Clebsch GM Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path (Inactive)

Game Master Clebsch73

After finishing his meal, the fool straightened up, and took a small box from his bag. He brushed the crumbs from his tunic with one hand as the other sorted through the box's contents. He rose with a spin. "Gather 'round, gather 'round! Friends, you offend me, wasting my talents: This fool is notched top! You have me leg breaking rather than leaving you knee-slapping! Blind-siding our foes when I could have them in side-splitting laughter! No more!"

Franti moves around the group, growing close to each one during his routine. He'd hang over them, tell the first part of a joke over one shoulder, and deliver the punchline by the other. He bounced across the library with a smile.

"How many librarians does it take to stop a demon invasion?" he began, leaning on Ellena. He twirled to her side. "I haven't an idea, but I'm sure there is a book here that'll tell you~!" The fool chortles as he approaches Tauni.

"Little rabbit, little rabbit! You might be the smartest person I know, but tell me if you know this: why do ghosts dread haunting libraries?" Franti waited almost a full second before finishing the joke. "'Cause their books are over-BOO!" He giggled as he slapped her lightly on the shoulder. He winked.

Card: 1d54 ⇒ 37

"Show it around, don't be shy!" Franti waited with the rest of the deck. Afterwards, he placed Karas' card on top of the deck, face-down. The fool instructed Karas to shuffle the deck, and later took the deck back. Franti frowned as he placed a single finger on top of the deck. He drew the card, revealing the same Franti-like clown upon it.

"You aren't a good shuffler. Do it again." Franti waited. Again he took the deck back, and placed a single finger upon the top card. The fool pouted, and again drew the same card. "I'm a fool, so I know this isn't funny. Let me shuffle it then."

Franti began a riffle shuffle with the deck, until all the cards suddenly flew upwards, dancing down all around him. The cards that landed face-up all bore the same image, all jokers. Franti placed his hands over his mouth, his brow high in surprise. "Oh dear, you weren't supposed to see these..." Quickly he dropped down, and began to collect the cards, stacking them with no attention to whether they were face up or down.

He moved towards the center of the room, somewhat defeated. "I failed that trick I 'spose..." He reached a hand into his collar, hand beneath his frilly shirt, frantically searching for something. "Were I a king's fool, such a mistake would have me hanged -" He pulls his hand up, gripped within it a long cloth. It appeared to be a scarf.

Franti raised his arm higher, the scarf tightened. Franti closed his eyes, his head went limp, and he stuck out his tongue. He remained motionless until he let go of the scarf, at which point he dropped to the floor like the noose was cut. On the ground, the fool straightened out. He put his hands together over his stomach, almost as if he was in a casket. From one of his hands, he poked up a small, colorful folded piece of paper, twisted to resemble a flower.

The fool spoke out the side of his mouth, letting out a sharp whisper. "Someone! A eulogy, quick. Make it funny!"

So the decision is whether to investigate one of the safe houses, which is close by, or avoid it and focus on getting Horgus and Anevia to their homes and seeing if the crusade resistance forces are indeed located in the tavern as rumored.

In the morning, the sky had cleared enough that the sun shined onto the quiet city. The hill on which Old Kenabres, the Kite, and the Temple of Iomedae had been was devoid of the usual architecture that served as both landmarks and inspiration to the people of Kenabres. Large gouged out sections looked as if someone with a gargantuan hoe dragged it down from the high walls around Old Kenabres. Yet buildings were not just knocked over; all rock along the path of destruction looked as if something had pulverized it so no rock remained bigger than a paving cobble.

One path of destruction ran south from Old Kenabres through the wall into the Ring District and the wall into the south side of New Kenabres, where it split into two paths. One ran southwest through to the Gate District and on outside the city. The other ran southeast through the place where the Nyserian Manor would have been. Whether it still stood or not was not clear as there were some standing walls and buildings that blocked a clear view of the location. That gouge continued through the southeast portion of the Gate District just east of Blackwing. The group would have to cross that obstacle to get to the eastern reaches of the Gate District where Horgus', Anevia's, and Karas' residences were located.

The streets visible around Blackwing were deserted and quiet.

