The local area has plenty of game and edible plant life, so finding food would be a DC 5 check. Since Mortar has five points in Survival I see no need for him to roll to find food on the trip from the city to the Shrine.
By the way, the boys put Krag's yak under an overhang of their roof and tethered to a tree along with a bucket of vegetables and a second bucket of water. Need that character approved please.
I feel ya Yo, I've NEVER rolled this bad in real life. I've had my fair share of natural 1's, and dropped weapons, but this thing is like a Vegas slot machine. Too many misses for me so I am goin to try Invisible Castle for a bit, see if my luck changes there a bit...
hopefully I don't die, that would really be a bummer, Ill just roll up a new character in that instance, and I doubt Elros will die, he might drop below 0 but I think it is unlikely he will die from this encounter.