Indosira: A Bold Beginning

[jng2058]

Dacin

Dacin's silent chuckle echoed in Worm's ears, "Only if you come back from the cave alive. I'm not delving in there just to deliver a handful of coins to your corpse. Think of it as incentive to come back with the same number of limbs as you left with. Also, do remind the good prince...that's Theron, by the way...that I can still hear faint voices and shuffling in the cave so there's probably something within a hundred feet or less of the entrance that will likely notice him as soon as he enters. Just a word to the wise."

[TheGreatJabu]

Ahua of Chamahez

Theron turns to face the halfling at this point.

"You know your way around a wound and I'd feel better if you were here, ready for trouble. If we come out bloody I'll be looking to you to fix it."

Ahua nods emphatically to the suggestion. Without another word or gesture, he strolls away from Theron and over to the body of the woman and begins tugging at it. He arranges the body to be lying on its back, pointing westward, with her arms reaching out wide as if to embrace the sky above her. He then kneels down behind where her head is laying and begins to softly chant some low, rhythmic affair in the tongue of his people with an occasional shake of his spear, pointed in the direction of the western horizon.

[Valairn]

Shalana

Shalana responds to Theron, "I will do a quick search for anything important, but otherwise I'm going to join Dacin as you have asked."

Shalana begins her search at Tesori, gently pulling the weapon from his throat before resting him on the ground, she searches his body, and then crosses his arms together before closing his eyes. She the examines the surrounding area for anything he may have left behind.

After she has completed her search, Shalana begins to move towards the cave, looking for Dacin.

Spoiler

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Search: (1d20+3)[18]

[DoNotFearToTread]

Worm & Raite

As the others move off to tend to their chosen business, Theron takes up the freshly lit lantern and turns to look down the apprentice. He gives a nod and then holds the lamp out towards her. "Agreed, but you have to carry the light." As he turns back to his pack to prepare a few other odds and ends...

Shalana & Ahua

Each of you begin to labor over your chosen corpse, intent on searching or adjusting as you will. Disturbing the bodies, however, causes a barely audible popping sound. A strong smell easily associated with pitch or lamp oil is the only warning you recieve, but it appears to be enough. Moving mostly by instinct, you each drop what you're holding and bring you arms up to shield your face, diving away from the source of the sound.

All

...a sudden *whoosh* of air accompanies the flames that erupt around the bodies. Small slivers of glass pepper the area nearby as globs of flaming oil steam around the corpses. Shalana and Ahua manage to avoid the main blasts, landing in the snow as steam billows up around them. The fires burn fiercely for nearly 10 seconds, kicking up billowing steam as it does, but the blazes fade of their own accord until they are gone. The bodies have suffered notable damage, burned well beyond recognition but largely intact. The halfling and the princess fare better, the redness on their hands and arms all they have to remember the event.

Theron, having dropped his pack at the disturbance, picks a shard of glass off his sleeve and snatches up the healer's kit from among the pack's spilled contents at his feet. His steps are cautious as they carry him towards the center of the clearing.

( 2 damage to Ahua, 3 to Shalana. )

[jng2058]

Dacin

Dacin took in the bursts of flame for a fraction of a second, then snapped his crossbow up into a firing position aimed at the cave mouth.

If the things in the cave are connected with the "nightgaunt", now's when they'll charge. Better make sure they get a proper welcome...

Spoiler

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Dacin is holding an action for the next few "rounds". First thing out of the cave that isn't one of Tesori's kids eats a crossbow bolt.

[Valairn]

Shalana

The sudden burst of flame shocked Shalan right to her core. It was trapped! What sort of thing, would trap the bodies of the dead? After checking herself to make sure she was alright, Shalana spit on the ground, and cursed. Picking herself up she stalked off to find Dacin.

[slapdash]

"I think it's might be them other creatures, I mean they lived in the caves and all - " she begins to respond to Dacin before first Theron and then the explosions interrupt her, and she drops into a crouch, staring wide-eyed in the direction of the blast.

