While they’re searching over the bodies, Anthony glances at Akyan. “Didn’t seem like you got hurt, but … how you doin otherwise?” A lot had been happening. They’d barely had a chance to talk like people. Let alone catch up. For all the time that had passed, it was hard not to fall into feeling like an older brother.
Looking at the undead, you can see that the corpses are in various states of decay, indicating that they were each killed at separate times. The oldest corpse looks like she was killed about a month ago while the freshest looks like he was killed just a few days ago. None of you remember hearing any rumors about anyone in Leafbrook going missing recently, so these unfortunate folks must be from the nearby villages.
As rested as you can be, you all set off towards Grymhearth. Even though it is still slightly misty, the morning fog is quiet beautiful in the sunlight. The morning light illuminates the mist, suffusing everything in a warm, golden light. Streaks of light and shadows run through the mist, courtesy of the position of the sun relative to the trees all around you. Frogs chirp and jump around the stream along your path as you trek down from the mountains. Distant woodpeckers bore holes with a rapid tap-tap-tap as other small songbirds swoop through air, chasing each other. The damp morning air, while chilly, smells of forest with an afternote of rain. All in all, the walk back is quiet enchanting.
You follow the trail, and it seems a little longer than you remember, but it was dark the last time you walked along it. The ground begins to flatten out, bringing you to a grassy meadow the trail cuts through. Drops of dew glitter in the wain sunlight, sparkling like little diamonds. You spot an occasion yellow wildflower dotting the field. You even see a small herd of deer grazing a distance away, unconcerned with your presence.
You follow the trail for about five more minutes. The trail walks you around the base of a hill, and when you round the bend, you see something that stops you in your tracks. Bridging the mountains that form the small valley you are in is a colossal stone wall. High stone buttresses loom gray in the morning fog. Huge iron gates hang on the stonework. Dew clings with cold tenacity to the rusted bars. Two headless statues of armed guardians flank the gate, their heads now lying among the weeds at their feet. They greet you only with silence.
Jared looks back to the trail they just came up then ahead. he pauses and thinks for a moment, unsure of what just happened. Jared will move forward, taking it all in.
The beautiful scenery lightened Aoufie's mood enough to hum as he walked and thinks to himself how better everything seems during the day. That is until he sees the collasal stone wall and silent statues. He stops walking and places a hand on the cittern.
"I know it was raining hard last night, but I would remember passing through such a gate. This is wrong and that trip back seem unusually long." he then picks up a pebble and throws it the colossal structure to check if it's some kind of illusion.
If the pebble bounces off the structure Aoufie would then say "So this is real. Let me cast my spell and see whether this structure is magical." He spends the next 10 minutes casting detect magic He plays the probing song on his cittern louder as to better encompass the massive gate and statues.
"Revelare Oculus" he says as he stares hard at each element of this fortified gate.
Noting the various decay of the corpses, the drow simply nods as if he’d seem exactly what he’d expect.
Akyan glances at Anthony before turning back to the trail. He walks with one hand near his eyes to block the early morning sun. “I’ve been fine.” He replies after a brief moment. Figuring his old friend would want a longer answer, he continues, “I’d been working with a guild recently. It’s been keeping me busy.” He could say more about his encounters, both old and new, but he doesn’t particularly feel like talking about that right now. No need to cause unnecessary worry.
He takes in the landscape around them. The place is truly beautiful, but its glory seams faded in the light of recent events. “How about you?” He asks, looking at his friend out of the corner of his eye, “You don’t look as if life has been kind to you.”
Zathon takes in the walk, growing more uneasy by the minute due to the tiny discrepancies from their journey to the cave. Perhaps it's stress, he thinks. Then the gate appears before him, and he knows better. This was not here. He knows that.
"I think it just might be a gate, Aoufie... but something is wrong. This wasn't here before."
Anthony frowns and scratches the bit of scruff at his chin. He'd been hoping to shave beforethe funeral, but looked like they were going to miss that altogether. With a sigh, he scans the area while the others investigate, watching for threats. "Oh, hey. Stay alert Ilmater has your back. Probably." Anthony confers a small blessing on Jared.
((Giving Jared his Vigilant Blessing for advantage on his NEXT initiative roll. Doesn't expire until used or if Anthony goves it to someone else.))
