With Delia apparently uneaten Sevrin slowly unshields his light and joins her in looking around.
"There's a door down here that I really don't want to open, but I suppose the rest of you do."
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Sevrin shields his light-pebble so as not to spoil Delia's night vision and waits nervously for a few heartbeats, listening for the sounds of Delia being devoured. If none are forthcoming, he'll still let Edvard go first.
"Uh wait... okay, I got it!
Sevrin shrugs. "I suppose we'll find out now. Hopefully it gets us over this pit. I mean, I sort of hope for that."
"Hopefully whatever there is out there to fear, we'll fear it less when it's dead, again that is. Or if it kills us, that will take care of the problem to. So uh, does anyone want to see what that switch does? Or to we go through that door? Can anyone tell where the sound is coming from? Is it up ahead?"
Sevrin is finding that heroism does not come easy to him. The stress leads him to speak with uncharacteristic bitterness, if with entirely characteristic trepidation. "Oh alright. Let's go get killed over the slight chance that someone in need actually made it past that room full of killer skeletons, instead of fleeing from the very large chance that there's something out there waiting to eat our souls. Oh, and the fire thingy. At lest I won't live in regret. Not that I wouldn't be willing to give it a try. "Uh Ed, let's try that again at half-speed. Try to stay in the light."
Sevrin flinches as the wail sounds again. "I don't feel too good about this. There were two mounts, right? And two corpses inside the entrance. So who would that be? Maybe we don't need to rush off and investigate."
"Pillows? I don't understand anything anymore." Sevrin stares into the pit for a while. "Maybe they were left here to keep youngsters from breaking their necks during the pilgrimage. Pity they didn't leave some at the bottom of that hill." Sevrin holds his light pebble aloft and looks around. "I think the skeletons must be part of a different agenda."
"Of course you're right Ned. We'll find that flame." Sevrin joins Nedyr in looking around the crypt. Examining the corpses he muses "I wonder if that's all of them, it looked like there were only two mounts right? I guess they didn't get far?" Then a distant wail breaks Sevrin's calm. "Ahh! What is that? It never ends in this place! Alright we need to be carefu... Oh for the love of, whoever, Ed what are you doing?" Sevrin pauses for a moment to heave a shuddering sigh and then hurries of after Ned and Ed.
The surging excitement of the battle has left the normally jumpy Sevrin in a drained, strangely calm state. "The flame? Honestly I'd completely forgotten why we're here. Something has happened here, and we need to fully investigate this crypt to make sure it's not going to be a threat to the village. There's nothing wrong with resting first however. I dunno, maybe inside the crypt isn't the safest place to rest though."
"Yes!" Sevrin desperately hopes that Elania's furious assault has finished off the remaining skeleton.
"Delia! Alarmed Sevrin moves hurries forward into hex range of the skeleton attacking Delia and tries to spoil its next attack.
"Yeah, Die! Umm, again!" His spirits lifted by his companion's display of martial powers Sevrin refocuses his uncanny stare.
"Ahh!" Sevrin cries out in pain recoiling from the skeleton.
Sevrin notices the arrival of the third skeleton with a start. "Ahh! Left! There's one to the left!" Sevrin fixes the newest skeleton with his malefic stare.
"Well that must be the guys who... OH GODS!" Sevrin's terror as the bones begin to move is evident, but so is another emotion. "Oh that's just perfect! Step into a crypt and of course the dead can't stay laying around for five minutes!" Sevrin's brow furrows. "You're dead!" He shouts at the lead skeleton. "Have the decency to behave like it!"
Full of venom at the skeleton's refusal to behave like dead people, Sevrin unleashes his potent inner malice.
Outside the crypt Sevrin roots around for a few decent sized pebbles and stuffs them in his pocket. Just before entering the crypt he speaks almost apologetically. "I, uh, don't really, eh, need a torch. You know. To see."
Sevrin blanches a little at the corpses. "Ugh. This is not good. I mean really it seems like whoever brought these here went in and didn't come back out." "So, who would come here besides us? And much more importantly, why didn't they come back out?" Sevrin heaves a great sigh. "I'm sure the answers lie within, terrible terrible answers. You first Ed."
Sevrin shakily stands up and brushes the worst of the mud clumps off of his clothes. "Alright Edvard let's go see how much more heroic things can get. It would be a shame to not even see to tomb before it kills us."
To Nedyr "I call him Rilyeh. I don't know where the name comes from or if it means anything. It just came to me."