Tauni laughed heartily at Franti's performance, though she gasped in surprise when he pulled out her scarf. She playfully slapped Cobblepaw, scolding him "You let him take that? Whose side are you on?"

When they emerged in the daylight, Tauni clasped a hand over her mouth. The sheer magnitude of the destruction was nearly beyond belief.

"It somehow didn't see as bad in the night..." she said to no one in particular. And yet, she thought, something about the light of day seems hopeful.

"We should see what we can do about getting over to the Gate District. We have a lot of places to check." She considered and then added "Though, perhaps we should check this closest safe house. it doesn't seem far off our route."

Karas laughed as the fool was once more jovial and playfully rolled his eyes at the tricks and antics. He spoke over Franti's 'corpse', "Here lies Franti the fool. His last joke was a killer."

He laughed once more and finished his breakfast. He kept near Anarya during preparations and, once outside, his jaw dropped at the sheer magnitude of destruction.

Once the shock was over he blinked and looked at Tauni. "I agree, we may as well tackle the closest problem first."

The crusaders began to make their way toward the ruins in the area Wenduag indicated should be the Nyserian Manor house.

When they got to the place Wenduag claimed was Nyserian Manor, there was little but rocks and rubble. Wenduag said there was a basement, but the rubble from the main building apparently filled in whatever may have been in the basement, so it would take a massive labor effort to search for anything that might have been inside the house. Nothing of value could be seen at the surface.

Staring at the wreckage, Karas scratched his head.

"Um. Well do you think it's still intact?" He asked to Wendaug and the party. "I mean we can work at the rubble if you want but we may just want to flag this place for the crusaders to come back to maybe?"

Earlier

Avelina watched Franti's capering with rapt attention, her hands held together in preparation to clap, as clap many times she did. She proved herself the rare audience member with complete faith in the performing magician, laughing on cue at punchlines and gasping at surprises. She had heard the phrase "Suspension of Disbelief" ages ago, and--while she never did learn exactly what it meant--she had decided immediately that suspending disbelief must be a Good Thing, as it sounded to her just like a wordier way of saying Faith, and she could hardly not be Faithful as a Favored Soul of the Inheritor, could she?

When Franti slips up and dropped his cards, she immediately dropped down to the ground with with him to help collect his cards. She tilted her head in curious surprise as Franti mentioned something about failing the trick.

"You failed? Oh. Were you using magic to turn whichever card he picked into a Joker? So you accidentally turned all of the cards into Jokers? Is that how you did it? It must be. Your magic powers must be even more impressive than you thought!"

She voicelessly gasped, then covered her mouth with a dainty hand before leaning in and whispering.

"How silly of me! It's a secret."

She stepped back as Franti moved towards the center of the room, concern covering her face. At his mention of a hypothetical king, she straightened her back, holding up a declarative finger with her head high. As the resident royal of the group, she found it necessary to educate the misinformed citizens as to the realities of royalty.

"Any king that would hang a fool--or anyone or that matter--for such a slight matter is a fool hims--"

She screamed as Franti began to "hang" himself. She froze, paralyzed by a thought running through her head on a loop: "Not again."

She finally gathered enough of her senses to at least look to the others for action, but they only stood and laughed. Looking back to Franti, she saw him lying down and carrying-on with glee. A jest. Only a jest. She breathed again--as she realized she hadn't been breathing--and she managed a slight smile for Franti.

"That was delightful. I am so happy that you have found yourself again, Franti. If you will all excuse me, I should finish getting ready."

She curtsied as an afterthought, escaping the room in restrained haste.

It wasn't his fault; he didn't know. He wasn't there on that day with her Aunt. He had been so despondent earlier, and she didn't want to make him feel worse again, so she swore to say nothing.
The event she's referring to is something I kinda just made up in reaction to the situation ;)

Now

Avelina remained oddly quiet during the whole trip to the manor. She did not even give her usual dramatic call-outs when casting her Armor of Faith Mage Armor, nor when she activated her silver scale outside the manor house.

She hung on Ellena like a tired puppy. She wondered if this is what it would feel like to walk at the side of the Inheritor herself. Occasionally, when she thought she could steal a glance without being caught, she would compare Ellena's face to that of the Inheritor statue in Avelina's room. She had a hard time seeing anything but Ellena.