As they'd been walking and chatting, the big man had chuckled at Akyan's assessment. "Or too kind maybe. Still vertical. Mostly. But, yeah" taking a slightly more earnest tone. "Didn't take the best care of myself for a few years and it caught up with me. And I'm kind of dumb so it took longer than it should have to look for help instead of new levels of stupid."he left it there. Funerals were gloomy enough. "Guild huh? That's pretty legit. Almost as official as government work. Finding people you said?"
Akyan grunts in response. He's not surprised that Anthony's answer, the older man had always had a way of getting in trouble. He's just glad it seems like he didn't let his bad habits didn't plunge him so far down that he wasn't able to get back up. He shrugs, "It's not that big of a deal, being part of it just helps insure I get some sort of payment. Working for private individuals doesn't always pay well. Might even end up getting scammed."He runs his hand through his hair, then quickly replaces it to block the sun again. "Finding people, finding documents, and infiltration are all things I've done. I'm a bounty hunter. There's a lot of things I've done."He shrugs, "I've noticed you've picked up a few spells?" He phrases the statement as a question, attempting to divert the conversation away from himself.
Anthony nodded along with the bounty hunter comment. A lot of the 'families' he'd done grunt work with or for... or owed money to, hired finders and fixers for odd jobs. And some weren't above stiffing them or worse of they could get away with it. About the magic "That uh... yeah. That's Him I guess." He scrubs his own hear a little awkwardly. "Not really sure how all that works really."
"Him?" Akyan raises an eyebrow. "You didn't make a deal with some sort of demon did you? Or are you religious now?" It's hard to tell if this statement was meant to be a joke. Akyan can't really picture Anthony doing either of those things, but how else would he just gain access to the weave without understanding it?
Anthony looks down at his red cord on white over his armor, red cord wrapped wrists, and openly worn holy symbol and laughed."Something like that. The Martyr, Ilmater, yeah?." Anthony's chuckle continued. Not everyone was religious. He got that. He wasn't either really. "Patron of the weak. Orphans, the poor, prostitutes. God of rejects and undeserved second chances with a shrine on every corner in every slum. Kind of made sense." Though to be fair, the shelter had really just the nearest place he'd been able to crawl to that had been willing to help.
Kora heads out with the rest, enjoying the morning walk with the dawning sun shining off of the mists. She listens to Akyan and Anthony for a bit, but doesn't join in. She can tell Akyan has had enough of her for the moment. She was used to being on her own so she was never sure when she was welcome to join into conversations or if she was just butting in.
As they make the turn on the trail, she was already scratching her head as to why it was taking longer than it should have. Were they slower after the night in the cave? That doesn't make sense though. But then the turn gets her to stop dead in her tracks and she just stares at the gate. As Aoufie tries to puzzle it out it gives Kora an idea. She also takes the 10 min to ritually cast speak with animals then looks for some nearby, possibly that herd of deer..
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ignoring the banter of his siblings, shuddering slightly from Anthony's blessing, Jared starts looking at the ground, trying to find the group's tracks from the previous night. Abruptly Jared drops to all fours and moves more like a beast rather than any human. Survival: 12
"Don't see that every day." He comments lightly as Jared drops to the ground to ..search? He holds up two fingers glowing faintly toward Akyan. 'Want a little help?" Assuming the other man might want to do some detective stuff.
((offering Guidance +1d4 on next skill check within a minute))
Casting Detect Magic, the only thing Auofie is able to see is a very faint aura of transmutation emanating from the gate itself. Other than that, he doesn't pick up on anything
As Jared prowls about, he gleans several things through his acute senses. First, you notice that there are no recent footprints on this trail. Second, he doesn't very many signs of animal life around the gate; wildlife seems to avoid this area. Third, the air smells... different. You're not quite sure what you're picking up, but you've never experienced it before. It's almost like visiting a foreign land and catching the new odors of the place. The air has an aged quality to it.
Kora begins backtracking towards where she saw the deer. Along her way, she too notices that the field and surrounding forest have very little animal activity.
The deer watch Kora warily as she approaches. As she gets within about shouting range you see they start nervously backing towards the cover of trees.
"It's a guess but I'd say not, Zat." Jared replies. "Tom's story was that the mist comes and takes folks and we had a mist last night and this morning."
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While they’re searching over the bodies, Anthony glances at Akyan. “Didn’t seem like you got hurt, but … how you doin otherwise?” A lot had been happening. They’d barely had a chance to talk like people. Let alone catch up. For all the time that had passed, it was hard not to fall into feeling like an older brother.
