The real benefit of having a cleric in the party is having a direct connection to a deity. And if that deity is proud of your work, you'll know it. Such is the case when you stop people from cheating death, and have a deity that supports that goal. The signs aren't always obvious. You're not going to get a lot of gods just popping down for a visit all the time. They communicate in ways such as, like is the current case, with a flock of ravens perching around your group among the numerous, more verdant than normal trees. Silently. And then vanishing, leaving you to a much needed rest, with only one of their companions there to watch over you.
Everyone had fought their hardest, and didn't take nearly as much damage as they could have (See note at the end), and while not everyone probably believes it's safe to rest immediately after such a battle, the majority agree that it is probably in your best interest to at least take an hour to rest and recover. (This is the beginning of that hour. You do not yet get the benefits of a short rest, such as HP and ability/spell recovery).
This takes place immediately after the battle with the warlocks, before a short rest (from which you do not yet receive benefits! This is your intro time, in other words, where you have a short time (probably shorter than you want) to talk to each other, and maybe commend/condemn each other for actions that took place on the battlefield). I've randomly rolled damage for each party member (2d8 so I wouldn't kill anyone), and am listing some other effects that are a direct result of this.
Angela sustained 11 damage in the attack, and cast one 1st level spell. Draj sustained 10 damage in the attack, and cast one spell. Evyrless sustains 7 damage from the attack, and cast two 1st level spells and one 2nd level spell (note: write down your spell slots. You have a total of 4 1st level spell slots and 2 2nd level spell slots, and half of them are expended) Harriet sustains 7 damage from the attack and is not a caster, but expend 2 of her 4 superiority dice. Lorenthar sustains 13 damage from the assault, and expended two 1st level spells and one 2nd level spell.
Of course I roll better than normal for hurting you guys. -_- I think my dice just hate the player side, whether I'm on it or not.
The settling of soot and brimstone in eerie silence was proof enough that the last servant of fiends had truly, for certain this time, fallen.
Usually this forest was calm, serene, untouched by outside influence since time immemorial, but this had all since changed in a single contest. The lively woods had echoed with a fight to the death, where pooling blood now set into the once lush, now charred earth. What was beautiful had become desolate, almost unrecognizable; a clearing pocked with now extinguished flames and seemingly lifeless silhouettes. There had been a tremendous shot of light that burned a perfect circle from where a tremendous pair of timeless marble pillars stood, yet now... nothing remained in its place. Only the absence of sound lingered and the fading of blindness.
A huge paw, as large as a man's chest was broad, stirred shakily as it flexed atop its quarry. Thick, curved knuckles grasping, the claws sunk further into motionless flesh, penetrating ever deeper through the sickly cloth that clung to it. The rest of the silhouette followed as it dragged itself forward, still reeling from the erupted swathe of planar power. Nothing else so much as moved, only the silent flight of dark feathered birds who dispersed into nothingness, leaving the trees that hedged the edge of the meadow; they became shadows, too difficult to follow in the ringing that filled ears and the haze that slowly lifted from eyes.
"Har Gathun..." Jaws parted some with hard fought words, otherwise still clenched.
It swallowed with a pant, the low, snarled voice a whisper initially, speaking only to itself and too distracted to notice the subtle motions of others who had survived. Only then, still struggling to speak, the clamping of the throat relaxed and the muzzle at last withdrew. Red, fresh and lively, covered the short brown hairs that surrounded its maw and stained the pearly, blade-like teeth, which again spoke now in disbelief rather than shock.
"Har Gathun e'nor..."
Standing to its fullest height, paw still atop the flayed chest of its kill, the other three remained a'rest on the vibrant blades of grass which calmly bent under its weight as though no great calamity transpired. The world paid this turn of events no mind it seemed, too simple and unspoiled to recognize what a fate befell this place. The Gate was no more, not even a trace left in its wake. What had become of it? How does such a tremendous structure - one of several that connects very planes of existence together - find itself utterly obliterated? Was that so much as possible?
