Jokum, breathing heavily from the exertion of outrunning the drow, smiles thinly and says as he casually walks closer, "We're both trapped into this rut by the machinations of our 'superiors'. Sorry, but it's nothing personal... just survival." Without further bandying of words, he extends his hands and barks the command word in Draconic. A sweeping wave of color bursts from his hands towards the drow.
The Ravener flies up into the air and begins to search for where the other drow have gotten off to.
The drow is blasted with a cone of color shifting over and under itself constantly in a dizzying display that can easily be seen from the air, Jethop. Stunned and helpless, his eyes whirling in their sockets, he is easy to get into a position to be bound and/or gagged.
Frowning down the stunned drow, Jokum sneers derisively. Weak willed fool... still he could have some idea what happened to the others. Casting a quick glance around, looking for his companions, Jokum shrugs and walks up to the helpless drow. After creating a gag from a few strips of cloth from the man's shirt, Jokum pulls his blanket from his pack and, after securing the mans arms at his sides, rolls him tightly in the blanket. That shall have to suffice, seeing as I lack rope to do anything further... He then settles in to wait for his companions, keeping a cautious eyes on his surroundings and the bound captive.
Once Beleste catches up with Jokum and notices the drow is still alive, he will pull some silk rope from his back and tie the bedroll around him before hefting him up onto his shoulder so that they can start back.
Jokum turns, alarmed, at the noise of something large bearing down on him in the woods. Seeing that Beleste has arrive, he relaxes and says, "I'm glad you're here. I managed to slip ahead of our friend here and put him in the ground, but don't have the proper supplies to tie him up." Jokum assists as Beleste wraps the bound drow even tighters and walks alongside him as they make their way back through the forest. "So we need to find the other drow that seem to have fled. My first thought is to go make sure that wagon isn't simply invisible as opposed to having teleported somewhere." Jokum pauses, grinning mischieviously, "I also know roughly where that priestess went. If I had to hazard a guess, they probably had a contingency plan in place for if they were attacked. They'll likely be together. Find the one and you find the other."
Jokum and Beleste arrive at the site of the battle moments later, prisoner in tow. Since recovering from his stunned state, he hasn't tried to say a word, and has hung his head sullenly. You catch him glancing around his surroundings every so often, and flexing his arms.
Back at the battleground, Amelia kneels next to the dead priestess, Trirena, and stares in fascination at her partially-dismembered corpse. You see little revulsion in her expression; mostly curiosity.
Grrazz moves over and nudges Amelia away from some one else's food, before beginning to gather up as much solid material as they can. (Mainly daintily using their teeth).
Looking for help from both Amelia and Faeleen, Grrazz begins working on a 'harness' or 'saddle'...
Amelia blinks at Grrazz's strange behavior. "Excuse me, but what are you doing?" she asks, in a prim, if confused, voice.
Grrazz, of course, does nothing but continue to move the small yonug girl away from the partially eaten meal with innitially gentle bumps from their muzzle.
Should this prove innefective, Grrazz will simply pick the small child up by the scruff of her collar and move her along.
"Put me down, the monsters are dead! I need to head back to Daggermark and find...find..." she trails off, glancing off to the side. "Find none of your business. You've slaughtered Durmond, you've scared off our horse and you waylaid our journey. Now you seek to keep me prisoner? Out with it, beast!" she kicks Grrazz in the foreleg.
Beleste would turn his attention to the little girl as she attempted to assualt Grrazz.
"Do you not wish to go where they were planning to take you?"
Grrazz responce is immediate as they snap their jaws in the girl's face (That's teeth capable of doing as much damage as a short sword on average) thence growling deeply.
Placing a 'fore paw' on the girl's chest and pushing her to the ground Grrazz bears over the small creature and salivates for a moment...
Amelia tries to stare into your eyes, tries to be stubborn and brave, but the horrifying demonic creature before her breaks her will at last and she averts her eyes, beginning to cry.
Grrazz licks their muzzle for a moment...then proceeds to try and lick the girl clean again...
Before nudging her over, picking her up again by the scruff of her collar and moving her away from the Ravener's meal before the other carnivore returns.
