Tesswyn rides the dead wizard's horse at the head of the party, navigating through the desolate wastes. Her role as a scout keeps her separate from the rest of the group, far enough away from both Charles and Kahtia that she doesn't have to try to force conversation. Her mind is in turmoil, myriad emotions churning about within. Shame. Desire. Anger. Lust. Frustration. Envy. Memories of intense physical sensations, tempered by severe emotional trauma.
She grips the horse's reins tightly as she stares out at the terrain ahead.
Charles rode along in the desert heat. It beat down unrelentingly, if it hadn't been for the desert gear he'd gotten back in Oasis and plenty of water, he'd have begun succumbing all the while. But he was used to such extremities now, both from this excursion into the wastes and from his time working the fields and pushing himself to his limits. His strength held.
His own gaze was constantly on the horizon, following after Tesswyn who led the way through the desert for them all. Her words from the morning however, continued to bother him even as she reassured him she would tell him what it had all meant.
His vision however did not simply stop there, he could see all around them. His focus shifted back toward Kahtia as she rode. Something was there, he suspected.
Over the hours, his curiosity rose and eventually overrode his hesitance and he rode close to the sorceress.
"Kahtia, I'd like to speak with you."
Gärwin stifles a yawn as they rode into the night. Still battered and beaten, he reassured himself that this was the final leg of their journey and soon he could look forward to a real bed. For the dwarf, it was difficult to decide what to do first, sleep or count out the spoils of their expedition.
While flattered by the orc's praise, Gärwin is well aware of the other's part in his own survival. "I 'preciate the sentiment Drot'ook, but I think I'd probably be dead without yer help. That big zombie woulda cut me down right at th' end there were it not for your masterin' the use of the mummy's scepter. Besides, Khatia owes me a favor, I think she can pay for both of us." The dwarf says the last part with a chuckle.
Kahtia nods at Charles when he voices his desire to speak to her, and they ride for a time in relative solitude. Later, when Gär jokes, the woman smiles. "Sir Gärwin, If all I need to do to repay you is fill you tankard for a night -- both your tankards -- I will gladly do it. Small price to pay!"
The group continues to travel into the night. The temperature drops, a relief from the blistering sun - but not so much that it makes the ride pleasant.
The giant asp, easily the size of a large wolf or small bear, leaps out of the sands directly at Drot.
If you meet the requirements to read this spoiler, then you can act this round. Otherwise, you are surprised.
You are considered surprised for this round, unless you have an ability that says otherwise.
During this combat, you are considered blind until a light source is available. While blinded, you must guess the location of anything you may want to attack, and you take three Banes on any attack rolls.
Damn! Charles said, grabbing his horses reins and pulling up to control his mount upon seeing the attacking creature.
"May the light of the New God hold back the darkness!"
Gärwin flinches as the giant serpent lashes out at Drot. Knowing the others have difficulty with the night's darkness, he reaches into his pack and removes a torch. Lighting the torch, Gärwin waves it towards the large predator, hoping to scare it.
"Step lively! There's a giant snake!"
Kahtia, tired from the long day's ride, is half-dozing in her saddle when the attack comes. She is disoriented as sound and fury erupts around her, Drot calling out, Charles and Gärwin suddenly lighting their small procession. She fumbles with the leather bag she wears across one shoulder, trying to retrieve what she needs for her spells...
Tesswyn is unfazed by the hard march.
The whisper of scales on sand and a soft hiss alert the Auspex to danger before she can even see her foe.
As Charles's light illuminates the snake, Tesswyn blasts it with fire from her staff--
;
--twice!
Drot could see the sand moving out of the corner of his eye but he was in deep thought as it lashed out at him. His inner beast, ever vigilant and selfish, uses the orc's massive size and strength to bully the horse in the way for the escape.
"Wha= ... Uhh, a giant one!"
Drot takes his chance granted by the distraction to flee, away from the snake.
The snakes leaps at Drot, and he jumps from his horse taking several large steps away as the snake dogs in to the horse. The horse, already exhausted and drained from the heat, couldn't take this last insult and collapses into the sand.
Gärwin lights up a torch, trying to scare away the snake.
Tessywn blasts the snake with fire, hurting it significantly. The second blasts catches it on fire.
Kahtia is caught unawares.
Charles casts his light spell.
Between the light spell and the torch, the local area becomes awash in light, revealing not just this giant asp, but a whole den of them!
There are eight in total, some coiled to pounce, others slithering towards you in the sands!
