Quassine smiles back, "If I did not think it was a good idea for safety, I wouldn't have cast the spell. And there is such a thing as resource management safety. I just simply stated that I hope the spell is not wasted."
Xanya smiles suddenly with all her face. "For the spell to not be wasted, we would have to end up in battle. I had not thought you for the bloodthirsty one, but maybe you are becoming more like me? I too hope that we end up facing battle shortly. Maybe we can fight together with our friends, rescue them from the clutches of our enemies?"
The group continues on. The fast clip will continue to make tracking hard.
With Kiki taking 10, and a bonus of 12, coupled with guidance, she is at 23 vs a DC of 27 (reduced from 32 for the sled), so it would only require 2 successful aid others. Out of the 6 people aiding, I would say its close to 100% that this would always happen, such that I don't have to spam a bunch of rolls for every mile. Ok glad that's settled.
The path takes you west into open plains, where your speed increases even more (x1 move now) now that you are out of the hills. You pass by the great forest to the north, noted on your maps and push west towards a river. By late afternoon you hit the river, and follow their trail north along it.
"This is where the fun part starts." Xanya says with a wicked grin, looking towards the harpy. "You aren't truly alive until you've pushed yourself to your limit. Though I guess we won't actually go near any limits... I can channel energy to keep us refreshed and traveling at max speed. Don't worry, we'll take care of you. You are one of us now."
She looks over to Goliath. "Wanna stop your chanting to eat and pick it up again later, or you'll just eat once we reach our destination?"
"Kiki, any idea how far ahead of us they are?"
The group pushes on into the evening and the night following the river. Just before dusk the harpy swoops over the water and scoops a fish out with her foot talons, and eats it on the fly, keeping within the range of the marching chant.
As the group grows tired, you continue to push into the night. Towards the end of your second 8 hours, you encounter their campsite from last night, where they would have camped this morning. Excited to be getting closer, you push on for another two hours, and eventually begin to look for your own campsite. You figure now that you have gained some ground.
Goliath wolfs down some food and drinks some water. Saying nothing to rest his voice after chanting for 16 hours. He is also exhausted at the focus it took to do so. For this reason he beds down right after a full belly preparing to do it again tomorrow but this time to catch up with his brothers and sisters.
[b]"about a day or so"[b]
Earlier
Quassine smirks at Xanya, "It may appear that I am changing more into you my sister but it is more that this world is out of balances as well as our family. As long as the Giants cause a problem for us finding father, the world and family will remain out of balance."
Currently
Quassine takes of his pack with a groan and places it down where he will be sleeping. He would have rather dropped it but does not want to break anything, "Good marching my fellow siblings. We march and deploy faster than most militaries!" Quassine laughs. "Tonight, I will finish up the Headband of Charisma for Simon and start work on my Belt of Dexterity. That is if the Giants and others cooperate."
"Whoever stands guard, Simon or Quassine, wake me up about every hour so I can see if I've gotten any dreams. Hopefully Asheranthi will answer me tonight. Either way I'll send her a new message at some point if she doesn't and I'll scatter a few messages out to the others as well. We won't have any use for invisibility tonight. I'll prepare the extracts now and send the messages quarter to five. I'll be able to make new ones in the morning, or invisibility if we need that instead."
Quassine nods, "I will wake you up every hour that I am awake. Of course, I need my normal two hours of rest."
Quassine will be finishing Simon's headband and start working his belt if time permits.
Overnight, Xanya you receive a dream from Asheranthi again. You recall it when Quassine comes to awaken you probably around 4 AM.
"They want us to continue ahead to meet them at the black ice with the temple. The temple is a good lead, but I doubt it'll be sufficient on it's own. It's a good idea to keep us word to the dwarves and fey and help them as much as possible so they'll help us in turn. I'll send a reply back." Xanya says to Quassine and whoever else might be awake.
Once everyone wakes up she tells them about Asheranti's dream as well as her reply and add. "Either way I think we should hurry ahead, meet them, either when they turn or at the black ice. Letting them carry the scepters will be dangerous."
Xanya, your message was successfully delivered.
"bringing the scepters back to the dwarfs or the fey is our only option, cause hiding them won't help and destroying the will probably be pretty hard, and volcano might work"
While Quassine is putting his item creation tools away, "I agree, we should meet them at the temple if it is any kind of lead to finding Father or perhaps other things necessary? And yes, it is important we keep our words to our allies. Once we meet our siblings at the temple, help them with the temple or know what lies within, then we take the scepters back to Cliffort."