To Edvard he says "Yeah Ed I'm sure they just left the bit about Ekat Kassen falling in a mud puddle out of of the legend for brevity's sake."
"Ow Ow Ow... OW! Sevrin miserably tries to pick himself up out of the muck. "This has got to be the worst thing that's ever happened to anyone. Except maybe the dead guy. His ankle was probably fine though. Probably lived a long full life and walked to his death in complete comfort." Rilyeh circles casually overhead, surveying the carnage at the bottom of the hill. "Don't be so smug" He says starring at the apparently impassive lizard. "If you could untie a knot I wouldn't be in this puddle. Maybe."
Sevrin looks from the dangling end of the rope to the muddy hillside and back again in dismay. He regards Rilyeh for a moment and then looks up where the rope is secured at the top of the hillside. "You need fingers." With a sigh Sevrin sits flat down on his behind on the muddy hill and starts to scoot down, sliding carefully from tree to tree. I don't care how stupid this looks or if it takes all day, I'm not winding up in some bush.
Still he begins to find himself accelerating quicker than he would like. Oh no.
Sevrin looks unhappily down the muddy hillside, and then in astonishment at Delia as she goes sliding down the hill. "Um, I'm not doing that." With relief he notices Ed producing a rope. Maybe, just maybe, I won't break my neck
"I suppose it would be disappointing to have one's passing without acknowledgement. Goodbye, whoever. Uh, thanks for the gold?" Sevrin looks at the water pensively for a moment. "Lets move on then, think we can reach the crypt tonight?"
"That way the fish will eat him and he can be part of of the cycles of nature and whatnot." Sevrin addresses Nedyr hopefully.
"I suppose burial would probably be easier given the cirumstances. We could do that." Sevrin shrugs.
"I wonder if any creatures around here would leave bite marks like that."
"A c-corpse! This trip gets darker by the hour." Sevrin makes no move toward the body but instead scans the area in a slightly paranoid fashion.
"If he's been dead for a while, whatever killed him is probably long gone, right?" Sevrin does not sound convinced by his own words. Rilyeh takes flight, swooping out over the lake on patrol for anything alarming.
Once Sevrin notices his companions beginning to stir he slips away into the woods to commune with Rilyeh. He returns a while latter without comment and begins stow his possesions for travel.
Rilyeh notices Ed is awake and flits over to stump nearby, fixing him with a steady unblinking gaze.
"They tried to make a meal of us and they failed. The outcome was going to be harsh no matter what. I'm just glad we mostly weren't on the sharp end of things." Sevrin gratefully basks in the relief from pain Delia's spell brings him. "Thank you, that's so much better." Absently he pokes a finger through the hole left in his trousers by the wolf's teeth as he watches Ed's odd confrontation with Rilyeh. He looks at the lizard in befuddlement "What's he going to win?" With no answer from the little creature, Sevrin shrugs. "We'll worry about that latter I guess. So, whose watch is it now?"
"Whoa Elaina, that was great, I've never been more relieved." Wizard? Oh no, what did I do? I couldn't let that thing eat me! Still, he'd better stop poking me. "I'm n-not really a wizard. More like, what do they call them... an adept? I just learned a couple of tricks, you know?" "Uh Nedyr, I know nature and animals and stuff are sacred to you but given what that wolf just did to me, I'm not really worried about being unsporting." Sevrin looks down at his leg where the wolf bit him and goes a little white. He sits down carefully as Rilyeh alights on his shoulder. "I don't think things are the same just because they rhyme Ed, but if I turn into a dragon I promise not to eat you. Unless you keep poking me."
You can't be bothered to mention every little detail in your day to day life. Why, if I brought it up every time I moved halfway around the world you'd never hear the end of it. But seriously that's awesome, good luck to you!
Sevrin stares at the sleeping wolf in disbelief. Whatever he just did, it worked! He turns his attention back to the pack leader. This is all that creatures fault, may it's teeth dull and snap!
Sevrin reaches into his pocket while muttering darkly and produces a pinch of sand, which he tosses in the direction of the attacking wolf.
Defensive Casting DC 17
Sevrin lets out a yelp of terror as the wolfs sudden assault knocks him over. Bad doggie! Oh gods help me I'm going to die! "Stupid wolf, get off me!" Sevrin unleashes his Misfortune hex at the wolf that attacked him. Sevrin tries to stand up. Familiar: Rilyeh takes to the air and gains altitude in case a swoop attack is needed to protect his master/protege.
