Horror in the Small Valley ic

[Cygnia]

"Then our thanks to Lord Fyodor, I guess..." Siovhan felt the eyes of the villagers upon her and shifted uncomfortably. "...but what of yourselves? I am Siovhan, this is Hanja."

Siovhan flinched.

"...please, are we trading one conqueror for another?"

Hanja cleared her throat. "How did these beasts even get here?!"

"Hanja--" The young woman tried to cut the older one off.

"No. You tell them...you tell these strangers what you heard."

Siovhan rubbed her arm.

"Two of the ghouls were talking amongst themselves...

'I have checked the road. There's nothing there.'
'Quiet, stupid. What did you find?'
'Nothing. The path trails off into the woods.'
'The chef must have something prepared.'
'I'm talking to you. This is a dead end.'

She paused, shaking her head. "You can barely ride a donkey through these parts."

Spoiler: OOC

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Straight INT to see if she knows anything about Fyodor or Hoyt (and if the village needs to be worried about either noble...)

(1d20+1)[13] Know: Nobility & Royalty

[dangelo]

News are slow, and only occasionally do traders visit that part of the Heights. Still, just like any noble house, the Zular pays talented bards to make sure everyone knows the name of a new baron.

This small village doesn't pay any tributes, nor have any lord claimed it as their fief. Still, the only way to civilization will take a multiple-days walk to the nearest village, which is more distinctly a part of Lord Hotys' barony.

[Dimers]

"I'm Aranyel, Siovhan, and these are Lief, Snowfang and Sasha. No, we're not conquerors, just people doing good works. What you owe to Lord Fyodor is thanks, not taxes. The ghouls probably arrived the same way we did, sailing down that underground river -- and it's a good thing we were able to find the hidden dock where that boat was stashed, or you would have faced several more ghouls instead of our own philanthropic souls. Tell me, what will you do now? There may be more undead about, so we must resume our hunt soon."

[Cygnia]

Siovhan looked unsure of herself. If there were more of these ghouls waging war against unknowing towns, then it was true that they shouldn't be holding these forces back just to clean up their village.

"You should go with them..." Hanja interrupted her thoughts.

"What? I should be here--if there's more of those creatures, they could come back..."

"You're better help to the village if we can stop these bastards, child! Besides, I'm not getting any younger. Time for one last grand tour out in the world..." With the hint of a grin, Hanja shot a glance over at Aranyel. "HEY! You got room for a couple more on that boat of yours?"

[Heavenblade]

Snowfang shifta back into his humanoid form "If we stay here, we lose the attack just to potentially fend off a future one. The faster we move, the easier it will be to target the others."

[dangelo]

The villagers are curious about that. One of them steps forwards.
"It's a long way to Thoren... at least a week before you can ride and two more if you get a horse once you hit the valley."

If the group had crossed the heights through the Narrow Path, they would have needed at least three days. They did it a few hours through this shortcut - well, an incomplete shortcut, since you would get to Thoren in a week and a half through the road.
Also it's impossible to move an army where the group is.

[Cygnia]

Siovhan's brow furrowed deep in thought. Her uneasiness with Hanja "inviting" themselves to go with these strangers had been set aside for the time being. No, now her concern was where the ghouls were planning on taking them. Even the undead seemed to have no idea.

But their leader did.

"We need to see where they wanted to take us -- they might have had an ally lurking there." Her mind whirled with odd possibilities.

"An army can't go through these woods -- but what if, what it these ghouls were aligned with a mage of some kind? One capable of moving mass people through Teleport... Siovhan chewed her bottom lip. "...at the very least, it might explain something..."

[dangelo]

A villager raises her fist. "It must be them damn fairies! Some of them must live in the dark woods beyond the orchard."
"That's really the only way to go." The brave lad steps forwards. "You can get from there to the Lower Lake, if you're traveling light. Not with a horse, even less with that horde. The woods are as far as you can go on the back of a horse."

They look to the pine woods covering the hills beyond the village, less than a mile into the shore.

[Yas392]

Lief winces as the villagers and Siovhan describe what the group had gotten themselves into.

"Seems we gotten ourselves into a detour and the woods are filled with misdirection. Snowfang, can you scout ahead for alternate paths to Thoren and Heights? I rather we find other paths other than the woods that do not require us to backtrack through the river."

