Chapter 3: Onwards!

Faelen assesses the scene and comes to the conclusion that, because of the mix of corpses adorning heavy armor and regular traveling clothes, this seems to have been an attack on a traveling merchant or important shipment that was being escorted by a small force of the Aurora Watch. There are tracks similar in size and gait as the dead monster leading away from the scene, implying that there were more at the attack, and the Aurora's Watch was only able to slay one before the last of their ranks fell. But, whatever that thing is, all Faelen knows is that it sure is ugly.

Each of the Aurora's Watch members wears heavy armor and wields shields and longswords, as well as some kind of faintly-magic necklace around their neck, like some kind of identification. Inside the shattered wagon, Faelen finds the remains of broken wooden crates and a metallic lockbox, but all of their contents have been taken, presumably by the attacking demons.

"I feel the distance to the ocean." Kailani stares into the direction of the water for a moment, before she helps looking for clues. As she has grown up among pirates, looking more closely at the fallen, checking for valuable or personal items, comes natural. Waste not, want not. "We should really be more careful and aware of our surroundings." The woman does not talk to anybody in particular, as she plops down and starts drawing lines into the sand. "This might take a breath."Kailani summons a creature to check the area from above. She expects there is enough time, as everybody else still seems busy exploring the immediate battle field.

Tereze stomps about on the demons, making damn sure they're dead and not coming back.

"These folk did not deserve to die like this" She says sullenly as she moves to tidy up the bodies, making them seem as if they were intentionally at everlasting rest, not carelessly strewn around the ground by the demons.

She says a few quiet words for each of them.

Helping Tereze to arrange the bodies, Faelan collects the small medallions and puts them in a small satchel. "Light be with you." he honors the dead a last time in hope of a frictionless rebirth through the light of the Luxon.

As there seems nothing else to be done or collected, the fighter proposes a hour of rest before they contiune their journey.

Kailani takes a look at the large, demonic corpse, and realizes what it was. A hezrou. Hezrous serve as foot soldiers in the demonic hordes of the Abyss. Although physically powerful, they are weak-minded and hezrous can easily be duped into sacrificing themselves by more powerful demons.From the sky, Kailani's familiar, a jolly-looking, deep-sea-blue manta ray that flies through the air as if gliding through water, can spot the tracks of the other demons lumbering off into the not-so-far-off distance. Once the tracks leave the chaotic scene, it's clear to see why they won this scuffle: there were at least 4 of them, and something larger than them, that survived.

The group respectfully gathers the bodies of the fallen Aurora Watch soldiers and the travelers accompanying them, and performs a funeral rite. Tereze can feel that though they were killed in chaos by beings of pure chaos, their souls are now at rest. Faelen collects the Aurora Watch soldiers' identification necklaces and notiies the magic within them: when a member of the Kryn Dysnaty holds it, the names on the chain reveals itself to the holder, likely a defense tactic against demons and devils, and the Dwendalian Empire.

The group takes an hour or so to catch their breath, then continues on.

The group continues their trek southwest toward Bazzoxan into the evening. Dodging the shadows of birds above and the grumblings of something in the dirt below, it is an otherwise uneventful couple of hours. The sun begins to set on the dry, cloudless horizon. The sky refuses to offer any beauty as it jumps straight from a dull, dust-tinted blue to nighttime black.

The group finds a safe-ish spot to hunker down for the night, a small crevice or cave that offers protection and where a small fire wouldn't be spotted. The wastelands allow you to bed down, but at some point in the night, you are all awakened by the quiet, hollow, distanced thudding of drums, and guttural chanting in tongues that defy the label 'language'.

Coming up from his resting position, Faealan asks his friends if anybody knows anything about this. As nobody seems to, the half-drow puts his rapier back into its sheet and asks: "Do we wanna know what this is, or do we keep quiet and hope for the best?" Both ways have their merits and flaws. He himself would be interested to find out, even if it is the more dangerous route.

Tereze wakes up from her snoring with a start. "Ugh... I've been having the worst dreams... Like something was thumping on my head... I can still hear it.. She holds her head for a moment to collect herself, then realises her companions are all looking towards the noise. It wasn't in her head at all!

"I vote we check it out. Won't be able to go back to sleep otherwise. For what's left of the night anyway"

Kailani sends out a bit of her unworldly energy and finds a small resonance that is somehow connected to herself. She imagines a string connecting her to the other presence and gives it a good mental tug. This she has not done often before and it does not yet feel wholly natural to the sea-faring woman, but the presence answers her call and soon after, when she looks up into the night sky, some of the stars seem to flicker. Only it is not their light that is unsteady, it is the manta's shadow obscuring them as it flies by. It circles once, twice then darts off into the direction of the rhythmic sounds. Whether war meeting or desert dance off - soon they would know what they are dealing with.

"I have send Mizu. Maybe she can help us make sense of this without us having to provoke another fight. Not that I would mind, but there are other tasks at hand, don't you think?"

