[3.5] Crepuscular - IC

[Saskia]

How sweet. They must be lovers.

Anna spends her watch meticulously cutting silver coins from her pack. It's tough work, and Anna's hands, unaccustomed to labor as they are, cramped and sore by the end but she did say she'd take care of the injuries. She hadn't even discussed payment. At her casting potential, the spells required would run three hundred gold, plus materials costs of an additional fifty gold on the open market. That damn altruistic instinct. Her abbess always said it would get the better of her, and here she is turning a profit of three hundred gold into a loss of fifty.

It's no matter. Harrowing the enemy is worth a loss of a few coins, especially when the enemy is this vicious, and it never hurts to have somebody in your debt. What she doesn't realize is just how little ten pounds of silver looks like when it's chopped into fine shavings.

She prepares her magic in silent, prayerful meditation at sunrise, followed by splitting the silver shards into two discrete cloth sachets for her spells: One to bless the water for the consecration, and one for the consecration itself, so she can hopefully heal their wounds.

Slowly, thoughtfully, she holds aloft her waterskin, carefully turning pages in her holy books as she reads through the ritual magic to turn the water from simple, potable water into essence of divine power.

The first of her spells done, she casts the water and silver around the camp site and intones her second spell, bathing the area around the campsite in divine energy in the hopes that now, normal healing magic will be sufficient.

Spoiler

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Shaving/cutting up silver coins to make the components for bless water and consecrate so she can cast consecrate, then (2d8)[12] from her healing belt for one of them, and then if it works, for the other (2d8)[9]!

Unless somebody else wants to expend some healing spells, of course

Also, I updated Anna's prepared spell list on the character sheet.

[Ghostfoot]

Natali snorted quietly to herself as the newcomers settled down to rest and the remainder of her group roused for the day. All well and good to care for a couple of escaped victims, but she was more worried about hunting parties or others that might be nearby searching for them. At the back of her mind however, she was thankful that Anna was stepping in to offer aid where she had not. The two poor folk were very fortunate indeed.

She had a small mouthful of dried rations before beginning to strap her armour on, just in case. Gesturing for one of the others to assist with the buckles and fastenings for her heavy plate she stared at a moment at the hound snuffling about before speaking to the warriors nearby "What say we backtrack their trail for a bit while they rest? Make sure no-one was on their tail. Flush out any ambushers."

Spoiler: Eats

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I knocked off a days rations.

Knight Challenges remain unchanged.

[Esprit15]

Similar to before, Grit wakes and stares at the upper portion of his tent for several minutes, thinking about the events of the night and how to move forward. Sighing as no real solutions come to him, he gets up and begins practicing his forms again - blocks and parries, swipes and trusts, drilling footwork until it's second nature, all the while not speaking or so much as quietly grunting.

Wiping his brow on his tent as he breaks it down for storage, Grit listens to the others go about their mornings. "Could work. Would prevent potential trailers. We have other work, though. Let's not be too side tracked."

[Thundercracker]

Arelyn

Arelyn recast her daily invocations then looked around.


“So, do we take them with us or send them to the town?” she asked.

[Thundercracker]

Arelyn

“Okay, you guys decide that, I’m going to take a look around,” she added.

Arelyn flew low, away from where the escapees had come from, and the ln up into the air so she could get a view of any large encampments or settlements without giving away their position. Then she returned to near ground level before returning to camp.

[Esprit15]

”Thought the plan was to send them to town. They seemed in a rush.”

[Ghostfoot]

Arelyn seemed to have the recon sorted. That'd put paid to any lingering doubt that these two were acting as decoys or a distraction. She shrugged, what will be will be.

Natali focused on getting herself and her horse ready to decamp as the sorceress flitted about. As the two escapees woke her countenance softened slightly and she offered some small sign of compassion - directions to the nearby town and the instruction to be swift as if their lives relied on it.

Turning to the others her impatience was clear, and she mounted her horse. "Let's be off. If they're not here already they will be soon. Better we take the fight to them". She urged her warhorse forward, seeking a clear spot ahead, a ridge or similar, from where she could wait for the rest of the group while watching Arelyn's reconnaissance from afar.

