Bright Feather picks up the bone and stows it in her  backpack..."I think we should consider taking Mal back to the healers"...

Hanalee gently pats Mal on the head and rises. "Yes--I agree. Let's take him to the healers...we've already seen how they work. I trust they can find a way to help Mal."

She looks encouragingly at Alric. "He'll be okay," she assures him.

"Yeah! Ok" Alric gets up and grabs supplies as he did before to craft a stretcher, realizing his canvas is now used up but not really caring.

OOC: Is Bright Feather picking up only the small bone fragment that she knows is an arcane bone fetish? Leave the plain looking larger chewed bone alone at the location?

GM doesn't know if any of Alric's allies brought back the make-shift litter, but assuming not due to the flurry of action at the Elder's Place.

No need to role for making a new litter, just take one minute to make a new litter. Who will help carry Mal? Is Alric big enough to hoist his big dog for over a mile and a half? How fast do you want to go?

Resolve this plan amongst yourselves. Ask me when you need clarification, or decide to search or use skills for other things.

Having a special affection for the pooch, Hanalee offers to help Alric carry Mal.

Karni needs a short rest to regain her hit points.

Alric is more than willing though he knows the travel will be difficult. He will gladly accept Hanalee's aid and hope someone else volunteers but is going to take Mal to help in any case. If Brightfeather indicates the Bone is important he will take it with him.

"come lets go"

Bright Feather will investigate the larger bone for a minute or two to glean whatever information would be possibly useful to decide if it's worth taking back also.

Forgotten Claim Terrace, base of sharp slope, by mystery bush

11:52 AM

Almost Everybody

Alric further destroys the remains of his canvas to make another litter for his beloved pal Mal.
Hanalee offers to assist Alric in carrying Mal to the town's healers.
Karnath expresses interest in taking a short rest very soon. Perhaps go to lunch after this?
Caden keeps an eye out for danger coming along either side on this terrace.

Bright Feather takes the minute it takes Alric to make a new litter to investigate that second, larger bone. After listening to Alric's explanation it logically must be important because Mal reacted weird to just a mere bone, and it was the last thing Alric noticed Mal interacted with. You can see a bit of saliva moisture left on it, unlike the small bone fetish, so it verifies his story.

However, you cannot make further sense of it. 'Dangerous chew toys' is not within the untrained Nature lore you know about. Survival, or Medicine especially, might diagnose if this is a cause for a weird disease. You may take an action to Investigate (roll), but you have a sinking suspicious you're groping blind, and that will take more time after Alric will be done.

Everyone Here

You are now all prepared to take Mal out of here. Depending on Bright Feather's choice, you might be free to leave now.

Alric is struggling with the litter with Hana's help and headed for town.

"Bright feather, Could you bring the bone. I don't know nothin' about it but elders might"

"I'll help carry Mal if needed" Caden pipes in glad to see something that he feels like he can help with.

OOC: Aww! Friends! So who wants to get the 2nd bone, the long chew toy one? And anything else before heading on out?

Alric was almost holding his breath hoping Caden would volunteer.

"I'll get the bone." Alric makes sure he has his gloves on and with a stick nudges it into a small remnant of the canvas and folds it up not touching it.

And off we head, he hopes.

OOC: OK! Any last requests before you all head out as a group? And have you thought of a name for this party group? You've built a bit of a personal family of late...

edit: we continue
----------------------

Between Downtown New Graveyard & Sharp Slope to Forgotten Claim

11:55 AM

Almost Everyone

That slope is an utter pain with a litter! Caden & Hanalee were kind enough to support Mal's litter up this 40+ grade slope, but the challenges really surprise. Scrambling up requires leaning in and just about crawling on all fours as if a wall; with objects this gets harder, more so with something that needs to stay mostly level. If this was a humanoid bleeding or broken, who couldn't be dropped from the litter without risking ruining stabilization, the delay would be incredible. This is good practice, but the fighters in the party (along with those with Medicine and/or Investigation) realize this is a dangerous obstacle for an expeditious retreat.

An uncomfortable realization of how much of an isolated death trap that terrace could be crosses everyone's mind.

Together you reach the sharp slope's crest with relief. You take it easy together now as that was a difficult leg, and well, more is along the way. Ahead of you comes the Downtown New Graveyard... the temptation to take that at a Fast pace communicates itself by body language among the group.

OOC: You took the terrace and slope at a Slow rate, the slope being difficult terrain, first minute 120'+50'. Finishing up the slope & taking a breather pace atop, again Slow, second minute 50'+100'. You move at a Normal rate to reach the DT New Graveyard, third minute 300'.

You are now at the very edge of the DT New Graveyard. I assume you are talking to each other along the way up to this point. Resolve among yourselves now how you want to proceed through this place (Slow, Normal, Fast, sprint! + stat checks), and any other things you may want to do while still here.

Alric though filled with a sense of urgency knows that as long as Mal is not getting worse, he would prefer everyone move at a safe pace. Who knows what deviltry we will have to deal with later. Today has already proven to be a bit much with only two days into our meeting and friendship.

"Lets be careful, He's stable, Be safe" Though you can hear an urgency in his voice, barely contained.