Sadly, no. No sign of them.
The Ravener will float down to strip the dead of their valuables and do some light snacking.
As Jethop 'snacks' Grrazz works on a harness/saddle, hopefully with the help of Faeleen.
Beleste would move down to the road and chuck their drow captive towards where the cart had been to make sure that they were not being deceived by some sort of illusion.
Beleste heaves the drow captive, who screams as he flies a short distance through the air before smacking facefirst into something invisible. You see a flash of wood paneling before it disappears again.
With a smile, Beleste will pull his adamantine longsword from it's sheath on his back and bring it down upon the carriage.
Then, with a shout, he would say, "I suggest you all surrender now. Your little trick will no longer protect you!"
Jokum watches with interest as Grrazz treats the child tenderly and sternly in turn. Parental instincts? Not what I would have expected in the slightest. Shrugging, he follows Beleste a short distance and watches, amused, as he reveals the illusion hiding the wagon. "Clever, let's see what's been hiding, yes?" Jokum cautiously walks closer and reaches out to touch where the wagon should be, concentrating his will in disbelieving the illusion before him.
Grrazz continues with their task of making the fittings to ease traveling.
Before your eyes, Jokum, the illusion that Beleste exposed falls away, revealing the potentially broken wagon. Between the sunderings of Beleste and Grrazz, the entire side of the wagon is broken. Nobody is inside.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Sighing in vexation, Jokum says to the rest of the group, "They don't appear to be here. Give me a moment to study the wagon and I'll see if I can find any nasty traps they may have left behind. Are any of you any good at tracking?" Without waiting for a reply and paying only half a mind, Jokum barks a few words and his eyes begin to glow. Carefully studying the auras on the wagon, Jokum looks for anything unexpected or unusual.
Nodding in satisfaction, the tiefling glances to his companions and says, "It doesn't appear that they've trapped the wagon. I'm going to take a look." Without further ado, he climbs into the broken wagon, carefully picking through the rubble in search of some hint of what happened to the drow.
"We had the half orc for tracking. He left. This one might know. Check the dead for magic."
The Ravener is going to start "questioning" the drow male.
Giving heed to what Jokum said, Beleste would wait for the all clear before pushing his way into the wagon to look for anything of interest.
When you cast Detect Magic, Jokum, your eyes glow with a soft silver light, casting a layer over your vision that exposes magical auras. Your gaze immediately falls upon a small black notebook. It looks unassuming to your mundane sight, but you see powerful abjuration magic that you aren't able to identify protecting it. The drow crone did leave behind some jewels and coins in the wagon that were unprotected, totaling to 900g for each of you.
Meanwhile, the Ravener presses the drow male for information. He isn't able to make much headway at first, but Kabriri's teachings made the former pig-boy very convincing. Some time later, the disturbing tiefling makes his way into everyone else's view once more, licking blood off his unnaturally cold claws. The Ravener now knows the rally point in case of emergencies for the drow escape party - the spot where the eldest drow cleric and the old one, along with the boy, would've escaped to - a small forest near a tributary river to the Sellen, upstream.
The rapiers are of exceptional quality - you determine them to be +2 rapiers, worth quite a lot of money on the open market.
You also find 3 flasks of Shadowcloy, which you may or may not have heard of before. 5 vials of Ghost Salt, meant for fighting the incorporeal. Some bags of tobacco, two wooden pipes, rare in the Darklands. Finally, you find several Thunderstones in their bags of goodies.
You also find a small key, on Trirena, but you aren't sure what it's for. She's wielding a +1 Mace and mundane armor, several holy symbols of Lolth, and several scrolls of Message.
Once the harness is readied Grrazz indicates to Amelia where she should take her place then slowly begins to experiment with the set up.
"There is a place where they will go to meet. We must get to Sellen quickly."
Amelia stomps her foot. "I will not be carried off like some piece of luggage! I had plans in Outsea, you know! Big plans! Asmodeus plans! You ruined all of it! I don't want to go with you!"
"You could be dead like the rest of your mewling family. You live now only because the tiger has claimed you."