[Cardea]

The party continues on. The morning light grows as you continue down the road, and the escapees of the town move groggily onto the cart with no objection, sleepily unaware of which direction you're head. Natali leads the group, walking ahead with her horse, while Anna takes a seat on the cart opposite to the guests. Arelyn flies high, taking into view the forest and its markings as the party gathers themselves up. The forest provides a clear view along the flat land of the forest floor, and in the distance there is a large clearing wherein sits a settlement, though smoke rises in a large plume above it. Grit takes foot again near the cart, his strong frame keeping pace as Sherry begins to move along the road. Heading down the road as a group, the the late summer season sun lighting the path up ahead as chill disappears. The path winds out throughout the day, with no one and no thing interrupting the group's stride. Hours pass by, much of the day passes by, until early afternoon arrives and a good two hundred, three hundred feet ahead, you can see the outlines of a few buildings between the trees. On the path, its hard to see the town, but it would make it hard to see you as well underneath the forest shade.

What do you do?

[Saskia]

Anna spends the ride chatting with the woman, trying to probe for what sorts of knowledge she might have and what trade she's engaged in, if any, and how she and her compatriot came to be pressed into the service of their assailants.

The sense of others looking at something draws Anna's attention from her interlocutor, and she sees the buildings as well. "Well, civilization beckons. Let's take a short rest here a few minutes, the I'd like to reconnoiter the town ahead of waltzing into an ambush. We can't assume we're unknown to the enemy anymore."

Spoiler

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Casting clairaudience/clairvoyance for the clairvoyance aspect (range 640 feet, duration six minutes), trying to place the sensor as close to an open door or window as possible, so she can see into a building while still being able to see what's going on in the street. Looking in particular for anyone who looks like they're itching for a fight. She's expecting that the slavers know we're after them now, and she's expecting trouble here.

If it's just the tops of buildings we can see, then she'll just pop the sensor above the street to see as much of the town as she can from above.

[Esprit15]

Grit nods at the suggestion and takes a seat on a nearby rock, keeping his ears perked for sound in the forest, and still paying attention to the smells on the wind.

Spoiler

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Listen: (1d20+11)[25]

Scent, however we ruled that before

[Thundercracker]

Arelyn rejoined the group and waited with the others for the result of the magical spying.

[Ghostfoot]

Natali

Natali pauses with the rest of the group, reigning her horse to a halt. "Makes sense," she says to Anna at the suggestion to reconnoiter "Let's find out where to hit them hardest".

[Cardea]

Spoiler: Clairvoyance

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The sensory is placed near the open window to a large building near the entrance to the town, which you can now see is an Inn of some kind. Looking above you, you see a wooden sign advertising the Second Draft, the image of two horses pulling a mug of beer carved neatly on its wooden face. Looking down the road of the town, you can see... wolves. A large one, its fur speckled with ash and blood, stalks quietly through the town, as you see it move silently from between two houses, moving past the connected Inn stables, out of view. You see scorch marks on the street as well. Across the street is a home, whose door is pressed shut, and you can hear gentle wheezing coming from behind it. But inside the window, you see several people huddled, scared. On one of the tavern tables, you see a body, still, unmoving, covered in a white sheet. Men and women and children huddle low to the wall, out of view from the rising sunlight beams that slowly fill the main room. Some folk are weakly clutching onto a pair of crossbows, standing on a staircase, pointing it at the doorway, while you see the eyes of a few nervous fellows dart up every now and then past a raised table. Total, you count twelve people in all. Thirteen, if you count the body on the table.

Spoiler: Scent

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Dried, burnt wood. Charred meat. Grass. Earth. Dryness. Stillness. Blood upon bones, and blood in the veins like one feels when the adrenaline in their body spikes. The smells here are a mixture of violence. Glass, freshly made.

Wolves.

Fear.

[Saskia]

Anna's expression turns vacant as her senses leave her body. She whispers, knowing that her voice can't likely be heard by anyone or anything she sees, but still her instinct is to remain unnoticed. Clairvoyance is a strange sensation.

"I'm at a tavern. The Second Draft, signage shows a pair of horses pulling a beer flagon like it was a plow. It's close to the town's edge.

"I see wolves. One of them, the largest, I think, it's flecked with ash and blood. There's been a fight, and this wolf took part. It's... It's patrolling, I think. It may be intelligent. A werewolf, maybe? No, too much restraint, too much patience. Something else. It's gone behind the tavern stables now, I can't see it.

