A Light in the Darkness [closed]

[Dr._Bob]

A long night passes, with little conversation. Everyone is tired and perhaps a bit dispirited. They glance at Karzak ... now Evandur ... curiously, but he simply ignores the obvious questions and curls up under Si'rene's cloak.

Si'rene stands watch for most of the night, her bow and arrows close at hand. As she slips in and out of trance, she thinks about the events of the past several months and about her companions, old and new.

It would seem that many of us are not who we first appeared to be.

She thinks about Ginevra's/Katrin's uncanny ability to see in the dark with vision surpassing her own elven low-light vision. She also thinks about Tiriel's occasional surprising bursts of speed and jumping ability. She marvels at the drow's transformation from a wretched outcast to noble scion of Eilistraee. The lizardman, who still refuses to share his name, remains an enigma as well. She has no idea what to make of the telepathic lizard.

A strange bunch indeed ... One wonders what lies in our future.

Si'rene pulls a small bundle from her gear and unwraps the porcelain mask. I wonder what its significance is ...

[hr]
The dawn breaks clear and cold. There is a thin skin of ice on the riverbanks. Several flatboats lies drawn up on the near riverbank. Each could hold three horses or six people.

[blackfox]

Katrin

Katrin lies in her bedroll, staring up at the night sky and the almost-full moon. She glances over at-- Karzak? Evandur? Who is he, really? What is he? Is he Karzak reborn? Or is he someone completely different? How did it happen? With all the questions and doubts and worries running through her head, it takes a long time for Katrin to fall asleep.
_____________________________________________

When the morning comes, Katrin walks down to the boats with the rest of the group. "Tiriel, S'irene, how do you think we should split up on the boats? We'll probably have to make more than one trip over, with the number of horses we have."

[Spaz]

Yix

Yix wakes only to find himself rather famished, he quickly brings out his sack of provisions and begins merrily munching away. As the others ponder over how to go about the boats Yix takes advantage of the water and begins to shine his armor, occasionally stopping to admire himself in its reflection.

[Dark_Stalion]

Evendur

With the dawn Evendur rises. Litterally. As the sun crests the horizon his eyes snap open and he sits up, panting as though coming out of a nightmare. Sweat drips off his brow as his eyes gradually focus on his surroundings. He looks down at his hands, turning them over before bringing them up to his face to feel it. He seems to be a bit unsteady on his feet when he gets up onto them, but the unsteadyness doesn't last for long. wearing the cloak he used the previous night for a blanket. He finds the gnoll's belongings attached to it's horse and rumages arround. Seeming to not find what he wants, he looks to see if anyone else is awake...

[Dr._Bob]

Yix preens at the water's edge, seemingly unaffected by the chill. Is it your imagination, or does the tiny lizard seem a little bit larger than he did when you first encountered him in the Underdark?

[hr]
Evendur rises to his feet unsteadily. He pokes through the rubble, looking for something but doesn't find it. Eventually, he joins Yix at the edge of the river, wincing as he crosses the frozen rocks in his bare feet. He kneels by the water, clearing away a thin crust of ice so that he can see his face reflected in the water.

Even Si'rene has to admit that Evendur is a handsome specimen (for a human, she thinks to herself).

[hr]
It will take two people to pole each ferry across the river and back.

Si'rene suggests having the lizardman and Tiriel act as "ferrymen", shuttling the rest of the party and the mounts across the river. Si'rene volunteers to cross first and scout ahead.

It takes hours to make the multiple trips across the river ...



OOC: Please decide who crosses first, second, last, etc. Si'rene is already across the river (ferried by the lizardman and Tiriel, unless there are strong objections).

[kuja.girl]

Tiriel looks at the lizardman and shrugs. She's never done this before but she doesn't figure that it will be all that hard.
Remembering something she saw on one of her previous travles, she suggests that they tie a rope to the ferry and attach that rope to a couple of the horses so that if something happens, the ferry can be pulled back to shore/upstream.

[runehawk]

Lizardkin Druid

The night before...
The physical and emotional exhaustion of that day causes him to only hear snatches of the conversation as Tiriel peers into the fire talking. He only catches snatches of her mentioning something about a stranger mysteriously appearing.

