Atoh was exhausted because of the battle, the feast and most of all the discussion she had with her friends about what they should do if the giants had children. She fell asleep before her head hit the pillow.

In her dream, Atoh finds she is standing in the Grassland again. A dragon is swimming in the sky with a rider on her back. " Adal…! " The rider is the eldest son of Ongs-Khan. Atoh's half brother, her star and her love. 

" No Adal, don't go! " Atoh never saw what happened next. But she listened to the story from the survivors … numerous times. 

On the ground, there is a fierce battle. Greenskins, Atreyu's people are surrounded by savage orcs.  The orc warriors try to squash their prey like an iron jaw. The proud men and women of Greenskins are protecting their children, preparing to meet the end. Adal and his dragon descend into chaos like a lightning bolt. He showers the blizzard and arrows to the brutes makes them panicked and scattered. The Greenskins regain hope, concentrate their force and break the orc's line like spear point while praising the dragon prince.

It looks like a flawless victory. But Atoh knows it is a deception. The orcs take off camouflage and reveal their secret weapon. Scorpions, the three monstrous crossbows shoot black arrows toward the young prince and his dragon. Atoh feels her guts wrenching when she sees the beast twist its body with pain. Her heart breaks as her brother, her sun, her moon, her love falls like a shooting star.

Darkness surrounds her once more. She can see nothing, hear nothing, only feels the cold, unnatural blackness consuming her. Atoh knows that she cannot run away this time. Because this darkness isn't coming from outside but inside of her. Adal's death opened a hole in her heart. The darkness is pouring out from the small void. Atoh feels a weight of mountain lies heavily on her chest and pushes her deep into the sea of blackness.

Atoh opens her eyes then finds her dragon looking into her face worryingly. " Sorry Atoh! I've tried to save you. I've tried but… " " It's okay. I'm fine, Tola. "  Atoh lies. Her head aches, her body is weak and her mouth tastes awful. Tola runs to pick a cup of water for her. " Buddy, I know you're not in good shape but I want you to look outside." " Oh thanks. I know you want me to refresh. But… " " No! … Ah, yes. I do want you to be refreshed. However, that's not what I mean. " The small dragon pulls open the curtain. For a moment, Atoh forgets about the headache and nightmare for what she has seen. " I think the other team reeeally messed things up." There are two Suns rising from the horizon. 

@ Brevon, Orin

The girl and dragon run outside and meet her friends. " What is that … that second sun? Brevon, did you contact other better bands? "  

Brevon lifts his forehead from the ground, looking unsettled.  "Alas, my prayer is unanswered.  The Lady offers no answer.  Atoh, yes, we should communicate with the others."

Brevon pulls on the cord around his neck, producing the AURYN from beneath his shirt.  "What a strange token.  Now, hmm, how does it work?"  He holds it up into the air, clasping it in both of his hands.  "Heroes of the Light?  Emissaries of the Childlike Empress?  Greko the Green!  Kerwyn of Eternia!  Do you see the second sun??" 

Jek wakes after the others, taking his time in comfort that they won't be able to enjoy for a period of time onwards. What rouses him is the murmuring and exclamations when the second sun rises. 

Jek nervously joins the others. "Uhh, two suns is good, right? More suns, more light, right? ..... right?...." He looks again at the rose colored start in the sky. With a deep breath, he focuses on the task at hand. "This isn't something we can solve right now. We should probably get going. We have an important mission. And we still have some days to go before we get to Castle Grayskull." Jek will go to get Iron-Hoove ready for travel. 

There was some talk and hubbub in the town as the locals took notice of the two suns, but, without the luxury of slowing down to study the newcomer, they were quick to get back to work and talk amongst themselves about this enigma.  

The people of Mantry's Reach bid the Order of the Phoenix farewell as the adventurers set out for Castle Grayskull once again.  With the threat of giants gone, it was easy to convince some of the locals to widen the bridges enough to get their mounts and carts across before they hit the northbound road of the Shem Pass.  The wind roared down from the north, carrying the heat of the desert along with it as they neared the northern border of the Dragontail Mountains. 