At first the beast remained idle in standing, too shocked that it had not only succeeded in repelling the outsiders, but that something else had happened. Whatever these robed men had done failed horrifically, had the other outsiders been responsible? They had killed these evil hearts, hadn't they? That was what memory suggested, but this... how could this have happened? One moment these interlopers were meddling before the ancient structure and the next a battle ensued as a second, unrelated set led a startling ambush. Only after that had the animal joined the fray, preying upon the unsuspecting enemy who proved distracted.
Muscling itself some, the claws tore free of the flesh, having been caught within it as well as the remnants of what had been a dark robe. Carefully they too found themselves at rest as a step was at last taken, surveying the damage. The sensation of pain and injury, how portions of its pelt were now battered, was nothing compared to the feeling of loss - a sinking of emotions, as though the color of the spirit had all drained away. Again the enormous feline figure stepped, its ears drawn sleek to its skull while its emerald eyes washed over the casualties and it moved with all the subtlety of a phantasm, revealed only by the calm rays of the sun that hung above their heads and shown down on its earthy pelt.
It drew to the closest outsider, keeping a wide berth around the actually deceased, some of whom lay smoldering and others mangled, only to stand an arm and one half's length away where it peered down to them. The length of its tail moved none, but only the tip of it swayed in thought before it spoke, again in that deep, beastly voice.
"Ye, ein yev thurn?"
Druidic "The Gate..." "The Gate is gone..." "You, did you do this?"
Drajhan breathed a sigh of relief, leaning back against a tree. His group had thwarted the enemy... but not before they had destroyed whatever that portal thing was. In Draj’s mind, they were lucky to have all escaped with their lives. He gripped his side where the enemy had managed to slide a weapon between the pieces of his armor and grimaced. Yeah, definitely bleeding. Wasn’t too bad, though. Drajhan closed his eyes, tapping into the magic connection he had with his spells. His Hex no longer seemed to be feeding from a living target, so at least one enemy was dead. Hopefully they all were.
Drajhan checked around to see if his allies were with him. Evyrless, that odd foreign elvish girl, seemed to be in one piece, despite having needed to cast several spells in that bout. If she were like most spellcasters, that spelled ill news for the rest of the day. Harriet was in fairly good condition. She always could take care of herself. The other woman who had joined them was also in decent shape, although she had taken a heavy hit or two from the looks of things.
The dragonborn noble raised his head to the canopy overhead, noting the ravens watching over them. He breathed a prayer of thanks to the Queen before finally sheathing his blade. If they had their lives, then all was not lost. His patron would still be sated. All they needed to do now was--
"Har Gathun e’nor..."
The source of the noise came as some shock to Drajhan. Although he had noticed a great beast during the previous fight, he had seemed to have forgotten it for a moment, nor did he assume it could speak. In fact, he had almost levied a strike at the beast before it had attacked one of their enemies. And, as the old human saying went, “the enemy of my enemy...” Drajhan watched as the beast drew itself to its fullest height. Something about the mannerisms of the beast and the tone in which it spoke sounded, at the very least, less than thrilled about their victory. It then lowered its great head before Drajhan’s and, with rather unpleasant breath, spoke once again in that unfamiliar tongue.
“Eh... heh... M-my name is Caerziros Drajhan, Baron and Vindicator of...” Draj’s voice trailed off. “I get the feeling you do not care about titles. Is this your wood? Do... do you speak Common?” He tentatively placed his hand on the hilt of his blade, although a good strong hit from this Cat would bring him down. Did cats smell fear? Or was that dogs? Either way, bravery (or at least a brave face) was required here. He cleared his throat and gave a gracious bow before the beast, well aware that his head was in easy jaw-snapping distance. “I humbly thank you for your assistance in that battle. We may have not survived if it were not for you.”
