It seems vengeance has already taken its hold, Nanako thinks, eyeing the man as he exclaims his intent to kill those who had apparently wronged him.
With a shrug, she adds, "I don't know, having my life decided based upon my father and his father sounds awfully dull. I much prefer the freedom to decide my own life."A life of knowledge and wealth to be had.
Satomi keeps mostly silent as they begin to move through the forest, however he lets out a light chuckle as he realises the man's story is almost a perfect mirror image to his own. Soldier to Farmer. Farmer to Soldier.
Zara regroups with her companions, retaking her human form, and gestures in the direction they are headed. "Our trail looks to lead this way " she suggests.
"Have any new discoveries arisen?" she asks. Perhaps they already noticed the blood trail.
The trail continues onwards for awhile, and you walk another ten or so minutes following it in relatively easy terrain before it begins to get more rocky and rough. The trail is sometimes easier to follow and sometimes more obscured, but after another ten to fifteen minutes in this more difficult terrain you find that the flat-ish forest begins to rise into a hill.
You can very faintly hear the sounds of speech coming from the direction of the hill, though from where you stand now you cannot make out the source of the voices.
Jin continues to hold his sword ready in a defensive position, ready to defend himself if bandits were to come out. He starts to cautiously step forward, going quiet and listening for other sounds.
"I hear them as well," Zara adds. "How would we like to proceed?" she inquires. "If desired, I am capable of moving ahead and scouting the situation, further." She adds, suggesting the utilization of her less-than-human form. It seems most logical to gain as much information as possible, before presenting ourselves to this new company.
"Thank you," she replies in kind tone, to the musician, "I shall see what I can observe." Zara, once again, takes the form of a fox and quietly moves toward the sound that they had heard. Pray be that these are strangers of the friendly sort... that we might avoid conflict
Jin nodded, not openly talking so he wouldn't draw any more noise. I only hope whoever was attacked can be saved... He thought to himself, holding his sword at the ready.
"Don't do anything careless," Nanako mentions as the pair begins to sneak forward. Why are we allowing the two most suspicious to do the scouting? I suppose they have the most experience. So long as this isn't an elaborate rouse.
As you creep forward through the trees and reach more the base of the hill you can begin to hear the sounds more clearly. The hill is quite large and, the speech appears to be coming from partway up the hillside, though not somewhere you can see directly from its base.
Though you cannot hear the full conversation, you do catch a few words or short phrases here and there. "the loot", "where to", "won't find", "move the cart", and "next score" are the few things you can make out from the current distance.
Do you want to move closer or not? If you do you will keep your same checks that you already rolled, or you can try a new roll if you are not confident in the last one. The closer you get to the source, the higher the DC will be to remain hidden from them, though the easier it will be come to make out fully what they are saying.
Noticing Bao Tap Den's movements back towards the others, Zara states, "I intend to move forward, in attempt to further decipher their discourse. If you are returning to report to the others, please let them know I will return shortly." Zara continues to creep towards the origin of the voices, I hope this group does not provide us with too much of a burden...
Kekeng frowns at Bao Tap Den's vague news. "If it truly is bandits that are afoot..." He shakes his head. "We should turn back. I don't like the look of this."
I feel horrible for those attacked, he reasons to himself. But why should I risk my own life? Would they do the same?
Though the hill is large and covered in leaves and other foliage, you manage to continue up the side in relative silence, easily able to step softly over the brush in your fox form. After another ten minutes or so you reach a section of the hillside that is flatter than the rest, perhaps artificially so as you notice that it appears to descend to your left at a gradual slope, looking more like a road or path than natural terrain.
To your right, you can see that the sloping continues higher still, and it becomes quite clear that the speech is coming from further that direction, though once more still out of sight. However, at this distance it is much easier to make out what the voices are saying.
"...yeah he said we need to move it, don't want to cause alarm if some other travelers walk by," you hear a female voice say. It is a bit muffled, as if the source is chewing something while speaking.
"That bastard," you hear a male voice exclaim. "Always wants us to do the heavy lifting while he sits on his ass and counts the loot. 'Haul the bodies,' he says, 'tie them up,' he says. Now he wants us to move the cart? Why can't he do it himself?" You hear the sound of spitting, likely from the same source as the voice.
"Shh," says a third voice. "Not so loud, or he'll hear you. It's only a short while we have to work with him, then we'll have enough coin to go it on our own," it continues, another female voice, this one much softer-sounding than the first.
