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"The stone never stopped emanating, the cloth is just suppressing the emanations until we get to a more, stable, area. Like I said once we're out of this forest, feel free. The stone has caused more than enough issues here already in this forest." The captain replies.
The captain nods to Alþórel "Elves have always lived in that region of Azlant. Being that the Mordant Spire is the only part of Azlant above water it is safe to say that they command what is left of Azlant."
While nearing the end of their journey the group reaches a part of the forest that falls silent. Not even birdsong can be heard, those who know nature realise that is because of an impeding danger. Something has got the more noisy creatures on edge, some quick cautions go around the group and they put themselves on guard. The group draws their weapons, eyes darting about looking through the undergrowth for anything foul afoot. In a glance, Flynt manages to spot what's been hunting them, 3 large snakes. One looks to be either older or stronger than the other two. He shouts out a warning to the rest of the group and takes the first shot.
Flynt whips around and fires on the snake closest to him, fanning the hammer of his weapon. The first shot strikes home the with a flash, the second stays in the gun.
"Damn..."
The eastern serpent annoyed at the shot that struck it moves forwards and darts its head forwards trying to make a tasty snack out of Jeremiah.
It just manages to miss Flynt by a breadth, Flynt can feel it's jaws clench shut near him as its head darts back.
The western serpent rears up its head and a hood similar to a cobra flairs up. A green light starts from the outer edges of it's hood then converges on its mouth. A ball of energy forms on its forked tongue that it throws in between the Serpent and the front two fighters.
Dreyyn manages to dodge the worst of it though Elise doesn't move. Opting to take the hit instead. The remaining residue in the air from the acid ball obscures the bigger serpent.
Elise gnashes her teeth in vanishes as the largest of the wyrms disappear from her vision behind a cloud of acid. The sting of the acid is already disappearing beneath a tide of rising tide fury. With a blood-curdling warcry she spins around and dashes towards the serpent engaged with Flynt and Amelia - her tactical mind strangely not inhibited by the surging bloodthirst. If the ranged combatants had a serpent in their face, they could hardly fight effectively. And Elise knew just how to solve that problem.
Her crescent axe took a sideways swipe at the creature, but she was not done. In a whirlwind of mayhem she merely gathered speed and delivered another gore-splattering blow within seconds.
Whipping the chamber of his firearm open, Flynt pried malformed cartridge from his weapon even as he ducked back from the erstwhile serpent.
Before the party was interrupted, Nethan was going to say something to the captain. Instead, he manifests Inertial Armor for this round and as a move action, he manifests his mindblade.
Offensive Roll
Thrashing Dragon (Strike)
Level: 1
Initiation Action: 1 full round action
Range: Melee attack
Target: One creature
Duration: Instant
As the disciple moves by his opponent, he may drop into a tumbling roll by them and strike at them at a surprising angle. The initiator must move at least 10ft along side an enemy (which will provoke attacks of opportunity unless the initiator is Tumbling) and make a Acrobatics check with a DC equal to the target’s Armor Class. If successful, the target is considered flat-footed and the strike inflicts an additional 1d6 points of damage. The character initiating this maneuver may move up to his full base speed, making the attack along any point of the moment.
, DC = snake's AC
Dreyyn moves north, nimbly flitting through to the mythic snake's flank to strike from behind.
vs Flat-footed AC
Burning one MP for mythic Sudden Attack if it is still alive
Take better of these two:
vs Flat-footed AC
vs Flat-footed AC
= bypasses DR
Elise charges in sending the serpent off kilter, she doesn't manage to bring it down but she raises her axe aloft and kills it with a second well placed strike.
She moves up to her new target as Amelia throws some knives at it, only one of them strikes it but cuts quite deeply.
The serpent rears its head for a similar attack to its weaker counterparts, trying to defend its ilk it sends a ball of acid towards Elise and Alþórel. This one is more focused and doesn't leave a residue behind.
Elise remembering the kind of attack from the other serpent manages to preempt this attack, whereas Alþórel gets badly burnt from the concentrated acid.
