The early summer air is warm and mostly still this morning. When a breeze does come by, it is fleeting and soft. Fortunately, the sky is overcast, so the sun does not beat down on the travelers as they make their way up the dusty road towards the small town of Arwyll Stead. The stillness is filled with the sounds of birds and insects trilling and buzzing as the morning slowly turns to midday. Dust mixes with the pungent smell of the scrubby brush that is pollinating along Path Road, and even seeps into the tastebuds. The flavor of travel!
To the west, along the northern end of the Mindspin Mountains, lay the Holds of Belkzen. A place teeming with orcs intent on spreading across the continent. To the east are the dreadful peaks of Ustalav’s Hungry Mountains. A place teeming with undead intent on consuming all life across the continent. But just a little ways north through these badlands, perhaps a few hour’s travel, is your scrappy little destination. The town was looking for heroes, and some heroes happened to be in Lastwall when the call for help came.
Two travelers, unlike any other, can be seen on the road to Arwyll Stead. Both bare the markings of The Lady of Valor, and both handsome men.
The half-elf in front bares a slight frown, while the human-looking one with unearthly beauty, wearing simple chainmail, is trudging along behind his superior in agile breastplate , his elven blade beside him.
The human-looking one spits on the road to clear his throat. "Any idea how much further it is, Theren?"
Two travelers, unlike any other, can be seen on the road to Arwyll Stead. Both bare the markings of The Lady of Valor, and both handsome men.
The half-elf in front bares a slight frown, while the human-looking one with unearthly beauty, wearing simple chainmail, is trudging along behind his superior in agile breastplate , his elven blade beside him.The human-looking one spits on the road to clear his throat. "Any idea how much further it is, Theren?"
"I'm sure if you two ran all the way, we would get there about the same time. Oooooor, we could keep the pace we're going and noone dies of heatstroke or exhaustion. But that's just my 2cp" the striped feline laughs. Her paws in her pockets as she lazily meanders along with the group
"We will be between a rock and a hard place, no matter when we get there. So may as well enjoy this quiet time. Not that a small mining town will be busy, but taking into account where it's situated. One won't know for sure HOW quiet it is. Then again, a call for help means something is up, so again, let's enjoy the quiet walk"
Theren Thornvale trudges through the badlands, composite elven longbow in hand, an arrow knocked and held at rest. His keen elven eyes constantly scan the horizon for trouble. This close to Ustalav and Belkzen, there's always trouble. "Let's... just walk. Don't want to be tired if something happens." He did not miss this. The constantly moving, always on edge, waiting for something to jump out and grab you like a trapdoor spider. How many thousands of hours had he done just this before - well-provisioned backpack weighing him down as he marched towards trouble. At least this time he wasn't under uniform regulations. His green tabard offered some protection from the sun over his armor, not that it's needed today. He'd much rather be back on his farm. But that life is behind him now. "We should be there before sundown." He responds to Jack. "This isn't the kind of place for camping."
The ranger looks out over the assembled group and wonders how he ended up with such an odd assortment. He often wondered this. In the fight against demonic hoards, one could often find more exotic and unusual people but, so he was no stranger to the different ancestries of the world but... a catfolk and a ratfolk?
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"That was the nicest way anyone ever told me to shut up", the road-weary oracle grumbled to himself.
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"Just a few more hours Jack. My family's place is off to the east about an hour from town. Perhaps we'll get a chance to swing by. Hopefully my dad's ok, he patrols the hinterlands hereabouts. If the town is calling for back up he's either really busy, captured, or dead. As to quiet, the town, typically, the area, almost never. We'll need to check with Sir Arwyll when we get to town. He's our local noble don't you know." Cuthalian says as he walks. Like Theren, he has an arrow knocked and held in place with his left hand while he scans the countryside. Otherwise, you could think he was sightseeing at a horse ranch for his level of concern.
Niccan strolled along at the back of the party. Well, actually he hustled, trying his best to keep up with the stroll that the big folk did. Every now and then he called out to let them know they were getting too far ahead. Why hadn't he bought an animal to ride? A rat on a pony was just too silly to think about....
