Toben, poised to act, sees the second warrior about to shout a warning. With the stone in his hand, he whispers "Vessa wer ivah, japachi wer ultro". He tosses the stone. As is leaves his hand it reappears out of no where and plops onto the ground by the warrior without a sound.

Toben advances toward the pot and peers inside.

Toben casts Silence on the stone. Any sound made within a 20 ft radius of it is rendered inaudible.

Ano picks up a bit of speed, trying to gain a bit of distance between him and his pursuers as he approaches Kornari.  As he moves he makes his sun rod more visible to those following him trying to make it easier to signal Kornari.

As he reaches the spot where Kornari is waiting, Ano pulls two smoke sticks out of his bag.  "There not far behind, we need to move quick.  Can you light these?" He holds out the Smoke sticks to the dragon.  "I don't know where Klale went, but we have to keep ahead of them"

The remaining warrior by the pot bellows silently in warning to no one.  His non-bellow turns into a silent cry of pain by Phineas' knife in his back.  He whirls about and sees the boy fade into view -- a boy who has struggled with keeping food down for the past couple of days and horrors no twelve-year-old should ever witness.  The sight causes the warrior to stagger back, mouthing something and holding up his hands to ward off whatever he thinks Phineas is.

Xar uses the opportunity to hamstring the guy and together with Phineas, they finish him off without a sound.


~~~~

Kornari immediately lights the two sticks, then promptly disappears into the billowing clouds.  "Lead them further on.  I will teach them fear."

The warriors come to an abrupt stop at the edge of the smoke, wary of venturing in.  Their leader barks an order that is muffled by the thick clouds.  One of the warriors steps into the smoke and promptly screams in pain and terror.  The other warriors look at their leader who nods for them to go around the smoke.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:11, Thu 10 Dec 2015.

Sorrow washes over Toben's face as he sees the poor woman's predicament. He looks to the ground where he tosses the silenced stone and mentally dismisses it once the last cannibal goes down.

Toben gently takes hold of the woman's outstretched hand and realizes he is still invisible. He dismisses the spell and removes his travel cloak. "You have nothing to fear from me, Nestael. Ceven sent us to rescue you." He hoists her out of the boiling pot while wrapping the cloak around her.

Sufficiently covered and in Toben's arms, he turns around and nods stoically to Phineas and Xar. "We should have Saris see what she can do for her while we try to cover our tracks here. Maybe even leave a false trail heading out to the south or something."

He turns and carries the woman back towards Saris.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:28, Thu 10 Dec 2015.

In reply to Toben Ironsprings (msg # 241):

Phineas immediately starts dragging the pot to the south, leaving an obvious trail for as far as he can move it in a few minutes, then discards the pot and continues treading as heavily as he can, making an obvious path without making it look like he's making an obvious path. Once he's traversed a decent distance, he'll leaves a muddle of confused footprints, put on the reversed wooden forms of feet that he had fashioned earlier, and return to Toben, leaving another trail that appears to lead away from the group's actual location.

Ano speaks up from the thick of the smoke "Pauric wasn't wrong when he said this would be easy."  He dashes out of the smoke with the ivory fang in one hand and slashes at the first man he sees, and the immediately turns to run deeper into the forest.

Ano takes 15 to hit with a single attack and then continues running.
15+6=21 to hit

Klale continues to follow; so far it appears that none have looked back toward him. And Ano is leading them further and further away from the pot....

The woman's face, still in a rictus of pain, is unable to express anything else.  The heat from the pot stings, but only for a moment.  Toben wraps the woman up and carries her from the camp while Phineas provides the cover trails and Xar completely removes all trace of the two guards to further the confusion.

Ano's knife causes the warrior's muscles to lock up in the position he stands, a rather stable form that does not cause him to fall to the ground.

"Fall back!  Back to the camp!"  The leader yanks two of his men from the smoke and shoves them toward the camp.  "They're after the star!"

The leader turns only to stare straight into the face of Klale.

Initiative:

Klale - Surprise
Klale
Ano
Cannibal Leader
Kornari
Cannibal Warrior 1
Cannibal Warrior 2
Cannibal Warrior 3

Cannibal Warrior 4 - Paralyzed
Cannibal Warrior 5 - Mangled by Kornari DEAD

Toben crosses over from the clearing back into the trees and walks back to where Saris was waiting only to find her sprawled out on the ground. Without thinking, he lays the bundled up woman on the ground next to Saris and kneels down beside her to better assess her condition.

The woman from the pot, still writhing in pain, rolls over and her three fingered hand brushes up against Saris.

Unaware, Toben calls out to Xar in a low tone of voice. "Xar, it's happening again!"

With a Howdy! Klale delivers a rude greeting. His backstroke, however, doesn't dig as deep.


20:21, Today: Klale Tsolo rolled 9 using 1d10+1.  Add 4 Add 8. 21 Damage
20:24, Today: Klale Tsolo rolled 2 using 1d10+1.  Add 4 Add 8. 14 Damage

Took a 15+8 for attacks.

When he hears the men shouting their return to camp, Ano turns to see Klale standing before the men.  He rushes back towards to group of men, hoping to get to the group before they can gang up on Klale.  Ano charges the closest man to him and strikes out with the fang.

Ano takes 15 +6=21 on his attack to hit

Xar appears just in time to watch Saris cry out all of a sudden and go into convulsions.

The leader of the cannibals rotates away from Klale's shield side and swings his mighty axe.  The blow is so swift and powerful that Klale has no time to react.  His weapon clatters to the ground, still clutched in his hand.