[Heavenblade]

Snowfang shrugs I could try. Not very good with locations and maps, but a road is always a road, no matter what. Lets just finish the buisness of tactics, and then start our movement.

[dangelo]

Due to his own connection with nature and Siovhan's directions, Snowfang quickly understands the region - not like a map, of course, though with the help or a cartographer that would be possible, but with an instinctive awareness.

The village is squeezed between high hills and towering rocks, and when Snowfang looks at them, he not only sees the rugged terrain, but how the mountains organically sprouted over the ages, crushing against each other until the Heights were formed. He understands the slithering paths that should turn into a road down at the Lower Lake. There are many paths connecting important resources such as Siovhan's village, the orchards, an iron deposit, a couple of lumberjack cabins deeper into the woods and a specific landmark called "The Needle", where one can climb and see the whole valley. The bravest young villagers enjoy climbing the Needle, as it's either a sacred and romantic place for the locals. Some of them see climbing the Needle as a maturity test, and the magnificent view surely rewards the effort to beat the climb.

Behind Snowfang, the river comes out of a cliff and dives into the woods. In front of him, these many paths carve their way across the hills. That's when something sparks Snowfang's curiosity, who then glides down in a wide circle to check out the object of interest.

The rest of the group and some of the villagers barely manage to catch up with the druid. In the middle of the woods, in a apparently random location, Snowfang notices something written on a rock.

"An incantation of sorts." Sasha identifies. "Just like you would find in a scroll."
The words were written in green ink on a large stone slab, but the markings were made almost invisible under the sunlight.

"It's written in draconic, I'm sure it was scribed by an arcane master. The method is unusual... but it's crafty, I must say."

She turns the rest of the group. "This is an arcane anchor. It's activated, and is attuned to at least another one."

Realizing that she had skiped a few steps, Sasha takes a breather. "This is a two-way portal. And a very delicate one, so please don't touch the stone."

[Yas392]

"This must shortcut the undead is taking, huh? So we only need to say the magic words to activate the portal?"

[Cygnia]

Not a mage then, but a device. Siovhan looked in awe and in fear at the stone.

"Has...has this been here all along? Or was this recently scribed?" Instinctively, though without touching, the young woman looked carefully at the stone.

Spoiler: OOC

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Using Detect Magic

[dangelo]

The anchor is a delicate structure, as Siovhan notices, and would probably crumble if the stone was moved. It could've been there for days, weeks even, but no more than that.

"I have no idea where it would take us." She replies to Lief. "We'd be going straight into darkness."

[Yas392]

Lief glances at the stone with inscription for a while before he turns to Sasha.

"Sasha, can you translate the inscription to us? With care and far away from the rock. We don't want to accidentally activate it."

Spoiler: OOC

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Knowledge (Arcana) on inscription to see if he can discern any location from the draconic words: (1d20+10)[28]

[dangelo]

The inscription corresponds to an incantation, but it doesn't say the destination. Lief understands enough of arcane spells to assume it's made for long-distance travels (it could take them to Thoren or even to the other side of the Old One).

"It's not different from other dimensional travel spells I've heard about." Sasha clarifies. "It's just really unstable. Terrible craftsmanship."

[Dimers]

"Sounds like it's hard to say whether it's supposed to allow two-way travel. But given the ghouls' lack of concern for themselves, plus the anchor's instability, I would bet against being able to come back the same way." Aranyel taps his chin. "If we wish to test it, I might go first -- I can read Draconic, which may be useful at the other end. But I'd prefer resting first."

[Yas392]

Lief looks at the rock, shakes his head and walks away from it.

"I am not testing the unstable portal. Better safe than sorry. Let's keep looking for alternate routes. I guess we are back to scouting. I would love to have the option to scout ahead today but I am not going to do that. The trade off would leave us more vulnerable to ambushes. If I have more experience, yes. For now, we will have to do with Snowfang as our scouter."

[Cygnia]

Siovhan shook her head in disbelief. While she understood the risk about a potentially one-way and unstable magic portal, it was still a lead as to who could be behind the undead assault and she didn't know why the others didn't want to take the chance.

Lord of Light, help me!

