"Bounty hunter? Why would a bounty hunter be---"
Gasping at seeing a fallen ally, Izorshi cried out
"Gerald, it is not yet your time to die!"
It occurred to her that the mysterious final passenger hadn't done or said anything yet. Maybe that person was the killer while we were unconcious? Or maybe that is who the bounty hunter is in?
She looked around to see what that person was up to.
Seeing a grievously injured colleague, Nagual prepares and casts Cure Light Wounds on Gerald.
Keeping his defensive position Monty is still able to channel positive energy to cause the skeletons to flee.
Monty's face is stern as light explodes out of the pendant of a mug that hangs from his neck. The wave of energy flows out quickly going through all those around him. Those alive around him feel nothing, but the undead will feel the power surge through them.
looking up Monty screams
Le'Rose why do you hunt us!
Izorshi momentarily flinches as the wave of harmful positive energy passed over her. She was not worried about being pushed away from Monty; but she was afraid of the bounty hunter's reaction.
Fortunately, her Mistress shielded her from Sarenrae's effect.
Divine energy streamed into Gerald's body and brain, taking away much of the sleepiness and luckily also some of the pain.
How long had he been out? Judging from the situation he was still in, it couldn't have been long.
Who had healed him? Did it really matter?
"T-th-thank you.", he managed to say.
They needed help.
A bounty hunter, on a giant flying bird... Hard to reach, but with a man in its back, the mount couldn't be very agile.
The wizard's reached inside his mind for an eagle and started pulling it into reality.
I had that under control, thought Ark, his brow furrowing somewhat testily, as the undead creature disintegrated under the combined attack. I mean, for the most part. Well, first blood, at least!
He perked up just in time to catch a skeleton's blade painfully and wheeled, swinging somewhat blindly to return the favor.
Catching Monty's shout, Ark glanced skyward, glimpsing the hunter for the first time. "Le'Rose? What's a Le--what in the Abyss is that?!"
The skeletons tremble. Monty casts his light upon them, and like shadows they must flee. The true face of Sarenrae is too much for them to perceive.
They are hit with attacks and positive energy as they bumble to loose themselves from the cart.
The giant bird give an angry caw, then unexpectedly word pour from its mouth. "This is why I hate undead."
Then it arks down in a barrel-roll, swooping in front of the cart. Le'Rose pull out a stretch of parchment. The paper glowing. Sound of the rain and horses seems to dim and drown out as a voice speaks to each of the wagon riders.
The voice is completely undiscernible as is Le'Rose. The mask covers the entire face, making one wonder how the hunter even sees.
"You have been found guilty of crimes against the living, treason to the light, and collisions with the cult of the Whispering Way."
The man Izorshi had been staring at starts to flip out. "No no no nonono..." As he feels around on his cloak. A thought strikes him and he grabs his cloak from underneath, pulling the edge up to see the inner lining. Inside the cloaks is a symbol stitched in. A wolf with a skull for its head. "No! How did this!? oh gods." The mans face is filled with disrepair.
The carts begins rounding more switch backs. Rock wall on one side, sheer cliff down on the other. Giant raven in front and skeletons behind.
"The Whi-?"
Izorshi froze as she recalled where she had heard that phrase before.
"You! What do you have to do with the Whispering Way? And...what is it?"
Doon finds the same mark in his cloths in the same place.
Each woke up with a blinding headache. Each wore cloths they didn't recognize. A dark blue cloak, draped over the outfit they normally wore.
It's easy for Doon to guess that everyone in the cart has the same stitched symbol.
Izorshi can see their is a tiny bit of magic hiding in the stitching though only visible when the cloak is turned out. It's a subtle Arcane Mark.
The man, probably in his late 20's is wide eyed. "I was just working in my study! I don't know what this is about!" He turns to see Le'Rose "We have to get away. It's a death sentence if we have already been convicted, no mercy is shown to cultists around here!"
Gerald's spell finished, an eagle appeared in the air above the carriage.
He sent his eagle to pester the black bird their assailant was riding. Hopefully the much smaller bird could outmaneuver its larger opponent long enough to avoid being eaten.
"Get away, how?! Does diving out of a fast moving carriage only to face hordes of undead or dive off a cliff seems a less certain death than dealing with this Le'Rose guy?"
Statblock if needed:
Eagle
N Small celestial animal
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision Perception +9
DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 13, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +1 natural, +1 size)
hp 7
Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +2
SR 5
Celestial - Resist cold 5, acid 5, electricity 5
OFFENSE
Speed 10ft., fly 80 ft. (average)
Melee 2 talons +3 [1d4+2], bite +3 [1d4+2]
Special Attacks smite evil
STATISTICS
Str 14, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 7
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 11 13
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Fly +8, Perception +10; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Smite evil 1/day as a swift action (adds CHA bonus (+0) to attack rolls and damage bonus equal to HD (+1) against evil/good foes; smite persists until target is dead or the celestial/fiendish creature rests).
