Murron rides alongside Sathras, bringing up the rear of the group as suggested. He scans the sands in the rear of the party, his reins tied to Sathras's aht-ra so he can focus on the rear. His shortbow is out and ready for action, an arrow nocked on the bowstring.

T'Vala keeps his position halfway between the group and Dii Ahnah, his hurlant across his lap ready to be brough up. He scans the road ahead and occasionally glances up at the sky, just in case.

With Dii Ahnah's skilled guidance the group crosses the first half of the distance to Anasa with no incident. Between Dii and Shadow's farsight the group is able to skirt several large groups of the walking dead. Two hours have passed and Dii is the first to spot the border of dimness that marks the strange bubble that encircles Anasa.

Within the suns only a couple hours from setting the group stands at the border of the dimness. At this distance the wrongness that has been gnawing at the group over the past couple days has an almost palpable presence to it. With the suns setting the temperature has dropped to around 70 degrees already and feels cooler with the winds that occasionally whip up the sands. The aht-ra are noticeably uneasy at this point and some attention has to be given to keeping them under control.

OOC: So the group stands on the road to Anasa at the border of the dimness. It is about an hour until the outpost towers.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:01, Tue 20 Mar 2012.

Looking into the 'bubble' of the disturbance Califax gives a nervous laugh.

Well, here is where we see what happens to someone that crosses that threshold.  Ummm, I can't say that I'm happy to but I will be the first if no one objects or says otherwise.

Dii stops at the outer edge of the foreboding darkness and waits for the others to congregate there.

Sathras rides up, his shoulders hunched slightly. "Sathras thinks it getting colder. Sathras wonder how cold it is in there. Suns already going down." He looks off in the direction of the setting suns. "Sathras wonder if we can make it to towers before it gets too cold. Sathras no like the cold. Will it be warm in tunnels under towers?"

Aaban nods to Califax, "I will ride in beside you, my brave friend."

He turns to Sathras, "Yes, the cold of night is coming.  The darkness ahead may be colder as well.  It should be warmer in the tunnels, I would expect; at least, warmer than it will be on the surface, once the suns set."

"Fear not the darkness outside, for the darkness within is the most perilous," she states.  Her eyes have the normal faraway look.  "A friend once said that to me, and I feel it might be more true than ever."  She seems to snap back to the 'here and now' and she looks to Califax.  "I'm fine going in first, seeing as I've already been in here metaphysically a few times today."

She hops off her mount and steps forward, holding its reins in her hands, guiding it with her, whispering to it quietly.

Murron pulls his aht-ra up next to Sathras, working at keeping it calm. He stares blankly at the wall of dimness and his shoulders sink now that he has a good look at it. He looks around at the group and makes a show of trying to look confident and brave; "I definitely don't like the look of this, but we didn't come all this way to go back. I wonder how bad it is going to be in there and how difficult it will be to find the towers."

T'Vala halts his aht-ra next to Dii, remaining in the saddle with his hurlant on his lap. He too stares long and hard at the dimness and looks back at the rapidly setting suns; "I have seen many things in my years roaming these deserts, but I can honestly say this is the first time I can feel the fingers of fear trying to clutch at me. I hope that at least one of the towers will be intact enough to take shelter in and that the bolthole passage is at least reasonably passable. We shall see I guess."

Sathras shrugs, then points. "Sathras thinks we run to closest tower. Get inside, look for tunnel. At least be where dead-not-dead and Rajan flying-boat can't see us."

Burikan leans forward in his saddle,

"Sathras has the right of it. Lets make for the nearest tower and try to get some cover."

Listening to the exchanges Califax nods and takes a deep breath.

Everyone has a good point, we know what we are here to do no sense in delaying.  We can't go back and we need to get to the shelter as soon as possible.  So with that.

Holding his breath Califax stepped forwards to push across the threashold and into the area of shadow.

"I will go on as planned; Aa wills it," Aaban says, quite simply, and urges his aht-ran onward.

Novo:

Pulling up to the "shell" of darkness with the two mounts still in tow, Novo takes his blue-tinted sun-spectacles off and tries to gain a more omnispective perception of these... shadows. "I suppose these would err more than aid in there." He puts the spectacles away. "I would definitely like to set up my equipment and gauge the temerity of the atmosphere within this darkness, if we find a safe shelter of course. This is so... Interesting....." he begins to smile in a way better befitting the watching of women dancing in some of the finer "dance-houses" back in Cymril, than that of his current environs. He begins to fish in his inner pocket for his pipe.

He comes to his senses when he sees Shadow embark through and into the darkness beyond. he hurriedly puts his pipe back where it came from and begins to gather the tethers of various mounts again. Once he has a good hold of all reins, he follows in suit.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:00, Tue 20 Mar 2012.

Dii looks over the best corresponding map she has to the locale, while listening to everyone as they arrive. When people begin entering the darkness she puts the map away. Wordlessly, she enters the darkness herself to wind her way to the forefront of this convoy again.

OOC: "Dii Ahnah rolled 20 using 1d20+3. Stealth +8 (-5) = +3."
I accounted for the desert difficulty. Does the darkness add to, hinder, or not effect the roll?

Sathras waits while the others enter the area of darkness. As they ride through he looks over at Murron. "Sathras got a bad feeling about this, Murron. A bad feeling."

T'Vala passes through the boundary of dimness moments after Dii Ahnah and Murron brings up the rear with Sathras. Moments later the group is across the border into the final push towards Anasa...