The guys in the lead held ready longbows. He had a longbow too, but it was on his back with his pack.
"Hey guys. Short legs, remember!"
"Would it help if we had some cheese as insentive?" she smirks down at Niccan
Niccan just grins at the 'mouse joke'. "While I do like good cheese, a snifter of good brandy would be a more welcome incentive for me. But you know that."
"In the future I think I should get a small wagon and a couple of animals to pull it. Then the long shanks up front wouldn't always be annoyed that I'm slowing them down. We'll still get there. And an extra hour swilling ale isn't that important!"
"Just summon a riding dog or something, cheaper on food and other expensive things" she waves a paw at him
Niccan shrugs at the suggestion. "My summons only last a couple of minutes, or less when they are slain. But you have a good point. I should just buy a riding dog. I've known a halfling that did that. Made a lot more sense than an equine as even a pony is a bit large for little ones.... I'll have to think about the food though. Dogs don't graze like horses."
The travelers round a mesa, coming up to a sort of valley. Echoing off the rocky terrain comes shouts, the clang of metal on metal, and the shrill whinnies of frightened horses. As the dusty road curves around the hills, a scene of battle comes into view some hundred feet away. Panicked horses bolt past, and corpses litter the ground around the road—some are recognizable as human guards or fallen horses, but others are twisted, winged, horned monstrosities with fiendish features. All of the combatants have fallen, except for two of the flying yellow monsters attacking a lone, wounded half-orc woman wielding a bow.
Stressful as it may be on one's nerves, Theren is always ready for battle. His head hurts from listening to the bickering of the others all day, his hand is a bit cramped from holding a knocked arrow all day, but on this day, like so many before, it proved to be the right decision. "Move to engage!" he barks as soon as he sees the flying devils or demons. Theren dashes a short way forward, bringing his heavy-draw warbow up, drawing and loosing the knocked arrow in a single smooth motion. He did not favor the bow as so many of his kind did, but neither was he an amateur. With a threatening swish, the arrow leaps from the string and arches towards the flying monster. Devil or demon, they all die the same.
Niccan hears the call to battle and scoots forward to get a better look.
"I know what those are...."
Then he summons a small aether elemental and tells it to "Go and throw one of those critters at the other."
The elemental flies at them and uses its telekinetic throw on the closest one. Fort save DC12. If it fails, it is thrown at the other one.
"I'm not much use in an aerial fight. I'll go see if I can help the lady" as she rushes forward, as she does so, she gets one of the potions from her bandolier, ready to give it to the half-orc
"It's not much, but we are here to help!"
Jack races behind Kit'Arr to defend the lone orc defender.
The half-orc is slightly startled by Theren's arrow striking one of the monsters. She turns her head in time to see Kit'Arr and Jack coming up behind her. She glances back at the devils then with an appreciative grunt and nod quickly swallows the potion. Her most serious wound stops bleeding and begins to rapidly heal.
Both Cuthalian and Theren manage to put an arrow into the creatures, but only the paladin's seems to cause any real damage. Niccan knows why: they are resistant to wounds from weapons that aren't properly sanctified. Invisible to all, Niccan's summoned elemental tries in vain to toss the devils around. Fortunately, no one is able to see it's failure.
Sensing the divine power Theren wields, and feeling the sting of one of his well-shot arrows, the Gaavs swoop down on him, trying to use their jagged claws on the half-elf. Neither manages to make contact with him.
Kit rushes over to help attack the one assaulting Theren, taking a swipe at it with her claw
Niccan shrugs at his mistake. He'd summoned the wrong elemental for these things. He calls out in Auran, "Just pick one and throw rocks at it then. That should work better."
He calls out to the group, "Gaavs! Devils! They're resistant to normal weapons. If you can bless a weapon with goodness that should cut right through it. Oh. Also, fire, poison, acid and cold. Immune to the first two and resistant to the others. Electric attacks should work better. But they're already hurt and have probably expended their breath weapons and magic. Hit them hard and finish them off!"
