Auromar, IC 2

[Lochar]

There are three dim conjuration spells that linger tied to the blood splatter. They don't seem to be fading yet, which considering the time you fought would set the original spell as at least a moderate level magic spell, more likely even stronger than that. There is also another dim conjuration, that fades as you watch it, probably the result of a short range teleportation spell having been used.

Nothing appears to your invisibility purge.

[GimliFett]

Grazys Senneker

The binder quickly summons and forges a pact with Andras, finishing much quicker than usual. Grazys looks at the bloody messes, including his friends, and chuckles lightly. "Sorry. Did I miss anything?"

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid quickly heals himself further as the fly zips him back to the camp site. Mercifully, he misses hearing Grazys' question.

Spoiler

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Cure light wounds (1d8+5)[8]

Once near enough the others to speak softly and be heard, Reid reports what he found about 600' away.

It's nasty - a fourth blood mark out there. That was a very powerful conjuration - or conjurations - that brought the hounds in, and it's been augmented with blood magic. Nasty stuff. There was also a whiff of a teleportation, so my guess is that whatever summoned these things - and I'm guessing that it's our elf friend again - just took off again.

Perhaps, tomorrow, we can turn the tables on him. I carry with me the tools for scrying. With some luck, we might be able to look in on HIM.

Oh, ah, who needs healing? Hist, that looks a bit nasty.

[Moral Wiz]

Hist

Certainly; thank you Reid.

Hist smiles grimly, still clutching his wounds from the hound.

And if we do scry on him, would you know, roughly, where he was? I'm a little worried if he is on our tail.

[Toliudar]

Reid

The young priest bends to examine Hist's wounds. He chants a quick prayer of health and binding, and the worst of Hist's injuries knit themselves up. He takes a quick moment to check for infections.

How about you, Dothen. I know that you have some ability to address your own injuries. May I be of assistance?

As for the wizard's location - I'd hope that seeing his immediate surroundings would give us some clue as to where he currently was - whether he's just a few hundred yards away, or back in Eras.

Spoiler

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Hist gets (2d8+10)[24] back, and then a (1d20+11)[21] Heal check to make sure everything's okay.

[Greyen]

Dothen

Dothen looks back toward the other two for a moment from watching the perimeter. I'm a-ok Reid, that one couldn't get a paw aon me for a bit, and when it did it wasn't too bad.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid nodded at Dothen's words, smiling wryly at the memory of how easily the hound had "laid a paw" on him. Given the frequency of their night visitors, perhaps it was time for him to find a more protective garment.

Pressing his hand to his side, Reid murmured yet another prayer, grateful all over again for the bounty of Pelor's blessing.

So...what were those things? Grazys, you seemed to know something about them - shouted out about silver. And then you just sort of...drifted off there for a while. Are you all right?

[GimliFett]

Grazys Senneker

Grazys nods his head at Reid's words. "Yeth hounds. Nasty buggers from tha outer planes. Never seen 'em so big before, though." He pauses a moment. "I'm sorry 'bout checkin' out. I knew I wasn't gonna be able ta do nothin' ta them with Acererak bound. I had ta expel him an' bind somethin' a little more helpful. Andras," he says shrugging his shoulders. There seems to be an odd bulge under his cloak and armor; almost a hunchback. He chuckles ruefully as he nods toward his back. "Another bad pact, I'm afraid, though it hopefully won't affect much. Just need ta finish any battles we run inta quicker than this one. At least I'll be able ta help next time, though."

[Toliudar]

Reid

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Forgot to roll my Cure Light Wounds (1d8+5)[7]

Reid is already starting to fade as the excitement drains from his system.

Interesting. So this summoner can bring in powerful netherworldly creatures, and potentially make them even MORE powerful than usual. Swell.

And, Grazys, do I even want to know what this, ah, Andras does for you? Besides adding some support in behind?

[GimliFett]

Grazys Senneker

"Twitch did say the elf was a summoner. And he preferred fiend-like substances," Grazys offers with another shrug. With a nod toward his hunchback, he continues. "This? Just the sign. No worries. Vestigial wings. Andras'll make me a better rider, and a better hand-to-hander, too. I'll summon a heavy warhorse when we set out in the mornin', since I'll only have it for about half a day. Plus a coupla tricks like layin' a heavier smackdown an' makin' 'em smack each other. That was the goal anyway," he grins and shrugs once more.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid nods, still a bit uncertain what to make of all this binding business. It was all muddled in his head with the binding of fiends, and seemed so unsavoury. Yet, here Grazys was, smiling and genial as ever.