During Franti's ... and let's face it ... Avelina's performance:

The librarians had been mostly keeping their distance from the crusaders as they ate their breakfast, but when Franti began his act, they approached and watched. Their faces looked suspicious at first, as if he were some kind of hoaxer out to separate them from their coin. It wasn't that they thought he was really going to ask them for money, more the appropriateness of such jests in such a serious time.

But as he proceeded, and more and more as Avelina proved herself the perfect audience member, they little by little began to forget the awful events of the past days and smiled, then giggled and gave furtive glances at each other, and finally they did something they hadn't been sure they would ever do again--they laughed.

It ended too quickly and they again were back in a ruined city beset by demons and their minions, with blood on the floor and their beloved library devoid of most of its treasures. But they each were as grateful to Franti for this little gift as to all the crusaders for their heroics the night before.

As the group began to prepare to go out, discussing where to go next, Fenna whispered to the others and they spread out looking at book spines and title pages of books. One of them returned to the middle of the room with a book in his hand. They looked it over and then quietly aproached Franti. Fenna handed him the book and kissed him on the cheek.

They waited by the doors as the group approached to venture out. Anevia gave Aravashnial a hug and Horgus even attempted some encouragement to the blind Riftwarden who was remaining behind. They again thanked everyone and wished them blessings and reminded them to return when the city was liberated.

Perception 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (11) - 1 = 10

Ellena was mostly quiet as the crew made their way through the wreckage of the town. It was unbelievable the destruction as compared to only a few days ago.

She wasn't even able to completely focus on the Lady at her shoulder. Ellena wanted to cry, to say something intelligent, to do anything to change what had happened to the town by those awful demons. Instead, she steeled her resolve to find whatever was left of the town defenders and add her sword arm to their cause.

"Yes, we'll drive these outsiders out of our town," she said to teh whole group, and to herself, more than anyone.

Resetting Smile Counter, now at eight (5 Librarians, Avelina, Tauni, Karas).

Franti quickly wiped his cheek where Fenna had kissed, smearing some of his paint. "Th-Thanks, but that really, really wasn't necessary. Um, please don't go telling people you did that. I know how rumors start, believe me, I usually start them!" The fool laughed nervously as he once more wiped his face, seemingly believing her kiss left a mark. He bowed and placed the book within his bag. "Thank you, look over our Elf-friend."

At the Manor

At the manor, Franti looked over the large plot where a building was was. He walked over to the large rocks and gave them a touch. "Yup, these're some big rocks, alright." The fool turned to his party. "I love me some heavy lifting, don't get me wrong, but perhaps our skills are better suited elsewhere?

Horgus began to get impatient as the crusaders examined the ruined manor. "There's obviously nothing here! My manor is very near. Why aren't we heading for it?" A little of his early haughtiness returned. "We've only got to go a little east, to get back into the Gates and around that place where the ground has collapsed and it should be just to the north. Every moment we delay is another chance for looters to rob me of all I own!"

Bloated vultures circled lazily watching for fresh carrion to eat. A nearby murder of crows filled the air with raucous shrieks as they took to the air to locate fresh food down the hill from where they stood in the direction Horgus had suggested they travel to get to his house.

Moments later, a woman's high scream mingled with the crows and all noticed a woman running away as the crows flew toward her. She was about 70 feet away and running away from where the group stood. A betting man would not bet on her to win a race with the birds. At second glance, the birds are not crows but ravens.

It will take at least a full round of movement to get close enough to help her with melee weapons. If attacking with a ranged weapon, the distance is 60'.

Round 1
28 Tauni
25 Anevia
20 Franti
17 woman running from Ravens
15 ravens
14 Anarya
9 Horgus
8 Karas
5 Avelina
3 Ellena

Map will be up later. Indicate if you are moving and how far. No need to post in initiative order.

Ellena sensed the immediate danger of the flock of crows. When she noted the demon/undead taint of the flock, she sprung into action. "Over here, woman," Ellena called out as she double moved into the path of the woman and the undead flock.

Another test, Iomedae? Please let me prove more worthy this time! My Lady and the others expect better than that...

