Storms of Change, Part 2

[silentspace]

Shortly after the party starts moving, Rowyn maneuvers Sabala over to Mirena. "I'm glad you came with us," she says to the girl. "You probably know a lot more about this area than any of us, and you've been quite helpful so far." She smiles. "Plus, you're good company."

Mirena smiles shyly, almost glowing from Rowyn's kind words. "We passed through this area a couple times, but I wouldn't say I know it well." As Rowyn starts composing her song, Mirena listens with great interest.

At the camp site, Dunathar determines that the way they entered is the most likely approach for hostile creatures. Anything could come over the hills from any direction, but that doesn't seem too likely, except for wild animals maybe…

Dunathar collects some trail rations and water from the riders' gear, and the party reaches for loaves of bread, dried meat, and hard cheese. A few of the water skins turn out to be filled with wine. Nothing fancy, but nice.

Shortly after midnight, during Rowyn and Zanock's watch, a heavy mist starts to roll in. The mist stays through the early morning watch, and hangs heavy in the air.

In the morning the injured people feel somewhat better. Dunathar feels as good as new, but Filbert, Zanock, Mirena, and especially Adromon are carrying some injuries. Mirena is up early and spends a couple hours organizing and redistributing the gear, along with the extra stuff from House Dharnan, on the captured horses. She makes do, although she's short on rope and sacks, and maybe pack saddles, which makes packing and unpacking quite difficult. It looks like some of the stuff might fall off if the horses fight or run, but they are secure enough for travel.

Travel to where though? Looking around, you see that the mists limit clear visibility to about twenty feet, with another twenty feet or so of seeing only vague shapes. The tracks continue on, down the valley, to the west. No one is sure, but you think the mists might clear up if you wait a few hours. [Continue on into the mist or wait to see if it clears up?]

 

[Seonaid]

Rowyn looks at Dunathar. "Can you scout in this mist? As long as we can still move effectively, I have no objection to continuing."

 

[Manzanita]

Manzanita

"I agree. We may even be safer in the mist. As long as we can track & retrace our steps if needed."

To Mirena. "Mirena. You say you have been this way before? In what capacity? I haven't been with the group as long as some of the others, I appologise if I'm making you repeat your story."

OOC: Silentspace, is it too late to request that Manzanita had prepared "Read Magic" the night before in place of detect magic, & use it in the morning on the captured spell book?

 

[Verbatim]

Securing his new weapons tightly upon waking, Dunathar peers into the mists and feels confident that he can lead them through it as safely as he can.

"Aye, I can take point for us again. If I see or hear anything that seems out of the ordinary, I will whistle like I did yesterday."

With that, Dunathar begins walking into the mists trusting his senses to alert him of any danger that may lurk ahead of them.

 

[silentspace]

[Manzanita, of course you can prepare Read Magic…]

Looking through the captured spellbook, Manzanita finds:
Level 0: All spells except those of the Conjuration School
Level 1: Burning Hands, Color Spray, Magic Missile, Sleep, and True Strike

Mirena replies to Manzanita “No, I haven’t been this way before. I’ve only been up and down the Trade Road into Goruka a couple times, with Glendrake’s caravan. We’ve never traveled far off the road though.”

 

[silentspace]

[I blanked and thought Dunathar was mounted yesterday. So I moved you guys too far. Ah well.]

Still hot on the trail, the party continues on into the mist, following their dwarf scout. The fog slows down movement a bit, but Filbert and Alyssa follow the tracks easily. The tracks continue west and a little north, rising up into the hills. Crossing the hills, you see the Prin River Valley laid out before you, covered in a thick mist.

The party descends again into the thick mist, into the valley. Suddenly the horses and mounts are spooked, snorting or growling at the mists. No one can tell why though. Then some rustling sounds are heard to the north, receding into the distance.

The tracks of the horses continue west.

 

[Seonaid]

"A group of simple men wouldn't spook the horses like that, would it?" Rowyn says thoughtfully. "Perhaps that's our quarry?"

 

[GPEKO]

OOC: wow ! this moves fast ... I hope you don't mind me distributing some healing with a little bit of hindsight.


Before going to bed, Filbert the minor healing left to him for the day. He uses one cure minor on himself and two on Mirena. He chats for a little while with Mirena and the others and then retires for the night.

In the morning, seeing the fog, it seems an Obscuring Mist spell won't be very useful. He prays for this selection of spells: 0 - Create Water, Read Magic, Resistance; 1 - Entropic Shield (D), Remove Fear, Shield of Faith After receiving his power from his god, he goes back to the wounded Adromon. "I think I better treat this wound again, we never know what we might encounter today. And, of course, we want you up and healthy." With a smile, he pours more positive energy into Adromon (dropping Remove Fear).

Later, Bert isn't sure what to make of the panicking mounts. There's no longer a point for secrecy since their mount gave them away. He decides he'll try not to do like yesterday. Staying on Braveheart, he calls out with a voice as loud as he can muster. "Hey, y..you in the mist. No tr..treachery. Sh..show yourselves !"

 

[Seonaid]

Rowyn glances at Filbert in surprise. She opens her mouth to say something but realizes she had nothing to contribute. She shuts it slowly while turning to look at the rest of the party.

 

[Verbatim]

Turning around to face the others, Dunathar winces as Filbert calls out into the mists pinpointing their position by his voice.

~By the Maker's forge...why didn't he just paint a bullseye on us all...~

Pulling the morningstar from its loop on his belt, Dunathar braced for anything that might come out of the mists towards them.