Makoto sighs, but then opts to keep pace with Lucina. The only way they'd draw the thing out was alone... but they didn't really have that option when everything was on fire.
Teniel whoops and rides ahead of the group by about 100 feet on a sprinting Pamburu, ready to put out the flames as soon as he can.
Tavros' lips twist downward in displeasure. Then he rushes off after everybody else.
Running through the thick foliage with the ridge top in your sights, every second precious as the fire up there grows. Your hearts set to burst in your chests as your try to maintain the pace. As you hit the higher ground it gets worse, the strain up running up a steep hill takes its toll and your pace is slowed. Teniel maintains a somewhat quicker pace, running ahead on the swift four legged Pamburu, but even the tiger is getting winded running up the hill.
Eventually you make it to the top. Teniel arrives first and starts dousing the area with create water. In the previous minutes it took to sprint up the hill your canvas tent is a total loss, many of crates and chests and barrels are ok, as the wood didnt have a chance to fully burn but much if it is singed, darkened and charred. Anything of paper, dried plant matter, vines, rope, etc is burnt and destroyed. Your food stores were intentionally targeted, but didn't result in a total loss. In the time it only ruined about 25% of it.
You stand about gasping for breath as you do your best to put out the fires, which magical and mundane means. The smoke from the fire makes breathing harder, stings your eyes and makes it hard to see.
From above in the sky comes a deep sinister and booming laugh "Muahahhaha."
You squint above through the tears and stinging soot and smoke particles and see nothing. Anger and frustration surge through you at this unseen enemy who seems to delight in toying with you, and who has undone much of your days of hard work and toiling in the tropical sun.
Makoto's eyes narrow as she stares into the air where the sound came from, Sora escaping from her clothing and swooping around in the process. Miyu just sits on his haunches and huffs.
Teniel commands Pamburu to follow the sky creature, hoping he will interpret it as an attempt to track the square under its location by scent.
As Magang Bayangan begins to wail a tune of mourning, Teniel half-stands on Pamburu's back, and shouts a knight's challenge upwards at the sky in his broken Vudrani, his voice laden with strange and magical might, hoping to antagonize the creature, "Fight me, sky man! Coward! Show those people your power, or coward go!"
As he shouts, his words summon a celestial shadow eagle 40 feet away, which circles and wheels, scouting for the invisible creature.
[dice=Intimidate (to get a response from Teniel's "challenge")]1d20+19[/dice]
Makoto is able to detect the presence of evil on her cone beamed into the sky. Pamburu isn't close enough to use scent. Teniel stands and issues his challenge. In response the entire area is bathed in a blast of frigid cold air, unfathomably chilling. The nearby plants crystallize and wilt as the water in their cells burst. The huge circle of subzero air hits you and takes your breath away.
cold damage
- success
- success
- success
- success
- success
- success
- success
- fail
The icy blast chills you to the bone, although most of you are able to jump to the side or duck away from the worst of it.
After the blast you look into the sky and see a gnome sized creature floating in the air 60' above you.
The creature reacts quickly and turns invisible again, disappearing from view.
Tavros is just about to close his eyes and take a deep breath to calm himself when the attack comes. Luckily, this seems to make him more attune to the world around him as he nimbly dodges all the ice, eyes snapping open.
He lets out an annoyed huff of air as he moves slightly away from the group, drawing one of the javelins they brought with them as he goes. He tries to focus on finding their foe rather than the damage she had caused both to his shelter and his family.
Sora pops is a burst of multicolored feathers that disappear before they reach the ground.
"I have no idea what you said to them... but you're not allowed to do the talking anymore, Maks says as she twists her body away from the cold, and Miyu tries, unsuccessfully to cast the rime off of his fur.
"I told him to show himself," Teniel replies, "And it works. Heal, scatter, javelins?" and he draws one of the three javelins from his quiver, after casting Protection from Evil on himself.
Then he barks a single word in Celestial, and the summoned eagle flies toward the gnome creature's last location, circling through the air and trying to collide with it.
Makoto heals everyone with a pulse of life magic, and then once more tries to figure out where the thing is with her detect evil.
Teniel your eagle is unable to find the invisible foe, and he does not reappear. You can continue your actions. Makoto your detect evil does not register evil anymore in its 60' cone. Everyone is wary as the foe could still be out there lurking anywhere unseen.
Makoto pulses out another healing wave, and then turns in the opposite direction to scan.
25 and 37 hp.
Tavros continues to scan the sky for the enemy, his muscles tensed to attack. His mind is blissfully clean of the anger that had tried to surface earlier.
Lucina didn't really have a way to fight an invisible enemy much less a flying one so she would just keep looking for signs of him.
Seconds tick by, and your foe does not reappear. Seconds turn into more seconds and then a minute.
Perhaps he has left you alone. Perhaps it was a test.
"Definitely not good. He had an evil aura... which means he was a potent foe." she says, looking over to Teniel, "Try not to tempt fate like that. We should almost assuredly be dead." she says, then frowns. "It may have been a good idea to cover him in water." she sighs, "But there's not much we could have done, regardless."