Franti looked at the birds chasing after the woman as he dropped his bag to the ground. "Does anyone have breadcrumbs? We can lure them with those." The fool followed Ellena, though his pace came to a stop as he drew his bow, nocked a blunted arrow, and fired at the birds.

Sneak Attack? Ranged Attack against FFAC: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22 for Damage: 1d6 + 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + (3, 2) + 2 = 8, nonlethal (1 damage if sneak doesn't apply)

Free to drop bag, Move to advance 30 ft, Standard to Fire.

Karas was going to answer Horgus but then the screaming woman took his attention.

He looked over the tainted flock, the, have Anarya a worried look and took off running to intercept the danger.

Double move to intercept the birds. Not raging yet.

Anarya rushed forward, unaware of the tainted nature of the animals. She just wanted to be close enough to protect her allies if they became injured.

Moving up to about 15 feet behind Karas and Ellena, whoever is in the front. Anarya doesn't realize the birds might be vulnerable to her channel energy yet, since no one has filled her in.

Avelina rushed forward about 30 feet, drawing her crossbow on the move. She stopped as she finally recognized the signs of undeath and contagion on the swarm of birds. She held up a hand to the side of her mouth to call out towards her allies ahead of her.

"I smell the stench of undeath on those vile, foul, diseased birds! Blow up those little jerks with holy enegy, Anarya!"

Avelina leveled her crossbow at eye level and loosed a bolt at the birds.

Attack with Light Crossbow: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 2
I'm guessing they are a swarm and can't be crit, but I'll roll a confirmation roll anyways just in-case
Crit Threat: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12
Crit Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 5

"Well, at least its not rats." Tauni moved forward toward the woman, even as she brought her crossbow to bear.

5' step forward, move to ready crossbow, move to load.

Alas, facing forward, Anarya cannot see Avelina's lips move as she shouts.

Map is up. The squares are all 20' square, so each 5' square is 1/4th of the larger square. It may be a little small but it should function.

As Tauni prepared her crossbow, Anevia had two arrows in the air. One went through the swarm, but little to disrupt the integrity of the swarm. Franti sent the a blunt arrow into the chaotic swarm, hitting a number of ravens. But some of the ravens seemed to shake the damage off.

Before the terrified woman heard Ellena or even realized crusaders were near, she ran as fast as she could down the street. The ravens flew after hear gaining steadily. They would soon be upon her.

Karas, Ellena, and others began the desperate race to get to the unnatural collection of beasts before they ran down the unfortunate woman who had gone out to find some food and found herself about to become food herself.

Round 2
Tauni
Anevia
Franti
woman running from Ravens
ravens
Karas
Anarya
Avelina
Ellena
Horgus
Wenduag

Round 2

Tauni grimaced at the closing swarm of birds. Unsure of what she could do to stop them, she opted to wait until the last moment before trying a spell.

Ready an action to cast Glitterdust on the swarm when it is within 5' of the woman. She'll center the spell behind them so it catches them at the edge of the effect.

The swarm is currently just 10 feet from her, so might as well cast it now. The woman is moving at 30 and the swarm at 40, so on the swarm's turn it will engulf her, at least, if movement continues as it is going. Also, if it works and they are blinded, it could help her elude them. If Tauni wants to move, she has a move action worth of activity available.

Tauni caused an explosion of glitter to engulf the swarm, stopping short of the woman. The swarm now glowed eerily and the birds might be blind.

Round 2
Tauni (moves?, casts spell, swarm blinded)
Anevia
Franti
woman running from Ravens
ravens (blind, 3 NL)
Karas
Anarya
Avelina
Ellena
Horgus
Wenduag

I'm going camping tomorrow through Sunday so not much posting from me until Sunday afternoon or evening.

GM, was Avelina not able to shoot the swarm last turn? You just have her listed as moving.

Avelina reloaded her crossbow. Having not yet heard or seen the Brilliant Light of the Inheritor channeled through Anarya yet, Avelina turned back around to shout at Anarya.

"Didn't you hear me?"

Her mind finally reminded her of her ally's curse.

"Oh, yes. Well. The birds are undead! Blow them up with the Inheritor's Glorious Radiance!"

The message finally given, Avelina turned back around and loosed another bolt at the birds.