Right. That does sound well advised. Well, unless there's anything else, I'm going to try to get a bit more sleep.

After any further conversation among the four of them, he will indeed turn in.

Spoiler

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One more CMW (2d8+10)[14] and Reid should be in fine fettle again. Tomorrow he'll be swapping out Freedom of Movement to get Scrying. And crossing his fingers.

[Greyen]

Dothen

Dothen looks around one last time at his companions saying You know where I'll be. He then steps into the brush nearly faing into as he dissappears.

Spoiler

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Hide (1d20+25)[39]

Spot (1d20+10)[15]

[GimliFett]

Grazys Senneker

As Greyen disappears into the brush, Grazys holds up his hands in a resigned manner. "And once more, I'm left alone ta ponder tha mysteries of tha universe." Grazys chuckles to himself as he sits down next to his pack. He opens it up and looks inside. "Hey, Twitch," he whispers conspiratorially, "What'd yer buddy do? And why is he after us? There's more there than we're aware, I'm sure." Knowing no answer would be forthcoming for another week, the binder closes the pack and shakes his head. He leans forward and starts to draw intricate diagrams in the dirt, practicing and manipulating various vestige seals to try and discover new ones.

[Lochar]

The rest of the evening will pass quietly, without any further interruptions. Granted, you all probably need a bath and clothes need to be washed because of the blood from the night before.

The morning sun rises and the day greets you all.

[Greyen]

Dothen

As the night passed Dothen would have taken the time to round up the horses as best he could. He takes the time in the morning to round up the others if he can. After taking stock of any lost items from the nights fright fest he begins to clean his gear after making breakfast. He is quiet and withdrawn thinking about something. If asked he just grunts and carries on cleaning and mending his gear as he can.

When everyone is ready to leave he leads the way back to the road and towards the crossroads settlement.

[Moral Wiz]

Hist

The warlock deals with his bloodstained clothes as best as he can. Thankfully, his watch is about due, and he has time to get most of the blood away.

After that, he finishes off the dawn watch,keeping silence throughout, and makes ready to leave.

[GimliFett]

Grazys Senneker

Once everyone is up and prepared to leave, Grazys takes a moment to concentrate. After a long moment, a heavy warhorse appears, aready saddled and with a heavy lance resting in the stirrups.

He winks at the others and hops up onto the horse with a practiced ease Grazys had never before shown.

"We ready to go?" he asks the others with a broad smile as he takes the reins in his right hand and grasps the lance with his left.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid rises as early as ever, but with a bit more heaviness in his movements than usual. He smiles at the others readily enough as they go about their morning rituals. He settles cross-legged to pray for a time, meditating, and trying not to dwell overmuch on the challenge of the day.

Afterward, he encourages the others to join him as he sets up a small brass font on the ground. Carefully, he pours several crystal vials of holy water into the font and makes a long, complex series of gestures over it.

Show us the summoner, Hiran!

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Casting Scrying.

[Lochar]

As Reid casts his magic, he feels the blood that is still on his body and clothes, not fully cleaned off yet, get drawn into the spell as well.

The holy waters in the font seem to shimmer and stir themselves, and a cloudy image appears, before clearing.

The image of Hiran appears, and you see the mage lying in the tall grasses, sleeping still. Around him, you can see just the faint beginnings of new growth in the grasses.

The mage sleeps in neither tent nor sleeping bag, and as you watch, he rolls over. You all see very, very large gashes in both of his arms, wounds that look like they should be bleeding profusely, yet do not bleed at all, magic apparently holding in his life blood.

Careful observation reveals the same double helix spirals tattooed on his hand that is on Grazys as well.

The mage sleeps heavily.

Reid:

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Two things:
1: The blood from the hounds exploding on you got used as a component in the spell, more specifically the connection of a body part. Take that as you will.

2: If you cast detect magic, it will work through the font.

There are several auras around him from magical items, and an aura of malignant magics that seem to emanate from the spiral on him. He doesn't seem to currently have any active spells on himself.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Rapt in attention to the image in the font, Reid brings forward one of his simplest prayers, and is able to sense a range of auras on the elf. Not wanting to push his luck, he watches for a few more seconds, then breaks contact.

Well, that was...interesting. It seems that Hiran's own blood was used to help create those larger-than-usual hounds last night. That suggests that, if we gather up some of the remnants from those explosions, it will make it easier for us to scry him again in the future.

He begins carefully shifting the contents of the font back into the crystal bottles. He glances nervously at Grazys.

