Ch.2 Goblins, why did it have to be Goblins?

You enter the depression determined to cross it as quickly as possible and get across the creek and on your way, but you find the going more difficult than expected. The squelching ground with its cover of moss, leaves and other greenery hides places where solid footing gives way and your feet sink into cold marshy water and sucking mud. You pick your way, slowly and carefully through the maze of sinkholes using the humps of brush as potential safe havens through the crossing. When you reach the first one, you do find a small patch of relatively solid ground. But disturbingly, it seems that the brush has grown up and through a pile of skeletal remains of various creatures.

The sun is beginning to dim as the afternoon wears on into the early dusk of the Elderwild gloom. The patch you're on is roughly 4-5' around, like a small island in a sea, and at its center is the remains of a medium sized tree, now just a rotting limbless trunk overrun by flowering vines. From here, the pleasing scent of the flowers is very strong and almost intoxicating. You find yourselves relieved to have found a place to rest and plan your next move but find yourselves more road weary than you would have expected. The thought enters your collective minds that this wouldn't be a bad spot to rest your feet for awhile and enjoy the tranquility of this place....

Everyone please make a Naturecraft or Wil roll.

Clara checks the area, more for defense and to conceal the party than for comfort

Thorne, you've seen other examples of plants that lure in prey with an enticing scent, some of which even have a soporific component to their pollens that lulls them into a sense of safety or even sleep. You put that together with the piles of bones surrounding the tree at the center of the island and the whole situation looks perilous.

Vilde, you get the sense that there may be something magical at play here. The Elderwild is imbued with magic, so you always feel a low tingle of that energy when you're within its reach, but something more localized tugs at your attention and your gaze shifts to the flowers. They are beautiful, and their scent is lovely, but there's a magical emanation coming from them as well.

Frowning at the flowers, Vilde cautions the group. "Something seems wrong here. I know we're all tired, but I think we should move on."

"I completely agree".

Clueless about the floral that Caldra trusts her companions warning and agrees to moving on.

You carefully pick your way from 'island' to 'island,' each one surrounding a rotting tree trunk covered in flowering vines; each one surrounded by a collection of bones through which the grass and reeds are growing. The fatigue grows greater and the slog from one island to the next seems more daunting with each tree you pass. You're almost to the space where the gap opens onto the creek, just a few more islands to go, but your feet, your heads, your eyes all feel so heavy....

Everyone please make Strength check for physical resilience. Those of you who passed their Naturecraft checks can opt for a Will check instead if that's more beneficial.

As you're standing there trying to muster the energy to cover the last twenty feet or so of the marsh, you hear the sound of animal snuffling from behind you. At the entrance to the bowl, looking down at you from the lip, you see this....

Thorne, you recognize that these are not the same beasts you encountered previously - they're smaller and more lithe. Whereas the others looked more like wolves, these appear to be some form of... jackal maybe? You immediately connect them to the piles of bones surrounding the tree stumps and the aromatic flowers - scavengers.

You fight the soporific haze, but you feel you're losing the battle. Despite your best efforts, your eyes keep closing, creating an almost stroboscopic effect as the images appear and disappear, still shots in sequence with dark blank spaces in between.

Until you can escape the depression, you have the Poisoned condition, giving you disadvantage on all rolls.

Caldra recognized the situation for what it is, a natural trap where the scavengers pray on the weakened creatures that struggle with the mire. "Find good footing and high ground if you can" she suggests and she does just that.

Naut is looking for Audette - how is she doing in this moment and if she need any help

Muscles aching, drowsiness seeping in, the threat of the beasts following them is the only thing that allows Vilde to struggle on.

@ctme2000: Vilde is feeling a lot like Thorne - she isn't quite experiencing the strobe effect he is, but every fibre in her body is telling her 'rest..., close your eyes..., just relax.' She has acquired the Poisoned condition and now has Disadvantage on all rolls until the symptoms abate.

Audette smiles and gives Naut a thumb's up. "It'll take more'n some overgrown weed to bring me down." Then, glancing at the ranger and the mage, she adds, "But these two look a little worse for wear. They might need some help getting out of this muck."

She quickly steps over to Vilde and loops the mage's arm over her shoulder just as the latter was turning a whiter shade of pale and starting to tip precariously.

Sensing that their dinner might be forth coming, the Woodjacks begin pacing along the lip of the depression, observing. Their steps are silent, but their sniffing is audible, and the hunger and anticipation in their vivid green eyes is unmistakable. They haven't fully entered the depression yet, but the lead beast is tentatively skulking his way down the slope.

There are two more islands to navigate before you reach the far side of the ravine. So close - if it weren't for the perilous ground. And judging from experience, you'll probably be exposed to enough of the toxic pollens by the time you reach the last one that more of you may come under their effects. Meanwhile the Woodjacks seem to be getting bolder by the moment.

How would you like to proceed?

Naut don't wait Audette to finish her sentence, he steps by the other side of Vilde and asks help me take her and carry Vilde in his arms for the rest of the way.

Still oblivious to any environmental issues, save the mud, but seeing her companions flagging, Caldra helps the others mover to better footing or a stout tree