Attack with Light Crossbow: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 3

Karas drew his longsword as hekept his pace towards the undead birds.

Draw as part of move action and double move towards flock. Alternatively, If I'm in charge range, I'll rage and charge with a claw. I apologize but the map is throwing me off a little.

As the blunted arrow flied into the flock, Franti appeared somewhat disappointed by the lack of the birds' response. He chased after the them, moving as far towards the birds as he could.

Double move to towards ravens

Each square on the map is 20'. It's 15 feet for Karas to get to the street, right in front of where Avelina is. From there it's 60' to the swarm, so a total of 75'. That may change before his turn comes up. Also note my house-ruled charging rules. You can charge provided the last ten feet of movement are in a straight line at the target.

Anevia ran toward the street, putting away her shortbow and drawing her short sword, sensing that her arrows would not be effective against such an enemy.

After Tauni had cast her spell, the trait of ravens to collect shiny objects proved to be their undoing. The glitterdust exploded in their midst and they looked right at it, fascinated. This blinded them and they landed rather than fly blindly. The woman continued to run as fast as she could, turning down a path between two houses. The birds appeared to be able to still smell her as the chased her on foot, moving much slower than she, tracking her by scent. In this way she looked as if she would be able to hide somewhere in the ruins of this neighborhood, assuming she could find an open door or a window to crawl through.

Karas and Franti ran between gaps in a board fence along the street and began to close the distance to the birds. Avelina got off another shot, and managed to hit one of the ravens, but there were hundreds of birds, so this had little effect on the swarm.

Horgus and Wenduag brought up the rear of the group. Wenduag stopped long enough to pick up a large board to use as an improvised club.

I'm assuming Anarya and Ellena will double move, following Karas and Franti. I moved them toward the gap in the fence. Anarya is 60' from the swarm, so she may have to double move next turn to get close enough for a channel energy, if she wants to try that. If the swarm moves back toward the group, which they may do if they sense a new foe in Franti and Karas, that could allow her to get close enough with a move action to try the channel energy. As long as any part of the swarm is in range, she can harm the group. I also moved Tauni, assuming she would move after casting her glitterdust spell.

Round 3
Tauni
Anevia
Franti
woman running from Ravens
ravens (blind, 3 NL)
Karas
Anarya
Avelina
Ellena
Horgus
Wenduag

Edit:

It looked like the blindness from the glitterdust was starting to wear off.

As the storyteller launched into the next part of the story, all thoughts of romance were forgotten as he described the horrible swarm of undead ravens.

"As the heroes ran to help the unfortunate woman, those who had noticed the unnatural appearance of the swarm had alerted their comrades to the fact that these birds appeared to be dead and yet still they flew after the terrified woman. All, except perhaps the fool, Franti, who had only recently arrived n Kenabres, knew that these birds were likely infected with a disease unique to the Worldwound, called demonplague.

"Of the afflictions wreaked upon Sarkoris by the Worldwound and Deskari’s host, the demonplague was perhaps the most insidious. This vile sickness spread through water, affecting plant and animal life alike. In higher creatures, the demonplague caused madness and then death, but in animals and other unintelligent beasts, it continued beyond death, animating them as undead horrors called plagued beasts. The plague also twisted and corrupted plant life—turning them into abominations like bowel worms, parasites that eat their way out of an infected person's stomach every couple of days, pallid, arm-length, maggot-like, eyeless worm with a nasty collection of toothy mouths on one end. It is but one of a dozen plants and animals I could describe, corrupted by demonplague."

Since Demonplague was by this point in the crusades a well documented disease, here are the stats:
DEMONPLAGUE
Type disease, injury or ingested; Save Fortitude DC 18
Onset 1 day; Frequency 1/day
Effect 1d3 Con damage and 1d6 Wis damage, and victim is fatigued if it takes any ability damage from the disease; certain creatures slain by demonplague (those with Int = 1 or 2) rise as plagued beasts; Cure 3 consecutive saves

If members of the crusade remain in the city, as rumored, they will likely have potions to help cure the disease.

Karas' telltale rage manifested and he charged for the birds.