Quassine shakes his head no to Kiki, "We will not destroy them unless our allies want us to or we learn that the scepters are nefarious even in an idle state. By the way, here is the Headband of Charisma I was making for Simon. When I went to give it to him this morning, he said to give it to you."
"Doing the right thing is more important than keeping our word. However in this case they coincide. Helping the dwarves, and especially the fey, against the intruders looking to ravage them and their land, is the good thing to do." Xanya says to show her point of view and to teach the harpy.
Xanya busies herself mixing some reagents into a mutagen while the rest are busy preparing spells. Right as they are ready to depart she says. "Hey, I got an idea, if we just focus hard enough and move at the same time, we can distract the enemies just as if flanking, or as if Kiki is climbing around on them, even if we are standing right next to each other. We can use words to synchronize our attacks, they won't understand us anyway. Worth a shot anyway..."
"Sister Xanya. Can you ask them to march to us as we march to them. Father is missing and he is the mission, but he would be sad if we sacrificed those we offered our help too in order to find him. I think we should collect the staff and head back to the fort. The harpy has said the attack should be any day and with the killing of at least 4 of their scout parties they may hasten their attack before experiencing more losses. We should be their to help defend the fort and it's people. This temple will still be there in a few days and we can let our other brothers and sisters scout it. Perhaps they well gain information to share while we protect the fort. If they march away and force us to march toward them it only puts us further away from the fort."
"That was my intention with including 'come meet first' in the message. It saddens me that was not clear. Maybe they did not get that part of the message either? I agree with you wholeheartedly that we should collect the staffs first and head back to the fort. Hopefully they did get my message and will come to meet us though."
Quassine nods in agreement, "I can not argue that it would be more prudent to bring the 2nd and 3rd scepters back to Cliffort. And if we need to visit the temple after we have done that, our siblings will tell us or we should tell them to tell us."
Day 18
When the group awakens and sets about their morning routines, they find Simon to be of mixed spirits. You see him talking to a pixie, and although he his smiling he has a sadness in his eyes. Simon announces he is taking leave of the group as the fey group you had visited are inviting him to return to them. The pixie had been following the group this entire time.
The group is sad to see Simon go, but everyone feels that he is making the right choice and will be happier playing his ukulele among the fey with the Satyr.
After the farewells, the harpy says "Where is he going?"
(assuming most of your conversations take place in Ancient Common.)
"He leaves us... Selfish he gives way to personal pleasure over helping find our teacher. I wish him no ill as he is a brother but can not support his decision as he turns from his duty."
"Although Simon may be leaving us on what we would consider selfish terms regarding the search for father, he will still be an ally to our allies. And we do not know where his path will take him in the search for father. Regardless, his nature better fits the fey than it does us."
"Simon was never a spirit of conflict. His love of peace and harmony is at odds with the war we find ourselves in. It's ironic that one who has perhaps taken Goodwin's teachings of goodness the strongest to heart is the one who is then rendered unable to help him. I'll miss him, as much for his kind words and gentle touches as for his inspiring music and presence. We'll do our best without him, we have to."
The group gathers up their supplies and equipment and is ready to continue their routine once again. Though another dream was sent, you do not know the outcome of your friends you follow. You prepare your march once again and Kiki resumes her spot at the tip of Xanya's lance, as the group moves forth again.
Xanya will cast mage armor on Kiki, Goliath and Cryxial and Ablative Barrier on herself. She'll also gladly receive hone weapon for Kiki. Goliath will get an extract of Long Arm and Kiki one of Shield.
Your group forges ahead, pressing northwards hoping to find some sign of the other group or to meet with them altogether, depending on their interpretation and decision from Xanya's dream messages.
By about lunch time you find their campsite from the prior day/night and the scene of the battle. You also find a pack of worgs and one very large worg bound, struggling and attempting to escape their bonds. Nearby you find a ship concealed in the forest. It looks as though the thing was dragged from the river's edge through the forest a short distance by Karkoran judging from the prints. The boat looks like a longship with a single mast and square sail and a few oars.
While looking around you also find a note, apparently left by the other group:
We are going to the temple, keep following us, but don't get too close. When three or more staffs are close together it is unsafe. They can be used to track other ones. Maybe you can figure out how.
