Shortly afterward, a wiry kiranae woman stumbles out of one of the houses, her hair unkempt and her eyes wildly looking this way and that. Her clothes are torn and scorched, and she brandishes a makeshift club that was probably once a support beam from said house, clutching it with shaking hands that look like most of the flesh was burned off them.
"Stop," she commands in an oddly placid, detached tone. "If you've come to finish what those demons started, I won't go quietly." She frantically scans your faces for any sign of aggression, and while she looks like she could fall to pieces at any moment, she's holding herself together quite well, considering the circumstances.
Magrun steps out of his hiding spot, raising his hands in the air and carefully sliding his longsword into its sheath. "We mean you no harm. The smoke drew us - we were fighting the demons before everything... Changed... And we will hoping to figure out what happened."
Wydell fights the instinct to greet her immediatrly and focuses his detect magic scan on the newcomer.
"That blast... it... swept them away, all of them. It happened so quickly, and I don't remember... I woke up, and then the roof almost crushed me." The kiranae woman slowly lets her guard down, the quivering tip of her blade no longer pointing at your party. She seems even more exhausted than she is frightened, and that's saying something. "They were gone long before you arrived. The light took them away, but... I fear they might come back."
Magrun nods, "Aye, I'm sharing that fear... assuming they actually did leave. A moment."
He steps away and whispers, "She's harmless, and says the spawn were taken by the light. May as well come and make friends... or whatever it is that Dante does."
He steps back toward the woman, "Was just calling my friends in, telling them you weren't Riftspawn ready to tear us apart. So don't be, it'd be bad for my reputation. Name's Magrun. Winterborn. And...." He whistles for his companion, "This adorable furball is Rimeclaw."
”Well I guess that means it’s time to meet the neighbors.“ Dante says as he slides his bow back into his quiver by using mage hand. ”Maybe she has food....I’m starved.“ He throws his arm around Saoirse’s waist pulling her in close as they walk.
Wydell stands up from his crouch and swings his slingstaff down from it's readied position to use as a walking stick. He offers an arm out to Cuélebre before he starts following along.
"Dreadful time it is here, ma'am, what that we can't be too careful. Are you injured at all, or is anyone else around injured? We can help."
Seeing the halfling’s kind gesture, Cuelebre smiled seductively. A flirty brow arch followed by the narrowing of her serpentine eyes. She gently slithers an arm around his and entwining their limbs. ”Much obliged!”
Cuelebre looks over her shoulder at Dante and Saoirse and gives them a saucy smile while mouthing, ”I like this one...”
In response to Wydell’s question, the elf looks down at her blackened forearms, almost as if she’s noticing her burns for the first time. “I... the flames... I don’t remember getting hurt, but I know that must have happened...” She shakes her head, but then her gaze falls on the eidolon and her mouth falls agape in silent horror.
The kiranae woman falls to her knees and jerks her blade back up defensively, thrusting it in the general direction of the azata. “What manner of devilry is that?!”
Magrun holds up his hand in what he hopes is a reassuring fashion, and offers, "No deviltry... she's some sorta angelic being, actually, and bonded to of one of my companions...". He shrugs, "They can explain it better'n me, but just know that she won't harm you.... Well, unless you're evil... or trying to bringing harm 'pon us."
He steps forward, and offers the elf his hand, to help her back onto her feet.
"She's quite nice to those she likes, and she likes most that don't want to burn the world down. Now, let's take a look at those hands of yours."
Wydell gives Cuélebre's arm a pat once they get close to the Kiranae woman, then gets out his healer's kit in preparation and attempts to perform a heal check to see how badly she's doing.
The elf seems... well, pretty far from convinced, if her widened eyes and tense muscles are any indication. "It is... a strange and terrible sight. I have never heard tell of any such creature being associated with the Divines." Still dealing with the shock of the azata's appearance, she doesn't protest at having her arms examined by Wydell.
"What do you propose to do? The Riftspawn are already gone, and this village..." She stops, her words catching in her throat for a moment. "They were kind to me, even though this was not my home, yet I could not help them in return."
Existence is defined not only by the things within it, but also by what surrounds it in the other planes. Of particular note is the plane of Uvast, revealed unexpectedly and with a great deal of fanfare during the Malefic Shift thirteen cycles ago. The Divines all trace their origins to this realm of uncompromising order and unfettered creation, a place where inspiration blooms and becomes the components of the dreams of mortals.
