For maybe the fifth or sixth time today Khol reminds the others, "The minute you feel unwell, let me know. I will not have any of you suffering heat stroke." Other than that, the tiefling has been quiet, answering most attempts at conversation with short responses until the interested party gives up. Usually a terse person in general, it seems the situation has not much improved this portion of his personality.
Oddly enough, you can catch him humming an odd tune occasionally.
"Not to worry, master guide," Natasha says, a slightly superior expression on her face. "I have taken... precautions."
"I was born to the heat of Khatapesh, and have traveled the desert for years. I will suffer more from your nagging than from the burning sun, though I'm sure you mean well. May I ask what song seems to fill you with such unwonted...joy?"
Zahur meets the rest of the group at the gate with another animal in tow, a camel recently purchased at the market. It looks none too happy to be traveling with a giant scorpion. Nonetheless, after a few humorous moments of battling wills, Zahur is able to mount the camel and head out into the desert with the rest of the expedition. "Burning sun? Is this not a sign of Gozreh smiling upon our mission?"
Gozreh continues to smile into the afternoon, and when the sun finally dips below the western horizon, the chill of a desert night descends. The land Duwwor occupies stretches out below and behind the party as they climb closer to the mountains
Ajkanir:
Khol:
Natasha:
Zahur:
Razan:
Elreem:
The mounts grow tired and agitated. More than one incident of a near-miss with camel saliva occurs as the stars come out overheard.
Zahur yawns and for what must be the tenth time today, nearly gets his hand bitten by an unruly camel. "Since it is supposed to be two days to reach the town, I think we should probably stop and camp for the night. Do any of you familiar with the area know if we have made good time today?"
"Gentlemen, lady, unusual beasts," says Ajkanir, as he looks around at the horses, camels, scorpion and otherworldly Eleem, smiling at the odd caravan, "it seems a good time to select a spot to settle for the night. All of us have travelled the desert many times, but Khol, this is your trade. Where do you recommend we set up camp? And let's set a watch schedule - I'll take the last watch, if no one objects."
"One dune is as good as another. We need to stay within sight of the river though. Nobody should wander out of sight as well. It is easy to get turned around and lost out there. I'll take the middle watch." Khol was already unrolling his sleeping bag.
Razan hops down once a suitable site has been selected and cares for Sandstreak, brushing the dapple down, removing saddle and barding. He then sets up his tent burying the guy ropes deep in the sand, while munching disinterestedly upon some of his awful dry rations,
"I'll take first watch then if there are no objections? That way I need not resummon Elreem until morning, cannot keep him here while I sleep."
"I shall take some precautions as well," Natasha says.
After the camp is set up and she has thrown down a portion of feed in front of her camel, the Mage walks to the centre of the camp and starts chanting under her breath. Eyes closed and arms held out, the Mage is briefly surrounded by strange gusts of wind and faint lights.
"There," she says once the spell has been completed. "Beware the sound of horns in the night, gentlemen. Now, who is going to help me pitch my tent?"
Razan begins to reply, but ends up yelping in pain instead as Elreem stamps pointedly upon his foot,
"But, aieee, did you hear what she said? She must have been intentionally setting me up... Nobody gives a straight line that good accidently!"
Ignoring the summoner Elreem turns to Natasha and asks,
"Thank you, Elreem," Natasha says, inclining her head to the eidolon. "You are a true gentleman. Unlike some."
The first night's camp is set, and watches are posted.
Razan:
Elreem:
Razan:
Elreem:
Razan:
Elreem:
During the third hour of their watch, Razan, nearly drifting off, is roused by the call of several hyenas, from somewhere off in the distance.
The watch passes to Khol.
Khol:
Khol:
Khol:
Khol's watch passes without issue or alarm, and the watch passes to Ajkanir.
Khol:
Khol:
Khol:
Dawn finds the camp undisturbed. A chill from the previous night and higher altitude is in the air.
The mountains now cover the horizon from the east to the south and continuing along to the west. Jagged and irregular, they look much like fangs of some toothy creature, capped in snow in many places.
"Well, that was restful," Natasha says as she emerges from her tent. "My spell was not disturbed, so I assume there were no life-or-death threats. I have readied the same incantation, however, for tonight's rest."
Razan rises and stretches before pushing himself to his feet stifling a yawn, he clearly is not ashamed of his body and steps from his tent only half way into his trousers as he blearily licks a thumb and traces a rough circle in the air before him. Once this is done he strikes the center of the circle with his palm and breaks the air leaving an impossible two dimensional hole that leads to a whirling madness of color and darkness, from which Elreem leaps to land upon the sand. Behind the eidolon the hole bursts like a soap bubble.