Damage tracker:
Snake 1: 30 and on fire
"Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?" Tesswyn groans. She spurs her horse to move as far away from the reptiles as possible as she swaps her staff for her bow. The rogue takes aim at the burning snake and opens fire!
Tesswyn shoots at a second snake, but misses.
"Blast! More serpents!" Gärwin knows how skittish his horse is and leaps from its back, letting it run from the bed of serpents. Planting his torch in the ground, the dwarf prepares to swipe and deflect any of the coiled menaces that approach.
Upon seeing the number of asps they were having to deal with and Garwin rushing to challenge them, Charles called to the power of his obsidian shield, as he did the ember glow seemed to become momentarily brighter and smoke began to pour out of it, surrounding him and obscured the Paladin's form.
Charles then hopped off of his own horse, allowing the creature free will to travel and hopefully remove itself from danger while still providing light for the others. He ran to meet with Garwin, Drawing his blade as he went.
Standing in her saddle, Kahtia casts a spell safely away from her companions... but the thunderclap might still catch some off-guard. As the peal of sound fades off into the night, hopefully scaring off a good number of snakes, she spurs her mount and rides after Tesswyn.
Gärwin prepares to receive an attack by the snakes.
The dismounted horses flee from the snakes.
None.
Kahtia blasts the grouping of five snakes.
Charles engulfs himself in smoke. While it makes him nearly impossible to see, he also starts coughing and his eyes start burning due to the smoke.
Tesswyn's bow shot kills the snake on fire.
The two snakes Drot just attacked strike back. One hits, venomous fangs digging deep into flesh!
Meanwhile, the three not deafened slither towards Gärwin and Charles.
All three miss, their fangs bouncing off the heavy armor of the two warriors.
The two deafened ones spend the round in a slight daze.
Damage tracker:
Snake 1: dead
Snake 2: -4, defeaned
Snake 3: -4, defeaned
Snake 4: -2
Snake 5: -2
Snake 6: -2
Snake 7: -17
Snake 8: -17
Tesswyn fires upon one of the snakes Drot struck.
As the snakes surges towards him and Charles, Gärwin swings his blade in an arc, covering the two of them. The agile creatures had difficulty getting past the dwarf's swings, but Gärwin couldn't land any solid hits either. "They're slippery, but at least they're keepin' their distance."
Gärwin rushed the nearby serpent, hoping to trim their numbers down.
The snake weaved and dodged, the knight's strikes just barely scraping the creature.
Knowing he was in a bit of trouble, Drot planned a quick escape. Uttering the incantation, he was not fast enough to avoid the lightening fast strikes of the snakes.
"Velox!-"
The rage within him boiled out as quickly as the snakes could strike; his form, once again, mutating into a monstrous version of himself. The Berserker bellowed with the fury of battle as he charge out of the middle of the snakes, cutting one down with an empowered attack as he went.
"MITTLERER SCHLAG!"
In the chaos of the battle, Kahtia wheeled her mount around and stopped. None of her companions could see her, but her powerful voice floated over the desert, utterances of an ancient tongue that loosed shadow magics into the air when she completed her spell. Seconds later, a terrible winged raptor stuck down from the night sky, striking at the serpents in the sand.
Charles, covered in smoke, strikes out at the giant snake, injuring it further.
Drot's empowered body rushes back, striking the snake that bite him as he left. An arrow from Tesswyn finishes it off.
Gärwin's sword lashes out, but does not find purchase with either strike.
Two snakes strikes back at Charles, but finding the paladin in all that smoke is challenging, and the fangs dig into nothing but air and ash.
Another lashes back at the knight, venom spitting out of the fangs and into the dwarf!
Kahtia moves back and summons a shadow monster to pick up and eat the snakes!
The snakes chases after Drot as he runs away, snapping at the giant orc! Another venomous bite takes hold!
The remaining two deafened snakes see Kahtia running away and start to slither after her.
Damage tracker:
Snake 1: dead
Snake 2: -4, defeaned
Snake 3: -4, defeaned
Snake 4: -2
Snake 5: -2
Snake 6: -26
Snake 7: -17
Snake 8: dead
Tesswyn quickly lets loose another arrow!
And another!
Noting the direction of the various yells, hisses, and other sounds of battle in the night, Kahtia wheels on her mount and fairly shouts a chant that quickly builds to a crescendo. When it breaks, it looses powerful, surging arcs of electricity from the woman's free hand, lighting up the area dramatically as she tries to kill or drive off the two serpents heading her way.
The venom washes over Gärwin, but the hearty dwarf barely notices. The bite though, that was painful enough for him to cry out.