"If they are summoned undead, they will disappear shortly."
As quickly as possible, Izorshi channelled Pharasma's power into protecting her allies, protecting all of the bounty hunter's targets:
"Regardless, we must get as far away from these cursed cloaks as possible! Either we jump off without the cloaks or we throw them off the cart!"
As quickly as possible, she pulls off her own cloak.
"Is--Is now really time time for introductions?"
"Nagual - now let me focus!!"
damage.
DC15 fort save or be dazed for one round
Geralds bird darts towards the giant raven. The raven rolls its eyes. "Not another bird, the last one is still struggling in my stomach."
The raven twists in the air avoiding Doon's coat.
The raven tenses as the shock-wave hits, feathers ruffling, but it's wings hold steady. The raven glances back "Boss?"
Le'Rose nods, and then the next moment is gone from the back of the bird. The Raven beats its massive wings, sending waves of intense winds hitting the carriage.
The cart swerves, and Doon barely has enough time to grab the reigns and pull them in to avoid taking the entire cart over the rock-face.
Distracted by Doon's call for introductions, Ark effects as much a bow as he can on the speeding cart, "Arkivolld Bristlekipp, at your service, ma--whoa, Doon, trying to wreck us? Give me those reins!"
"Where did he...", Gerald asked, currently having several more pressing things on his mind than introductions. Survival probably being the most important of those.
Gerald understood what happened because it was an ability similar to his own. Le'Rose had teleported.
In one hand a short sword, with throned vines the run across the blade around the gauntlet and up through the arm. In the other hand a very mundane looking rod.
Ark is able to masterfully take control of the cart.
With no idea what had just happened, Izorshi pondered for a moment in an attempt to recall information about the Whispering Way. Then she discarded the cursed cloak around her, throwing it off the cart.
"Can...can anyone see where he went? Are we safe?"
"How strong are the horses? What would happen if we charged at him, and a couple people jumped off onto his bird mount when we got close?
In any case, do not fear, if we die here, the Lady of Graves shall not be fooled by the mortal trickery that has convinced the bounty hunter of our guilt. "
Ark glanced back from the wild-eyed and frothing horses to hike one manicured purple eyebrow skeptically at Izorshi.
"'Charge?' Milady, I can try to push this team harder, but I fear we'd be sentencing them direct to your Lady of Graves, and risk going with them when they pitch over the cliff."
"Maybe we can just surrender? Maybe we can explain this is all a misunderstanding?", Gerald suggested, almost whimpering. "It doesn't really seem we've been very successful fighting him off, so far."
This Le'Rose character seemed very confident in his ability to defeat them and Gerald was feeling less and less confident in his own ability to prove him wrong. Of course, he didn't know what the others were capable of but from what he'd seen, none of them seemed very certain of themselves.
"I doubt Le'Rose would accept any sort of surrender short of our deaths. Could he be outrun? I am at a lack for ideas!"
Izorshi chimes in after Doon.
"Please, anything could help!"
"Outrunning a giant bird with a carriage seems equally impossible to doing so on foot. Doubly so on this kind of terrain, where we either stick to a road where we can't possibly hide or dive into a ravine.", Gerald muttered.
The man seems like he is cracking up.
"I don't know anything! I was attending to the professors funeral and then things went dark. Le'Rose wont listen to reason, he can't be bought off or swayed. I can't handle this, I need to..." His arms flail around his body searching for something. Then his face shows an expression of surprise, pulling out a scroll case, embossed with a spiderweb around it. The lid has a quick release, and looks like what a spell-sword or combat wizard would use.
Trying to think of memories pings your heads with pain. The deeper you dig the harder the pain.
The wagon races forward and LeRose breaks stance. Stabbing the sword casually into the rock wall. Le'Rose's hands retreating into the cloak. The figure turns from a combat stance to something almost casual.
Hurriedly, she calls out
"If no one thinks of something in the next few seconds, try knocking him off his mount"
As she spoke, she attempted to force her mind to expose what had happened
Gerald's curiosity was piqued when the man pulled out a scrollcase and his first instinct was to investigate.
But then, the mention of the funeral woke something within him.
"Funeral? What fu... Wait, I was invited to... Did I go? Why is it so hard to remember?!"
He searched his brain for answers, pushing it as hard as he could to fill the gaps in his memory.
Scars of the mind? I fear this not.
.
"Run him down like a damned goblin!!"
The raven looms above, with Geralds summoned bird pestering it, it pecks but the raven doesn't respond. Seeing that it's wind does little to wreck the wagon it swoops back around. Dive bombing towards Le'Rose
Gerald remembers climbing into the wagon. Everyone inside looking nervous but determined. The passenger who currently is holding the scroll was talking to the driver.
