Argon insists that Daxniss take the potion and robe, since he can run faster than she or the goblins can. He reiterates that it is just a reconnaissance run, and there would be no engagement if they could help it.
His swords are put away and his bow is out, an arrow loosely nocked. He observes the moons and the direction they need to go. The moons will move a little while they go, but if they are fast it will make little difference to them.
Daxniss nods at Argon's words and slips the potion into her belt pouch, the robe she puts into her backpack having a concern about the robe itself snagging on something at a key moment. " Oh aye, if we are not back around dawn, assume we've been caught. " Daxniss says to the others and follows Argon.
It is against every fibre of the wizard's being to sit back while others risk their own lives, but his fumblings would likely only endanger his companions more. Wrathe offers to take up a position between the likely area of reconnaissance and their current location, so the duo could retreat to support, but leaves the decision up to them.
Either way there will be pacing until they return, and no small amount of profanity.
"Go with the "Do Not Get Caught," option if you don't mind," Ssilax says with a grin that he forces. Watching the two leave, Ssilax feels a bit of self loathing creep up and settle onto his back.
"And once again, back to being completely useless," Ssilax mutters to himself as he and Wrathe wait.
While the dragonkin might appear calm, it is not the case. His mind chews over the problem they face from different angles. Which wasn't really doing anything but annoy him further. Dog plops down in front of Ssilax, looking off in the direction Argon and Daxniss had left in.
Daxniss focuses on her footsteps managing to keep them as silent as she can, not rushing ahead of Argon however, she points a path that feels like a correct one. Daxniss' instincts telling her that this one seemed like a better choice for the two of them. The forest felt strange to her as if she could almost feel creatures moving away from the Wyrmtouched as if unsettled by her presence.
Wrathe disintegrates into a chair, exhausted from the simplest of activities, after wishing the duo well on their reconnoiter.
"Better save our strength, for if they're captured we'll have to save the day once more."
With that sleep steals up upon the wizard and takes him right upon his chair.
"Not getting caught, yes, that is good advice, o wise Ssilax." With a nod, Argon is off, following his friend.
It's important to be quiet, lest anyone near hear, but silence is not required quite yet, but Argon tries anyways. He focuses on the twigs and leaves, perhaps a little too much, and ends up following Dax. He has all his gear, and his bow in his hand, and he uses the moon and his instinct to help stay the course.
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The forest is a colorless painting of trees, bushes, roots, leaves and plenty of branches. The moonlight gives things a whitish glow, while the shadows that might be impenetrable to some are merely other shades to the two trekking westward.
They move quietly, naturally, having been trained to do so. A few small animals are startled to see the two rush by; a raccoon watches, unafraid, and later a pair of hares sprint off faster than expected.
Using the moons and small clearings as guides, the two are able to spot and eventually reach the large tree. Tamarind had called it the Knight Tree, but didn't know why it had that moniker. It is in an area which is sparse of other trees, perhaps because of the immense shade it imposes during the day, but also you note there are several old stumps around. In the past, someone had cut some of the neighboring trees down.
The tree itself is as wide as a small house, perhaps thirty feet in diameter. It rises up, and from next to it you can see many branches splayed out, until it becomes too dark too see. But it must go up hundreds of feet.
According to Tamarind, you are still perhaps a mile from their camp. A decision must be made as to whether or not the tree should be climbed tonight.
Looking at Wrathe falling asleep with such ease, Ssilax cannot stop the twinge of jealousy that pops up. The dragonkin had always been a little envious of the other casters ability to just fall asleep, when ever, where ever. He always fought with sleep, or rather the nightmares that inevitably come attached with it.
With a sigh, Ssilax digs out his spell and prayer books, along with his journal. 'Might as well do something,' the young Theurge thinks to himself. 'Besides, they're just going out to do a little reconnaissance. It's not like I sent them out to actually do all the work and take all the risks.'
Daxniss points to the tree and nods, murmuring that they should climb up the tree, she moves closers to Argon and whispers into his ear " Aye we should hide in the tree if we see nothing pass by in a few hours I'll climb down and put on the robe. After that I'll start moving towards the camp, you should be able to keep an eye out. " "
Argon looks at the tree, looking up its huge trunk. He's not sure if climbing it will enable them to see the goblin camp, but he is curious.