Angela was sitting down on the ground next to a tree, holding her longbow, pretty tightly and still had adrenaline rushing through her veins. She was grateful she was alive with a gentle sigh and holding her chest. She put her longbow besides her since she didn't really have the energy to get back up for awhile. She sighed at looking at her shoulder since it was injured and bleeding a bit. However, the first thing she noticed was the beast it was doing a lot in the fight against the warlocks. The second person she noticed was the female elf since they are pretty uncommon, in these neck of the woods but she did look pretty. She noticed the Dragonborn since he did take her eye, which made her get hit in the back by one of those fiends.
"God damn it I shouldn't have taken my eye off that Warlock but that dragonborn looks cute," thought Angela with rolling her eyes. She was somewhat angry with herself since her father and mother told her during her ranger training never take her eye of your opponent or animal you are hunting.
She did notice, the other human female in the group and she was pretty cute too. However, what shocked her was the fact the beast spoke in a language unknown to her and was utterly confused. She had no idea why it spoke in an unknown language because most animals don't really speak. She was somewhat confused at this. She did notice how big the beast was, it was extremely large and it didn't look that way during the fight but she was somewhat distracted with the handsome dragonborn fighting until she got hurt in the back and it somewhat hurts. Angela stood up slightly until she heard the Dragonborn speak, the two words she was looking for and that's 'Caerziros Drajhan' and she had a smirk on her face. Angela was somewhat afraid of getting close to the Dragonborn since the beast is there and it spoke in a weird tongue, which she had no idea what its about.
She just sighs in a different tone since, she wasn't expecting to find her Betrothed in a middle of a battlefield like this against warlocks of all things, which were trying to summon something evil and demonic. "Yeah I would love to know if the beast also speaks common since I would love to leave here intact," Angela said, "My name is Angela Elia Gillian by the way." Angela was somewhat nervous in speaking to Caerziors Drajhan. Angela was certainly not used to this pressure and then decides to say it anyway to the dragonborn. "Oh yeah Caerziors Drajhan, I am your Betrothed from the Gillian Family, I am pleased to meet you," Angela said highly red and looking down at her feet. Her butterflies stopped but she was embarrassed to say the least, at least she found a piece to the puzzle she wanted to know, that she now knows her betrothed is a Dragonborn from a kingdom to the south of hers. Angela picks up her longbow and puts it on her back but she hasn't really know how many arrows she used during that battle since she hadn't really kept track that well since she was highly distracted.
The jowls flexed, shifting the whiskers forward some as the great beast mulled over the company before it. As careful and calm as the dragon's scales flexed to rest upon the hilt of a blade, they did not go unnoticed; the very tip of the dark tawny tail again twitched, the entire length as a whole in a fairly rigid curve. Truthfully it betrayed the immense cat's thoughts, though for the time being it remained mostly within its control. It kept watch of Caerziros Drajhan during the course of his introduction, right down to the manner in which he bowed, attempting to feel out his person.
“I humbly thank you for your assistance in that battle. We may have not survived if it were not for you.”
All that made up the draconic heir suggested someone of station, be it the titles, the dress, the mannerisms, the speech. To the great cat, this amounted to little understanding beyond the obvious.
With a drawn out, husky snarl that petered off thereafter, the formidable company lifted its head to pay heed to one of the women who managed herself back to her feet; one of the cupped ears turned to her, attuned to her speech for a moment before it returned to the scaled one and his questioning, the rest of itself kept forward and toward the nearest, seemingly greatest threat. The situation both tense and unexplained, it paused for a few moments as it thought out its reply, none pleased that they seemed so unconcerned with this outcome.
"Har Gathun e'nor, heman... thar e'wos mallun." The beast said, its vibrant eyes blinking poignantly before their harshness returned the very moment after.
The stare was critical, perhaps too much so, but nothing else filled its mind for the time being. All there was to keep in thought, was the thought that the clearing's relic was no more.
Druidic "The Gate is gone, outsider... that is what matters."
All sounds of the battle ended suddenly, snuffed out at once in the harrowing crash of the fallen Gate. What remained were the dim chorus of panting victors and fluttering wings. Stooped over a fallen enemy, Evyrless raised her gaze to the slivers of sky within sight. She muttered an imperceptible prayer as she witnessed the sign of her Queen in a murder of crows scurry off through the canopy above.
