"Think the plan is for us to stay up in the trees and let the orcs deal with on the ground," Talas mumbled wearily before drifting off for a little rest.
The wolf was staked to a tree with three ropes braided together. A makeshift harness was made and fitted onto it's unconcios body by the recruits. Thedra just watched looking amused and curious.
When they were done they were fairly sure it would hold. The net was released and the recruits scrambled back into the trees.
Now it was just a matter of healing their unwilling guard dog enough that it would be serviceable when it was needed.
Teral looked on as they bound what he was pretty sure was a dire wolf to a tree like a common watchdog.
Just when you think you've seen it all...your memories get jostled around and you probably still have anyway.
He shook his head and wandered down towards the crazies, warily stopping past the edge of the tether's reach. "Anyone who still has some wounds, gather 'round. Let's see what we can do for your friend here."
He waits for a moment for anyone to come over, raises his shield high, and the pulse of light surrounds him again.
"Oh, come on," he sighs, exasperated, shaking the thing and trying it once more.
Talas blinks a lot of his scratches, and the pains that yet remained from the earlier fight, heal up.
"Handy," he says with a nod of thanks to cover the sentiment that his words might now only partially convey.
Dolgrin follows Teral and Talas as well, benefiting from the healing. He still felt weary and sluggish, but his wounds did finally heal up.
"Much appreciated, Master Teral."
The wolf came awake with a snarl and was on it's feet and looking around with it's hackles up and it's ears back. It's growl sounded like distant thunder.
When it saw the group in the trees looking down at it, it jumped. It lifted nearly twenty feet into the air, it's jaws snapped a couple feet from Teral's face as the rope went taut and yanked it's impressive leap short. It went to the ground hard, landing on it's side with a snarl and a whine.
It was on it's feet in an instant, jumping again, and slamming down. Then it strained on the rope, twisting and pulling.
Then it started chewing it.
Dolgrin fetches his crossbow. "I'm a bit concerned now, gentlemen. Do you have any idea what we could do?"
Talas yelped as the wolf leapt what he would have thought an impossible distance vertically, nearly reaching them.
"Cayden's codspiece!" he swore, blinking. "What sort of wolves do you people have here?"
The Varisian man tugged nervously on his kapenia. "Eythil--" he turned to the burned man, speaking haltingly in the guttural orc tongue. "Maybe just kill? Dangerous even now. Yes?"
Eythil leaned back gratefully against the tree in the upper reaches of the burnt out fort, he had let his eyes close almost fitfully for the first time since.... he actually couldn't really remember.
When Talas's first wave of healing energy washed over him he woke with a start but as he felt some of the aches and bruises wash away he relaxed. When the second wave came, he understood it was the Elf healing everyone, it wasn't until he heard the wolf start growling that he nearly leaped up with a wordless growl of frustration.
"Nnnnnaaa!"
I didn't tell them to do it now!
When the others started conversing with worry and Talas began speaking to him, it took him a moment to understand.
"Stay up in the trees and let the orcs deal with it hunh? The flaw in that plan being that I don't see any orcs, and this tree suddenly feels rather unsafe." Arieala says looking squarely at Talas.
Eythil turned and stalked angrily away from the ledge where they could see the Dire wolf. He drew two Javelins as he made his way into the tree where Spectrum was.
He stuck the javelins into the ground as he entered in.
Talas ignored Ariela's comment, more focused on Eythil at the moment and the frustrated Orcish words he said. The Varisian ran an exasperated hand of his own through his long hair.
The elf did not open his eyes. He barely moved at all.
Teral blinked as the wind from the wolf's enormous snapping jaws blew his hair back, not quite flinching, but as much from shock as from unflappability.
"O-ho-kay. That...was unexpected," he said, peering down with some nerves creeping into his jovial tone. "Er. Sorry about this, can't say I saw the kind of vertical that thing has coming."
Looking around, he saw that barely anyone actually understood his words, and his lips pursed together in an irritated expression.
"Thedra? Any thoughts on this one?" he asked, casually taking a few steps back from the edge.
Garridan moves around to keep as much of the tree trunk between him and the massive wolf. "Well, that did not work out nearly as well as we had hoped..."
Eythil yanked the javelins out of the ground and left the room. The Elf was both infuriating and wasn't making sense; he couldn't help with this and clearly he knew magic, but he wasn't a Druid? But then, Eythil knew magic. Perhaps he was like him?
He didn't have long to ponder on it however, as Talas began speaking to him in orcish.
Talas scrubbed at his forehead with the palm of his hand, then gave a terse nod. "Very well," he said in Taldane, and unslung the sling at his belt with quick motions. He sent a smooth rock hurtling down at the still-somewhat restrained wolf.