Infuriated with the opposing reptile, Gärwin strikes back at his attacker, hoping to get a small measure of revenge.
Charles remains strong against the smoke from the shield, but as he hears Garwin shout in pain a second time, he risks a quick word to the Dwarf.
"Garwin, fall back!"
His breath was still strong but Charles didn't want to waste anymore of it than he had left. He hoped his inner thoughts counted to be prayers.
"I can do this. Astrid, guide my blade!"
The Berserker spins around to the snake that bit him and brings his hammer down on its head with an enchanted strike.
"MITTLERER SCHLAG!"
Tesswyn fires two arrows into Snake 6, killing it.
Drot slams his maul, smashing the snake to a smear in the sands.
Charles strikes the snake fighting Gärwin true, turning scales into bleeding wounds. Gärwin does the same.
The snake strikes at Gärwin.
Kahtia moves up to the two deafened snakes, arcing electricity through the air and frying the two snakes.
The shadow eagle swoops down and claws at a snake.
The snake charges after Drot.
The two snakes zapped by Kahtia turn and slither away.
Damage tracker:
Snake 1: dead
Snake 2: -25, defeaned, Frightened, fleeing
Snake 3: -14, defeaned, frightened, fleeing
Snake 4: -30
Snake 5: -2
Snake 6: dead
Snake 7: dead
Snake 8: dead
Tesswyn keeps firing!
The snakes were relentless in the hunger for dwarf flesh, but Gärwin wasn't about to let an overgrown earthworm get the better of him. He takes a moment to breathe, but that's all he needs. The dwarf pushes into the remaining snakes with renewed fury.
Charles continues to hold his breath well. Then he moved to strike the next closest asp.
"Garwin, agh, you're stubborn.
Drot'ook, finish it then, Astrid's blessing is with you."
His own strike however, fell upon a snake that died with an arrow from Tesswyn sticking out of it.
Tesswyn's ardows kill Snake 4, while Gärwin strikes deep into the final snake.
The shadow eagle launches off the dead snake and attacks the one on Gärwin; the claws dig in deep.
The snake tries to bite back, but misses.
Drot runs over and slams his maul into the snake, smashing it beneath his might.
Gärwin had traveled with Drot'ook long enough to recognize when the orc was in a berserk fury. Using his sturdy shield, the dwarf attempts to smash the raging orc's maul free from his hands.
As the serpents are defeated, Kahtia hears the enraged orc and knows immediately what is about to happen. She has been anticipating this, and spurs her horse forward to enact a plan she's been thinking about since first discovering Drot'ook's uncontrolled fury.
Galloping towards where Gildenbeard is trying to disarm his friend, the sorceress lifts one leg over her mount's neck so she is riding side-saddle for a few heartbeats before she leaps from the moving horse. Landing in the sand, she holds up one splayed hand to the green-skinned giant, casting a spell intended calm his rage.
"Drot'ook!" she cries as her magic drifts over her friend. "Calm yourself, drop your weapons!"
The last of the immediate snakes was dealt with, but now they had another problem. Drot'ook, he had begun to rage again. Charles tried to say something but forgot himself and instead inhaled, beginning to cough violently from the smoke.
"Wai... ughc cack heeh hugh cack! No, Dro... cack hac, no!"
"Light of the... huuh... New God.. hhhcouhh... Blindess!"
The Berserker sees Kahtia approach, locking eyes with the mage.
Steady now, she's a friend. NO TOUCH! No, no. Touching is fine, she's not going to hurt you. SNAKES LEAVING! Go after them then!
As the brave woman casts her spell, the magic seems to pass over The Berserker, but the flames in his eyes burn it away. Suddenly he lurches toward the snakes that are slithering away from the group, taking swipes at the dead bodies as he passes.
"NO TOUCH!"
"GRAAAH! NO SEE!!!"
Kahtia's magic washes over Drot, and while she is certain it worked, the Orc seems unaffected.
At the same moment, the orc becomes blind.
Then he runs off into the desert after where he thinks the snakes went, slamming his maul down upon where he thinks they are.
A few hours pass when the winds start to kick up. Within the hour you see the wall form - a huge wall of dust and debris miles wide.
Charles flies up into the air and spots a group of people meandering through the desert, likely to get caught in the same storm. He also spots what looks like a forest off in the distance, in a different direction.
He comes back to relay the information and the party makes a quick decision - everyone will ride hard to the forest while Charles flies over to the people to help get them to safety.
