Auger is unable to free himself even with Py’s help.

The fey alyasub is able to get Ednyss & Varielky’s attention, and they roll the huge lifeless lizard’s form away from the warlock, enough so that Auger tugs free. Quietly, for Py has warned Auger that even after the orcs left the massacre, after Granophyre turned invisible, after the orc chieftain — the same one you fought five days ago — finished off the reptilians, ordered the carriage looted, and the barbaric creatures left, carrying Benita — barely alive — with them, after every reptilian who ambushed you was slaughtered, and the rain fell and washed away their blood — even then, in that silence, the place was not safe, for wailing sounds emanated from the cave entrances nearby, the grieving keening of the lizard-people’s young and elderly mourning their losses, and a few heads have poked up to ensure the orcs were gone.

But now, says Py, they sleep, and we must leave before dawn when they will come to retrieve the corpses of their fallen warriors. They lay among you, along with two hyenas and four orcs, spears sticking up out of their bodies.

Your party, too, has suffered losses. Benita is captured by the orcs. They rode north with her draped over a hyena, her hands bound, says Py.

The Dwarven cousins, Flint and Wad, are slain, and lay where they fell, cold and hardening stone.

Amistan is dead, a spear impaling him to the ground.

Granophyre lives. You find him beside Tuff, sitting over the old valet’s lifeless form, holding his hand in his own and quietly weeping. You realize their relationship was more than master and valet.

Varielky finds Granophyre’s bird, an inert paperweight of brass and gold, on the ground near where she awakens. The shield-maiden’s sword is missing, but she calls it and it appears in her hand from wherever it was.

The horses are dead, the carriage must be left behind. Rations and water are quickly retrieved from its roof, along with backpacks.

Granophyre is listless, his motions robotic and halting. He kisses Tuff’s brow, quietly gathers a few things from the carriage, follows you.

What do you do?

Varielky is quiet. She had failed her mission. Her only mission. She couldn't protect those she was supposed to protect, she couldn't protect Benita. In her heart, she wishes the Orcs took her too. There, they could fight the Orcs, slay them and escape. Here, she couldn't do anything. Even if she tried tracking the Orcs - if it were even possible - who knows how far they'd be? What guarantee would there be that she could best all of them? What will the master say, is he going to push on, leave Benita behind? Where does Varielky's loyalty lie? She tries calling the sword, almost hoping that it will not come - a final sign that she had failed. When it appears in her hand, she feels frustrated. Is this part of the gods' plan too? Was this supposed to happen?

She sheathes the sword. When Py appears before her, she almost smashes the pesky bug bothering her, catching herself at the last moment. "Sorry." She whispers to him.

Varielky picks up her shield and stows it in place. Then, she follows Py to the body of a giant lizard, until she finally manages to figure out what he wants. She helps in rolling the lizard away, then offers her hand to Auger, pulling him out of the hole. When she notices the remains of the golden bird, she picks it up. 

Varielky stands quietly, a few feet behind Granophyre, allowing him to mourn in quiet. Once he's done, though, she approaches, though not sure how to start. Eventually, she hands over the bird's remains. "I found this..." A bad start. "I'm... sorry. I failed to keep my oath to you." She says quietly. 'I failed to keep my oath to Benita,' she thinks. "I've failed everyone..." She falls silent, awaiting Strewn's judgement, or orders. 

Freed at last from the horrible Lizard, Auger quietly thanks Varielky and Ednyss. Thoughts racing he is unsure how to proceed. Gathering himself and still injured he stands and stares at Strewn with Tuff before looking away to give him some privacy. He hears Varielky's words to Strewn, and realizes he is shocked that Varielky, always so strong and persistent, had been deeply affected by these events. Ah yes, Benita is gone, carried away. Thinking on the young warrior, he despises the possibility of her captivity.

At Py's insistence, Auger gathers his things and is surprised at how much of his pack is still there, the Orcs must have cared little for his things. Auger helps prepares a pack for Strewn, intending to keep him company as best he can. Although the old dwarf is clearly hale, he still offers his Quarterstaff to him, if he needs it at all, as they are clearly going to be on foot for a time.

Speaking quietly to the team, Auger says, "We must decide where to go and how to survive but a full plan must wait. Right now we must leave this area before the Lizards return for their dead. Our path was north and it occurs to me that following the Orcs might end up the safest path, as they will... clear any issues they face. Lets start that way."