Stretching out before them was the sparse plains of northern Fantasia.  The twin suns overhead  beat down on them like a drum.  It didn't take long before the grasslands began to thin, thick fescues becoming increasingly crowded out by thing brown sage as the soil quality faded and the ground became progressively sandier, and sandier, and sandier...

"Aha!"   Brevon cheers when he hears a response from AURYN.  He speaks slowly and clearly back into it.  "Good tidings, Greko and Kerwyn!  We have just left Mantry's Reach, at the end of Tower Road in the fork of the headwaters of the Fantasia River.  The town was plagued by two giant-kind who were killing townsfolk and destroying property.  They had recently emerged from the eastern woods.  The townsfolk actually demolished their own bridge to keep the giants away.  We were able to lay a trap and catch them off guard, and managed to defeat both of them.  Now we head north into the Shem Desert and the territory of Castle Greyskull.  We have learned from travelers that this area is plagued by hobgoblins and orcs.  But we do not know why there is now a second sun.  Can you explain?"

Jek is amazed that the amulet actually worked! "You can hear them? What do they say? Who made the second sun? Ohh, so many mysteries!"

As they get closer to the Shem, Jek will start lecturing the other on the safest ways to travel through the desert. "One sun was bad, two will make it worse. Make sure you stay covered up, a loose fitting cloak will work. Make sure to drink water, you don't want to be dehydrated. Oh, and we can't forget about our animals companions. They will need to rest and stay hydrated as well. It's best if we avoid traveling when the sun is highest. We should just need to head straight north, maybe slightly west, to get to Castle Greyskull. If we hit water, then we were too far east."

Brevon  holds AURYN close to his brow and closes his eyes, straining to catch every syllable. When he is sure the message has ended, he shares what he heard with his companions. "I reached both Greko the Green and Kerwyn of Eternia.  Greko says that one of his companions knows of the two suns from a book they've read. The suns are said to be celestial harbingers foretelling the arrival of a grand event. Stars in the sky will align themselves, serving as a galactic marker that something pivotal is happening to our realm. If this is the case, then the suns we see now are only two of three harbingers.  Outside of that, they do not know what the event is or when it will occur."

Orin says "Alignment. Hmmm. I will keep records on the movement and hopefully projected alignment." 

Chuba nods meaningful, as though she understood everything Brevon said. Deception 2

She is also clearly uncomfortable in the heat. The usually stoic goliath occasionally grimaces or curses quietly.

Atoh told her teammates about the dream she had had last night. But after seeing two suns in the sky, the nightmare of darkness sounded less intimidating now.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Before they arrived at the desert, Atoh suggested the party stop by an oasis to replenish water and take a rest. " The place is called Khan's Oasis. The leaders of nomads go there to make parlays, treaties and engage their children. It's considered a neutral zone where a lot of trade goes on as well as festivals and religious events.

 "  Bittersweet memories crosses Atoh's mind. When Adal was still alive, her brother usually accompanied their father to attend the meetings of the oasis. And Adal always brought back a tone of interesting stories, songs and gifts for his younger siblings. " … If we are lucky, we could gather some information there too. " 

To Brevon and the others. "Ummm... So, is that a timer, than? Three suns and the time is up? Do we need to hurry? The grand event could be good, though, right? A good grand event."

Quote from Apophis2000 >>

Atoh told her teammates about the dream she had had last night. But after seeing two suns in the sky, the nightmare of darkness sounded less intimidating now.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Before they arrived at the desert, Atoh suggested the party stop by an oasis to replenish water and take a rest. " The place is called Khan's Oasis. The leaders of nomads go there to make parlays, treaties and engage their children. It's considered a neutral zone where a lot of trade goes on as well as festivals and religious events.

