"Who cursed it? Maybe could lift it and help out everyone around here. Even if the people from Varnhold deserved it others will come along who don't and may get caught up in the same things." She was mostly repeating what the others had said but hopefully, them all being concerned about the same thing would show the Centaurs how important it was to the group.
When the others began to introduce themselves Lyon stayed quiet. Just because they didn't kill them in their sleep didn't make them allies and she didn't want to give away any information she didn't have to, at least not yet.
Concerned by the four travelers' resolve and spirit, and a little bit moved, the centaur leader speaks at some length. Her three compatriots, who don't appear to speak Taldane, simply shift back and forth restlessly when they cannot control their feet.
"My tribe has lived here since before our tribal oral memory, though the cursed place which your tribe has disappeared into is, by that standard, a new cursed place. It was once a temple dedicated to old faiths of your human peoples, although like most desolate places it saw rises and falls in population and fortunes. Our people would sometimes bargain with theirs - we traded things for spellcasting favors, usually, because many of them had so dedicated themselves to their gods that they were unable to leave the temple. About a hundred and twenty years ago, during my father's chieftainship, a tragedy befell the temple. I know not exactly what, for whatever centaur we would send inside would never return. I know many of our mystics attempted to use magic to reach our friends in the temple, but I believe all were slain. The temple has since given off an aura of insanity and evil, and occasionally disgorged horrors, which our people had to put down."
"Varn and his people were powerful. They defeated an old cult of Charon, a cult made of cyclopes that had plagued our people for generations. But when we met under pretenses of thanking them, he attacked us as well. I believe he wanted us far off of his land, for the Nomen Heights have long been ours. Many of us were slain, including my father, and we had to flee our sacred lands for other pastures, but since Varn's disappearance we have been slowly inching back."
"Please, listen to this tale. Do not go to rescue Varn. If you enter that temple, you will surely be killed."
"Guerrilla warfare," Marcus said simply. "I need to return to camp before we start this. Walk with me. I'll tell you what I'm thinking..."
Still, he doubted the others would see it that way, and he also knew too well the futility of resisting civilization's advance in battle. Change was needed, to join without assimilating. But for now that was a distant problem.
"A grave problem indeed," he says aloud. "I have no sympathy for Varn if he was such a man, and I am saddened by how many have fallen because of him, particularly as it may well be his actions that caused the settlers here to be drawn to the temple. My fear is that such may happen again. Know you anything of what caused those who lived here to approach the temple? One we rescued from a spider's web spoke of an 'Aria' who compelled them to come to her. Do any of your people's songs speak of this name?"
"Yes. Ogres took them. We will be rescuing them shortly." Marcus said, hardly slowing as he head back to his cart to retrieve supplies. "Leon, I need three skilled riders. Find me volunteers quickly."
As Aecora speaks, Aisha simply tilts her head slowly, thinking of a myriad of cultural and historical things, trying to piece together any major events within the world that had happened around that time. The first Mendevian Crusade was near that time, but not precise... it made sense that the Nomen Heights was a place for no men. It was in the name!
"Were the people that you traded with something besides humans, then?" Aisha asks as she considers possibilities. "Do you know of the god or gods that they worshiped? Do you have any historical artifacts that may bear a symbol we would recognize? Such as your pegasus sigil?"
At Kaussek and Aisha's questions regarding the temple are calmly considered by the centaur leader. "Maybe one of the tribe's elders would know more, but I recall some of the things my father told me about the temple. I recall he said they were not always all human. I remember a story about one of the temple's elven priests, but nothing more specific about the temple's population. However, they were nearly all human."
"I don't remember the name "Aria" specifically, but if she is from inside the temple, she may either be a foreign invader or one of the temple's priests. A variety of faiths were allowed in the temple, including evil ones." She strokes her chin as she thinks for a moment more. "Some shared our worship of Mother Moon, calling her 'Desna', and there were other gods, but my father never mentioned any of them to me specifically - he only mentioned this 'Desna' to me as a way of explaining that even proponents of Mother Moon could fall to folly."
In answer to Kaussek's other question, she only has a shrug. "I'm sorry, I have no idea what device might be responsible for drawing people in."