The warrior Ano strikes with the dagger grimaces in pain at the wound and staggers back.  His face goes from surprise to pain to anger in a flash.  He swings at the monk, but his balance is off and he stumbles a bit giving Ano a chance at a quick strike.  The other two warriors turn to Ano as well, but between the smoke, the surprise, and the closeness of the trees, they are unable to land a blow.

Initiative:

Klale - Critically wounded; hand severed -15 HP
Ano
Cannibal Leader - Slightly wounded
Kornari
Cannibal Warrior 1 - Slightly wounded
Cannibal Warrior 2
Cannibal Warrior 3

Cannibal Warrior 4 - Paralyzed
Cannibal Warrior 5 - Mangled by Kornari DEAD
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:30, Sun 13 Dec 2015.

Toben takes a step back and observes both Saris and the woman from the pot, and then quickly looks at Xar. "Xar, you're familiar with Saris's things, do you know where she keeps her healing salves and tonics?"

Beginning to look a bit rattled, Toben tries to reason out what is happening. "Saris, she's a healer of sorts. Perhaps even in the spiritual sense. If that's true, then maybe there is some sort of empathic link between the two of them. She is convulsing in pain now, and earlier she collapsed and couldn't breathe... as if she was drowning."

Toben stops himself for a moment, for fear of rambling. "I think whatever the star is feeling is somehow being transferred to Saris. If we can calm the woman and comfort her a bit, I think we might be able to alleviate some of Saris's symptoms too."

Klale stumbles back and turns and starts to run holding his forearm tight.

The woman next to Saris shudders and her mouth opens in a silent scream.  Her one good eye sinks into her head and disappears.  Her skin grows ash white and begins to flake off.

As Klale turns to flee, the leader of the warriors swings again.  This time it is only a glancing blow off Klale's back, but its enough to cause the big fighter to stumble.  However, something causes the warrior behind him to stagger as well.  With a grimace, he keeps his feet and renews the chase.

The three attacking Ano look at each other, eyes wide for a moment, then they also reengage the monk.  Ano's quick strikes knock one back, stunned by the monk's strike (Stunning Fist).  The other two land solid punches, but the damage is not as severe as it could have been (4 DMG, 5 DMG).  Only partially healed from the previous battle two days before, Ano still feels a drag on his endurance from the new wounds.

Xar clears the space around Saris and removes her belongings, tossing them to Toben.  He makes sure there is nothing around her that can hurt her then just holds her gently, allowing her freedom to move in her convulsions.  The look on his face is very revealing of his feelings toward the healer.  He brushes a lock of hair from her eyes and gently caresses her forehead.  It seems to calm her a little, but not much.

Phineas, walking slowly in his wooden forms, catches a glimpse of Saris as he approaches. Seeing her in obvious distress, he dispenses with care and caution and starts sprinting towards her to see what aid he can offer.

Toben catches the supplies tossed to him and places them on the ground. He opens up the pack where she she the healing supplies and starts looking for anything that could be helpful.

His search is cut short when he hears Phineas crashing through the brush, running towards them. He turns and rushes over to intercept Phineas. Toben does his best to put himself between Phineas and the others in order to block his view. He places his arm around Phineas's shoulder and tries to turn him about-face.

"Easy buddy, I know you want to help, but I think things are out of our hands now. Xar is doing the most anyone can do for her right now. I think I know what's happening, and all we can do is let it run its course." Toben looks back over his shoulder at Xar as he walks Phineas back to the clearing. "Can you show me what you've done with the camp so far? We should make sure our tracks are sufficiently misleading."

Ano staggers a bit, knowing they were in a bad position.  He lashes out at one of the men who struck him, with punch meant to break the nose, and then turns to take of deeper into the woods.

Ano attacks one of the men with a single attack, taking 15+7=22 to hit

12:38, Today: Ano rolled 12 using 1d8+4.  attack on cannibal .


After the attack he runs.  If the provokes an attack of opportunity, I do have the mobility feat so my AC would be 20 when moving out of combat.

Klale keeps on moving away from where he guesses the pot and his other friends would be.

["Maybe the manner of my death will buy them a little time," he thinks.]

The warrior that Ano strikes staggers back with a fountain of blood from his nose.  The other two attempt to use that as an opportunity to bring the monk down.  However, neither can land a blow on the agile young man.  They don't seem quite as fast or as adept as the first group of warriors fought two days past.

Klale is not so fortunate.  The leader brings his axe down hard on the big man's shoulder and Klale is nearly brought to his knees.  The only thing that saves him is his armor.  It is a wonder that the axe didn't bite through given the enhanced strength of the attacker.

Not wasting an opportunity, the leader kicks out a leg from the staggered blacksmith who sprawls into the dirt and leaves of the forest before rolling to his back.  Standing over him, the leader of the cannibals raises his axe for the final blow.

~~~~

Saris begins shaking harder, so much that Xar scoots out from under her and steps away, keeping anyone else at a distance.  Next to her, the woman from the cooking pot begins to shrivel like some great white grape.  Her mouth opens in a silent scream...or maybe sigh.  Only a whisper of air escapes.

As Ourn enters from the rear of the fight, he see the leader of the cannibals about to execute a large man. Using surprise to his advantage, he clears past the group, shoving one to the side with his left hand, and slashing downward with all his might on the cannibal leader's right shoulder. The events leading up to this attack have Ourn spurred with more adrenaline than he's ever experienced.

" Found you! " is all he manages to blurt out in his fervor.