AWKWARD ZOMBIE

"...ye lot seem awfully interested in that scepter. Not that it isn' a pretty piece, mind ye...an' it would be useful...though nicking from an employer doesn't sound too smart...though he isn't actually payin' us..."

"I agree, we should give up on the scepter for now as it seems there's no honest way to procure it. I think out business in this town is about done, and if everyone has stocked up on supplies, we should head out to investigate the source of these monster attacks."

Are you going to be departing today, or at the beginning of tomorrow?
If you have any shopping left to do, do it now.

"Krom say we leave today! Get kill stuff faster. Right after Krom do shop..."
Buy Vial of alchemist fire & spiked cod-piece.
Just in case.

Shinsa's ready to go at any time, though she's trying to decide whether to be smart and stick with lightning sword and board or be stupid and try waving two of the phallic compensations around.

Semli's ready to get goin', methinks.

First, Krom, consider it adding spikes to your unaramored self for that codpiece, so 50 gp.

With 3 of 6 saying now, and since Scoot doesn't post very often, that's a majority saying to set sail for adventure immediately. Unfortunately, you cannot figure out how to attach the sails to the mules, so you'll walk for adventure.
DAY 1: A spot check reveals that the supposed slime encroaching you was actually a blob of tree sap, saving you from having to stealthily avoid/run from it/embarrass yourself fighting it/etc, however a nat1 for Semli's spot check temporarily blinded him from staring at the sun, until the next day.
Survival checks were rolled to determine many things. Of note, food finding requires a higher roll, to encourage party starvation. On the rolling note, Aya rolled low enough to catch poison ivy, so no sleeping until it's cured/wait it out. Semli got a nat1 but notices nothing. Krom, Shinsa, and Blanche each find 1/3 ration worth of food, so they do not need to deduct later for dinner. They also determined it's not rainy tonight.

NIGHT 1: Who is on watch, also eat 1/3 ration. Any specific actions?

"I propose we split keeping watch in two throughout the night, so that everyone can catch some sleep. I'll take the early shift, who wants to follow me up?"

"I'll do it."

The night shift has begun for Blanche. You manage to hear rustling in the bushes, but as you go to investigate it notices you and runs off. Eventually Shinsa's shift comes, and he too manages to hear something, but he manages to stealthily approach it even in his armor. You see an elf, readying his weapon (an axe). Unfortunately, you did not notice his companion, who not only noticed you, but also had a higher initiative. He manages to hit you with his axe, for 3 damage, and the first elf does not notice anything yet.
Both have AC 11, but the one in the bushes is flat footed so 10. Initiative order is The one hitting you, You, then The one in the bushes. It is your move.

Wake everyone up by pointing my sword up and summoning a bolt of lightning onto the bastard who cut me.

Roll = 20+5+2=27 (Don't worry I'll roll a Nat1 soon enough, probably when trying to cross a river) Uh, is that a critical since it's due to the sword? Can spells even critical?

You have dealt 24 damage to him, incinerating him. It's not as loud as an actual thunderbolt, but it still makes a short POW sound and that's about it. If you ever roll a nat1, I may consider actual thunder-strength sound to hit you in addition to lightninging you. But yes, his charred corpse now lays there, dead. The other axe murderer notices this and promptly gets the hell out of Dodge. And with that, the random encounter is over.
I don't want to roll anything to see if the party wakes up, but next time I might.

I don't really feel like you need another RE on the way to you destination, but there is still room for random botched survival rolls. So with that, let's see what the next 3 days hold.
Day2: Krom, Blanche and Aya find some food.
Day3: Aya gets a nat1, notices nothing for now as well. Krom and Semli find some food.
Day4: Krom, please, stop picking food up off the ground, you don't know where that has been. Cade also finds some food.
So in total, that's 3 rations eaten over 3 days for each of you, Krom foraged enough to only eat 2 of his rations, Aya, Cade, Blanche and Semli got 1/3 ration each from foraging.

Day5: 1/3 ration for breakfast. You finally make it to what is presumably the enemy encampment. A clearing near the northern edge of the forest, here lies a wooden fort. Made of pines like the forest it lays in, you cannot see what lays past it's 30ft high walls. There is a gate, guarded by 2 men with a slime next to them. You are currently in front of the fortress, still hidden behind the trees. The guards atop the walls have not seen you, 1 in each corner, and another 2 inbetween for each side.
Your actions, need any other info, etc.

To be honest I'm beginning to wonder if this particular interpretation of the "natural 1's warp the laws of physics" is entirely sound. For instance, if I have 6 ranks in Spot I rather doubt I'm going to go "Hurr durr I guess I better look for ambushes in those sunspots" for so long that I go blind for a day. So long as it's ultimately harmless I don't mind much, just throwing that out there though.

On-topic: "Well, I don' see much reason to try it before dark, unless I'm rather missing something. I figure they've some kinda gadget or whatnot that keeps the beasties under their thumb - methinks that'd be our prime goal, an' we'd have to make sure they don't make off with it. Knew I shoulda borrowed a spyglass before we left town..."

How far is the fort from the edge of the fortress?

It's just part of the fun of DnD. But yeah it's not permanent.

Maybe the nat1s are a little extreme. But then, we wouldn't have such moments like when you guys nearly died in the sand, very hilarious from my point of view. I may lower severity in some situations. You aren't going to fall into the center of a mountain if you flub a climb check on that. You'll fall, yes, but you won't be trapped within 5ft of stone with no air.

The edge of the forest, as in, between here and the plains, or the edge of the forest as in, between where you are standing and the fort, i.e., in the clearing here? It's about half a day to the plains and 60ft from where you are to the nearest fortress wall, depending on what you mean.