Aisha knows of many important historical events that happened "about a hundred and twenty years ago". That was the time of Aroden's death, the beginning of the Age of Lost Omens, the opening of the Worldwound, the Chelish Civil War, the formation of the Eye of Abendego, and many more world-shaping changes.
After hearing their tale Lyon was sympathetic but also began to worry that they might be trying to get them to leave so they could reclaim their land rather than concern for anyone's safety.
"If you retake the land that they vanished from then whatever took them might come for your people once it's done with them. If we don't deal with it now we risk letting it grow stronger and spreading." Lyon tries to recall some of the lessons from her old classes, at least the ones she hadn't slept through. Trying to find the best way to approach the conversation and maybe sway the centaurs.
The tribe seemed to be relatively small and that often meant a close knit community. Her best bet would likely be trying to convince them that this was just as much a threat to them. "If whatever this is comes for your people what do you have to defend against it? We can work together to deal with it before it gets stronger, if not for Varnhold then for your own people."
"And what can you tell me about yourselves, and what you plan to do?"
As for her motivations, Lyon can't tell much from her mannerisms, but she doesn't seem to be very duplicitous. It's very likely both motivations.
Hoping to build trust Lyon would share everything they knew, unless the others objected. "In all honesty not much, we aren't natives to this area and we weren't sent here to save them. We came her with a caravan of settlers looking for a new home. In our travels we found farms that had been abandoned but we weren't able to find any signs of what happens besides a magic aura that was nearly faded.
If allowed Lyon would place her backpack on the ground and shuffle through it to find her journal. "I tried to keep track of the important parts." She opens her journal and begins to read from it. "I found seven egg-shaped totems inside the safe as well as some strange coins - they had an eye rising over a horizon on one side and a bunch of humanoid figures collectively crowned with one crown that hangs over the entire group on the other side. She shows Aecora her drawings of the items.
"We found Varnhold in the same state and found the same figures in one of the estates. I think it's connected but we didn't have much time to investigate since we found the trail leading out of the city. Following it lead us to the spider where we managed to save two people, we managed to wake up one who told us Aria called to him but he didn't know who that was. Then you found us." She returned her journal to the bag and re-shouldered it. "I'm Lyon, also from the Pathfinders." She nods toward Aisha. "Right now information is key, we should try to scout the area at the very least. Even if we can't fight it, knowing what we're up against will be a huge advantage."
"It should be perfectly fine, we have a solid plan to ensure we rescue them, we just need a few more people to ensure we get them out safely" Ishana remarks earnestly to the two men, trying to be positive so as to not cause undue doubt - such emotion would not be productive at this early stage.
"That an entire town was forced to up and leave with magic is troubling. We cannot assume that wherever we settle will be safe from such a power. Lyon is right: We need to at least know what happened and why."
"Des'na..." Aisha says, barely audibly, as Aecora says the name, almost as though the word can barely leave her mouth, as she bounces excitedly in place.
"I intend to investigate the thing that is making the people come to it, whether Aria is a girl, or an eldritch abomination worshipper." she pauses, "I think that if Aria is just a girl, we could try diplomacy, but it seems unwise, given that she is likely much better at it than we are, and thus will come out ahead, given that she is capable of convincing hundreds of others to do what she wants." Aisha continues the line of thought from the others, with her own. "But the priority is to prevent the end of stories, I think, even still. So, I wish to prevent the loss of life, or the enslavement of the people of Varnhold, whether by getting them away, or by simply speaking. I do not suspect that the latter will work, and likely the others will prefer a more tactical approach of employing localized destruction against the individual responsible." she says, looking to the others, to see if they would agree or disagree to her assessment. "Usually, evil, and even good powerful individuals are unwilling to listen to reason, and thus force is required to prevent more destruction. Ultimately, however, I am here to see a resolution."
"Will your people be a part of that resolution?"
Then, all three centaurs leave the longhouse, leaving Lyon, Lu, Kaussek and Aisha alone.
"We face a difficult situation," he says aloud. "If we attempt a rescue and fail, we likely doom those who we protect. If we do not and there is a growing danger there, we risk losing all, as well. We should be agreed on our course before we ask more of those here."