"Okay, let's go up," he says, and starts looking for the best way up from the bottom.
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Argon climbs, finding it easy near the bottom because of the rough nature of the bark. In fact, it seems that some handholds have been cut into the side of the tree, for the handholds he finds are remarkably convenient. Perhaps that is not so surprising, for if there is one tree to climb in this forest, this is it.
Daxniss follows (one climb check, please).
The first branches are fairly high up. The tops of the nearby trees are passed, and after some maneuvering it is possible to look out into the darkness. No fires are seen, not directly. But the moonlight picks something white out of the darkness, something moving. A small number of great monsters a mile away rise above the trees, and you realize they are four or five clouds of smoke.
Daxniss mutters to herself as she climbs up the tree, glad she had spent so much time climbing in the city.
Slowly realizing that he had been staring off into nothingness, Ssilax mutters a curse. The dragonkin had been thinking about goblins, what they knew about the little humaniods, and how they could use it to their advantage. Which had been about as fruitful as the first time he had been mulling it over. He just kept going around in circles.
Hearing snoring, Ssilax looks down where Dog lays next to his feet, then over at Wrathe, slumped over in his chair. He really couldn't tell which was louder. Ssilax was fairly certain the two where competing for loudest snores. Sighing, the young Theurge goes back to the notes he had been working on.
When the dragonkin's sapphire orbs fall upon the page, he freezes, ice creeping through his vines. After several lines of notes, he had apparently drawn several Masks of Nethys, all slightly different in one way or another.
'Or very different,' Ssilax thinks as his gaze falls on several mask that have either odd horns, or suspiciously illithid like tentacles.
After a few minutes of examining the page, Ssilax slowly turns his head to look over at the altar of Nethys. It sits there, somehow managing to look completely innocent, although the dragonkin knows otherwise.
Looking back at the pictures, Ssilax cocks his head slightly as he notices that the masks each seem to have been drawn by a different hand. Thinking of hands, the dragonkin flexes his own right hand, finally paying attention to the beginnings of a cramp. It was as if he had been writing a great deal down at once, or pressing down as hard as he could with his pen.
Lifting up the page to examine the one hidden underneath, Ssilax notes that there is barely a mark on the under page. A frown grows upon his scaled snout as he looks back at the alter for several long minutes. The tip of the young Theurge's tail twitches, almost angrily, back and forth.
Argon points out the smoke to Daxniss, then finds a comfortable place to sit. Quietly, he says, "Are you sure you want to wait? We could go now and be back earlier."
" It would be a good call however we now know where there camp is roughly. We know nothing of there patrols and if we are to scout, we need more information. Being a thief means observing, we can't do things without knowing. " Daxniss wisphers back.
" An hour or so waiting will not hurt us too much " She finishes her whisper with a grin.
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The two up the tree get slightly more comfortable as they observe. The forest is quiet, and the forest floor can barely be seen, and only in patches where the moonlight hits it. No goblins, or other bipedal creatures, are seen on patrol or even just lounging around. Perhaps it is too far from the camp. After an hour, all you've seen are a few rabbits with moonlight glancing off their backs.
You climb back down, and move forward quietly. Eventually, you hear singing. You cannot understand the words, either because they're in another language or because their singer is intoxicated. Daxniss wonders about the magic of her robe. Perhaps it does not really allow her to understand the goblin tongue?
Soon, you see flame light, and then fires. And you smell both rotting and cooked meat of some sort. You find a few bushes to hide behind, and observe the makeshift goblin village.
You see several small fires, with crude lean-to's nearby, many of them. The singing is coming from a large goblin with a bone helmet of some humanoid, and he's meandering, tipsy, around inside an enclosure. The enclosure is surrounded by a crude fence, made of logs interlocked and tied together. Its space is shared by a large, sickly looking tailed primate of some kind, which is chained to a post; three wild boars, which are free within the enclosure but which are staying away from the drunk goblin; and a deer, inside but tied to the fence. There is also a fire pit with a roaring fire, and a large tree with something hanging off it. A box.