"Right, apparently there was a miscommunication of the plan," he said to the others that understood Taldane. "We'll knock it back out. Maybe when the orcs attack there will be time to heal it before we all get lit on fire. Maybe not. But given the way it can jump, I don't want to see if it can get up here once it finishes gnawing that rope."
Once the wolf drops unconscious, Talas rubs at the back of his neck unhappily. This is not exactly turning out to be a stroll in the park.
"Anyone have plans for making this place more defensible that don't include hostile animal transport? I'm very tired, but I'll help if I can. I already suggested that Teral try and douse this place with gods-given water to make it a bit less flammable, I hope. Once he's gotten the chance for new prayers."
In Orc, he said to Eythil: "You may want to go down and stabilize your wolf. Harder to be sure I only bruised, like this."
As soon as their burden was secure, Kenna dragged herself up into the scanty fort and collapsed to the floor. She was filthy, sticky, thirsty, aching, ravenous; she didn't have the strength for concern. She curled around her haversack, pressed her back to the wall, and was immediately asleep.
She dreamed of an earthquake. Faults tore through the moors, wide and stinking, and the dead clawed with rotten hands to escape their burial earth. Cries of battle and urgent commands were snatched past on the roaring wind, the snap of breaking bone mingling with wailing calls and strange tongues. The moor opened beneath her. She fell away into silence and darkness and sank into dreamless sleep.
Talas' slingstone slapped into the ground as the wolf shied away. It geared up for another leap, but stopped as the sound of snapping trees echoed through the woods, bringing a halt to the conversations. Then the massive wolf whirled, it's muzzle pointing straight to the treeline. It's head was low and it's hackles as bristled as they could get. It sniffed, struggled against the rope, and then howled a long, mourning cry.
Another few trees snapped. In the distance from the other direction, two howls answered.
A tremor could be felt through the ground and the trees. More cracking wood echoed, getting closer.
Something big was coming.
The sound of the trees cracking makes you guess the creature coming is at least Huge sized.
Tremors like that are only made by creatures with a whole lot of mass. That means not just big, but heavy too. Whatever that thing is, it must weigh upwards of five tons.[/ooc]
Standing up as the crashing sound becomes louder and closer, Ariela shifts into a stance, her body poised for action, hands flickering through a series of gestures as she rapidly chants a koan, a shimmering aura materializing around her form before fading to invisibility.
Talas had barely started to slot a second stone into his sling when they heard and felt the approach of.... something.
"Take cover," he called over the jungle noises. "Something-- something big--"
He slung himself between some branches, slipping the stone in his fingers into the pocket of the sling just in case, trying to be small and unnoticed.
Garridan perks up when the ground starts shaking. "What in the nine hells is that?" He quickly follows Talas in finding a place in the shadows to hide... all the while drawing out some chakram.
"Oi!" Yelled out Dolgrin. "Whatever is coming, it's massive. We're talking Troll, Giant, Old Dragon. Don't stand your ground against this creature! Look to ranged attacks, mobility, hit-and-run!"
He draws his heavy crossbow and loads a steel bolt.
Shifting her eyes over to her old friend at his words of warning, Ariela takes a few steps back, shifting onto the balls of her feet, preparing to move quickly if need be.
Teral's eyes snapped up from their study of the wolf below at the word 'dragon'.
I hate this forest.
He took a step or two back on the balcony, eyeing the treeline warily. He hesitates for a moment, unsure how much to prepare for whatever as coming. "Thedra? Spectrum? What's the call here? Are we breaking out our best firepower or what?"
After several painstaking hours of transcribing minuscule Draconic chicken scratches from the blood-soaked and barely salvageable outer layers of his spell scroll to the undamaged lengths within, Ylmen's mind began to grow weary.
Around him his companions busily prepared themselves for the unknown. Several members of the group had departed to gather supplies, or capture bait, or something. Ylmen hadn't been sure what their intent was. Either way, he had been in no condition to accompany them, he needed every available moment for his own preparations, It was imperative that he be able to manifest Mage Armor in the event of another attack by the orc raiders, or anything else. Once the spell was forefront in his mind, he searched his writings for his next priority.
A call came from below that healing magics were to be used. Ylmen hurriedly packed up his studies and emerged from the interior of the fort so that he could receive a share of the healing energy. As he emerged, a scene met his eyes which he was not anticipating. The others had been conversing excitedly about a plan for defenses, or traps, and Ylmen hadn't been paying that much attention. At the sight of the massive canine Ylmen suddenly started paying a great deal more attention. Now fully healed, and convinced that he could be of little aid in the delicate matter of subduing the beast, he ascended to the upper branches of the massive tree supporting the fort. He watched as the others went about their activities, and settled in at the base of a large branch near the trunk and closed his massive golden eyes. Wink, apparently pleased with the change of scenery, gave a contented chirp and the two of them drifted to sleep.
