Astraden detects no lawful auras on the three figures.
Darl taps his foot, clearly growing impatient with the extended silence.
"Well, speaking of unattended poultry..." Eben says, glancing apologetically at Krekie, "That's a lesson you should have learned before leaving the tengu alone. Plus all those xill. None of them had to die either, but they jumped us, so..." He shrugs, realizes his normal use of body language to accentuate a lie isn't relevant here, so says, "I just shrugged now."
"Anyhow, they didn't keep us on that side of the gate, and you're wrong; we didn't go for the Roc first. It was our second stop. One of the other challenges has already been finished. So, you can't finish any more than we can. We don't even have a token to pass on or be stolen like the feather, the deed was all that was needed. So, what do you have in mind?"
While talking, Eben scans around the area just to make sure there's no scrying sensor nearby.
Krekie clucks her tongue.
Eben sees no sign of a scrying sensor in the area.
Darl looks amused. "Oh, I'm sure we'll see. I can think of a few options still available to us. But if you want to know what I have to offer, you can come and meet in person."
Cuetzpalli smirks like he's being clever. "Yeah, let's meet in person. Where are you?"
"We're just by Krathanos, as I said." He pauses. "Oh, do you not know where Krathanos is yet?"
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Tanith nudges Eben. "Get 'em to tell us where Krathanos is", he says in a low voice.
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Eben whispers back to Tanith, "You don't need to whisper, he can't hear us unless I actually send the message through the pool." Then he notices he's whispering too and sighs. He points his finger back at the scrying pool and turns the spell back to 'send'. "We were taking things one at a time, which was why we Silenced the Doomsong first before headed to the Roc King." "Perhaps we weren't as thorough as you, but we haven't had trouble locating things when needed. Though Krathanos is a titan, after all, I imagine he likes to move about."
Squinting at the results of her first divination-within-a-divination, Astraden conducts another.
"Hm. Do you know, perhaps you're right. You might want to get a move on." He raises his hands with a dry smile. "Or perhaps we will be so lucky as to run into you first."
He claps his hands loudly.
The shield-bowl of water erupts upwards in icy spikes that pierce inches from Astraden's face before instantly melting and splashing down, catching anyone who'd leaned too close. The scrying spell is shattered.
Clunk stares at the rippling water, then lets out a sigh. "This unit has previously noted its capacities," he says slowly, "but it bears mention that I can at will endeavor to locate a creature of a specific kind--or a specific creature known to this unit. It only determines direction, and identifies the direction the creature travels in, and running water will block the effect."
"Is knowing his name and general description enough? I could describe him if it'll help."
"This unit believes so." Clunk stares out across the vast view afforded the party by their elevation. "This unit acknowledges it... should have brought this capacity up sooner. I've been... preoccupied."
Eben flicks ice particles off of his face. "Well, I think he figured out I was lying about the order we've done things in. Might have ticked him off some, but not like this was ever gonna be a peaceful relationship. So, what do you guys think, all that talk of meeting in person. Totally a trap. All we really got out of it is that he's near wherever Krathanos is, which we don't know yet..." He pauses to let Clunk chime in. "Cool, so between that and whatever Astraden has on tap, we should be able to find them. We can either zero in on them directly... or, if we
re feeling bold, we could go directly to Krathanos and see if he'd be interested in an allaince against them. We want to borrow his belt (and wrestle him, in Tanith's case), but these guys will just kill him. But the possible downside there is that if he's not reasonable we'd have to fight him and then these guys right after one another, maybe."
"Worth at least trying for more allies in my book. Let's try to talk to Krathanos first?"
After hearing Tanith's explanation, Clunk runs a quick scan, rotating around until he's facing in Krathanos's direction.
"Southeast," he says, somewhat redundantly.
"Now try Darl, see if he was telling the truth about being there... or if that's not a good enough connection, you can try and zero in on what I assume is the only mind flayer on the island."
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Carina finally opens her eyes.
"...done already?"
Clunk nods and works the spell again. "Hm. A very similar location, slightly further south and west. This unit estimates him at a mile away, closer to shore."
