better secured, but they are far from impossible.
When you get back to Rohan's little cottage, you find Darius and Doriavan are still out.

Darius/Doriavan:

You beat your way through some brush, looking for where Skarrandar may have managed to extracate himself from the river, when Doriavan notices something in a clearing not far to your right.
(the river flows in the direction you are walking, but it is on your left)

[ymir]

"Huh... they're not back yet... so they either got lost, or they found something. Or both. I hope they get back soon, it's getting on in the day, and from what I know of Steven, I don't think he'd like the idea of waiting on us, let alone actually doing it."

[atrocity05]

Doriavan stops for a moment peering a bit and stopping Darius with his hand.  "I think I saw something."  He goes over to investigate a bit, trying to be somewhat loud to alert anything of his coming. 

In case it's reasonable humanoids or bears

[Dan2]

As you make your way over to the area, you realize that it was only a deer that caught your attention.

You gaze into the forest, looking for other signs of disturbance, you notice that you are on the edge of a clearing.
Inside the clearing, it's clear that a number of creatures were here not that long ago.

You can easily follow the tracks into the forest, but you're not sure how far they go, as the stubby underbrush obscures them not far from the edge of the opening.

Make another perception check.

[Darius Stronghand]

Internet's way too slow right now for Invisible Castle, so I used Excel.
Perception (1d20+2) = 15

[ymir]

Is Meepo still at the cabin? If so, what's he doing there?

[Dan2]

Meepo has been trailing the wizard and the cleric.

[atrocity05]

Spot for underbrush stuff (1d20+8=9)

[Dan2]

Darius, near the edge of the underbrush, sitting atop some brown matted leaves, you notice a very reflective scale.

Upon closer inspection, you're pretty sure that this scale once belonged on your friend, Skarrandar.

You check the sun against the sky, and figure that thrity minutes has come and gone.
Your companions may become worried about you, however Skarrandar may be in some sort of peril.

What do the two of you do?

[ymir]

Carric looks outside at the evening sky. "This is not like them, they should have been back by now. Something must have happened... I've got a bad feeling about this," he remarks to Telchar.

[Darius Stronghand]

"If something was strong enough to overcome him, we may be outmatched, just the two of us.  If time was a pressing issue, odds are we're too late already.  Let's go find the others."  Darius starts heading back to find Carric and Telchar.

[Dan2]

You make your way back to Rohan's little shack, where you find Telchar and Carric waiting (possibly anxiously).

Carric:  You know that the four of you are already late for your meeting with Steven, if you still intend to go...

[ymir]

I'm assuming you tell us what happened, to save some time <.<

Upon learning of the happenings, Carric thinks for a moment before speaking, "Hrm, maybe we can ask Steven for assistance in the, possible, rescue of our scaled friend? We're already well past the time we were to meet with him, but if we explain our situation, he might be compelled to help us, if for no other reason than to... demonstrate his abilities. What do you all think?"

[Darius Stronghand]

"...Fine.  If he isn't willing to help us tonight, though, I say we search without him.  Waiting a few hours is difficult; waiting a whole day to search means we lose him."

[ymir]

"Agreed," states Carric, nodding. "Time is decidedly a factor, and we shouldn't expend any more than we need to. Especially with a life, possibly, at stake."

[Dan2]

With that, you head out to the tavern where Steven deigned to meet with you.

The night life (what little there is in the town) is just beginning.
You notice couples down a few of the darker alleys doing who-knows-what in the cover of night.

When you get to the tavern, you are informed that Steven is no longer there.
Yeah, Steven was here for a while.  Didn't care to drink, said he needed his wits about him 'cause he was meeting new people or some such.  Rubbish if you ask me.
Anyway, he waited for a while, didn't order nuthin', and a man comes in out 'a the cold and walks over to him.  The man whispers in his ear something, looked kinda queer to me, then they both left and Steven looked somethin' furious.
I didn't catch which way they was goin' b'cause at about that time, my best lookin' barmaid came in, and I got a bit... distracted.  Hehehe.

The bartender turns to Darius and says Now then, about our little wager.  We never settled on a time to do this by.  I'll give ya a week to git yerself a fight with Rohan, less ya wanna back out like a pansy.

He turns back to the group So, y'all here to sit around and take up space, or ya gonna order somethin'?