The little shocker lizard runs about, noticing that no one is tending to the knocked out elf. "Charles, Tanira, are my services needed as a healer to get the elf on his feet again?"
The glow of your dragonmarks fade, but you know that everyone but Charles has one.
Jake's action is to stand guard weapon in one hand until saronis is able to move again.
Quantos will detect magic on the scrollcase to see if all of the magic has left it.
"There is nothing I can do, save to guard him while he sleeps it off." Charles grabs his bow and an arrow and will lean against the plinth where the Silver Flame was/is with Saronis directly to his right.
"That would be for the best and this place is relatively safe." She gets a blanket from her backpack and covers him, carfully putting a piece of own clothes as pillow under his head. "He doesn't look wounded or so... can you still detect evil on the sword?" The last question is primarily directed at Charles. She looks at the sword but doesn't touch it.
She looks around for a moment and sees the food that is still boiling in the cauldron. "Maybe we all sit down, eat a bit and you guys tell us how all this happened. I am quite curious." She walks back to the little fireplace, tests the food and start putting something onto her own field dishes.
"Well, I was hired on after his sword was the way it was."
Detect evil on the sword and surrounding area.
Cil hops down from her perch and strides over to crouch by Saronis' head, laying a palm on his forehead.
Lookin up at Tanira, she says "Me and Saronis here , we go way back. Any way , we were in Sharn, when this sneaky bugger said Saronis here was destined to face his family's ancient Enemy or some such. she pauses as if rembering something "Oh yeah, I'd got a message form the Hag Sora Maeyna for some job, when it turned out another hag, Katra wanted Saronis for the same thing, in fact the sneaky guy was working for a hag as well. So after a tavern brawl, a minotaur Uldor 'hires' us for the medusa Harash who gives us these rings that would send us to Kyber's Gate under Sharn where our buddy could be turned un-petrified. But, we ended up somewhere else."
Taking a deep breath, Cil continues "We were in the dark with a voice talking to us...being all mysterious. So we found a shrine with lots of treasure on top of it, and the voice says all scary-like "I'm the lady of Plagues!". Well, Saronis got upset but for some reason he and me wanted to touch the shrine and when we did the voice called us its slaves and we drank some drinks from the shrine and got dragonmarks and then we saw the big giant who went 'Blah , blah, glorious age, blah,blah Far Realm'. So then we searched around and grabbed some goodies, like Saronis's bad sword, my dagger and some other knick-knacks. Then we left that cavern and found Uldor and with him we killed a bunch of Khyber cultists, you know as a test.
So that done, we head back up into Sharn and then there's an earthquake and I'm almost crushed by the collapsing inn. Then Harash sends us over here to Xen'drick to find a book that was stolen from the hags...so after a few dustups in Stormreach and a skyship attack, we've made peace with the locals and just have to get to the ruins and retrieve that book.
Hmmm, I think thats all...."
Tanira listens quietly and seemingly sceptical while she's listening and hands out plates with food to anyone who wants it.
At two instance she takes particular notice: When Cil mentions that they 'got' Dragonmarks and that Sharn she is suprised and seems to have trouble believing what she hears. When she hears that Sharn was hit by an earthquake she seems shocked.
"I didn't know Sharn was hit by an earthquake. How bad was it? Did many of the towers collapse?" She is from the Eldeen Reaches, a wild child, and can't even imagine what a city like Sharn is like, but she has heard a lot about it, the fabled city of towers.
There's a billion questions she has a billion question and is utterly confused. However, she only asks the final two questions in a long list.
"What book are you looking for? How do you mean to find it?"
Cil scratches her head "Um, not too sure about Sharn, we left there in a bit of hurry."
"The book.... Cavallah stole this book, a spellbook apparently from around here. And she's brought it back here to a ruin called Korromar, that's run by House Kundarak. Our clients think Cavallah had something to do with the quakes in Sharn, so that book might be a bit powerful."
The group stays at the 'shrine' for several hours waiting for Saronis to come too. Some take care of the elf as others keep guard. Saronis comes too after three hours.
He wakes up slightly startled, "ah, um, what!? Cil? What's going on? Did I get hit by another mental attack?" As he tries to get up he brings his hand to his head, then lies back down likely with some comforting hands. "Ahhh my aching head!"
