The summoned lemure moves slowly towards its new targets. Annelise fires off another gout of flames at th e closest hobogobin.
Carthas moves forward and stabs his spear at the hobgoblin scout before him.
Lyndis shoots acid at the hobgoblin yet again, though her aim seems to be getting worse.
:: Lamashan 16 - Morning - Forest ::
With the right flank secured, the entire group falls upon the last two hobgoblins. Blinded and assaulted by weapons and magic, the two hobgoblins struggle but are brought down rather swiftly.
Going over their bodies you find high quality gear, better than the regular troops normally have.
You also find a bounty note that states, "Whichever unit can bring the greatest number of Chernasardo Ranger ponchos to Fort Ristin by the end of Lamashan 20 shall be awarded one quarter of the castles captures treasury".
The patrol also has six bloody brown-greay ponchos.
Nyakala recondenses herself once the fight is over. She sighs as the sees the ponchos. "Really not looking like the Rangers will be much help, if the four hobs we dispatched so easily were able to take out six of them on their home turf. At least this patrol won't be able to kill any more now. I'm fine with continuing northeast just to see what's out there, but I doubt we'll find any saviors."
Annelise dismisses the lemure with a wave of her hand, making sure to avoid Elyas's gaze as she joins the rest of the gorup in going over the bodies. The cleric hasn't said anything to her, but she's pretty sure a priest of Iomedae isn't going to be ok with summmoning devils into the fight and she's not in the mood for an argument right now.
She isn't squeamish, but her stomach turns at the sight of the six ponchos as she realises what it represents. She nods at Nyakala's reasoning. "I agree. I'm fine to keep going, we need to explore these woods for ourselves, but I do't think the Rangers are going to be much help to us. I t might end up bing the other way around."
"Why would you think they took them all at once? I do not think of rangers as traveling in packs but, I am just a swords men so...."
He shrugs.
"Continuing makes sense, at least as much as anything. To me it is as simple as find more and kill them until we run out."
Nyakala considers Charles' words, then shrugs. "I guess the hobs could've gotten each one individually, but there's still the fact that the rangers let themselves get caught. You'd think they'd be able to evade a group of foreign soldiers. And Fort Ristin is one of the Rangers' strongholds, so if it's fallen or under siege that doesn't say great things about their strength either."
"However strong they are in a fight they still have something valuable enough that the Hobgoblins are taking the effort of going after them. I'd imagine they at least have supplies and know the forest better than we do. Probably forage better than the folks back at the camp, too.", Lyndis shrugs.
:: Lamashan 16 - late Afternoon - Forest ::
Discussing the Charnasardo Ranger's fate, the group continues onward to the North East. The rest of the day you trek through the forest, crossing one larger river without issue.
As the day draws to a close, you can hear a faint noise through the forest. It sounds like a celebration or revelry happening on a fairly large scale.
Nyakala grimaces as the sound of festivities begins to filter through the trees. "Something tells me this probably isn't an army of rangers celebrating their crushing victory over the hobgoblins. Let's try not to be seen and be ready to fight if we are."
She advances quietly, peering ahead for any hint of the noise's source and stopping as soon as she has a view of the revelry or senses any danger.
Nodding at Nyakala's comments Charles waits, not being so sneaky, to find out the situation. 'If it's not the ranges we will need to clear it out anyways I would think.'
Carthas slips forward with Nyakala to see what the sounds of revelry are.
as the fight ends, Elyas catches sight of a small demon. at first he doesn't believe he is really seeing what he thinks he's seeing but he moves towards it sword raised. before he gets there, the thing vanishes.
he notices Annelise making a hand motion right as the creature vanishes and can tell she is avoiding him. before he can make a thing fo it, the group finds the ponchos and his mind is focused away from the Lemure.
as they are walking, Elyas watches the woman. I'll need to keep an eye on that one. she is dangerous
________________________
now:
Elyas hangs back, but stays close enough to move in if soemthing happens. for now he waits for the others to report back what they see.
Anticipating a fight, Lyndis quickly pulls out a wand and casts mage armor on herself, while waiting for Nyakala and Carthas to return.
Annelise is inclined to agree with Nyakala about the noise not being friends. She moves forward stealthily with the other two. Not wearing armour means that she can be quiet as a ghost when she wants to be - even without the help of magic.
:: Lamashan 16 - late Afternoon - Forest ::
Moving forward another few hundred yards, you can see the out line of stone walls and a gate directly to your east about 100 yards away. Two massive towers on the western side of this fort are connected by a high wall with a gatehouse festooned in ivy. Mushrooms blossom amid ferns along the ground. The wooden double door of the gatehouse is banded with iron, but one door stands slightly ajar.
You can easily hear the sounds of a party going on inside, though many of the cheers and voices are high pitched and sound neither human nor goblin. Lyndis, Carthas, and Nyakala recognize some shouts and phrases in sylvan.
