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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 1099804" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #235] Wandering... Monsters?[/PLAIN]At Ixin's pronouncement, Vade's lower lip began to quiver. His eyes grew wet and he was soon crying in earnest, draped across Ruze's body. "Th-that... That meanie!" the halfling sobbed. "That m-meanie killed my b-b-best friend!"Ixin felt the little rogue's pain, and turned away to give Vade a moment to mourn in peace.The sorcerer bent over Ledare's body and checked to make sure that she was indeed stable. She looked terrible, but her breathing was normal and her wounds had all closed to some degree. She was no longer bleeding, although she was slick with the stuff. Whatever had been in the potion Vade had poured down her throat had no doubt saved her life.When Ixin looked up, Vade had his backpack sitting on the floor next to him and was stuffing Ruze's scimitars into it as best he could. When he noticed the mage looking at him, the halfling wiped tears off his cheeks and sniffed loudly. "We should take their stuff," he told her. "They would want us to have it." Ixin couldn't argue, but when she went to check Draelond, she found that he had little on him besides his clothing and armor."Where's Draelond's sword?" she asked and Vade shrugged."Back there?" he suggested, gesturing toward the glowing portal. If that's where it had fallen, Ixin considered the weapon lost. There was no way she was reactivating the portal to go retrieve it."We need to drag Ledare back to Rherram's as quickly as possible," Ixin observed. Reflecting on both Ruze and Draelond, she added, "I suggest we burn the bodies here and say a prayer over them.""B-burn them?" Vade whimpered and he started crying again."We don't have any chance at all of carrying them out," the mage explained. "And I couldn't live with myself if I allowed even the possibility of Ruze turning undead."Vade had to agree and they quickly went about the business of laying the two men side-by-side atop a bed of tinder - which included strips of both men's cloaks, two unused torches, and scraps of blank parchment that Vade had in his pack for some reason. They then arranged Ruze's holy symbol on his chest and bowed their heads."Ruze's queen, Shaharizod!" Ixin said awkwardly, her hands clasped as she had seen other penitents do, and casting her eyes upward. "Your Battleguard fought valiantly for you. He did his very best to turn the tide of Evil and Chaos. Please grant him a place in a better realm where he can be at peace. And please also send your blessings to Draelond - a strong honorable and brave warrior - as he journeys to the other side. They will both be sorely missed."She lay a comforting hand on Vade's head briefly and the halfling sniffed loudly. "I am sorry you had to die, Ruze," he said. "Thank you for saving us. You were my best friend and the Dragon Lady and I will miss you." Looking over at Draelond he said with genuine awe, "Man, you were big. I hope they have extra large chairs for you to sit on in heaven."There was a moment's silence and then they could hear the very faint sound of wet movement coming from back inside the warren of caves. Vade looked quickly up at Ixin and Ixin glanced down at him. "Grab Ledare with me and let's get the hell out of here! Now!" she said.Vade nodded vigorously, wiped his nose on the back of his hand and whispered to Ruze's body, "Do not worry. I will take care of your wife and see that no harm comes to her."As the two companions hauled Ledare off the cave floor, Ixin gestured at the two bodies and spoke the command that activated her last cantrip, "Valignat!" A fiery spray fell across the two bodies, igniting the tinder. As the flames licked up they shuffled awkwardly out of the small cul de sac."Come now, Kitten," Vade grunted as he heaved against the Janissary's foot. "Let's go."The journey up and out of the caves, while uneventful, was lengthy and tiring. It took Ixin and Vade (Well, Ixin, mostly, since Vade was barely able to handle the weight of his overstuffed backpack) over an hour to drag Ledare's limp body up from the Devourer's lair and out to the upper cave. There, they lowered the Janissary to the floor of the cave and Ixin rested, panting from exertion. She freed Martivir from his pouch and sent him and Vade outside to see if either the carrion crawlers or the winged skaven were waiting in ambush. Vade returned a few moments later to tell her the coast was clear and she dragged Ledare out into the sunshine of early afternoon.They made it to the center of the clearing when Martivir took flight from a nearby tree branch where he'd been waiting. He hooted a warning and circled overhead."There is a person hiding on top of the ridge," Ixin conveyed the owl's message to Vade in a hushed whisper as she lowered Ledare's body to the ground. "I am fresh out of magic, so there's no way we're fighting our way out of here." Vade moved close to her and clutched her knee, quaking with fear. "Oh, no. Oh, no," he was whimpering over and over."Follow my lead," Ixin said and gathered her cloak around herself. Then taking a deep breath she bellowed, "Show yourself!" Her voice rang out rich and clear in the mid-day air, but there was no immediate response. "Be warned! I have powerful magic at my disposal! My companion may be injured, but if you mean us