...And as the group arrives on the other side of the border the light is cut in half, bringing what was the sunset on the other side into the blackness of night with only the faintest amount of light to see each other by. Everyone sees their breath before them as the air temperature likewise drops precipitously towards freezing. The wind gusts likewise pick up significatly on this side of the border. Once the eyes adjust to the darkness it is immediately obvious where at least a small amount of the light is coming from that allows people some level of vision. All around in the sands and even borne aloft on the winds are miniscule flecks of the luminescent purple that had been noticed that morning except in much more obvious quantities. The sense of wrongness that has been building as the group neared Anasa seems to double upon crossing the border and there is a faint smell of rot everywhere. The uneasiness of the aht-ra increases greatly in this new environment which they have never experienced. Even the bravest among you feels the fingers of fear reaching their hearts and minds...

OOC: If everyone could make me a Ride or Animal Handling check at -5 that would be great. Shadow, you can use Commune with Nature (still a -5 to the Meditation roll). Post your results in a PM to me so we don't clutter up the thread.

As the aht-ra get a whiff of the air on top of the sensations flooding them they jerk and start at their reins. The group struggles to control their mounts in the face of the pervasive fear in the air. Aaban's mount rears suddenly as he tries to control it, dumping him unceremoniously onto the sands as it wheels and heads back in the direction the group came from. Califax also struggles with his mount which wheels to exit the darkness but is not successful in dumping him. Burikan is able to wrestle control of his aht-ra, seeing Aaban and Califax's mounts passing to either side of him.

As that is happening Shadow tries to calm her mount as she walks along side it but the sensations overwhelm her some and she ends up with her hand caught up in the reins as it turns to run. Novo, who has been helping to lead Shadow and Dii's aht-ra, struggles to master all three. Dii's aht-ra breaks free and heads back towards where the group entered. Novo is able to catch a good grip on the reins of Shadow's mount, keeping it from dragging her off and calming it just enough. His own aht-ra starts as well and he struggles with it although it does not break free.

At the front of the group T'Vala likewise struggles to control his mount and fails. It wheels and makes a break to exit the darkness with him still trying to get control. Dii notices the commotion next to her and turns to see T'Vala about to ride off on his struggling aht-ra. At the rear Sathras, strong as he is, struggles with his aht-ra which is a behemoth in itself and it wheels to run out of the darkness with him on its back. Murron is able to master his mount and get it back under control as Sathras starts passing by on his out-of-control aht-ra.

OOC: Aaban please make me a Dex check to land safely on the ground. Burikan you are close enough to grab out at either Aaban or Califax's aht-ra to try and get control (Ride check at -3 this time). Dii you can try to grab control of T'Vala's aht-ra (Ride check at -3). Novo and Sathras can make Ride checks at -3 to try and gain full control of their mounts. Murron can make a Ride check at -3 to try and get control of Sathras's mount. Califax and T'Vala should make Dex checks to stay mounted.

In reply to Bringer of Darkness (msg #722):

Seeing her mount (and gear) running back for the daylight, Dii lunges into her full sprint in pursuit of the animal. Fearful or not, Dii was not going to lose her gear this deep in the desert without a fight. She pulls and sets an arrow in her bow just in case...

Shadow looks up at the chaos and for a moment, her distant look snaps to the present and she looks bewildered, then for even shorter than a second annoyance snaps over her features.

She inhales deeply and closes her eyes, and then her chest seems to stop the normal rise and fall of breathing, like a breath caught and waiting to exhale.


After a long moment she does exhale and her silvery eyes with rainbow flecks open and she begins to look around at all the chaos again, and she begins to move quickly to the places where chaos has taken over.

Aaban, thrown from his aht-ra, lands on his feet in the shifting red sands.  He looks for a moment after his mount, saying softly, "Aa, let these simple beasts know to do your will, help us to overcome their fear."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:04, Mon 26 Mar 2012.

With his mount under control, Burikan begins to reach out for Aaban's mount but seeing Aa's servant land squarely on his feet in the red sand, reaches out to get a grip on Califax's mounts bridle.

As Califax's mount turned and made a bolt for the edge of the strangeness Califax could only just about hang on, grabbing hold of the creature and it's reigns, unable to control the creature.

Oh.... oh help please...

(OOC:12:33, Today: Califax rolled 7 using 1d20+1. Remain mounted.)

Everything happens quickly as the various mounts panic and try to get out of the darkness. Aaban is able to gracefully land on his feet after being dumped by his mount, which makes its way in the direction the group came from. Califax gets dumped from his mount as well and lands unceremoniously but also unharmed in the sands. Burikan is able to grab out at Califax's aht-ra and gets it under control next to his own. Dii sprints for her own mount, using the long-honed running skills. Sathras also gets bucked off his mount but lands very hard on the sands as it goes to run off. Fortunately Murron is near enough to ride up and grab the reins of Sathras's aht-ra to bring it under control. Shadow is able to calm her thoughts and after a few moments those near her feel the fear flowing from them. She quickly moves among the remaining aht-ra, and they settle at her approach, even T'Vala's as it comes running through the group. T'Vala himself having been dismounted also lands somewhat unceremoniously.

OOC: So between Shadow and a few others the majority of the aht-ra are brought under control. Aaban's unfortunately heads for the border of the darkness. Dii should make a riding roll at -3 to bring her mount under control. Aaban, Califax, and T'Vala all land unharmed but Sathras takes 2 points of damage landing on his neck and side.