We gathered up all the gold and managed to fit some of it into our bags with the remaining piles of gold piled onto cloaks and then levitated by Lhoss so that we could carry it back to town. We laid out the camouflage tarp to cover the remaining silver and copper, and slowly made our way out of the barrowmaze and back into the marsh. From there we moved a ways into the Dim Forest before pausing to eat (Hilja fed Lhoss, who was concentrating on levitating the gold).
As we finished eating, Feno noticed something about 10 feet down the trail, hanging from a branch on a bush. It appeared to be a roughly-rectangular textile. I snuck closer to it and saw that it appeared to be torn from clothing. There were also many booted footprints on the floor of the forest path. I checked the area for traps and picked up the cloth. It had blood on it, and there appeared to be more blood on the plants and earth there as well. We continued carefully down the path, watching around us as we went.
As we traveled, Lhoss began to whisper that she felt we were being watched. She was trying to maintain her concentration but sweating profusely with the effort. The rest of us looked around carefully but saw nothing. Lhoss' strain continued and she soon lost all concentration, letting the gold-filled cloaks sink to the floor of the forest path. She insisted we were about to be attacked and was especially concerned about the area off to our left in the forest. Feno fired an arrow where Lhoss pointed, but it merely embedded in a tree. We waited, weapons drawn, but nothing happened. The forest seemed even more silent than usual, but none of us other than Lhoss could see or hear anything that might be a sign of danger.
When nothing happened, Lhoss agreed to continue the march to Orlane, despite her anxiety. Hilja and Kyro assured her they would keep her safe so she sat in the path next to the gold and re-memorized her levitate spell as the rest of us guarded and watched carefully all around us. We saw nothing for those 30 minutes. Although Lhoss was still worried and hearing sounds in the forest that the rest of us could not hear, she cast levitate again and we marched forward with our floating gold.
As we left the forest, the sunlight and warmer air of the fields helped Lhoss feel better, but she still whispered that there was something watching from behind us. Hilja and Kyro reassured her again and she appeared to slowly calm down as we moved closer to Orlane.
Arriving in the town a few hours before sunset, we went straight to the jeweler’s. We traded the gold for platinum and gems, then traded the coin and gems the party had in the bag of holding for a 1000gp ruby for the group, dispersing the coinage and gems between us. Our heavy load lightened, we returned to the inn for dinner and retired for the night.
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