A to Z Adventures with Zeekhad

As Arc looks about to regain his bearings his instincts start warning him that staying aloft is not a good idea. As he was already planning on descending all thought are cut out of it and he begins a rapid descent. All Flying creatures know to respect the power of the sky and Arc can feel a tingle like that felt before a thunderstorm but the sky continues to look peaceful despide growing dimmer.

As you descend the winds begin to buffet you and an odd haze with ripples in the air, similar to what you have seen in hot dry wastes, cause you to lose all track of the earlier landmarks. As you get lower you look around and blink in confusion. This place is nothing like the are you were flying over earlier . . . .

The sky now looks normal and your instincts no longer scream at you as they did before. The visual distortions in the air are gone. Surveying the area you are certain you are not anywhere you have been before or recognize it as someplace you heard of. This will make returning home a bit . . . . difficult.

Taking to the sky Arc moves cautiously and scans for regular shapes and straight lines. As you get above the treeline then higher still you see a river east of you with a fork to the north-east. West and south the area is thick with vegetation and looks swampy. Far to the north of the are looks more open. The west is also more clear but looks to have more hills. Besides the abundant plant life of the area you realize that this area must have some unusually large animals based on their apparent size when seen at a distance. Some look to be larger than houses. There are flocks of flyers near the river fork and tower as well al more to the south, mostly near the river.

North of the fork you spot a tall vertical structure. To your north you spot what looks to be a road or track running west/east towards where the tower is. Picking the tower as your destination you glide down to an area that looks solid and begin trekking towards the road. Using your wings to bypass the muddier sections you make good time.

As you move you try reaching out to some of the animals. Most are skittish but you manage to get a couple of smaller ones to answer a few basic questions. They fear predators, many many predators. None are aware of people in rocks or dead trees, towns or villages. Then you get a lucky break and talk with a falcon resting on a high perch. It confirms the road and tower has people but that is beyond it's normal hunting area due to the multitude of "sky fishers". Likely the large flocks you saw are territorial and prevent the falcon from hunting in that area.

You reach the road after about half the day has passed. The track is little more than a set of ruts in the grass, this area being higher and dryer than the swamps to the south where you appeared. As you turn to follow the track to the east and the tower you are slightly surprised by the size of the track. Most carts and wagons are about 6-8' wide but these are well over 12' and their wheels are also thicker than normal. Giants? Whoever drives these they do not use normal horses or cattle.

In the midst of your musings you hear a rustle in the grass to your right . . .
A small pack of 4 lizard like creatures, with feathers on their top and sides, running on their 2 hind legs rushes form the grass. 3 move to surround you as one charges in and slashes at you with its rear talons. A nasty cut on your thigh quickly wells up with blood from the vicious cut. 1 damage to you

The three remaining raptors are very agitated at the loss of their quarry but after looking around, possibly for places to launch from for better elevation, and a couple of hisses of frustrations the trio breaks their circling maneuvers. They quickly dash towards some cover.

You have time for one more shot if you wish or you can just continue on your way.

Arc fires another shot but they manages to avoid his arrow as they run quickly towards cover. The small pack runs nearly silently till they reach cover then one of them gives a short chirping yelp Satter, regroup and all three split up as they enter the nearby wooded section.

You can follow and shoot once more. After that you will need to roll to try a tracking check as they try to lose you if you want to to pursue them further.

Arc realizes that though he may be able to communicate with the beasts. They are still beast and much of their motivations are driven by instinct. The pack likely simply saw a solitary target and moved in for the kill. Had he not been able to fly the fight could well have turned out differently. Now that they have a failed hunt and slain companions their hunger and fear is driving them to flee from a more powerful predator, Arc himself. If he could corner one he might be able to converse with it. As things stand it is doubtful they will answer any of his calls.

As Arc flies he realizes he is getting close the the circling flocks of larger flyers and he seems to have caught some of their attention as they glider high overhead, angling out to get overhead.