What felt like seconds after drifting into silence, a thundering ruckus roused first Wink, then Ylmen. His now slightly bloodshot eyes snapped open but his brain was still fast asleep. Perception of the world flooded into his consciousness, but it would be a few moments before all this new information arranged itself in any sort of useful manner in his mind.
"No sense in tactical planning until we see what we are up against." Spectrum said simply. He was thumbing at the back of his big spell book though.
Almost as soon as he said it two trees at the edge of the clearing snapped outward as a crazed and angry looking beast smashed through the tree line.
It was a lizard of some kind. Partially bipedal and nearly thirty feet tall. It's head had a bladed crest that curved backward from it's forehead. It's tail was long and threshing and swished back and forth angrily, slapping against nearby trees hard enough to strip away bark in wide gashes.
It's coloring ranged from green to red, but it's back and shoulders were covered in open sores from which white thorns protruded. The partially congealed fluid around the spines was blackish and ran in crusted lines down the thing's flank.
A faint, strange whispering can be made out speaking a hissing language. It seems to be emanating from the creature.
That creature has been warped by some kind of unnatural energy or heritage. It's build and features speak to something that would normally be herbivorous, but this one is definitely not.
The Abyss has tainted that creature. It may have strengths and weaknesses traditional to demon kind.
It isn't a normal sort of abyssal taint. This is different. Older and more savage. This is the taint of the Quippoth, the strange creatures that inhabited the abyss before the rise of mortals gave birth to demon-kind.
It will not have the traditional strengths and weaknesses of demons. Instead, it will be attuned to some kind of moral failing and be extremely adept at finding and bypassing the defenses of any creature which has committed the sins it seeks.
As soon as the creature breached the clearing in an eruption of trees, the fires chasing it spread as well, erupting behind it in a wall of flame that drove the creature onward.
Then a second eruption of fire behind them at the rear of the clearing sprang up and began tracing along the backside of the clearing as well, beginning to hem the creature in.
The crazed beast was about to be trapped in the clearing with them. It bellowed a long honking cry that sounded something like a hellish foghorn and looked around wild-eyed for an escape.
"That the heck is that?" Thedra said, wide eyed. Then the flames erupted. "Those damn orcs did this. What is it with people from this forest and using animals as weapons?"
She looked at the old, fire-damaged outpost. "If that thing turns on us, it's going to smash these platforms like kindling."
"It will." Spectrum said. "It has the instincts of terrified prey animal and the soul of a hell-tainted predator. A volatile combination."
"Great." Kestrel said flatly, looking at her rope dark. "This isn't what I was trained to fight."
Vance gave his fists the same look. "Me too. I need something with some range."
Spectrum cast a spell that arced sparks of electricity between the Recruits. He winced and clenched his hands in frustration as his spell failed. The stoic elf, usually implacable, slowly grabbed his head. "This.. is not good."
Down below the dire wolf whined and dashed around the tree to the extent it's leash would allow, cowering away from the giant lizard and the spreading flames.
Teral blinked at the oncoming horror. "O...kay."
His eyes never left the giant lizard bearing down on them, but his left hand reached down to the little pouch where the biting little head had appeared from time to time. "Alright, Prick, come on out here. Ready to try out that little trick we've been working on?"
The hedgehog's tiny malevolent eyes poked out from the pouch again, glaring up at Teral and glancing outward. Freezing, it seemed to hesitate, then grudgingly turned its head back up towards Teral and nodded. It dove back into its pouch and came up with a single overlarge gold coin, which Teral plucked from its mouth. He began to roll the coin over his fingers, clumsily at first - but as he concentrated on it, the bright disc started to slip between his fingers as if there was nowhere else it could possibly fall. As he did so, the little beast in the pouch began to make a high pitched chuffing noise, almost as if it were...laughing? Teral turned on his heel and pointed with his mace at Thedra, his pupils filled with the flipping coin. "Best of luck," he muttered.
Once Ylmen realized what was driving the massive reptile toward them he dropped from the high branch and dove toward the creature. With no time to bolster his own defense, the Syrinx gambled on his ability to get out of harm's way quickly. The downward descent was effortless for him. As he sailed downward through the air he muttered and screeched quietly to himself, and once he was within 30' of the lizard he completed the invocation and cast a spell to create a breeze affecting the beast.
Ylmen lets his momentum carry him into a turn, and takes cover from the beast and the flames behind the trunk of the tree to the south.
Kenna woke to the smell of fire. With difficulty, she lifted her head and looked about herself. On all sides her companions stood ready; all eyes were turned to the west. She struggled to her feet and, clutching her bow, shambled out onto the exposed platform.
