Anira does, indeed, use Saxon's Dispel Magic potion as a spell component for her spell, and the expected results happen. The blackness on the girl's arms seem to evaporate and disappear into the air.

The odd vein-like effect on her arms and legs is still there--it just isn't evil.

At Radagast's urging, her parents put the drops of liquid on the girl's tongue. Almost immediately, the veining begins to disappear. Within 5 minutes, it's all gone.

The girl wakes up with a start and starts crying, though it seems to be from fear rather than pain.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:40, Mon 05 Oct 2020.

Lady Isile looked at Anira and nodded to assist in any way she could.  Her spells were limited but what she could do was heal wounds if needed.

Saxon smiled and closed his eyes before backing away from the child. He knew he was more than a little scary to most kids. It was still very nice to see that she was going to be doing just fine. "Can't say that we can handle the stones, do you all have a place to go away from here?" Saxon always loved mobile so it was beyond him to tell if people could uproot quickly or not.

"No, we don't have any place to go, but if you can't stop this blackness, I guess we don't have any choice," Jarson answers.

"I'm not sure there is any place safe any more."


"We can stay with the Saunders for a little while," his wife says. "These great people are going to get rid of the darkness, aren't you?"

Lady Isile looked to the lady and then to the man for a moment she wondered if what they were asking even possible.  For she didn't hold the powers like the Istari.  But they did have one with them but was he strong enough to overcome such dark magic.

"We will do our best to rid your lands of such blackness. she said with a smile and looked down at the child who now was getting better.

She thought if they were able to save her, then they may be able to save these lands.  But it was a risky try what they did to the girl.  The land would need more Power.

"That isn't why we are here, but it seems as if the people we are looking for may have been here and their efforts may have slowed down the spread of this darkness," Radagast replied.

He was never all that good with people to begin with; he much preferred animals and plants.

"Yes, we will drive this darkness from your land!"

Should he have said that? Was that the same as a promise? They seemed to need to hear that. Would they live long enough to be disappointed if he didn't succeed?

"Dang it! Just give me something to hit!" Borun added. "I'll drive it from this land, this world, this universe!"

It was a good thing Dwarves were a patient people. They'd already spent way too much time palavering.

Saxon nodded, "Give it time, I've got a scent so I do have a tiny idea of what we are dealing with. However, later, If you want I can provide you a bit of experience at what it is to deal with the big names on the other side."

OOC: Where are we exactly on the map?

You walked between the first row of hills to reach the river, then crossed the river and, having passed the town, walked through the next set of hills. You are now at the base of the mountain at the west end of the range that seems to form a line eastward.

You'll be walking along the base of those mountains.

When you come to the stream between the first two mountains, it'll probably be time to make camp, unless you plan on walking all night. You don't actually know that it'll get dark, but the sun has been moving across the sky and presumably it will set.

The next day should take you to the end of that mountain range.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:39, Mon 19 Oct 2020.

"I could walk all night if there's a need to do so," Radagast says. "I can't quite decide if making camp would be more or less dangerous than walking on into the unknown in the dark. I can get no sense of the wildlife here. That would normally give me some idea of any creatures that might also live here."

"I suspect Grimfast and Borun can go all night. What about you, Anira and Lady Isile? Do you need to rest?"

Saxon nodded, "No rest means no time to regain myself. Cant go chatting up the elements or mixing tonics without replenishing myself. And if my nose knows right we will need as much of our power at hand. More than just basic evil in that little plague there." He smiled wide, "And although it may look like I can see in the dark, I will go backside over tea kettle over a cliff in the night only alerted by the ground no longer being under my feet."

Lady Isile smiled to Radagast "I am Moriquende.  We can go days without rest.

Looking to the others she didn't want them to be without their full strength if danger would arise.

"That was my assessment, too, but I could always be wrong, and I did not wish to speak for anyone else," Radagast replies.

"We shall make camp, then. This creeping black ground does not appear to move very quickly, but for all we know, it could accelerate due to our presence. Therefore, we should move as far away from it as possible before choosing a campsite and perhaps keep watch."

"Anira's mansion may not be proof against this blackness."

With that said, he heads off in what appears to be due east direction. The family had left already, heading to the southeast.

Lady Isile seemed to change form again and took off to the sky, keeping an watchful eye out for any spots that may be clear of the blackness so that the group can make a safe campsite.

She also wondered if the blackness was traveling underground and that it would be much harder to detect.

As Lady Isile once again takes to the skies to scout the land below, she can soon see that the blackness apparently came from outside this land. She can't quite tell if it's a large island or perhaps a small continent, but, then, scholars have always had a hard time making such distinctions.

From her perspective, it seems as if there are spots where the blackness is... avoiding? Or perhaps just not strong enough to move against that spot quickly. It certainly appears as if distant Aricenthrel is one of them.

On the other hand, the blackness that affected the family seems to be sporadic, like it was dropped from the air in places and began spreading out from there.

Whether the mountains just to the north are one of the 'strongholds' or not is unclear, but there are certainly none of the creeping black spots there, nor does it look like any of the ones she can spot are close enough to 'creep' up on the spot she selects for the camp.

