You find your self sitting in The Twohanded Dagger Inn, in the city of Norfall contemplating about what you experienced so far in this strange continent called Ameris.
All the dead orcs are being put onto piles in front of the city to be burned later.
The damage of yesterdays attack on the city was fixed rather quickly. The soldiers are thankful to you but rather nervous. There are whispers about a werewolf being sighted during the siege.
Saya watches falling snowflakes through the frozen window thinking:
She heavily sighed and look at faces of her party.
"And I still dont have a proof that he is my father!!!"
Saying that Saya slamms her fist against the table alarming everyone and immediately she regret it as blood rushes into her cheeks.
"Sorry."She whispers to her party.
Surprised looks turned to her.
"Is everything in right Saya?"asks the slim Nubian.
The answer does not come as in the same time, the doors to the inn open and in it stands Gnaus Galus. The caravan owner. "We are ready to go when you are." he says, then he turns and leaves.
Saya nodds to worried face of her companion. "We should go,Sladan. If anyone has answers it will be The Carpenter. " As she speaks she stands up and try to avoid all the curious eyes that follows her out of the room.
"Damn it". she whispers slamming the door.
She stops right in front of the caravan unpatiently waiting for the rest of the party.
The caravan takes off.
It does not snow today but the ruthless cold is annoyance on its own. The road is tedious and slow.
Wind is strong an untiring. As the sun sets, the caravan owner picks a spot next to a half frozen river to make a camp.
"This will be our only stop, Anvil is only 4 to 6 hours away so we will be there at midday tomorrow." Says Gnaus.
The spot he picks is as good as it can be on a huge plain sparsely populated by trees. The little river depression will give you the comfort of protection against the wind but that's about it.
Complete darkness surrounds the campsite and the only source of light is the campfire.
After a small meal Gnaus and his wife leave to their tent.
Saya immediately gets closer to fire and starts to rubb her hands together.
She looks up in the sky with clouded eyes.The picture of the beautiful black panther appears in her mind."What happened to you?"
Saya shakes her head as she tried to stop her tears.
Sitting mutely by the fire the Nubian suddenly stirs. "We have company... it looks like they are just watching us."
"I can smell them." states Lucien.
Saldan looks at Lucien "Lets check them out. Wait here Saya." Saying that both of them disappear into darkness.
Saya staying with just two of the caravan guardsmen notices movement by one of the caravan carriages.
She quickly realizes someone is trying to steal the wares.
(Saya's surprise round.)
I just hope Saya will feel better after we eliminate the possible danger around... Um-h! Maybe I'll get this wolf back here to chase me or whatever. Or I can get HawkEye to do some tricks to cheer her up. Whatever Sladan, you'll see later, now you also have some other things to worry about.
While walking towards the men... Don't do anything to screw up, we have to protect the others. Hear me, Lucien?
Soon Sladan realizes something is wrong as three javelins swish past his head and legs. Sharp pain shortly clouds his vision as the 4th javelin connects with his left arm. (4 damage)
Sladan swiftly disposes of the javelin and prepares for fight, but what is this? Using his dark vision he watches in surprise how all the invaders are running away... Stopping occasionally to throw a javelin or two.
Ah! That hurts. Where did it come from? And... what is happening, who or what is scaring them away? Is Lucien a werewolf again?! by saying this, Sladan looks in Lucien's direction.
Saya whispers to guardsmen. "Carefully. We have a visitor".She points direction of the thief. Than her lips move but doesn't make any sound. (Casting silent spell).
Message has been sent to her companions.
Lucien ghouls "Who cares? They will pay!" And he runs off chasing one of the invaders.
Meanwhile the two halfling guardsmen staying back in camp look at Saya as she is casting a spell. Their faces turn into ones full of questions and confusion.
Eventually they try to sneak by the coach to flank the thief. A nasty surprise awaits them as it appears there is more than just one thief.
"Two puny guardsmen and one pretty girl... is this supposed to stop my men from taking the wares? Hahaha..." Laughs one of them.