"Hows Eidolonia?" Razan asks cheerfully,
Elreem deadpans, moving over to pull up a tent peg with his teeth.
Razan licks his blue cloak hopefully, sighs, spits and forces down some dry rations before helping Elreem disassemble his tent and then seeing to readying the mounts.
"Why would you want to eat pork in the desert?" Natasha says to Razan. "Do you not know how quickly that stuff spoils?"
She goes to get her camel ready for the day's journey as soon as her tent is packed.
"It is not spoiling you should be worried about. Well cured pork can last a long time but the high salt content contributes to dehydration," Khol mentioned off-handedly, dividing up some rations for breakfast. He had packed dried fruit, goat cheese and flat bread. "Tonight we should boil some river water to top off our waterskins off with." He passed the rations around.
Having been on watch for the last few hours, Ajkanir has already broken his fast by the time the others are up and stirring about the camp. He watches in fascination as Razan summons his eidolon, commenting, ”I have seen many things in my travels, but it will take some little time to grow used to that every morning. Do you ever see anything else through the portal? Are you ever tempted to travel back with him, to see what is there? A whole other world to explore, imagine it. Perhaps Natasha can tell us something of Elreem’s world. I have studied widely, but not so widely as to even guess what lies beyond the door you so casually open.”
He smiles at the wonders one finds in the world, and turns to saddle his horse and make ready for the day’s travel.
The party breaks camp and sets out southward, the mountains looming closer and closer. The sand has now completely given away to rocky foothills.
The day is somewhat cooler than the previous, thanks to the ever increasing elevation.
The land, however is just as dry and devoid of life... at least on the ground. A mile off to the west, vultures circle lazily in the morning air.
Ajkanir:
Khol:
Natasha:
Zahur:
Razan:
Elreem:
It may be a trick of the heat coming off the barren ground, but something may be moving below the vultures.
Ajkanir raises a hand to shade his eyes and looks to the west, then speaks to the group,
"Do any of you see anything there below the circling vultures? It may be but the shimmer of the desert, but I think I see something moving. I suggest we take a closer look."
"Aieee, vultures don't usually circle over nothing," agrees Razan, "we should take a look, maybe someone needs help, or maybe its just something that would bite us in the rear later."
So saying he digs his knees into Sandstreak's sides and sends the stallion galloping towards the vultures.
"I see nothing," Natasha says, "but we might as well look. 'Ware bandits, though; they could have left some victim there just to lure other travellers off the beaten path."
Natasha follows at a more sedate pace, her eyes flicking left and right for signs of danger.
Ajkanir laughs to see Razan galloping across the sand, calling out "The boy's a fool! But a fool after my own heart! Let us see what meal awaits those vultures, perhaps it will be us!"
With that, he heels his horse into a gallop and chases after Razan, laughing wildly as he hurdles across the dunes.
"They're going to get someone killed," Khol grumbled, turning his camel to head after the others. He kept pace with Natasha, trusting that they would either be disappointed by whatever piece of carrion and meet him halfway back or have learned their lesson by the time he caught up to them and pulled them out of the fire.
"It would not be advantageous to our mission at this point if it were any of us," Natasha says, nodding in agreement.
Zahur is last to join the chase, murmuring "You're right. This takes us away from our task when we could just set an extra guard to watch our backs for pursuers." He sighs, "Nonetheless, we should not proceed without everyone." Reluctantly, he redirects Salt toward the vultures and turns the camel to follow the others.
The party races across the sands, kicking up an impressive plume of dust as they do so.
When the party reaches a little less than a quarter mile from the scene, it becomes clear just what the vultures are circling. It seems they are waiting their turn.
A pack of Hyenas is gnawing on... something. They alternate between tearing at the corpse they're surrounding, and snapping at each other, making excited yipping noises the entire time. One of the bolder vultures actually lands nearby, prompting on of the hyenas to charge it. In a burst of feathers, claws and jaws, the unfortunate bird is torn to pieces by the ravenous animal.
Ajkanir:
Khol:
Natasha:
Zahur:
Razan:
Elreem:
One of the hyenas is easily twice the size of the other three.
One of the hyenas appears to be wearing the skins of another animal. The body they are feeding on is certainly humanoid.
"Stand down boy! Just some carrion feeders!" Khol called to the others when he could make out just what they were riding toward. Carrion feeders could get rather vicious out in the deserts as meals were few and far between. Some were not averse to making the occasional fresh meal.
"Charming," Natasha says. "What lured them in?"
Ajkanir reins his horse in and takes in the scene.