Carina sits up and stretches.
"Hm. Do you know, perhaps you're right. You might want to get a move on." He raises his hands with a dry smile. "Or perhaps we will be so lucky as to run into you first."
He claps his hands loudly.
The shield-bowl of water erupts upwards in icy spikes that pierce inches from Astraden's face before instantly melting and splashing down, catching anyone who'd leaned too close. The scrying spell is shattered.
Astraden empties the shield of water outside of the tent. "Why did they never invent destroy water, anyways? Who wants to carry water around everywhere?" As she returns, she asks Clunk, "Can you try looking for the efreet, the bad horse, the demon and Carina's evil mother, too? Just in case one of them is split off from the group."
Astraden shoe-sweeps a patch of dirt clear and begins placing out incense sticks, carefully pushing them into the stony soil while the inevitable works.
"This unit has received insufficient data to search for any others."
"Okay, at least we know he wasn't bluffing about being near Krathanos. Hm. Maybe Astraden's spell can ask if it would be worth our time to try and ally with Krathanos? Unless anyone has a better idea for it?"
Krekie's head tilts sharply to the side. "Krathanos is at the opposite end of the island, yes? Across from the forest. Do we cut through there for better time? Do we ask Astraden's spell that?"
"Astraden is just going to turn us into clouds and we can probably be there in about half an hour."
"Ah, yes. Magic is so useful."
"Astraden is just going to turn us into clouds and we can probably be there in about half an hour."
[b}"And without the chance of being mauled by hundreds of shadows!"[/b]
"Man, that happens one time and people won't shut up about it."
"Then I'll ask Olidammara about Krathanos."
Astraden sits down and lights the incense, then begins praying. "Should we ally with Krathanos?"
Olidammara's voice responds, filled with mirth, "Sure, why not? Should be good for a laugh. Probably won't last long, though. Dude was on a hair-trigger even before they locked him up."
"Let's cut through the forest then?"
"Astraden is just going to turn us into clouds and we can probably be there in about half an hour."
"Right-o, let's go!"
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Astraden turns everyone into clouds, and they probably get there in about half an hour.
The journey takes about thirty minutes. As the party passes above near the center of the Doomshroud Forest, Krekie and Clunk both shift and fidget uneasily. "Do you hear that?" Krekie croaks.
The broken remains of a keep lie on the southern ridge of Tilagos Island, overlooking the tumultuous sea below. Once, it looks like it might have been quite imposing.
Now the keep is little more than an empty walled compound. The weathered walls themselves are 20 feet thick, 30 feet high, and made of solid stone. They are torn and ragged, little more than an empty walled compound now. They appear to have been battered down on more than one occasion, their chipped stone blocks rebuilt haphazardly into makeshift structures with little integrity.
Four crumbling towers overlook the outer courtyard. The archway providing entrance into the compound looms empty, its iron portcullis now nothing more than a heap of twisted black metal lying on the ground nearby.
In the distance high above swoop half a dozen distant winged figures, though it's hard to tell what they are without getting close enough to be spotted.
Cloud-Tanith nods. "Sounds like drums to me."
"What are those?" he asks squinting at the distant figures. "More rocs maybe?"
"Really?" Carina tilts her head at Tanith. "That's... not what I'm hearing."
"The sounds of death...." Cuetzpalli frowns at the forest.
Once they make it to Tilagos, he shrugs at Tanith. "Can't make them out, but I doubt they are friendly. Should we try to approach invisibly? Can we even do that?"
"This unit hears the reminders of its duty," Clunk mutters. "As if I have forgotten."
Over the forest, Eben offers his own input, "I'm hearing wood breaking and something laughing."
Eben looks down at his own and the other misty forms. "I could maybe magically turn our clothes white using prestidigitation, it might make us look more like clouds to whatever those are. Or/Also we could send someone in to scout invisibly, but I'm willing to bet that whatever it is can see invisible things."
"Yeah, doesn't seem to be as cool of a trick as it used to be," Cuetzpalli admits sheepishly.