As the friends look around, into the stark whiteness of the forest, Rallos sneaks ahead... and doesn't see the winged creature, ragged skin across bone, in the tree above him... nor does he see its bow pull taut...
Screeching, the creature seems to revel in Titania's pain as the arrow, seemingly made of bone, pierces the the Hellknight's armour.
Unlike many undead who feed on and hate all living things, a baykok seeks always to prove its mastery of the hunt. Though thoroughly wicked, baykoks often ignore all but the most powerful-looking foe in a group, only picking off lesser creatures if they dare to get between the baykok and its true prey. When it finally lays low its quarry, the baykok swoops down on the victim to devour the creature's soul in an attempt to make sure the creature never returns to seek revenge.
Tot gives a gasp as the arrow saps at her strength. She feels her body go numb, but she refuses to give in and rips the bone arrow free of the seam it had found.
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Ea uses the wand to cure the damage from the disease, and thanks Yasmin
Ea is so caught up by surprise that she doesn't identifies their newest foe. She tries to get in range for some channeling, as she isn't very good in distance combat
Yasmin is slow to react to the threat, and is just standing there as an arrow appears sprouting from Titania!
Rallos ducks instictively. What in tge Hells is that? he blurts as he grabs hus crossbow and loads it.
Ea's burst of energy, cold and stark even in this winter-choked forest, rushes outwards... up and over the frost-rimed trunks of the trees. The creature in the high branches, repositioning itself to fire upon Titania once more, barely notices the efforts of the Pharasmin. A supernaturally fast volley of arrows, once again - all bone, flurry around Titania... one striking hard through her armour with another three peppering the snow around her...
Rallos shoots his bow and loads it again.
Tot lets out a cry of agony as a white-hot spike of pain slams into her belly. With gritted teeth, she rips the arrow free and stems the flow of blood with her other hand. Yasmin casts her spell and something strange happens. Ghostly wings like those of a devil appear to sprout from her back, and push down as the short fighter kicks off after their strange assailant.
Rallos, steadying himself, fires a bolt up into the tree... yet, with the snow glare, his aim is off and the bolt clatters harmlessly against a broad branch - as a further indignity, it dislodges a small heap of snow which tumbles towards him. Titania, airborne through Yasmin's magicks, is quick to charge her foe... yet too clumsy in the air to land an effective blow.
Ea prays to Pharasma, and soon a dagger appears out of nowhere, and attacks the creature
Ea's dagger cuts into the creature in the tree, rending long dead flesh and causing it to screech wildly.
. After sending Titania aloft, Yasmin cowers in fear at the sound of the creature howling!
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Tot counters the fear with a roar of her own, something that sounds far too deep and gutteral to be coming from someone so small. She kicks off a nearby branch and tries to hack the foul thing to pieces.
Unfortunately, her swings are too clumsy to do much but cut a few limbs free.
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Ea can't do much, unless her opponent is on the ground. In a desperate move, she uses her Bless magic wand as soon as all her comrades are in range
Once again, with his foe high in the trees, Rallos is restricted to firing bolts - somewhat speculatively - into the snowladen leaf canopy...
Ea, lands the first blow, her weapon of divine energy smashing into the creature... and momentarily drawing its attention away from Titania.
Rallos swears out if the side of hus mouth as he reloads his bow and fires again.
Rallos swears out if the side of hus mouth as he reloads his bow and fires again.
Shaking off her paralysis from fear, Yasmin pulls herself together, and acts once more. "Enough with the toy bow - get in the air and backstab the bastard!" She casts Fly on Rallos to enable him to do so!
Titania, starting to get a feel for flying, avoids any harm from the strange creatures swipe and retaliates with her sword.
Rallos swears out if the side of hus mouth as he reloads his bow and fires again.
Rallos' bolt clatters through the branches... striking the semi-skeletal creature and threatening to dislodge it from its perch. So focussed upon his shot is Rallos, that he doesn't notice Yasmin behind him... and is taken by surprise when his feet float clear of the snowdrifts.
Ea can't reach Titania and heal her, so she releases another wave of grayish energy, while her magical weapon wanders aimlessly up there
Ea's healing, a cold yet stimulating energy that washes outwards from the Pharasmin, bolsters Titania - airborne, yet far from adept at flying as yet. Yasmin's magicks, lifting Rallos upwards from the blanket of snow, allow him to leave his bow behind... and a wicked smile to spark across his face, a sharp metallic ringing as he draws his blade...
The creature in the tree, unliving yet still possessed of some intelligence, snarls as the odds swing dramatically against it... and, pushing back from the branch upon which it was perched, takes flight.
