The First Age of Man

Sheng Shemin

The man nods to himself. He should have deduced that earlier, and save him some walk, but either way, his direction is now certain. There was a path, quite more harsh, albeit shorter, that meets that same path. Never to take the easy way out, Sheng heads to this path in hopes to meet the track makers.

OOC: Do you want a survival check? or something for Sheng to be able to take this other path I just came up with? Is it kosher?

Sialfi gives Inguar another suspicious look, which is responded to with a glare, Sialfi huffs and looks about, hand at his rapier. Inguar slows the horses back down to a crawl as he looks to Seerah, “You sure about that, girl? I don’t see anything.”


[sblock=Seerah]The sensation from Ansa turns from discomfort to fear. Seerah becomes aware that something is definitely wrong.[/sblock]

[sblock=Tekai]Looking around after Seerah’s warning, Tekai feels a bit uneasy, he knows a good point for a trap when he sees one. He spots a white owl flying around some nearby trees. He follows it for a moment, it finally lands. He looks ahead once more. A white mist in the distance, just barely visible from behind one of the trees the realization comes to him, that there are things hiding in the trees ahead.[/sblock]

[sblock=Nariya]Nariya begins to sense something when she hears a voice she’s dreamed of many times, it is frantic. “You must call upon me now. There isn’t much time, grave danger is coming.”[/sblock]

---

Sheng hurries along the trail, easily finding his way through the woods, in the distance he can hear the sound of hoofs slowing, and something else creaking slowly.

[sblock=OOC All]One action a piece before my next post. If Nariya chooses to summon, she has time as a bonus for a really good perception check. The d20 rolls I asked for in the OOC are being used here.[/sblock]

"Yes. Stop, now!"

Seerah urges Asra to come back to her as swiftly as possible, while readying herself to unleash her magic at the first sign of trouble.


OOC: Readying action to cast sleep if/when hostile creatures come into range and sight.

No! Niraya shouted back into her own head. I can't! They'll SEE!

...what good does it do you if you stay hidden, and you and they all die?..

"I'm not a warrior," she whispered aloud, her eyes wide with terror.

I am.

It felt like a bubble rising up her throat from her churning stomach. The kind that would lead to an embarrassing belch. Even as she quailed from it, Niraya knew she'd made her decision already. Life first.

"Therion."

The word cracked like a whip in her mind, and she felt something moving...like tumblers on a lock. Her throat tightened, but she couldn't stop talking now even if her mouth had been sewed shut.

"Therion."

Her heart raced, and even in the arctic chill she felt warm...no, hot. Her skin tingled, and she sensed the air growing heavy around her, with a smell like a spring storm.

She looked at each of the others in the cart with her wide, frightened eyes...but there was something else in them too. A kind of rising exhileration. She wanted this. She feared the consequences, but she wanted it.

"Don't be afraid," she whispered. "I'm getting help."

Niraya gave her friends a last look, and finished the call.

"...Therion."

Her eyes went white, as clean and smooth as fresh fallen snow. She arched her back and looked sightlessly upward...and a rune of firey orange and yellow appeared on her forehead. Fog condensed out of nowhere and twined and curled around her, embracing her in a thick cocoon of roiling vapor. Despite this, the rune blazed through it clearly.

[sblock=In The Mist]Niraya was standing, not sitting like she'd been a moment ago. All around her were clouds, mostly white but shot through with grey and stormy black here and there. In those darker patches, lightning sometimes stabbed. Her heart was still hammering, but it was all so strange that it was hard to stay scared.

"What's happening?" she asked no one. "Where is this?"

There was a chuckle; a woman's chuckle. She sounded older than Niraya, and her voice had a funny echoey quality, but it was otherwise ordinary enough. You don't recognize it?

"Of course not!" Niraya called. "I've never been here!"

You're here every night. The speaker paused, then admitted, not for very long at a time, I suppose. This is just the Mist, after all. The place that is not a place.

"The dreams," said Niraya softly. She'd meant it just for herself, but the other woman seemed to hear anyway.

Oh yes. The dreams. Another chuckle. You know that's not all they are.

Niraya swallowed. "They're doors," she said. "My dreams are doors."

No.

Hands grabbed her shoulders from behind.

You are.

The world went white, and when she opened her eyes...everything was different.[/sblock]

[sblock=OOC]The vignette is just how Niraya experiences the 1 minute 'summoning time' while she's cocooned and changing. When she awakens, she's in her Eidolon form...my sense of it is that she's still in control; it's not a different person at that time. I have thoughts on the possible nature of the Therion, and the presence she converses with (if they are not the same), but I also want to give the GM plenty of space to do his own thing with it too. [/sblock]

Sheng Shemin

Sheng approaches stealthily

Move silently: 12

"Inguar, see the white coming from the trees up there? That is from feet stirring up the snow!" Tekai said excitedly. Niraya was muttering nonsense and rolling back and forth in the back, but Tekai took no notice.

Slinging his pack over one shoulder and grabbing his bow. He kept over the edge of the cart and made straight away, parallel to the rising snow mist. 30 yards away, next to a pine tree, Tekai stopped, knelt and strung Arfan, his bow, somewhat dreading what might come out of the mist.

Inguar brought the cart to a stop at Seerah's insistence. Shayuri went into a near trance, Inguar and Sialfi astonished at what they were seeing, until Tekai told them what he had seen before darting off behind a tree. Before they could register the situation, five orcs burst out from behind the trees with a mighty roar, prepared to launch a hail of javelins and tomahawks. Seerah acting quickly unleashes her sleep spell, causing two of them to fall, tomahawks falling uselessly to the ground. Their crude weapons flew, Inguar dropped into the back of the cart as a tomahawk hit the rim of the cart, the stone head breaking off and flying past Niraya's head as she begins to come into focus on what's happening. One of the horses whinnied loudly as it was hit with one of the tomahawks. A dull thud and a snap are heard on the side of the cart. Finally, a sickening sound, Sialfi, struck by a javelin, falls to the ground from the front of the cart. Two more Orcs stand on the cliffs above. At the front of the cart, the horses begin to panic, while Inguar searches out his own bow.

---

Sheng silently moving forward, suddenly hears the sound of a battle cry, then the sounds of battle, a horse loudly crying out in pain. He can see the overlook ahead, there are two orcs among the trees shouting trimuphantly.

[sblock=OOC All]Thought we might try things generally gridless, if everyone has a preference for grids or if the situation really needs it we'll use them. Feel free to weigh in your opinion.

Remaining Initiative order for this round:

Niraya

Tekai

There are three orcs within 10' of where the cart had started, two of them are asleep. Two more are around 25' away, and the last two are on the cliffs above, with all of them having used throwing weapons in this round, they are all currently unarmed, but it's obvious they all have melee weapons on them. There is a bit of a slope ahead that you can see, likely where the others would have come down at. Inguar, Niraya and Seerah are still in the cart. Sheng is out of distance and may use the round to approach from on top of the cliffs, by running he can get there for the next round (didn't make perception check to catch the ambush in advance). Being an animal trainer, Niraya at least can tell the frightened horses are going to take off.

AC for all Orcs is 13.
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