Horek does what he can for the creature, before Drimm arrives. If it seems like the animal can be saved, he will do so. If not, he will end its pain swiftly.
Heal:
Drimm takes a look at the poor creature and uses his magic to heal the wounds on the beast.
"Ah, there you go. That should hold ya for the time being...now I wonder what it was that attacked you!"
"Blasted sand, finally there's a problem I can deal with using a weapon and it's slinked back off into the darkness already leaving us nothing but sand." His brow furrows with annoyance... sleep or fighting were both fine... blundering about in the dark was frustrating.
The careful attention of Horek and Drimm save the camel's life, but it is far from healed, having sustained a mortal wound.
There are no other sounds coming from any direction around you, although the howling of the wind makes hearing anything a difficult proposition.
You remember that there were two other tents housing your fellow caravaners. Both should be within 50 feet of your current location and you should be able to track them down with a bit of wandering about in the storm.
Tollo cinches a rope around his waist and ties it off, throwing the long end to Timbur.
"Alright, boys- we tie ourselves together and find the other tents. I hope they fared better than the camels..."
Horek readily agrees with Tollo. "I'll lead, but if this blowing sand throws me off course keep your own eyes open for the tents." The half-orc ties himself off to one end, and if they need more he reaches into his pack to get his own rope and tie it to the other in order to give them more slack.
"Good idea but if a fight breaks out we'll have to cut the rope. It'd leave us too tied down to fight to the best of our abilities... something hurt this camel and I don't intend to be next." Zuberi gives his warning but is willing to be tied with the rope.
The party (sans the wizard, who is still in the tent) tie themselves together with rope and head in the direction of the nearest tent. After a bit of searching you find the location, and it becomes clear that it also was attacked. Large slash marks can be seen in the tent's fabric, some of them stained in blood, and the tent has collapsed. From its lumpy shape, it is clear that something, or someone is still inside the tent, although no movement can be detected. No obvious threats seem apparent.
"Let me sneak in there and see what's inside.", Tollo says as he unties the rope around his waist.
The ugly halfling slips into the tent to do some recon.
The half-orc looks at the collapsed tent dubiously. "Be careful, if you run into trouble you may have a problem finding your way back out." He warns. Horek has drawn his greataxe and holds it at the ready. He glances around, and does not see the wizard nor Timbur, who went back to make sure Loges was safe. "If only bodies remain inside, we should regroup back a the tent. Splitting our numbers is not a good idea if there is some sort of creature out here with us." Horek advises. While Tollo investigates the tent, the half-orc does what he can to find any signs of tracks - perhaps the storm has not covered up or destroyed all evidence of what came through here, he figures.
to search for tracks.
Drimm moves forward slowly with the others. He is acting as the anchor to the others as they examine the ruined tent.
"Careful there lads...never can be too sure if the beast has left or not!"
Horek looks around to see if he can spot any tracks, but it seems that the storm has blown away any footprints. He does find a strange-looking dagger with a gold-inlaid handle in the dirt that does not look familiar to him.
Tollo carefully crawls into the tent and finds a massacre. Inside are close to a dozen of your fellow caravaners, all seemingly with their throats cut. Tollo carefully makes his way around to check on them, and amazingly finds two that still seem to be breathing, but are in very bad shape! ()
"Two live ones in here! But they're bleeding out!"
Tollo tries to stanch the flow of blood.
"Yup, gonna need some more of that dwarf god healing in here, Drimm."
Zuberi moves forward swiftly hoping to buy the dwarven priest time to channel the healing energies of his god. "Asmodeus's Auditors what in the Nine Hell's happened!" He had been preparing himself for them being dead or dying but this was so ruthless and methodical.
Perhaps emboldened by his work on the camel, Horek moves in as well, fairly dragged along with the others also tied off to the rope. The half-orc snatches up the gold-hilted dagger as he steps away, but lays it down on the blood-soaked floor of the tent as he tries to help the others as best he can in stabilizing either or both of the caraveneers.
for 1st victim
for 2nd victim
He seems to have some luck in helping the first one he comes across, but the wounds of the other man are beyond his ability.
Drimm moves forward and concentrates on healing the group.
Channel Positive Energy:
Drimm's healing energies close the worst wounds on the two surviving caravaners, causing them to moan as they are drawn back into consciousness, but do nothing to help the dead. The living ones struggle to their feet and look around with wide eyes at the carnage around them. "What happened here?" one of them mumbles, still weak from his ordeal.
"We were hoping you could tell us. All the animals but one camel are dead outside, too."