If the others agree Auger steps along with Strewn while asking Py to scout ahead, invisibly taking them on the safest path he can find.

When Granophyre looks up at Varielky, she witnesses a flash in his eyes unlike anything she has seen before, a grim, furious explosion of hatred, which lasts for a long moment.

Then Strewn turns away, looks down silently at Tuff. It is a long time before he speaks. “He was like you. When he was younger. There was none more brave. Or more unwise. Today he is the wisest man I know. We...are made who and what we are by what we gain, and...” his voice catches in his throat... “and what — or whom — we lose.”

“Do not be so ungrateful. Varielky. You too should be dead. I saw the orcs finish you with my own eyes. A spear through your belly as you lay unconscious. Ednyss too. That you walk the lands now without dark energies propping you up as undead beings is a mystery to me. You served me to your dying breath. What more could you have done?”

Granophyre listens to Auger’s words quietly. He nods quietly. Then with incredible heaviness, he takes a deep breath and says, “I will not see Benita la Cass left in the hands of orcs. Their plans for her are more nuanced than I could have thought. Yet I will not have it, nor would Tuff have stood for such cowardice.

“The expedition, as I envisioned it, is at an end. I will not hold you to your contracts. You are free to follow your own path. But I hope you will help me to rescue La Cass. What say you three?”

Auger nods yes, in agreement with the intent of saving Benita and a little surprised with himself that he does not check with Py for instructions first. "Yes, Granophyre, I agree, let's go after La Cass. We can plan how to catch a mounted expedition later, but for now we should be able to follow their tracks fairly easily, and leave these horrible Lizards behind."

"I... what?" Varielky looks down in surprise, trying to see if her armour is pierced, or perhaps feel a grievous wound. Died? That could not be true. Here she stands, living. Those who died do not return. Is the scholar hallucinating? Did he wish for her to die, and imagine his wish come true. Ednyss, however? He isn't dead either. She looks at Ednyss, looking for fatal wounds. This reminds her of how he fell in battle, or rather the fact that she didn't know how. She'll ask later, though. "That is impossible. The dead do not walk this world again. Dwarves, maybe, as hollowed shells, but not us Humans. Either way, I wish to save Benita too. If this is the last of my missions - so be it - but none of these Orcs walks alive after we find them."

Ednyss pulls himself to his feet, stunned. Glancing around he first looks for his Shield and War Pick. If he cannot find them, he just falls to his knees wherever he is and stares into space. If he finds them, he breathes a sigh of relief as he redons them and walks to Granophyre. Overhearing the end of his statement Ednyss shows no reaction. It is not that he doesn't feel for Benita, but rather that he cannot fully process what has just happened. When asked if he will join the rescue mission, he nods silently. As the others talk about their miraculous survival, Ednyss doesn't participate in the conversation as he is completely spaced out. Instead, he just feels the crushing weight of responsibility for the group's loss. In attempting to protect Varielky, he weakened himself to the point that he was no longer able to be useful to the group. Although he does his best to hide it, it is clear that he was shaken by this loss as he has never really experienced this kind of defeat before. The image of himself losing consciousness and leaving Varielky and the others alone on the battlefield is seared into his mind as he stares off into the distance. In his desire to try something new, he cost the party everything, and he will not make that mistake again. Pulling the ring off of his finger, he grips it tightly, as if trying to do to the ring what he was unable to do to the Orcs, before placing it in his pocket.

(Spoiler for the DM)

Turning away from the others, Varielky slips one hand through the reinforced shingles of the armored skirt attached to her new breastplate, and finds that it is torn, its inside surface covered with dried blood. She does not remember her armor being pierced before she was knocked out.

Py messages that it flew down while invisible into the lizard people’s lair, and after a long tunnel, there is an enormous cavern with hundreds of them living there, surrounding a pit in which lives their god: an enormous snake. Py saw them feed two dead orcs to it, and this is presumably the fate that awaited you if the orcs hadn’t come along to defeat the lizard-people.

A single tear slips from Granophyre’s eye as he removes three items from Tuff’s body. His spellguard shield, fashioned in the same round shape which Varielky prefers, he hands to the shield maiden. “This was in a troll’s lair we found in an ancient ruin in the mountains south of The Tree.” Tuff’s returning throwing axe he hands to Ednyss, or attaches it to his own belt if Ednyss doesn’t want it. “Tuff...created this himself. It is unique.” And he tenderly pulls a chain from around Tuff’s neck, attached to a small leather pouch, and drapes it around his own neck.

