Six Hours (Part 3)

You stand in the forest now, the corpse of the horse-creature lying at the bottom of the canyon. Everyone has been helped out of the hole, which means that you are free to move about the forest once more. Though... now you are all alone with little idea of where you've been and how to get back out again.

Bina blows out a sigh and once again starts writing down observations. Of the forest. Of the monster and it's trap. Of her sudden displeasure at not knowing how to get back to the portal. And, again, she switches languages each paragraph. "Well.. Now what shall we do? Try to find our way back or trust to fate that we can later and search about for more to discover?"

Tetrosabier looked around for a familiar set of trees, or even the flaming blue orb and was disappointed that he found nothing. Looking at the others, he had an eerie feeling that they didn't know where they were either. He slunk further back, not wanting to be intrusive and allowed others to answer Sabina's question.

Wandering in a faerie-haunted forest seemingly proved rather distracting for a certain young Ceinaran... but Ygraine now hurries up, slithering to a halt near the edge of the pit. "...crap. Sorry. That... this place... err. Let's... yeah. Let's not follow more will o' the wisps. And try to stick together?"

Sabina sighs and smiles. "I think that it's time to try and wander back the way we came then? How long has it been time wise? Do we know?" She looks at the others and then asks more questions. "Can we follow our own trail do you think?"

GAME: Ygraine rolls survival: (19)+4: 23

Tetrosabier nods from his spot behind everyone else. Piping up he says "I agree, we should be looking for a way back. If we find something of value, it will be useless if we can't get back. And we should definitely stick together, we do not want to come across another 'horse' by ourselves."

GAME: Sabina rolls survival: (18)+3: 21
GAME: Tetrosabier rolls survival: (12)+3: 15

Ygraine nods quick agreement, moving to assist the others - especially Sabina - in finding some signs of their passage towards the pit. "So... no more following will o' the wisps... and watch out for, err, dangerous horses? And pits. And, well, just about anything, I suspect."

"My goodness how time seems to fly but doesn't really when you're in a dangerous place you know nothing about." Sabina jokes with a smirk. "So 'home' is back that way. Let's go that way and maybe we can find something else? Hopefully nice things. Nice things would be nice." Stating the obvious but what are you going to do?

It's not a long walk back, but its a bit of a wandering one, and it goes without further event. Though you swear that occasionally you catch sight of the will-'o-the-wisp as if the creature is watching you. It feels like a longer walk than it is. Once you arrive however you can clearly see the two trees you passed through to reach here.

Tetrosabier nods and follows the other two members as they walked down trees. He remains towards the back with his hand on the hilt of his rapier, gripping it tightly and readying to fight if the wisp makes any move towards him or the others.

GAME: Tetrosabier rolls Survival: (5)+3: 8

Ygraine frowns worriedly, slowly turning in a full circle as she surveys the area surrounding the gate. "I... hrmmm. I'm wondering if we can form a trail out of Light spells, or something," she muses. "Though I'm very wary of trusting to magic - especially glowing lights - to guide us here..."

Walking over to a nearby tree, Tetrosabier began climbing. Upon reaching the first branch, he dropped his feet off of the side and hung from his hands, attempting to pull the branch down.

Bina hmms and then shrugs to Ygraine. "Normally you can only cast one light spell at a time. But we might be able to use a light spell to help us keep track of time here." She watches Tetrosabier climb up with curiosity and then asks him, "Can you climb high enough to get a look at the land around us?"

GAME: Tetrosabier rolls Athletics: (1)+2: 3 (EPIC FAIL)

Ygraine nods pensively. "More than one of us can cast Light at once, so... hrmm. Still not much of a trail. And... yes. That's a good idea. We can use them as timekeepers, presuming that magic works at all normally here...?"

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d6: (4): 4

Brushing himself off, Tetrosabier takes the branches he had collected and begins splitting them into more manageable pieces. "We can bury these like flags. Put these once one of the flags are starting to become invisible. That way we can follow them back to the portal”

Bina winces as Tetro falls to the ground. "Are you alright?" She asks as he gets up but then nods. "That would work. If we placed them well." She takes a moment and enchants Lord Emp with the light cantrip. "All in the name of making you shine greater, Emp." She says to the touchy bird.

Ygraine hurries over to Tetrosabier as well... but does not presume to start throwing around magical healing, or trying to impose her mundane first aid skills. "That... thank you. And... take care. I don't think we want to risk getting badly hurt here, if we can help it." The now-glowing peacock earns a quick grin.

Tetrosabier walks off the pain of falling out of the tree as he takes off his cloak. Laying it flat on the ground, he begins piling up the dismantled branches on it. He bundles them up in his cloak and picks up the wooden pile. "Alright, lets go."

A few light spells, and some exploring later... and you're back to where you started, but six hours later. More or less. It's hard to be exact after you run out of light spells. Still, this means you've done your job and you can - finally - head back home!

Tetrosabier shook the remaining wood chips from his cloak as they came up on the clearing where the portal was located, checking their surroundings, he noticed the Wilowisp lurking closeby. While he didn't necessarily trust it, it didn't seem to be capable of hurting anything. Just to be safe however, he readyed his rapier and stayed on the party's flank.

The Tarien priestess looks to make sure the way is clear and takes one last long look about before looking directly at the wisp. With a smile she waves it towards her as she backs through the portal. A follow me..follow me.. to the will-o-wisp.

Ygraine is feeling a little foot-sore... and rather nervous, too. Tramping through an eerie forest under an unmoving sun, observed constantly by that lurking will o' the wisp, while watching for more pits and predatory horse-things... Still, she can't help but snort a laugh at Sabina's revenge teasing of the fey little creature. Cracking a grin at her friend, she moves to follow her. "Come through right after us, all right?", she instructs Tetrosabier, before stepping back into what she *hopes* is the (somewhat more) normal world.

Oddly, the wisp seems to take Sabina up on her invitation, following you through the gate and into a forest that looks exactly like the one you left behind. There's no one waiting for you on the other side. Which leaves you to make your makeshift way home. It takes a long while, but eventually you reach the gates, a bit tired and the worse for wear but alive. The guards greet you and their greeting stalls you in your steps.

It's been /six days/. Six days since you left if the guards have the right of it. Six days and when you go to the arcanist's guild to find the woman who hired you - no one has ever heard of her. It's... a bit much to take in. Luckily... you have time.

-End