Immersive Ink

"What have you found there, young Wen? Arrows? You had better hold on to those. At my age and with my eyesight, I'd do more harm than good with a bow. That wand, though, maybe you should give it to me for safe keeping..." Highbough greedily reaches for the treasure with his bony hand. "Look what I found over here. This mace has a great power. I think we should handle it carefully. Let me wrap it in my bedroll so I do not have to touch it directly. Now that we have out-scavenged the scavengers, we have a difficult decision: should we press farther into unexplored territory, or should we turn back with these weapons lest they fall into enemy hands? How many mirrors did you bring, and did you remember to carry extra water for me?"

Wen stores the Arrows in his quiver and looks across the desolation. He hears Highbough but has a worried look and seems to distracted. "I think we better head back. My spell is nearing its end our water is running out, we will die out here if we push on. Lets not worry about the Wand, I'll inspect it for runes when we find a place of safety, I have just the the spell to unravel it."

Wen turns and tries to make the shortest route back to the portal.

I'm assuming we are still closer to our starting point then the Fortress, and unless we are near death I'd much prefer returning to the portal

"Hmm?" grunts Highbough, distracted by the puzzle of how best to hide the ancient mace among his belongings. "Oh, yes, that's the correct answer Wen, I was just testing you. Very good, back the way we came. Don't do anything stupid; we don't want to attract the attention of scavengers or sandworms..."

Wen and Highbough are still considerably closer to where they began than the distant Alcazar, even though the exact location of the Ring is obscured somewhere beyond numerous dune ridges. They thankfully turn their backs to the scathing wind--which has been lashing their faces with sand all the while--and begin to trudge back in approxiately the direction they came from... or so they best believe.

Alas, after approximately half an hour of trudging through the red dunes, keeping a low profile, they realise that they must have gone astray. Surely the Ring was not this far into the desert?

All these dunes look alike, and their was recently a reckless pursuit. The wilderness pursuit ruless state that players are automatically considered lost after a pursuit, but as the Alcazar is a reliable landmark in sight, it makes more sense that our Elves themselves are not lost, but instead have lost the exact location of the Ring. Therefore, they will have to search for it...

Will they locate it right away? 1d6=2, so no.

Meanwhile, the ref checks for another encounter: 1d6=4, so nothing. Yet.

Wen look around in puzzlement, an Elf lost, unthinkable. "Haha, we seem to have misstepped my friend." Undeterred the search continues.

"We seem to be made to suffer," agrees Highbough. "It's our lot in life." The old Elf is sick of trudging through the endless sand dunes and is beginning to feel the disorienting effects of dehydration. He can't take much more!

"Your eyes are better than mine, Young Wen... We are clear of those scavenging wolf-men, so maybe it is worth the risk to leap high into the air and look around for a familiar landmark? On the one hand, we should keep a low profile so we aren't spotted, but on the other hand, if we keep wandering around aimlessly, the sand worms are sure to catch up with us eventually. Being swallowed whole would not be my preferred method of keeping these magic items out of the enemy's hands."

Wen and Highbough spend another fruitless half-hour keeping a low profile as they search among the red dunes. The air is scorchingly hot and filled with stinging sand. Their exposed skin is affronted by the heat and abrasion, and their water skins are exhausted. Will the pair perish in the alient desert?

More searching... 1d6=1, so nothing. Monster check... 1d6=5, so almost, but nothing.

Wen frowns and looks at Highbough and at the sun. "This might be it old one, cooked tender for the worms to find. I didn't think it would come to this."

Not meant as a whine but trying to understand our chances. So we have like a Xin6 every turn of finding our way before we die of exposure. Does the crashed Ship, the torn up terrain (from the Worms), and/or the Portal give us any modifier to find our way? I guess we made a huge mistake but we didn;t really have much of choice being eaten or flee. Any chance being Elves, Heroic and or really old would help?

"Do not despair, Young Wen," Highbough offers as encouragement. "Think how far we have traveled, the journey of a lifetime! Perhaps no other living Elves have seen this alien landscape. Do you know the song about our ancestors who wandered in the desert until they discovered the First Tree? If this is the end, then let's go out singing."

Between verses of the song, the old grey warlock leaps catlike into the air, scanning the horizon for any familiar landmark.

I think you did good; baiting the worms away from the main group almost certainly saved lives. The downside is only that you're always considered lost after a wilderness pursuit. On an alien world with the sun in the "wrong" position in the sky, in a desert where all the dunes look alike, in the middle of a sandstorm no less, it does seem kinda appropriate.

So now, yes, you'll need a lucky die roll to spot a feature you recognise. Leaping into the air will help get a better perspective, but will also reveal your position to anyone else around so I didn't want to assume you would do that until you actually posted that you're going to do it.

Don't worry too much; you're not going to drop dead of thirst/dehydration without good warning. Running out of water is only the first step down that long and weary road...