As Sevrin realizes what he sees before him he barely suppresses a yelp of fear. Oh, geez. They said wolves wouldn't be a problem. Moving as carefully as his nerves allow he tries to raise the other sleepers without provoking an attack. "Wake up! He hisses, tugging at the sleeper's clothing. "Wolves. Hungry wolves." Deep inside he feels his fear again curdle into malice. Stupid wolves, messing with armed folk is just going to get them hurt. These beasts are going to learn a lesson if they're not careful. A storm cloud of ill will breaks in Sevrins mind.
Sevrin roots around in his pack pulling out his blanket and some food, barely noticing the little lizard alighting on his shoulder. "I'll take third then." He says around a mouthful of hard tack.
Jumping a little bit at the noise, Sevrin once again eyes Ed dubiously. "Um, yes. What he said. And yes we definitely should take turns on watch. I can go first, or last, or whatever." "Uh, who knows how to set up a tent?"
"Hmm. If I wanted to hurt us now, I'd use an illusion to hide something really dangerous. Doesn't seem like they were really trying to injure us though."
"Ooh, that's good work Nedyr. We should make good use of what daylight we have left." Sevrin whispers to Rilyeh, sending him skimming over the treetops ahead, alert for anything out of the ordinary. "Uh Delia, what's that song about? It makes me feel weird."
Sevrin eyes Edvard somewhat skeptically. "Err, lead on! At least he'll be all tuckered out by bed time Sevrin and Rilyeh keep watch while Edvard hacks at the forest.
With his familiar unable to spot his quarry, Sevrin relents in his pursuit. But not happily. "This isn't over." He mutters to nobody. Whatever happened here, Sevrin took offense to it. He's is disturbed at the hostility of his own response, and that feeling only makes him more outwardly annoyed. I'll find out who was behind this, and repay them somehow. Sevrin comes trotting back to the group after dashing off impulsively. "I was fooled at first too. Until, you know, I wasn't. I dunno, I don't appreciate being toyed with like that, I mean, even with illusions someone could get really hurt with weapons flying about. Ed's lucky he's got a sturdy skull."
"You're probably right!" Sevrin says quietly but with evident ferocity. "Rilyeh!" Sevrin hisses, speaking his familiar's name for the first time in front of others.
"Not an idiot!" He says over his shoulder as he hurries off.
"Well, okay then." Sevrin is vastly irritated. He shouts to nobody in particular. "We know the wilds are dangerous, we brought weapons and stuff!" Not that we looked like we know how to use them. "Maybe that was someone from the village having fun with us? Teaching us a lesson?" Jerks. "Hey Edvard. What did you call me?"
Sevrin shouts- "Oh come on! Ignore the figments, help me find the caster!" He continues to focus on locating the caster, concentrating on keeping his detect magic spell going. rolls if you need 'em:
"They're not real! They're illusions! There's no point in fighting them!" Sevrin rushes straight through the figments to the other side of the glade. "The real question is, who created them?" He cast detect magic again, concentrating on detecting any lingering aura.
Sevrin shouts at Rillan. "Your bravery makes a little more sense now. You're not there are you?
Sevrin tries to confirm his suspicion with Detect Magic, reasoning it is unlikely that two highway men would have magical auras for any other reason. Spoiler:
I've not played a witch before, so I've been doing some looking into how hexes are handled. They appear to be supernatural abilities, rather than spell-like, and unless otherwise specified to not have verbal or somatic components (I would think cackle could be considered to have a verbal component, others disagree). The upshot is that I could potentially use a hex like Evil Eye to reduce a targets skill rolls the next time, for example, Delia makes a bluff attempt without necessarily alerting the target and spoiling the bluff. Depending upon Helio's opinion on the matter.
Glowering, Sevrin edges forward, he needs to be a bit closer the leader. He feels a kind venomous malice he has experienced before. Threaten me and my friends? They're going to pay. He knows he can make his hatred manifest.
Who do these guys think they are? I've worked all my life for what gold I have, and they're not getting one thin copper. Sevrin experienced and upwelling of anger directed toward the highway men. Especially that leader, probably thinks a few fine words sets him apart from a common thug. He began to feel a profound sense of malice towards the taller one. We'll see what they get. "You don't have to run, but you could just leave. That would be best for everybody. Just go." Still, they're awfully confident for being so outnumbered, I hope more don't lurk in the trees. Sevrin scans the treeline for any indication of more would be robbers and moves to ready his crossbow.
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