"I'll explain on the way," Marcus said. He'd draped lanterns, ropes, chains, and bear traps over one of the horses. "Keep quiet and keep close."
"There are five of them. Four Ogrekin, one full-blooded Ogre. We are going to stage a series of ambush sites. Ishana will draw them in, hopefully one at a time. If an ogrekin hits a trap, the rider assigned to that trap will take off and drag their catch behind them. If the ogrekin does not hit a trap, we use ranged weapons to engage. Do not let them get close."
"Do not be heroes. If an ogre gets near you, run."
Each of the three ambush sites Marcus prepared was about a hundred feet away from the house, around corners.
Marcus put two traps down at each site. One got hammered into trees, the ground, or into the foundation of nearby houses with a leather-padded mallet and a piton. The trap other got attached to a length of chain, which was attached to an even longer rope. The rope was given to a rider at the end of it's full length.
Marcus concealed the traps and the ropes in the dirt.
He pointed to the traps in turn. "Ishana, if you pull one, lead them to the anchored trap. If you pull more than one, lead them to the drag trap.
He handed each of the horsemen a hooded lanterns and said "If your trap goes off, open your lantern and ride. Count to thirty, then turn around and ride back."
"The rest of you, support Ishana and I. Find a comfortable place to hide. Roofs are good options. We might be here a while. Once things start, keep back. Let me be the main target. Never get within fifty feet of an ogre. They are faster than they look." He pointed out the distance from the trap to the horse.
"Everyone get in position."
He gave Ishana a nod. "You ready?"
Ishana nods in agreement. "There is no reason for us to delay much longer, and I'm ready as I'd ever be. Everyone stand in your positions, and watch for my signal. "
The arcanist pauses for a moment, before giving a half amused smile. "If anyone hears any screaming, its probably going to be me"
Ishana spends a moment more picturing the locations of the traps within her mind. She knows that the success of this plan involves her remembering each location as the route towards them, so she spends a few minutes remembering ten useful facts about each location, predicting that in a stressful situation, she would still retain enough information to locate them quickly.
As she walks towards the door, she tries to remember as much as she can about Ogres and their kin. This time, she isn't focused on any offensive and defensive characteristics, but rather what they look for in prey, so that she could make for a more attractive lure.
She makes it to the house, carefully keeping a close eye on the door, stepping a few feet away in case something was lying in wait. "H-Hello?" she asks in a quavering voice. "Is there anyone out there? I think I have sprained my wrist. Can-can anyone help me?" the half elf asks quietly, keeping her voice shaky and high pitched.
Ishana knows which direction the planned first one, manned by Arthur, will be in when she approaches the building to shakily ask for help.
Her call for help yields fruit, as a booming woman's voice issues from inside the inn, speaking Giant: "Krok, ga eens kijken. Als ze alleen is, is het een gratis maaltijd." After that, Ishana can hear the creak of floorboards heralding the ogrekin's arrival at the door, followed by the door getting thrown open to reveal a grotesque, gray-skinned six-foot humanoid creature, evidently named Krok. Krok wears dirty, smelly hide armor, tattered rags for pants, and carries a sheaf of javelins on his back, next to what seems like a surprisingly well-maintained leather backpack. Krok's face splits open to reveal blackened and misshapen teeth as he sees Ishana, and he calls back into the house: "Mam, het is een meisje! Verwarm de grill!"
Then he pulls a spiked flail - one of two - from his belt and bounds forward gleefully towards Ishana. Knowing the plan, Ishana scrabbles backwards away from the ogre - who is frightfully fast, but thankfully not faster than Ishana, at least not in his medium armor. The pair dash down a street, around a building, and towards the first set trap, with Arthur, Alana, and Marcus lying in wait...
As he gets closer, Marcus notices Alana leaning on a railing of a small cottage's loft. When the ogrekin is nearly there, the railing creaks and then shatters, hailing the ogrekin first with wooden splinters and then nearly with a young changeling.
Aisha's comments bring about more questions than anything else. "It's possible that's just coincidence." Lyon offered hopefully, knowing full well there was pretty much no chance of that. "Either way we just don't know enough about what's going on right now. I think scouting is our best option right now but we're clearly outclasses based on the magic alone."