Sladan, trying to find out what is the situation with the invaders, prepares his bow to attack one of them. As he is ready to shoot an arrow at one of the flying guys, he is surprised by a familiar voice. He hears Saya talking to him and saying that he needs to return.
Sladan puts down his bow, turns around and rushes for the camp stealthy, looking for any possible danger. He tries to find Saya and prepares his attack action.
Saya looks at the shadowy characters.
Saya smirks. She walks toward the enemy while she starts laughing ever louder. Then she speaks with confidence in her voice.
"Looks like you have been expecting a small army and a proper fight. Your wish will come true. I will show you what pretty girls like me can do."
She stops close enough (move to -B,23). She spreads her hands and shouts: "Forces of Wind , Forces of Air who shall stand against you, who shall dare?"
(casting Haunting Mists- DC 18 Will partial).
Rolling some dice:
Wis damage
Wis damage
Wis damage
Wis damage
Wis damage
Wis damage
Wis damage
Wis damage
Wis damage
Wis damage
As the mists spread all the men start screaming in terror. "Witch! Witch! Save yourself who can! Run!"
All but three run away and disappear into darkness.
The remaining three try to charge Saya screaming: "By Esthar-eternal return back to hades where you belong."
But all three fail to find her in the mists and wander around.
The two halfling fighters look at each other and then at Saya.
They point their swords at her and one speaks "Brother are you seeing this? She is a ... Witch?
Saya sees terror in their eyes.
Sladan experiences explosion of shadowy mist and screams of many men.
(There is no point in being sneaky any more, if Sladan sprints he can move into any position on the map.
Keep in mind sprinting is full round action.If he does not want to sprint anther 2 turns required.)
Sladan hears the men screaming as soon as the mist sets in. He sprits towards Saya, knowing that she talked to him. He knows that the mist might be dangerous to him so he tries to move as close as he can to Saya, but not in the mist.
I just hope the mist won't spread. Is Saya safe? If she sent me a telepathic message, can she hear me? Saya, are you alright? Stupid idea Sladan, you don't have spell casting abilities. Stupid idea...
Saya, I'm here! he speaks out loud after he gets there.
Sladan is lost. He takes 1 wis damage and is shaken
Saya thinks to her self sarcastically.
She moves towards the nubian, away from the halfling brothers, dissappearing from their sight. There is only a short whisper: " I am no enemy to you. I am here to protect you.
She appears in front of Sladan, feeling great joy that he is unharmed. My friend, there is 3 of them left, I will get rid of the fog soon. Get ready.
Saya sees the halfling brothers standing next to each other looking confused but weapons ready. The 3 bandits are wandering around lost 15 away.
(Sladan is next.)
Taking into consideration Saya's words, Sladan prepares himself for the next attack, readying his action.
In the meantime he calls HawkEye to join him on the safe part of the battle. My, friend, I think I might need your help this time...
Saya sees everyone is quite prepared. With single wave of her hand she dismisses the fog. She turns to one of the petty bandits and says:"Rage that comes from my vein makes the evil cry from pain "
(casting Elemental ray)
The mist dissappears abruptly as it appeared.
Saya casts a bolt infused with elemental energies but misses.
Next Sladan backed by his falcon springs his bow but before he is able to release the first arrow there is a loud cry from the dark:
"ENOUGH! "
The voice descends from nearby hill some 60 feet away.
But you fail to locate the exact spot of the man who is talking.
"Quints must be desperate if he aligned himself with a witch and a slave... Men, this was quite enough... for today." descends the voice from the dark.
The invaders look at each other and in a defensive posture start dissappearing one by one into darkness. Soon there's only steps in the snow left.
The halflig brothers stand still, pointing their short swords at Saya.
"Bardo, Toby lower your weapons. You should thank her. She may just saved our lives." says the caravan owner standing by his tent.
After this he looks at Saya with disgust in his face. "We are leaving in 4 hours. Be ready." he states bluntly then he checks his wares and returns to his tent.