The four of you quietly head north. Each of you carries four days’ rations and a canteen, and a length of rope and other very basic items in your pack.

You head north. The orcs trail was obliterated by the overnight rain, the steppes are broad and flat here, and by mid-morning, you have walked five miles and, exhausted, must rest. Py flits straight up under blue skies crisscrossed by a few gauzy white striated clouds, and sees many wild animals upon the plains but also, the glint of light reflecting off of steel, perhaps three miles to the northwest.

If you wish to continue pursuit the same day, everyone please roll CON saves vs DC 10 to avoid 1 level of exhaustion. Or, you could long-rest and continue after sunset?

Auger looks to Granophyre concerned, not so much for leadership in this moment, but really to try and judge what he can do right now. The previous day's events had been devastating and he was probably in dire need of additional rest.

Auger says, "I must confess to being torn. I am still hurt and rest would help, but being able to get Benita away from those Orcs sooner rather than later is tempting. I suggest we give ourselves a full rest and ask Py to fly ahead and monitor this reflection of steel to see if it truly is the Orcs. When our rest is complete I can summon him back and we can learn of their route, know how Benita fares, and plan her rescue. It might also be night time, which could help cover an escape if we can still catch them."

(OOC: Auger will go along with the others if they prefer to get closer to the Orcs now. If needed, CON save in spoiler.)  

Varielky is more than shocked when the truth becomes clear to her. She... should be dead. She's not sure what to think about it. Why is she still alive? Have the gods brought her back? Was it something else? Is she truly alive, or is everyone around her also dead? When handed the shield, Varielky doesn't even notice, thinking she is handed her own shield. Simply holding it in her hand, she begins to walk to the north. 

By Sunrise, she had already regained her senses, more or less, though she is still as confused as before. Only one thing is clear to her though, she wishes to save Benita. "I feel like rushing at the Orcs, but... they have lost their right for honour. I suggest we sleep now, and attack when night falls. Besides... I should probably tend to my wounds... those that remained. Dying... a second time..." she has a hard time saying that phrase. It was so wrong, opposed to everything she knew. "That won't help Benita. These Orcs are strong, we should not underestimate them." In every word, you can hear Varielky's revulsion and anger pointed towards the Orcs.

Granophyre looks truly terrible. He bears a variety of battle scars, and is plainly not himself. He keeps up with your travelling pace.

Py zips toward the glinting reflections it saw, remaining perhaps 1000' above the plains. It does not return before the end of your long rest, so Auger dismisses it into the feywild and then summons it once more. 'I could not find my way back to you,' the dragonfly says. 'The steppes are lacking in landmarks. I flew for perhaps 30 minutes and did not see the orcs. But another mile along, I caught up with them. There were three. They are from the force that took Benita: one of them is using Flint's battle axe. Its reflection in the sunlight caught my eye.Their hyenas were wounded, and they were moving slowly and bickering among themselves. Benita was not with them.'

During the rest

Auger replays the previous day's battle and thinks through things he could have done differently. Belatedly he realizes he had not killed anything with his powers, merely hurting the Lizards in all cases. Did his fear of being a killer end up staying his hand? He had moved away from the team, as that seemed safer for them given his destructive powers, but did he lose some opportunity to gain their protection in the process? The Fog Cloud had been unexpectedly thick and so he would have to be selective with its use. The stories of dying and so forth he ignores, as clearly everyone who had survived was still here, unlikely or not. Thinking again on the loss of so many he sends a brief prayer to Piya, hoping she can hear him and continue to guide him. In a final thought, Auger realizes that he would not always find time to summon his confusing mists, and so he resolves to keep them active as they continue through the Steppes. 

(OOC: Unless stated otherwise, Auger will be keeping his Mage Armor active at any wakeful moment.)

Upon Py's re-summoning

To Py he sends, You became lost? I was counting on you to be able to guide us when needed. This excursion keeps getting more dangerous.

After relaying Py's findings Auger addresses the team, "If we can capture one of these three Orcs then perhaps we can find out where the rest of them were headed. We should move towards them and discuss plans for how we will handle them as we go." 