Looking at the undead, you can see that the corpses are in various states of decay, indicating that they were each killed at separate times. The oldest corpse looks like she was killed about a month ago while the freshest looks like he was killed just a few days ago. None of you remember hearing any rumors about anyone in Leafbrook going missing recently, so these unfortunate folks must be from the nearby villages.
As rested as you can be, you all set off towards Grymhearth. Even though it is still slightly misty, the morning fog is quiet beautiful in the sunlight. The morning light illuminates the mist, suffusing everything in a warm, golden light. Streaks of light and shadows run through the mist, courtesy of the position of the sun relative to the trees all around you. Frogs chirp and jump around the stream along your path as you trek down from the mountains. Distant woodpeckers bore holes with a rapid tap-tap-tap as other small songbirds swoop through air, chasing each other. The damp morning air, while chilly, smells of forest with an afternote of rain. All in all, the walk back is quiet enchanting.
You follow the trail, and it seems a little longer than you remember, but it was dark the last time you walked along it. The ground begins to flatten out, bringing you to a grassy meadow the trail cuts through. Drops of dew glitter in the wain sunlight, sparkling like little diamonds. You spot an occasion yellow wildflower dotting the field. You even see a small herd of deer grazing a distance away, unconcerned with your presence.
You follow the trail for about five more minutes. The trail walks you around the base of a hill, and when you round the bend, you see something that stops you in your tracks. Bridging the mountains that form the small valley you are in is a colossal stone wall. High stone buttresses loom gray in the morning fog. Huge iron gates hang on the stonework. Dew clings with cold tenacity to the rusted bars. Two headless statues of armed guardians flank the gate, their heads now lying among the weeds at their feet. They greet you only with silence.
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
Jared looks back to the trail they just came up then ahead. he pauses and thinks for a moment, unsure of what just happened.
Jared will move forward, taking it all in.
The beautiful scenery lightened Aoufie's mood enough to hum as he walked and thinks to himself how better everything seems during the day. That is until he sees the collasal stone wall and silent statues. He stops walking and places a hand on the cittern.
"I know it was raining hard last night, but I would remember passing through such a gate. This is wrong and that trip back seem unusually long." he then picks up a pebble and throws it the colossal structure to check if it's some kind of illusion.
If the pebble bounces off the structure Aoufie would then say "So this is real. Let me cast my spell and see whether this structure is magical." He spends the next 10 minutes casting detect magic He plays the probing song on his cittern louder as to better encompass the massive gate and statues.
"Revelare Oculus" he says as he stares hard at each element of this fortified gate.
Noting the various decay of the corpses, the drow simply nods as if he’d seem exactly what he’d expect.
Akyan glances at Anthony before turning back to the trail. He walks with one hand near his eyes to block the early morning sun. “I’ve been fine.” He replies after a brief moment. Figuring his old friend would want a longer answer, he continues, “I’d been working with a guild recently. It’s been keeping me busy.” He could say more about his encounters, both old and new, but he doesn’t particularly feel like talking about that right now. No need to cause unnecessary worry.
He takes in the landscape around them. The place is truly beautiful, but its glory seams faded in the light of recent events. “How about you?” He asks, looking at his friend out of the corner of his eye, “You don’t look as if life has been kind to you.”
Zathon takes in the walk, growing more uneasy by the minute due to the tiny discrepancies from their journey to the cave. Perhaps it's stress, he thinks. Then the gate appears before him, and he knows better. This was not here. He knows that.
"I think it just might be a gate, Aoufie... but something is wrong. This wasn't here before."
Anthony frowns and scratches the bit of scruff at his chin. He'd been hoping to shave beforethe funeral, but looked like they were going to miss that altogether. With a sigh, he scans the area while the others investigate, watching for threats. "Oh, hey. Stay alert Ilmater has your back. Probably." Anthony confers a small blessing on Jared.
((Giving Jared his Vigilant Blessing for advantage on his NEXT initiative roll. Doesn't expire until used or if Anthony goves it to someone else.))
Peception for keeping watch 10
As they'd been walking and chatting, the big man had chuckled at Akyan's assessment. "Or too kind maybe. Still vertical. Mostly. But, yeah" taking a slightly more earnest tone. "Didn't take the best care of myself for a few years and it caught up with me. And I'm kind of dumb so it took longer than it should have to look for help instead of new levels of stupid." he left it there. Funerals were gloomy enough. "Guild huh? That's pretty legit. Almost as official as government work. Finding people you said?"
