[IC] Mt. Hersh's Fallen Fortress

[Arelia]

Arelia looked thoughtfully at her office, but proceeded to make her way towards a rack full of various scrolls. She seemed to look through it for awhile, but eventually found what she was looking. She pulled it out and went back to her desk. Placing it on the table she displayed for everyone to see.

"I'm sure you three are already familiar with the country's geography, but the exact area that Balenar mentioned was the unnamed ancient stone fortress encased into the mountain side." She pointed towards a small section where you could see the words 'Mt. Hersh' and had her finger in an area just north of the 't' in 'Mt'.

"The area isn't very well traveled, as most choose to avoid that section of the mountain pass, and head further eastwards towards Topaz Downs. The city itself prove unwelcoming, but most of the traffic from here to Ceren go through that way instead regardless, the mountain itself isn't something too easy to climb, and to the south is riddled with too many dense and ancient forests along with swamplands."

Pretend the attached map has more little cities and villages thrown out about it, and roads/etc. We simply never bothered to plot each and every little village/town/city.

[Oath]

"Thanks. Elys got to work examining the map, trying to chart a path that looked like it would be relatively safe while not adding too much additional time to the trip. There would likely be a point where they had to leave the comfort of the road behind.

Elys is trying to chart a course to the fortress.

Survival: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d20+7 : 17 + 7,e total 24

edit: forgot to close the bold tag ;-;

[Throndir]

Elys, Survival for plotting out a course
Geography wasn't your strong suit, so you didn't actually know what the features of the land looked like from here towards the mountain. But as you looked over the map looking at the rivers, masses of forests, mountains, the major roads, the quickest route started coming to mind. It would prove the least resistance for moving on horseback, though the route would still end up taking a little after 6 days. With the arrival being on the 7th.

You knew however, that you could push your mounts further at a hustle, and even ordering your horse to continue marching onwards if needed to save more time.

For simplicity's sake, the route I marked in the map below will be treated as a movement of two hexes per day. Mountains, and forest hexes are movements of 1 day per hex (8 hours per hex). Roads,
plains, and this 'special route' Elys discovered will be 2 hexes per day at a regular pace for heavy/light horse (4 hours per hex) due toe Elys' high survival roll.

Forced march and mounted movements below.

Forced March/Mounted Movement

Forced March
In a day of normal walking, a character walks for 8 hours. The rest of the daylight time is spent making and breaking camp, resting, and eating.

A character can walk for more than 8 hours in a day by making a forced march. For each hour of marching beyond 8 hours, a Constitution check (DC 10, +2 per extra hour) is required. If the check fails, the character takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from a forced march becomes fatigued. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue. It's possible for a character to march into unconsciousness by pushing himself too hard.

Mounted Movement
A mount bearing a rider can move at a hustle. The damage it takes when doing so, however, is lethal damage, not nonlethal damage. The creature can also be ridden in a forced march, but its Constitution checks automatically fail, and the damage it takes is lethal damage. Mounts also become fatigued when they take any damage from hustling or forced marches.

[close]

[Oath]

Elys pointed to the map after she finished. "This is the route I'm proposing. Anyone have a different idea?" She stepped away from the table and motioned for the others to gather around and examine the map.

[frogman210]

Sylvir steps up to the map and carefully studies it for a time...

I think that this should prove the best choice in these circumstances. Turning to Elys he asks "Have you seen much combat in your time here?

truth be told I have seen very little in my days, and as much as I hate to admit it this is partially why I am here to learn to grow and to become strong enough to one day act on the information I hope to find.

I should prove useful in watching for traps, and in a pinch sneaking around for a chance at a critical sneak attack, but when it comes to experience, before we head off on this journey I wanted to be upfront with you about the fact that I have little to none in this part of the world.

I am decided that this should be the path we take.

Sylvir looks towards the other two members of the party and asks what they think?

[Luro]

Peering at the map, Miriana grins and cracks her knuckles.

"Sounds fine to me. I've never been any good with maps, I'll follow your guys' lead."

