"I can't do much about lightning," Rath muttered, but he threw down wards on both Saliq and Folke, the most fragile of the group, to protect against fire.

[OOC: casting resist fire twice. +3 saving throws, 1/2 damage for 50 minutes.]

It takes only about 5 minutes to move cautiously around the entangled mass of humanoids and over to the campsite some 300 yards deeper in the woods.   Its a fairly small and disheveled campsite, makeshift tents and huts, the only decent structure is in the center, a fair nice white tent.   After just a bit of assessing, it becomes clear, the camp is abandoned.  A quick search finds the Ogre Mage has flown the coop.  His nicer tent contains little of value but there is a rough drawing of a human hanging from a post.  It looks like someone has used it for knife practice.  It looks a lot like a drawing of Rath.

During your search of the camp, there comes the sounds of clashing weapons, screams, and grunts.  The entangle spell has released and the humanoids have turned on each other.

Marissa grinned at the distant noise, though she said, "I would have had fun baiting the big fellow. Hopefully one of the smaller ones does him with a knife in the back."

Inas looks disappointed.

"Too bad; we could've taken him if he were alone.  Now he's still out there . . . somewhere . . . "

Inas knows the ogre mage could have literally "flown," and that an army marched through this area -- but he still feels obliged to look for tracks.

Hearing the ruckus, Rath flinched and muttered, "There goes another army." He scratched his neck and gave the drawing a quick second glance. "My hair doesn't really look like that. Does it?"

While Inas looked for tracks, Rath stayed vigilant, trident in hand, circling the campsite and keeping his eyes on the skies. "Spread out a bit," he advised the others. "In case our friend decides to blast me with lightning."

Marissa grinned at Rath's warning. "I think it's your charm that invites all these enemies of yours," she said. "Or lack thereof. You really should work on that."

"I'm not sure he's gone far, regardless of Rath's variable charms." Saliq states quietly. He glances suspiciously around and begins reciting the words of a spell.

---

OOC: Saliq casts Detect Invisibility.

"I am trying, I really am.  But it just doesn't seem to rubbing off on him," sighed Folke, shaking his head in mock disappointment.  He was joining in of the jest at Rath's expense, though in a good natured way.  Though he made sure to be somewhat shielded by Marissa nonetheless.

As the others sought to confirm the ogre's departure Folke yawned. He hoped they would reach a positive conclusion so that a restful night's sleep was still a possibility.

Saliq casts his spell but finds no trace of invisible enemies.  Others, pick through the camp, finding ample evidence this was at least partially a remnant of the army they defeated at the astronomers tower. It was a descent, if somewhat distorted painting of Rath.  Certainly not flattering.

Inas moves out, following a maze of tracks.  They had been here awhile, and they had hunted, he finds piles of dead animals mingled with some bones of humanoids.  But he quickly deciphers a path that is more recent, and more often traversed.

He follows it for a few hundred yards before he first smells a whiff of sulfur. Another 50 yards beyond, he stops, and wonders what the hell he is looking at.

Inas stands at the edge of a clearing of woods, cut into the ground, it is nearly a hundred feet across, and has a pentagram, within a pentagram, within a pentagram, burned into the soil.  At the tip of each starpoint, is a dead creature, from where he stands, they look fey, centaurs, sylphs, dryads, elves.  The center is a blackened pit.

Inas is more than surprised.  He's shocked.

He swallows, collects his wits; then: "Saliq!"

Rath took off at a run towards Inas’s voice.

It doesn't take long before everyone is standing, staring at what Inas has found.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:20, Wed 25 Apr 2018.

Saliq stares at the pentagram silently for a long moment. "Well, it is a few days old. That's the best news I have if we can even consider that good news. Something potent came through." He strokes his trim beard thoughtfully.

"Ogre mages are reputed to be clever and powerful but this is very potent magic for just one."

Rath had no quips and he didn't state the obvious. This was bad. He stood, grim and grimacing, for long moments, before turning his attention to the periphery of the clearing. "We should check the whole area. Maybe the thing that came through this ... this gate flew out of here, but maybe it left tracks."

Folke was dismayed at the sight and could almost feel the evil emanating from the pentagrams, pushing against his very skin.  He dreaded the thought of what might have come through such a powerful summoning circle.

"Do you think this is where the vrock came from as well?" he asked Saliq, as the illusionist seemed the most knowledgeable of what they were viewing.

Inas overcomes his shock and begins looking for tracks.

A quick search of the area reveals nothing else,  whatever came
Through is gone and must have flown.

Rath gestured toward the blackened pit at the center of the clearing. “”That thing still open?’” He tried to answer his own question, using a minor divination.

OOC: cast detect magic.

Marissa circles the clearing behind Inas' tracks - she has no desire to erase any clues with her own bumbling.

Pausing, she calls out to Rath, "What did you find?" She's speaking to the detect magic she knows he cast.

Folke remained near the summoning circle, looking at the design in case there were any telltale identifiers in the markings on its perimeter.  He paused when Rath cast his spell, and looked at the warrior in anticipation of his answer to Marissa's question.

Rath's spell reveals that whatever magic was used here, it is no longer active.  No other
Tracks of interest are found.  Despite the portents there is little left to do here.

"It's dead," Rath announce, indicating the blackened pit. "Speaking of which, we should get back to the horses before the orcs eat them."

Rath's comment alarms Inas, and he trots back to the camp.

He has bow out, so that he can attack from a distance (and therefore sooner) if need be.

Folke kept pace behind Inas, not eager to walk all the way to the Northlands.  Like the ranger, he had his bow in hand and kept a watchful eye on the way back to the horses.

The group returns to find almost all the humanoids already dead.  Clearly whatever uneasy truce was going on between them was shattered today.  A head count reveals only a few survived and they left the field of battle in opposite directions.  The largest orc that was taunting Marissa has a spear in his back.

Nothing else can be gleaned about the whereabouts of the Ogre Magi, or whatever he summoned.  Perhaps it was indeed a large number of Vrock, he certainly has a grudge against Stormhaven, so the target of them would make sense.  But it could be something else entirely, either way, not a comforting thought as the party returns to camp.

Despite the events of the past hour, sleep is needed, the watch is resumed and remains peaceful into the morning.