But as you approach, the forest looks funny. While there are plenty of trees, none of them are moving. Soon it becomes apparent:
In place of lush bushes, dry brambles and thorny tumbling weeds sprout. Hanging curtains of thorns tangle where moss would be. Sharp stones jut up from the earth at unnatural angles.
And while it looks like a typical forest of palm trees, large saguaro cactus, iron wood trees, yucca plants, organ pipe cactus, agave bush, and buckhorn (to name a few), it also looks like everything here has been turned to stone.
Throughout this ruined area of stone trees, sand and rough hills, the scarring of the earth is ever present. A general sense of unease permeates the entire place.
Stone trees and bramble are close enough for you to build shelter.
The poles are along a pathway and are placed roughly five yards apart from each other. The desert sands form small dunes causing the pathway to appear scattered.
"Come on, quickly! Get some shelter built!" Tesswyn scrambles to construct something that will keep them safe from the storm, barely managing to do so in time.
Gärwin tried to help, but his unsubtle approach seemed to cause more harm than good, breaking a petrified branch here and tearing cloth there. Ultimately, he decided to stand watch for any threats that might stop the others working
Kahtia was full of good ideas -- she knew of these storms, and of ways to protect against them...
Charles was aghast as he got closer to the line of skeletal figures. He flew a little higher, focusing his vision to try and examine as many of the skeletons as possible.
He didn't see any possible signs of living creatures and the storm itself was also closing in. Silently cursing those who would do such a thing, he turned and began flying back towards the forest, hoping that everyone else wasn't falling into a trap.
Drot quickly gets to work with setting up the camp with the others. He uses the stone vegetation as anchors and bases for the structure, creating another masterpiece of a shelter like he did with the barricade in the dead tyrant's tomb.
"This is coming along nicely, though I'm still uncertain of how it will actually hold against the high winds and erosion... Kahtia, is there any type of enchantment or alteration spell we can alter, to strengthen the tarp walls?... Though that could take far too long if it was anything other than the most basic spell, hmmmmm... Perhaps we can use the horses to further support the walls. Sir Gärwin, please, help me with this rope. We'll need to tie the horses to the stone, and then to the tarps with break knots in case they get spooked and run..."
Drot busies himself with his work, if the others don't have other ideas about how their shelter will remain upright during the deadly storm.
As soon as everyone is within the petrified forest, they immediately start working to put up a shelter.
While working, Tesswyn spots Charles flying back. The sand wall is just behind him. You can see that he's getting closer, but you can also see that he's not going to make it.
Then it happens. The wall overtakes him.
Quickly getting back to work, the sand wall hits the stone forest moments before you finalize the defense. Still, you press on, trying to complete your shelter so you can withstand the entire force of the winds.
It takes a full two minutes more to get to the forest. But still, you make it.
Everyone make a strength challenge roll with one bane or take 1d6 damage and become blinded by the sands. On a success, take 1 damage instead.
After a few minutes hiding behind the shelter, you hear a primal yawp that sends shivers down your spine. Then you see a shape form within the wind spewn sands - a humanoid shape that is easily twice the size of any of you. And it's moving closer.
"CHARLES!" Tesswyn shrieks as the wall of wind swallows him up. She starts to dash towards where he disappears, needless of the danger, but Kahtia's insistent tugging keeps her from charging headlong into the storm. The sand doesn't blind her, but her own tears nearly do as she feels her whole world starting to fall apart.
She hunkers down, shaking her head, trying to deny what she saw. But as she looks again, she sees something else. Something big getting closer. "Heads up!" she says, quickly casting oak skin and shillelagh.
Gärwin put a heavy hand on Tesswyn's shoulder. "He's tough, he'll make it. We just gotta dig 'im out later." But there wasn't time to grieve, something was upon them and if it destroyed the shelter they were hiding in, they could all die.
Gärwin once again draws his chipped sword and straightens his battered shield. There'd be one last trial before they could make it back, and he wasn't about to give up hope. Nothing short of hell would keep him from getting everyone back home, even Charles.
As the winds pick up and the sand starts flying, Kahtia uses a veil to cover most of her face as she works. She and her companions very nearly complete their makeshift structure in time, but then the haboob is on them. Grit and stinging grains of sand fill the air, and the mage tries to protect her eyes as she pulls at Tesswyn when the other woman seems about ready to run into the desert. Gärwin helps and the rogue turns back, but as they set to finishing their shelter, a blast of sand and something heavier carried by the whipping winds hits the dark-haired woman in the face. She falls to her hands and knees, gasping and blinded by the storm...