As excited as she was, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of nervousness at the thought of her first mission with the guild. She only hoped that it didn't show on her face too much.

"Other than the Trogs, are there any other creeps on the route that we should watch out for? I don't really know this area too much."

[Oath]

"I've seen much combat in my life period. If you asked me for a number, I couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell myself either." With a small smile, Elys continued. "Before you know it, you'll have likely seen your fair share of combat too."

"As for a map, I wouldn't be surprised if we have one lying around somewhere that we can bring with us, if not it should be easy enough to procure. The dangers along the way shouldn't be anything too serious. When you're on the road the most dangerous creature is probably your fellow man. Off in the forest or the brush, you're likely to run into some wild animals but I doubt it would be something we couldn't handle."

While it was on her mind, Elys took a small sheet of paper from one of her various pouches and brought out a small vial of ink along with a pen and began to sketch a rough drawing of the map. Her thought process was that it would be easier to transfer over to something portable if she didn't need to return here.

"Anyone else have any concerns to address before we prepare to leave?"

[Throndir]

Once you have your concerns listed and your dialogue done, go ahead and feel free to update your character sheets for any supplies bought. Just subtract from your Gold sheet, or get help from either Oath or I on it. Otherwise, check out the forum shops as well here. If you're looking for a specific item for the trip, then we'll RP that as a one on one, otherwise, just assume you get what you want for the listed prices. If you buy from the forum store, post in the store thread so I can handle quantity/shop gold changes. If all your gear is set, go ahead and respond back saying all your preparations are done and/or state actions of moving out!

[Arelia]

"Bandits away from the main roads, monsters out and about. What you'd normally expect." Arelia said replying to Miriana.

[Throndir]

Forcing the party to start their journey by Monday if no new posts have been made to state otherwise.

[frogman210]

I am good to go Sylvir states. I feel like I am about as ready as I can be. I will be able to take what I learn on this outing and better prepare for the next.

Westward (or whatever direction we are heading as Sylvir is not too keen on directions and that is why he bought a compass before departing) HO!

[Throndir]

Gathering what you needed for the trip, it didn't take more than an hour to prepare and get ready. Soon enough the three of you found yourselves at the gates of the city. There was already a bustle of merchants and traders going in and out of the gates. Caravans with their guards, along with many travelers busied themselves waiting for their turn to finally make it through.. The city guards themselves kept their eyes out for any trouble.

This would be the first day of the journey.

State if you want to make your mount move at a hustle and for how long. As well as if you want to make them have a forced march. I will be keeping a total track of distance traveled, as well as a relative location due to distance traveled on the grid map. I prefer to not split the party for this, so please decide as a group!

[Oath]

Elys sat upon her steed, firmly grasping the reins. "It may be best to take our time in our travels. I know that time is of the essence but if we run ourselves ragged, we'll likely be of no help when we arrive, or manage to find ourselves on the wrong end of an ambush. Those are just my thoughts, what do you guys think would be the best course of action?"

[frogman210]

Sylvir rode up next to Elys and looked her direction as he said: "I agree, we also don't want to draw any un wanted attention our way and if we go storming through the city that could be exactly what we do.."

EDIT: Spelled my name wrong doh...

[Throndir]

Waiting for a response from Luro, but it seems as if people want to do a regular journey with no hustle or forced marched involved.

This means an effective 8 hours of mounts going at a Walk pace. Eg; think of you moving your mounts at a leisure pace that your horse can upkeep easily 8 hours a day. Just a note, the lethal damage is done to mount only, and not the actual rider. Will be proceeding with this by tomorrow, 1/19/18, if no other posts states otherwise, or no other actions given. Summarizing the rules on hustle/forced march, in case any of the newer players are confused on how it works.

Horse on Walk: 5 miles per hour
Horse on Hustle: 10 miles per hour, 1 lethal damage on horse per hour after the first and Fatigue condition on horse
Horse on Forced March (movement beyond the free 8 hours per day): CON check DC 10 +2/extra hour, lethal 1d6 damage on horse

Relevant movement rules: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/alignment-description/movement/

Distance remaining: 312 miles