Once she selects a spot, she flies back and informs the others, then leads the way.

When the others get there just at dusk, they find a reasonably flat clearing with a mountain spring. It's not a particularly defensible area, but that shouldn't be a problem.

"Whew!" Anira says. "Not that I was getting tired, but there's a... miasma... that hangs over this land. It's kind of like an impending thunderstorm. You can feel it in the air. At least with a thunderstorm, it passes quickly. This miasma never goes away."

"Did you notice it was thicker in the area we arrived? It's gotten slightly less oppressive as we moved away from there, but it's still tiring having to fend it off all the time."

She sets about conjuring her Mariposa's Magnificent Mansion once again. She'd only recently come to realize that Mariposa's spell differed from the standard spell. Mariposa, the wizardess she'd learned the spell from, had also taught her that there were ways to augment, enhance and just plain tweak spells to make them more personal. She'd said that the basic spell was too austere for her tastes. She needed more color and art and decorations, so she crossed the spell with Secret Chest in order to have the same mansion show up each time she conjured it.

Anira has always thought that was 'normal' until the others had pointed out the... difference.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:19, Wed 25 Nov 2020.

"Something had certainly felt off before, but I couldn't exactly explain what it was that felt off." Eomund took a swig from his waterskin before following the others

Saxon blinked for a moment, "You're feeling some kind of Miasma?" He looked absolutely oblivious to the dark feelings. "I remember a place of fire and darkness before. The mountain would often throw rock and fire. The place I remember is not this place but all rivers run, who knows, they may have a fire-spitting mountain here too."

"I've only ever seen it from a distance. The thrown fire and stone strikes and splatters on the land."

"If this is like the place I've been... There will be very bad things the closer we get. Spirits of air and stone, and not the kind kind." He closed his eyes but the glow of his ember eyes nightlighted through. "But that place did not have toxic rocks. So this could be entirely new."

"... I could try to break the rocks down to their base components to see if we cant learn mor if you like."

"It's not the rocks themselves that are the problem," Borun answers. "It's what's imbuing them... contaminating them, if you like."

"I wouldn't bring one in here anyway. Never know what kind of problems that might cause. It could contaminate Anira's mansion here."

Once Anira's mansion is conjured again and everyone goes inside, she seals the door. This still allows anyone inside to go out and come back in but nothing else from the outside can get in... supposedly, but with these shadow creatures, no one is sure that will work.

At several times during the night, you can hear something trying to get in through the door, while at other times, you hear creatures on the roof. The mansion seems proof against these creatures... for now. Who knows if that'll hold true if they grow more powerful.

Other than that, the night passes uneventfully. When someone ventures out in the morning, they are not attacked by anything nor are any creatures spotted.

When everyone is ready to move on, Anira dismisses the mansion and the group sets out east once more. The land at the base of the mountains is mostly rolling hills, with scattered rocks, but it's easy travel. As the end of the day approaches, you've crossed two other rivers, though they are really only streams still this close to the mountains, and moved out of the shadow of the mountains onto a small plain. Larger hills are visible across the plain and you manage to reach the junction of three rivers by nightfall.

Once again, Anira summons her mansion, and another night passes uneventfully.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:13, Wed 09 Dec 2020.

This new area is more to Grimfast's liking, though a few more trees would be nice. The mountains didn't bother him too much; it was just that he wasn't familiar with them, and he didn't have the time or opportunity to explore them.

He starts circling the area to see what he can find, mostly a difference between the night before when he did the same before settling in and what's there now. He doesn't really expect to find anything, but you never know.

A few hundred yards to the north, he spots tracks that weren't there the night before. They came from the north, went up to the river, and then disappeared.

He reports back to the others.

"Found some tracks that came from the north, apparently in the night, and disappeared at the river. It was a six-legged creature, cat-like paws, about the size of panther, I'd guess... it could have just waded into the water. Didn't see any signs of hesitation, nor any indication that it jumped," he informs everyone.

"What do you think it means?"

In reply to Grimfast (msg # 105):

Eomund frowns at Grimfast's assessment. "I don't know what sort of creature would have 6 legs. 8 I've seen, and 4 and 2, but never 6. And cat-like paws?" He shuddered at the thought of what sort of beast this was.

"Insects have six legs, so that's not as strange as it sounds," Borun suggests. "And I've only heard of Sauron-touched spiders getting as big as a panther... even bigger!"

"Cat-like paws makes it sound as it was a cat. With six legs. This is a strange land we're in, so who know what we might find."

"It could have leaped over the river. It could have, as you said, simply walked into it. Cats are alpha predators, so there's not much a cat would be afraid of, and probably nothing in the water. I've heard tigers like the water--the only cat that does."

"I'd suggest, before we head out, Grimfast does another look for the tracks around us. I wouldn't want the creature to be stalking us as we move."

In reply to Borun Redbeard (msg # 107):

"Well yes, I knew about insects, but a 6 legged creature with cat-like paws doesn't exactly sound like any creature I know of, unless it was carrying someone."