As her eyes lowered, her attention hitched to the empty air where an ancient planar gate had once occupied. A timeless thread between worlds ended in an instant, for reasons beyond her knowledge or comprehension. She would thank that it wasn't a waystone -- or else the dead would be forced to wander further to meet their Mistress -- cutting off the living's passage to foreign planes would be equally tragic.
Hunching forward, Evyrless looked down on the cadaver she perched upon with a grimace. Necromantic scum, the lot of them. She would have to burn their warped bodies to ward their taint from the living world. A prayer must be offered, for Evyrless hadn't sent their spirits to her Queen. The devils they sold themselves to would likely be kinder company to the bastards. Such is the hazard of hunting warlocks seeking lichdom. After her pause, she withdrew her blade from the sorry lad's gullet. She was careful not to loose his guts to the soil below, or else she'd have to pick up the parts for the fire.
"Har Gathun e'nor..."
Deep, sorrowful utterances filled her ears. Evyrless stood, keeping her freshly bloodied rapier at her side in case of the need for it to be readied. She observed the grand cat that stood before her, poised over the noble drake. The words it spoke were nothing she could comprehend, but she could sense the accusation in its voice as it addressed the dragonborn. A lion of any kind, magical, druidic or otherwise, would not grieve the loss of feeble men attempting to cheat what is inevitable. The only other loss that could be grieved aside from their trespass was the Gate which stood now only in memory. Her and her companions were strangers to this forest, and currently the only people alive it could blame.
"We did not come here to extinguish the Gate," said Evyrless.
“I suppose Common is beyond your grasp...” Drajhan muttered. Something about the cat’s glare put the nobleman on edge, and a comment from one of his companions did little to aid his nerves. “My dear Angela, this is no time for jokes,” Draj responded to that ridiculous comment about his betrothed. “I know of no Gillian Houses, and I would assume my betrothed is draconic like myself.” His attention turned immediately to the other stranger among them.
“The Gate? Ah, that thing. Yes, we had no intentions of destroying that Portal thing. In fact, my intention was to help protect it from those fiends.” The final word was nearly spat from his jowls. Drajhan focused all of his attention back to the great cat. “I can only assume you are able to understand us. If so, I express my deepest sympathy and apologies for the loss of your... ‘Gate,’ was it? Your Gate.” The dragonborn lowered his head in a respectful bow. At the deepest point of his bow, he whispered a quiet prayer: “Please don’t eat us.”
As closely played to heart as its reaction truly was, the pantherine creature responded all the same with a low, snarled huff; each ear drew back in slight, letting the jaws quiver with underlying displeasure. The predominantly non-verbal rebuke did not last long however, being no more than a tense second as it otherwise turned in head to acknowledge the presence of the grim woman who seemed to understand it. Warily it looked her over, not to size her up as a threat, but more so to understand whatever relation she had to the rest of them. Whatever connection there was, it was unclear at this moment, but she did know the root of its being here.
Withdrawing a step, settling the bristled fur upon it narrowly mane crested shoulders to rest, it relaxed only some. It postured defensively, but made it clear it had greater intentions of understanding their presence than it did prior. They were not welcome, but thus far they hadn't been untruthful and they were forthcoming as it could have hoped. There was some promise yet that they were to be of use against whoever had put these events into motion.
"Harn wos e'th nor? Wuth e'th ken ein?"
The left most corner of the beast's jowls that rest upon an elongated, deathly fang curled slightly at the scaled one's remarks, unsure of the sincerity that he spoke with. There came a delay a moment after, where it drew back its tremendous head some and narrowed its animal glare; its mind away in thought. When it returned, it raised a brow and almost seemed to smile a predatory smile. After all, this "Caerziros Drajhan" and his accompanying entourage seemed to have a score to settle with these now most dead men and their diabolical ends.
"In suth..."
The change of its demeanor spoke volumes more than the words its hungering jaws did, suggesting that just perhaps, it understood in part what they meant beyond the spoken as well.
