The evening passes without further incident. When the party wakes in the morning however they find Trixi and a horse missing. She apologizes for her departure but her patron insisted this mission no longer served them and that Trixi needed to move on.

Dawn arrives and it an uneasy morning. Zira remains quiet and still a little jumpy for the night's events. Gen-ga seems to take over. The bronze dragonborn moves to make a speedy breakfast that everyone can eat while mobile. Zira helps to repack the mule and a riding horse with the equipment helping to move the party along faster.  Before moving out Gen-ga again reminds the party of the tethers for later in the early afternoon but mounts a horse and moves to the lead. Vanya will take point however letting the party fall in behind her but she moves now to bury the dead wth Gen-ga as well as anyone else's help.

OOC: Vanya, Gen-ga, Zira, ?, mule, horse, ?, ?, and ?. Who's got the travel roll?

Ragnar sits quietly for a moment looking out over the barrens, contemplating what else might be hiding out there before quickly moving to help deal with the bodies from last night and get ready to move out.

He lets his horse fall into the end of the line not wanting to let anyone else be exposed at the back.

Travel Roll: 25    

Erika will trail behind Zira, before the pack animals.

“Sure Vanya..... it was Zira who made you and team mopey stand all the way out on their own was it? On no that was you!” Ted rolls his eyes. “”Even I wouldn’t have done something that silly.”

 The next morning, Ted is standing by Areon’s horse yet again. “Looks like it’s you and me again, you know if we’re going to be a dynamic duo I’ve got to get you a better outfit. That muddy green has been out of season for a while.” He chuckles as he slaps Areon on the back playfully. 

 Ted will insist that they hang out at the very back, as far from Vanya as possible before confiding in Areon as he watches Gen bury the dead “Say, what are you in this for anyway? You don’t strike me as the glory seeking type, or in it for academic discovery, even riches seem lost on you. These Mercs, in it for the money, I always thought that way of life was so cool. Now I see they are dull, jaded and outright foolish. I try to act apathetic, but when they were being killed by those things, I genuinely didn’t feel a thing.” As the scribes body is being buried, Ted steps forward. “Hey, can we say a word for this one.... I never really got to know them. Anyone know much about their life?”

OOC: Is Ted speaking this out loud or just to Areon?

OOC: Response to Ted placeholder.

The party again gets back on the trail and come midday the mist rolls back in steadily as the day before. Tethering the party as before Areon and Erika spot a shape looming ahead in the haze of the afternoon. It looks like another bit of statue from this distance but this time it looks like a tattooed toros with lower limbs lying on there sides. There's half a dozen of them all weirdly broken the same way. Head less and ominous in the distant growing mists!

History check to discover more about the landmark.

"We all stick together," Zira's voice comes to your mind again. "Take care. Be vigilant," she adds.

Her tone is raw and exhausted.

Everyone perception checks.

Ragnar nearly falls asleep as the monotony of the barrens and the rocking of the horse gets to him but as soon as the mists appear he wakes fully up and begins tireless scanning the surroundings.

Though he wasn't a very good student and didn't pay as much attention as the others, Ragnar is still curious about the broken statute and tries to remember what they learned in the institute.

History Check: 15   

Perception Check:  23   

Ted struggles to get used to riding a horse again, it was easier with Areon doing it for him, but having them tethered together definitely helped. At the tone of Zira’s voice alone, he steels himself. Trying not to get distracted by wondering about who was lucky enough to have a statue made of them, and unlucky enough to have it decapitated, he keeps his eyes and ears primed for danger. “Echo, give me a hand here, tell me what you see.” He says out loud, he knew he could just think it, but he likes the sound of his own voice. The parakeet flaps his wings and propels himself into the air, floating above Ted to get a better vantage point.

