"I didn't see any tracks other than yours around her horse, Nurah. I trust my skills more than your word." With that he leaves, promising himself to keep an eye on the halfling.
Having boosted the troops' spirits, Irra tries to gather some information from them, finding out if anyone has seen odd behavior that might indicate an informant. She appeals to their sense of camaraderie, claiming to be one of the rank-and-file rather than an officer.
No one can relate anything that would indicate there's an informant about. In fact, the very mention of it creates a bit of a stir. Sort of a 'oh not again' feeling from the troops.
The days march ends without incident. The troops set up camp, extra guards posted now that you are in the Worldwound.
Having entered the Worldwound, Irra concentrates in an old and familiar patterns, and attempts to work out what she should be prepared for.
Fabian says to Muriel, "Follow her. Stay hidden. I will follow behind further. You know how we can feel what each other is feeling? If you think she's about to see me, send me a warning. If you think you're going to get into trouble or danger, I should be able to sense that. Be careful."
Fabian will try to follow behind where Muriel is going, but staying farther back (at least 40-50') so that he will be harder to spot. (Counting on light and distance penalties for stealth, as he only has a +2 to Stealth from Dex (assuming he's leaving heavier parts of his gear behind so he has no encumbrance penalty).
Before he starts, he will cast Darkvision on himself, to eliminate any light penalties. This will last for 5 hours. He has Invisibility prepared, but it won't last nearly as long, so he'll hold on to that until he thinks he might need it.
Muriel will continue to take 10 on Stealth for a result of 18.
(I should dump a skill point into that in a future level, as one skill point will increase Muriel's skill by 4, as it's a class skill for familiars, if I'm not mistaken.)
Unknowing of Fabian's plan, Farasha simply tries to keep an eye on everyone she sees during the evening, and turns in as normal so she gets enough sleep to be ready to pray in the morning.
"I didn't see any tracks other than yours around her horse, Nurah. I trust my skills more than your word." With that he leaves, promising himself to keep an eye on the halfling.
The stars are strange at night, even just this far across the river. Kazul's lonely vigil pays off, however, Nurah is on the move...
It's late, well past midnight, when Kazul notices activity around the officer's tent where Nurah stays with the others. It's not much, but the side flaps of the tent move just so much, indicating someone or something moved through them. However, there is no one visible in the area.
She must be using magic to cloak herself. But why? What is she up to?
Kazul tries to find and follow little halfling tracks in the ground.
If he finds some, he will wake up Fabian and Irra and ask for his help.
Fabian is already up. As it turns out, he has his familiar following the Nurah, and has also discovered she is up to something. Muriel the cat is following Nurah as you speak.
Fabian sees Kazul and whispers to him, "Muriel followed the halfling to the officer's tent. Something's up there; she doesn't understand what she sees. How are you at sneaking? I can cast an invisibility spell on you to help."
If Kazul wants it, suspecting that the ranger is far sneakier than he is, Fabian will cast Invisibility on him.
"But I cannot see invisible creatures, Fabian. Do you have any magic to counter invisibility?"
If not, Kazul accepts the spell and stealthily looks in to the officer's tent.
Fabian sees Kazul and whispers to him, "Muriel followed the halfling to the officer's tent. Something's up there; she doesn't understand what she sees. How are you at sneaking? I can cast an invisibility spell on you to help."
If Kazul wants it, suspecting that the ranger is far sneakier than he is, Fabian will cast Invisibility on him.
Awake in an instant, Irra hesitates then briskly says "Keep it to ourselves for now, the smaller the number the more silent we can be."
She moves with the duo. "I've some glitterdust to catch her, but that's too sudden... this should help." She mutters an arcane phrase and presses a hand against Kazul's forehead, causing his eyes to momentarily grow gold and keen, like an eagle's. "Good hunting."
You set off, Kazul following the tracks, Muriel the scent. Nurah is working her way through the camp, weaving in and out of tents towards the corral where the horses are kept. The trail is faint, and it is obvious that she is somewhat skilled at avoiding detection. She's done this before...
You reach the outer limits of the makeshift corral where the army's horses are stabled for the night. Several lone guards can be seen around the perimeter.
An invisible Kazul will go around the herd, trying to spot any tracks or movement from the herd to pinpoint another invisible figure.
The tracks go in, but they do not come out...
Then Kazul heads into the herd as well, looking for trap door or somewhere the halfling could have disappeared to.
Muriel follows Kazul, weaving in and out of his legs as he makes his way around the herd. When the ranger decides to enter the crowd of horses, she decides that safety is better than getting stepped on, so jumps up onto his shoulder.
Kazul works his way through the herd, trying hard to do the impossible: track an invisible halfling through a herd of a hundred-plus horses. Just as he is about to give up, Muriel stiffens on his shoulder, letting out a low hiss. She stares straight ahead, seemingly at nothing.
But there it is, a small space, that no horse seems to move into. They are avoiding it because something, or someone is crouched there...