She gives a small pause before speaking up again, avoiding eye contact with Lu. "Retreat is always an option. We're no use to anyone dead and if this is something we can't handle we need to warn others who can. Even if running will have a cost."
You have not reached the traps yet. They are still forward along your path. If you continue running, the ogre may yet run into them.
A plan never survives contact with the enemy. Adaptability and contingencies were the keys to victory.
Alana was prone in the Ogrekin's path. There was no way the mongrel would ignore that temptation.
Marcus charged.
Marcus leaps out of hiding and charges at the ogrekin, trying to intercept it before either of the fragile women he is trying to protect are harmed. He lashes his scimitar at the creature, who reflexively roars in rage at the appearance of an enemy. Marcus' blow connects easily, but it only seems to make the creature wilder and angrier!
Utilizing her magic, Ishana withdraws a pat of butter from her component pouch and casts a spell. A tendril of grease reaches out towards the ogrekin, threatening to surround the weapon with slime.
Slime coats the weapon entirely, causing the ogrekin to drop it, the handle simply sliding out of the creature's grasp!
1. Ishana
2. Arthur
3. Alana
4. Krok
5. Marcus
With an ally in melee combat and the enemy not holding a weapon, Ishana finds that she cannot safely use either of her offensive spells, and following Marcus' advice, Alana scrabbles to her feet in fear and retreats a short distance from the melee. Arthur doesn't close, and he isn't carrying a bow either.
Mouth frothing with rage, the ogrekin draws its second light flail from its belt and lifts it high overhead before straining its muscles to bring it down in a crushing blow, trying to flatten Marcus in one strike.
Marcus shrugged off the heavy blow, then delayed for a few moments while Alana and Ishana backed up. Then he thrust a rippling, shadow-cloaked hand towards the Ogrekin in an attempt to ward it off and backed away, hoping to lead the monster into the trap.
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"Just as my people's long history seems doomed to serve as prologue to mammal civilization, because we did not destroy them while they were weak? Is that the sort of prologue you fear being?" he snapped. "Do you know the sort of tales my people tell of the ones you call 'heroes'? Of how they invaded our lands and killed our people? Of how our great warriors died valiantly trying to defend their homes?"
He flared his nostrils. "Not every story ends happily, child. My people's every effort to save themselves has only made the situation worse, convinced the 'civilized' world that we are savages who attack without what they see as provocation. Charging boldly into battle against the threat has only brought more death."
Kaussek suddenly stops short. Had he said too much? Revealed how, for all he had lived in the 'civilized' world for many years, he still did not think himself one of them. He turns sharply away from Aisha, striving for self-mastery.
"It is true, what lies in the ruins is likely a threat to us. It is true, if we are capable of defeating it, we should. But there is no guarantee we are capable of defeating it... and I will not die pointlessly in an effort to play a part in a children's tale. We must see what the threat is, yes, but do not assume we can face it. It is better to withdraw and live than die where there is no hope of victory."
Ishana, seeing Marcus retreat, pulls back herself, trying to bait the creature into the trap they had so carefully laid. She attempts a second Grease spell to cause the other weapon to slip from its grasp - more to try and see if she could limit the damage Marcus would take than anything else.
"Fall back, keep it away from me" she cries, pulling backwards. "I can kill it if it just gives me room!"
Lu listens to Aisha demanding they go save the people. Her desire to do so was admirable, but her reasoning was off. One was not part of a story until they completed something admirable and worthy. You might choose to try to do so, but the story would not exist until after you had proven yourself. Those who failed had no stories told of them.
When Kaussek replies with righteous anger, Lu looks anew at the Lizardman, taking measure of him again. The two shared more in common than he would have assumed at first glance.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you, Dà-sgian" he says, placing a hand on the lizardman's shoulder in solidarity. "Rwy'n rhannu eich poen, brawd" His tone becomes quiet and pensive as he says it and then repeats in common, "I share your wounds, brother."