No, it is not a box, it is a cage, made from thick sticks or trees bound together. It is hanging via a rope, which is tied to the tree and to the top of the cage. The bottom of the cage is about ten feet above the ground. It turns slowly in the breeze. The light from the fire comes from below, so it is hard to see inside the cage, but there does seem to be something slumped inside it. Below the cage can be seen several long poles, lying on the ground.
Daxniss-goblin starts to make out words to the song, in the goblin tongue. He might be an okay singer, if he were not drunk. The song refers to victories of certain individuals, goblins likely, in battle, and to the prizes won thereby; these include jewels, burning of buildings and the individuals who lost, raping of the females from the losing side, killing of dogs and horses, and singing loudly of the victories. The singer wields a thick spear, with small leather strips hanging from it in decoration.
Daxniss does her best in the goblin form to avoid anyone getting a close look at her, the goblin singing she takes a few notes of and briefly considers luring him away from the others and getting some information before ending him. Pushing those thoughts away as things were never going to be that easy as something would go wrong with that course of action.
Daxniss starts to mentally take note of any guards by the tree and cage, along with how active the camp is. Daxniss also takes into account the large primate, it is sickly looking and Daxniss doubted strongly that she would be able to unlock the chain without the primate pounding her into the ground.
Daxniss briefly wishes that the party had a keg of ale, or in fact a small amount of spirits that the goblins could 'find' that would make things easier, as they would be drinking that and fighting over it.
"I need some air, I think," Ssilax mutters to himself, looking away from the altar of Nethys, the Mask sitting there almost smugly.
Looking back down at the all the different Masks sketched in the page journal, Ssilax gets up. Dog opens his eyes and looks up at the dragonkin, cocking his head to the side.
"Let's go for a walk Dog," Ssilax says quietly, trying to avoid waking up Wrathe. He closes his journal, not wanting his friend to see the masks possibly drawn by different hands. The inevitable questions about his sanity would be asked.
Glancing at his shadow, the dragonkin shudders, not really knowing the answer to that particular question.
Trying to be as stealthy as he could, Ssilax heads out into the yard to walk around. And maybe find a good rock or log to sit on and stare into the night sky.
Argon looks for guards, and tries to count the goblins in each lean-to. Then he counts all the lean-tos that he can see, in order to get an estimate of the total number. He also looks for anything that might serve the goblins on defence, or the good guys on offence; things such as higher ground, walls, any buildings, trees, water of any kind.
He whispers to Daxniss, "Do you want to do a quick circle of the place, in the bushes? Or half?" Thinking that since she's in goblin form, there's less risk for her because if she is seen, she will probably be ignored.
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No other guards are seen, standing at least. As the two watch and count, a few goblins can be seen moving together, towards Argon and Daxniss. They are ambling slowly, and chuckling and chatting quietly with each other.
Argon counts probably twenty-two lean-tos, and in the few closer ones where he could count accurately there were five in three of them, six in one, three in one and four in one.
Things darken as the clouds increase in coverage, and then only items within darkvision range are seen, plus the few things illuminated by the fire. Occasional sounds - a shout here, a laugh there - are heard, in addition to the continued singing of the 'bard' in the enclosure.
Daxniss nods and whispers back " Half through the bushes, and half way around the camp I'll come out of the bushes if things look clear. Stay hidden, if you get spotted try to make it back to the others, a prolonged fight will do no go. "
Daxniss starts to move, carefully since she is a woman and in the form of a goblin, the last thing she wanted was male attention drawn to her or for that matter, one not understanding that she wasn't going to be interested in what the goblins were selling.
perception check
bluff check if needed
Daxniss looks around blending in as much as she is able too, it was a big enough tribe that she thinks she can get away with her scouting. Daxniss feels the adrenaline courses through her veins, as the thrill of the observing and stalking hits her. Daxniss reaches what she thinks is the half way point and looks around trying to see if any goblins would notice her coming from the bushes.
