Kalamin spins the glaive around, slamming the point down into the ground so the weapon stands up. He glances at Lyra, nodding in agreement with her assessment. "It would seem so." The silence is deafening to him now, and it fills him with dread. "I worry that may not be the last we see of such creatures. If no one were here to stop it, this entire land could be fraught with these incursions."
Before they move on, he approaches both Juno and Leftenant. "I can take care of those wounds if you don't mind." He says, lifting up his hands as they glow with a pale light. "They did more than teach me how to swing a big stick around in the Order." If they allow it, he gently lays a hand over their injuries, healing them with a soft cooling sensation.
Once finished, he retrieves his glaive. "Onwards?"
A vicious chill runs through Juno's body as the claws dig in. A sting and then ice pumping through her veins! Once Kal administers his healing, a warmth radiates through her again and she breathes a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Kal! You're a very kind person." She gives him a thankful smile.
"Your order taught you the healing arts? Would you mind telling me a bit about them?"
"Just returning the favor, I don't think we're out of the woods yet."Kalaminreplies, casting a wary glance over his shoulder.
The tiefling's question catches him off guard, he'd never really had to explain these abilities to someone before. His brow furrows, it made been a long while since he'd thought about the power he was granted. "It's difficult to explain I guess. When we makes our vows, bathed in the light of all of Amah's daughters, it's not the Lady of Winter that grants us power. Our strength comes from our commitment to the oaths we make. The stronger the knight's conviction, the more true they are to the ideals they've sworn by, the greater their power." Idly he twists the Selenic signet ring on his finger as he explains. "I don't know in truth where this wellspring of power comes from, many others believed it to be their own. But I'm not so sure. It feels more like...Pulling strength from everything around me, from the movements of the deep earth to the flow of air in the sky."He shrugs, "that's more philosophy though I suppose. Our healing is taught through meditation, to shape the power we draw upon, and use it to manifest our desire to mend."
"It's definitely not like the magic a wizard wields. This is more feeling than formula."
He walks over to one of the "corpses" left by the strange creatures that attacked them. Kneeling for a moment, he picks up one of the blackened bones, reaching back into his memories as he does so. Lyra was almost certainly right that these things weren't native. Had he ever learned of a plane or realm that might contain something like this? After a few moments of sifting through old knowledge he scowls and tosses the bone aside. Likely not.
The last of the creatures falls from the collective efforts of the travelers. Leftenant catches his breath and takes a knee to examine the injury he sustained to his leg. Kalamin approaches and offers to assist. The Paladin Lays on Hands and heals the scout’s wound.
“Aren’t you full of tricks? Thank you Kal. And I agree that we aren’t out of the…wilderness yet.”
Leftenant likewise agrees that the group should continue moving. As Juno and Kalamin finish discussing the knights healing talents (trying not to be rude but wanting to reach a more civilized establishment), “If we are all set, then off we go.”
LT begins again to head towards the village, taking point and selecting a path best suited to their needs.
Brushing off the encounter, your party continues on with LT in the lead. The eerie silence continues as you walk, leaving you with only the crunch of twigs and dead leaves beneath your feet as you trek.
Another twenty minutes go by when you can hear a faint cry in the distance(northwestish)...."help!"
Lyra follows behind Leftenant as she had before, peering into the gloom with her darkvision and wondering at the strange lack of ordinary wilderness sounds. Perhaps not so strange considering we were just assailed by two otherworldly shadow cats!
Touching her dark harmonica but not playing it, she murmurs, almost to herself, something she had heard once from a priest: "The night is dark and full of terrors, the day bright and beautiful and full of hope. There is ice and there is fire. Bitter and sweet. And betwixt them lingers shadow..."
When the faint cry for help sounds, she pauses. "None of us yet know each other well, and it may well be a trap. Yet decency calls us to lend our aid, no?"
Leftenant had planned on being cautious from the start and was lulled into complacency during the first half of the trek to Vinande, resulting in a minor encounter with shadowy feline creatures. He had hoped that would be the only setback en route to the village. But it would appear that hope was lacking as of late.
Hearing a small cry for assistance in the dark pulls at the scout’s sense of right. Was it not just a few hours ago that the group were captives and in need of assistance themselves?