"Ah, the street has... Are those scorch marks? It looks as if a flaming corpse or the like has been raked over the ground. Across from the tavern, there's a house shut tight, but there are heaving breaths from within. Perhaps injured militia, or maybe somebody having breathing difficulty after the fire. There are several people inside, huddled together in fear.

Inside the tavern I see, I think, a corpse? It's covered in white linen on a table. The survivors inside, it appears two of them have crossbows trained on the door. The rest are... The rest are huddled against the wall or against tables upturned to makeshift mantlets, trying to remain out of sight."

Anna shakes her head. "A dozen warm bodies. They look exhausted, this must have been going on all night. None of the windows are barred or boarded, so the attack must have taken them by surprise." She turns her head as if to look around at the assembled, but her vision remains firmly locked to the sensor, giving her an odd feeling of vertigo. She closes her eyes as a reflex, but it doesn't help, and she sways uneasily. "I can't move, but I have a few minutes of this. Any questions, or suggestions before I dismiss the effect?"

[Thundercracker]

Arelyn

“That’s really odd,” Arelyn said, “stick with the spell, maybe you’ll see something else and if they’ve been there all night another few minutes shouldn’t hurt.”

[Esprit15]

"Sounds about right," Grit says, taking a deep breath in. One of the scents didn't line up though. "Is there a gaffer or similar within sight?"

[rypt]

As the party considers the unique perspective afforded them by Anna's magic, a gentle rustling can be heard beyond the trees at their back. Two large bushes are parted, and through the gap between them, crouched low, emerges a small mountain of a shifter. Thick, fur-like hair covers his head, his arms and half of his face. His clawed hands are empty, his feet are bare, and what little armor he wears appears to be woven from the leaves of the forest.

"Greetings, travelers." His voice is deep and gravelly, but also calm and steady. Pleasant in its own way. "Please excuse my intrusion, but you are traveling with a friend of mine."

Mismatched eyes of brown and grey turn to the woman accompanying the party. "Svila," the shifter says with a gentle nod. "I am glad to see that you are safe. I have been watching from the woods for the past few days, but there was little I could do on my own."

He pauses for a moment as he looks over the others. "My name is Gravik, and it is my hope that we are here for the same reason -- to make free this village and its people."

[Thundercracker]

Arelyn looked back and forth, confusion on her face.

[Saskia]

Anna continues to rotate the sensor to keep abreast of any movement. "Gaffer? Well, I do see windows, so probably. Why do you ask?" It might be rude to ignore the newcomer, but her magic only lasts so long.

[Esprit15]

”I smell fresh glass. This either happened recently, or something else suddenly made a lot of glass very quickly.” Grit similarly only makes a half wave at the newcomer. They were clearly working on something, it was somewhat oblivious to come in babbling about being a passive observer to someone else’s tragedy. “Do you think a spell could have done that?”

[Saskia]

Glass... has a smell? Interesting. "As a byproduct, absolutely. Lightning strikes and intense flames can leave behind glass-like structures called fulgurites; they're simple earth or sand that have been vitrified by a massive and rapid influx of heat."

Anna stops herself before boring anyone. "Magically-conjured fire and lightning don't often reach the necessary temperatures, but with a magus of sufficient power they can. I'd be unsurprised if we were dealing with a magus of some considerable power. That seems the most likely explanation for the glass smell, the ash, and the scorch marks. Whoever they are, I'll keep an eye out and focus on keeping them checked. We can't assume they've run out of spells, or that they haven't had time to rest and restore themselves."

[Ghostfoot]

Natali

Natali turns to give her full attention to the newcomer that has caught them unawares, a shifter. Naturally suspicious of anyone in the area given the events she moves to place herself and her horse between him and the distracted wizards. "Gravik. I am Natali. Are you from this village? What can you tell us of the goings-on here? And how have you kept safe these past days?"

Spoiler: info & rolls

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Sense motive FWIW (1d20+5)[23]

Also I updated our party roster here for anyone interested.

[rypt]

"Mm, no, not quite," Gravik rumbles in response to Natali's first question. "I make my home in the forest, as I have for over a decade. But the people of the village have been kind to me, and I have tried to be kind in turn."