Zuberi sighs with relief, his shoulders releasing some of their tension since they were able to save someone. With the flat of his blade resting, and balanced to keep most of the weight there, on his shoulder and one hand on the hilt he pats Drimm on the back. "Good man!"
Horek grins as the dwarf brings the two men back from the brink of death. Though like Tollo, the half-orc had hoped they'd have some answers. "Something attacked during the storm, it seems. Claw marks on the tent and the throats of the animals were slashed. Do either of you remember anything at all? Do you recognize this?" He reaches for the dagger with the gold hilt and holds it up for the caraveneers to see.
In the tent, the caravaners are still in shock and can barely formulate words.
"No ... everyone except me was asleep, and I was on guard duty. I must have blacked out or lost consciousness, and then I wake up to this ..." he mutters, indicating the dead around him.
Once Loges is ready to go, Timbur readied his shield, peeks out of the tent,sees some sand, and steps out. If he isn't attacked, he calls for Loges to accompany him and the two make their way towards the other tents.
Loges smiles up at Timbur.
Ok. I don't have much, I'm afraid, but our companions are out there!
Loges cast light unto another candle, as they depart.
Timbur and Loges rejoin the others in the ruined tent.
Loges enters the ruined tent, following quickly behind Timbur. The young wizard's mouth drops open at the carnage.
What is this? Have you accessed as to what--and how many--may have done this?
Loges begins waving his hands over blood- covered items, cleaning them in his wake.
Tollo searches the tent for more clues about the massacre.
Both Loges and Tollo quickly scour the tent for any clues. Loges notices that both the wounds on the caravaners and the cuts in the tent were most likely made by a very sharp blade. Tollo finds a number of footprints on the floor of the tent that haven't blown away, but they could very easily be from your dead companions, or even your own footprints; no non-humanoid footprints seem apparent.
Loges relays the information. The youth then casts detect magic, taking another look around the tent.
Tollo shakes his head, cursing.
"Let's get this over with and check the other tent, then take a look at the supplies."
Loges relays the information. The youth then casts detect magic, taking another look around the tent.
"Stay put, whatever did this might still be out there." The half-orc tells the two survivors, perhaps not thinking of the impact his words might have on them. The barbarian takes a look around himself, and if the storm is still easing up outside he unties himself from the rope so he has better freedom of movement.
Once he has seen all there is to see, he nods in response to Tollo. "We should see if there are any other survivors." As they head out, he holds the dagger with the gold hilt he found outside in front of Loges. "Maybe the attackers dropped this. If so, we are probably dealing with bandits and not some kind of desert-dwelling monster. But why did they attack during the storm? They could have easily been separated or failed to find the goods we carry."
The sandstorm still has Zuberi ill at ease especially with unknown assailants creeping about. "This makes no sense... I'd say at least five, possibly more to so swiftly attack and leave these men near dead without being seen."
Loges nods at the 1/2 orc, following his lead.
The wizard holds up a hand. He then pronounces an arcane phrase.
Carry this 20' in front of us.
The youth holds out his magically lit candle. The candle begins to hover before moving.
Out we go then
Drimm makes sure the two in the tent are doing better, then goes with the others incase more wounded are discovered.
Before they leave he uses his mending cantrip a number of times once to repair some of the fabric.
"There, that should keep some of the sand outside...where it belongs!"
With Loges' unseen servant lighting the way, your group heads to the other tent and discovers that it is completely empty; none of the caravaneers remain. From the look of things, they simply got up and left, as many of their belongings are still scattered about the tent. Realizing that there is little you can do there, and after checking for obvious clues () you decide to head to check on the supplies. You find that all of the trade goods have been taken, as well as most of the food and water. You also find that a second group of camels and horses are missing.
So, a group of us got murdered. And another group either got abducted, or they just left. Either way, someone(s) stoled the goods.
Tollo is fuming. He starts slow-clapping at Loges' statement.
"Really putting that expensive wizard education to work, aren't ya kid? Mom and Dad are proud, wherever they are miles away and in easy reach of food and water."
He starts desperately looking for tracks or any kind of trace of the caravan's attackers.
"Or some of our co workers were not what they seemed? I find it hard to believe but maybe they hoped to leave us for dead with so little food and start new lives selling the trade goods." Zuberi grips his greatsword tightly, he was far too reliant on the others right now. Bandits or monsters were fine but sword and armor did him no good against the sandstorm.