When offered the handaxe, Ednyss looks gratefully at Granophyre and nods. In the short time that he had known the valet, Tuff had proven himself an admirable warrior, and Ednyss would be honored to wield his weapon. Still, Ednyss cannot bring himself to speak to the others and is silent on the entire journey. His expression is mostly distraught as he still cannot avoid blaming himself for the group's loss. When Varielky mentions that they should rest, he just nods and helps set up the camp. Unlike anytime before, when Ednyss might have whipped up something interesting for the group from their rations, Ednyss just eats his own meal quietly before walking to his bedroll, saying a few quiet prayers, doffing his armor, and laying down. It is clear that it is not the lack of supplies that is preventing him from making something better for the group to eat, as he might have still been able to come up with something, but instead something within himself.

Unless someone engages with Ednyss before he goes to sleep, he will enter another fitful sleep, although this time for completely different reasons. As he falls asleep, his mind wanders to that of his god and as he loses consciousness, there is only one question in his mind for his diety, "Do I still deserve your blessings?" After this failure, Ednyss's own faith is not shaken, but the question of whether or not he is deserving of so much of his god's focus and attention begins to stir in his mind. Had he let down the God of War? Would he need to win back his favor?

(OOC: I will wait to post a response for the morning in case something happens to Ednyss at night, but I am also still waiting on whether or not the Shield of Takal Demesh and his Dwarven War Pick were taken...)

After making camp, Varielky doffs her armour and begins to tend to her wounds. Those she can without taking off her clothes, at least. She does try to feel once more whether she was actually wounded by the spear. Did she actually die, or just miraculously survive? Is there still a wound there, a scar? She bled, that's for sure, as she works to clean some of the blood off the armour. She can only do so much, but it's better than leaving it on the metal. 
Before actually falling asleep, Varielky tries to pray, though she is at a loss. What can you possible say after being brought back from the dead? Thank you? That is not even nearly enough, yet she can do nothing but thank the god, considering her situation. Eventually, she lays inside her bedroll and tries to sleep, though it takes time as she's often interrupted by Ednyss' fitful sleep.

When she wakes up, Varielky dons her armour and organizes her things. She can't really fight with two shields... can she? She firmly straps her old shield to her pack. It won't be easily accessible, but that's fine. The new shield was a little strange, the metal heavier than her old wooden shield, but she could use it just as well as she used the previous one, probably. She figures she'll need to try it out a little more before she can truly understand what's so special about it, but for now, it'll work well enough.

When she hears Auger's words, Varielky replies: "Actually, I may have a plan. Ednyss and I will storm from the front, you'll go around the back. I have a reason to believe they'll try to run in your direction, so you'll need to block their escape. Do you think you could do that? If they don't, you could just advance on them from behind." Though her plan wasn't anywhere near an honest duel, it wasn't sneaking and assassinating them in their sleep either. If the Orcs believes Ednyss and her are dead... what will be scarier than waking up to see two presumably dead people storming their camp, at least one of them with eye glowing in the night? Whether they ran away or not didn't really matter to her. As far as she's concerned, the only thing that will keep them alive is information about Benita's location.

On the way to the Orcs, Varielky will engage in a conversation with Ednyss. "Ednyss," she starts, slowing down to his pace, "are you well? During the fight with the lizards, you fell without being hit. Are you sick, perhaps? In your sleep as well, you tossed and turned for as long as I stayed awake. If you're not well, perhaps you should sit this one out? Wait with the master away from the Orcs - Sharp-Eyed and I could manage three Orcs. Dying to sickness isn't much to be proud of, and there will always be another fight to be fought."

In the morning, Ednyss just nods at Varielky's plan when she proposes it and continues with his morning routine and prayers silently.

When Varielky confronts him about falling in battle without having taken any hits, he stares straight ahead, before slowly turning to face the shield-maiden. "The spell that I cast," he gestures down to her ring, "I didn't mention it, but it has some side effects. The spell also creates a divine tether between us. It allows me to bear some of the burdens of your attacks in exchange for your resilience. I thought you would reject it if you knew and I thought the benefits of allowing me to bear some of your burdens would better allow you to survive in battle. After all, you had been the one that was attacked most. By sharing some of your damage, you would not fall unconscious as easily and would have a better chance of ending the fight. I did not expect us to become as overwhelmed as we did." Ednyss lowers his head, "But instead, I cost us the entire battle. I fell unconscious so quickly and I was unable to help anyone, let alone myself." Looking back at Varielky, he says, "That is also why I wasn't able to sleep very well."

