Lina folds her hands and looks for the north star, and thanks Desna for letting everyone find their way back to the surface, and to grant her patience. "Horgus, I understand your haste, but consider, if Aravashnial is with his allies, assuming they still live, then we will be able to move much more quickly and quietly thereafter. They may also be able to give us better information of what's happened up here. I think we should go to Blackwing first."
Azlana goes along with Lina's suggestion, and starts out carefully, staying alert for danger.
(That's with a +2 for demons. If it is anything else, than 2 less.)
Shayde casts a cynical eye towards Horgus, but keeps his thoughts to himself, Stalker remaining similarly silent. Still, he would stay with this group, as he knew the truth of his previous statement on the lack of safety here all too well.
Horgus grumbles, but eventually relents, allowing the party to set off.
the rubble makes navigating hard, constant detours and having to push things out of the way. Making things harder, anvina and aravanshul both keep progress slow due to thier injuries. Regardless, the party forges ahead, and massive, red birds- Probobly vultures, circle above. They're far bigger then they should be, and thier coloring is much brighter then is natural.
Haruto frowns up at the birds. "They seem an ill omen," he declares.
Azlana agrees with Haruto about the birds. She would like to shoot them out of the sky, but avoiding them is likely safer, at least for now.
the birds seem to be closing in closer, decending twoards the group.
Stalker looks up at the vultures, then whispers any knowledge it has to Shayde.
If they get close enough (within 110 feet), Azlana will shoot one, trying to warn them off, but if they don't get the hint, then she will keep shooting.
Haruto waits until they're closer, to try to identify if they're some sort of demon (and therefore not susceptible to certain spells).
Hanna and azlana suprize the vultures a fair bit by attacking first, beginning to swoop down with one of them having and arrow stuck in it and a missle pushing it around.
the vulture with an arrow in it's chest seems very upset, diving straight for azlana. Up close it's clear how massive these birds are, bigger then pepole.
azlana has plenty of time to predict and dodge the vulture, however, getting away unscathed.
Haruto chants a brief prayer to Desna to bless his companions.
Azlana shoots again at the same one that tried to dive-bomb her.
(favored enemy and bless)
(favored enemy)
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A flying creature, near the ground... that might be a weakness. With a whispered command, Shayde and Stalker move forward as one. The shade reached out an ectoplasmic claw toward the giant vulture's wing, aiming to swat it to the ground.
Then Shade darted in, curve blade held slightly shakily due to his twitchy arm, to strike at it when it would be most vulnerable, should it fall, or simply to cut at it in passing otherwise.
The vulture is, of current, on the ground but not dead, writhing angrily at the sudden movement, still kicking after two arrows and a cut.
Figuring the first vulture is being taken care of by her allies, Lina draws her bow and lines up a shot on the second vulture.
Azlana also focuses on a vulture that is flying.
the first vulture falls, and the second one dives at lina.
Azlana sees the vulture's vicious attack on Lina, and she shoots at it again, hoping that Lina is okay.
the vulture squirms and screeches, flailing at the arrows.
Lina yells out in pain and momentarily flares with divine positive energy, and her wound closes most of the way. She drops her bow and draws her starknife, but her attack isn’t much more than flailing.
Shayde and Stalker dart toward the second vulture, aiming to attack from the opposite side as Hanna or Lina if possible.
Haruto fires a ray of heavenly fire at the vulture.
the vulture drops dead, flopping to the ground.
Haruto frowns distantly at the corpse, then stares at a point somewhere beyond Lina. "Do you need more healing?" he asks.
Azlana waits for any necessary healing to take place, but then she says
Anything salvageable from a vulture corpse? If not, let's get moving. I'm sure there are more where those came from. The sooner we get Aravashnial back to where he needs to be, the sooner we can get everyone else home as well.
Lina shakes her head. ”Thank you, but I’m fine, let’s keep moving.”
the group eventually comes to a large building where a avarash mentioned. Or, at least, it was, nothing but the facade and the reinforced inner sanctum remain. The buildings nearby, strangely, are near untouched.
anvina gasps and stares on, reluctant to break the news to avarash.
Aravash, where else can we look? Only the inner sanctum seems to be intact.
avarash reels, stunned. He shivers and falls to his knees, covering the back of his head with his hands.
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Lina considers the scene, putting her hand to her chin in thought. "This was a targeted attack," she says. "The other buildings nearby haven't even been touched. The invaders must have known that the Riftwardens were based out of here."
She looks to Aravash and her heart sinks. "I'm so sorry," she says softly in Elvish. "The inner sanctum seems to still be intact. There may still be survivors. We should take a look."
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Shayde considers the structure, and slinks forward to investigate, whispering to the others.. "Much is in ruin; it is no surprise that this building is as well. But the shadows within may yet conceal items of use, or cunning survivors."
Stalker follows wordlessly.
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Haruto stands by Aravashnial, one hand on his shoulder in a gesture that seems intended to be comforting but fails due to his still-distant gaze. He says nothing for the moment, waiting for the Shayde to scout.
arvanshul is mostly non-responsive, shivering and breathing heavily. As shayde approaches, a loud yelling comes out from the open doors- a male, yelling.
"Stack the damn books better!"
shayde is also close enough to hear sobbing from somewhere in the building.
from the doorframe, a liquid drips, bit by bit, before it vanishes quickly into the ground. Anvina shivers. Horgus is staring on with quite possibly the most horribly indifferent look.
Wordlessly, Shayde creeps closer. Strengthened by the darkness, Stalker stays put; one moving was quieter than two. Shayde went to peek into the doorway and get a sense of what was occurring within.
Azlana asks Aravash if he can recognize the voice that was yelling about books, mostly to get him to focus and maybe be able to calm down, but also because she wants to know if it is safe. She doesn’t know if it is someone trying to save the books or stack them for burning.
inside the building, A man in crusader plate is yelling at a woman who is gathering books in tears and placing them around four other women, tied up to a stake.
Silently, Shayde snarls. A cultist, and a wasteful and cruel one.
He signaled to Stalker, letting the shade know what to do. Then, staying hidden as best he could, he focused his mind and power. Inside the building, one of the books abruptly lifted then hurled itself at the 'crusader'.
Stalker, recognizing the pre-arranged signal, loped over to the edge of the light cast by the party. "A foe dwells within." It whispered, then headed back towards the building.
Azlana moves up, and seeing the bad guy, shoots him.
avarash, in response to azlana, shakes his head and ducks as firing begins. Two tieflings, less prominent and hanging behind the crusader make themselves known with a howl.
(block 3)
(block 1)
(block 3)
(block 1)
(block 1)
(block 2)
the crusader whirls around at the firing, bearing his made and bloodied shield painted with iomodae's symbol, arrow lodging in his shoulder and book striking his head.
Lina draws her weapons as she moves, getting right up in the man's face and takes a swing at him.