"Looks like it's been here a long time. Might be us that weren't here before." giving a dimpled chuckle at the 'joke'.
Akyan grunts in response. He's not surprised that Anthony's answer, the older man had always had a way of getting in trouble. He's just glad it seems like he didn't let his bad habits didn't plunge him so far down that he wasn't able to get back up. He shrugs, "It's not that big of a deal, being part of it just helps insure I get some sort of payment. Working for private individuals doesn't always pay well. Might even end up getting scammed." He runs his hand through his hair, then quickly replaces it to block the sun again. "Finding people, finding documents, and infiltration are all things I've done. I'm a bounty hunter. There's a lot of things I've done." He shrugs, "I've noticed you've picked up a few spells?" He phrases the statement as a question, attempting to divert the conversation away from himself.
Anthony nodded along with the bounty hunter comment. A lot of the 'families' he'd done grunt work with or for... or owed money to, hired finders and fixers for odd jobs. And some weren't above stiffing them or worse of they could get away with it. About the magic "That uh... yeah. That's Him I guess." He scrubs his own hear a little awkwardly. "Not really sure how all that works really."
"Him?" Akyan raises an eyebrow. "You didn't make a deal with some sort of demon did you? Or are you religious now?" It's hard to tell if this statement was meant to be a joke. Akyan can't really picture Anthony doing either of those things, but how else would he just gain access to the weave without understanding it?
Anthony looks down at his red cord on white over his armor, red cord wrapped wrists, and openly worn holy symbol and laughed. "Something like that. The Martyr, Ilmater, yeah?." Anthony's chuckle continued. Not everyone was religious. He got that. He wasn't either really. "Patron of the weak. Orphans, the poor, prostitutes. God of rejects and undeserved second chances with a shrine on every corner in every slum. Kind of made sense." Though to be fair, the shelter had really just the nearest place he'd been able to crawl to that had been willing to help.
Kora heads out with the rest, enjoying the morning walk with the dawning sun shining off of the mists. She listens to Akyan and Anthony for a bit, but doesn't join in. She can tell Akyan has had enough of her for the moment. She was used to being on her own so she was never sure when she was welcome to join into conversations or if she was just butting in.
As they make the turn on the trail, she was already scratching her head as to why it was taking longer than it should have. Were they slower after the night in the cave? That doesn't make sense though. But then the turn gets her to stop dead in her tracks and she just stares at the gate. As Aoufie tries to puzzle it out it gives Kora an idea. She also takes the 10 min to ritually cast speak with animals then looks for some nearby, possibly that herd of deer..
Ignoring the banter of his siblings, shuddering slightly from Anthony's blessing, Jared starts looking at the ground, trying to find the group's tracks from the previous night.
Abruptly Jared drops to all fours and moves more like a beast rather than any human.
Survival: 12
"Don't see that every day." He comments lightly as Jared drops to the ground to ..search? He holds up two fingers glowing faintly toward Akyan. 'Want a little help?" Assuming the other man might want to do some detective stuff.
((offering Guidance +1d4 on next skill check within a minute))
Casting Detect Magic, the only thing Auofie is able to see is a very faint aura of transmutation emanating from the gate itself. Other than that, he doesn't pick up on anything
As Jared prowls about, he gleans several things through his acute senses. First, you notice that there are no recent footprints on this trail. Second, he doesn't very many signs of animal life around the gate; wildlife seems to avoid this area. Third, the air smells... different. You're not quite sure what you're picking up, but you've never experienced it before. It's almost like visiting a foreign land and catching the new odors of the place. The air has an aged quality to it.
Kora begins backtracking towards where she saw the deer. Along her way, she too notices that the field and surrounding forest have very little animal activity.
The deer watch Kora warily as she approaches. As she gets within about shouting range you see they start nervously backing towards the cover of trees.
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
"We never passed here." Jared tells the others as he gets back up. "And the air isn't right. Where ever we are we are not home."
"So we've traveled somehow? Could it be the talismans?" Zathon asks.
"It's a guess but I'd say not, Zat." Jared replies. "Tom's story was that the mist comes and takes folks and we had a mist last night and this morning."