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Round 2
Jack advances and attacks the (blue dot) nearest devil.
"What?!" Theren shouts as Jack moves up and says... something. He had been taking lessons on Celestial so he could understand his long time companion in battle, but it is a complicated language. As smoothly as he loosed an arrow, he does his longbow, drawing his elven curve blade and slicing at the monster flanking him in a single fluid motion. Fluid despite his hatred of the devils or demons he faces.
Cuthallan gets two more shots off, his first nicking the hovering devil. It turns and shrieks at him as it zips out of the path of his second arrow. Jack and Kit'Arr lay into the other devil. Claw and sword both are too much for the thing. It drops lifelessly to the ground.
The other devil looks ready to teleport away between the arrow wounds it has sustained and seeing it's last ally killed when Theren's elven blade slices one wing off. It hits the ground shrieking for a moment before falling silent.
The half-orc looks about, wary another devil may be lurking. Realizing she is safe she takes a deep breath. "Thank you. Vegazi," she says, pointing at herself. "I get horses. They scared. Then we bring the bodies back to human town." Her common is heavily accented and stilted. She jogs away in the direction of several spooked horses.
On the ground are the bodies of a half-dozen gaavs, all disintegrating as their essence is returned to their home plane. A tiefling woman with orcish ancestry is among the dead, seemingly slain by a human nobleman's sword. She clutches a quarterstaff festooned with feathers and stones and a dirty robe the color of the scrub. She wears a necklace similarly decorated as her weapon.
The man who killed her was well-equipped with rather expensive weapons and armor. All of it is marked with a noble crest. Cuthalian can confirm the crest belongs to the Arwyll family.
In addition to the fallen Arwyll is a priest of Iomedae, identified by the silver holy symbol around his slashed throat, still holding a flask of holy water. Lastly are a trio of human skirmishers. They have tabards bearing a sunburst and mesa insignia, the symbol used by Arwyll Stead's government.
Kit sweeps her leg back as she does a bow, her arms stretched out to her sides
"A pleasure to meet you Vegazi. You may call me Kit. These are my companions. It is unfortunate we could not have helped you sooner, but we can thank the gods we could at least save you"
Niccan thanks the elemental for trying and dismisses it. Then he examines the battle site. This was supposed to be about orcs, not devils? Who were the enemies here?
He casts detect magic to scan for anything of interest, or possible danger, and scans the whole site.
Niccan magically augments his vision. There are a number of auras swirling the area, remnants of the battle that have not yet dissipated. He can clearly spot several small objects on the tiefling witch's body with an aura. Near her corpse, a potion tucked into the human noble's belt pouch softly glows.
The wounded half-orc quickly manages to soothe the horses with gentle movements, soft touches, and quiet whispers. When she leads them back to the scene of the battle, she is greeted by Kit'Arr. Vegazi seems slightly perplexed by the bow. Then she breaks out into a big grin. "Yes! I glad too!."
Her face turns to the tiefling and her smile drops. "Bring home humans. Only right." She moves to one of the corpses and lifts it to the horse. "Let animals have that one," she says with a finger pointed toward the tiefling witch. "Help?" she asks Kit.
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Cuthalian starts gathering all of the Arwyll knight's things. "We'll want to present this one with some dignity. It'll make us look good in the eyes of Sir Arwyll. Niccan can you..." He begins to ask when he hears the chant of basic magic and assumes Niccan will be checking the items. After Niccan has an opportunity to look things over, Cuthalian asks, "Anything of interest on our tiefling here?"
"Do you have any idea where these came from, or why they attacked?" Theren asks Vegazi as he wipes the devil blood of and sheathes his curve blade. He stoops down and picks his bow from the ground, dusting it off and examining the string to ensure it is not damaged from being tossed. "The tiefling led the devils in an attack against the nobleman's retinue? Why? Does anything here look important? And how do you factor in, Vegazi?" This seems an odd place for a devilish ambush, and the odds of the devils randomly coming upon a nobleman outside town are certainly suspect.