Still, he lacked the ability to see clearly at distance in the dark. In response to Lyra’s remarks, he adds in a hushed voice, “Let’s take the detour to investigate it and maintain the same organization. If I’m accosted, you should be able to see and react to it.Best to make contact with one than all.”
If the rest of the group agrees, LT will move to see what is in need of assistance as stealthily as possible. (Stealth: 14)
Glyp wrestles with his default inclination to be cautious, weighing that against what he knows he should be doing... what he has to do when someone is in need of aid. This could be a trap, but if it's not... can he risk leaving someone in danger. "I.. I think we should check it out.. carefully."
You slow down, creeping through the woods in the direction of the cry. You hear it again at irregular intervals, and as you get closer you can hear a slight slur in their voice. "please...help, someone!"
After a few minutes of trekking through the trees, the cries grow louder. You can see a small clearing ahead, and Leftenant moves ahead - moving stealthily while the other four hang back 35-45 feet.
Leftenant
You sneak up behind a large boulder, and almost immediately spot wagon tracks to your right. You slowly peak around the boulder, following them with your eyes. Selia and Lucine still hang bright in the cast, casting the area in dim light. About 60 feet up you can see the tracks run off a ridge. And as the voice cries out once more, you realize it's coming from over the edge.
But as you survey the ridge, the silhouettes of four figures emerge. Cloaked in a darkness that seems to their forms, they stand motionless out in the open. Even under the light of Imane's largest moons, their features are difficult to discern. Their bodies appear to waver and shift like shadows cast by a flickering flame.
You can see that the terrain around the ridge slopes down in a semi-circle on either side, about thirty feet in either direction.
"help!"
The childish voice cries out from the other side of the ridge once more.
Leftenant turns and moves slightly to get (what he hopes is) eye contact with Lyra and the others while still maintaining cover behind the boulder. He then performs a series of hand gestures to indicate what he has seen and how he would like the group to proceed. Performance: 9
Four enemies, standing watch. Move to me, I'll go over there (About 45' NW). I'll initiate contact, be ready for action.
It takes a few seconds before the veteran realizes he is no longer communicating with his soldiers and that the practiced non-verbal language may not make any sense to his new companions. Old habits are hard to break.
OoC: In the interest in keeping things moving along, I rolled a check for Juno so I could go ahead and post the result, might not be on later tonight.
Juno
Insight: 26
You see the older soldier turn around and begin making a series of hand gestures. After a brief moment, you realize he's trying to signal what he sees. The gestures are a bit dated to you, but you can make out the signs for "move to me," and "be ready."
Lyra, being ahead of the others, looks quizzically ahead at Leftenant, then back at Juno who seems to have understood his signals.
Thinking she has the gist of it, she moves up to stand next to the human scout's current position, seeing ahead in the dim moonlight as if it were bright with her darkvision, and spying the four shadowy figures seemingly guarding the ridge beyond which the cries for help are emanating.
Playing a low, barely audible warding note on her dark harmonica, Lyra holds it outward, twisting it around her body (casting and concentrating on Protection from Evil and Good on herself). Her whispered drawl is laconic as she draws her black warhammer.
"Now, we can do this the hard way or... Well, actually, I think there's just the hard way..."
As Lyra moves forward, Kal briefly glances at the other two before following her.
After making it through the thick foliage, his eyes briefly scan the ridge before he hides behind the boulder next to the other two. If it were an ambush, it wasn't a particularly good one. They were just waiting in the open, hovering near whomever was crying for help...Like vultures?
His grip tightens on the haft of his glaive. "Couldn't understand your funny hand signs." He says quietly to Leftenant. "What's your plan from here?"
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Kalamin spins the glaive around, slamming the point down into the ground so the weapon stands up. He glances at Lyra, nodding in agreement with her assessment. "It would seem so." The silence is deafening to him now, and it fills him with dread. "I worry that may not be the last we see of such creatures. If no one were here to stop it, this entire land could be fraught with these incursions."
Before they move on, he approaches both Juno and Leftenant. "I can take care of those wounds if you don't mind." He says, lifting up his hands as they glow with a pale light. "They did more than teach me how to swing a big stick around in the Order." If they allow it, he gently lays a hand over their injuries, healing them with a soft cooling sensation.
Once finished, he retrieves his glaive. "Onwards?"
OoC: Lay on Hands, 6 HP to Juno and Leftenant.