Soon Lucien appears from the night. "We have a problem." He throws a military armor with the insignia of Norfall on the ground, in front of Sladan and Saya.
"I was about to have a little snack but then I found that all the bandits wear this. I figured it would be better to let them live... for now. It appears to me, tonight we have been fighting Norfall soldiers."
Saya looks at Lucian with eyes full of questions.
Suprised and annoyed at the same time she turns to Sladan.
"We have to be extremely careful and we should stay together. They know who are they dealing with, but we know just a little what is actually going on."
She puts her face into her hands. "I have never felt so useless. Nor I felt so bad for using my powers.Who do they think they actually are to judge me. "
Saya suddenly feels little breeze of air stroking her hair. She smiles and realise.
"What the hell did we get ourselves into?" Sladan thinks out loud... After that, all of a sudden you could see his worries on his face.
I don't even know what I'm doing in this place. I'm not suppose to be here, I'm letting everybody down. My people, my land, my dad... I really need to finish this quest that we accept and find a way out of here. I must find Annien!
After that he snaps out of that moment and says:
"Saya, are you alright? Men up and let's try to deal with whatever we have on our own hands as quick as possible, and then get the hell out of this place. We must get back to the sane parts of Valcia. I cannot stay here any longer, not in a place when my people are considered slaves and people with spirit connections are considered witches. This is not normal..."
Mornig comes.
1. DC 20 perception.
2. DC 30 sense motive.
Sladan sees the morning sky and is pretty much certain that todays weather will be windless heavy snow fall.
(This spoiler information is only for certain characters, in this case Sladan.
If anyone apart from him wishes to act on this information, the checks set above need to be passed. Otherwise he needs to share it.)
The caravan sets off and slowly moves forward. The snow is heavy and obstructs the wheels on every possible occasion. This will surely take minimum of 6 hours.
The halflings deliberately sit on the carriage with Gnaus's wife even though it would be more comfortable to travel in the one Saya and Sladan are travelling.
Everybody is quiet.
Sladan looks at the atmosphere around and sees that the snow won't stop anyway soon. After that he tells his companions that " Guys, the snow won't stop anytime soon and in this rhythm it will take us at least 6 hours to reach the destination. I don't want to be the one to break it to you, but that could mean that we might encounter those "visitors" from before. Be ready and pray to whatever deity I know you might have for some help.
He then turns to Saya "Last time you had the element of surprise when you casted that fog that scared most of them away. This time they might be prepared for spells. Do you have anything that could "upset" the nature spirits and enhance this weather in case of sudden attack? Anyway, please prepare your most destructing spells against them, and also tell me if I can help you with anything. We are in this together (smirk).
While saying all this, Sladan looked at Saya the whole time. For the first time he realized something more... She is beautiful. Why didn't I notice this before? He quickly snaps out of it: Oh, "god"! What's up with me, I got caught so much into this whole story that I'm noticing girls now? I really need to find a way back. Until then... focus Sladan... focus!
Sladan is a bit surprised when nature takes full phase.
He has never seen such heavy snowfall.
The road will take 6+ hours but there is a good side to it.
The bandits shurely planned to pay you visit. Following or finding you now will be nearly impossible.
Saya was thinking about Sladans warning but after a while looking outside she realised there is no reason to help spirits of nature . They are already dancing with fury showing off their beauty.
She is more worried about awkward situation between her and rest of the crew.
She thinks to herself while climbing to front part of the caravan. Saya sits next caravan owner Galus looking in front her. " With all the respect I can see you dispise us but I would like to know about this 'witchery' thing. Why is it so bad?" she sights heavily before she finishes."What happened to make you think of us with such a disgrace"
Gnaus looks surprised.
"What do you mean, why do we hate your kind? Did you fell from the purple tree? It was your kind that tricked our great Gengis Khan Esthar Begnagog and cursed him to ethereal prison. It is all recorded in our book of history.
I do not understand why would Quintus trust you or your slave and believe me I will ask him a few uncomfortable questions, but I am not stupid. I see that the times are tough and given your nature and our current situation you are worthy more than ten soldiers to me.
