Gilead's Horn, partial 2

Log Info

• Title: Gilead's Horn Part 2
• Emitter: Aftershock
• Characters: Faranmidahn, Cryosanthia, Zapolklnex, Shara, Ezil, Shin
• Place: On the sea, heading towards Charnath.
• Time: Friday, February 14, 2020, 8:25 PM
• Summary: Things pick up after last time, the party acting quickly manage to save their ship. While it is being bailed, they assist the surviving villagers. Three days pursuit, they catch up with the Priest at a second village. Cryosanthia hears the horn on the outskirts and they soon find the priest, with five demons, pouring blood which is singing and awakening desires deep within. Shara attemps to counter the effect with her song, while Cryo rushes in and is nearly taken down by the demons. As the others position ... there's a bad Muck Crash and we'll have to wait till later.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  Appearing, in Order  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Faranmidahn  3'3"     35 Lb      Halfling          Female    Albino Lucht woman in black leather armor with a BIG spider                
Cryosanthia  6'7"     245 Lb     Sith-Makar        Female    A dashingly tall, lithe white lizardgirl with tattoos.         
Zapolklnex   4'5"     115 Lb     Shadow Elf        Male      A darkly dressed traveling Mul'niessa man                   
Shara        5'2"     120 Lb     Dawn Elf          Female    Red haired Elf w/green eyes                                   
Ezil         5'11"    175 Lb     Human             Male      An armored man with dark skin, and grey-blonde hair.                       
Shin         5'0"     130 Lb     Human             Male      Short, stocky Xian human with a tiger.                       
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

There's a hole in the ship. Not a little one either, and in fact it's a large enough hole that the crew is starting to abandon ship. The captain is yelling for the cowards to come back and bail out, but the hole is too large for their usual methods of blocking it up to work. Which means its quickly taking on water. It sinks slowly, and inevitably to its doom.

While the crew takes refuge from the ship those that call the village home - the few that remain - begin to poke their heads out of the houses. Most are children of varying ages. Surviving purely because someone had put themselves between them and death. In some cases that's the adventurers. In some cases it's a parent. The area is silent save the sounds the party make and... a baby cries only to be quickly hushed. They don't trust you, and its clear in their eyes that they're waiting to be attacked again.

Faranmidahn shakes the lingering... something from her mind as the horn's song leaves her awareness and she shouts, "We have to save the ship!" as she clambors onto Torrent and races at an impressive gallop up onto the sinking craft. She dismounts on deck and goes below to start trying to get some of the shattered boards back into place for her spellcraft to hopefully anchor it in place. She's not large, and the labors do not get off to a positive start, but the code shores her resolve: Valor, compassion, mercy.....

Cryosanthia stares. That's a big hole and she's not sure what she can do. She's only got one thing she can try. Shaking her arms, limbering her wrists, she starts casting Ray of Frost, over and over. She aims at the edges of the hole, attempting to freeze some of the water, and buid up a temporary patch. Alternating hands, it's zot, zot, zot, with the occasional misfire, pale rays jump from her fingertips, the tattoos on her arms glow balefully.

Zapolklnex will join the others. His hands still out from their sleeves from the earlier casting. He'd help with the freezing, but Cryosanthia already has that cov ered, with a good name for it, to boot. So he stands opposite the others, and starts his own quiet casting, attempting to mend at the edges of the hole, repairing it one small bit at a time.

Slowly stopping her song, Shara turns her attention to the ship and tilts her head. "Uhm......" She then smiles a bit. "Let me help." She says as she begins to sing again....this time, her song turning into magic...which is repairing the hole with Zap.

Ezil had been standing on the dock silently since the battle's end. He has watched the villagers come out of hiding, and the progress made by others on the boat. It seems something weighs heavily on him as he turns and heads to those he came with who are hard at work. "They might not survive if we leave them." he says flatly, looking back to the small village. "If we take their supplies, and convince the captain... we have room, and we can protect them." running the logistics through his mind. "They might not want to come, but I want to offer. I can't leave them to die here... but it's not my decision alone."

Faranmidahn suffers the odd jolt with only the occaisional squeaky yelp as her armor pinches or hitches at a bad moment, disrupting her spellwork. Over and over, the tiny sorceress-knight casts her miniscule magics to help repair what she can from within, accepting the spell assistance of her peers gladly as fighting the water, as well as the heavy boards is taking a massive toll on her.

The ship is nearly a lost cause, but the adventurers manage to shore up the hole and repair it well enough for the crew that remains on the ship to finish their repairs and the captain orders the rest back onto the ship to bail out the water that got into the ship while it was sinking. This leaves the adventurers to discuss their plans.

