Drakor waved. “Greetings. I have reason to believe there may be tracks somewhere on the outskirts of the village; if the assailant left in the night, there may be signs.”
He sighed. “We had retraced the tracks of the attacker dragging Messire Kaver from the Granite Hill to the creek, but lost the trail at the Hill. However, I think that if the attacker originated from the village, there may be tracks leading out of it.”
“I see,” Arius says half-impressed, his attention drifting away towards the village of Granitehill.
As he scratches the back of his right ear, he asks: “Do you want me to come with?”
(The faster the unease in the village gets resolved, the more work options I will get.)
Zelsh could tell that he wss in the perfect position now as he quickly drew his sword and charged at the nearest spidrr, ready to cut it down.
Drakor glanced at Canary. “I have no qualms.”
He looked thoughtful. “I would not wish to keep you should you have something more pressing, however.”
Something occurred to him. “Have you any tracking experience?”
She doesn’t give any verbal or bodily disagreement.
just to confirm, you’re cutting away the spider’s webbing first, rather than charging directly in?
(in either case, roll initiative! to roll initiative, you roll 1d20 and add your initiative modifier, which for your character is +1)
“I would say I have some experience in tracking. Though, I wouldn’t claim to be anywhere as good as actual scouts who venture ahead of the squad.”
((+1 Perception, +0 Survival, and at least +2 Knowledge on Everything))
(After finishing up with Nyna, Lionel goes back to the creek)
Drakor nodded, then knelt down and continued looking for tracks. “Your blade may also prove helpful. I doubt we are close enough to be seriously menaced by the local creatures, but I would prefer your aid than your absence.”
It takes you around an hour of searching to find anything that might be relevant, and you’re joined by Arius partway through. The area right around the gate to the palisade has far too many footprints to pick out any specific ones, but searching a little further from it, still by the village but headed in the direction of the hill, you’re able to pick up on three pairs of less recent tracks (as well as your own fresh prints from today). One is quite large, notably bigger than your own feet, with leather soles that turn slightly inwards. Another is on the smaller side, consistent with the print you saw by the river (though not certain to be from the same feet). The final pair has a more middling size, with toes coming to a point.
Arius sees that the masked man knelt down as he was talking to the freelancer. With some hesitation, he says: “In that case, it would be a pleasure to join the party.” He whispers to ‘Canary’: “Has he been searching like that the entire morning?”
((@Arete, how do we do this? Do we each roll to find more tracks, or do we designate one player to roll for the three of us?))
With some searching, you’re able to find an area that seems like a plausible place for the body to have been thrown in — there are two long lines through the dirt, each about as wide as a foot, that end by the creek. You don’t see any full prints, but from the scuffle marks at the creek’s bank, it seems likely that whoever shoved the body in the river was physically smaller than the body itself.
As you’re searching the area, you also notice a group of three people (i.e., Lionel, Arius, and Canary) investigating the area around the town, one of whom is staring intently at the ground.
The creek and the body are still where they were left, though by the time you arrive, a militia member has returned to protect the body from tampering and slightly reposition it; its hands have been folded over its chest, and it’s laying on its backside. (Those of you who were searching near the village also saw the militia member walk past you through the entrance to the palisade.) You can see the same person who was asking questions earlier investigating further upstream, and a group of three people searching the ground near the outside of the village.
((it depends on what you’re trying to do – though, since you’ve found the tracks, you could follow them in either direction (though if it gets notably more difficult to follow them, or you follow them for more than a mile, you will need to make another check)))
((anyone can roll Survival, whether or not they have ranks in it, but there’s a limit to how high of a DC you can track if you don’t have any ranks. You can also roll to Aid Another (with Survival, Perception, or another skill you want to pitch me on), and if you hit a DC 10, you give a boost to the person making the main check.))
Canary compares her feet size to the largest foot print.
The largest footprint is definitely much larger than your feet – you’d guess that it was made by someone notably taller than average, or by someone with unusually large feet relative to the rest of their body.
She looks less upset.
“‘Like that’?” Canary asks, in her normal tone of voice, which isn’t especially loud anyway.
((Well I guess I will follow Drakor’s tail and follow the tracks away from the village.))
((Aid Another gives +2 bonus… and Drakor has +6… I genuinely wonder whether the +2 is worth it. @Squirrel2412, do you want Arius to aid Drakor?))
“Kneeling down to follow the tracks?” Arius continued to whisper. He could have sworn Drakor wasn’t kneeling when he saw and waved at each other a couple minutes ago.
“…I was the one who followed the first set of tracks.”
{For some reason.}
“But occasionally. Yes. We also went to the store.”
She makes no effort to be quiet.