So do your job and there will be no problems... "
After a moment of quietness he continues.
"Until Anvil that is. The captain Tarius Septimus is old school. I don't know how he will react.
That's what happens with old soldiers. If you don't die in battle, you will end as captain in some stupid village at the end of the world... or a caravan owner."
Saya smirks. "Bitter experience,isn't it?!"
She continues with a sarcasm in her voice. "Well I should be careful then. But pray tell, what is your brilliant plan? To let me protect you until Anvil and then hand me over in chains to the captain?!"She looks at him coldly.
Saya realises that, for better or worse, she touched a sensitive subject as Gnaus snaps with an angry look. "LISTEN GIRL, SOME TEN YEARS EARLIER I WAS KILLING, UNTIL THERE WAS NO MORE OF YOU!" He stops the caravan and stares into the slowly falling snow flakes.
The situation quickly escalates as after few seconds and many short quick steps later the falfling brothers stand by the first carriage swords drawn.
In the same moment Sladans arrow swishes trough the small gap between their bodies and the carriage. With surprise on their faces they look towards the second carriage at Sladan. "I missed... how unlikely." The Nubian purrs.
Gnaus jumps of the carriage and looks angrily at the brothers and Sladan.
"Half hour break ... to cool your heads off." He states coldly.
Gnaus turns to Saya.
"No that is not the plan! The fact is that Quintus is very respected and with his name comes certain protection. Especially in Norfall region. All though not everyone honors him."
He is about to leave but then he stops for a moment.
"As provocative as the thought might be for me, it looks like you and your furry friend aren't from Ameris and if that is the case you should return to wathever hole you came from. Not many are tolerant like me."
Saya turns to Sladan. (In elvish.) "Thank you my friend but you should save some for our enemies."
She gently smiles at him and turns to Gnaus again. "Yes, I am not from here and I do apologise if I said something wrong but I am no enemy to you and no amount of historical hatred will scare me or change who I am.
I ask only for one, if you are to judge me, do it by my actions and not by stereotypes of your land. " She looks at halfling brothers with the slight grin.
"Can you do that for me?"
She goes back to Sladan with a concern in her eyes. Now she realises her action can easily affect not only her anymore. Brave catfolk sitting opposite of her was ready to fight for her.
Gnaus stops for a moment to listen to Saya but does not turn arround to face her. Once she stops talking he continues to check his caravan. Faces of the fighter brothers scream 'confusion'.
In the heavy snow fall, the palisade gate of Anvil seemingly appears out of nowhere. Gnaus, the caravan owner, stops his horses and just sits still, looking at the gate. Suddenly he holds his right hand high.
Soon the halfling brothers run past Saya and Sladan. They stop behind the first carriage, and look towards the gate.
Sladan sees the halflings slowly pulling their weapons.
"Ok, Saya, what should we do next? Do we approach the gate?" Sladan says with his voice dimmed.
Saya looks at Sladan and than back on the gate."Whats going on?!"She whisper to him.
"Be quiet!"
One of the halflings hashes towards Saya and Sladan.
For good ten minutes nothing happens.
Gnaus quietly slides off his carriage bench.
Slowly and quietly he walks towards the second carriage and stops by Saya.
"This is very strange. When I said that the captain here is old school I meant that he would never leave the palisade unmanned. This parts are considered the end of the world ... a very boring end. Still Tarius enforces proper military discipline. Something is definitely off."
After this his face turns into a very strange expression.
"Can you see any ... thing?"
Hearing Gnaus's words, Sladan tries to find any clue that might show any human activity without staying too close (something like fresh tracks or fire that's been put off recently).
It is nearly impossible to tell if there was any activity as little back as on hour. Tracks of any kind would swiftly dissappear. However when Sladan pays closer attention to the big hinges on gate a and the smaller ones on the door he notices a layer of ice which proves that noone used this entrance for days.