As the walls come into view a little better, you notice bodies hanging from the towers and wall. Looking more closely you realize that the corpses of goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears are hanging from the top of the wall and tower about every ten feet, wit their chest and gut slit open, innards hanging out and the walls bathed red in their blood.
Carthas grimaces at the brutality, but looks to the two women and quietly asks, "Well, they don't appear friendly to the hobs, but that doesn't mean they'll be friendly to us. Shall we try to get closer, or fall back and discuss with the others?"
"Could this be Fort Ristin?" Nyakala wonders aloud as the structure comes into view. "Maybe the hobs are celebrating its capture?"
She furrows her brow, puzzled, as the strange voices become clearer. When she catches some Sylvan words in the shouts and sees the mutilated bodies her eyes widen before her expression goes completely blank.
A strange, discordant melody floats through the oppressively dark forest, causing leaves to curl and mushrooms to pulse as it passes. She huddles against the mass of roots at the edge of the stream, the water rising to her chin. She's barely managing to control her desperate breaths, but she can't stop herself from continually running her fingers over the rough fungus creeping down her arm and up her throat. She can feel its tendrils working their way through her veins.
Nyakala's breathing accelerates.
A twig snaps in the trees across the stream and the girl reflexively surges into action. Scrambling up the roots and over the bank she rushes away from the sound, stumbling frequently but always maintaining her momentum. Snatches of susurrant words and dark shapes in the undergrowth tug at her attention as she races forward. Had she not fled the same way during the attack on the expedition this would be the fastest she has ever run. Suddenly her foot is punching through a deceptive mat of ferns and she's tumbling into a gully, knocking against fallen branches and fungi as she rolls and—
Nyakala exhales explosively and bursts into a cloud of dark mist, no sign of her human form remaining. It forms a swirling column, expanding and contracting rhythmically. You don't know they're blighted, you don't even know for sure they're fey, you can escape if you have to. It's been years. Breathe.... As Nyakala reins in her thoughts the cloud slows until it begins to recoalesce and a human body is visible once more.
Nyakala finally parses Carthas' question and abruptly responds, "I'll go check it out." She strides grimly towards the fort, vanishing after a few steps.
Approaching the gate invisibly, Nyakala keeps her breathing closely regulated and feels for the telltale pain in her scars that indicates the presence of blighted fey or other monstrosities. When she gets close enough she peers through the crack in the door.
Annelise gives a grim look at the work of "art" that decorates this place. She waits ofr Nyakala to come back and report.
:: Lamashan 16 - late Afternoon - Forest ::
Nyakala glides forward toward the gate, Annelise and Carthas close hte distance a bit more before stopping to watch the gate, about 200 feet away now.
Nyakala carefully makes her way through the trees and debris toward the slightly open gate.
As you approach the gate you the sylvan gets louder, various inane conversations and singing happening through the gate in high pitched voices.
About ten feet from the gate, you suddenly can't breath and in your panic start clawing at your throat trying to wrench your breath free. No sounds of struggle escape your lips as your breath won't move. As you struggle you fall to the ground.
.
As they watch the gate, Carthas and Annelise think they see something whip around in the gateway, but can't make out what it could be.
.
Lyndis, Elyas, and Charles wait patiently a couple hundred feet back for the others to return from scouting.
Carthas looks at Nyakala with concern as she completely disintegrates into a dark cloud, but seems to regain control of herself. He then hunkers down, carefully watching the gate. At the sight of something possibly whipping around in the gateway, he squints to try and see it better.
Annelise narrows her eyes, squinting to try an dsee better. The words of a spell start to form on her lips, but she holds off for now.
Elyas sits back, trying not to make noise or be seen. he is far enough back that he can't tell what is going on, but can probably see the walls.
he holds his sword ready, and recites some passages of Iomedae's holy texts to prepare for another fight.
:: Lamashan 16 - Late Afternoon - Forest ::
Unable to breathe Nyakala casts gaseous form. As she looks down at her body it sears with pain, instead of becoming gaseous she can see her torso and thighs melting off of her, and she scrambles to hold herself together. As the pain increases like blows to her body, Nyakala feels much of her energy vanish leaving her exhausted. In all the panic, Nyakala barely notices she can breath again.
Watching more intently, Carthas and Annelise see a small surge of light, followed by more indistinct whipping movements and a small surge of light from a spell going off successfully.
.
The forest remains quiet around Elyas, Charles, and Lyndis.
Carthas almost gets up to move forward at the flash of light, but stops himself. Nyakala would call for help if she needed it, he was sure. She had that spell that let her whisper to them from a distance on. He scans the walls for any signs of someone - or something looking out.
Lyndis stays put, tapping her foot nervously on the grass.
:: Lamashan 16 - Late Afternoon - Forest ::
7 dmg, 2 BoA, Formless Body 2 rounds, 1 round cloud, 2 con damage, fatigued.
