"I know of now way to combat such illusion that I have any access to." Kyara responds to The dwarf.

"What I can do is to follow through the trees, perhaps skipping every other tree until the trail is lost and back tracking to the last known place of their path."

I wouldn't put it past this group to change directions several times to cover their true tracks from anyone who may try to track them. That way will be slower, though not as slow as checking every tree, and it will save us time it we don't have to back track too far be less likely for us to lose the trail by much."

In the process of moving towards the trees when the dwarf sat down, Heironymus realized they were not yet done talking. Pausing he added to the conversation, "If the dwarf or any other can find another route, I'll listen. But we have talked a great deal already and the trail will not get any warmer. I, for one, know of no path but the one in the trees. S barring a better idea from better minds, I say we follow it, and the sooner the better."

"We're still missing the why. Without the why we can't be sure of the path we're supposed to take." Virif murmured. And I hate not being sure. "We don't know what or even if the girl is in danger. We don't know who our opponent is. We'll be chasing breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs that we don't know if their being dropped on purpose or on accident. We're guessing at the name of the game while our enemy knows all the rules and has all the pieces." Virif stood taking a look around the clearing. "If they knew we were coming why did they choose this place to ambush? Why was this place better than any other? It obviously didn't have enough advantages, or did it? Were the brigands really trying to kill us? Did they really know the purpose of the mission? Understanding what has transpired and why it happened the way it did will at least give us insight into our enemy, which is a vital piece we don't have. Did they take inventory and are they expecting us? I do not believe that forward is where we need to go at all but instead back. Someone had to contact Harl and that someone had to have been contacted. If we follow the trail of contact we have a surer path than if we follow the breadcrumbs left in the forest. We're behind and he only way to catch up is to know where we're going."

(OOC: The group has already pressed Allyn to the limits of his patience after promising to go after his daughter. For all he or you know she is in trouble (as the general signs initially indicated) and her life is now in danger. Chose to go back if you wish, but I will warn you that Allyn will most likely do everything in his power to make things difficult for you for "abandoning" his daughter. So bear that in mind when you decide a course of action. Also, every passing moment makes the trail harder to follow.)

Having already started to move towards the woods when he was halted by further discussion, Heironymus is convinced that the time for discussion has come and gone.

"Ok, it seems it is to be the path. I'm heading towards where we think it begins. Let us all go together."

With that Heironymus moves towards the woods, although he goes slowly enough to allow Virif to join him.

(Heironymus will have taken the merchant up on his offer of a few days food. He walks with mace in hand.)

(Picking up from the last game update)

Kara moves slowly between trees trying to track your foes. She loses the trail several times, but after a thorough search of the area she always manages to pick it back up again. Through many twists and turns, and even stream crossings and re-crossings, you doggedly pursue what remains of the bandits.

(1 full day passes and part of the next while the trail is followed. Length of time determined by Survival/Tracking checks.)

All of a sudden the trail stops. No nearby trees show any signs of travel. The ground is hard here, being more rock than soil, so tracks are incredibly difficult to discern.

There is a small roll in the land, coming to a crest not far from you. General scouting of the area reveals that a shear cliff face severs the land only a few hundred yards past the hill in the direction you have been heading. The trees and undergrowth here are the same as any other part of the forest.

(Time to determine your next move.)

As the group stood looking out over the rocks and at the cliff edge in front of him, Heironymus was tempted to push his fellow rescuers forward to get them to make up their mind. Not off the cliff, of course, just forward . . .some direction. Get them moving. Honestly, he'd seen rocks that made up their minds faster!

"Ok, folks, we have a damsel in distress to rescue. I know we don't want to make mistakes, but certainly we need to keep moving. Anyone here see anything worth investigating? Which way do we go? Slow and steady does not always win the race, especially when slow has become stop!"

Kyara is frustrated at herself for losing all signs of the racks they had been following. IT just didn't make sense. It was like those they were following had just step of the cliff. That magic user Hen it stuck her they just might have done exactly that.

"We must follow of course but I think I have a suspicion on how their tracks just disappeared. Magic. That magic user just might have use feather fall to drift them down this cliff face." Lacking such an ability our best choice now is to go to the bottom of this cliff and look for any tracks there." Let's figure out a way down there.

As Kyara expressed her frustration at losing the trail, Heironymus took the opportunity to make his own exploration of the area. At first it all looked like a lot of rock, and more rock, and more rock, and more rock, and . . . you get the idea.

About the time that Kyara started to suggest getting to the bottom of the cliff, and idea the cleric did not relish since he did NOT have a feather fall or spider climb spell, his attention was diverted by another possibility.

"Uh, Kyara, you may want to hold off on the whole cliff climbing expedition. We may have something over here." There was a small hill at the top of the cliff (assuming my geography is correct) and when looking down from it an opening could be seen. At this point nothing else could be discerned for sure, but there was an opening in the ground. "There appears to be an opening, a cave of some sort, over here. Before I try sky diving, I think I'd like to check this out."