She waved one of the villagers over and explained what was found about the portal, then adding "The others who are staying behind -- I need you to go back and warn them about this stone. Set a guard around it but don't touch it unless it appears that something is coming out of it." Siovhan grimaced. At the very least, she needed to tell the villagers about this dilemma. If this portal was still a threat to her home, the others needed to be prepared.

[dangelo]

Sasha turns to Aranyel: "Although it is unstable, the main purpose of setting up an arcane anchor is to allow two-way travel. Unlike a scroll, provided the stone isn't moved, we should be able to activate it."

"First those weird symbols on those ghouls' foreheads, now this? Can't this arcane wizard cast proper spells?" She vents.

[Dimers]

"Ahh, then there's little danger of being stranded. Good news indeed." Aranyel rubs his palms together in pleasure. "In that case, Lief, let's jump right through as soon as we're rested and restored. And thank you again for the healing! Siovhan, Hanja? You'll come with us when we're ready?"

[Cygnia]

Both women nodded, though the look of concern Siovhan had towards Hanja coming (and potentially being at risk) was obvious. But the older woman looked eager to get some back at whoever invaded their village.

"Might want to modify those instructions a tad, child. To 'someone other than us'." Hanja gave a wink.

[Yas392]

Lief looks at the stone then to Aranyel.

"If you verify that it is a two way portal, I will follow up. Throwing a stone back to the portal and it appearing back here is acceptable for me."

[Dimers]

Aranyel nods. "No time like the present, then. I'll rest after I come back." He takes a deep breath and attempts to use the portal device.

[dangelo]

The ground shakes lightly as Aranyel says the magic words. The spell cloakes the dwarf in a bright light before shooting him into the unknown; A second later he's not there anymore.

The portal takes Aranyel to a pine forest, right next to a clearing, and suddenly he feels like he can breath a lot easier. The fresh air greets his lungs and he steps firmly on the grass.

Only a second later the dwarf finds himself surrounded by a dozen people - soldiers, actually - all pointing their spears at him.

"Drop your weapon!" A soldier yells. "Step away from the portal, now!"

Seemingly waiting for anyone who came out of the portal, the soldiers are definitely weary of battle, many of them hurt. Their weapons are soaked in ghoul's blood, but there are no corpses around: whatever remained from the undead was dragged to the middle of the clearing and is now burning in a large pyre.

They carry their own banner, but Aranyel recognizes them as Hotys's vassals - more specifically, the burkish mercenaries who run the eastern outpost.

[Dimers]

Aranyel cautiously raises his empty hands and takes one step away from the portal device. "I'm no ghoul, sir. My name is Aranyel, and I'm an associate of Lord Fyodor and a devotee of the sun god Pelor. You look injured -- may I provide healing?"

[dangelo]

The soldiers step back, lowering their spears, and the captain approaches Aranyel. He looks relieved. "We were expecting a cursed army. What's going on over there?" He says, swiftly showing Aranyel the way to a tent where three wounded soldiers are laying down.

"We had a skirmish with the ghouls two days ago, these ones started to feel sick yesterday. We were already too close, so we kept moving."

[Dimers]

Aranyel replies, "There's a bit too much to explain quickly. If you please, let me heal these men, then go back to let my allies know it's safe to come through -- they're anxiously awaiting my return." He casts curative spells on the three wounded soldiers, then comments, "They should get long-term care from a good healer to fight off the disease. I can give that aid if we have the time."

Spoiler: mechanics

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I'm assuming Aranyel learned about ghoul fever from his allies' excellent checks. I'll cast one cure moderate wounds on each of the wounded people, for 2d8+11 healing apiece.

[dangelo]

"By all means, go. We're gonna spend the night here anyway, so take your time, and thanks for your aid."
The captain walks Aranyel to the portal and briefly asks him before he goes, somewhat worried: "Is your lord coming with you?"

[Dimers]

"Lord Fyodor is traveling a separate path, though we hope to rejoin him soon," Aranyel says with a nod. "I should be back in a moment to explain more." He goes to activate the teleporter.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

On the other side, the priest breathes a sigh of relief. "Most is well at the destination. It's in the hands of Lord Hotys's mercenaries -- they almost speared me when I showed up, since they were expecting ghoul trouble. Several of the men are wounded and a couple show signs of ghoul fever. I'd like to go back and help ... I'm less concerned about my own rest, knowing that at least it's safe to cross."