Quote from DandDSince1973 >>

 

 

When Ednyss regains consciousness, the stars are glimmering above, it is silent around him, a cool, arid breeze massages his moistened face. His legs are trapped under a dead hyena. He pats around and finds his shield and pick are stuck under it too. 

 (OOC: reminder for Ednyss)

Thinking on coming upon the Orcs from behind by himself, Auger is not sure how that would work. There was another trick of magic or two he could possibly work out but still there were details to think on. Responding to Varielky he says, "Its true that I do have certain abilities that can blind or delay them, but I am just now working out their proper use. I also think I did us no favors by separating from you all in the fight, so I am loathe to take that step yet again. There are three orcs and three hyenas. I doubt I can scare them all very easily. Not by myself."

Auger goes on, "I can think of something... complicated. Perhaps we try to separate them? If we work in pairs I can create a distraction to one side, a trick of lights. Granophyre may be able to do something similar. If they come all together to examine the lights then we can use your plan and scare them. We only need to catch one. If one comes to investigate the lights then me and Ednyss, either of you really, can overpower him." Pausing and reflecting on his words, Auger wonders if his idea will work, "If two of them come to the lights then the lights can lead them further away. Meanwhile Varielky and Granophyre can take the one who remains at a camp. The question mark would be the Hyenas. If they are healthier by the time we arrive then they may outrun us or join the fight or run around us while the Orcs feather us with their bows."

Thinking on his own words, Auger finds himself shaking his heads. There are many things that could possibly go wrong with approaches like what he outlines. What happens after? Will the orcs who follow the lights stay away long enough for the team to get away? "Perhaps instead of all that, we surprise them and we fall upon them, together, in one head on fight. If Granophyre is able, perhaps he can make you very large again. We just need to keep one... alive." Auger's words falter as he realizes there would be killing to do regardless of the choices they make.

"My thought was that Ednyss and I would scare them," Varielky responds to Auger. "They believe we're dead, yet here we walk. In my plan, you're supposed to intercept them if they run away. If you think splitting is a bad idea, though, that is a valid concern." Varielky listens, and then considers Auger's plan. "No, they will not be left alive. Not after they give us Benita's location. We left them alive once and look where it got us. If my plan does not sound reasonable to you, simply fighting them head on would work as well. It would simply mean we must take out their mounts and prevent an escape."

(Later)

To Ednyss, Varielky replies: "And I would for a good reason. I could take a few more hits, true, but if you fall it ends up being worse for us. You can bring me back, but I can't do the opposite. The moment you fall, the fight can only go badly for us."

Auger hears Varielky and thinks on her words. She is so brave and direct he thinks. He also remembers that his own experiences in actual fights can be numbered upon the fingers in one hand.

"Perhaps you are right, and I can take action from the backside if needed. I will say that while your return to life is clearly miraculous, I can detect nothing about you that makes you or Ednyss seem to be undead. In fact I can recall during the fight with the orcs just a few days ago that arrows fell upon me and through the various magics that Ednyss used upon me, you cannot tell I was wounded, except for the patched holes in my shirt, and even those I mended with my powers. They may run in fear, but that would be from how fierce you are more-so than you being alive at all." Shrugging, Auger continues, "Still though if it comes down to it being a fight then attacking them from multiple sides will be quite disconcerting I am sure. Py can help me find a way around to the other side of them, hopefully a quiet path, and then we can take them. What say you Ednyss and Granophyre?"

During the planning of the attack (which happened at the beginning of the day), Ednyss just nods and defers to Auger and Varielky as his mind is clearly elsewhere. He may input an idea later in the day before they intercept the Orcs depending on the resolution of his conversation with Varielky.

(To Varielky) Ednyss nods somberly to the shield-maiden. "I made a misjudgement, and it cost us the fight and the lives of four of our allies. Not to mention the capture of Benita. I don't know how I can redeem myself. What if I make another mistake?" As he says this, it is clear that he is uncomfortable with the notion that he could be put in another decision-making position and is also a bit awkward as he hasn't ever seriously doubted his own abilities before.