Druidic "Then why is it gone? What is it they did?" "I see..."
Sharp and serious eyes scanned the tree line as the final breaths of their foes ended. They had come this far only to be shuffled off to the clearing at the end of the path. Well, good damned riddance. Harriet stood down and wrenched her dagger from the forehead of the last man she had killed. He looked to be about her age, actually. Just some duped punk who wanted to try to find a way around death. Well, Harriet didn't exactly know what they were doing, but, the damned swarm of ravens certainly made it clear that Big Miss Reaper had her eye on them. Yet again, not something Harriet really knew. However, the pillow talk with a death worshiping elf did have a tenancy to stick in the gunslinger's mind.
The second thing that hard eyes fell on was the spot where the weird portal thing had stood. Harriet had seen some crazy things in her still short life, but, that was something new and worth remembering. The thing had gone up like a magical powder keg. Right after the thing had properly flared up she remembered checking her limbs to see if they were still attached to her body. Apparently though, magical powder kegs didn't exactly have the same oomph that proper ones had. She was about to start looting and maybe cracking a joke or two about that fella who had snuck up on Miss Bow'n'Bust, but, something else needed her attention. A huge damned talking cat.
Harriet stepped over a few corpses, eyes locked on the talking cat who had mainly been speaking with Draj. Draj had taken a good one to his side and she noted the blood. He was an odd sort. Most mage types shot sparkly stuff from a ways off, not her little Draj though, he was all balls and magical swords. She liked that about him, but, he often got whacked good. Her path took her just to the dragonborn's ;eft and slightly ahead of him. She gave him room to draw that blade of his if it needed to be, but, she didn't think it would be needed. She spread her stance as she reached her destination, hips cocked to the right and feet planted in a solid A-Frame. She rested right hand on the grip of Leadblessing, shoulders squaring off with the massive head of the lion. Her left hand rolled the hilt of her long dagger into a reverse grip and she shot the talking cat a smirk. She suppressed the pain she felt from doing that. The left side of her face was already starting to turn reddish from the one very hot magical sparkly thing that had found its mark on her.
"Now, my da' always told me somethin' 'bout talkin' animals. They's either somethin' else pretendin' to be one and can understand ya. That, or, they's a magical type'o'animal that's cle'er 'nuff to speak with ya plain." Harriet's tone was amiable and light. The lion-thing had relaxed and seemed to be understanding them just fine, which is what Harriet expected. The 'gut' told her this talking-lion was probably more of an ally than a foe. Maybe a little confused. Hell, she was pretty confused too. Maybe this forest dweller could shed some light on the situation. "Now, we didn't mean to break yer, uhhh, thing, but, it done got broke. Draj 'ere is pretty 'andy with spells and the like. Little Dark and Gloomy back t'ere has magical know-how as well. What 'bout you? Care t'help us sort all this out?" she cocked a thin brow over her brown eye before nodding to him for a response, hopefully in something aside from growly-yarky-wood-talk.
"Now, can we talk purrty like normal folk, or, does ole Harriet 'ere 'ave to start doin' shadow puppets?"
Slacked, was Evyrless's jaw at the comments made by her party member. Her lips did not part, but they curled into a frown in her distaste for the blatant disregard he held for what was lost. The Gate was an eternal structure that gave the same function to the living that the Veil gave to the dead. The 'thing' was sacred, perhaps not to her Queen specifically, but regardless she and the Raven Queen both would mourn the loss of this sacred thing.
Stood low as she was, Evyrless stepped forward a few strides to reach the side of Drajhan. Her rapier, still drenched in blood, was thrust into the ground beside her rather than sully her scabbard. Her left hand held a gentle grasp of the dragonborn's shoulder to pull his view toward her. With the other, she reached back calmly and with a whip into the air she struck him across the face. The back of her hand immediately turned red after the contact with his rigid, scaled face, but the point was made.
"Do not disrespect what may never return, lizard! Or I may not respect you when you pass."