Posting early, change the charge to a normal swing if the swarm doubles back on him. Wielding Longsword in both hands

MWK Cold-Iron Longsword attack,Charging,Power Attack: 1d20 + 8 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (8) + 8 + 2 - 1 = 17
Damage,power attack,2hands: 1d8 + 4 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 3 + 2 = 17

Very busy day yesterday, but your guess was spot-on - Anarya wants to double move and get closer to the swarm, to channel energy as fast as she can.

Anarya will be able to move to within 30' in her upcoming turn, so you can roll her channel energy result next chance you get, or I'll roll it after Tauni and Franti act. Once I've resolved how the swarm moves on its turn, I'll process and report on Karas' attack.

Round 3

Tauni loosed a bolt, just trying to go through the center of the birds in the hope of killing a few of them. She looked around at the nearby buildings as she called out "Should we take cover someplace they can't follow? An intact building, if such a thing exists anymore?" By the time she finished asking, another bolt was loaded in her crossbow.

To hit 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
Damage 1d8 + 0 ⇒ (3) + 0 = 3

Franti moved closer to the swarm, spreading out from his group. He wasn't sure how he would combat the flock, and mostly waited for one of the more clever, smarter members of the party to think of something.

The fool shot an arrow, trying to catch the flock's attention.

Ranged Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17 for Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6, nonlethal.

Tauni ran up to the fence along the street and got off a crossbow bolt, but it had no effect on the swarm. Franti and Anevia also got off shots. Franti's blunt arrow ricocheted through the swarm, knocking a number of ravens senseless and confusing others, while Anevia managed to skewer a few with one arrow. 8 non-lethal, 1 lethal

No one in the group could see where the woman went but it was possible that she had found a building she could enter with a door she could close to keep the swarm from following her.

Meanwhile, the swarm had regained it's ability to see, although it still glowed gold on black. The arrow attacks drew its attention and it took flight and flew at Karas.

As the swarm approached, Karas swung his sword back and forth through the swarm. The blade was not the most effective weapon against the swarm, missing many birds, but those it hit it cleaved and sliced, taking many of the undead birds out. Used previous attack as AOO for 8 lethal.

The ravens peck and scratch Karas, getting past chinks in his armor, but they don't hurt his eyes.

The birds suffered such heavy losses, the swarm lost its cohesion and scattered in all directions. The threat was over, for the moment.

Melee over.

"We should keep moving. The dark magic that brought that swarm together may reform it." She looked around quickly for where the woman went, but didn't move to search. She must have bolted.

Tauni made eye contact with Anarya before she signed to her "Watch Karas for signs of Demonplague." She pursed her lips in concern for the relentless warrior that may have just saved them all, but resigned herself to the idea that they had to keep moving.

"Then we can un-form it again." Franti looked at Karas with a smile. The fool wasn't worried, he'd seen Karas take far worse. He put away his bow, drawing his saps. He went and grabbed his backpack by the ruined manor before rushing back to his friends. "If we go, we're leaving her to die."

As the flock dispersed and karas' wounds began to heal, the manifestations of rage left his form.

He looked at the blade and balked a little before taking a bit of his now tattered tunics, tearing it off, and cleaning the sword.

He looked back at the group and smiled again, before remembering the woman. "Crap, did anyone see where the woman went? We need to get her help."

"You both are right. We cannot leave her alone to die here. She needs to be taken to safety. We at least have to go look," Ellena called out, as she moved toward the last place the woman was seen. The Inheritor would have risked her life for this stranger...I must do the same.

Franti followed Ellena, looking down the road the woman ran down. He looked at the six buildings, wondering which she was in. The fool shrugged, and moved to the closest building, pushing open the door.

"Ma'am! C'mon out," the fool noisily rang out, "we aren't looters, I promise!" The fool waited a few moments in the doorway of the first house.

Avelina walks with the assurednance expected of her as she patrols the street, calling out in each direction.

"HELLO! We are great heroes, so there is no need to fear us! I swear in the Name of the Inheritor that we are Just and Righteous Souls here to free this city from the grip of Abyssal Terror!"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (6) + 13 = 19

I figure we are trying to convince her that it's safe for her, so diplomacy might make sense to roll

As the others started shouting, Tauni winced. She knew they were doing the right thing, but risking drawing attention of the wrong sort... She bit her lip and scanned the remains around them; not for the elusive woman, but for more foes that might be drawn to them.

