(Corvin/Mordred Adventure 2): Hole in the Thornwall

[shaidar]

Corvin

"It's good we agree on that, at least. Now, everyone needs to rest."

He settles down to guard.

[archolewa]

June 5th AR 1

Astrid decides to take 2nd watch, while Sebastian takes 3rd.

"Animals are most active at dusk and dawn, so if we get have issues with wolves or whatever, it'll be then," says Sebastian.

The first two watches pass without incident. The Outside halflings and the kidnap victims sleep like the dead. Corvin is watching with Loki and Lob, and neither seem all that interested in conversation. Indeed, those two watch the shadows with a wary, heavily focused alertness.

On the third watch however, as the sky begins to lighten, and the first hints of a pinkish/gold sunrise touch what Sebastian can see of the sky, his dogs get tense. They stare straight at the door, and their lips pull back. A faint growl sounds in their throats. Sebastian puts a hand on each, while watching the door warily. Leon and Eleanor, who are on watch with Sebastian, grab their daggers, and turn their attention to the rest of the Temple.

A moment later, a scratching and snuffling can be heard at the door. The Outside halflings all immediately awaken and grab weapons.

Sebastian goes and looks carefully out the window. He hurries over and awakens Corvin, Mordred, Kasper and Astrid. "We've got a grizzly bear snuffling around outside the door, and it looks like she's got a couple of cubs hiding in the trees nearby. She's looking for food probably. Could be she can smell whatever remnants of the fish we have left."

[shaidar]

Corvin

Corvin keeps his voice low.

"Do you think there enough fish remnants to keep her happyif we gave them up? Would they be satisfied with rations? Sebastian, do you have any means to communicate with the beast or persuade it to leave?"

[archolewa]

Sebastian shakes his head. "I am nowhere near powerful enough to convince a grizzly bear to leave. Especially a mother whose cubs are nearby. But, she is looking for food for herself and her cubs. That is all. I think that if we threw enough food out the window, she would go to investigate it, eat it along with her cubs and move on. You purchased some fresh food before we came right? Not the dried cram that's mostly dried rations. How much fresh food do you have left? That would be ideal."

[shaidar]

Corvin

"I think I've got three days of fresh. How much to you think we'll need?"

Looking back Corvin brought a week of fresh and week of dry to cover himself and Astrid. It's marked down to 5 days left (which would be 1 days consumption for the 2 of them), but I don't think I marked any off for yesterday which would bring it down to 3. How many days has it been (not including today), two or three?

How many meals before we get to the thornwall? I guess breakfast at least, but possibly lunch as well. How many adult and child mouths do we need to feed? Reading back there are the 5 (N)PCs, 16 halflings (how many of those are children?) and the human adults and children. I'm just wondering if we could all plunder our rations for meals or half meals for everyone. I'm hoping Kasper brought food with the wagons.

[Edeldhur]

Mordred

If the Bear comes too close, we can try scare it off with fire also, for example.

[archolewa]

Corvin

"I think I've got three days of fresh. How much to you think we'll need?"

Looking back Corvin brought a week of fresh and week of dry to cover himself and Astrid. It's marked down to 5 days left (which would be 1 days consumption for the 2 of them), but I don't think I marked any off for yesterday which would bring it down to 3. How many days has it been (not including today), two or three?

How many meals before we get to the thornwall? I guess breakfast at least, but possibly lunch as well. How many adult and child mouths do we need to feed? Reading back there are the 5 (N)PCs, 16 halflings (how many of those are children?) and the human adults and children. I'm just wondering if we could all plunder our rations for meals or half meals for everyone. I'm hoping Kasper brought food with the wagons.

Yeah, rations should be marked off for last night. You traveled from Thorncity down to Sebastian's village on June 1st and rested there. They fed you. You ventured back Outside, and rested in the Ranger's Rest on June 2nd. You would have eaten rations then. You spent June 3rd kicking around waiting for Jandley. You would have needed to eat then. You met Jandley on June 4th (yesterday). Today is June 5th. So three days of rations need to be marked off for everyone, for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. You got a fresh week's worth of fresh rations before you left, so you started with 7 days. You should have 6 days marked off, since it's food for you and Astrid.