"Perhaps the trail did not run out. Our dear tracker, you may have lead us right to the source. Shall we find out what is within?"

"I did not suggest climbing down the cliff. I only suggested that those we are following may have used magic to go down. Beside I would not leave my horse behind, so for me one of the trails will have to do," Kyara clarifies.

a That seems to be a possible choice. Let us investigate that cave.

Leaving the dwarf on the surface with Kyara's much-adored horse, you both slide quietly into the small opening, descending roughly 20 feet into the ground. It is very dark down here, as little of the moonlight above reaches behond the tunnel opening.

(Kyara's low-light vision does help her a little, Heironymus is pretty much in the dark.)

The tunnel continues forward beyond your range of vision, sloping slightly downward and curving just a bit away from the cliffside (you think). A quick scan of the ground also tells Kyara that this way has been traveled recently, though in the dim light it is hard to discern much more than that.

(All I need is for someone to light a torch and move down the passage and I will update again shortly thereafter.)

Kyara's led the way into the cave her low-light vision helped her while the reflected light from outside gave her some light but that fade. However they rather quickly ran out of light. Hieronymus being human was in the dark before she was.

The last thing she wanted to do was light a torch but without any light they was literally in the dark. She though if she was alone she could feel her way forward.

Hieronymus, if you want to stop here you can. I would prefer to not have any source of light as that might give us a away, an so would your armor."

As Heironymus led the party back to the woods Virif sighed.

“Very well. If you want to take command we’ll see how well you do it.” Virif said quietly, “but the girl’s life is on your head and her death will stain your soul.” Virif rose and followed keeping his senses alert. As they came once more upon the clearing Virif focused within himself. Calling upon just a little magic Virif focused the power into his eyes feeling them heat up and then cool. His vision blurred and when it cleared he was no longer looking at he world as he once had. He now viewed it from the Sight trained in many mages allowing him to detect another’s magic. The trail was hit and miss much as Virif had predicted. The most recent miss bringing them to a cliff which they peered over.

"Ok, folks, we have a damsel in distress to rescue. I know we don't want to make mistakes, but certainly we need to keep moving. Anyone here see anything worth investigating? Which way do we go? Slow and steady does not always win the race, especially when slow has become stop!" Their self made leader declared. No, it doesn’t. Though I told you this would happen. Virif thought sourly to himself. He didn’t voice his thoughts because he knew that splintering the team was a bad call. It was the reason he hadn’t turned back with the merchant as another had. Virif stared into the gorge looking for traces of magic. Much as Kyara had pointed out Virif had concluded that a stronger caster than himself would find this gorge but a minor inconvenience. However there wasn’t anything he could see that pointed such a prospect which he was about to point out when Heironymus pointed out the cave.

“I agree that exploring the cave would be a better alternative to climbing down, however it would also make for an excellent trap.” Virif looked at the opening with caution. “If I was in the enemy party whether I knew I was being followed or not I would plan as though I was. A caution that has been mirrored in every step so far. It is only a credit to the skills of our tracker that we have kept up thus far. One of us should remain on the surface and look around here for a few moments to insure no foul play. Since it is me who suggests this I believe I should be the one to look I shall rejoin you in but ten minutes time, should I not join you then pray they haven’t caused a cave in.”

Virif watched the other two enter the cave and turned from the opening. He walked around the hill senses alert.

(I’ve cast Detect Magic.)

As his partner moved forward into the cave, Hieronymus moved back into the shadows. It wasn't a hard thing to do as pretty much everything was in shadows. He found a solid spot with his back against the wall where he could be sure he was not backlit by the light from the entrance.

He pulled out the wand of light to have it close at hand. If need be it could probably blind anyone trying to jump him. Or his own friends.

He also tried to keep one ear tuned to events outside the cave listening for the dwarf above. He knew the dwarf above was a bit irritated over his role in pushing for the plan to chase after the villians. He really didn't feel a need to be in the lead, in fact he usually preferred to play a supporting role, but so much time had been lost arguing. Sometimes action was needed. Hopefully it would turn out to be the correct action.

At least the cave seemed promising. He sat watching and listening, attempting to hold as still as possible in the dark.

Kara continued down the tunnel feeling her way by touching the right hand wall, taking extra time to move to avoid making noise. For a light loving elf, even one who had been in many dungeon crawls before felt the oppressive darkness closing around her.

After moving 100 paces, she stopped, realizing that she was so far ahead that if she ran into trouble she should be so far from Hieronymus that help would be slow in coming, even if he could hear her.

Kyara turned and retraced her step using her left hand on the wall and counting out 100 paces before calling out softly, “Hieronymus”. She waits until her responds, If he doesn’t answer, she moves a few paces forward, she calls out again softly. Once he responds, she moves toward him.

“I believe we need to return to the surface and pick up Virif. Dwarfs are best underground with their sense and darkvision. I can tether my horse on a long line and give him water and food.