On May 6th the clouds move in and the temperature climbs into the mid 70s. You make good time this morning, until around ten, when suddenly the bushes part and a score of giant rats charge out and attack you!
Is this the big fight you've been waiting and hoping for? Only time will tell.
"Oh joy," Logan says as he aims his loaded crossbow and fires a bolt at the nearest rat.
Kadlian jumps off of Fleetwing, drawing both his swords and meets a rat. "Mages, slow them down and even the odds so that the fighters do not get swarmed. Everyone else, off your mounts and take a rat. There is enough to go around."
"Eek. Rats," the mage says before casting a web spell to catch as many of the rats in it as she can. She will then switch to magic missiles to get the ones that got away.
Niko activates his anti-gravity belt and flies upward 20'. He then casts 2 magic missile spells and will use his flaming cutlass to set Rage's web on fire, if only rats are trapped inside it.
Carburator will cast sleep so that it can get as many rats as possible without getting the group.
Wizbang does the same.
Dor joins the fray.
"Fighting orcs and goblins is more fun than rats," he whines.
Carburator and Wizbang's spells put sixteen rats to sleep. Three remain, which are quickly dispatched by by Niko's first magic missile spell.
Rage enmeshes the sleeping rats so they cannot escape, and you finish them off.
Searching for a bit, you find no booty, so you continue on your way.
Ninety minutes after lunch you come to an intersection. This road continues south along the bank of the Mississippi River while another road runs dead east into the forest. The rangers also detect a faint trail running west down to the edge of the river. There is a signpost -
North: To Bridgewater and Golgar.
South: To Point and End.
East: To Oaksey Keep.
West: To Castle Raymond.
Kadlian looks at the others. "Was the plan to go East or South? Well, we now know the name of the place we just passed. I have to admit that the Southern destinations sound unusual..."
Wizbang, who evidently did a lot of research in the libraries of Strabath when you were there, answers, "We were heading for End. That is where we meet up with the Imperial Road which takes us to Atlantia."
Kadlian nods. "Thank you, Sally, for your forethought in studying those maps. Did you learn anything of Oaksey Keep or Point?"
She shakes her head.
"I've never heard of the places."
"Okay, then we go south."
The rest of the day's march is uneventful, and you camp in the woods that night.