At the Edge of Humanity {IC}

[Stegyre]

Tai

Tai, too, is surprised by Jerid's stealth, and bemused by Alala's reaction. I do not think a foe who had crept upon us so would expend their surprise by yelling, "boo," rather than attacking, he thinks, but he keeps his thoughts to himself. They are all, doubtless, on edge after being assaulted by a small army. Both Jerid's attempt at levity and Alala's reaction seem to be responses to that.

"Let's be on our way, quickly," he says.

[~Corvus~]

Morgin. He's waited after these outbursts to speak, and as they prepare to leave he speaks. I've heard of...Abdul...he may offer mercy too? This is...acceptable.

[~Corvus~]

With a map that still gives an impression of a huge region around them, travel East seems much longer than it should. The party gathers quickly after their decisions and leaves the battlefield. It seems like the hills go on forever, but finally, they crest a gentle hill overlooking the mist-covered base of the mountains. Although they temporarily loses sight of the path, Verin and Omar are able to offer magical aid. It is several hours past sunset.

Before them lies a mountain-pass slick with the dew that also covers it. In the mountain range beyond, the rumble of distant thunder suggests more possibilities for the coming night. The sky is mostly obscured by clouds, as the pale light from the sliver of a moon.

The party takes time to reflect upon their journey and discuss their plans going forward.

[Stegyre]

Tai

"Passes always seem like a good place for an ambush, though here, it may even be dwarves rather than the slavers. Perhaps some reconnaisance is in order?" He looks to the small dragon.

[whoiam]

Before they left...

With the loot and the passengers loaded, there was nothing else to do before they left, 'cept one thing.

Instead of going straight for the path they're going to use, Alala chooses a course that makes a large, lazy loop through the woods Jerid flew off into. "Jerid? Jerid?" she called, with the circuitous route clearly not a co-incidence.

Spoiler: If Jerid Responds

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Then I'll post something based on the response

Spoiler: If Jerid Does Not Respond

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"We're going to head East, find a road the army aren't going to be ahead of us on, try and work our way around to the dwarves without running into the rest of them. You're still welcome to catch us up if you want... Otherwise, the army went that way, " Alala will point, regardless of whether or not she has any idea if Jerid can see the gesture, "and I wish you good luck finding your own way to safety."

[JonRG]

Jerid has flown a ways into the forest and found a nice tree to sulk in. He normally has a lot more fun as a bird. Not today. Stupid jerks.

"Jerid? Jerid?"

... She came to look for him. Huh. The young raven hops down from the tree and into Alala's path. He's still sporting a nasty cut on his chest. To further banish any doubts as to his identity, his eyes are a bright green rather than the typical corvid black.

"Caw?" Jerid asks with a slight tilt to his head.

[whoiam]

"...Come, now. I'm lucky my owners taught me common, no-one was ever going to teach me to speak Bird!" No, she didn't know what a Raven was. Well, she knew it was a bird... but she couldn't have named the type, or told you anything about it apart from it being a bird...

While her first response had actually been a little amused, Alala quickly lapsed into a rather... embarrassed... tone of voice as she continued.

"We've got to get a move on before any of that lot behind us get themselves together. We're heading off that way, " She gestures with a wing - in this case, the wing that she had been using to hold her arrow wounds closed. To Jerid, they're visible as three (large) patches of slowly clotting blood on her flank, and a matching series of bloodstains on the bottom of the wing. "to try and find a route dwarfwards that doesn't have a human army marching across it." Demonstration over, she quickly clamps the wing back over her wounds. "You're still welcome to travel with us. I wasn't angry with you or anything... you just startled me. When I was armed. I... have some very... specific... training about how to react in that sort of situation, and... yeah, it's pretty much what just happened.

Just... try not to trigger it in future, okay? Call on your way in or something. Y'know, before you get into 'panic' range. I think we'd both appreciate this not happening again..."

[JonRG]

"Caw?" Jerid replies in a skeptical tone. His head bobs this way and that while he paces and... thinks? It's hard to tell what goes on in a young bird's brain. He pauses briefly. "...Caw." Jerid flies into the air and perches gently on Alala's shoulder. "Caw!" he shouts, flapping his wings with excitement. Buffets Alala in the face a little.

Whoops.

[whoiam]

"Still can't understand any of that..."

Alala wasn't going to hold their escape up over that, though. If any of it was important, she was sure Jerid would provide a translation later. So she set off, extra passenger in tow.

They had a lot of ground to cover before tonight, after all...


Flashback Scene Complete!

[~Corvus~]

A distant rumble brings everyone's attention back to their present situation.

The mists haven't cleared. A gap in the clouds shows the waning moon and its pale light that barely outstrips the shine of the stars. The slick rocks are have the dew-y stillness to them inherent upon a night like this. A warm breeze passes, carrying the reminder that the night is still fairly cold.

Crickets chirrup in the distance, content to celebrate the wetness they have.

[whoiam]

"So, one of you knows-how-to-read-maps types: Tell me, how far do we have to go? The nice thing about mist is it means I can fly over the top without fear of being seen by people on the ground. But if we're heading somewhere inside the mist, landing's going to be... 'fun'... and we'd probably be better off trying to creep through it..."

[Silver Night]

Verin

"Well, I'm not much for above-ground type situations, but that up there looks like a choke point to me." Verin stretches her legs, one by one, "So if we are going to be ambushed, I'd like it to be in the morning, when I've had a chance for a little shut-eye."