"It kind of freaks me out to be holding something so powerful. If you see Le'Rose or the raven just signal me. I was told this had a surprise for both of them."
The only other memory he has is the raven Muni, squawking and screaming something in the night, outside the wagon, right before the sound of large beating wings silenced it.
Meanwhile Doon can remember putting on the cloak and feeling a bit of disgust. Then looking down at the body he pulled it off of. He could not tell if the thing was living or undead, its features twisted.
Everyone else from the wagon was there as well as the man who is currently holding the scroll. He speaks to you... Lanik was his name.. at least you think it was. "I know it's disturbing, but we have been set up. Somehow they got by Le'Roses checkpoints. Soon they'll be after us. I think I know someone who can get us to safety."
The blinding headache returns breaking up the rest of the memory into fragments. "but we need-.....-golem-....... capture the Alchemist"
"The scroll!", Gerald snapped toward the passenger. "Use it! Use it now now or give it to me so I can do it! It's supposed to do something against Le'Rose!"
"Ahh...[/b]"
Izorshi clutched her head for a moment. "Trying to think about what is going on is giving me a headache. If you can use the scroll, as Gerald says, do it"
The wagon barrels forward towards the bounty hunter, racing behind the raven who is returning at top speed to its master.
Le'Rose doesn't budge. In face the figure stretches casually, until the last moment. A moment before impact the bounty hunter makes a hand motion and the sword flies back to its masters hand.
In the same moment Lanik, the mysterious passenger pops the lid and the scroll case casts off an intensely bright assortment of spells that race out and in a streak of light descend on LeRose.
The light bursts around Le'Rose, crackling and forming into shape, with tendrals of light running off and interconnecting. The light fades quickly revealing a giant spider-silk web. The raven sputters in mid air, its eye going wide, it gives off a shrill squeak that someone confronted with their greatest fear would produce, as a spider looming behind the web jumps and pounces on the raven and they tumble downhill.
LeRose is in the midst of the web, sword arm completely tangled along with legs and torso. Only Le'Rose's off hand is free. Though the bounty hunter remains surprisingly calm.
Gerald feels the same force again begin to bend the world around him. The same force that he felt earlier when Le'Rose disappeared from the raven and appeared on the ground.
Gerald realizes Le'Rose is going to teleport into the wagon. Except even as space bends another spell goes off within the web.
...and Le'Rose remains in the web. Now the bounty hunters body language shows the worry that the mask cannot convey. There is struggling to break free, panic and finally Le'Roses free hand reaches back and pulls out a rod. Placing it in front and pressing the small red button on top.
When LeRose's hand pulls away the rod remains suspended in the air.
The wagon hits the rod at full force, breaking the horses harness and at the same time jerking both of them into a tumble of kicking legs and broken bones.
The wagon's momentum carries and the rod remains in place as the wagon splits itself upon it. The riders are all thrown from the impact, floating through the air.
Le'Rose is caught in a torrent of incoming splinters and fragments.
The wagon is cleaved in two by the rod only now still connected by the fram along where the canvas used to be. The two section continue on through the webs. The hole in the center created by the rod is not big enough for Le'Rose to fit through, at least not completely.
The splinters and fragments of wood tear at each side of Le'Rose's body, ripping the armor off of the bounty hunters sword arm, leaving behind torn flesh the vaguely resembles an arm. The wounds are bright red. The arm hands afterword, useless now.
LeRoses body is pockmarked with large splinters imbedded. The rest of the armor has been torn to shreds and even the mask now has a chunk missing along the side, with long red hair slipping out through the crack.
There is an almost inhuman scream emitted by Le'Rose as the distorted voice mixes with the real one from under the mask.
Everyone from the wagon, watches from above as them seem to slowly float down.
You all land on the ground with a slight bump, only receiving damage from the initial impact. You are 80 feet from Le'Rose.
Belor wipes the blood from his eyes, "Thank you Sarenrae for keeping me from being more hurt, now my kind and graceous lady please remind me to buy a bow first chance I get." Belor moves 30 feet toward his new foe and hurls a chakram at the man who caused the wagon to crash.
Izorshi scanned the scene for what had happened as she charged forwards:
Recognizing the auras around the bounty hunter, she called out
"He is attempting to teleport away! Probably so he will come back when we don't have another scroll!"
Shocked by the crash and fully expecting to die, Gerald was stunned by the events to really act and landed painfully.
He shook his head to regain focus and saw the strongly built man attacking Le'Rose. "Wait! Don't! He's far too wounded to fight! Maybe we can talk now, explain we're not... whatever he thinks us to be. Maybe he knows what's going on and can give us answers. Find a way out of this mess."