Standing outside the herd watching the perceptive fellows work, Irra waits for a signal/instructions.
An invisible Kazul sneaks up to get a closer look at the figure crouching there to confirm its identity.
Kazul works his way through the crowd of horses, moving towards the small opening he spotted. The big animals do not move, and are not inclined to do so. It's a bit difficult sneaking your way through a herd of trained warhorses, but Kazul is nothing if not determined.
Then suddenly the last horse, a big grey palfrey, shifts away and Kazul is exposed. There is a brief exclamation, quickly cut off, then a scrambling sound. Muriel hisses, the dust from the invisible figure kicks up, and then a SMACK! sound as someone runs straight into the flank of a warhorse.
"Damn beast!" There is a another smack and sudddenly Nurah is visible, right where she pulls her hand back from swatting the horse on the hind quarter. Then she turns...'...oh hells...' she breathes, and takes off at a run, ducking under and around the horses!
Kazul takes off after the runt. "Can someone stop her with magic?"
"Where is she?"
Following Kazul's pointing finger, Irra summons light-specked grease to entrap the runaway.
The burst of glitter in a flash and pop startles the horses, who rear and whinny. They rush to get out of the way, some of them blind. Their panic spreads to the other horses, and soon there is a general rush of hooves away from the area. The huge beasts stampede to the other end of the corral, running over everything in their path.
There is a squeak, and a cry, then silence. There on the ground lies the invisible-yet-dusted form of Nurah. A pool of blood of begins congealing near where her head must be.
Now the entire camp is awake. The noise of the stampeding horses has all of the paladins out in various stages of dress trying to bring order to their mounts. Irabeth, as you can imagine, is less than pleased.
"What in the name of the Sword is going on here?" she demands, dressed only in a long nightshirt.
Fabian rushes forward, first making sure that Muriel is OK (priorities, you know!), and then moving towards the spreading pool of blood.
"Curses!" he says. "Can somebody heal her?"
He tries to make her visible so that she will be easier to tend to. Grabbing his staff, he speaks some arcane words, and attempts to dispel the invisibility that is on her.
Irra pulls out a wand and hurries over to Nurah. She taps her with it.
She inspects her prisoner, and the charging horses. "On the whole, a worthwhile capture."
Rudely awakened from a rather nice dream about flocks of butterflies mobbing demons and eating them, Farasha rubs dust from her eyes as she stands and tries to make sense of what's going on. One hand clutches her bow but she appears to have forgotten to strap on a quiver.
What in Desna's name is going on?
Moving forward and offering a helping hand to Farasha, Bollwerk looks at Irra for some more explanations.
Irra looks up. "We've a halfling spy down and captured. Hopefully the horses should get calmed down in as econd."
"Great job bringing the halfling down."
Nurah has suffered a pretty nasty knock on the head. She's unconscious, but that's all. The horses run to and fro, scared by the spell, while some are still panicked by being blind until that where's off. Soon enough, everything is under control.
"Listen," Irabeth says irritably, "you may be heroes and all, but I still command this army, and I won't be ignored. What is going on here? Halfling spy? That's one of the Queen's trusted advisors! You better have some serious proof. Let's get her over to the tent, and you can start explaining."
Irra salutes. "Ma'am, I volunteer for the role as Queen's advisor- this one is either unable to maintain proper documentation, or is incompetant at discreetly leaving camp."
Bollwerk looks at Irra with a very, very stern look before looking at Kazul."Please, can you explain?"
Arlena wakes with a start, and grabs her alchemical reagents in a hurry. Spotting no immediate danger, and noticing Farasha and Bollwerk moving towards the corral, she follows along, hoping to get a better understanding of the cause of the commotion.
Once everyone has moved to the tent, Farasha grabs some water and hands it around.
I too would like to know what's going on please!
She waits patiently for an explanation.
Arlena follows everyone towards the tent, but doesn't enter, waiting patiently outside and hoping someone can fill her in later.
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Farasha, perceptive as she is despite being woken in the middle of a nice dream, notes Arlena hovering at the doorway.
Sidling back some away from the main focus of the group in the tent, she sticks an arm out and grabs the tiefling's sleeve, gently pulling her in to the tent to stand behind her.
She leans back and whispers
You I trust, I saw your soul when we first met, and you've done nothing to prove me wrong yet! After all if you're accompanying us on our daring secret mission, you shouldn't be missing out on whatever's going on here...
She flicks her hair behind her ears and winks at Arlena.
"I thought the halfling was acting suspicious so I followed her when she was spotted in the officer's tent. She attempted to flee invisibly. I followed her to the field with the horses. I spotted her, she ran and got trampled. Fabian can confirm all of this."
Fabian nods. "Kazul speaks the truth. We saw her sneaking off. She may not be a spy, but he does have some secrets she's keeping from us that could get her, and the rest of us in trouble. These secrets could well be of the sort that could be used to turn her into a spy as well."