The increasingly-frantic conflict with the Riftspawn had, in recent cycles, pushed many mortals toward belief in powers greater than themselves, if only for the fact that their homeland was under siege by depraved monstrosities that cared only for the satiation of their hunger for chaos and death. Leading the charge were the Greater Divines, those five deities who remained of the original six, charged by an authority beyond mortal comprehension to safeguard the Last Continent at any cost. Each one was born to fulfill a role that could be performed by no other, and some have speculated that even Tornorus, the fallen one himself, continues to serve a purpose that eludes the understanding of religious scholars…
Once again, the lights had returned to their home in the place beyond the planes, this time diminished in number. The brightest among them was there, along with the gentle, loving light that had given so much to preserve the life found far below.
“Blessed sister, worthy of praise, you have saved more than we had hoped to keep,” the first light said. “I have prayed that our consensus was not ill-founded, and seeing life flourish in the lands under our care brings me great joy.”
“Your thoughts help set me at ease,” the other light replied, “but I fear our work is not so easily finished. There are holes – inconsistencies – that are the source of my great misgivings. The end is simply averted, not denied.”
The first light, unable to speak to the truth of the matter, sought refuge in silence for a moment. “That is my fear as well. We were to be the silent observers, and we filled that role however we could. Still, perhaps our brother’s descent was necessary so we might offer a more direct guiding hand.”
“If that is so, I cannot fathom such a purpose.” The other light shone down on a specific point far away, fixated on a plateau that had once been bereft of their light.
The first light hesitated before asking, “Do you… have your own designs for this world?”
“Not as such. There is one life I have touched directly, but I leave the future in this mortal’s hands. Until we discern the consequences of our actions, we must remain vigilant and refrain from further intervention.”
“This silence pains me so. Let us continue to pray that it may be ended sooner than expected.”
Magrun nods in what he hopes in an encouraging way, For this woman, we didn't actually stop the end of the world - this village was the whole of her world and it's gone... And now she's left her alone in the ruins... with all the pain from her loss, and probably guilt for survivin'
He offers gently, "Right now, we mean to figure out what's happened and stay vigilant... we four -- five, counting Cuelebre, six with Rimeclaw, pledged to fight in defense of this world, and I keep thinkin' this is too good to be true and that we can't let or guard down... But I don't think that's what you meant... I can say we mean to search the village for clues and supplies... and while we do that, I think you need to decide if you're plannin' to stay here and rebuild, or comin' with us when we leave, and hope we find more survivors before we find somethin' that wants to kill us."
He shrugs, slightly embarrassed at his little speeches, adding gruffly, "I know there's not survivors out there, because no force in creation would choose to just keep Dante around "
"You're made of much sterner stuff than me, miss. Burns like this, I'd be weeping on the ground like a wee lad. Let's get these patched up.
Wydell gets out a wand and speaks the command word before touching it to her hands, renewing the flesh of her hands and restoring her vitality.
Are there any bodies of villagers lying around?
The elf shudders slightly as the healing magic courses through her injured arms. It might not have done much, but she seems a bit more stable afterward. “Thank you,” she murmurs to Wydell as she picks herself back up. “This is all happening so quickly... I can scarcely believe my own senses.” She adjusts her tattered clothes and tries to look presentable, but it’s clear that her mind is somewhere else, occupied with whatever fate could have befallen similar settlements.
“I would see the extent of such destruction myself, even if the world beyond this village is whole. I hope I will not be too much of a burden.” She looks to each of you with a glimmer of hope in her wide eyes.
Dante begins to search the town occasionally pausing to cast detect magic. I wonder why the town is destroyed that flash of light didn’t do anything to fix it....what else is still ruined like this.
The rest of the search is nowhere near as fruitful, making it even more apparent just how much of a miracle it was that a person could survive. Said person watches the group carefully, always keeping the azata in her peripheral vision as he occasionally shifts her weight to keep herself upright. "I hate to trouble you so soon, but would any of you have food to spare? I can scarcely remember the last time I had a meal of any sort," the kiranae hazards, and she would probably look pretty rough even without the debilitating burns.
Wydell sticks his stick through his belt and rummages through his pack to find some wandermeal. He breaks off a piece and hands it to her along with his waterskin. "Here, lass. It's dry and there ain't much flavor to it, but it'll fill your belly. We'll hunt for some nicer food later."
Magrun nods at Wydell's statement, "I could send Rimeclaw to hunt now, if you'd like. I'm sure there's some small game in the woods, considering what they look like now."
