Scouting Ahead

It is still the afternoon of the 5th and the weather is still brisk, even a little less pleasant as it goes.  The sky is virtually clear, with just a wisp of cloud, and there is no rain, so you can be thankful for that.

I'm going to try and do as much as I can without drawing a map; please, let's imagine that Embla is moving out ahead of the party, some two or three hundred yards ahead, then circling back and signalling all clear to Lothar.  Now and then Embla should come all the way back to the party to get information from Lothar on finding direction through the wilderness, so she doesn't get lost.  Lothar will then indicate forward movement to the party.  This takes the best advantage of Embla using her stealth and Lothar using his pathfinding skill.  Don't take this as my running the party's actions ~ you'll simply find this the best way to operate.

Rolling for Embla, I start with 3d6 for full daylight, -3 for heavy forest and -1 for her level.  She's wearing soft armor so she suffers a +1 penalty for that.  The roll indicates the number of hexes from another creature that she'll be detected, not that she detects.  Thus, if I make a judgement that she will be able to see a creature at 8 hexes, and the roll comes out above 8, then she will be detected before she discovers what is out there.

At the same time, this finally gives me a solid number for hear noise.  Because she should be able to hear a creature at a distance greater than what she can see . . . let's say +3 hexes/level above normal sight range in the open and +1 hex per level when listening through an intervening object, like a door.  If she were, at first level, standing behind a door, with her ear pressed to it, she could hear someone at 1st level that was within 5 feet of the door.  This is a loose reckoning, we can test it a little and tighten it up later.

For the moment, let's say that Embla will see a creature at 8 hexes in this forest (a reasonable reckoning), if that creature is not attempting to hide, and hear the creature at 11 hexes (which doesn't seem like much better, but consider how much better it will be when she is 7th level).

Without revealing my roll, Embla moves close enough, within 11 hexes, to where she can hear something moving out there.  She should not be sure that moving closer won't reveal her, but at the moment what she hears gives no indication that she has been discovered.

She can smell fire in the far distance, but it does not smell like a forest fire (she's from a forest culture so she would have smelled such a fire before).  This is more like fires she has smelled outside of forges and such.  She would guess, right now, that she is about two or three hundred yards from the nearest part of the "fire," judging by the smell and the amount of smoke in the air.

She can hear the movement of feet and legs moving through brush, about four or five she would guess.  They are making a steady progress from her left to her right.

What, Embla, do you do?