While Saronis still sleeps Tanira checks his heart rate and breath to make sure he's still alright and is careful not to wake him doing so.
After that she goes looking for herbs, especially ones that may help in the healing process, humming a not particularly melodic song while she searches the underbush for useful plants.
When Saronis wakes up Tanira comes back with a smile and welcomes him to the land of the living. "Take it easy... I don't know exactly what happened, but it seems to have worked. Charles says the sword does not have an evil aura any more. And you didn't really miss anything."
She pauses for a moment and considers. But this book... it sounds insanely tempting. She's not crazy, she has no intention of using it. But she does want to unveil its mysteries; where it came from, what it might be able to do, who wrote it and why.
"Would you guys mind if I'd accompany you to Korramar? I know a bit of magic and I might be able to help. Besides, I have little to do here and will likely go crazy if I stay in this area for longer."
Cil smiles down at Saronis "Welcome back , Sar. Ritual's all done, check your sword out, no more evil spirit?"
Turning to Tanira again "You're welcome to come along, you too Charles, you've both shown how useful you can be."
She then pauses, "There's one thing that you should know before you join.". She faces Tanira and Charles, "I told the others before they joined up, it wouldn't be fair not to tell you."
As the two look on, Cil straightens and actually grows a bit taller and her face begins to twist and change.
Disguise
Taking on Tanira's features with a few mistakes,
Disguise
then morphing into a very convincing imitation of Charles' face.
"I'm a changeling" Charles' face on Cil's body says "That's a deal breaker for some people, so I figured it was something you'd need to know."
"That is really neat. It seems like it can come in handy.
That book should probably be in another groups hands. It would probably behoove the party if I traveled along. The Sly has probably had enough of me. Let me pack my things, I will be done in a few minutes. "
Saronis clears his head and takes his time to sit up. "Honestly the more the merrier, thank you both for your help!"
He takes his time to stand up and reaches out and grabs the blade, one hand holding onto Cil. Power fills him and his dragonmarks all begin to glow again. Cil you feel the surge you may make a Reflex save DC 13 to move away.
Saronis would need to rest for 4 hours, so Tanira would take most of that time foraging for herbs. She now has material components to make restorative potions.
Cil supports Saronis, does not move away, willing to share what happens with her friend
Nope, she's a bit of an agnostic.
Quantos leans against a shrine to Dol Arrah and takes a brief nap.
You can feel the strong connection between Saronis and you but there is something more. As if there is a magical connection as well, you can sense his four developed dragonmarks, and the new one forming on his hand, the mark of death! But that can't be right!
Suddenly and seemingly out of nothing Tanira cries out: "I DIDN'T ASK TH..." She interrupts herself, bows her head a bit and rubs her brows, covering her eyes. A bit shaken and more quietly she continues: "I am sorry, my nerves are somewhat shaken, it seems."
Too many mystic voices out of nothing demanding things of her... too few answers. "Well, unless you wish to rest for a day - I don't know how long you were underway - I'd like to get going."
She picks up her gear. "Which way?"
The scrollcase is gone, it was used up as well as the scroll within during the ritual.
He shakes once more clearing his head. He smiles at Cil and touches his forehead to hers, a silent thank you. "No more evil spirit, more like a listless one much more like me."
"Our mounts are that way, down the path..." Saronis begins to say but questions as he does not see a path anymore. "Quantos, where does your sword guide us?"
Saronis takes a few minutes while the others figure where to go, to stretch and then to check on his mount. He pauses and looks at Tanira to make sure she is fine as she makes the outburst..
Quantos stands from his nap, his mind on something else. He holds out the sword to see if it guides us in any direction, or if we are once again under our own bearings.
Happy to finally have a purpose and leave this, if holy, still boring place Tanira whistles for her own horse, puts the saddle on and mounts it, riding by Saronis side.
"Well... I hope this works, since otherwise we'd have to get a map from Stormreach..."
Cil shakes her head after Saronis grabbed hold of the sword, blinking.
She smiles to see Saronis seems to be back to his old self.
"Where'd the path go....my mounts down that way...with our guide."
[spoiler=DM]If the silver flame is a deity, I worship that one.[/spoiler
Charles meanders back to the shrine wearing his well worn backpack "I am ready to go. Who knows where we are wandering?"
