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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 1717561" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #280] A Mighty Wind[/PLAIN]"Is there only a single set of tracks?" Ledare asked and both Karak and Grisham nodded."That's good," Vade sighed. But Ledare wasn't so sure."I don't know, Vade." she observed. "It's certainly significant if one individual was responsible for this murder. The Hound was no easy target for slaying. Right, Grisham?"The barbarian nodded grimly and there was a note of pride in his voice when he spoke. "At the second battle of Aquae Sulis he left two score gnolls dead on the field before he sought healing. I've seen many men cross blades, and I can count Plonius' equals at swordplay on one hand... with fingers to spare.""It was magic that killed him, though," Ixin reminded gently and Ledare nodded."And if these other tracks belong to a magic-user with the intention of killing him, why bother with binding the hands and all that?" she asked. "The lacerations match these very bushes, so clearly he was killed here.""What does it all mean?" Vade mused and scratched his head."Bah!" Karak grumbled. "Give me somethin' I can sink me axe into! Nae all these questions!""The dwarf is right," Feln said reluctantly. "I say we go down now!" He moved over toward the rope."Now hold on," Ledare cautioned. "I agree that we need to go down, but let's be smart about it. We don't have any idea what's down there.""I could cast Dancing Lights and send them down to the bottom of the cliff," Ixin suggested. "That should give us some idea what's down there.""Good idea," Ledare said with a nod and the sorcerer went through the necessary evocation, agitating the ether between her hands until the normally-invisible mana coalesced into four globes of ruddy light. They bobbed in the air above her palm until she mentally directed them down into the valley.The others peered over the edge of the cliff, watching as the globes went in a tight cluster that swirled and pulsed as the individual lights orbited one another. Ixin sent them down to the floor of the valley and out to the maximum range at which she could sustain the spell, but there was nothing of import to see. No foes crouched in ambush on the shadowy forest floor, and it was much too far to spot any tracks below. The trees and shrubs below rustled in the breeze, but concealed no enemies that they could see. After a minute, the spell ran its course and the lights abruptly winked out as if the hungry darkness swallowed them whole."Well, that wasn't particularly helpful," Ixin apologized and Grisham grunted."I'll go down and find-" he started to say and Ixin forestalled him."No! I should go first," she told him. "I have a spell that can tell us something about the last person who used this rope, but I need to be the first one to step into the area. If I follow you down and then cast the spell, all it'll do is pick up echoes of you.""Maybe we should wait until morning," Morier suggested. "We can move on with some light to see by and less weary from the trail. But sleeping here carries with it a certain... I don't know, call it a concern if you will... I hate to use the word fear."Ledare looked at Morier and then out across the canopy of the forest below. The last fading rays of Orin's shield were glowing over the thick sheets of webbing that were strung there. "Not a bad idea," she admitted. "But we'll need to take some precautions.""I can string some alarms," Vade said eagerly. "I learned how to make them when I was younger. We used to have this problem with yappies coming in and stealing the village chickens so we-""Vade," Ledare interrupted. "Maybe you can tell Feln about it while the two of you set some up.""I'll get us some food," Grisham said before he lurched off into the surrounding forest."Let's the rest of us put Plonius to rest," the Janissary suggested. "He deserves a burial at least. And I don't much fancy the thought of his rising as undead."Vade took about twenty minutes to carefully set up broken bits of used potion bottles in several likely approaches to the group's campsite on the cliff edge. He also spent another twenty minutes setting up tripwires cunningly affixed to the two thunderstones he carried. The rest of the time before dinner called him was spent in setting up the classic "porcupine's kiss" trap - a tripwire affixed to Ixin and Karak's loaded crossbows. He was quite happy with his work, although he really wasn't sure that the crossbow trap would go off as he hoped.They ate without joy, huddled around a small fire in a vast dark night. The sky was clear and stars glittered there like diamonds strewn across black velvet.Earthday, the 6th of Reaping, 1269 AEThe watches passed uneventfully and the Orin's Shield rose to find Grisham kneeling sadly beside Plonius' grave. His sword was laying across his knees and tears shown wetly on his cheeks. The others knew better than to try to comfort the man and instead went about the business of breaking camp and readying themselves for the decent into the valley below.Ixin, it was decided, would go first so that she could safely cast Recent Occupant and learn something about their new quarry. She would be followed swiftly by Grisham and Feln. Morier and Ledare would go once the others had safely reached the bottom. Vade, who didn't need to use the rope thanks to his  Slippers of Spider Climbing and Karak who didn't need to climb at all due to his Ring of Feather Falling would descend whenever seemed prudent.Ixin stood at the edge of the cliff, her red hair whipping this way and that in the eddies of wind, the stout rope held firmly in her strong hands. With one last look down into the dimness below she smiled at the others and said, "Here goes nothing."She'd made it about half way - some fifty odd feet from the valley floor - when the air attacked.Her only warning was a whistling sound that grew rapidly louder and shriller. She looked over her shoulder toward the apparent source of the noise and saw... something. A vague, misty shape came at her with incredible speed. Its form was amorphous and indistinct, but she got the unsettling impression of being regarded by an alien intellect before the wind roared into her with the force of a battering ram. It slammed her roughly against the cliff, sharp stone cutting through her scaly hide like it was silk. She cried out from the impact and managed to maintain her grip on the rope for just long enough to look up at the members of the VQS who were staring down over the cliff edge.And then she fell.</blockquote>

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