You guys are about half a day's travel from the wall if you were alone. With the caravan, you're looking at most of the day. You'll probably get back to the hole in the Wall in mid to late afternoon, assuming nothing goes wrong. That should be close enough that you don't strictly need to feed anyone right now, since everyone got at least something yesterday. You have two dozen kidnap victims and seventeen Outsider halflings. So, forty one people in the caravan of varying ages.

"I have about four days of fresh rations left," says Kasper. "Plus a week's worth of dried."

Sebastian checks through his supplies. "As do I. Even one day's worth might be enough, but obviously the more we throw out there, the more likely the bear is to be satisfied. The bear and her cubs have been out of hibernation for a while, but we don't know how long it's been since they ate. Probably, they'll eat everything we throw out there, or near enough. But they might not, especially if we throw a lot."

Mordred

If the Bear comes too close, we can try scare it off with fire also, for example.

I'm going to assume Mordred said this in-character. Nobody here has telepathy!
Sebastian considers for a moment. "I don't know that waving a torch in the bear's face is a good idea since her cubs are nearby. It might startle the bear away, or she might get aggressive to defend her cubs. We could start a fire at the doorway or something. That would certainly scare her away. It's been about five days since it last rained. So not too terribly long. The chances of the fire spreading are very low, but not zero. Also, we need something to set on fire."

[shaidar]

Corvin

Corvin looks through his pack.

OK, I got one day of fresh and seven dried, but that's for me and Astrid. We might want to get some more from a village on the way to the monestary if we can." he shakes his head "Good job I wasn't in logistics. Why don't you take that one from me and we might want at least one more as well."

So 41 people excluding us. That would mean we need 13.66 days worth for them to have a meal (ignoring kids eating less) or let's say 7 days worth for a half ration meal. I'm just wondering if people will move quicker with at least something in their bellies this morning.

[archolewa]

So 41 people excluding us. That would mean we need 13.66 days worth for them to have a meal (ignoring kids eating less) or let's say 7 days worth for a half ration meal. I'm just wondering if people will move quicker with at least something in their bellies this morning.

I'm not running things here at a level of granularity where an hour or two makes a huge difference. *But* I think I'll say that if everyone gets a half ration, the caravan as a whole gets a +1 bonus to morale checks not to panic if things go south, and a +2 bonus if they have a full ration. So suppose giants show up. Then I'd roll a single 1d20+13(Corvin's Charisma is the highest on the team I think)+2(full rations). If that's greater than twenty, then the team is able to keep the caravan under control as you do...whatever you do to handle the situation. If it's less than twenty, then panic ensues, with all the downsides that go with it.

[shaidar]

Corvin

"Do you think that between us we've got enough to give everyone a half ration breakfast? They need something to help keep them going."

Assuming Corvin gives up his one fresh ration for the bears and one dried towards group breakfast. That would leave enough dried rations for Corvin and Astrid to last them 3 days. Can we find another six days of rations between the rest of us?

[shaidar]

Apologies for the double post, but we could probably cover the full 14 days in dried rations between us all if we went full in and still have 3 or 4 days of rations for us.

[archolewa]

"Probably," says Sebastian.

"But maybe let's focus on the bear scratching at the door," says Astrid. "Do we want to try to start a fire to scare it off, or throw some food out to hopefully satisfy it?"

[shaidar]

Corvin

Corvin nods at Astrid "You're right, one thing at a time. My vote would be to try the food. The fire might make it angry and defensive and the smell might attract something else."

[archolewa]

Sebastian nods. "I agree on the food."

Kasper grimaces. "I don't like throwing away precious food. Not while we're still Outside. A lot of things could go wrong and delay us, and I don't think foraging for forty people is feasible. The fire might be riskier in the short term, but the risks sounds pretty low to me, and it means we've got food for a rainy day."

"We could always throw some food but not a lot, and if it isn't enough, chase them away with fire," says Astrid.

Sebastian frowns. "I don't like that. I mean, I feel like it's better than going straight to fire. But if things go horrifically wrong and the whole building goes up, we'll be far far worse off than being a little low on food."

Kasper rocks his head thoughtfully. "I'd be OK with trying a little bit of food first. I agree that fire's worst case scenario, while unlikely, is really really bad."

[shaidar]

Corvin

Corvin looks at Kasper "I hadn't even let the idea of being stuck here for an extended period cross my mind. You have a point about being careful with the rations we have. I agree trying a smaller amount first is the way to go."
he looks at Mordred "What do you think?"