"Don't let it get away!" insists the sorceress. "I'll help you catch it!" Whatever it was, Yasmin didn't like that it was suddenly attacking them with arrows. And it could bring allies.
Yasmin casts Haste to quicken everyone's movements. She then moves in pursuit.
Tot's eyes widen as the flow of time slows down. Her pupils dilate as magic courses through her. Perhaps it was something in the air, or some quirk of her heritage or her embracing the flight spell fully, that caused the change. Black feathered wings seem to come from her back and crimson flame forms a halo above her head as she adjusts the grip on her sword and sets her feet as the wings raise above her head. Like a lightning bolt she streaks after the creature and buries her sword deep into something vital for its existence.
"No," she says coldly, There is no escape for you. She glares at it contemptuously as she floats there, the very image of a fury, of an erinyes.
Seeing Titania deliver a heavy blow against the creature, Rallos darts up opposite her and aims for a soft spot in the creature's defenses.
Titania's charge, furiously rising through the frigid air, strikes the retreating monster and sends it flailing backwards... on to the blade of Rallos. Jerking furiously, it tries to pull itself clear of the weapon - dead skin wings flap furiously in one last vain effort before, succumbing to gravity, the defeated creature crashes downwards... smashing through the snow-laden canopy before coming to a final rest in a drift.
It is no great surprise to those who have fought the undead around the spire that the creature, when it is dug from the snowpile where it landed, has a symbol — a skull wearing a majestic crown — etched into the bone of its skull.
The rest of the trek back to the Fort is without incident, the woods remain silent while threatening clouds gather overhead... the first flakes of a fresh fall have started to fall when Rallos leads the group past the tree line and out into view of the walls of the Fort. For a moment, the scene is bucolic enough... before the burnt out farms to the north of the town are seen, and the Asmodean flags fluttering over Fort Inevitable...
Tot lands in the snowbank, falling to her hands and knees as snow melts then steams off her armor and skin. Her face is flushed and sweat, the first any of them have seen on her, beads on her brow. Anyone who places a hand on skin finds it almost painfully hot to the touch.
"Yasmin, does you magic do funny things when you mix it like that," the tiny fighter asks.
After cooling off, Tot begins to shiver from the chill. Unable to be hurt by the heat or cold or no, it still affected her, and the wet clothing she was wearing wasn't helping.
"I don't know if I want a hot meal or a hot bath first," she mumbles as they approach the gates.
"As far as I know, mixing magic doesn't do anything unusual. But it would be interesting if it did. A wizard who studies magics might be able to exploit that. I just seem to pick up these magics through practice, and with Hakan's help."
Yasmin looks over the hot-blooded tiefling, and realizes why she might be asking the question. "So yeah, I'm not sure why you're so hot after that fight. Moving so quickly could contribute to it, I guess." She wondered if it was something in Titania's nature.
"Well damn, those burning farms don't look good. I don't remember those. Another undead attack? Again, makes me wonder how long we were stuck in the Spire." Approaching the gates, Yasmin hails the guards.
"I didn't feel like this when you just made me fly or when you just made me quick," Tot points out before crying out in frustration from the heat and burying her face in the snow for a moment. She doens't look like she's feeling any better than before.
"Either too long or not long enough," Tot mumbles nodding to the flags. Something inside her recoiled at the sight of the burned out farmsteads and she desperately hoped that it wasn't the hellknights that had done it.
What's wrong with me? I never cared before. Why now? Did something happen to me? Is it because of what they said?
I think this is a dire turn of events...I wonder if there has been a shift in power here at the fort since we left. And the farms....who knows...undead, bandits....civil war...
"Pray it's not that last one," Tot replies, a look of fear crossing her face.
We'll know soon enough. We can't do anything about it right now, so let's accept our Fate, as Pharasma wants us.
"Right," Tot mutters as she follows along.
The skeletal creature, wracked and ruined within the snowdrift, is some fifteen feet or so away from where its bow tumbled through the snow-laden leaf canopy... undamaged by the fall, the bow seems to be a well-crafted (although slightly morbidly designed with bone insignia across it) composite longbow... intriguingly, there are no arrows to be found anywhere upon the creature.
The farmsteads around the walled town show no sign of life... indeed, from the way that snow has fallen and the roofs of the buildings have fallen in on themselves, the farms have been abandoned for a while now - weeks, maybe even months... As to what may have visited such devastation upon the land around Fort Inevitable, it is impossible to say at this time...