A great ruinous lizard had trampled into their camp. She watched open-mouthed as the beast threw his head about, trumpeting. Everyone spoke at once. Spectrum began to work from his book of magic; Teral's hands became a blur. Thedra said "people... animal, weapon." Kenna inferred that the lizard was not their true threat.
Ylmen swept past, raising a wind. Kenna brought up her bow and sighted along the burning treeline for any sign of movement.
Garridan gasps from his hiding spot when he finally spots the massive creature. 'How are we supposed to fight that?!' He quickly scans the area, looking for the source of the flames... If he could find the orc responsible and kill it, then perhaps the lizard would go away? He then notices the strange hissing. "What is that hissing noise?"
Failing to notice anything unusual about or coming from the lizard, Eythil wordlessly began to run to the downward ramp.
"So... what do we do? If we attack it, we're going to get it's attention, right?" Vance said, worried.
The fire continued to loom and spread, the two halves of the circle looking to close soon.
"I think you're right about that," Talas said in response to Vance's comment.
He ran a hand through his hair, frazzled and exhausted from earlier. "That thing's trapped in here with us because of the flames-- maybe we can extinguish a section, make a path out for it?"
His tone didn't sound extremely hopeful of that fact, but Talas was out of bright ideas. Attacking the beast seemed suicidal-- even if they somehow managed to fell it, they'd no doubt get badly hurt in so doing, and the orcs would have easy work butchering whatever was left of them. He was tempted to suggest running through the flames, but probably a hail of orc arrows and more fire spells would meet them there. There seemed to be no good options, and less so when his only real contribution was a blade.
"Perhaps just climb higher up the tree trunk?" Talas called out morosely. "Might buy us some time. But maybe not, if that thing can leap anything like the wolves... Either way, we shouldn't be standing where it will have a straight run at us. It might be able to reach us even on this platform."
He ran lightly along the platforms to the north, passing the others and moving to lower platform. He felt a moment of awkward sympathy for the brute-- it might have been a ravenous death-wolf-beast-thing, but its fear was apparent, and it was, after all, their fault the thing was here-- but he didn't dwell on it. He tried to use the tree trunk for some cover. He had some half-baked notion of trying to circle around and pelting the lizard monstrosity at ranged, hoping to keep attacks coming on it from all sides that might help keep it confused and unable to focus.
"The only thing I can think of is either fight or put out the fires and hope it heads for the opening." Ariela say in frustration. This scenario was completely insane. Facing some giant lizard creature on a fire world. What the hell had she gotten herself into?
Garridan will begin working his way down from the tree, keeping the trunk between he and the giant lizard. "I'm going to approach from the ground and find the orcs responsible for the flames!"
Unsure of what to do, Dolgren hesitated.
The dire wolf was starting to panic. Between the fire and the much larger animal, it's anger at being tied up was starting to be overtaken by fear. It cowered against the back of the tree it was partially wrapped around.
The fires continued to spread and drove the beast forward but suddenly the giant lizard stopped and waved it's head about, almost like it was sniffing the air, but it's nostrils weren't flaring. This was something else. Something in it's primitive brain overrode it's panic response and zeroed in on the Recruits in the trees.
It's eyes snapped to Dolgrin. He could see it's pupils dilate, drawing in the firelight and reflecting the burning hellscape around it. The strange white thorns on it's back quivered and flexed. It writhed in agony and bellowed out a trumpeting trip-tone note that must have echoed for miles.
Then it lowered it's strange head still staring balefully at the dwarf and pawed the ground.
That thing is about to charge.
Thedra pulled out her strange stone with the gem-like depressions and started pressing a few of them and speaking into it.
"If anyone can hear this, we could really use a little help right now."
As Ylmen drifted upward around the massive tree trunk he found himself flying toward the large reptile. Its intense forward focus offered little comfort to the frantic avian. A sharp upward flare slowed him and lifted him well clear of the beast's reach. Ylmen continued the maneuver into an about face. As he rolled out of the inversion his head snapped from side to side, scanning the area for any sign of the Orc Raiders. He swooped to the south, casting another spell at the lowest point of his dive, and curved eastward once more toward the cover of another tree.
From above the flames it was easier to see. Ylmen managed to spot the Orcish Witchdoctor who had become their nemesis in this place. The flame shaman was so close to the fires that Yemen's deluge of water had managed to splash the orc's feet.
Though Dolgrin was never one to fear, he just didn't have a clue what to do. The huge lizard, wreathed in flame, was certainly beyond Dolgrin's capabilities. He hesitated, desperately trying to come up with a solution, when the creature eyed him specifically.
Dolgrin raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oi," He said. "Look at that, he's lowered his head in submission!"