Cryosanthia, relieved, sits on the dock. She swings her legs over the side, "I don't think that's a good idea, Ezil. There was something wrong with those sailors. I'm good with my taunts, but they said nothing. They wouldn't surrender. And then we end on the dock trying to follow that ship. If Gilead's horn can bewitch, we might end up killing anyone we bring with us, and I'm hesitant to move anyone closer to Charnath than they need to be."

Shin, meanwhile, makes his way around the villagers. Checking on them. Being careful about it and doing the diplomatic thing. He's checking to see who's hurt, who needs medical where he can help in his very, very limited knowledge or point them at Ezil. And the Xian man is definitely working to do what he can. Mirai, meanwhile, is carefully sitting to the side and resting. The battle scarred armor on her is noticeable, but otherwise the great cat is staying where she is and out of the way.

Ezil would aid those injured, and offer his words of comfort. It's Cryosanthia who catches his attention as she comes out from having worked on the boat, sighing. "I know, but... the must have candles or tallow. We can block their ears. Or, we could come back for them. I don't know, but they are in for a rough time here alone, White-One." his concern real. "We need to worry about the Horn too." looking back at the townsfolk, and just watching them as they meander after their lost. "The dead will have to be buried, and the able are gone. Disease will set in."

Zapolklnex is not one for diplomacy, so when talk moves from raw arcane for ce, to makey-nicey-talky time, he folds his hands together, lowers his hood, and finds a place to sit. "No easy answers. To help a whole village recover from an attack is beyond the means of a few adventurers who have another goal of prev enting other villages from suffering the same fate."

Faranmidahn finally slogs her way out of the hold, soaked through from crown to fetlock, and though the wet hair only adds a modicum of weight, the exhausted hafling feels like she's carrying the boat to shore with her giant spider trailing dutifully along behind her. She wearily shuffles along the beach to the others and subtly slumps against something sturdy as she looks to the others, "How... how are they?"

Shin frowns as he finishes making his way back to the others, picking up his bow and glaive from near Mirai and slinging the bow over his shoulder. "We can not do much. The fact is, they were attacked." He looks over at the villagers, then to his companions. "We /have/ to get that Horn. We don't know what it does, or if it caused this sort of thing. If we tally too long, we might lose the trail." He looks a bit upset that they would have to leave the problems at hand.

Shara says, "No one says we can't come back here to help, but we need to get that horn.""

Ezil nods. "You are all right, of course." he notes, still not liking this situation. "We will send them help, but let us at least move the dead. The pumping will take time, and they will need safe shelter." looking back to the others. "Is that too much?"

"It's not good, Faranmidahn, mostly only younglings left." Cryosanthia answers the halfling, "There's some fishing boats there, if only we could crew them. I think if we press on, we might run across another fishing village. The other ship thinks we're disabled, they might sail on. We could ask them to send help back. If we go a day, maybe two, without finding our quarry or help, we could turn back. We've got a little time while the sailors get the ship ready to go again, we can do our best setting up the survivors to hold out for a day or two. They seem like they'll be happier if we left soon as it is."

Shin nods, sighing, "I have tried to ease their minds as much as I can, but well... we did pretty much put on a violent show that made the raiders look less fearsome. Let us see what we can do to make it easier for them until we can send help?"

Faranmidahn swallows her heart, nodding at the appraisal of the situation and bows her head. She pushes off from her tree and says, "We can... we can do that much at least, though I agree, we should come back if we've lost the thieves' trail."

The party gets the ship bailed out (or rather the crew does) and they situate the remaining survivors in the time it takes them to do that. Supplies are gone through, and the few adults that remain - mostly the elderly or ones who were seriously wounded in the fight - take charge of the children as a whole. Thankfully most of them are old enough to be helpful in their own way, and sense that this is a serious enough situation that they shouldn't mess around. It's enough to hopefully tide the village over for the next few days.

Everyone then boards the ship and resume the chase of the merchant vessel. For three more days, their ship remains always a step behind them. Watching them constantly on the horizon, waiting for a chance to strike. Then on the third day the vessel pulls into a larger port than the one they pulled into previously. It seems that this is then their destination. The party pull into port just barely behind them and immediately head for their ship only to find it has been abandoned.

GAME: Shin rolls Perception: (6)+0: 6
GAME: Shin rolls companionperception: (3)+7: 10
GAME: Ezil rolls perception: (4)+2: 6
GAME: Shara rolls perception: (3)+10: 13
GAME: Zapolklnex rolls perception: (11)+5: 16
GAME: Faranmidahn rolls perception: (9)+4: 13
GAME: Cryosanthia rolls perception: (19)+0: 19

Cryosanthia stands by the abandonned ship and huffs, "Well, I've got no..." She pauses, staring off into space, her head slowly tracks from side to side, oscilating until she has her nose pointed in a direction. "I hear the horn. I think it's coming from just beyond the city. Uh... follow me, you better plug up your ears."

The sith starts moving.