A snore from him a short while later confirms Tiriel's suspicions as she sighs before wrapping her cloak about herself and settling beside the lizardman.

She is the first to awaken the next morning and scout extensively, thus discovering the barges and alerting the others to it.
---------------------------------------------------------------

As Tiriel stood beside him waiting for his response, he had been on one knee and examining the barges. He wordlessly looks into her eys and nods and will help her tie the rope on the boats.

He is more concerned on the rough looking land on the far bank and frowns at it as they ferry Si'rene across.

He says in a low voice to her: "No far"

The look of annoyance she flashes him is all the answer he gets. He leaves his pack and some of his cold weather clothing, now mended, on the other side before returning to ferry the remaining members.

~~~~~~
Earlier as the lizardman and the warrior had returned to fetch the others, the only response he had had for the newcomer was by walking right up to his face and then revealing his own face. Pulling his scarf and pushing his hood back, he had stared into the eyes of the human until with a deep inhaled breath, he growled with gritted teeth,
"you... are not known to me". The human had not flinched at the sight of the reptilian face in front of him and remained silent as the lizardman turned away.

Turning to tiriel who removed her now unnneeded restraining hand from his arm, Ssathiya stalked away, ignoring the stranger. The more observant party members like Trinark deduced that while the lizardman had not accepted the stranger but ignored him because he clearly did not see the close-mouthed stranger as a threat.

Yix who had been peering curiously at him, got a soft rub on his side by the druid's tail as he passed him. He had not glanced in Trinark's way but Tiriel nodded to the look of gratitude he shot her.

The rest led by Tiriel followed behind him to the water's edge where she had been the first to speak to him.

OOC: sorry busy with an A&E posting. Mainly an entry to tie up loose ends from the night and morning and interact with char.s.

[Dark_Stalion]

Evendur

Evendur, exiting from the water starts to shiver.

"I don't suppose anyone has any spare clothes," he says through chatterig teeth.

It is weird as he seems to have aged not at all in all the years. His body is still young and he has his life ahead of him.

Maybe she is not so harsh a mistress...

[blackfox]

Katrin

Katrin looks sympathetically at Evendur. "I'm sorry... I don't have any spare clothes, and I'm pretty sure nothing I wear would fit you anyways, but if I had any extra clothes, I'd give them to you." She turns back to Tiriel and the boats. "I think we should go over with two horses and two people on each boat. One person holds the horses and the other poles the craft across. Unless you won't be able to get across with only one person ferrying?" She looks questioningly at Tiriel. "Anyways, I'll go over next, if no one else wants to."

[Spaz]

Yix


Yix walks over and holds out his now shiny armor for Evendur.

[kuja.girl]

Tiriel
"It would be safer if we only took one boat at a time since I don't think either of us has done this before."
She glances at the man huddled under his cloak,
"We'd better do something about him too. Hopefuly we'll run into a town where we can get him some clothes since I don't think any of us packed extras."

[Spaz]

Yix


Yix puts his offering down, as it is unaccepted. This only provokes him though as he gazes at Evendur and silently asks "Who are you?" He ***** his head to the side and waits for his answer.

[runehawk]

Lizardkin Druid

The druid stares silently at the ridge he last saw Si'rene disappear over.

He ferries Katrin across.

[Dr._Bob]

Yix's armor is of course too small for Evendur, but it was quite disappointing that the generous gesture went unacknowledged.

"Evendur" simply stares into the distance, lost in his own thoughts without answering any of his companions' questions.

It takes nearly the entire morning to ferry the entire party and equipment across, but soon enough the party is on the road again, led by Si'rene, who is content to scout ahead, just out of sight of the main party.

[hr]
Two days pass uneventfully. The snow remains unmelted on the ground, but the skies are clear and your furs are thick, so the cold is no hardship, even for the druid.

On the third morning, you are breaking camp when Si'rene points back the way you have come. A thin line of smoke is visible at the horizon.

"Other travelers perhaps?" the elf asks hopefully as she begins stringing her bow.

[Spaz]

Yix