Mizu the Flying Manta Ray ascends out of the cave to a chilling sight. The sky is still dark, but illuminating the area are spider web-like patterns of bright, pulsing purple light shining up from the ground which, when seen from above, form into some kind of ritualistic runes. There is a small altar placed at the mouth of the cave, soaked and dripping in some kind of thick substance. The outsides of the cave have shifted: the tall barbs of rock and stone that dotted the landscape outside have moved and shuffled, as if they had played a game of duck duck goose, or as if the cave decided to find a new place to burrow itself in. The drums and chanting seem to be coming from the altar, but there are no figures, whether humanoid, demonic, or otherwise, anywhere in sight. Besides the flaring inscriptions in the stone and dirt of the ground outside, there is no movement.

After Kailani told them what Mizu had seen, Faelan looks clueless at his friends. Moving caves? Shifted landscape? Had he ever heard of this phaenomenon before?

As nobody seems to find the interest or strength in her heart, the fighter sighs and gingerly sneaks to the entrance to look at the still chanting altar.

Kailani moves alongside Faelan, Mizu overhead. She tries to determine what kind of magic is at play here.

Faelen and Kailani, with Mizu in tow, head up to the surface of the cave, where the altar still sits menacingly, though the chanting begins to subside. From a distance, they study the altar and the runic lines illuminating the ground. The altar appears to be a small wooden table covered in a thick, matted cloth dripping with a dark red blood-like liquid and covered in cobwebs. Below the altar are some slowly fading magic circles, as if it were put here using a summoning circle. On top of the altar lies, still twitching, an enormous dying spider. The lack of tracks or nearby movement leads them to believe that it was not any kind of creature that did this. But rather that the scrambling of the landscape is some kind of curse upon the region. And furthermore, the web-like patterns of the lines in the ground and the details of the altar lend to the idea that this is all some form of threat or show of power from a powerful entity, and leans heavily on the motifs of Lolth, the Spider Queen.

Whatever sent this message wishes for you to turn around and go back. To abandon your quest and avoid Bazzoxan. Whatever sent you this message wishes for you to leave.

Not liking what the have found, Faelan trades an unhappy glance with Kailani. This is all so strange to him. The vision after he took up the magic jewel in Jigow, the darkening of the moon and now this. The Luxon may grant him the wisdom of his ancestors he sends a silent prayer into Exandria. Taking away his hand of the pomel of his sword, the Rhosanian rubs the bridge of his nose and lets out a sigh that speaks of weariness.

If his is just a message it is an ostentatious one. Not to be missed. Looking up at the mouth of the cave the half-drow looks for the other two women. What would be their conclusions of this "warning" he ponders for a heartbeat. They seem to have enjoyed different kinds of learning about the cosmos, the gods and history.

As nothing seems to indicate an immediate attack, the noble climbs back up to his resting place and hopes that it will stay this way until the sun kisses the horizon. Then he will be on his way. Leaving this place as fast as possible.

The last words of the demon to Veliath as it was slain seem to have affected at least the drowp perrsona, if not the changling that bore her face, and as he fell they shifted back to Ardeth, falling into reflective thought. It wass probably trying to just be clever but the changling had found some of their pasts did not like to be reminded they had in fact died before. Veliath in particular was often quite grumpy she was closer to a memory or a spirit brought on by the changelings powers than a true person.

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As the others awake to drums the changeling shifts to the goliath seen at the arm wrestling, and other moments the group is aware of danger. As Kailani and Faelen venture to investigate she stays with Kailani, unless the cleric also moves forward. Leaving one by themselves here was dangerous.

What is it, do we need to leave?' She asks in a gravley voice as the pair come back, already ready t start packing to leave.

Kailani tells of what she and Faelen have seen and of what she thinks it means. It is a warning and an attempt to sway them to abandon their quest. "I do not think we are in immediate danger here, so we could stay the rest of the night and leave after breakfast. I left Mizu to guard the entrance of the cave. She should warn us of any trouble coming our way." The woman stands firmly with her arms crossed in front of her. Kailani seems worried.
"We could leave now, if you prefer. But I am not certain what the night might have in store at a place such as this."
She waits for the others to state their opinion.

"Bah! Warnings like that are for cowards who can't tell you themselves!" Tereze claims confidently. "We should keep watch for any sneaky attempts to catch us off guard, but we're much more of a challenge than the average traveler"

"Alright, then it's settled. Let us try and find some rest now. We'll leave at first light." Kailani leaves Mizu near the cave entrance to guard their sleep. Should anybody or anything unwanted try to enter, she trusts the elegant flyer to warn them in time.

The group keeps a wary eye on the entrance to the cave as they attempt to sleep through the rest of the night. The chanting can occasionally be heard here and there, but it never rises to more than a whisper, enough to remind you of its presence just to dissipate again.

Morning arrives, signaled by the intense rays beaming into the cave entrance. The party packs up their belongings and leaves the cave. The shrine is still there in the morning, though the thick red liquid coating it has mostly dried, the large spider upon it has shriveled and decayed, and the lines in the surrounding ground are no more than pencil traces.

The group continues on in the direction of their destination: the Dynasty outpost of Bazzoxan. The land continues just as it was the day before: harsh and full of disparate life, though calling some of the things moving around this wasteland "alive" was generous. But eventually, the group comes across a faint but established path in the sandstone and dirt ground, leading in the direction you mean to be going.

You follow the path for a while, and a short time later see up ahead of you some figure, huddled around a small campfire just off the path...