Keeping the lantern clasped tightly in her hands, she looks at Shalana and the halfling, and seeing that they both seemed fine, she lets out an inappropriate snort of laughter which she instantly stifles with a hand.

"Whoever this nightgaunt and all is, they're pretty clever," she muses, standing up slowly and dusting off her thick winter clothing. "Ahua! Princess! Are you alright?" Worm raises an eyebrow and watches Shalana curiously as she heads in the direction of the cave, apparently not interested in Theron's assistance.

[TheGreatJabu]

Ahua of Chamahez

Right as he was beginning to kneel, the faint smell of burning flesh was all that warned Ahua of the impending danger. He quickly fell backwards as the flames burst forth, singing his arms as he tumbled over onto the cold ground. When his senses stop their screaming, he sits back up and brushes himself off. His arms throb, and he rubs a bit of snow onto them to ease the pain.

When Ahua hears Worm call out, he glances over at her and at the warrior-woman Shalana. He sees that she seemed to have suffered a similar fate as he, and also escaped major injury. "Unkind gift," he comments. "For a moment, Ahua believed this to be strange Large-World death ritual of which Ahua was ignorant. The surprise of Warrior Shalana makes Ahua think otherwise."

Ahua did nothing to smother any remaining flames on the corpse. He took a step back and continued the interrupted funeral rites.

[Rachel Lorelei]

Prince Darien

Dammit, Ther', you're the bloody heir--at best. Don't risk yourself.

The younger prince keeps his bow trained on the cave, glancing over to the side briefly when the flames erupt.
"Have them come to you, Ther--could be more traps," he calls, trying to pitch his voice so that it reaches his brother but not the cave.

"Get ready. If I was whatever's in there, I'd come out right around now," he says, drawing his bowstring taut, arrow aimed at the cave. "And get ready to run. It chases one of us, the rest can pincushion it."

[ajw79]

Raite

Raite follows Theron out into the clearing, his sword held at the ready in case anything issues from the cave.

[DoNotFearToTread]

Theron, seeing that neither of the two were injured enough to stop their chosen activities, turns back and retrieves his pack. After waiting for near a minute he motions for Worm and Raite to accompany him towards the cave. The others can see them enter and disappear around a bend, their light fading from view shortly after.

Worm & Raite

Spoiler

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The cave is as dark and cold as you remember it. It twists slowly right, then left again and the sounds get louder as you advance. You can make them out more clearly now, the voices of those creatures that Zesh had called the White Eyes. They go silent and the skittering of footsteps fades in what seems like every direction. Theron motions for Raite to walk beside him, with Worm carrying the light at their backs. His voice is barely a whisper as you step into your positions.

"Eyes open and mouths closed. If they don't bother us we don't need to bother them." As you continue you come to a familiar intersection. Bones litter this area, as do scraps of cloth and broken weapons. Atleast a half dozen bodies here are fresh, clearly not casualties of the battle you were witness to. Theron studies the scene for a moment, seemingly looking for something, then moves on. Stones skip down along the walls to your right and a few quick steps sound off from the corridor to your left.

Each of you can spot the creatures with little difficulty as they seem to make no effort to conceal themselves. Eyes peer out at you as you follow the path, maybe eight in total, as the beasts stay crouched among rocks or around corners. They make no move as you pass, content to simply watch you go. There is a faint smell of rot in the air here, not overwhelming but distinctly present. Theron motions you forward and you soon arrive at the room where you met Zesh. Several bodies lie in the cages here, small holes indicating the scenario of their deaths. Someone stood outside the bars and filled the captive kobolds with arrows, opening the cages to retrieve their ammunition before moving on.

The small hole in the end of the tunnel that leads to the gate seems particularly ominous now. Ducking through it brings you to something utterly macabre. A creature, near five feet tall, lays sprawled out in the tunnel. It's skin is mottled black and its limbs stretch three times the length that they should. Vicious claws tip its three fingers and its face is something akin to a skull that's been pushed in and made narrow. It's dead, numerous slash wounds dotting it's body, but that doesn't make it any less horrific. Theron eases around it and urges you to do the same.