"Natasha, I'm also curious what it is they're feeding on. I expect all of us riding down on them will clear them out easily enough. And I wonder about that great big hyena - don't know that I've ever seen one so large"
Turning to Khol as he catches up and come to a halt, he says coldly "I presume your "boy" was addressed to Razan or his exotic pet, rather than myself? Have a care when using such terms."
Khol answered the question with one of his own, "How old do you think I am, human?" He smiled, honestly curious. A casual observer might notice he had an secondary pair of canines. He had not meant it toward Ajkanir but Khol was rapidly finding it easy and somewhat entertaining to offend his sensibilities. Age, Khol found, was one of the first things humans assumed about him. Living for ninety years and still having many more ahead of him gave him a very particular view about himself.
"Apparently, you are not old enough to retain certain sensibilities and civilities," Natasha says without looking around at Khol. "Guide."
Razan turns back to his comrades with an entirely too innocent expression, as a wand appears in his fingers with a metallic twang,
"Yeah, we're going to kill it. Aieee, this will be fun, and uh, probably protect travelers or something else I care deeply about. You should come, its good practice! I'll make you go fast!"
He chants a pair of spells in quick sucession on Elreem, strikes himself and the eidolon with the wand, then he and Elreem begin hurtling across the sand,
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahooooooooooooooo!"
Khol muttered something under his breath when Razan proceeded to completely disregard his warning. The conversation, as friendly and enlightening as it was, would have to wait. He spurred his camel onward to catch up to Razan. The beast complained but picked up the pace. Without Ajkanir to back him up, Razan could end up in hot water even with Elreem at his side.
Razan flashes Khol a wicked grin and thrusts his lance in the air approvingly.
Seeing that Khol meant him no offense, and that Razan clearly cares not all how he is addressed, Ajkanir lets the matter drop and turns to the more pressing matters suddenly at hand. He spurs his horse into motion once again, drawing his scimitar as he does so. His teeth flash in an enthusiastic grin as he rides into the anticipated fight, the discussion of a moment ago forgotten.
Zahur looks closely at the motley assembly of creatures before rushing in. "Not only is one of them larger than the rest, but another wears the skin of another animal. And that corpse...it looks to me to be a human or something similar." He spends a moment longer searching his memory for what sort of hyena or other creature these might be.
Zahur's knowledges:
Gnolls of a more feral variety have been known to fall in with packs of Hyenas and Dire Hyenas. As they are capable of moving on all fours, and closely resemble the scavengers, they can be mistaken for the other at great distances.
As they come close to half way to the hyena Razan, swings down from his saddle, taking a moment to shake a boot free of his stirrup as he lands. Then his free hand blurs pointing out targets as he calls,
"Cinos!"
Then he slaps Sandstreak on the rear and launches himself into the air landing in the saddle even as his stallion surges forward in a full blown gallop! While all around those he pointed out begin to move with stunning swiftness.
As the wind whips at his body and Elreem surges along at his side razan throws his head back and laughs joyously.
"Pox and blast," Natasha grumbles. She clumsily dismounts, then starts to chant a spell under her breath.
Zahur dismounts clumsily from his camel and commands Salt to attack as Razan casts his spell. The scorpion scurries forward toward the gnoll and hyenas. Zahur follows with his longspear, his motion ponderously slow compared to those affected by Razan's spell.
Ajkanir feels an incredible surge of vital energy course through him. I feel I could outrun a horse!, he thinks to himself, excited, joyous laughter bubbling to his lips, Let us see if that is so!
He draws back on the reins and slows the horse to a canter, then leaps from the saddle and lands on the sand in a roll that brings him to his feet again, moving at a dead run and quickly outpacing his steed.
It was Razan's cry that alerted the beasts to the intruders. Their heads shot up with a practiced synchronicity, and turned as one. Two more of the ugly things wander out from behind a rise nearby.
Then the gnoll stood on its hind legs and began to chant in the yipping, laughing tongue of it's kind.
It makes an arcane gesture, and the rib cage of the feast the creatures had been enjoying rips from the carcass, and forms a crude breastplate around the gnoll's torso.
The hyenas turn and begin to growl at the approach, but do not charge.
Ajkanir:
Khol:
Natasha:
Zahur:
Razan:
Elreem:
Gnoll:
hyenadon:
hyenas:
Salt:
The four hyenas form a loose line between the party and the gnoll, who is flanked by the dire hyena.
Ajkanir charges across the sand, his scimitar whirling almost invisibly fast, and strikes at the hyena on the right side of the line of beasts, his teeth flashing white in a wide smile as he dances with his blade.
After dismounting, Khol's arms and legs seem to ripple as his body muscles visibly rearrange even through his garments to become leaner and more balanced. He dashes across the sands with inhuman grace to swipe at a hyena with a wicked claw.