Looking up into the night sky, filled with stars, Ssilax can't help but wonder what lies Up There. The dragonkin remembers the time, all the years ago that they ended up inside that strange imp's planar sphere. Mainly, he thinks about the illusion of space and the round ball of earth and water that was the world.
Sapphire orbs lazy moving around the night as the dragonkin traces patterns into the stars, Ssilax wonders just how the multiverse fits into the physicality of space. Scratching Dog's ears, Ssilax briefly wonders how far you would have to travel before entering another plane of existence.
"Actually, that does not really fit together," Ssilax says to his sleepy familiar. "Fact; you have to use portals or gates to move between planes, distance is not a factor. Dimensionally, the other planes layer each other. Magic, and perhaps a few beings such as the one Dainoth found, are needed to move between the barrier between planes." The young Theurge looks back up into the stars. "Question; How far does space spread out? What, if anything lives in space?" Ssilax asks himself, glancing down as Dog yawns broadly.
"I'm glad we had this discussion," Ssilax says with a snort of amusement and a wry grin upon his scaled snout. Dog looks up at Ssilax and "Wuffs."
"Hmm? Oh, of course I'm avoiding sleeping. I'm going to wait on the others to return. Less time for nightmares to take hold of my dreams" Ssilax says tapping the tip of Dog's nose.
The young dragonkin returns to star gazing, something he enjoyed immensely having spent so many years mostly hiding in the basement. When he was on the surface streets, his gaze certainly wasn't tossed towards the heavens.
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Ssilax is joined on the bench by Yuzu.
"Can't sleep? Yeah, me neither. She has that too. Inner demons, nightmares. She knows a lot about demons you know? Devils, too. All those nasty things that, thankfully, have a hard time making it to our little paradise. Don't know why she knows so much, but she does. Something... Secrets. She has secrets. Tamarind, too. Me, I'm not so much a devout, and I have no secrets, I think. Not that I mind. Most people have them. I have my simple magic instead."
He sits, quiet, for a while, looking up at the stars in the spaces between the clouds, which are dimly lit by two moons. "Something happened to her. Down there, Blackburn, to make her come up here. I think there are people down there - bad people. People who want something. You're here for the outsiders, the ones live above the mount. That's good, I think. We're going to need them, I think."
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Argon observes, as Daxniss sneaks about.
The goblins are mostly sleeping. Daxniss notes a sack of something, just near the fence to the enclosure. She notices there is no gate, or opening to it. Near one spot is this sack, and it has flies buzzing around it. She can smell food, perhaps potatoes? She can't get close to it without being noticed by the Large Drunk Goblin. The drunk is now making up a tune; you assume he is the goblin equivalent of a bard, perhaps. He's trying to make goblin rhymes (which are different from human rhymes, in a strange way) with words about some 'giant hobgoblin' which must be something from their myths or history, you guess. It seems Large Drunk Goblin both fears and reveres this giant hobgoblin. Then he mentions something about capturing Mama Digger, and how she squealed like a pig, and then he laughs, and starts on about cooking funny-shaped roots over a fire.
About this time Daxniss notices something briefly block out the smaller moon, and she looks to see what it was. She can't find it in the dark sky, but whatever it was it made no noise.
The two goblins who were walking together pass a mere ten feet from Argon as they head deeper into the bushes. He's going to have to be careful when he leaves.
Daxniss keeps moving quietly, going in a spiral pattern attempting to get closer to the tree where the cage is. Daxniss ponders where traps would be and spends an equal amount of time looking at her surroundings and the forest floor, as things are going well so far, she feels an equal amount of worry that she might have missed something.
Ssilax, who had been so lost in his thoughts, he had been completely unaware of Yuzu approaching and sitting down. The young dragonkin jumps slightly when he does notice the man sitting down on the bench next to him. Listening to the older man speak, he blinks in surprise at hearing that Momordica was plagued by nightmares as well. 'Perhaps a side effect of being marked as we are? Something new to consider.' Ssilax thinks briefly before filing the thought away.
