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Message: <blockquote data-quote="alsih2o" data-source="post: 978808" data-attributes="member: 4790">(DM note: i have lost my log from the end of this conversation. basically, domme assured the party that the seers oftheir community were also seeing the halflings n their dream and that is probably meant that danger was afoot as "the planes reach out for one another." and then the children of the wood backed away into the fog, woshing the party luck and reminding them to behave in this territory)    The party stomped on as the scrublands gave way to grasslands interspersed with pine growths. Far in the distance lie the mountains the sought, supposedly loaded with gems for the taking. Thabyra continued asking questions, mostly to herself, only to be answered in echo by Rinneys questions.   This was much easier traveling than the grasslands. With a distinctive mountain ahead of them at least they could tell what direction they were headed, and the abundant game left them all feeling a little more confident.  While walking they came upon a small drop, just some 5 feet, in the grass as a fissure broke the sod and let a creek pass through. This fissure went unnoticed until they approached closer and were shocked to see that they had unexpectedly come up behind two Shokta, each with a bison, filling water skins and gourds from the small burbling creek. The sudden shock of seeing Shokta up close for the first time made some give pause, but not Thabyra, she ran forward, pausing at the fissures edge and let fly a bullet from her sling. Her stone leapt wide of the two and startled them as it bounced into the creek. As they turned to what was happening Tavania pierced the chest of the nearer one with an arrow.    His cry broke out across the field and for the first time it became apparent that these two were younger even than the party. Mere teens, caught in a menial task.  “BARBARIAN BASTARDS!!!” cry Tavania with a spirit none of the others had seen from her before. Rinney stepped forward, moving around the fissure for better position and drew his rapier, Finn opened fire with his crossbow. As the remaining uninjured boy clambered to mount the huge hairy bison beside him he was struck by Finns bolt and fell to the ground.  Staggered by the blows they had been dealt the two boys spent their dying moments struggling for their mounts and Thabyra struck again, bouncing a sling bullet off the skull of the faster moving one, dropping his small body into the creek, never to rise again.   That is when they heard the charging feet behind them.  Three mature Shokta warriors were charging in, whooping and crying for blood on the backs of their awe inspiring bison mounts. The Bison snorted and snotted, their massive hooves chewing the ground before them as they close with the party. Tavania calmly stepped towards the fissure and picked the middle warrior of the three from his bison with a well-placed arrow. The hatred in her eyes was unmistakable.   Rinney concentrated and held his bronze charm aloft, murmuring quietly a sleeping song. The song took one warrior into slumber and he fell gracelessly from his mount. The other remaining warrior resisted the effects of the magic…but his mount did not. As the bison charged in he suddenly quit everything, his great stonelike head slamming into the ground in a huge cloud of duct, his shocked rider flying from his back and biting into the earth deeply. The dust began to fall, quicker then the adrenaline in the adventurer’s blood. Tense seconds passed as it settled upon them that they were again alone in the wood.  “Well, what do we do with them?” inquired Thaby  A debate began about tying them up or running before the remainder awoke and during this argument Tavania went warrior to warrior, slitting throats in turn. “Well,” said Finn “we are gonna eat well tonight.”  Rinney, upon remembering he would be paid well for the horns of a Shokta mount began the messy and laborious process of removing the large black horns while others set about searching the gear that belonged to the dead, and butchering bison in the field. The bison did not come apart easy. Their thick hides and massive size made everything about them difficult to deal with. Next to Ichiopa they were indeed massive, making the Rinneys cow look like so much of a paperweight.  Finn drew a necklace off the head of one of the fallen warriors. It was a polished stone with a symbol on it, appearing to be a raven on a bison’s back.   “What do y’all make of this?” asked Finn    Before anyone could answer him he noticed the butchering preceding and hollered “Save me some butt! I always wanted to say I ate some bison butt!”  After securing as much meat as they felt they could safely move the party decided to evacuate the scene, in case more Shokta should arrive and find a better place to make camp.   Camp that night was a raucous affair. Each member of the party took turns inflating their part in the day’s battle and boosting their confidence on dealing with the savage plains barbarians. The fire roasted their newly won meat for dinner and suddenly the world outside Maissen didn’t seem so large and unconquerable.  Sleep came easily to the overexcited adventurers, but restful sleep did not. The dream returned.  Two men with rough hands dragging the small woman to the fire.  Her screams for help, and mercy for her child.  The fire growing as she was about to be cast into the flames…. And then It happened. As each of them stirred in their dreams a gate appeared, the gate from their dreams, right at the edge of their campsite, it’s lion emblazoned door open and the glow and crackle of a massive fire inside. “HELP ME! SAVE MY BABY!” cried the woman’s voice from inside the disembodied gate.  Tavania jerked to her feet and squatted defensively as Thabyra began running before she was all the way to her feet. Thabyra mentally recoiled from the flame, but charged headlong through the door.  “Well,” said Rinney “I do suppose it is up to us to save this little woman.”   Like true heroes the fled through the gate with great haste to find themselves standing in a open courtyard in bright sunlight.</blockquote>

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