[Swami Monsoon]

Omar is still trying to get his mind around their predicament... somehow they'd gotten on the bad side of a group that didn't just send a few thugs after people they didn't like. They sent an army. Who knows what else was out there waiting for them?

"I can scout ahead on the ground if needed. I'm fine either way... going right now or waiting until morning. I just hope there's nobody following us..."

[Stegyre]

Tai

Tai, meanwhile, takes a look at the map.

Spoiler

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Pretty sure we have a map of some sort, and checking it seems a sound suggestion. K(geography): (1d20+8)[9]

"This . . . is a very poorly written map. I cannot even find our pass," he says with a huff.

[~Corvus~]

Tai

"This . . . is a very poorly written map. I cannot even find our pass," he says with a huff.

All that Tai sees from the map fragments of northern Versuvia are the existence of an entrance to the Dwarven lands without promise of the specific route. It would indeed take someone quite knowledgeable about geography to determine where to go.

[JonRG]

Jerid lands on Omar's head and makes impatient bird noises.

[whoiam]

"People following us is why I'd like to fly you for a bit. If you stay rooted to the ground then it's essentially a race - they can track your trail unless something destroys it, and all you can do is run ahead. Needless to say, running for your life and searching for something don't mix too well.

Take to the air when they can't see you, and the trail stops dead. Then we find a cave or a stand of trees or something that's far enough from the path that they won't see us unless we do something stupid, and we bed down for the day. Gives us a chance to watch the passes - looking for dwarves or humans - and plan our movements for tomorrow night."

[Swami Monsoon]

"How many of us can you carry?"

Omar rolls his eyes up at Jerid...

"I think he wants me to do something right now. Would you all like me to take a quick look around? Keep in mind that I am very stealthy but not very fast."

Spoiler

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If the party approves. I'll start moving out (invisible) in the direction it seems we should be going from what we know of the map.

[whoiam]

"I think if he wants you to do something, he can turn back into a form that can speak and tell you it himself. Unless he's trying to tell you he doesn't know how to turn back?"

Like Alala would know the rules of a dragon's shapechange ability...

"Anyway, how many of you can I carry? All of you. Seriously, I must be... what, 10 times your combined weight? If I can get myself airborne, the four of you aren't going to weigh me down."

[Silver Night]

Verin

"Ha! Why've we been walkin' then? Anyway, unfortunately I didn' ever read any geography books, so that isn't one of my areas of expertise."

[whoiam]

"...Because I'm *faster* on the ground. I'm wearing magic horshoes for the increased running speed, but their magic doesn't help my wings any. It's a straight trade between using my higher running speed or leaving no ground tracks. If it wasn't for the mist, I'd just stick with running..."

[~Corvus~]

Alala manages to gather as many of her other companions as she desires and takes off. The mist thickens into patches of cloud, making her scouting difficult. The scouting is nothing short of majestic with the swirling, low-hanging clouds and the cool mountain breeze.

Spoiler: Checks

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Any Perception here is made at a -5 penalty from the partial cloud cover. If Alala is game, she may help her companions "take 20" by taking multiple passes around the nearby mountain ranges, BUT I'll roll % to see if Alala's flying ends up in an accident.

Omar manages to (invisibly) sneak away up the slick steps.

Spoiler: movement

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Omar will need to move at half move to avoid slipping on the treacherous, moistened stone.

[Silver Night]

Verin

Verin tries to spot anything relevant.

Spoiler

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Perception (1d20+14)[20]

[whoiam]

Alala, likewise, will keep an eye out as she flies. But, since she doesn't know what she'd be looking for down in the mist, she's primarily looking for rest spots that'll be hard to spy from the paths.

"Perception" - (1d20+13)[33]

She does not, however, perform multiple passes unless she needs to do so to find somewhere safe to land them. She's not *that* confident in her flight yet...

[Swami Monsoon]

Omar looks for anything interesting at ground level... although he's a bit surprised that the rest of the group had taken off without him.

Spoiler

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Spot/perception (1d20+12)[24]

[JonRG]

Jerid trills happily as Omar sneaks away, then he does the same, taking to the air as stealthily as he can manage. From there, the raven tries to keep a good eye out for trouble.

Spoiler

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Gonna try and do both things, radly!

Perception: (1d20+11)[22]
Stealth: (1d20+22)[30]

[Stegyre]

Tai

"I'd just as soon stick with you," Tai tells Alala. Though the flying makes him feel queasy, he suspects another set of eyes on the ground won't help much, whereas from the air, he may spot and deal with trouble more effectively. "Do not worry about a resting spot," he reminds the centaur. I'll form an extradimensional space for us. In fact, if you can hover long enough, I could even do so here, in mid-air, where no one would be able to reach us, and you could fly us up and down."

Spoiler

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Perception (1d20+13)[18]

[whoiam]

"Could we see out of such a space? Whoever's awake as we rest should probably keep an eye on the passes, looking for dwarves... or pursuit..."

[Stegyre]

Tai

"Yes. For those of us on the inside, the entrance is like a window, but those outside cannot see in. It also puts us beyond the reach of all but the rarest magics that are specially designed to work across interdimensional barriers. We will literally be out of this world."

Spoiler

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CPsi at 97, for anyone desiring OOC knowledge about psychoportive shelter. This has got to be one of my favorite powers.

[~Corvus~]

Watt grumbles at the burning pile of sticks he made for himself in a hole he's dug. Life seemed so grim for these animals. However bad it was, it was probably just as rough as it was for Watt trying to stay warm. He hoped they'd be back soon.