Horek scowls at Tollo. "Maybe you should save your anger for those that killed our employers and stole our supplies." Still, the little hairy man has the right idea and the barbarian spreads out to look for tracks as well, though he knows the storm might well have erased all traces. He scans the horizon (or what he can see of it) for any sign of the animals or other figures or perhaps even landmarks.
Once he's done, he returns to the others and reports his findings, if he saw anything worthwhile. In either case, he holds up the gold-hilted dagger he found in the sand. "Do any of you recognize this? It was likely carried by those that killed the animals and the caravaneers back in the first tent. If it was carried by one of those traveling with us, it might mean that there was a betrayal as Zuberi mentioned."
to search for tracks
to look around for animals in the distance, landmarks and maybe to recognize if the dagger had been carried by one of the caravaneers or maybe another guardsman?
Both Tollo and Horek search the ground for tracks, but can't seem to find anything out of the ordinary. The tracks inside and (what little can be seen) outside the tent look humanoid, and could have been made by anyone. What is certain is that no struggle took place in the first and second tent. In the first instance, the victims who had their throats cut seemed to have done so either while they were unconscious or were otherwise restrained. In the second tent, its occupants seemed to have simply gotten up and left, but also left behind several items (such as provisions) that they would have normally taken with them.
The wind and sand outside is still blowing strong (although not strong enough to cause pain), but even Horek's ability to see in the dark is limited to 10' to 15' at best. The only sound you hear is the roaring of the storm.
Tolls looks over the dagger, but passes it on to the next person that wants to look at it.
"We better gather the others and all the stuff we can in a non-massacre tent, keep the camel close and wait out the rest of the storm. We can look for landmarks tomorrow and make whoever did this pay."
Horek releases a gusty sigh. Though not stupid by any means, the half-orc can't make sense of what's happened here. A betrayal by some faction of the caravan seems unlikely, but so does the idea of someone or something coming through and killing all the occupants of the first tent with no signs of struggle. He takes one last look at the dagger, then puts it away unless someone else wants to examine it further.
"We should wait out the rest of this storm with the two survivors. We might also want to finish healing that camel with magic. If we find anything after the storm blows off, we might need it to carry what we find."
The half-orc glances at Tollo and chuckles as their similar spoken plans run into and over each other. His earlier angry comment directed at the halfling appears to be behind him. Unless there are objections, Horek returns to the tent with the two survivors, and suggests they wait out the remainder of the storm with the party in their tent. The camel too he brings to their tent, hobbling it just outside the entrance flap so they can keep an eye on it.
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Timbur is stupid by any and every means, so he really can't make any sense of it all. He doesn't really bother trying to, but focuses on his task of protecting Loges from danger.
He also keeps an eye on Tollo in case he looks like he might blow away.
Loges' blue eyes dart to Tollo. The young wizard smiles.
Frustration causes black spots to block ones vision. I like to speak aloud the facts while pondering the answer.
The ugly halfling sighs.
"Fair enough, Loges. I'm frustrated is all, what with everyone dying or disappearing and not having the food and water needed to get out of the desert."
The group moves the survivors and the remaining supplies into your tent, and Horek brings around the one remaining camel. The two Qadiran men, whose names are Zaaid al-Saber and Abdul Ghafoor el-Mostafa, still seem to be quite weak from their blood loss and require some help to make even such a short journey. Zaaid is a young Qadiran man with dark-grey eyes who grew up on the streets of Katheer. Before the attack, he was quite outgoing, but now winces in pain with every movement. He was one of the animal handlers of the caravan, but you aren't sure what other skills he might have. Abdul is a bit older and darker-skinned and comes from one of the many nomadic tribes of Qadira. He was employed as a caravan guard, and seems to have some experience crossing the deserts.
Once the survivors have been made comfortable and everything is as stable as can be, given the dire circumstances, the half-orc sits down, once again trying to clean the dirt and grit from his hair and beard. He glances over hopefully at Loges, though he understands if the wizard doesn't want to utilize his magic again. Horek wonders idly if using magic drains you in some way - could a powerful spell even outright kill a wizard? He shakes his head, wondering at why anyone would fool around with such a thing. Though it does have it's advantages, he mentally concedes.
Glancing up at Abdul, the half-orc grunts. "You have traveled these deserts before, I think? What do you know of this area where we are trapped by this storm? Any stories or legends, maybe?"
Loges sits back down on his pack. He looks over the survivors.
It's not curative physically, but, perhaps, emotionally?
The young wizard waves his hand over each person, cleaning off the sand and blood.
He then pulls out his spellbook to study.