The slight incline down to the portal is easy to navigate, and as you all stand before it that same sense of wonder settles over you. The colors ripple about the center as before, each blending into another before resurfacing again somewhere else. It casts off a soft hum now, where before it was silent, and your skin seems to crawl a bit as you draw near it. There is a smell in the chamber, an odd uncomfortable smell that settles on your tongue as bitterness. Worm begins to notice something different as she devotes her attention to it. A feeling, a sensation of sorts, that she'd become familiar with in her time at the castle. Magic...not the uncontrolled chaotic magic that the portal itself gave off, but deliberately crafted magic. Someone has cast a spell on the portal.

Worm Spellcraft: 14 + 10 = 24

Dacin. Shalana. Darien & Ahua

Spoiler

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Minutes pass after the trio disappear into the cave. Only the wind through the trees and Ahua's ritual accompanies your vigil over the area. It is that silence, that feeling of solitude which makes the voice that rises up from back along the trail towards town nothing less than suprising.

"No, no, no...right! Go right, you buffoon!" The creaking of wheels accompanies the sound as it draws slowly nearer. "Two hours late and you're stopping to rest? I'd have been better off using a mule for this! If your mother wasn't such a close, personal friend..." The rant continues, and meets no response from whoever it might be directed at.

[Valairn]

Shalana

Shalana looks over to Darien when she hears the voices, "Should one of us go check it out?"

[jng2058]

Dacin

Dacin swore under his breath, then reluctantly broke cover to move over next to Shalana. He leaned in close and whispered into her ear, hoping along the way that Worm's magic had held up, "There's some kind of wagon coming. I'll sneak over and look it over. Keep the cave mouth covered in case something comes out, if you please."

So saying, he sneaked off in the direction of the noises, taking care to stay under cover as much as possible, and moving slowly to minimize the noise.

The initial shock of seeing Elia's murdered corpse had faded over the minutes of watching the cave mouth, and now the cold hard mathematics of survival had returned to the front of Dacin's mind. Damn, this is stupid. We should have hit the road as soon as we saw the smoke. The chances of our being able to fight whatever killed Tesori are vanishingly small. Distance and evasion are our best friends, not combat. And then taking our two best blades into the cave and leaving the rest of us out here? Crap, no wonder Auldaria fell, if this is the kind of military leadership we can expect.

He thought back to the interminable lectures that he and the other pages had been forced to attend with the goal of molding them into young gentlemen. Given the need for stealth, he managed to reign in his usual instinct to spit in disgust.

Still, he recalled the basic introduction to strategy and tactics given by old Lord Weatherby, a few months before the retired general had died of the hacking cough. What was that called? Concentration of forces, I think he said. A small force can beat a larger one if the small one brings everything to bear on only a part of the large force. Yeah, that was it. I wonder what Weatherby would have said about a small force faced with a larger one that splits up into even smaller ones? Nothing good, I'd wager. Damn it all!

Spoiler

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Hide - (1d20+6)[8]
Move Silently - (1d20+6)[21]
Spot - (1d20+2)[12]
Listen - (1d20+2)[6]

[Valairn]

Shalana

After Dacing leaves, Shalana fiddles with her positioning a little. Looking at Darien she says again, "He's just as impulsive as I am. Do you want me to go back him up?"

[slapdash]

Worm's face scrunches up into a familiar expression of deep contemplation, and she approaches the portal slowly, maintaining a distance of several feet.

"Whoever they was, they cast a spell here," she says softly, adding: "Here as'n on the portal, that is. Dunno if I can figure out what it is, but could be it's there to keep us from goin' back through."

[Rachel Lorelei]

Prince Darien

Darien bites his lip, fiddling with an arrow--he keeps his bow pointed in the right direction, but the arrow isn't nocked anymore. He's been fidgeting more and more as minutes pass without the re-emergence of his brother and the others.
"...no. He's not going to endanger himself, and it's not far. I'll need you here if something comes out."
A twitch of his head indicates the cave, simultaneously shifting his bangs out of the upper corner of his vision.
Damn, it's getting too long. I'll need a haircut soon.