"From what I see and deduce from the gate, it wasn't used for the last few days. This might mean that either the place is abandoned, or they locked themselves inside and they are waiting for us with the supplies. That's why I can think from what I'm seeing. We have to do something, we cannot just stay here and wait for the guys that are behind ours tails to catch up, in case they are following us. "Behind ours tails, get it?!(smirk)
Saya shake her head as she is not happy about strange news. She tries to find some trace of magic, just in case. She closes her eyes and focus all her mind on gate.
There are no magical energies or lingering auras.
It is not hard to notice that the sun is setting.
You got less than one hour until the total darkness of a snowy night.
"Everybody, I think we should try to go in and find a place to stay for the night. A safe one for the carriage because we don't have to much time. "
" I need to find a way to cover our tracks, so people won't find us inside the town easily "
" Saya, I have a private matter to discuss with you. "
Saya frowns as she is bothered by setting sun.
"Lets do first things first.
This is how we can do it. I am gonna lift you using my powers and you gonna tell me what your Nubian eyes can see.
After we can discuss needed protection " She winks at him.
As Sladan ascends towards the top of the palisade, Gnaus, his wife and the halflings watch in awe.
When Sladan reaches the top he bends over a bit to see better. Suddenly a loud scream echoes from the other side:
"AAAAA LEAVE THIS PLACE DEAMON!!!
Sladan is hit with a snowball in the nose loses his balance and falls some ten feet down into the deep snow so there is only a hole in the shape of his siluete left.
"What is this?" comes a voice from behind the gate.
In a small hole between the logs making the palisade gate and walls, a scrubby, bearded face appears. "What is this? Who are you? " Screams the old man as he looks at you.
Eventually his sights fall on Gnaus. "Gnaus Galus. I Haven't seen your ugly face for some time." Smiles the old man suddenly. "It has been two years my friend." Gnaus replies with a forced smile.
The old man suddenly changes expression to one full of fear. "Have they seen you? How did you even get here?" He asks.
"We have been attacked during the night, but tell me friend why there are no soldiers on your palisade." Asks Gnaus.
"That's because the attackers where my soldiers. The whole unit rebelled after we run out of beer, wine and fish, two and half weeks ago. But enough of talking quickly get in, I will open the gate..."
The old man soon starts opening the gate.
Sladan watches the whole time from the ground. When the old man welcomes us in, he gets up and shakes the snow off him. After that his face turns grumpy and adds: "That went so well.."
Addressing the old man and showing his sharp teeth: "Who through that snowball, ay?! I wanna meet him and have a little... Chat. Shall we?"
Saya immediately steps closer to Sladan ,with care she put her hand on his shoulder.
"I am sorry my friend. It's all my fault. Let's get you inside first.To warm you up and look at you if you are not wounded.You have to be tired and cold too" She whisper with the serious concern in her voice.
The ice on the hinges crackles as the gate opens Gnaus hastely moves the caravan trough the entrance and you are surprised to see that only the captain and one other young soldier protect the village of some hundread houses.
As Tarius closes the gate the young soldier, holding a short sword, shakes with fear and cannot let his eyes of Sladan. (It is not hard to figure out that it was he who has thrown the snowball at the flying Nubian. )
When the gate is shut and locked Tarius barks at the youngling. "What are you waiting for? Esthars return? Get them to the granary! "
The young guardsman nearly dropping his sword, very nervously guides the caravan inside granary next to a small fort.
Only when you get off the carriage and stop by the guardsman you realise that he is about sixteen.
With a half forced smile, Sladan looks at Saya and tries to make her not to blame herself: " I'm okay Saya, don't worry. I'm not injured, it's only snow. At least we'll have something to make fun about in the future.
.."
On the way to the granary, in order to calm the young becoming soldier Sladan tells him: "You have a good aim kid! Where did you learn to through like that?"
Saya looks at him with a bit of relief . Suddenly Carpenter face comes to her mind. She turns to others. "It has to be hard to on you all now. How did you survive that rebellion? Have you witnessed anything weird. I am just wondering if you have seen this strange man called Carpenter around here?" Saya briefly describes him and looks at Tarnus with strong curiosity.