"Yes," Teniel muses, "Sleeping here is no longer exactly... safe. But do you think the creature came from the ship, or was it here all along?"
"If it was here all along, I don't think it'd have waited so long to start burning everything. I would think it was just a ship's mage. I'm not sure." she says with a shrug.
"It's just as safe as anywhere else, unless we can find caves." Maks says as she looks over the mess the person made with so little effort.
"Too big to be a familiar. Maybe a wizard. Hmm. Laughter, but no words. I'd rather not sleep here tonight. Do we go out to the ship?"
"Looked like a Gnome but if he's trying to starve us out by attacking our food clearly he hasn't been watching us very long." Lucina's face turns to open fear when Teniel suggest going to the ship but she stays quiet and tries to look smaller.
After several long, long, lonnngggg moments of making quite a magnificent statue, Tavros finally seems to realize that their foe isn't about to appear again. He blinks owlishly a few times before slowing looking around. With a slightly guilty expression, he notices some of the scratches on his companions. Rubbing the back of his head, the slowly meanders over to join the rest of the group as they discuss next plans.
"Perhaps we should not have announced ourselves? Or maybe at least not our intentions?" His ears flick back and forth thoughtfully a few times before he shrugs.
The group picks through the remains of their destroyed home, and salvages the most important items wiping off the soot and water as they step through mud and ash. As they ponder what to do next, they discuss their annoying foe and options.
"I suppose Miyu and I should go look for better hidden shelter somewhere else." Maks suggests.
"Defensible," Teniel replies, "Not hidden. There's a good chance we're being watched right now. What we need is somewhere we can't be killed in our sleep by a single spell. Or we could find out what's going on."
"You can try to do the latter... I can't speak with them. I'm going to work on the former. Does anyone want to come with me?" she looks to the others.
As you stand there talking, you feel a slight uptake in the breeze. Shortly, the air changes, and far off in the distance you hear a low rumble. Storm's a comin' ....
Teniel considers, for a second. "Rain means safety, where invisibility and fire are concerned. I'll help with shelter, at least until it clears."
If you are quick enough to may be able to salvage some more wood and sailcloth from the ship wreck. It won't be as much or as good as the first time, but would let you partially reconstruct your shelter. Conversely you could shelter elsewhere or even on the shipwreck although that seems dicey given the oncoming storm. For all you know that is what caused it in the first place.
"I'm thinking just looking for a cave would be ideal. Finding a second entrance would be ideal as well, so they can't simply trap us inside." she said as she headed into the jungle, Miyu maneuvering forward to lead the way as they search for a more sustainable place to stay.
Tavros pulls out his spellbook and flips through it. "Would it be useful to take 15 minutes to prepare an unseen servant to help us? If not, I can help trying to find a new shelter location."
"What if we find something to defend the hide it? If he's watching hidden won't matter anyway and if he's not then we have both"
"I could sing us a second servant. But I don't know what it would be good for."
The group starts to search the jungle for shelter or caves. Keep in mind evening has set in, and with darkvision you are reduced to 60' usually. Not that big of a deal in the jungle where vision is reduced even in the day. The wind picks up even more and the trees start to swish and sway. Distant thunder becomes more frequent and louder as the storm approaches. You get the sense that this will be no gentle summer sprinkle. The group has spent about half an hour scouring the jungle but nothing noteworthy springs out for shelter. They focus on the areas around the ridge where hopefully erosion or chemical weathering has opened some sort of cave or overhang. Nothing terribly wondrous is found, but you do find a small rock formation that will provide shelter against the prevailing winds and there is a small overhang and hollow under it that with some wood and cloth from the ship or some palm fronds could make a quick improvised shelter for the night. It won't be terribly comfortable, but should be mostly dry....mostly, unless the storm reaches hurricane levels. You aren't sure if you are in the right season for this part of the world.
Once they found a place Lucina would try to hide it for as long as she could before the storm got too bad.
The group moves swiftly basic supplies to the new location, quickly setting up a few support poles, and hammering some spare pieces of wood into place to hold a few remaining scraps of sailcloth. As the rain starts and storm picks up you move the most precious of your supplies to the shelter and try to weather the storm.
The winds howl and rain beats the shelter and trees. Lightning is so frequent, it messes with your brain switching between normal and darkvision as the forest goes from dark to light in quick staccato fashion. The winds are so strong and loud you can barely hear each other and the only thing that is protecting your shelter from being whisked away is the protection of the rock face and slight overhang.
You wonder how your new 'friends' are faring off the shore of the island.
Miyu's form rests protectively over the others as they huddle together, bearing the brunt of the rain that pours in (though I suspect Tavros will take that honor :p). He does so without complaint, though he does occasionally huff as lightning strikes a location that's particularly nearby.
Tavros seems remarkably unperturbed by the storm, although his quick blinking and eventual refusal to open his eyes suggests that the lightning at least is bothering him. He hums tunelessly to himself, the sound inaudible above the crashing thunder. Could be worse. Could be cold.
Teniel grew up in a rainforest. He's well used to monsoons, but he does wish the rain weren't so cold.
"We should check on the turtles after this, heavy rain might leave them open to predators and maybe the gnome got hit with lighting."