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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 9773525" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 9There were four of them, dressed in red robes with black hoods that came forward to completely conceal their faces. Their intentions were obvious even before two of them rushed to surround Ravani. The elf darted back, but couldn’t escape a gash that ripped along his side, cutting through his armor and drawing blood. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as the warrior saw the cultist’s sickle sweep out, trailing tiny droplets of red that caught the dappled sunlight like bright gemstones.We could die here, he thought.That instant of reverie was shattered as one of the cultists came charging toward him. He didn’t remember drawing his sword, but it was in his hands as he swept it out before him, shifting his weight the way he’d practiced for hours and hours. He saw the man’s eyes widen behind the eye-holes of his hood, but there was nowhere for him to go, no way he could evade before the blade smashed into his side. The force of the impact knocked the cultist aside, and he fell to the ground hard against the roots of a nearby tree. The man tried to push himself up, but let out a sick gasp and collapsed.The warrior looked at his sword, which was covered with splashes of red along half its length.Around him, his companions were unleashing their own attacks. Folgar fired a spread of three missiles into the cultist who had cut Ravani, blasting him down. Leana lifted her sigil and fired a pulse of white light into the other one. The spell caught him in the face, and he dropped instantly.The last cultist, who hadn’t even gotten close enough to any of them to use his weapon, immediately turned and ran. An arrow streaked past him, and Ravani cursed as he fumbled for another one. He winced as the movement stressed his wounded side. “He’s getting away! Folgar, blast him!”But by the time that the wizard reacted, the fleeing cultist was barely visible, a red flash that vanished through the trees. “He’s not a threat,” Leana said, as she hurried over to take a look at Ravani’s injury.“There could be more of them around,” the elf insisted. “Aah! That stings.”“It’ll be all right in a moment,” Leana said, taking her sigil again as she reached up with her other hand to touch the bloody gash. Blue light flared around her fingertips, and the flow of blood oozing from the cut immediately ceased.The warrior stared down at the corpse of the man he’d killed. He reached down and picked up his sickle, which he hadn’t gotten a chance to use. But he’d wanted to, wanted to do to him what his friend had done to Ravani. What the warrior had done to him first. The weapon was crude, just a curve of steel barely as long as his forearm. There was rust on the blade where it connected to the handle, but the edge was sharp. He shivered and tossed it away.Folgar was examining the one he’d killed. He pulled off the man’s mask, revealing a young human with splotchy skin and a struggling beard.“Any idea who these guys were?” the wizard asked.“Cultists, obviously,” Ravani said. “The robes, the masks, the chanting, come on.”“There are many kinds of cults,” Folgar said.“Let’s see what they were up to,” Leana suggested.The four of them made their way to the clearing where they’d first spotted the cultists. The warrior came last, after finding his scabbard where he’d dropped it. He wiped the blood off the sword and slid the weapon back into the leather sheath before hurrying after the others.They were examining the statue, which represented a winged, horned creature. Its face was so worn down that its features were barely distinguishable. It stood about eight feet high, atop a flat stone pedestal. There was no indication of why it had been put here, and no signs of a temple or other structure nearby. There were marks carved into it, which Leana was studying as the warrior walked up to them.“I cannot decipher these runes,” she said. She glanced over at Folgar, who was making notes in the scribe’s book.“This place gives me the creeps,” Ravani said. “Let’s just smash this thing and get out of here.”“It would be foolish to mess with powers we do not understand,” Leana said. “Clearly these… cultists were trying to accomplish something here.”Folgar finished his writing and put the tiny book away. “We only have a few hours of daylight left.”Leana nodded. “We should report this back to the authorities at the keep. Grimdark, let’s grab one of those robes.”The warrior did not want to touch any of the bodies, but he obeyed. He chose the one that Leana had blasted; his clothes were the most intact, except of course for the black hood, which was a gory mess. He avoided looking at it as he pulled the garment free.Ravani checked the other bodies. “Not even a coin between them,” he said. “Just these ugly robes.”The warrior finally got the robe free. Underneath it, the man was thin, almost scrawny, his skin unnaturally pale. He stank. The warrior fisted the robe into a bundle and shoved it into his pack.“Are you all right?” Leana asked. He looked up to see her standing right next to him. He had to get better at paying attention to where everyone was, he thought. One of these days, it was going to be a bandit or worse creeping up on him.“I’m fine,” he said. “That guy never got close enough to hit me.”“It is unfortunate that violence is a reality in our line of work,” she said.“Yeah,” he said. “Better him than us though, right?”“Damned straight,” Ravani said. “These guys don’t have anything, and there’s no clues to who they’re with or where they’re from. Can we get out of here now?”Leana nodded. “Let’s get back to the Keep.”Game Notes:I played out this encounter in full. The Cultists won Initiative. Ravani Disengaged after taking one hit for four points of damage; only two of the bad guys could reach him with their first move. The third cultist Dashed toward Grimdark, and the last one took the Dodge action. Grimdark hit his foe for 10 points of damage; Folgar did the same with his three magic missiles. Leana got a crit with her Guiding Bolt for 22 damage. A brief but violent first combat encounter.</blockquote>

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