"It seems there is never a short of bastards out to take advantage of others," Ssilax says with a shake of his head, the white scales of his own Mask softly reflecting the night light. "Still, there always are going to be those who get tired of seeing it happen and do something about it, one of many such continuing cycles." Ssilax grins faintly.
"You are certainly correct about needing the outsiders on the mount. Especially if the fools in Caern continue as they are and end up summoning more devil. If they succeed in creating an open portal," the dragonkin shudders. "I don't want to think about what would happen to the people at that point. The Hells would be coming to them." Ssilax reaches down and scratches Dog's side. "I'm all for that not happening, personally." The young Theurge grins faintly.
Wrathe sinks into the deepest depths of slumber, restless in the discomfort of so many spider bites, and the necrotizing cocktail they left behind in his tissues.
Daxniss decides that it would be time for something different, she ducks into a nearby bush and drinks the potion of invisibility that Rygear gave her, then drinks the potion of flight. Daxniss starts to move in the air, feeling the strange tingle of the two potions working in concert with her body. As she get's closer to the cage she starts to look it over, making sure that the cage itself will not have the person inside fall down and onto the poles.
After that inspection Daxniss looks at the lock, if it does have one and how to get the person inside it, was 'Mama Digger'.
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Magics work their miracles, somehow, and Daxniss is as a bird, unseen, and bound by to the earth by gravity. She quickly learns the basics of flight: think about moving in a direction, and zoom, there you go. She can hover, turn, move, and turn sideways if she likes. It is an amazing feeling!
The cage is just a crudely constructed box with small trees or thick branches as bars. One of the sides of the cage is tied to the others via some kind of twine, using the long used strategy of "wrap it around a hundred times" instead of any cleverer technique to remain tied and true. Cutting it off should be a simple trick, and unless someone is watching, will probably go unnoticed by the musical goblin below.
She nears the cage and looks inside, and can see a human woman, almost naked, with several small injuries on her body, along with what look like the bites that Argon and Wrathe had. Her arms are tied, even her fingers, and she is gagged. Her legs are not tied. She seems to be sleeping.
(Please roll a Stealth roll for each action, unless you are not trying to be stealthy)
Daxniss does her best to make as little noise as possible while checking out the cage, and the rest of her movements, she draws her knife and glances about, getting ready to start cutting the rope.
Daxniss moves her face as close as she can get to the woman's ear and whispers " Yuzu sent me, I'm here to get yah out of here, don't make a noise and I'll fly you out of here. Other one of the Masked one needs your help, I'm Dax and I am currently hidden by magic. "
Daxniss looks over the woman and undoes her bonds at her mouth, praying that the woman would understand her and not scream, as that would make things very difficult to say the least.
Argon sees the figure inside move, then disappear as she is lifted. He realizes Daxniss is not going to wait for the rescue, but do it now. He touches his medallion and whispers to Daxniss, "You've got her. Fly back straight. I'll wait a bit and then come. If you can go the whole way, great, otherwise I'll see you at the Tree."
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The woman inside is unconscious. She flinches unconsciously when Daxniss touches her, and seems to almost be rousing, but fails at that task and remains sleeping. Daxniss gently lifts her - she is not heavy, but neither is she really light (represents a medium load - so fly speed of 40, or 80 with two move actions in a round).
Argon observes from the bushes. He sees one side of the cage open up, quietly, and the form inside roused, slightly. He sees her moving, and soon the form disappears as Daxniss lifts her. As he contacts Daxniss, he hears another voice, in the clearing.
A loud voice, ringing out in the harsh goblin tongue, calls for the sleeping goblins to wake. Soon a huge figure, a hobgoblin ten feet tall at least, appears, and as he yells he knocks lean-to's and kicks at sleeping goblins. Daxniss can hear that he is complaining of an escape of the prisoner, and that the goblins should look for interlopers and attackers. The goblins start to wake, and run around in fear, very much like chickens being visited by a fox. A few of them start to draw weapons and look in the bushes, though.
The goblin bard stands in shock, looking up at the empty cage.
Daxniss looks around for Argon, trying to spot him and to help get him moving away from the camp as the both of them wouldn't do well against a hobgoblin and his tribe.