And so, realising that their arrival from out of the woods has been noticed by the Hellknights on the town wall, the friends move onwards... hiking through the snow towards walls that seem distinctly more imposing than they ever did before. Flanking the path to the town, there are more suspended iron cages than the last time the group were here - where once were four, there are now ten... and each of them is 'occupied' by a frozen corpse.
A light wind occasionally moves the cages with a groaning of chain and, up above the gates to the town, lifts and moves the Asmodean flags... as the group move into shouting distance, a voice calls out, "IDENTIFY YOURSELVES STRANGERS!!! AND STATE YOUR BUSINESS".
We are back from our journey to the Spire...we were sanctioned by the Commander...let us in...it's bloody cold out. The Julliver is calling our name...
The Hellknight is quick to reply, "Sanctioned by Maralictor Wolfhelm? I have heard of no such permissions!!! Travel to the Spire has been forbidden for the last six months". The heavily armoured figure turns to one of his compatriots and says something inaudible...
Seeing the cages, Titania's mind pictures the others in there. She shudders at the thought and prays to whatever god will listen that they'll not suffer that fate.
Upon hearing that Travel to the Spire has been banned for six months, a cold sense of dread fills her. Frightened, but determined to shield the people who'd become her friends, she steps forward and addresses the men on the wall.
"I am Armiger Titania Olivia Thrune. This party and I were sent to the Spire at the beginning of spring. If you doubt my words then fetch the Maralictor and have him come see and make his judgement."
The truth of their passage forward in time made Yasmin fearful. What exactly had happened in these lands while they were absent? Whatever war was being fought was escalating, and death and destruction ravaged the countryside. Yasmin worried about how their allies fared since their disappearance. Though, for a bemused moment, she wondered if any funeral pyres were burned in their name.
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Seeing Titania amongst the group, and hearing her voice, the Hellknight at the gate changes his attitude somewhat - from brashly officious, he becomes cold and regimented, "Armiger Thrune... we thought you lost - the Maralictor had decreed you as a casualty of Nhur Athemon's invasion of the Echo Woods. Report to the Citadel at once!"
...and with that, the gates to the town groan open, heaving snow aside as they move on their massive hinges. The town beyond the wall, at least from here, seems exceptionally quiet... as if the walled settlement itself was pensive and waiting...
"Do you mind telling me the date?" asks Yasmin to a guard, wanting to hear for herself how many days have been lost.
Once outside earshot, she confers with the others, including Titania. "Seems like you have your orders, Armiger. To the citadel? Or do we drop off our things at the Juliver first? I'd not mind catching up on some gossip before facing the Maralictor once again."
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"It might be better if I go alone," Tot says, trying not to let the pain she felt at being called Armiger by Yasmin show. As the others do as they will, the young hellknight makes for the Citadel.
I just hope they don't try to read my mind, she thinks to herself, If they find out that I've been having doubts, I'll be in trouble.
Yasmin has no idea she hurt Titania with her words, which were only meant as a joke. But she obviously sees Titania trying to break off for a private. "Oh screw that, we're coming with you. I want to hear from the wolf himself what kind of mess he's created over these nine months. I bet he's screwed it up worse than the Lady Commander would ever have. Also, I really hope we get to meet Signifier DiViri, risen from the dead."
She begins walking in stride with Titania. "Not to mention I need to make sure you don't snitch on us, right?" She elbows Titania as if she's joking. . Though actually, she's not entirely joking. Who knew what kind of pressure she'd face being reunited with the Hellknights?
"Okay, I guess," Titania says quietly, not sure how to persuade the others to wait for her at the tavern and very much not wanting them to suffer the Maralictor's wrath if she had somehow angered him.
The guard, his face obscured enough by his helmet that his contempt doesn't show as much as it might, reinforces what Yasmin - and the others - has already suspected... that, at some point during their time in the Spire, time had slowed for them - and what was little more than a day or two for them had seen the rest of Spring, Summer and Autumn pass back at Fort Inevitable.
The Citadel, an imposing sight within the Fort at the best of times given its size and angular form, seems ever more foreboding with the crimson and black insignia of Asmodeus hanging from the first storey windows. In a further reinforcement as to the way in which the balance of power has changed, nearly every hellknight in the fort - and there are many - hails from the Order of the Nail.
Access into the Citadel is granted as Titania requests it... and then the waiting starts. Whilst the Lady Commander was always liable to emphasise her authority by making her 'guests' wait, it would seem that the Maralictor is willing to take this to the extreme... sat on a cold marble bench outside his offices, the friends endure several hours - during which a number of officers come and go - waiting on the Maralictor's time...