Dreyyn passes through the cloud of acid and lands a strike against his foe. It manages to cut through but the serpent has quite a tough hide, absorbing some of the damage.
The sudden strike comes out and the serpent recoils trying to shield itself with its hood.
Dreyyn's blade manages to just go underneath the protective hood and slice at the unprotected flesh beneath it. The serpent shrieks as it pulls back. Not looking pleased at the fighter.
Alþórel stumbles away, half blind from the stringing burning acid. His inner eye rushes through his futures, looking for a path to success; but none show.
Desperately he calls upon old memories and twin flares of fire lash out at the nearest snake.
Nethan wheels around and with his right hand he casts mythic magic missile at the Mythic Serpent;
-1 MP
The serpent gets blasted by a the scorching ray leaving him reeling almost out of life. Nethan shoots a set of missiles into the mist hitting the serpent behind it. Jeremiah fixes his gun ready to fight again.
The serpent lunges forward trying to bite elise.
Elise surges forth towards the last serpent, her axe held high and visage bloodthirsty. This time her warcry summons forth the inane arcane power of her blood - and a spell takes hold, guiding her blade towards the hiding serpent.
Jeremiah whips his revolver around at the hulking mass of scales and fangs.
"I could use a new belt," he notes to himself and opens fire with blinding speed.
ROUND 2
Nethan repeats his volley, "Nil'Gnos ArCaniss!"
MP: -1
The volley of starknives see only one of them striking the serpent as it shields itself with its hood for the first two. Elise then barges through with the starknives providing covering fire. She charges her strike finding the gap in her opponents' armour straight away. Elise lunges in cutting deep. The serpent is none too pleased its predicament. On its last legs it goes for Elise.
The bite sinks in deep, it seems intent to eat Elise after what she did to one of its allies. The predatory intent in its eyes however is shortlived as two magic missiles from the other end of the field strike it, sapping it of what live it had left.
The group gathers itself before setting out again.
As the the serpent dies Elise drops her axe and pulls apart its jaws, freeing herself. Stained in blood both hers and cold reptilian, but still in high spirit, she tosses aside the lifeless body and grins. "It's going to be one hell of a belt Flynt!"
Nethan looks at Flynt, "Flynt, We probably can make a magic belt out of it or have one made since it is a magical creature? Perhaps we should all cut some of it's skin off so we can have belts made when we are able?
"If you're going to take trophies I want one!" Elise laughs as she cleans her weapon (and herself) with a bit of cloth.
"Thank you Amelia. I was getting ready to prepare for my next life!"
If no one else does, Nethan cuts himself a piece of mythic serpent skin making sure it is a large enough piece so the cutting and making of the belt does not cause issues with making it magical, if possible. He secures it safely and nicely in his bag of holding.
After cutting a healthy piece of the mythic serpent, Nethan looks up, "Ok, I am ready to move out of the forest and towards the city."
"Give me a minute," Flynt says pulling a knife and beginning to skin the creature. His strokes are quick and sure.
"Eh, I bet we can do quicker!" she says and pulls her own knife and helps with the skinning.
Dreyyn, no stranger to skinning things as a (former?) nomad, lends a hand.
Nethan leans on his two-handed crystallized sword waiting patiently.
Alþórel meditates quietly, gathering what power he can.
With the grisly work done, Elise wipes her knife and folds the skin so that they can take off. "All righty then, are we ready to continue ?"
"Are there any healing magics to be spared? I took but one wound, but I would hate to start a new fight with it already."
"Let's hope we 'always' only going to need nothing more then that stick. Let's keep our limbs attached people ... Not taking any stupid risks!"" her eyes twinkle with laughter when she comes to the last part. "How much juice is left in that, anyway?"
"Ah, much better" says Dreyyn as the deep cut closes and turns into a small dark welt.
The others fought off two small serpents of their own. They don't look that bad off. The knights look more exhausted than anything. They have likely tired themselves before this point and are using what they have conservatively. When peering back to their group you saw that they played a more defensive game baiting the serpents towards them as they took the acid blasts in stride.