A vicious chill runs through Juno's body as the claws dig in. A sting and then ice pumping through her veins! Once Kal administers his healing, a warmth radiates through her again and she breathes a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Kal! You're a very kind person." She gives him a thankful smile.
"Your order taught you the healing arts? Would you mind telling me a bit about them?"
Also, does Juno have ANY idea what the heck those things may have actually been?
OoC: Chances are very slim, but make an Arcana check.
OOC: Very slim. It's a 2 haha
Juno
You can't recall ever hearing or reading about such creatures.
"Just returning the favor, I don't think we're out of the woods yet." Kalamin replies, casting a wary glance over his shoulder.
The tiefling's question catches him off guard, he'd never really had to explain these abilities to someone before. His brow furrows, it made been a long while since he'd thought about the power he was granted. "It's difficult to explain I guess. When we makes our vows, bathed in the light of all of Amah's daughters, it's not the Lady of Winter that grants us power. Our strength comes from our commitment to the oaths we make. The stronger the knight's conviction, the more true they are to the ideals they've sworn by, the greater their power." Idly he twists the Selenic signet ring on his finger as he explains. "I don't know in truth where this wellspring of power comes from, many others believed it to be their own. But I'm not so sure. It feels more like...Pulling strength from everything around me, from the movements of the deep earth to the flow of air in the sky." He shrugs, "that's more philosophy though I suppose. Our healing is taught through meditation, to shape the power we draw upon, and use it to manifest our desire to mend."
"It's definitely not like the magic a wizard wields. This is more feeling than formula."
He walks over to one of the "corpses" left by the strange creatures that attacked them. Kneeling for a moment, he picks up one of the blackened bones, reaching back into his memories as he does so. Lyra was almost certainly right that these things weren't native. Had he ever learned of a plane or realm that might contain something like this? After a few moments of sifting through old knowledge he scowls and tosses the bone aside. Likely not.
Arcana: 6
Kalamin
In your time as a Selenic Knight, you've learned of some different planes. But nothing about this creatures makes you think of a specific one.
The last of the creatures falls from the collective efforts of the travelers. Leftenant catches his breath and takes a knee to examine the injury he sustained to his leg. Kalamin approaches and offers to assist. The Paladin Lays on Hands and heals the scout’s wound.
“Aren’t you full of tricks? Thank you Kal. And I agree that we aren’t out of the…wilderness yet.”
Leftenant likewise agrees that the group should continue moving. As Juno and Kalamin finish discussing the knights healing talents (trying not to be rude but wanting to reach a more civilized establishment), “If we are all set, then off we go.”
LT begins again to head towards the village, taking point and selecting a path best suited to their needs.
Brushing off the encounter, your party continues on with LT in the lead. The eerie silence continues as you walk, leaving you with only the crunch of twigs and dead leaves beneath your feet as you trek.
Another twenty minutes go by when you can hear a faint cry in the distance(northwestish)...."help!"
Lyra follows behind Leftenant as she had before, peering into the gloom with her darkvision and wondering at the strange lack of ordinary wilderness sounds. Perhaps not so strange considering we were just assailed by two otherworldly shadow cats!
Touching her dark harmonica but not playing it, she murmurs, almost to herself, something she had heard once from a priest:
"The night is dark and full of terrors, the day bright and beautiful and full of hope.
There is ice and there is fire. Bitter and sweet. And betwixt them lingers shadow..."
When the faint cry for help sounds, she pauses. "None of us yet know each other well, and it may well be a trap. Yet decency calls us to lend our aid, no?"
Mud(Paladin2):Frandal's Scourge/Inge(Barbarian1):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Shin(Wizard2):Dimir_MTG's Surviving
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric3):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard2):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter5):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Rel(Warlock2):Uhtred's Phandelver/Xarian(Fighter1/Wizard1):ShieldHero's Drakkenheim
Kalamin follows silently, wishing to break the unnatural silence but unsure of what to even speak of. He hears the cry for help, tilting his head.
"We have to find out for sure." He says, agreeing with Lyra. "LT, think you can get us there unnoticed?"
Leftenant had planned on being cautious from the start and was lulled into complacency during the first half of the trek to Vinande, resulting in a minor encounter with shadowy feline creatures. He had hoped that would be the only setback en route to the village. But it would appear that hope was lacking as of late.