ill, you must still deal with me!"When there was still no response, Ixin spoke to Martivir flying overhead. "Show me where this person is hiding, Marty," she hissed. "But don't take any risks. If he tries to hurt you come straight back here." The owl hooted in reply and then took off for the top of the ridge, a little to the right of the cave opening. He began to circle.After a moment, a figure rose up from the grass there as if she had just sprung whole from the earth. She was fae, Ixin could tell, wearing a silvery chainmail shirt and carrying a reinforced longbow. She regarded the mage with grey eyes and then gestured with her left hand as if signalling to others that waited in the weeds nearby."I seek no trouble from strangers," she said and began to move easily along the ridge line. "Keep hands off weapons and do not incant, for I am very familiar with spell casters." She nocked an arrow in her bow, but kept it pointed at the ground as she moved down the slope to join them in the clearing. "My<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />group has you covered from a higher elevation. No sudden moves.""Who are you?" Ixin demanded. Beneath her cloak, her hands neared one of the few scrolls she had left."You may call me Windstryder," she said, her eyes moving appraisingly over both Ixin and the fallen Ledare. "I see you have a fallen Janissary from Barnacus. Once I have determined whether or not you follow the tainted path and decided whether you wounded her, we can determine what you are about. The King, although sick, still does not take kindly to bandits wounding his honor guard."The brown-haired woman made another gesture with her hand. and a second fae moved noiselessly from the underbrush at the south end of the clearing. Ixin was unsure how alike the fae looked on this world, but from all appearances, he could have been the female's brother. He carried no bow, but had a well-worn staff in one hand."I'm no bandit," Ixin hissed angrily. Vade's fingers dug into her leg beneath her cloak."What are you?" the second elf asked in response. "You are strange looking."Ixin fixed the male with her golden eyes and said angrily, "My name is Ixin, daughter of Ventisjir the Red, granddaughter of Lady Dominor Corastrixarosvith of Clan Vermillion. Ur-Corastrixarosvith serves as Grand Councillor for Clan Vermilion to the Council of Wyrms. Her daughter, my mother, Ventisjir the Red is a Clan Champion."The male elf blinked in response but seemed otherwise unimpressed."I can offer my help to heal you as I may," the female elf spoke up. She was crouched over Ledare, but had put her bow on the ground beside her. "It's not safe to administer aid to your wounded here in the mouth of this cave. We just dispatched two worm crawlers up above." Despite this pronouncement, she shrugged off her pack and removed a healing satchel from within.A large hawk settled on a nearby tree branch and shrieked once."Oh, and Mage," Windstryder added, cocking her head towards the kestrel. "I suggest your owl keep its wits about it, lest Anta chases it for sport."Ixin opened her cloak and Martivir flew inside, disappearing into his extra-dimensional pouch. In the process, the sorcerer revealed Vade clinging fearfully to her leg. The male elf looked at him quizzically."A halfling on the trail," he remarked. "How strange.""I- I move around a lot," Vade told him in a small voice."Yes," the elf replied. "But what use are you in combat?""I-" Vade started, his pride injured. "If I- There was this-""Come here, little one," Windstryder said, holding up her healing kit. Ixin urged Vade to step forward, and he did so reluctantly. The female elf examined the claw wound to the rogue's stomach."Say," Vade smiled cheerily. "That's a very pretty bow you have." The elf grunted."Halfling, let's make one thing clear. I do not wish to find any of my weapons, gear, supplies, or items missing from my person without my expressed permission," she said as she worked. Her eyes never left the wound she was tending, and her tone was very matter-of-fact. "I do not accept apologies afterwards on how it accidentally fell out of my pouch and you were just keeping it for me. If a gem falls in the woods, then it is for Brogine. Not you.""I'm no thief," Vade said then added, "I'm a rogue.""I mean no offense. I am merely stating my intentions to you," she told him and then looked up, staring intently into his eyes "Or... I may accidentally poison you when I really meant to heal you. Yes?"Vade nodded mutely and the elf stood, patting him on the head. "Good boy," she said."We have administered aid," she said to Ixin, looking up at the drakeling. "Now we are off on some King's business that must be attended to immediately. But it occurs to me that we would be aided in a mission for the King with one of the elite guards on our side." She looked down at Ledare's battered body.The male elf snorted. "What use is this 'King's Soldier'?" he asked. "She will slow us down and we do not have time to waste, Windstryder.""There is a healer nearby," Ixin suggested. "Help us get her there and we can talk more of your King's mission."The two elves stared silently at one another and finally, the male produced a vial and tossed it to Ixin. "Make her drink this," he said. "It will get her on her feet.""Which way is it to this healer?" Windstryder asked.</blockquote>

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