"Not every story is heroic, Aisha, and for every one told, a thousand others are lost in the winds. The one that led me here involved the death of my father and almost every warrior in my tribe. My father was heroic, and he likely died to poison. There was no honorable battle, and no one came to save us in the end. Our way of life was ended, and my people back at the caravan are depending on me to help lead them through this time of change," he says solemnly.
"I am as ready as any follower of Gorum to throw myself into a challenge. I did not hunt down Ha'leth alone simply for the enjoyment. The glory of it and recognition by my people and by Gorum were important. I knew when I went that I might die, it was something I accepted going in." Doing Gorum's will didn't mean you weren't allowed to consider that it might kill you, nor did it mean you did so without any fear. It just meant that you accepted that as part of proving yourself. If you fell in glorious combat, that was just as worthy.
"You must accept that in doing these things you can die. And it also means that when you have something to fight for, you must choose your battles wisely. You cannot always do things because of the story it might tell, if doing so might sacrifice things you care for."
At the first signs of anger, Aisha had stopped bouncing entirely, fully focused on Kaussek, entirely, still on the balls of her feet. Kaussek was angry. But Aisha was not angry, and neither were the others. So Kaussek was angry with what Aisha had just said. Kaussek could not be angry with Aisha, so Kaussek had to be angry at Aisha. This was a terribly discomforting feeling. In all of Aisha's recollection, no one had ever been angry at Aisha, only with Aisha. False information, a lie told on pages, the wrong thing for lunch. But no one had ever been angry at Aisha for Aisha's personal thoughts.
As Lu began to speak, Aisha was already backing towards the nearest escape point, putting distance between herself and the angry lizard. Both of their words reached her, but she didn't respond, not even to copy human mannerisms. There was a fundamental misunderstanding, and there must be, for someone to react with anger to her words.
A flight through the centaur populace, or at least up the wall would be likely, were she not lured back in by story. Slowly, her focus moved from the lizard-man to Lu as he told his story, but she remained inhumanly still and quiet, save for the motions required of her to move towards the exit. The need for flight was placated by story and distance, placing Lu between herself and angry dragon-person. But the distance remained.
Marcus' shadowy power strips the ogrekin of some of its flesh, but its too tough to be slowed down by tactics like that. Growling with rage, it lashes out at Marcus as the doctor retreats, grazing him with a powerful blow as he falls back. Ishana casts a spell and summons a layer of sticky grease, but the ogrekin whips the weapon away from the spell's manifestation in time, causing the spell to fail. Then, Alana comes up behind Marcus and casts a healing spell on him, closing some of the spike-wounds inflicted by the ogrekin's flail. "Jeez, Marcus!" she says, "Are you okay?"
Then, the ogre decides to give chase. Unfortunately for it, it does not see the trap it between it and the doctor and the trap's iron jaws snap shut on one of its legs. It looks down, having hardly noticed the pain, but suddenly being hampered in its movement. Seeing the bear trap, it screams and hammers the bear trap with its flail, trying to simply destroy the thing so it can continue chasing its prey.
It smashes the chain on the bear trap, thinking that if the chain is destroyed, it can at least hobble around and still kill these annoying humans. Its first blow does not do the job completely, although the iron chains do crack.
"Yes," Marcus said grimly. Then he drew an alchemical grenade and lobbed it toward the angry ogrekin
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Her complete silence only added to his confusion. She seemed like a prey animal that had just realized it was inches from an alligator, moving away slowly in hopes it would not strike. Had he truly scared her so badly?
Was she... actually a child?
"I am not going to attack you, Aisha," he stated, though he couldn't quite keep from sounding a bit angry still. "But you must learn that not everything is like a tale told by storytellers, before you or others suffers for it."
Marcus hurls a small alchemical weapon at the ogre. Though his aim is not great, the ogre is slowed both by wounds and by armor, and so is an easy target. The bomb explodes and lights a portion of the creature on fire.
Ishana draws upon her bloodline, hardening her fists. She isn't particularly pleased about the prospect of wading into melee but doesn't see many other options.