Angela looks somewhat confused at what was going on still even though that gate was pretty impressive before it exploded and she wondered why it did since she's not much of a magic user since she's just a ranger. She heard her betrothed's remark about her not being his betrothed but that just made her, much more determined to make sure he knows, it is her. "The only reason, why you would not know my noble family is because we live north of you," Angela said in response to Drajhan. She did look at the human and the elf move closer to Drajhan but one went in front of him while the other smacked her betrothed on the face. Angela just shrugged her shoulders at that mostly because she never smacks people in the face but she can respect other people's reasons for doing so. She looks at the big cat still standing there but a little bit more relaxed, which she sighs a sigh of relief. "What's the magical gate called?" Angela asked towards the elf with a smile. She wanted some insight into this since she never really seen a gate like that before. She stayed where she was since she didn't really want to get closer to anyone right now since she had no idea, who's anyone's names is besides her betrothed and the gunslinger who told everyone her name.
She smiled at Harriet's name since that was a nice change of pace from that fight that is.
Draj held a claw to his cheek, more shocked than hurt that someone dare strike him, especially a purported ally. "My dear madam," he responded, his voice lowering to a growl and his eyes narrowing, "I require the respect of but one Lady when I pass, and with all respect due back to you, She is not you. Pray stay your hand before it becomes offered to my Patron and the Raven Queen." Drajhan's face suddenly softened, a smile gracing his maw. "But we are not enemies here. We fought on the same side, and so we should work together. My knowledge lies in the Arcane, not in natural things. If you would strike a child for not knowing the name of this Gate, or of what power it held, then the fault lays not with the child."
The physical assault combined with the young ranger's obtuse refusal to listen to reason were beginning to annoy Drajhan. "I have no interest in speaking more on this subject, Angela. Perhaps we can talk about it again when we reach someplace less tainted by fiends." The draconian stepped back from the great kitten before him and leaned once more against the blood-stained tree. "If what you say is true, Harriet, then I do believe this beast is toying with us. Please, Great Cat, reveal your true self and speak plainly. Are you a god sent to watch this Gate? Or perhaps a man with a fondness for felines? We mean you no harm, and you may have the power to shed light on this situation."
As typical to be expected of any cat, cooperation was not forthcoming.
The added company was not so welcome, the skepticism not to receive any fanfare or revelation and even less so under the initial threat of a smoothly bored barrel of a musket that only for a time remained seated. The outsiders were as demanding as they were perhaps clueless why anyone would even seek out this place for what importance it truly had. Regularly a Gate was no easily accessible thing, a relic that required tremendous strength of magic to so much as even will into action. After all, it had to breach the boundaries of the Planes, connecting unfathomably distant realms. However, such a portal into a divine realm was easily denied by that host if they wished not its presence. What the invaders had done was managed to contact something that had been willing to permit this bridge between worlds.
Alas, they were more concerned with the earthen beast's motives, as transparent as they might be. What did it matter who or what it was in this involvement? The only matter was that these other outsiders had corrupted and inadvertently destroyed the object. Whatever dark ritual they had invoked sputtered out of life, almost certainly because their concentration was disrupted and their servants slain. These warlocks were not as numerous or well prepared as they should have been, almost as though they did not expect any resistance at all, but they fought devilishly and with spiteful abandon; some fell a lot sooner, a lot more expediently than others.
It was not until the comprehending woman struck the blue drake as hard as her hand could carry, shaking a bit more out of frustration rather than pain. Uniquely, she revealed something unto the tiger-esque company, that the Raven Queen appeared to have a stake in this twist of fate... but what and why?
Approaching the side of Evyrless, it methodically reached out with a paw that could have threatened to encompass her altogether and instead eased her hand back to her side; the gesture being overt and obvious in an attempt to defuse their own quarrels, at least for the time being. It returned its attention to Drajhan there after and looked him over again before shooting the remaining women a glance. With a motion of its head, beckoning in gesture, it then set off and away from them at a calm stride to the nearest fiend-servant and began rummaging through their person in an attempt to find any evidence or clue as to what exactly transpired.
Perhaps they would follow suit.