"Might be wise to keep him close for now, lad. We don't know what else might be lurking out there."
Magrun nods, "A fair point."
The elf accepts the meager meal with a grateful nod and busies herself with eating, finally showing signs of genuinely calming down instead of just holding herself together through unadulterated desperation. "Many thanks. I pray your kindness is a more common commodity than I fear it is in whatever..." She looks past the smoldering ruins and takes in the landscape, as if seeing the horizon for the first time in her life. "...whatever our world has become," she finishes weakly.
She finishes the rest of the food methodically, not in any hurry to deprive herself of the comfortable simplicity of traveling rations. Eventually, she turns to you again and continues. "The village is... beyond saving. Where do you intend to go from here?"
Dante heft’s the large hammer and checks it over with magic. ”Release the first seal detect.“
Magrun says, "T'be honest, we hadn't discussed that yet... and seeing the smoke gave us somewhere immediate to go. Part of me wants to keep waking through what used to be the most devastated areas, looking for any of the enemy that may have survived... but I'm thinking there's more out there in the same boat as you... and so finding a safe city or town is looking like a priority."
"I came from the bay east of here - I believe it is called the Dragon's Maw," the kiranae adds, trying to be as helpful as she can be. "We were fishers and sailors before we crossed over the sea. I was very young when we came to Ralczan... I'm sorry. I don't know why that's relevant." She shuts herself up prematurely, and the problem is written all over her soot-covered face: she's having trouble balancing her desperation and sorrow with the sheer joy of having living, breathing people to talk to again.
She halfheartedly adds, "I don't suppose we'll be needing a boat anytime soon, however."
"Not unless you can make it fly, miss."
Wydell starts to stroll down the street, slingstaff back in hand as a walking stick, and starts to duck his head inside of buildings to check them for anything out of place.
"That would be quite beyond my capabilities as a mortal," the elven woman says, quite nonplussed and clearly missing the joke. She trails after Wydell, staying close by while you search the buildings.
Your search concluded, the kiranae looks at you, fully calm now that she's had time to recover from her breakdown earlier. "I can't help but feel we won't be getting anywhere if you keep looking in the same place." Is that... a hint of sarcasm?
Magrun smiles at the joke, Good.. if she's starting to sure since resilience, we may not have to worry about her falling apart on the trail... He adds with a smirk, "Wydell's a mite obsessive, though he calls it being thorough ."
"No sense in leavin' a job half done." He gazes around at the village. But yes, this one seems about finished. For now, at least. While we could rebuild, I agree it makes more sense to find more survivors, save more people. And the gods gave us feet for a reason, let's use 'em."
As he cinches up his pack, something appears to bother him. He takes a few steps outside of town, then turns back around and faces the kiranae woman and gives her a short bow. "Before we go though, I think we skipped the formal introductions. I'm Wydell, as you've heard, servant of Lunathre and all around fixer-upper. What's your name, I can't keep just calling you 'miss'"
"You certainly could," the elven woman says, "but that would be inefficient. I am Leili Alafir." She nods to you by way of introduction, and then points to the other humans and the eidolon. "Who are your companions? Not much for words, are they?"
A thought occurs to her. She adds, "Er, which way will we be going? I am unfamiliar with the region beyond this village."
"Those two are the Drakenwolves, Dante and Saoirse. The "devilry's" name is Cuélebre. And I believe the big ugly one already introduced 'isself and the smelly one. It's a pleasure, Miss Leili, and I hope you find some comfort within our motley little group."
”No sense in over doing a job either.“ Dante says with a grin as he slides the earthbreaker into an impromptu sling over his shoulders. ”What direction we are going in...hmm I’ve got a coin we could always decide by that.“
"I have smelled far worse than little Rimeclaw. He seems like a fine beast," Leili replies with a gentle smile. "I do not doubt that he will do his best to keep us safe as we travel. Speaking of which, do you know the way from here?" The last question is directed at Wydell, who appears to be mulling over the local topography for the best route away from the wreckage of the village.
Wydell points to the north Northeast and says "Last I knew, there was a village a few days walk called Sutgart. Maybe it's fared better than this one. I'm sure there will be people who need our help, one way or the other. We can forage and hunt as we go, the land should provide."
Magrun smiles, "Indeed he is... and a finer companion than many two-legs... Like, say, Dante."
He then nods at Wydell's statement, "Sounds like the best approach... Like I said earlier, the woods are lush with restored plants - some of which will be edible, but I'm thinking that if nature's been reset, there'll be game, too."