3. The Trade Way

Aiwe's spell blossoms out from Viconia, simply turning off sound in her vicinity - which includes the drow, the four mercenaries, and Aldous. Ajanti and his men are quick to react to the magical silence, pulling out their weapons and putting their backs together to form a defensive ring around the Silvershield noble, who falls into a sit in the middle.

Viconia mouths a curse, then pulls up the hood of her cloak, obscuring her features once more, and points - inexplicably - directly through the trees at Aiwe, wordlessly drawing the mercenaries' attention to the party.

(Perception): The party notices that Viconia still seems able to hear the party. What's more, they can hear soft chanting coming from the treeline across the road from where she stands.

Round 1 Player Phase!

I follow my party into combat. But swing wildly and miss.

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Round 1 Summary

The battle is largely silent, belying the violence occurring within the magical quietude.

Dieter and Runeson's charging steps, crunching dry leaves underfoot and snapping branches off the vegetation as they pass, go immediately silent upon entering Aiwe's spell. When Dieter's sword passes harmlessly through Viconia's illusory self, he changes targets and aims for the mercenary wielding a halberd, trying to get within the man's reach before he can bring the heavy weapon about. The young fighter manages to get into position nearly unscathed, suffering only a minor smack to his shoulder (Dieter takes 7 damage), and then unleashes an impressive display of swordsmanship that ends with Dieter's sword through the man's gut. As his slain enemy slides off his sword, Dieter recognizes him as Jepson, one of the brutish thugs Kagain would sometimes employ.

Several feet away, Runeson battles Ajantis. The paladin quickly finds that his opponent fights like a snake; Ajantis' strikes are fast and vicious, and he's surprisingly deft with his footwork. After an initial bout of swings and blocks, neither combatant manages to score a wound on the other. Ajantis snarls silently at this skilled paladin, and a flick of his eyes takes in Dieter's success against Jepson. It's obvious he doesn't think this fight goes well.

Carlan, another thuggish mercenary, joins the fight with battleaxe in hand. He steps up next to Ajantis and swipes at Runeson, but as the paladin blocks firmly with his shield, Carlan finds his own weapon to be a victim of the cursed Iron Crisis; he drops the shattered battleaxe and draws a long knife from his belt.

Aiwe and Stella clearly see a pair of arrows arc toward them through the night air, and see just as clearly that the archer, a mercenary named Brend, doesn't quite know where the two adventurers are. Apparently his human eyes just can't see well enough in the darkness to aim his longbow reliably. He starts trying to find his way out of the zone of silence, but finds himself unable to move as the surrounding plants animate and wrap around his boots!

Meanwhile, Ida follows Noctalia's lead towards the sound of spellcasting across the road, and finds the real Viconia just within the bounds of the forest. The drow narrows her eyes at Ida, not slowing her iteration of magical words, but then is forced to duck awkwardly as Noctalia flutters past. Quickly after follows a shining arrow from Stella, but the radiant projectile lodges itself into the branch of a tree, where its light sputters and dims (with cover, the shot is just barely a miss). Recognizing the close call, Viconia steps out from the trees and into the road, the spell on her lips building to a crescendo...

As a wave of roots and branches continues to animate and assault the other mercenaries, Ajantis pulls free from the tangle just in time to drop his sword, seize Aldous by the coat, and drag the one-legged youth out into the road. His growled curses suddenly carry in the night air as if from nothing as he stumbles out of the area of Aiwe's silence spell. He mutters a quick spell to speed himself, and hauls Aldous over to Viconia. He reaches the dark elf, meeting her eyes with a defiant glare, just as she finishes her spell. She puts a hand each on Ajantis and Aldous...

...and then the three are gone. Drow, mercenary, and noble are nowhere to be seen. On the road where they stood, however, just barely seen by the light of moon and stars, is a strange mark: a black disk encircled by a thin line of purple.

Carlan and Brend, the only remaining members of Ajantis' group, suddenly find themselves fighting alone against a party of capable adventurers. And at a severe disadvantage, too! Brend is trapped in plants up to his thighs now, and Carlan is armed with nothing but a dagger.

After a quick glance at each other, the mercenaries in unison drop their weapons and raise their hands in surrender.

The mercenaries try to keep their expressions professionally stoic, but it's clear they have no idea what to expect from this group of adventurers. One of their number lies in a pool of his own blood, and their leader has abandoned them. They watch Stella's tirade nervously.

When Aiwe steps forward to interrogate them, they don't remain tight-lipped for long, and quickly explain what they know:

- Ajantis sought them out in town and offered them good money and better prospects to get Aldous Silvershield to the bandits.
- He convinced Kagain to hire them, to give the job sense of credibility to anyone who might ask questions. Then he killed Kagain.
- He led them at every turn of the journey. He always knew where he was going.
- He didn't talk about himself or any goals other than reaching the bandit camp.

They also offer up a few comments about Aldous:

- The boy was a smart aleck.
- He generally made the trip miserable.
- Ajantis gagged Aldous when he talked too much about Ajantis' history with the Silvershields and the Flaming Fist.

Meanwhile, Stella gleans from the mark on the ground that it was divinely-granted magic that fueled the teleportation. There aren't many teleportation spells that priests have access to, and so was most likely Word of Recall.The mark itself is likely the holy symbol of whatever deity Viconia worships.