Daxniss starts her flight as best as she is able too with the added weight and darts her gaze towards Argon, realizing that things have gotten tricky for the two of them. Daxniss lands close by to Argon and whispers " Aye, it be time to move, I'll give you the robe and continue ahead for as long as the flight will last. That way if you get spotted, they will think you one of them. " Daxniss considers for a moment and takes off the robe with some difficulty while not dropping her charge.
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Argon hears and sees the place explode with activity. As the goblins start searching for interlopers, he realizes they are searching for him, the interloper. Making a quick decision, and figuring he can probably outrun the goblins, he decides to bolt. He tries to stay low at the start as he runs back the way he came from, into the forest, and toward the tree.
Daxniss is moving toward the bushes at the edge of the clearing where Argon was hiding when she sees him taking off into the forest. She hears the big Hobgoblin yelling instructions: Search! Run! Wake up!
The forest is probably too thick to fly through at any reasonable speed - she'll have to go above. As she looks ahead, she sees the big tree off in the distance, the dim moonlight shining off it.
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Yuzu leaves after a bit of smalltalk with Ssilax. He seems wise and perhaps a little world-weary.
Dog is awake, and he sniffs at the air. Standing up, he growls and look out into the darkness. Ssilax feels there is danger out there; someone or something nearby.
Daxniss shakes her head and goes above the trees at the moment knowing that she would have to catch up to Argon and give him the robe. Daxniss decides that the slayer could stay ahead of the pursuit at the moment.
Daxniss comes to the relization that she had no clue how long either potion was going to last and kept flying. Daxniss hoped that the best case would be that Argon would lose the tribe trying to find him. Daxniss keeps her mind on her flight and the burden, as there could be little to do at the moment.
Nodding to Yuzu as the older man heads off to bed, Ssilax thanks him for the conversation, as he rarely gets to engage in just simple small talk. Plus, he finds chatting with elders similar to reading a book. Admittedly , a living book, that you have to interact with. The dragonkin says that he will wait up a little longer. And so he does, looking up into the star filled night sky.
Thoughts as far as way as the stars, Ssilax blinks several times, realizing that Dog is standing up now and growling deep in his throat. The young Theurge stands up and look around, feeling on edge, like he is being watched. Or sized up for a meal.
"I do not think so." the dragonkin says quietly to himself. Keeping his eyes towards the darkened forest, Ssilax makes his way to the front door. Opening the door slightly, he glances down at Dog.
"Wrathe, wake up, we might have a problem." Ssilax calls into the house. "Dog, go get Wrathe." The young Theurge tells his familiar quietly.
The dragonkin turns his attention back to the forest as he touches the amulet under his robes.
"Daxniss, Argon, whats going on your end? We might have an.., issue popping up over here. I'll keep you informed." Ssilax whispers to his friends, hoping that they are within range of the amulet's magic.
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Daxniss cannot see Argon below - too many trees obscure her view of the ground. Besides, flying in a straight line she feels she must be faster than him running. She flies like a breeze over the trees, unseen by any. Soon she feels a bit cold, as the night wind goes through her clothes.
After about five minutes, perhaps less time, she feels herself dropping, and she has to maneuver a little to get through the trees without scratching herself or Momordica on the branches. She lands on the forest floor and notes that she appears to be quite visible. The tree is several hundred yards ahead of you, and there's no sign of Argon.
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Daxniss and Argon do not hear Ssilax's call, for they are still too far away (1 mile limit).
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Dog goes in and heads to the room where Wrathe is sleeping. He stands at the door and starts barking, moving closer to the wizard until he wakes.
Yuzu is up quickly, and Tamarind also gets up, going to the door and asking, "What's this all about?"
Wrathe bleerily clambers his way to his feet, blinking the sleep from his eyes, "Whatzza?"
Daxniss mutters an oath that would make a sailor blush and lowers Momordica to the ground gently, she takes off the robe finally and puts in on the woman. Once Daxniss is finished with that task, she ties the robe shut winching, as she picks the woman up again and starts heading towards the tree. There was little that Daxniss could do at the moment since she had no way of getting into contact with Argon, nor would it do her any good, since he is more focused on running.
