Haazheel plops himself down (making himslef a smaller target) and points two finger at the flying Harpy. He intones

These two missiles flying go,
Helping lay the harpy low!

15:01, Today: Haazheel Thorn rolled 7 using 2d4 with rolls of 4,3.  MM. 9 Damage

Mystique flies out of the way.

Bruised by Mask and dazed by the song / counter song, Narthian takes a moment to figure out what's going on when the net lands on him and several dwarves. He reflexively tugs at it before coming to his senses. "Don't struggle! Hold it tight! Use your daggers to cut free!" He draws his own dagger and starts cutting. "Thunder! Defend Dellas!"

With a sharp curse at the pain, Dante reins Mask in and draws an arrow, firing at one of the harpies still singing.


07:27, Today: Averdante rolled 19 using 1d20+8.  shooting at harpy.
07:28, Today: Averdante rolled 6 using 1d8.  possible damage.

Dellas looks surprised from the bump and the music whose call a moment before seemed to dim in comparison to the chant of the dwarf. As he took stock of the situation about him he noticed the harpies above sitting on the cliffs edge. With a smile he began an incantation, tracing an arcane rune with his free hand a small smolder ball began to appear in the air before him. As he finished the incantation the ball streaked towards the harpies and with an explosion burst into a ball fire expanding outwards engulfing all of them in flames, a wicked smile crosses Dellas's face.


OOC: Cast Fireball,

10:50, Today: Dellas Nump rolled 21 using 5d6 with rolls of 6,5,3,2,5.  DC 17 Ref for Half.

Lantamori's arrow slides in between the harpy's ribs, making her shriek and gurgle with her devastatingly accurate and deadly strike!



Focusing his fire, Haazheel's magical bolts blast the harpy that Lantamori had hit, making her scrape along the canyon wall as she loses her balance!



Narthian, Volsh, and the dwarves draw their knives and begin to cut the entangling strands of the net, made easier by the fact that the harpies cannot control the trailing ropes, as they are under attack!  In a few moments, they will be free.



Averdante targets the same harpy as the others, and succeeds in bringing one of them down!



The fireball explodes with vigor, badly singing the other sword-bearing harpy, while the one with metal claws evades the effects with a grace that Lantamori recognizes from her own training in dexterity.

Stonesinger switches his song to one of courage, inspiring the others to greater feats of skill and might.

OOC:  Inspire Courage - +1 on saves vs charm and fear, +1 to attack and damage rolls.

The remaining dwarves dart forward and interlock their shields over those in the nets, protecting them from attack.

Bruenor can bend his longbow against the lofted foes, and manages to strike the sword-bearing harpy hard - she will not be long for this world!

Farian moves over to Averdante and raises her hand to heal him, Pelor's bright light easing his aches.  ]

Sir Aberlayne grabs her throwing axe and charges forward, hurling it from below when she is as close as she can.  The axe finishes what Dellas and Bruenor started, and the second harpy falls.

The last harpy, unwounded but clearly outnumbered and her best weapon negated, flees into the thick cover of the trees and bushes atop the steep canyon wall, cursing you all in Common, Orc, and Dwarven that your tongues should wither and your hearts turn to dust.



Below, things are now blessedly quiet and free of enchanting song...

"Thank you!" Narthian says to all to participated in protected them from the harpy threat. "Of the two forms of entrapment, I think that I prefer the net!"

Lantamori watched the creature fly off to ensure it's departure before carefully making her way back to the wagons.

Bruenor slings his bow back over his shoulder, and shakes his head...ensuring whatever enchantment had hold of him was well and truly gone.

"Bloody hell, these woods are full of evil and magic!"  He says the two together almost as if they are synonymous.

"Everyone ok?" he asks, glancing back at the party.

Haazheel picks himself up, dusts himself off, and is ready to proceed. He thanks those who roused him.

"I am ready... but I wonder if the harpies are allied with the druid or if this was a chance encounter?"

"Thank you, Farian," Dante tells the priest with a nod. And then pauses, because this is the first time he's really had a good look at the new, altered Farian. The armor definitely doesn't fit as it should, given the diminished breadth of her shoulders. Having just had the benefit of a healing prayer though, it seems polite to not say anything about the matter, just then. "I'll get back to the wagons and keep watch."

Turning Mask around, he calls silently to Prreet.

Aloud, he tells Narthian, "I hope they weren't allied, but if he did set them to delay us, moving out quickly is to our benefit."

Moving Mask clear of the others, he nudges the pale horse into a trot back to where he can keep watch while the others walk back and get animals saddled and harnessed to move out.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:23, Wed 24 Apr 2019.

"Can we eat that bear for breakfast?" Lantamori asked, emerging from the undergrowth to the wagons.  They were still a ways from the fort and needed to eat something before the dwarves starved to death.  Probably would have been a better idea the night before, but she'd been too tired to think of it.

Narthian nods agreement to Averdante before responding to Lantamori. "It is the law of nature to consume the dead. But the buzzards also must eat. Let's share our rations and hurry on!"

Haazheel makes use of his book learning [general knowledge confirmed by Google]. Bear meat is edible, perhaps even quite good depending on diet. It must be cooked until well done; otherwise, you may get infected with parasites.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:43, Wed 24 Apr 2019.

"If we have the time. We can likely carve up some of it and cook it. But Do we want to delay returning to the Fort. Everything seems to be against us. And if that Druid is still out there he could prove a problem. And of the other group that the Trolls went with? Perhaps we should see if they have returned as well?"

