"We need to bring that thing down before it tears off bite by bite!" Shalissa screams alarmed as half the party runs away.
Decided to make a stand, she casts shield to protect herself and gain some time while the others recover themselves.
Ndombe pokes it with its trident!
Cevill will 5ft back maintaining distance and line and loose two arrows.
Cevill's arrows bring down the ape, and as it falls, a creature of shadows emerges.
It casts deeper darkness!
Neltji keeps on running! The shadow thing was way scarier than the ape thing anyways. Nope…no need to stick around. Hang right Anthony, we are getting out of here.
It casts deeper darkness!
On what? A location in space?
Nothus and his companion continue their excellent plan of running away.
"A shadow demon!" Shalissa grits her teeth "Unless you have a way to get rid of the darkness and a bunch of sacred weapons to harm him, it is time to run all of us"
The elf retreats back to the forest following the others, and drawing her cold iron dagger as she does, casting magic weapon on it.
Ndombe will follow Shalissa's retreating voice. "Right behind you my friend."
"I hate running. We used to have to do that at school. Running away however, I love that!"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
From behind you all hear, Pity! I would have loved to have inhabited one of your bodies!
"Not today, fiend!" Shalissa shouts back, her voice echoing through the dense forest as she sprints alongside her companions.
Once they are far enough from the shadow demon, Shalissa regroups with the others "Is everyone alright?" she asks, her voice steady but concerned as she checks each of her companions for injuries "That was too close for comfort."
"We need to keep moving toward Tazion, but we cannot leave the expedition in the dark about what we encountered. The demon is a serious threat, and they need to be prepared with sacred weapon balms and daylight magic." she looks around at the others "Does anyone have access to a spell like Sending or Animal Messenger? We need to warn them and suggest they take a detour around this area, at least be better equipped to handle that thing that we were"
"Sending is a very powerful spell! No, I am unable to cast such a spell."
Nothus says, "I could send an animal, but not today."
"That shall work Nothus" Shalissa nods to the half-elf and smiles satisfied "Let's move on, and tomorrow when you are ready, we can send an animal messanger for them to have notice of the danger ahead"
You notice snapped saplings and torn brush, evidence that something large has passed through the jungle.
"What might have caused this mess?" Shalissa swiftly checks the evidence and frowns "No idea, but it looks big enough for us to be careful about it..."
The elf casts detect magic and checks if any magical aura has remained around. If so, she studies it.
"These tracks are of a size and spacing to indicate a barefoot humanoid, roughly twice the size of a human."
survival
So...a giant maybe or are you thinking something else? and more importantly are they stalking the first set of prints? I am inclined to follow them and see where they lead but only if we are prepared for a likely combat. After that last fight against the ape I am worried that we are not as prepared as we may be. I know my abilities and given enough time I can wear down any foe to make them susceptible to my spells and hexes...but not if I am fleeing away or caught unawares.
"Ok, let's then have a peek at what is going on. Maybe it is someone who can help us" regretfully Shalissa's abilities do not include healing.
"Let's be careful though on our approach" Shalissa moves with the group, trying to be as stealthy as possible when they approach the activity.
Nothus shrugs, "I'm less worried about our ability to fight as our ability to resist magics that take us out of the fight. Still, I do think sneaking in is good."
The trail leads deeper into the jungle to a small clearing where a boar carcass lies splayed open on a boab tree, its entrails laid out before it.
”Someone was reading this boar’s innards.”
Nothus looks for a moment, "Too bad we can't figure out what they might have learned... it'd give us a hint of who did the asking."
"I have a bit. There you go."
"Hmmm, seems like you are still hurt."
"My songs seem weak today. I have not been practicing enough."
I can heal you once a day my friend Ndombe with but a touch. Would you like me to heal your remaining wounds now or wait till they are more grievous?
If healing wanted
Know arcana
As they come across the splayed innards Neltji gets a bit more curious and examines them herself as well. I have never seen this method of divination actually used before. I wonder how reliable it is and how far into the future one can divine? Ndombe do you know if it was the giant sized creature that did this or some other creature? I would hate for whomever to know that we are following them and they set an ambush for us.
”Just a few hours ago.”
"Whomever did this, it has a macabre way of finding answers" Shalissa looks around for clues of where have this person gone " The question is where has it gone?"
"If it's only been a few hours, we might be able to find a trail," and begins to look about for just such a thing to follow.
Nothus easily picks up a trail that leads to the edge of a clearing in which sits a small gravesite surrounded by anthills, with a gaping hole in the side of the cairn marking where the tomb was breached. As you enter the clearing, someone is exiting the tomb. A dead-looking troll stands nearby.
"Who are you? What have you done in that tomb?!" Shalissa exclaims alarmed by the looks of the stranger, and quickly reacts to the presence of a troll, trying to making it fall by casting create pit on his feet.
Shalissa casts create pit!
Jigeke manages to jump out of the way, but the troll falls in!
Ndombe casts bull’s strength on Umngane.
Umngane will move and attack Jigeke, careful to avoid the edge of the pit.
Crit confirm…
Umngane wounds Jigeke!
Cevill will inspire the group. +2 Attack and Damage
Cevill inspires the group!
Jigeke will take a step back and cast fly on himself and takes off to 30 feet in the air!
The Zombie will try to climb out.
The zombie climbs out!
Nothus shakes his head, "Why do they need to fly? Blackleaf, get the corpse."
The small cat rushes forward to attack the zombie, trying to bite and pull the creature down.
for
As his companion attacks, Nothus begins to cast a complex spell.
Neltji focus on the undead troll as that seems to be the most pressing threat as the other is flying away. She hits it with a misfortune hex as she knows the undead are resistant to some of her other hexes.
Will save dc 19 or roll 2d20 and take the worse.
The cat manages to bite the troll but does not trip it.
Umngane will continue his assault on Jigeke...
Cast CMW [in lieu of mind maze], move forward and touch the troll...
vs Touch AC