Lorenthar begins searching a body for any evidence of the trespassers and what happened here. He rolls a 3 on an Intelligence (Investigation) check.
A Cleric does not take a threatening invocation of their own deity lightly. Evyrless had half a mind to skewer the nobleman's palm for this indiscretion. In fact, if her children had said what he did, she would've slapped them harder than she struck the scaled oaf. They wouldn't have been ignorant enough to make the mistake in the first place. Despite the heat of her blood, Evyrless kept her mouth clasped shut and her hand stayed from Drajhan's jaw. When the tiger made it a point to distance her hand, she sighed away her frustrations. She offered the cat a solemn nod before she retrieved her blade and walked forward into the bleeding lands that marked their battleground.
She pondered to herself, "This isn't Ainford where every business is yours, Aefaera. You must be calm and reserved here, lest you lose your head before your return."
Evyrless noticed the lion walking astride, yet independently of, her toward the bodies of these warlocks. The druidic feline rummaged through a corpse's vestments. It took a moment for her to realize the intention and when she did she knelt beside another and assisted in the rummaging.
Angela was somewhat annoyed a bit about certain things. That could wait since she saw the cat and everyone searching for information. She found her shoelaces since she was somewhat distracted with the magical talk. She had no idea what anyone was talking about. ”I forgot to tie my shoes,” Angela said aloud. She gets down and ties her shoelaces since she wouldn’t want to trip. She did walk towards the group since she was somewhat away from everyone.
Drajhan closed his eyes momentarily as a quick wave of pain from his cut flared up. Talking cats, getting smacked by some pretentious woman, and then being told his betrothed was here... not a great day. Oh, also the Gate was destroyed, which evidently was fairly important.
When the dragonborn opened his eyes again, he noticed several of the others rummaging through the bodies of the dead. With a shrug, he pawed at the nearest soldier. He had a rather strong suspicion of who they were, snd the insignia he found in the soldier's coat pocket confirmed his fears.
"As I suspected," Drajhan called out. "These soldiers were minions from House Mirlandisnecht. Followers of the Fiend, and almost as far from home as I. Not to fear: Harriet and I have dealt with their kind before. With some luck, they will fall just as easily this time. Be on your guard, for they employ more devious tactics than the average soldier." He summoned his blade to his side and stepped closer to the group. "I suggest we keep our blades at the ready until we get away from this forest."
Investigation Check: 1d20 + 0 = [5] + 0 = 5. Evidently that's enough when you know what to look for.
Before Draj can finish saying to keep their blades at the ready, he sees a movement out of the corner of his eye. It stops, and he can see it no more. Unless whatever moved made it to the other side. A little maniacal, high pitched cackling erupts off to his right, as well as some rustling bushes. [Make a Perception check] Whatever it is is moving around, and there are no doubt at least several dozen of them. All of a sudden, the motions stop and everything is still.
Screams. That's all Angela can hear in all directions. Everywhere. Like an entire village being slaughtered. [Make a Survival check: 17] While you're not from this area, you have some knowledge of how areas like this tend to work. People clearly don't live in this area or you would have seen more roads. Probably more footprints. A lot less illusions. You know something's off, but you mainly deal with hunting people, not whatever this is.
There is an eerie silence, or what would be silence if not for the cacophany of Ravens around Evyrless. [Make a Perception check] However, having some experience with ravens given your faith, you know that these sound just a little...off. You can't quite place what it is. Something is very wrong, but they are most certainly not real.
Lorenthar can smell...something. The scent is for some reason not registering as anything he can recognize. He can also smell the Feywilds still, despite the destruction of the gate. He, too, sees movement out of the corners of his eyes. [Make a Perception check] Given your nature as a druid and your connection to nature, you have a rough inclination of what is going on, but know that if it's fey, and they're set on harming you, they're not the kind of fey you want to be around long.
Unlike the others, Harriet sees nothing unusual in the area. [Make a Perception check to see if this stays the case]
Lorenthar's rolled Wisdom (Perception) check is 12. His passive Perception 15, is higher.