For those not comfortable with reading the stuff that Bao Tap Den revealed from the sblock above, here is what they saw and what he'd have reported to the party:
"As you creep forward through the trees and reach more the base of the hill you can begin to hear the sounds more clearly. The hill is quite large and, the speech appears to be coming from partway up the hillside, though not somewhere you can see directly from its base.
Though you cannot hear the full conversation, you do catch a few words or short phrases here and there. "the loot", "where to", "won't find", "move the cart", and "next score" are the few things you can make out from the current distance."
Nanako nods to Kekeng as Bao Tap Den returns with what he'd overheard. "There are likely to be many of these fiends if they have such an organized scheme," she says, not particularly eager to fight more bandits. "I'd also like to cover as much ground as possible, lest that army catch up with us."
"We should," Satomi agrees. "We have no duty to deal with these bandits. If we return to the cart we can be past here before they return to move it and there'll never even know we were here."
Jin attempts to whistle towards their fox-friend, before starting backwards. "Someone watch our flank!" He whispers to his new companions and leads the way back to the road.
Bao Tap Den takes the rear position and keeps his senses open for nearby enemies. I'm glad we're skipping this fight. I haven't been able to unload the goods from the last scrape.
[sblock=Mechanics]Perception check to notice nearby enemies. 14(1d20) +1 = 15[/sblock]
Zara returns through the forest, to meet with the group. (returning to human form) "I suppose a decision has been made to avoid the ruffians?" she asks, in reference to their movement. "From what I could gather, there were 3 or 4 of them in a small camp. They made reference to disposing of bodies, as well as removing a cart from its current location." she informs them, expressing little emotion toward the situation. "It is likely that none of the cart's original owners survived the encounter."
"Too dangerous," Kekeng says quietly, unhappy with the predicament, though firm in their decision. "It's too bad there were no survivors. These roads are dangerous."
He looks to Jin as they walk. "I'm still surprised you've been on your own. I was, once, but not after soldiers, bandits, and everything in between began prowling these roads."
Jin nodded. "I suppose I've been lucky." He forced a chuckle. "Can't say it's been easy." He refused to lower his sword in case the bandits rushed out on them, keeping an eye out for any movement.
[sblock=Mechanics]Perception for movement: 12(1d20) +7 = 19[/sblock]
[sblock=Jin]You do notice some movements in the distance, though they are small enough and faint enough that you are sure the sources must be small animals scurry about. Nothing about what you see or hear suggests that you are being followed at this time.[/sblock]
"Yes, no need to stick our noses into dangerous situations that don't involve us," Quen Lu Tam responds, motioning for Suzume to follow as the group makes their way back to the road. It takes some time but the group does eventually reach the road once more, albeit at a different spot than they'd initially entered the forest from. Moving further along down the road once more they travel for some time, but after a half hour of walking the cart still does not come into view.
"Did we really travel so far that we have not reached where we left the carts?" Quen Lu Tam asks, sounding a mixture of confused and frustrated. "Have we already passed this section of road, can any of you tell?" he asks, turning back towards the others with a look of worry on his face.
Kekeng nervously scans to and fro, watching for the cart. At the merchant's question, he scratches his head and looks up to the sun through the canopy.
"I... I'm not quite sure," he admits. Perhaps I should have reeled back on the wine, the vagabond considers. No... it enhances my navigation. Surely.
[sblock=Mechanics]Perception check to orient himself: 3(1d20) +6 = 9 hahahahaok[/sblock]
"I can't tell either," Satomi says. "I would have thought that we would have passed them by now though. Perhaps the bandits weren't alone and their companions stumbled across the cart," he suggests.
And perhaps they had help in causing a distraction, he thinks eyeing Jin suspiciously.
[sblock=Jin]This section of the road does not seem familiar to you at all, so that suggests it is not a part you have been to before. It seems likely that you have overshot where the carts were left.[/sblock]
[sblock=Everyone Else]You cannot quite recall if you have passed this bit of road or not, none of the features of this area standing out as especially unique to you.[/sblock]
“The voices I overheard conversing did mention moving a cart. Perhaps they have already completed their task.” Zara inserts, These individuals act quickly.
[sblock=Zaranius]This section of the road does not seem familiar to you at all, so that suggests it is not a part you have been to before. It seems likely that you have overshot where the carts were left.[/sblock]
Jin shakes his head slowly. He walks up to a tree and cuts a mark into it. "I don't know where we are, but if we walk back through here, we should know."
Kekeng follows closely along, nervously scanning the area for any familiar stretches of road. What if these bandits come across us? We survived once, but could I do it again? He tries not to consider the answers.