Xanya slaps her tight with a loud smack. "Damn! It looks like they didn't listen to me at all. I hate it when people don't get my points. It would have been much more efficient if we dealt with the scepters while they went to the temple." She breathes heavily for a moment before suddenly calming down. "Of course, they have the freedom to chose their own path and to make their own decisions. The question still remains, what do we do now? I feel like we've gone too far to turn back now. Let's continue at full speed. Though thinking about it, it would be nice to get an update from the loremaster if he found out anything about the scepter. I'll send him a dream tonight, hopefully he'll have some way to reply, either through a dream or sending."
"Fools. Goodwin teachings only go so far. Foolishness is a quality seldom fixable. I fear we have come too far. We must turn and head back for to go further we would abandon our pledge to both the fey and the dwarves. The attack is eminent. Let our brothers and sisters find what they may. The scepters will be of little consequence after the attack. They have proven capable enough. We must return to aid in the battle. Could that ship save us time? This river may flow back to the fortress. Do any of you know much of the geography of this place?"
"I think marching on to catch up to them is a better idea than turning back. We've promised the fey and the dwarves, yes, but the power and knowledge of the scepters might help us a lot in that endeavor."
"Having more of the scepters will not help in researching. We already have another and it is clear they are beyond our knowledge. It is both reckless and foolish to chase after our brothers and sisters. I made a commitment and intend to keep it. The fey and the dwarves offer knowledge and resources and you wish to jeopardize what we have gained over what? Another scepter we can't use. Time has run out. I'm not even sure turning back now will get us their before the giant army, but we must try."
Quassine takes in the argument between Xanya and Goliath,
"Brother Goliath, the reason we are persuing our siblings is because there is another war party bearing down on them in attempt to take the scepter from them. Are you confident, they will be able to defend themselves from the attack especially since the enemy force has been losing both soldiers and scepters? Just because our siblings are currently being rebellious, doesn't mean they are in any less danger or more intelligent than us. Of course, the argument can be made it is better to lose only 1 instead of 2 but remember this, we will lose our brothers and sisters in life if they lose control of the scepter. As for not knowing what the scepters do, who knows, maybe the Loremaster of Cliffort has figured out what they do and needs more than (2) to be effective? Of course, he may have found out that indeed it would be bad. We can speculate all day what is good and bad, and in turn get no where. I vote we continue to following our rebellious siblings, save them if necessary, avoid going into the temple if we can, retrieve the 2nd scepter, and immediately return to Cliffort. Or perhaps we should all stick together with the second group until we all return to Cliffort so we can increase our force multiplier since having two scepters together equals a tracking enhancing magical item. Even though we are not in agreement, I suggest we do not break up our sibling fellowship in attempt to accomplish two goals for worse things will surely happen."
"Am I confident... Yes they have defeated the war party. They told Xanya in a dream enemies defeated. I suspect that was the enemies boat over there and the worgs part of the warband. We have two scepters now and I suspect they have two as well. The harpy told us they attack would be anytime now if not sooner loosing the scepters as they have. Goodwin gave us all a choice and our siblings make a choice now. They know of the danger in carrying the scepter. Now you two make a choice. Go against your word and pledge and continue to follow our siblings or make good of your vow and help the people of this land."
He looks to Quassine with a very disapproving look.
"I thought if any here knew of commitment it would be your brother."
"Oh I see now, the battlescene we came up on with the bound worgs was our siblings and the defeat of the war band? As for commitments, what commitment am I, or Xanya, or Kiki if she chooses the current popular vote failing to fulfill if we continue to retrieve a 3rd scepter so we can return to Cliffort with two scepters instead of one?"
"Now if the Lore master tells us to return, then we return. But he has yet to send sister a message nor send a messenger or whatever."
You group pauses at the camp of the other group and has a discussion regarding what to do next. Kiki notes that are not that far ahead, given that it is only midday and they camped here the night before.
In fact, you can see to the north the mountains and the thick black line that is the black ice sheet of glaciation of the north.
The sled tracks go northeast.
"I like neither option, we did give our word to aid them, but our siblings are family and I think we could catch up with them, bevor the day ends, or atleast before the next one starts and even if the giants attack the dwarfs now, we still have some time as they have to lay siege, and that takes time."
"In addition, we can make use of that boat with the current unless our force marching is faster which we could determine right away." Quassine points to the boat. Then looks to Kiki, "So is your vote to continue on to the temple or head back to Cliffort?"
"help the others, then the dwarfs "
"Very well. I will pray the giants attack holds off. Let us make haste then and meet our siblings."