Daxniss feels her heart racing at the thought of her brother fighting by himself however, he could be crafty perhaps, not as crafty as Daxniss. Daxniss looks up at the tree wondering how she was going to get Momordica and herself up there with minimal fuss and digs into her backpack for her rope.
"Something is out there, Dog picked up something's scent," Ssilax, still looking out into the night. Dog "Wuffs" in agreement, his tail wags briefly, before he turns to face the woods, ears perked up.
"He wouldn't have started growling if it was Argon and Daxniss returning," the dragonkin says, his sapphire orbs still searching the darkness. "What kind of beast live in the area that might challenge the wards surround the area?" the dragonkin asks quietly of Yuzu and Tamarind.
Using the adjustment of his clothing, satchel, and other assorted gear as a premise to remember his name, Wrathe nods to the dragonkin and prepares to set out and seek the source of Dog's interest.
"How long have they been gone?" Perhaps the others were dead, and this was the expected reprisal for their insolence.
If so, he would give as well as he got, and go down swinging...or something.
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Yuzu has a crossbow and he stands in the yard, looking and listening. After a bit of time, he apparently hears something, though none of you do. He quickly casts a spell of Light on the loaded crossbow bolt, aims, and fires it into the forest. You all watch after it, and as it streaks through the trees you catch a glimpse of two human sized figures running away, though the trees to the east, perhaps a hundred feet or more from you. It is only for an instant, as the bolt bypasses all trees and buries itself into something far away.
"A quarter candle" is the answer given by Yuzu to Wrathe's question. (Very roughly, a standard candle burns for a third of a day. During a very long meal, a candle might burn a quarter of the way down.)
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Daxniss is trying to figure out how to get up the tree with an unconscious woman when Argon appears, somewhat out of breath. He looks behind him, looking for something, and whispers in a breathy voice, in undercommon, "Something followed me. The gobs are too slow, but this was flying. Maybe a bat or an owl." He looks at Daxniss significantly. "Let's go. Can you fly more? If not, I can carry her."
(Daxniss, feel free to make a Perception check if looking for the bat or owl.)
You can hear goblin shouts in the distance, getting closer.
" No let us go then, " Daxniss helps lift Momordica to Argon and starts moving quickly saying " Aye I thought I had seen something that had blotted out the sky for a moment earlier, never got a good look at it. "
Daxniss glances up at the night sky and doesn't see anything for the moment, she draws her dagger and says " Go ahead, I'll watch our backs, as you are quicker worse thing if whatever is chasing us, I'll try to hold it off until you get the others. " Daxniss says in undercommon
Wrathe's eyes track the glimpse of movement.
"Giving chase feels foolhardy."
"I agree," Ssilax nods his head as he looks out in the direction the two figures ran off in. "It was said the goblins have been acting differently. Perhaps they have been keeping an eye on the house and the comings and goings of those living here." The young Theurge says thinking for few moments.
"Perhaps a new shaman or leader in their tribe might have influenced the change. If it was goblins that where out there."
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It was only a glimpse, but what you saw running were not goblins. They were too big for goblins, and their heads were the wrong shape. They looked like humans, in all likelihood.
Tamarind says, "Sometimes the goblins do pay us a visit, but they stay clear of the yard, thanks to Momordica's wards and other tricks."
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Daxniss and Argon, with Momordica (you assume it's her), move quickly to the east, back toward the house. After several minutes, Argon says in undercommon, "Want to call them? In case we miss the place?"
But the two remember enough landmarks that they find their way back. They enter one gate and find everyone up, waiting for them.
Yuzu and Tamarind rush forward, and it's obvious that they are looking at Momordica as they follow Argon into the temple. Argon says, "Daxniss changed the plan. I hope you don't mind..." as he smiles at the others. He starts relating the story to the others, as they work to heal the Theurge, letting Daxniss fill in her (very significant) part of the tale.
"Tamarind, do you have any ideas of who might be paying us a visit?"
Feeling naked without the two other party members, Wrathe prepares to unleash his magics if needed.