As Quantos moves his sword around like a dousing stick, it lights up at a certain direction. With the area still being completely under the canopies it is hard to determine the direction.
With a direction chosen Saronis acts and asks, "Onward then, shall you make a swathe big enough for our horses or shall we dismount?"
"I would strongly prefer not to tear down half the forest just for our convenience. Let's just ride and see how it goes; if we don't get through we may lead our horses any time."
Tanira pets the neck of her horse and whispers something into its ear. Then she gives it a little push with her heels and rides slowly onward. "Maybe we find a place at which we have a better overlook."
"That works too, sorry I am used to living in more civilized lands." He coaxes his horse to move forward following Quantos.
The little lizard runs around a bit, then climbs up Tanira's horse to sit in front of her. He looks at her as if expecting something.
She gives Saronis a mild smile as he begs pardon and makes a dismissive gesture - don't mention it. She knew that many people who hadn't grown up in the wild considered the wilderness a mere hindrance.
As Sly jumps in front of her saddle she smirks: "Well, if you were a mammalian male I'd consider that a very indecent approach, but since you aren't..." She squeezes him softly and makes sure he sits safely. "Welcome on board. You wanna tag along? Can you help us get through the forest without cutting it to bits?"
Sly cocks his head at her in confusion. He simply smiles looking around at the new height.
"Aukan and Thar will likely catch up to us, he knows the area well enough." Saronis says as he dodges vines and branches.
An hour or two of following Quantos's glowing sword and the group finds themselves over a massive ruin. The group is about 200 feet above the ruins and without a steep descent it will take a while to get around to a more manageable decline, at least 300 feet away.
Down below you can see activity inside the ruins, it looks like at least two parties are fighting. There is much vegetation that has grow in and amongst the ruins, trees tower over the ruined buildings as large ferns grow on the roofs of many of the buildings. Vines do creep down the edge of the giant crater. A camp seems to be established on the trail down to the ruins.
Cil stands at the edge of the cliff, foot resting on an rock, gazing down upon the action below
Perception
"So, our dark elf friends are fighting a bunch of goblins, I can't make out anything else."
Tanira slips off her horse at the scene, wraps one arm around the little fox who follows her everywhere and pets it between the ears.
"Can you make anything out, Zharon?" she whispers to the creature while she tries to see through the undergrowth herself.
Saronis dismounts seeing the edge and leads the horse forward some to get a better view.
"Yeah that's how it looks, we have another fight over there going on at the camp as well. Well that is the way that I can get my horse down. Shall we start skirting around, letting them weaken each other?" Saronis states what he observes and offers a path.
"I feel no pressing need to interfere with any haste. Lead the way."
"Saronis I like your idea" if Charles was mounted he will dismount and tie the reins to a tree branch and follow Saronis as quietly as he can.
Saronis dismounts seeing the edge and leads the horse forward some to get a better view. [dice=Perception]1d20+5
"Yeah that's how it looks, we have another fight over there going on at the camp as well. Well that is the way that I can get my horse down. Shall we start skirting around, letting them weaken each other?" Saronis states what he observes and offers a path.
Tanire seemed greatly concerned with the battle down there and the amount of forces, all more or less hostile. "Yeah, I would like to avoid them altogether if anyhow possible. The last we need is to get between them."
"Alright, lets get down there. Hopefully once we're closer we can figure out what's going on. "
Quantos tightens his grip on his sword, and moves ahead with the others.
Since we are currently escorted by the drow they would probably take offenss if they are loosing and we don't help. I care not for any of them but we do need some allies down here should we need them in the futur and what better way to make them owe uss is we save them from a dire situation. So i would suggest everyone to prepare for combat he says as he dismount and grab his weapon with one hand as he pulls out a wand.
The group heads back into the forest to keep cover. They eventually make it around to the path down. 300 feet down is the camp, there is still fires and a battle going on.
Is our escort concerned with the battle?
Charles draws his bow and knocks an arrow, he slowly approaches the combat.
when Charles gets in range of the battle he will Detect Evil. If the drow are evil Charles will not use his bow but will keep the drow alive as best as possible, otherwise he will attempt to pick off the enemies of the drow.
if drow = evil, then stabilizing only.
if drow = not evil, aid in killing.