Having sensed Tauni's apprehension, Cobblepaw poked his head back out of his satchel, sniffing at the air and looking around as well.

Several in the group had seen the woman take advantage of the birds momentary blindness and run south between some buildings along a street. A little encouragement from Avelina and Franti and a door cracked open. The frightened young woman, not even 20 years old, peered out and crept back onto the street. She burst into tears and ran to hug someone, anyone.

After a few moments, she calmed down enough to say, "Bless you. The streets are so dangerous now, but I had to go out to find food for my younger brothers and sisters. I was chased by some crusaders who said they needed me for a sacred ritual, but they seemed like they may have lost their minds so I ran from them. They're still around here somewhere. On my way back from hiding from them, I disturbed the ravens feasting on a fallen horse and they started chasing me." She breaks into sobs again at the memory, but masters herself well and asks you to help her get back to her family.

The woman would welcome an escort from the party back to her house where she and her family are hiding, but she doesn't want to leave them behind. The party can send help if they can find the crusade HQ.

As you accompany the woman to her hiding place nearby, she tells you some of the things she's heard over the past few days:

"The Kite’s been destroyed, and along with it the wardstone! The demons are loose! There seem to be fewer sightings these past few days, however."

"The Mendevian army is heading to Kenabres to save us, but who knows when they’ll get here?"

"Where is your home, my dear? How far away are we? We'll not leave you are your kin behind!"

Ellena is wondering if their home might be on the way to Gwerm's. It'd be easy to kil two birds with one stone, if so.

The woman, whose name is Wren, says, "We've been hiding in an abandoned smithy at the edge of the artisan market section in Southgate." She points post the gash and Blackwing to a place south and west about a quarter mile.

Assuming you take her home, you'll just need to backtrack to the Librarium and the across the gash to be on track to reach Gwerm Manor.

Karas stopped dead in his tracks for a moment when the woman mentioned Terendelev's body. What sort of sick trophy are they trying to claim? Where would they take her? Why...

His rage started to well up and the manifestations started to appear but he shook his head and gritted his teeth, forcing himself to calm down. The physical changes stopped and reverted slowly.

He wiped his eye and started moving again.

"It's ok. We'll get you to safety and then we'll save anyone we can while the army is coming."

Avelina leapt in joy at the news of her aunt the Queen marching to the city, clapping her hands and grinning with her whole body.

"I knew Auntie would be on her way! Everything is going to be okay. Not just okay, but Glorious! Valorous! Beautiful! The bards shall sing of Auntie's heroic march to defeat the invading hordes! I just know it!"

She finally settled and cleared her throat, straightening out her outfit once more and making sure her makeshift repairs to the chest of her cassock had not come undone.

"I suggest we take this young woman back with us so we can find her family and bring them with us. A smithy would likely have further arms and armor for us to requisition for our use as well!"

Franti thought over the rumors, wondering how much credibility there was to them. Certainly there were less demons now since the initial invasion, but as to the silver dragon and the Mendev reinforcements, he hadn't a clue. Regardless, he smiled at Avelina's reaction to the last rumor.

"How rude, princess. Save the bards the trouble, you have a fool, remember? And for family of friends, I might even spare the jokes and jests." Franti placed the saps back to his bandolier. He removed his wooden holy symbol from under his shirt and gave it a peck. "Might. Pray auntie doesn't arrive too quickly, my routine is not yet fit for a queen."

The fool thought of what he might say in front of a queen's court as he skipped throughout the ruins. He wondered if his new book from the library would lend material for the occasion.

As Karas' features start to change, the woman takes some cautious steps back, glancing nervously at the others to see if they were worried about this. When the offer is made to take her and her family to safety, she says, "It is not far to where my brothers and sisters are. The youngest is but a toddler, so best we stay in the shop, unless you know of a safer place nearby."

"Gwerm, does your house have food stored there? If we can get the family there, you can feed them and keep my share of whatever gold you had mentioned earlier, if so."

Horgus scowled and looked suspiciously at the woman. "If looters haven't made off with everything, I suppose.... Why don't we escort them to the library first. They have enough food to share."