1. Cloakwood

"You think I fear death!" Dieter laughs, he continues laughing as he cuts into his foe.


dieter deals 20 damage to drasus and fails to disarm him

Hp 37/68
Ac21

"Look around Drasus. You won't survive this." Aiwë gets in Drasus' face and her words echo in his ears, coming from everywhere at once. "Surrender! The Iron Throne and its god will not honour or remember you. This ruined mine isn't worth your life. Lay down your weapon, and the pain will stop."

Aiwë casts Fear

AC:20
HP: 23/38

It feels like a shard of ice pierces Ida's heart as she watches the vicious blows come against Runson and collapse under the barrage. She silently thanks the gods as Dieter steps in front of their fallen friend. As she's distracted in her horror and hope she misses the fireball cast by the mage, her nerves scream in pain as it makes contact with her skin. She barely registers Stephan's magic but a small part of her brain makes a note to ask him about it at a later time. Doing her best to ignore her injuries, her skin painful with each movement where her skin bubbles with burns and blisters. Moving quickly to Runeson she plants her shield in the ground in front of them, assessing the wounds she can see Ida moves her hands over each while pleading with Lythander to breathe life back into the fallen hero. Runeson Is healed for 15 HP

AC 18
HP 15/55

Stella and her polar bear focus their attacks on the archer, but the skilled bowman is ready after the fireball, managing to avoid each shot, bite, and claw.

Stella — 19 / 37 HP, 14 AC
Barry — 42 / 42 HP, 12 AC
Concentrating on Conjure Animals

Koveras soon returns looking extremely dissatisfied. "The coward took an invisibility potion, and I lost him."

Dieter gives Drasus the Stephan treatment. This time though he ties his legs to his bound arms using a secondary quick release knot in order to quickly allow Drasus to stand but still have his arms bound once they decide to move. He takes position with his knife

Aiwë frowns at Koveras' news. "He's one to worry about. Stella, do you think you could track him as a wolf or something?" She looks to Shar-Teel.

"Do you know where he might go?"

Ida goes about healing Her friends.

Once she feels that everyone is stable she works her way back to Stephan. She looks over him before asking "May I see your spell book?"

Stella sighs gratefully as power from Ida seals her wounds and soothes her aches and pains. "Thank you, Ida."

Stella nods to Aiwë. "If we go now, I can certainly try. He'll be slower in the long run than a wolf, but if he meets up with Viconia, she might teleport him away. Although...I would...rather not be in there alone..." she says, looking a bit abashed.

Before the arrivals came to the camp, Stella explained what she could to Aiwë and anyone else who asked regarding her grim portent and fearful flight into the forest. She was still shaken by it, but felt she had a slightly better understanding now.

After giving her own thanks to Ida, Aiwë squeezes Stella's arm comfortingly. "Of course not. None of us should be alone." She looks at Koveras. "Blood, will you please go with her? You can protect her best."

Shar-Teel cleans her swords off on the archer's trousers. "Ajantis? I don't really know the guy. But my guess would be the Gate. It's not too far, at least once you get out of this nasty forest."

Aldous intervenes. "Perhaps we should just let him go." He looks back and forth between Stella and Aiwe. "Look, nobody wants that traitor dealt with more than I do. But I have a couple of concerns..."

He holds up a finger. "The Shadow Druids. They're unpredictable. They don't want us in their territory, and now with the mine taken care of they've got no reason to keep us around. And our last interaction with them..." he looks at Dieter, "didn't end so well. And now we have all these refugees... Do we really want to risk anyone going off from the main group? Besides, maybe the Shadow Druids will take care of Ajantis for us."

He raises a second finger. "Ajantis is dangerous. He took down one of our toughest warriors in just a few seconds." He takes a deep breath. "I don't want Stella anywhere near him. Especially not without our entire party there to back her up." The young Silvershield shrugs apologetically at Koveras. "Would I really want to put two of my closest friends in his path?"

Stephan swallows hard, then wordlessly shows Ida the spellbook. On its cover is the same symbol of Bhaal that the party saw in Davaeorn's altar room: a grinning skull encircled by droplets of blood.

Ida hasn't seen a symbol like this in a long time, but it looks suspiciously similar to the symbol of the Blood Skulls, a cult she's had some experience dealing with in the past.

Aiwë blinks as Aldous speaks. "He's weakened and spent, and I worry what payback he'll be able to muster... but you're right. He's not worth the risk right now." She shakes her head, rubbing her temples. "Sorry, my head isn't on right today." She gives a self-deprecating grimace to Koveras and Stella, a sort of 'sorry, thanks anyway.'

"Let's get moving. Drasus can talk on the way."

Aiwë looks at Shar-Teel. "What will you do?"

The mercenary frowns. "What's it to you?"

Already short of patience, Aiwë's eyebrows snap together.

"A lot," she snaps like a whip-crack. Her voice echoes just a little more than it should. "Especially if you'll be walking with us, or running back to your employers."

Ida tries to suppress the chill that runs down her spine and involuntarily takes a step back. Seeing the symbols and iconography in the book she knew they were directly opposite of Lythander and all his light stood for. "Stephan do you know which diety that symbol belongs to? Have you made a pact with them?" Concern growing in her eyes. I need you to be honest about what you know and what's happened since your time here... Someone I knew was once was caught up in something similar" Ida sees the rest of the group getting ready to head out with their captive and motions for Stephan to come with her "We can talk as we leave the woods, I'm not upset I'm just worried about what you may have gotten yourself into"

Dieter puts Drasus’s face in the dirt so his arms and legs are up in the air freeing him to stand beside Aiwë. He doesn’t say anything.