Perception (Ted) 25

Perception (echo) 4

Areon speaks to Ted he hears moaning distantly as a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. Areon recalls there was a elite group of casters tattooed magic rune to their skin to boost magic. Ted and Areon can see there's six toros in total but each seem oddly broken in the same places. Their heads sheared off and hands missing as well. The mist rises now completely consuming the party again as Zira once more holds the radiant light along with Gen-ga. The moaning stays distant as the party passes through the Wastes with Vanya in the lead. About two miles out from the ruins, the mists still thick, Zira calls out in your minds eye. 

"The crystals fields are coming up. We need to dismount and lead the horses on foot." Zira explains. "Keep your lights close," she reminds everyone too.

Leaving the horses tethered the horses move ahead as the speed dramatically changes as you pick through the crystal fields. A glowing field of crystals catching the faint radiant glow of Ioun's blessing.

"The crystals amplified the light," Gen-ga calls out for the first time speaking as the mists grow thinner the farther you get into the crystal fields. "The specters seem unwilling to cross here," they add their tone sounding slightly relieved.

There are tall jagged crystal structure that seem to burst from the ground. The desert looks alive with crystals.

OOC: Animal handling checks.

Erika has been mostly silent this day. She reflects on what happened to Garth, the apparent possession. Had there been any stories related to such things that'd she'd heard before? Of men taken over by black magics and compelled to slaughter their friends?

Roll: 7, if History +5, if Arcana/Religion +0

As the group moves through the crystal fields, she looks with wonder at the strange constructs.

"Such a beautiful growth. I wonder, are gems cut from these enhanced in some way by the wildness of Ellyria?"

She attempts to guide Viggo carefully through the crystalline terrain.

Animal Handling: 6

Ragnar looks at the glow from the crystals and the way the colors sparkle and shine. He laughs and then looks around until he sees where Erika is.

"It's like the norðrljós. Do you remember them?" he calls to Erika. Then he looks over at Areon and Ted. "There are these colorful lights in the north sky back home; mostly in the winter."

He guides his horse along, his step feeling a bit lighter now.

Animal Handling: 10   

Erika doesn't recall any myths or Holbright records of possession. She's also having great difficulty moving through the crystal fields lagging behind with Ragnar behind the bulk of the party.

OOC: I need Ted's roll.

Areon however is more a depth with his horse finding the path that soon Zira, Gen-ga file in behind him while Vanya moves the fastest seemingly unfettered by the crystalline landscape. As he keeps an eye out her does catches glimpses of eyes of varying sizes and shapes peering out of the cracks and breaks in the larger crystal forest. These eyes seem to track the party where it's the same or different entities he can't be sure but he's seen at least a half dozen or so since the mists abated.

"Through here and the excavation site is just over that ridge," Vanya speaks for the first time in many hours. "Careful the crystals are like me...beautiful and deadly if underestimated," she adds oddly joking as she tugs the reigns of her horse on through the crystal littered landscape.

"This is the height of the anti-magic fields," Gen-ga says over their shoulder. 

They then demonstrate by casting sacred flame as the holy fire crackles to life in their finger tips the bronze dragonborn expels it and it ripples in the air distorted before snuffing out like it hit a wall about 20ft out!

Areon and Erika perception checks.

Animal Handling 4

As they carry on, Ted struggles with his horse. “Here boy, here boy. I wish you were more like Echo.” Echo floats down and perches on his shoulder, letting out a little chirp, as Ted smiles warmly at the bird.

Ted, Ragnar, and Erika have fallen behind. Vanya doesn't seem to notice trekking on but Zira and Gen-ga pause allowing the three stragglers to catch up. Meanwhile Areon too notices by his place between Vanya and the bulk of the party gives him a choice to remain behind or continue foward.

OOC: it's up to Areon to pause or not.

"Come, Viggo. Step more carefully!" Erika chides the horse, pulling at his reins to try and keep pace. She looks up and out.

Perception (adv)  18 

 16  

Areon perception check.

Vanya stops at a large outcropping of crystal about twenty feet tall resembling a petrified tree to allow everyone to catch up. It's late afternoon. 

"We won't make it to the excavation site bu dark at this pace," Vanya begins with a sigh.