You stand, feeling beaten as more flesh melts off you. Taking your first steps to run away you struggle to move forwards, feeling like you're going to where. As you run forward your body slowly turns to mist and you realize you're looking up at everything, even the knee high brush. In your current size you think that if you don't move nothing can see you, though you feel fatigued, weakened and, buffeted about and begin to cough severely.
.
Carthas and Annelise see another flash of magic going off again. One of the vine covered bushes shudders forward, vines flailing about.
.
Elyas, Charles, and Lyndis can feel the air cooling as night settles in, and the sounds of the revelry seem to grow louder as the forest grows quieter.
Nyakala gives up on escape for the moment and lets herself double over coughing, but as she does so she wracks her brain for any inkling of what sort of magic might be having such strange and powerful effects on her.
With the third flash of magic, Carthas says, ”I’m moving forward to see more of what’s happening.” He then tries to creep forward.
Knowing he is less then sneaking Charles still hangs back mumbling about stiff muscles and boredom. He decides to watch the rear to make sure nothing comes form that direction.
:: Lamashan 16 - Late Afternoon - Forest ::
7 dmg, 2 BoA, Formless Body 3 rounds, 4 round continued effects, 3 con damage, fatigued.
Standing still the world slowly returns to normal as you wrack your mind for what could be happening. A number of high level magics could torment you so, but you don't know of any specific spells that would do all of this at once. Your body remains mist but grows back to the correct size. As you grow you feel the bushes and vines around you. You quickly realize one is moving and you see a viper wrapped around your arm looking ready to strike at you.
.
Carthas slinks forward through the trees, sure no one can notice him. He manages to get close enough that he feels a slight connection to Nyakala again and realizes he must be in range of her message spell again.
.
Annelise watches on as Carthas moves forward.
.
Lyndis and Elyas continue to wait. Impatient, Charles stands and tries to keep a more earnest watch to make sure no one slips i from behind them.
Annelise moves to keep pace with Carthas, doing her best to be stealthy. Not wearing armour and wearing mostly black helps a great ddeal. She keeps an eye out for Nyakala, now starting to worry.
When she feels Carthas enter the range of her communication spell she whispers a quick message and sends it out with a short puff of dark mist. Nyakala then glances briefly away from the snake to look for anyone watching her from the fort, trying decide whether to drop her invisibility to help the rest of the party find her.
Carthas (and Annelise if she's also close enough) hear Nyakala's voice whispering in their ears, though they still can't see her. She sounds scared in a way they've never heard from her before, her breathing fast and shallow. "In front of the gate, still invisible, trapped by some strange magic with shifting effects. Be careful if you get closer, you'll probably be hit too and I have no idea how it works."
The tiny clouds of darkness which delivered the message flow out of the recipients' ears and hover in front of their mouths to receive their responses.
Carthas grimaces as Nyakala describes the situation. "Do you know if this magic was cast upon you as a spell, or do you think it a trap of some kind?"
"No obvious caster but they could be concealed. I can't tell from the effects."
Annelise does her best to keep her distance and stay hidden, her cloak wraped around her as she looks at what is going on.
"Ok, don't panic. I'll see if I can work out what is happening."
:: Lamashan 16 - Late Afternoon - Forest ::
7 dmg, 3 BoA, Formless Body 4 rounds, 3 round continued effects, 4 con damage (spores 3 rounds remain), fatigued.
Carthas and Annelise get into contact with Nyakala. Annelise tries to pin point the location of the magic, but doesn't see anything.
After hearing from Nyakala they see another burst of magic from in front of the gate while something whips around in the area.
Nyakala looks around, not seeing anything on the walls though the plants seem to be moving oddly in her altered state of mind. She feels a sharp pain in her shoulder and looks to see the viper biting down, body wrapping around her arm and pulsating as it pumps venom into her.
Nyakala feels a surge of strength flow through her, followed by a feeling of tiredness and waning strength.
.
Lyndis, Elyas and Charles remain on watch waiting for the others to get back.
Nyakala bursts back into visibility as she dismisses her spell. Carthas and Annelise hear her voice again, significantly more agitated.
"What do you see when you look at me in particular is there a snake wrapped around my arm and biting?!"
Nyakala's body is formed of smoke or mist, and you can not see a snake on it.
Annelise squints. "Hard to say. You're mostly smoke right now, or mist, or something. Can't see a snake."
"I don't see a snake wrapped around you, but I do see something whipping around in the area. I'm not sure what. Your body seems to be formed of smoke and mist, as Annelise says. I'm moving closer."
Carthas again moves closer to the entry of the fort, trying to see better what Nyakala is dealing with.
Elyas holds, wondering what the others have stopped for. he can barely make out Annelise and Carthas at this point, and likely can't see Nyakala at all, mist or not.
hope everything is ok, this is making me nervous...
he looks to the others, making sure no one goes rushing in to aid yet before the signal is given
"A snake? No.. why should there be?"
Annelise crreeps closer, enough that her spell will work.