Nethan takes a piece of the snake for himself before Jeremiah and Dreyyn take to getting some good leather out of the full snake. They successfully tan the hide as much as they can at current so it doesn't break when they travel. Amelia joining in after having healed the party up with the wand.
The group carries on forth through the forest coming out the other side. There is a dramatic change in the earth beneath their feet as they approach the edge of the forest. First the earth starts to feel softer, then the group can hear sand crunch beneath their feet. Finally the treeline shrinks until they hit the edge of the forest, where they see a large expanse of desert to one side. Not too far away from their current position the group sees a city that is built half and half in the forest and desert dunes. There is no real gradual change of sparse savannah you might expect at the edge of a desert it is a simple change from shorter evergreens to desert dunes. The city lies in between a section like it.
The city is a deep shadow of yellow reminiscent of the colour of sun scorched mud. However even the untrained eye can tell most of the city walls are made up of brick. The yellow clearly is a motif here. Instead of a wall around the city there is a large foundation that holds the city atop of it. There are ramps leading up this foundation and the group can see Eldred 'surfing' up the ramps on small mounds of sand. Though there is a lack of walls that isn't to say the place is unguarded. There are soldiers similar to Daeron hovering about the city on their spears. The spears are horizontally floating in the air similar to an immmovable rod with the Eldred balancing perfectly on top of them.
The knights thank them for their assistance and as promised the captain unfurls the object he has. It is a cut stone in the shape of a smooth oval. In the centre there is a mark with an eye with wings. As the captain undoes the last bit of the cloth and takes it away you see the eye open up. The pupil of the eye dilates then begins to pan, eventually pointing towards the city. The captain "Ah there we go, the bugger is being co-operative again. Earlier in the forest it would open then look in all directions and shut again."
The cloth that he still has open has a pattern on the inside that was clasped around the eye. It depicts a large black wooden shield, split into 12 sections.
This shield a depiction of the shattered shield of Aroden, a shield that Aroden supposedly carried with him when he was mortal.
Nethan looks at the smooth oval without touching it, "Wow, that is cool!" ...
Nethan points to the cloth pattern ...
"This cloth pattern is a depiction of the shattered Shield of Aroden. I wonder if that stone is from his shield or was designed only to detect his artifacts?"
"Mhmmm..." Elise replies to Nethan, most of her attention fixed on the city before them. Her eyes followed the hovering guards, admiring their skill. And the fact that they were floating in the sky.
"That's not creepy or anything"
Alþórel shimmers, and suddenly resembles a young elf.
"Disguise?" he suggests, in a higher voice than normal.
Elise tears her attention away from the city and back to the party. Al's trick earns a raised eyebrow and an impressed nod. She pulls the cloak she acquired at the outpost tighter around her, and the hood over her head.
"Disguise ... Dareon, what colour should we have if we are faraway travellers - but not overly suspicious? Because you mages can play with that - can't you ?"
Nethan shrugs, "Why such an elaborate plan? Are they hostile to us or the Eldred we travel with? And a cantrip is not a major spell and anyone with any type of scrying magic or who is very perceptive is going to look right through it."
"When that captured 'human' suddenly disappears - whom do you think they'll suspect? Besides, doesn't everything already light up like the aurora when subjected to divination anyhow?"
Daeron ponders for a moment "My original plan was to get some of the travelling citizens and either convince them to part with their clothing or steal it from them to get in. Though if we go by the disguise route be sure to carry more than one colour. Something like blue and yellow, or green and yellow. Merchants between to houses carry the colours of both houses as a white flag of sorts."
Daeron does agree with Nethan's sentiment "I do not think anyone will look at you with outright hostility, possibly might look at you warily as they aren't sure where your allegiances lie but outright attack? Probably not. I guess the impasse is like Elise says, we can forgo the disguises but it might draw suspicion when we obtain our target. We could also opt for obtaining disguises for leaving the city only. Perhaps then the authorities will be looking through the city on a wild goose chase if they think suspicious people are still there?"
"Double colours? Got it. But perhaps you are right - enter undisguised and leave hidden. That way we don't risk our entrance into the city by screwing up our cover. If they try to stop us from leaving, that is oh so much easier to deal with ..."