Yix's head perks up at the mention of something other than the cold boring whiteness of snow. He was growing rather bored as he spent the past few days throwing snowballs at his fellow companions, and wondering where his lap goes when he stands up. He looks at the smoke with great interest and more than a passing fancy.

[Dr._Bob]

Gesturing to her shoulder, Si'rene invites the pseudodragon to hop on. "Shall we see what's going on?"

Si'rene wheels her horse around and trots back down the road with Yix.

The rest of the party continues to head East, pausing occasionally to look behind them.

[hr]

Si'rene and Yix catch up with the party an hour later, her horse's breath steaming in the chilly air. She wastes no time giving her report.

"A half dozen horsemen were breaking camp. They appear to be heavily armed, but I couldn't see exactly who they were.

"I don't think they saw me and Yix, but our trail is pretty obvious, so they clearly know that we are up ahead of them.

"I don't know whether they are following us or not, but we can probably keep ahead of them if we don't run into any more delays."

Trinark, squinting against the daylight, mumbles, "Or we could leave the road and wait until they pass ..."

[kuja.girl]

Tiriel
looks at the snow covered ground.
"Unless we find an area without snow, we'll be leaving a trail no matter where we go. I think we shoiuld press on until we know more or find a good spot to leave the road."

[Spaz]

Yix


Yix points at Tiriel and nods his head in agreement, then to demonstrate what she says is true he walks around the group in a circle, then points to his tracks.

[Dr._Bob]

You decide therefore to continue onward, but you can't help wondering who the horsemen behind you are.

This deep into the winter, you would not expect any casual travelers. In fact, the horsemen are the first living people you've encountered since leaving Telflamm.

Si'rene continues to keep a sharp elven eye out for them, and occasionally points them out when the terrain allows you a good view to the horizon. There is no question that they are following you, but whether because they are pursuing you or because this is simply the only road to the next town is unknown.

[hr]
Toward the end of the day, you come to an ancient stone bridge, slippery with snow and ice, that spans a dark river. The bridge is long and narrow, clearly designed for easy defense, though from which side is hard to say.

[runehawk]

Lizardkin Druid

The journey after the ferry crossing had been uneventful except for the playful antics of the little dragon. He had pelted a snowball at the druid who had seem stunned by the first hit.

With an unreadable expression, the reptilian had pulled his hood lower over his semi-masked face. The next snowball the cheeky pseudodragon sent his way found the pseudodragon squeaking and ducking as a green tail snaked out returning his shot.

With an evil gleam in his eye, Yix continued to play with the others but always took an opportunity to throw one at the druid whenever he thought the druid's guard was down.

The little amusement he had engaged in however had distracted him from detecting the horsemen and he explained with dismay to Tiriel and Trinark that he could not mask their tracks even with combined magical and mundane means. He looked at his own trackless steps and sighed.

He did give evandur dirty looks when the horsemen were mentioned from then on.

As they stood gathering their breath at the bridge, he squinted into the light trying to make out the horsemen.
Stretching his stiff muscles he thanked whatever spirits had chased the cold away that morning and waited to see what the others might say.
OOC:

OOC: I pass w/o trace and I could memorise a spell that can mask 3 but even with a very good survival check i doubt i could hide all the horses. Is evandur walking now bec. i remember the gnoll not having a horse?

[kuja.girl]

Tiriel
examines the bridge in the waning light. If the horsemen have bad intentions, this would be the place to find out.
"Let's cross the bridge, if there's trouble, we can bottle neck them at the otherside as they try to come off the bridge.

[Dr._Bob]

Everyone dismounts, including Evendur, who had been riding the extra horse (eschewed by the lizardman). One by one, you carefully lead your mounts over the icy bridge, their hooves scraping and sliding on the slippery stones.

The dark water rushes by underneath the bridge, flowing very rapidly due to the narrowness of the river at this point.

Once safely across, you turn back to look for the horsemen. After a short while, they appear over a small rise, halting there to regard you from perhaps a quarter mile away.