It also seems that his power is being fed by...by the one who we're not talking about for now. Grazys, I fear for you. I say this as a friend. The power that you are bound to frightens me very much. Did you...did you sense Hiran's proximity last night? He was several hundred feet off, so that may have been too far, I suppose.

I didn't see any particular identifying features around him. Did any of you notice anything? Clearly, he's not back on his way to Eras, and he's not in the forest. Which suggests that he may not have gone far.

I am somewhat drained today, thanks to the battle last night, but perhaps soon we can think of a way to discourage this spying on us, harrying us, that he seems intent upon.

As for the gashes on Hiran's limbs, held in check by magic - well, I'm not familiar with the necromancies required to hold the life force against such violations, but it's hardly a healthy thing.

As he speaks, he slowly packs the vials and font away, and finishes his preparations to leave. Still, he listens carefully to the wisdom of his companions.

[Greyen]

Dothen

Dothen watches Reid do his magics and then thinks about it for a while. He walks over to the camp area and looks down the direction the hounds came. He stops and looks around and shakes his head. Some days I wish O'l Walleye were around. That little halfling could treack a flea. Couldn't never tell if you was looking at the right eye when you were talking too him though, both eyes had minds of their own. Died under a horses hooves in one of the last charges of the Battle of Fontjoye. Oh well, lets go.

Dothen asks Reid as he mounts up So, that looking spell of your can you change how it is looking at someone? You know, so it can look at the horizons or what is behind him too? Or does it tell you anything about how far or direction?

[Moral Wiz]

Hist

Hmm...

Hist comes over as Reid works his scrying spell, and looks into the water before he breaks contact.

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Can Hist see into the scrying? If so, that'll determine what he does next.

[Lochar]

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Yeah, anyone can see into the scrying pool.

[Moral Wiz]

Hist

the warlock doesn't flinch as he sees the elf

So, there you are, enemy.

As the pool drops, Hist turns away.

Some live grass. Either there's another section of life here we don't know about... or he's run back towards the forest.

He's certainly a servant of the.... Oh this is utterly ridiculous. We can't keep dodging the Whore-son's name like this. Let's call him the Scholar.

Anyway, why did he flee back towards the forest? If he is serving the Scholar, surely he'd want to continue, locate more of Pygas' power. Why go back?

Ho hum. Questions for another time. Anyway, we last saw live grass.... some time back. Just after we left the forest. Just a few miles out. He can't be far from it.

Or he could be on the other side; though how he reached us then, I do not know. Regardless, yes, lets go. Nothing we could do with the knowledge regardless.

He mounts his horse

[Greyen]

Dothen

Maybe he could have cast the summoning and then teleported away. Is that possible? Dothen says as they ride onward.

[Moral Wiz]

Hist

Presumably. That's the only way he could have gotten there. But why there?.... A blind teleport ahead would have worked; even short distance. There are only plains here. He's probably good enough to rout anything that found him whirlst we were dealing with the hounds.

Hist shruged.

Well, let's hope he's simply scared of us

Or is more interested in disrupting our progress than aiding his masters'.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Well, I don't mind saying it's mutual. Grazys, if any of your vestige friends can hide us from Hiran's prying, I'd be most grateful.

His packing complete, Reid prepares to mount up and be on his way.

[Lochar]

After dismissing the scrying spell on the mage, you all mount up and continue in the direction of the crossroads location.

The day is quiet, and allows for reflection for all. The skies are only slightly cloudy, and the sun warms you all.

You all can ride for nine to ten hours before making camp again that night.

((You guys want to do anything special for the night?))

[GimliFett]

Grazys Senneker

With a chuckle, Grazys replies to the Pelorite's question. "I wish I knew one that could do that, mate! I'l hafta ponder an' see what I can come up with later as we ride, eh? There might be somethin'."

Grazys takes a moment to concentrate. After a long moment, a heavy warhorse appears, aready saddled and with a heavy lance resting in the stirrups.

He winks at the others and hops up onto the horse with a practiced ease Grazys had never before shown.

"We ready to go?" he asks the others with a broad smile as he takes the reins in his right hand and grasps the lance with his left.

[Greyen]

Dothen

Dothen rides until darkness overcomes them. No lights tonight unless we get jumped, no fire either. He can scry on us, but we should try to keep as low a profile as possible. Reid's conjured food and water will go uncooked as Dothen does not prepare a fire.

Taking extra precation in hobbling the horses he makes sure they cannot run, but are able to fight if attacked. Dothen then fades into the brush as usual for his watch, bow drawn and ready.