Ishana bides her time, waiting for the ogre to get closer... Meanwhile, the ex-bandit finally gets enough daring to ride forward and hurl a javelin at the ogre, and Alana moves farther away, drawing a bow from her back and loosing an arrow. Combined with the continued burning of the alchemist fire, the ogre is nearly brought low. In desperation, it smashes at the chains of the bear trap again. It smashes the trap completely, freeing its bleeding leg, and then turns and runs away from the group that nearly had killed it so far, shouting, "MAMA! MAMA!"
Their gray skin seems to crawl independently, making it seem like the creatures are made of some sort of viscous oil, and they stream out of the trees, hissing and screaming and reaching for the necks of centaur women and children. There are dozens of them, and the centaurs are throwing up a valiant defense against them. Several centaur warriors have drawn longbows and ride about, firing arrows into the horde of strange tentacled monsters. Aecora can be seen dashing out of a building, calling a column of white-hot holy flame into a group of them before assuming the form of a bear and tackling a second group. The short-haired centaur who woke you charges into battle alongside two of her men, a starknife clutched in each palm, screaming.
It is a scene of utter chaos. You could slip away at this point easily, or you could help the centaurs. What do you do?
They're also supernaturally quick, able to act much faster than most creatures.
Chokers don't typically wear clothes, so there's something off about these ones...
Eldritch creatures resist acid and cold, fight until the moment they drop dead, possess acidic blood that injures those who damage them badly enough and can survive with no problem in the vacuum of space. In addition, they possess spell resistance. Powerful eldritch creatures also resist damage from nonmagical weapons.
"Chokers." Aisha says to the others, adopting some of her previous energy, "Do not let them grab your neck. If they do, you will be unable to cast. They are fast, and can move into range to strike with ease. Someone has given them clothes. Perhaps they are pets." she begins to head out the door, but then pauses, something having caught her eye.
"They have been summoned by cultists, most probably, or are twisted by ties to the Dark Tapestry... perhaps they are villagers?" she asks, tilting her head as the thought approaches, but shifts quickly back into recitation. "They will not fall until they are dead, and are resistant to the powers of storms. Be cautious of their acidic blood, and do not use nonmagical weapons upon them. Their chaotic energies will disrupt your spells as they try to take hold, so use real effects, such as conjurations." she pauses, "They may also survive in space as a result of their mutations, where it is cold and dark and without air."
Aisha then moves into view of the centaurs, beginning to hum as loudly as she can manage. The centaurs did not need to understand her to be centered by her songs. Were the chokers twisted by Aria's magic? Or summoned by Aria..? The likelihood of the two being unrelated were terribly low...
Marcus sprinted after the fleeing Ogrekin, hoping to bring it down before it escaped.
Combat over!
Marcus puts his blade into the monster one last time to make sure it's dead, then breathes out a long breath beneath his mask. Beneath his armor and bandages his wounds knitted as healing energy came off him in waves.
"That could have gone better," he said in a flat tone. "But we all live. Good enough."
As Kaussek and Aisha bickered Lyon bit her tongue, holding back a quickly building anger. The others seemed to be forgetting that the centaurs had kidnapped them, it didn't matter what they really wanted to do they needed to get out of here. Scouting was more than a reasonable start if they wanted to do more that could be argued when they were safe but they needed to present a united front here.
And Aisha was running away. They really needed to have a talk about impulse control. Aisha had been repeatedly making choices for the group without seeming to care what the others had to say about it. Before Lyon found her voice her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of combat and Aisha running outside.
Seeing the creatures begin to pour in Lyon drew her weapon, breaking the barrel open to let her flame fill it, forming slightly different shells. "Now would be a great time to get away. Just saying." She said fully aware Lu would be charging in yelling something about the 'honor of combat' within a few seconds and they'd have to follow.
Ishana quickly moves to Marcus' side. "That lure strategy worked like a charm, but I'm unsure if they would be stupid enough to fall for a repeat performance. Do you think goading them would be a sufficient tactic, or would you prefer letting his absence build to draw more of them out?"
"Agreed. There is no reason not to aid them in this. Even if only to show that not all men are greedy or seeking to do them harm. 'Getting away' does us very little good if we encounter them again and they blame the attack on us, after all."
Without hesitation, he quickly casts barkskin on himself, his skin hardening in response to better protect him. He begins following Aisha out the door.