"Eir oth enth h'lon..."
The feline lips mouthed, not even uttering the words themselves and leaving them only in ghostly tongue. It remained in body just as still as that grave comparison, not so much as flinching even in slight or adjusting a muscle further, having but moments prior been rifling through the kills in search of whatever little evidence the had to offer. All prior, it seemed nothing of interest had turned up, these deviants having come here with a specific purpose as they had previously thought. The drake proved to know more despite this however, something about a "House of Fiends" or similar like, all in addition to a name the great cat hadn't heard of prior but sounded like any other doing of civilized men. Not that it had been listening in on Drajhan or his apparent company much, no...
... not until the air became odd, as though for a moment the bridge of worlds had been restored once more and thus the entire present calm spun into descent instead as unfriendly ambiance. Faint shifts of movement at the edges of the woods suggested that whatever was present, was not a friend in just the way it moved and hid. Why it was here and whatever it wanted, who knew? If it were the fey folk, unquestionably would they be furious at such intrusion and more so the destruction, but whatever it was, it was not right. It was all too off, even for them.
Slowly and methodically the sizable beast stalked toward the mass of others, attempting to close the ranks. With an obvious motion of its tremendous, furred head, it suggested they take what they had and move on. There was no time to tarry and certainly no further time to investigate. The dragonborne had a start, which was all they needed for this one moment All the beast could hope was that they were just as swift to uptake its gestures and follow its lead.
Until then, it remained wary in its senses, vibrant eyes watching, soft nose scenting and keen ears tracking.
While some people might have reacted poorly to their friend being slapped about the face, Harriet was not like some people. Hell, Harriet was not like most people. As the tell tale sounds of skin on scales hit her ears the Gunslinger turned her head to the side and cocked a brow at the little exchange. Forgetting about the large cat for the time Harriet barked a laugh and took her hand from the gun on her belt and slapped her thigh. Before she could do much to contribute to the scolding though the massive cat had started to defuse the situation and was searching through the warlocks. Well, it was a good idea.
Harriet walked from corpse to corpse, kicking a few of them and stooping down to peer at their faces and clothes, only half heartedly looking. "Yar." she said with a nod when Draj informed them of the nature of these warlocks. "'ad one back in the fightin' that fell down on 'is lil' grendado. Triggered the whole thing and when Draj pulled'em off it..." Harriet paused and made a rather impressive explosion noise with her mouth. "'ad to tackle the big lug outta the way. Still left a nasty bit of burnin' and shrapnel in the blue boy."
She lifted herself to her full height and peered around. Everyone seemed very odd all of a sudden. Some had that far off look in their eye like they were not not quite here. Then, of course, the beast that wasn't a beast said something weird in that language he insisted on using. Harriet didn't need to speak the language to know some of what it meant. It was a tone and a feeling she could understand. They were being watched or stalked.
She rolled her shoulder and plucked her pistol from it's holster in the center of her belt, just off to the right. The old pistol made a nice leather on steel hiss, and then, it was punctuated with mechanical click-twist of the hammer falling back and cylinder twisting into the firing position. The smile faded from the Gunslinger's face and her eyes floated around the battle ground, hunting, seeking. "Wits 'bout y'all." Harriet hissed, hoping her words in a language that everyone could understand would snap her companions back into professionalism.
Draj swung around to face the source of the laughter. It seemed like whoever was out there was trying to surround them, and the rustling of brush filled the air. Most likely, the others had heard it too as they began to ready themselves for round two. "Seems like we won't be resting up just yet," Drajhan muttered. "Cowards. Can't have the common decency to fight in the open. Not that I blame them: we are a scary lot."
The noises began to die down, but Draj stayed on high alert, getting ready to send a blast of Eldritch energy at the enemy should it appear. "I believe we have overstayed our welcome in any case. Let's get out of here before it turns into a real hellhole."
Perception Check: 1d20 - 1 = [3]-1 = 2.
Action: Readying an Eldritch Blast if an enemy appears. Specifically looking for fiends and dragonborn.
