Round 48

The scene becomes no less grim as you search. Kiera, Torkai, Cilene and Coignar take the perimeter, blending in and watching for signs of danger between their searching. Durgrin, Ruhidr and Kellin head straight in to the center.

After a few minutes of searching, everyone finds roughly the same things. Dead men from your party lie scattered about, obviously surprised. Some have weapons in hand, others died without fighting. The causes of death are fairly typical from what you can see. Rent armor, smashed helmets, etc. Kellin mentions that he doesn't see anything magical laying about. The only thing that is strange, is that you don't see any dead enemies amongst them, despite the fact that the Engothians obviously managed to put up some fight.

A few minutes in to the search, the group is startled to hear Ruhidr let out a dwarven oath. Everyone heads over to him to see what caused the outburst, finding him standing over four dead Knights, recognizable as Lieutenant Tomsad and apparently three of his Knights of the Sword, where they were apparently fighting back-to-back. Ruhidr points at one of the Knights of the Sword. "We've got problems lads. Look closely."

Everyone leans in, and gasps in surprise. One of the Knights of the Sword looks exactly like one of the others. The two dead bodies are almost a mirror image of each other. "There were only three Knights fighting here." He points to the mirror-image body. "That one is a Sivak."

"We've got Draconians. That's why there aren't any enemy bodies to be seen." He kneels down and picks up a pile of dust off the ground. "Baaz. When you kill them they turn to stone, then crumble to dust a short time later. If you're not quick your weapon can get stuck in them too. Baaz are disorganized footsoldiers. The Sivak there was probably a leader. When you kill one, they take on a death-shape and look like their killer for a few days, before they crumble too."

Looking around now, you can clearly see piles of dust all throughout the encampment, particularly around where Lieutenant Tomsad and his Knights died, where the dust is so thick the piles mend together in a ring. They put up quite a fight.

Kiera speaks up, never taking her eyes off the dead Knights. "We have to move, and fast. It looked like some horses may have taken off running up the road in the direction we need to go, but they're too far away to rely on finding, so we'll have to walk. Whatever killed this group can't be more then a few hours away, it's not safe for us to be here another minute. Judging by the tracks, they headed off in to the woods and not up the road, which means we might still be able to make the castle. Let's wrap this up and move." She looks around, waiting for everyone to finish whatever they need to do. The sense of urgency in the air is nearly palpable.