 "  Bittersweet memories crosses Atoh's mind. When Adal was still alive, her brother usually accompanied their father to attend the meetings of the oasis. And Adal always brought back a tone of interesting stories, songs and gifts for his younger siblings. " … If we are lucky, we could gather some information there too. " 

 

Jek will nod to Atoh. "Khan's Oasis is a good place, hopefully it isn't overrun by orcs and whatever else. But it's much further west than we are now. We would pass right by Castle Grayskull to get there. I think we should go to the Grayskull first. We should be able to get there and than to the Oasis with the supplies we have. I'm not sure where my clan would be now, but the Utinni would welcome us if we come across them. But they follow a path set by the will of the Bright Lady. They could be anywhere." 

The sparse vegetation growing along the edge of the grasslands thinned and withered as the band made their way north and east their route adjusted to take them into the sandy desolation of the Shem Desert.  Plant life gave way to barren, pebbly soil within a day or two, and within a few more days they were in the sands of the desert, soon to be surrounded by wind swept dunes, roiling sun, and the occasional cactus, though the further they went from the mountains the rarer even these desert oddities became.  Soon they were miles from anything, any sort of civilization or aid, food or water, and yet there was something...peaceful and tranquil about the expanse.  

The twin suns were creeping down toward the western horizon and night was fast approaching as they continued their trek when something caught Brevon's eye.  

"Woah!" Brevon pulls on the reins, bringing the horses to a halt.  He cups his hand over his eyes and peers across the desert.  "There's someone there.  Two humanoids and... and something else.  Maybe a horse or centaur?  They're walking slowly.  They may be survivors or refugees from the conflict.  We should greet them."

Having lived most of her life in the company of her tribe alone, Chuba is instinctually suspicious of strangers. While the rest approach these travelers, Chuba steers Thathors to a side flanking position in case trouble begins, her hand gripping the handle of her warhammer.

Atoh shares the same feeling with Chuba. They were both growing up in a harsh environment where conflicts are common and outlaws are everywhere even though there's not much law to break with. She touches her bow with one hand and the magical shield with the other. The symbol of dragon on the shield opens its eyes, Atoh feels her senses are significantly sharpened. Atoh narrows her eyes to figure out the race, clan and equipment of the strangers. She also pays attention to the sand hills nearby in case someone is hiding there.

Perception:22

Jek will look out in the direction that Brevon indicates. He notices that Chuba and Atoh are a bit wary, so maybe he should be too. He will take a look and try to see if they are actually injured, or are walking slowly to lure them in. 

Insight 14

Edit: Jek scrutinizes there movements. To the others, he will say "They don't look in very good shape. Something seems to be wrong. Maybe they have been out in the desert sun too long? We should try to help them."

With that, Jek will move Iron-Hoove forward towards the new comers. As he gets to shouting distance of them, he will say. "Hello there. You seem to be having some trouble. Do you need some help?"

One of the figures, the big humanoid, places a hand on the chest of the one next to it and steps forward, hands raised in the air, before kneeling down.  It maintains this non-aggressive stance while looking forward at the band.  It's obviously armed, and wearing armor, but doesn't seem to be threatening the band.  

"Water!?"  It cries out hopefully in a deep, gravely voice.  

Aoth feels a strong aversion to the strangers. They are orcs! A small one and a bigger more menacing one. Both are accompanied by Worgs, wearing black armor that has a red emblem on them.

@Everyone 

She whispers to others.  " Be careful. My guts are telling me they are no good people. Do any of us know the emblem they wear? " The Halfling girl never comes close to the orcs and keeps at least 40ft away from them. Her dragon and mastiff are both snarling at the Worgs. 

History  :16

( trying to remember about the emblem ) 

"Water for your weapons, and armor." Brevon calls evenly.  "Throw them to us."

Insight to determine motive and intent: 19

The Orcs and the Goblin form a line and look at one another pensively before they begin to unsheath weapons and unbuckle armor.  They begin throwing things out away from them at a range of 30 to 50 feet, including two greataxes, some javelins, a dagger and a hand crossbow.  Their armor follows in pieces, landing scattered in the sand.  Only the Worg keeps its armor, that being the saddle the Goblin is sitting on.  

"Water..."  The big Orc repeats, hopefully, and kneels again.  Its partner does the same.