With the sun setting to their backs, they are silhouetted against the purple sky, making it hard for you to see their faces. In any case, they are as bundled up against the cold as you are, rendering them essentially anonymous.

They seem to be considering whether to approach or not. It seems unlikely that they could attack you across the length of the bridge. On the other hand, if you set out to the east again, it would be easy for them to overtake you on the open road.

[Spaz]

Yix

Yix points to the horsemans silhouettes and then points to his mouth. Yix then waltzes over to a convenient spots and sits down awaiting the horseman.

[Dr._Bob]

Unexpectedly, Evendur chuckles, his voice hoarse, as if from disuse. "It would appear that the little dragon has made up his mind. I only wish I knew whether he plans to eat them or talk to them!" The handsome, pale man's body convulses with laughter.

S'rene rolls her eyes. "I think I liked him better when he didn't talk," she mutters.

She tests her bow and sights in on the far end of the bridge, then loosens the arrows in her quiver and clears a spot on the ground of snow. Without further comment, she kneels down to wait.

A wind rises, blowing snow crystals into the air, which sting your face.

[hr]
The horsemen come no closer. In fact they seem to get a bit agitated as they stare at you from their vantage point.

They seem to be pointing at you and shouting, though the wind, which is strengthening, seems to be sweeping their words away so that you can not make out what they are saying.

The lizardkin druid growls. There is something unnatural afoot ...

[blackfox]

Katrin

Katrin glares supiciously at the horsemen, trying to catch their words. At the same time, she looks for a sheltered hiding place, preferably one with shadow. She lets her horse's reins fall to the ground, allowing the animal to graze off what little green matter might stick up above the snow.

[runehawk]

Lizardkin Druid

The wrongness of the situation came at him. A churning in his lower gut. Closing his eyes he tries to attune himself to what is happening around him.

The reaction of the horsemen, the 'feel' around only lead him to one conclusion.

The danger was HERE!

His eyes snap open!

"Back, Back"
He roars suddenly startling those around him. He waves them back towards the horsemen, across the bridge.

The spines on his back and neck all stood erect and he hoped the pack leader (Tiriel) would see the alarm in his eyes and lead them in a gallop back to the bridge.

He would hold off the unknown danger for as long as he could.

This was his pack.

HIS pack.

Hunter. Druid. Lizardkin. Survivor of the deep earth.

Whatever threatened them would face the full ferocity of that culmination.

OOC: DR let me know what rolls to make ... OR go ahead and make them for me. My motive would be to make the relevant skill checks or cast spells that will perceive the threat.

[Dr._Bob]

The horses whinny in alarm. As Katrin turns around, she is startled to see a new threat approaching from behind the party.

The lizardkin druid seems to have almost presciently sensed the danger and is already urging everyone to run back across the icy bridge, even though it will take you closer to the horsemen.

Icy clouds of mist roll towards the party from a copse of evergreen trees. The mist obscures vision somewhat, but you can make out several serpentine heads writhing within the mist.

The creatures seem to be approaching at a deliberate pace, having pinned the party against the bridge ...

"Behind us!" Katrin calls out to warn the others.



OOC: The bridge is narrow and icy. Movement at any speed faster than 10' will require a DC 20 balance check. Failure will trigger a DC 15 reflex save. If the save fails, you fall off the bridge into the river.

[kuja.girl]

ooc: I guess the builders of the bridge forgot the guard rails.

[Dr._Bob]

The bridge is narrow with very low (knee high) guard rails. Under normal conditions, it would be easy to cross the bridge double file, but in the winter, the stones are very icy and the bridge is therefore dangerous to cross.

You could walk over carefully without needing to make checks, but running back over it could be dangerous.

[hr]
In the distance, the horsemen keep shouting and pointing, obviously trying to warn you about the ice serpents. They seem to be arguing amongst themselves whether or not to get involved.

[Spaz]

Yix

Yix runs as fast as he can towards the bridge, at the last second he leaps into the air hopefully sliding his way across most of the icy bridge. He then picks himself up and runs next to the guard rail the rest of the way.

((This is under the assumption that since Yix is about knee high the guard rail is about as tall as he is))