Hearing a small cry for assistance in the dark pulls at the scout’s sense of right. Was it not just a few hours ago that the group were captives and in need of assistance themselves?
Still, he lacked the ability to see clearly at distance in the dark. In response to Lyra’s remarks, he adds in a hushed voice, “Let’s take the detour to investigate it and maintain the same organization. If I’m accosted, you should be able to see and react to it. Best to make contact with one than all.”
If the rest of the group agrees, LT will move to see what is in need of assistance as stealthily as possible. (Stealth: 14)
Glyp wrestles with his default inclination to be cautious, weighing that against what he knows he should be doing... what he has to do when someone is in need of aid. This could be a trap, but if it's not... can he risk leaving someone in danger. "I.. I think we should check it out.. carefully."
Kalamin nods, quietly following behind Leftenant with enough distance to not disturb his stealth, but close enough to reach him quickly if needed.
OoC: I'm not sure how far that would actually be. 60 feet? 90 feet? Here's a stealth roll regardless I guess.
Stealth: 13
You slow down, creeping through the woods in the direction of the cry. You hear it again at irregular intervals, and as you get closer you can hear a slight slur in their voice. "please...help, someone!"
After a few minutes of trekking through the trees, the cries grow louder. You can see a small clearing ahead, and Leftenant moves ahead - moving stealthily while the other four hang back 35-45 feet.
Leftenant
You sneak up behind a large boulder, and almost immediately spot wagon tracks to your right. You slowly peak around the boulder, following them with your eyes. Selia and Lucine still hang bright in the cast, casting the area in dim light. About 60 feet up you can see the tracks run off a ridge. And as the voice cries out once more, you realize it's coming from over the edge.
But as you survey the ridge, the silhouettes of four figures emerge. Cloaked in a darkness that seems to their forms, they stand motionless out in the open. Even under the light of Imane's largest moons, their features are difficult to discern. Their bodies appear to waver and shift like shadows cast by a flickering flame.
You can see that the terrain around the ridge slopes down in a semi-circle on either side, about thirty feet in either direction.
"help!"
The childish voice cries out from the other side of the ridge once more.
Leftenant turns and moves slightly to get (what he hopes is) eye contact with Lyra and the others while still maintaining cover behind the boulder. He then performs a series of hand gestures to indicate what he has seen and how he would like the group to proceed.
Performance: 9
Four enemies, standing watch.
Move to me, I'll go over there (About 45' NW).
I'll initiate contact, be ready for action.
It takes a few seconds before the veteran realizes he is no longer communicating with his soldiers and that the practiced non-verbal language may not make any sense to his new companions. Old habits are hard to break.
OoC: In the interest in keeping things moving along, I rolled a check for Juno so I could go ahead and post the result, might not be on later tonight.
Juno
You see the older soldier turn around and begin making a series of hand gestures. After a brief moment, you realize he's trying to signal what he sees. The gestures are a bit dated to you, but you can make out the signs for "move to me," and "be ready."
Lyra, being ahead of the others, looks quizzically ahead at Leftenant, then back at Juno who seems to have understood his signals.
Thinking she has the gist of it, she moves up to stand next to the human scout's current position, seeing ahead in the dim moonlight as if it were bright with her darkvision, and spying the four shadowy figures seemingly guarding the ridge beyond which the cries for help are emanating.
Playing a low, barely audible warding note on her dark harmonica, Lyra holds it outward, twisting it around her body (casting and concentrating on Protection from Evil and Good on herself). Her whispered drawl is laconic as she draws her black warhammer.
"Now, we can do this the hard way or... Well, actually, I think there's just the hard way..."
Mud(Paladin2):Frandal's Scourge/Inge(Barbarian1):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Shin(Wizard2):Dimir_MTG's Surviving
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric3):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard2):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter5):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Rel(Warlock2):Uhtred's Phandelver/Xarian(Fighter1/Wizard1):ShieldHero's Drakkenheim
As Lyra moves forward, Kal briefly glances at the other two before following her.
After making it through the thick foliage, his eyes briefly scan the ridge before he hides behind the boulder next to the other two. If it were an ambush, it wasn't a particularly good one. They were just waiting in the open, hovering near whomever was crying for help...Like vultures?
His grip tightens on the haft of his glaive. "Couldn't understand your funny hand signs." He says quietly to Leftenant. "What's your plan from here?"