After landing you easily get the flying shapes above to lose interest in you by concealing yourself in some oveergrowth and waiting a while. While waiting you keep an eye out for any land bound predators. While none near you present themselves you do spot some creatures walkging int the tall grasses between the thickets that dot this area. At first you are not concerned until one of the herds with fewer members wanders closer and you realize these beasts are much larger than you. using your new perspective yo ulook back to some of the other herds and realize many if not all that you see are heerds of even larger beasts (dinosaur). Some are likely lafter than the common room of the in you left just yesterday. The "Sky fishers" turn out to be a winged variant of the large beast. Most have rough skins with some few, both flying and running, sporting feathersCautiously continuing on your way you get encounter a few smaller beasts that linger long enough to answer a few questions before nerves, hunger, or other instints drive them on. A few birds are aware of the " stone finger" further east and north and all confirm that this area abounds with large beasts. There are some smaller, like the ones you dove off, but there are also insects, birds, and a few small herds of other "two legs" you interpret to mean people. One flier confirms that the people are closer to the tower and the road will get you there.

You make your way along the road, that skirts the edge of the swamp to the south and begin seeing buildings only to realize they are now ruins. Many structures must have stood here once but now most have crumbled and become overgrown. you see a few larger structures to the north but the road continues east. You finally geet a glimpse of the tower but it is too far to gain any detail so decide to follow th3 road closer.

The road leads you to the edge of a swamp and into it. The rode here is much better cared for and shows signs of heavy traffic to your seasoned merchant eyes. As you near th swamp you spot a small wooden watch tower, about 20' tall, next to th road. A couple of figures can be seen moving atop and at the base of the structure.

Got are done with your into do go ahead and pick of your want another trait or weapon mastery.

Mastery let's you attack with advantage, 3d6.

Having done this before Arc is aware that larger herbivores are easier to approach but smaller ones are easier to entice. The smaller will get more used to your presence quicker but remain skittish. Just part of their nature. The larger ones are more mellow unless they have young and feel threatened for any reason. Finding a nice family pack of ankilosaurus to start with you glide down nearby and casually walk around, near but not next to them. All the while talking and moving in a relaxed maner so they get used to your presence. As this group has no small young, though some are smaller, the mostly ignore the odd small flier that is not threat to them.

The small heard moves and you move with them getting general response from you occasional questions. Good plants. Sniff air for hunters. Listen and feel ground. Noisy two legs annoying. Some two legs hunt in packs. Fear two leg packs. Watch fliers, may react to hunter.

After about half an hour your herd moves closer to some trees and near another herd. This one is of several Apatosaurus. These larger beasts use their long necks to graze on trees and plant alike. Though when the ankilosaurus move into the area they tend to keep to the higher branches.
The Apatosaurus take a bit of moving to get a reaction from as they move their heads around. You eventually get a couple to talk with you and they actually seem to pay more attention to the fliers but also watch for plant motion. You get the feeling that these, though larger, are similar in attitude and intellect to most other grazing herd animals.

You spend a couple of hours hopping and flitting slowly with the herds, taking the time to also get more familiar with the fliers of the area. There are some smaller species that seem to subsist off of the large insect population as well as larger ones that are obviously fishers. There are a couple that hunt other fliers or small creatures on teh ground. None are a threat to you directly but many of them flock and the fishers seem very territorial of other fliers so you are not able to talk with them or the other larger hunters.

Many two legs bad. leave. you gather that should you fight the beast will mostly ignore you but if you get larger numbers involved then the herds will likely shift their location.

Arc gets the impression that names are rare and only apply to title holders or odd balls. Leader, The one who is Stinky, Silly game, and the like are some of the herd names. The fliers tend to have more names. Again the names are iven based on behavior and history of an individual and are earned by acting in unusual ways. You overhear a couple of their names as well but none of the animals self identify by a given name, though some recognize that it is used by others.

Arc is a bit behind the others to arive at the base, as he got distracted conversing with the beasts, but the guards tell you where they went.