Kit nods "Will gladly help" as she goes to help. She looks up at the orc as she does
"Would you prefer I speak like this?" she offers. Her hard letters much more pronounced, where her Rs are much more rolled
In response to Kit's query, Vegazi furrows her brow and shakes her head in the negative. Then she relaxes some and shrugs. "Not matter. Alone long. Not speak good in any language. Thank you, Kit" she manages a warm smile despite the split lip she suffered during the battle.
When Theren asks about the attack, she just points to the west, not realizing he meant something a little more meaningful than "which direction?" She avoids eye-contact with the paladin, continuing her grim work of securing the bodies for transport. "Yes. Witch and devils attack human. No know why. I was near. Hunting."
"Wate,
The attacks on the borderlands around Arwyll Stead have obviously become more frequent and purposeful. I fear what the orcs of the Hell's Fury tribe are plotting, it can't be good, judging by their diabolical company.
My scouts and I have still not been able to locate the squad that went missing last week. As we discussed, I will continue searching along the banks of the Path River for any sign of our missing comrades before rendezvousing with you in town tomorrow morning.
-Terrin
P.S. We are not alone in our search. I spotted an elusive hunter tailing my party for the past few days, though she is clearly benign, since she has had ample opportunity to kill us in our sleep. She hasn't made her presence known in a little while, and I would not be surprised if you spotted her as well."
She laughs then nods "Very well, then perhaps we can one day sit down and have a few lessons, never a bad thing to speak well"
She looks around "Then in a way, you tried to help them, and that is admirable. Their loved ones would like to know how they spent there last few moments"
Niccan starts gathering up the obvious magic items on the tiefling witch's body. When he hears the half-orc's statement of 'anger' toward her he is less respectful with the search, then drags the body into the weeds. Carrion animals would make short work of the body.
"Did she summon the devils? Those things weren't monsters that an average mage could call to battle. Have you seen more like them recently?"
Hearing Cuthalian's question he casts the detection spell again, this time focusing on the individual items to try and determine the enchantments.
He looks at the scroll but probably can't read it....
"What's this? Bloodied but readable. A letter...."
Kit nods at Cuthallian
"Agreed. We should get going, a battle like this will attract predators we don't need to engage. Grab what you can and let's get out of here"
Rising above the red stone wall that circles Arwyll Stead, the tops of various buildings are just barely visible from the foot of the steep, rocky cliffs that draw together to form the mesa on which the town sits. A sloping ledge on the southwest side of the town and a set of steep switchbacks on the northeastern edge allow entrance through the settlement’s heavily fortified wooden gates.
Two humans, dressed in tabards like those on some of the dead humans look concerned as the procession nears the gate. One enters the town and by the time the travelers and Vegazi have arrived, the guard has been joined by a chubby human wearing simple brown clothes dripping sweat. He sees the fallen noble and mouths the words, "Gods, no." He sighs and shakes his head. "Please, take Lord Wate to the Arwyll estate," he tells the guard who fetched him. "I, uh..." he takes a moment to compose himself then addresses the six strangers. "I'm Mayor Darrel Proum. If you have any wounds, take care of them first. Acolyte Radan can be found at the chapel. Then, please, come speak with me at Arwyll Manor."
"Help? We could use some now, that's for sure. Let's talk about what happened, off the street." He leads the group along a narrow dirt road that runs along the southern wall towards the mesa atop which stands the Arwyll estate. "You sure you don't want Ovir to take care of your wounds?" the mayor asks, looking mostly at Vegazi who still has several fresh cuts and bruises. Other townspeople are looking at the half-orc too, only with less concern and more suspicion. "It would give me time to summon the other town elders. They need to hear about Lord Wate's death and what you witnessed. Because help? Help is what we need. It is why Lord Wate left in the first place." He leads the group to a modest sitting room in the estate and asks everyone to please wait just a little while.
All why this is happening, Kit makes sure that their new friend tags along, she did most of the work and she needed some recognition too
"Waiting patiently. Want to know why all this is happening." she nods as they go to get the rest of the people
"Please take good care of her", Jack pleads.