The Ravener was luxuriating in its freedom. Usually the boy started to emerge when the blood had stopped flowing, but he remained quiet. It could get used to this.
Jokum looks warily at the book, concerned that he wasn't able to identify the magical effects he was observing. Potentially dangerous to touch. Abjuration includes some nasty traps for the unwary. Best to treat it tenderly until it's identified. With a twinge of displeased ego, Jokum calls to the group, "This journal is protected by some protective spell. I'm reluctant to do anything with it. Faeleen, have you any skill with identifying magical auras?"
After the journal has been dealt with, Jokum rejoins the party. Glancing around the area, he notes the absence of the drow warrior with an odd blend of apathy and horror. Not right... not right... can't do this sort of thing. No, I can and I must. It's our survival or there's. Shaking off the conflicting thoughts, Jokum looks to the Ravener and asks, "I assume this is something the drow... divulged? Also, we'll need proof these drow are dead..." He trails off and suppresses a grimace of distaste. Turning his thoughts away from that distasteful task, Jokum considers what he knows of the Sellen and its relative position.
Shrugging, he turns to listen to the girl's complaints, suddenly recalling the early events on the bridge. Shuddering slightly at the fate awaiting her, he turns to the little girl and asks, "You're eager to go through with that devilish plan? I'm not sure I'd wish that fate on even the children of our captors."
Grrazz promptly sits down and begins to clean themselves...
If the girl didn't want to put some effort in after all the work Grrazz and Faeleen had done on the saddle....*Shrug*
"Lick, lick, lick..Lap, lap, lap..."
"Asmodeus promised my lineage power that was mine " you hear a strange, deeper undertone creep into her voice as anger colors her speech. Her eyes glow a faint red.
Surprised and mildly alarmed, Jokum barks the needed command word and passes his hands over his eyes. His own eyes begin to glow with an eerie silver light as he studies the child, considering what he'd just seen. Is this child much as we are? Touched by fiendish blood in an age past? Still thoughtful, though his initial shock was subsiding, Jokum asks, skeptical, "You were promised power?" Shaking slightly, a changes comes over Jokum as he continues, more confidently, "And what if we accompanied you? We will need to deal with these infernal drow first, but there may be some chance for mutual gain."
"Child, your little escort was clearly not suited to one of your...power," Beleste would say while emphasizing the point by removing one of the [i]dead[/b] drow's head cleanly from there body with a simply stroke of his longsword, "So it would be clearly in your best interest to allow us to take over for them as my companion has suggested."
Done with one drow, Beleste would start moving to each other body and removing it's head from it's body in a similar fashion. "However, as he said, we must deal with the immediate problem at hand and the faster we do such, the faster we can get you to your promised destiny. So you can either stop complaining and let us do our job, or you can help us find this place called Sellen so that we can finish our task expediently and set out for Outsea."
"You...would assist me in claiming my birthright?" the red light leaves Amelia's eyes as she looks up...and up and up and up at Beleste, in confusion. She puts her finger to her lips innocently, looking like a normal child - except for the fact that she's bartering your services to assist her in a fel ritual.
Beleste would look the child in the eyes as he speaks. "My understanding is that power will be granted to those that aid you. Clearly that power would be better granted to those that can actually protect you as opposed to those you were traveling with before. Would you not agree?"
*Lick, lick, lick..scrunch*
Amelia scoffs, a brave feat for a little girl facing down someone like Beleste. "At least I knew and trusted the intentions of those men. You lot seem like little more than highwaymen brutes to me." she turns to the side, staring off at Grrazz as it cleans itself. "Still. My options are rather limited at this juncture...curse my immature body! Would that I could handle this matter on my own." she rubs her temples with a worldweariness rarely seen in one so young. "Very well. Until we reach Outsea, and my pact has been sealed, I will throw my lot in with you...tieflings, isn't that what your race is called? It's hard to tell, you all look so...different."
Grrazz stops....looks back at Amelia, doesn't change their position nor lower their leg...and thence continues to clean...
*Lick, lick, lick...Lap, lap, lap...*