At her second question, the shifter's brow furrows in frustration. "I wish I knew more, but I returned from the deep wood only four days ago. I found the village occupied by men who wore great armor and carried strange weapons. They had made prisoners not only of the villagers, but of a group of bandits as well. They seemed to be searching for someone or something. Whatever it was, I think they found it. Most, if not all, left by wagon late last night and have yet to return."

Gravik glances to Svila before answering the knight's final question. "These men had little interest in what lay beyond the edge of the village. But as I said, I have made this forest my home for many years. They would not have found me even had they tried."

Spoiler: OOC

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No bluffs here.

[Zergh]

Whurrak had been silent for a long while, rummaging through his thoughts about this new appointment and quietly praying to his God all the same. He saw Natali taking lead of a group and didn’t want to intervene in any decision regarding two escapees, to make a better judgment of group characters. They didn’t disappoint in any way and made a good impression on him, so he adhered to his God’s motto and stayed placid.

When they arrived at forest canopy, and the group started to make preparations and scouting, he was surprised by a man coming out of the bush. “Should’ve prepared myself already…”. Losing no time, he muttered under his breath word “Steelskin”.

Sack on his horse went empty, and pieces of armor started to take their rightful place on his body. In a matter of seconds he was in his cosy, heavy (even by dwarven standards) and protective shell. Intricate Dwarven runes marked most of armor segments, while the color of the armor was somewhat darker than the usual steel. A prominent mark of his God was nowhere to be found, but there were depictions, processed into the steel plates, of the battle between dwarf and illithid and also of a dwarf smashing giant’s skull. Upon his head stood half-opened helmet, with beard protruding from the underside.

His silver gaze, glowing intensively though his slit visor darted towards the newcomer. “Now we can talk. Great armor and strange weapons you say? Well, let’s see if those gentlemen are in for the inspection of merchandise quality. Bandits are still in the town? Free, bound or roaming?”

Whurrak was intrigued by the wolf that was mentioned, behaving somewhat intelligently. “Perhaps some damned druid or his companion? he asked into the wind, asking no one specifically.

[Thundercracker]

Arelyn

"Let's free the villagers, maybe they'll know more," Arelyn chimed in.

"Also, nice to meet you," she added, looking at the newcomer.

[rypt]

"I did not see them leave," Gravik says to the dwarf's question, "but nor did I see them roaming through the streets. They might be hiding -- either frightened of the return of the armored folk, or lying in wait for people like us."

The shifter returns Arelyn's introduction with a grunt and a nod. "You as well."

[Esprit15]

Hm, possible electrical magic... Grit shifts his stance, some joints cracking as he stands more upright and tall at his full, to-most imposing height.

Spoiler

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Shift from Hunter's Stance to Storm's Blessing. Grit loses Scent and gains Electric Resistance 10.

"Noted. The intelligent wolf implies that danger is still here. The smell of glass suggests a possible mage. We should proceed in with caution. If anyone has better ideas, speak up now. Otherwise, move." The half blood gives a brief look of "This is the plan, now" and begins leading the way into the town, ears sharp and hand on hilt.

Spoiler

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I guess continued listen checks to stay alert for ambushes? (1d20+11)[13]

[Zergh]

As Grit advised to move further, Whurrak asked orc for permission to improve his imposing blade.

Spoiler

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Cast keen weapon on Grit falchion. (crit chance from 15-20, lasts 1 hour)

Little flash of light went from hilt to the top of the blade, along its rim. "Careful with that edge now, it'll cut through the bone, flesh and sinew more easily."

[Ghostfoot]

Natali

With a nod of agreement the knight wheels her mount about and trots along next to Grit. She readies the glaive in her hands as she does.

Spoiler: rolls & info

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Guess we're not for sneaking about. Anyone going to take the cart in with us?

Spot (1d20)[15]
Listen (1d20)[14]

Hose has scent

[Cardea]

Approaching the village, all seems quiet. The crunching of grass in the early morning is paired only with the breathing of your group. And soon the crunching of grass gives way to boots on dirt, and all is still quiet. Staring down the main road of the village, the Second Draft is immediately to your left, and the house on the opposite side to it across the road, and from behind you can hear strained breathing. Down the road there are other small trades buildings. The stone makeup of a forge, a sawmill even further down at the bank of a small river. And beside it all, small homes and pathways and alleyways.

Up close now, you can smell that scent of glass, as well as iron.