Dellas remarked, his lack of wanting to cook and hurry back may be concerning to others, but perhaps he is seeing the practicality of the situation at hand. He returned to the camp where he gathered up his remaining belongings as he stared at the corpse of the bear, it had already started to stink but perhaps it would still be good if they cut deep enough. And a fire would be easy enough to build he thought to himself. He turned to look at the others to see what they thought.

"That bear is either the druid or its companion, Dellas.  Eating the first would be wrong, and eating the second... how would you like it if someone ate Visk?  Either way...  Stonesinger and his people need to discharge their duty, and as we do ours.  If there is time, we can come back later, though I think likely there won't be," Sir Aberlayne says in response to her brother's question.

Those examining the bodies of the fallen harpies can find two shortswords of fine make, one with a grip of silver carved to look like an octopus, the other with a hilt carved to look like roses, with tiny garnets tucked amongst the “petals.”  They have three dead wood pigeons amongst them, two leather belts and scabbards that are in good shape underneath the dirt and blood, two belt pouches that have about twenty platinum coins between them.  Both also have armbands with shards of obsidian tucked amongst the woven threads.  Anyone examining the items with magic finds that only the armbands have a faint dusting of magic about them.

Stonesinger considers Narthian’s words.  “I’m hoping this had nothing to do with the druid, but I fear it did.  If we’d been a little less wary, it would have been easy to lure us into a rockfall or a bigger ambush.  I’m not as familiar with nature magic, but I wouldn’t count the druid dead unless we can see his corpse.”  He shakes his head.  “Maybe the druid is in cahoots with something under Smoke Peak, but that’s none of our concern for the next few days.  Let’s get ourselves back to the fort before something else decides to happen.”

Dellas shrugs at Aberlayne "Suppose your right Sis. I wouldn't want anyone eating Vish either. Besides I'm not sure all the sweets I feed him would do anyone well." he says with a grin.

The thought that the dead bear might be the evil druid was enough to make Dante shudder. "We shouldn't do anything to the bear -- unless there's something that can be done quickly to prevent him from resurrecting it. Otherwise, let's get moving. Delaying here could give him time to summon more shadows."

Moving Mask to the front, Dante maintained watch on the mountainsides and skies, impatient for the others to mount up and get moving.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:06, Sat 27 Apr 2019.

"Is not the rumor that a dragon sleeps beneath that mountain?" Narthian says to the Stonesinger. "That would be a foul pairing indeed. Averdante, I think that the Great Bear was our enemy's companion. Even if we burned it to ash, our enemy could call another. Regardless, if the Great Bear returns, leave it to me. I am more ready today for such a meeting than I was yesterday." He breaks out his rations, sharing what he has with the dwarves (up to 4 of them). As the others prepare the wagons, he forages nearby for fresh berries. He leaves it to the others to collect the harpy treasure.

Lantamori was disappointed they couldn't eat the bear.  She'd run out of her two days of rations on the way out.  She wasn't looking forward to fasting another two days back.

Reluctantly, she saddled Cloud and took up her position at the back of the train.

Haazheel suddenly remembers I have no rations, and we are short. We'd better make time to make use of the bear.

With some of the party short on rations, and the dwarves being right out, with a full day or more's travel between you and safety, the group can take an hour to butcher meat from the bear, gaining a hide, teeth, and claws as trophies or trade goods as well as food for several days.

You can travel another eight hours before you're forced to stop for the night, camping in twilight with a keen watch out.  The night is quiet, and you rise with a morning serenade no more sinister than normal birdsong

You can travel the rest of the day, wary but seemingly unfollowed and unmolested, and arrive back at the gates of Fort Cross a couple hours before sunset.  You are greeted professionally, but with obvious relief and cheer.  The dwarves at lead off to get food, drink, and sleep, while the boars are seen by the stablemaster and given a generous ration of food.  Master Deyna looks overjoyed at your return, perhaps mostly because her caravan can get back on the road again, but she also seems happy to see her guards alive.  Though the tribute is missing a few coffers, the majority of it is there, and “most” delivered a little late is better than “all” delivered extremely late.

You can rest and eat yourselves, and are joined towards the end of the meal by Commander Brighthearth.

“You’ve gone above and beyond, according to Stonesinger,” he says without preamble.  “We’re getting a second crew ready to go out and track the druid, if he still lives, and any allies he might have; they’ll try to find missing coffers too.  The Troll Hunters have had some luck as well, so we should have this back to a dull roar by your return trip.  Well done, and may the gods bless you on your journey.”

Bruenor felt his shoulders relax as they make the fort entrance.  He was grateful for a gate and strong walls between him and the druids, shadows, and whatnot out there.

After seeing that Demon was taken care of...the horse would need to hunt soon...he adjourns with any of the others who were heading in for a hot meal and some drink.

He nods at the Commander, and says, "Glad we could be of service.  Please warn your crew to be ready for that bloody druid's tricks and spells.  He or she's a bad sort."

Narthian is relieved to not have a second battle with the druid. Once back in a safe place, he examines the broken charm and empty gourds first. He suspects that they belonged to the druid and could provide clues to the tricks that the hunters are likely to face. Once he provides what information he can, he helps examine the remaining items.

He can use Detect Magic for up to 6 minutes to find and identify auras.

Also, if no one objects, Narthian splits the three wood pigeons between Thunder and wizards' familiars. A small treat for the wolf, a great meal for the weasel and bird of prey.