Shara looks out to sea and sighs. She has no idea how to find the ship over open water, but she does sling her lute around and starts to play a jaunty tune. "Drink up me hearties, yo ho." The lute soon is joined by some strange other music as well, almost sounding like a full orchestra as she continues to play. The fun of pretidigitation.

Ezil sighs as he comes off the ship, looking around after having found nothing. However as Cryosanthia speaks, he moves to follow, searching his supplies for something to do as she asks. He will plug his ears.

Zapolklnex has to take his hands out from his sleeves to cover his ears, but he will do so on the instruction to do so. And so, unable to hear very much, he watches and follows. From the back, since with no hands he can't do very much.

Obviously unsure on how the hell this horn is supposed to work or something, Shin shrugs and follows along not bothering to plug his or Mirai's ears at all.

They find the clearing just outside the city that the horn is in. Those who haven't blocked their ears know it for certain because the horn is calling loudly. A inner part is stirred by the song. Called to it. In the clearing there are five... monsters. Creatures that look vaguely human but clearly aren't. They have long black claws instead of hands and their heads are bereft of faces. In spite of this they move around with certainty, setting up an alter in the middle of the clearing where a cleric holds the horn in hand, pouring blood from the horn out into a bowl. The blood bubbles up freely; warbling the song that can be heard so clearly to those willing to listen.

Shin looks to the others as they find the clearing, then frowns as he looks at the horn in question in the hands of the cleric. Then to the creatures. He seems to be looking at them carefully. Claws, size, everything. A glance is given to Mirai before Shin switches to his bow, slinging his glaive across his back. The bow is better here, for the moment, after all.

Faranmidahn listens to Cryosanthia's advice and spends some time fiddling with what she could get her hands on to plug her ears. She seems to be kind of bewildered by the dimminishment of her hearing, but she tries to buck of and deal with it. She gently strokes Torrent's shell as they follow the trail and pans her gaze about to stave off a potential ambush. She hopes.

Cryo holds out her hands to Ezil and Faranmidahn, for something, anything. She looks at the clearing, at the strange monsters, and the priest. She is gauging the distance, estimating her speed and how close she might creep. Her voice is low, hissing, "I don't ssneak well. I don't think I can sprint that. Do we have a plan that is more than russhing in? Disable the horn holder first if we can from range, then rush?"

Ezil looks between the party as they stop, preparing his shield, and putting a hand on his blade. He motions to himself, and then to the creatures he has never seen before. He seems to want to take point, looking and waiting to see what the party wishes to do.

GAME: Shara rolls perform/sing: (16)+11: 27

Shara looks at the others and their gestures and lets out a breath. Without even giving a hint of what she was doing, she uncovers her ears and begins to sing. It's an elven song....and it really does give away the fact that they're there. She's also leaving herself wide open for attack, but she's geuinely worried about the horn. She can't even hear if the song is working though....

Cryosanthia points at Shin's bow, towards the others, and then gets into a very obvious sprint take-off stance. A low crouch with her toes dug in and her tail coiled up to whip her forward. She makes a c'mon, gesture to Ezil, points her head. She explodes out of her stance and bolts towards the priest.

GAME: Demons rolls 1d20+6: (7)+6: 13
GAME: Demons rolls 1d20+6: (1)+6: 7 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Demons rolls 1d20+6: (18)+6: 24
GAME: Demons rolls 1d20+6: (17)+6: 23
GAME: Demons rolls 1d20+6: (20)+6: 26
GAME: Demons rolls 1d20+6: (14)+6: 20
GAME: Demons rolls 1d4+1: (1)+1: 2
GAME: Demons rolls 1d4+1: (2)+1: 3
GAME: Demons rolls 2d4+2: (6)+2: 8
GAME: Demons damaged Cryo for 13 points. 2 HP remaining.

Things do not go as planned for the palescale. She's easily past the first two demons, and straight into the claws of the other three. Despite her best weaving, dodging, and headlong, heedless running, their claws land. Hard. She's barely standing when they're done with her.

Ezil winces as Cryo rushes in first, watching the creatures unload on her as he follows after. His shield is brought up, drawing his sword while he moves, preparing for the fight to come as the range is closed.

GAME: Faranmidahn rolls weapon2+2: (10)+5+2: 17
GAME: Shara casts Gallant Inspiration. Caster Level: 5 DC: 15
GAME: Shara rolls 2d4: (7): 7

Faranmidahn sees the signing toward the hornbearer and nods to the sith, turning to retrieve her lance from her saddle straps. Once Cryo is off to the races, she nudges Torrent to the side with her feet and, with a shrill yell, infuses the lance with her mystical energies and kicks the spider into a full on gallop. Sadly, while she blows past the guardian demons, her weapon doesn't land. Poo!

GAME: Zapolklnex casts Magic Missile. Caster Level: 3 DC: 15
GAME: Zapolklnex rolls 2d4+2: (6)+2: 8