Athas Claims Another

12/08/2013

9, Sedulous, Dragon's Agitation, 190th Kings Age

Everyone quickly turned around and saw a five foot sand colored snake, that had bitten Tubaloth's leg. They looked around and realized they had inadvertently wandered into a nest of snakes.

Fenuku and Jabrek were also quickly bit, as the rest of the group rushed to their defense. Ren began stomping on the snakes, Aziza slashed them with her tortoise blades, Yaotl hacked at them with him scimitar, Alroy had no weapon, but he stepped in front of Arabella and Basheera. Fenuku, Gahiji, Tubaloth, and Jabrek all attacked with their spears, with varying degrees of success.

The snakes were quickly killed, but those who had been bitten were sweating profusely and looked pale.

"They've been poisoned." Yaotl quickly surmised.
Cyrus quickly used his magic to purge the poison from Fenuku and Jabrek, but could not cast it a third time. Yaotl cast slow poison on Tubaloth, to by more time and then, got to work. Yaotl laid Tubaloth down and began working on him using only his healing knowledge. After an hour of work, Yaotl had done all he could. The group put Tubaloth on their empty pack kank. Yaotl skinned the dead snakes and then the group moved on.

The group walked for another few hours, then found a nice defensible position to sleep for the night. Ren kept watch. An hour into his watch, the moons disappeared. He quickly woke Aziza, Cyrus, and Yaotl. They all looked around, confused. Ren, with his heat sight, saw the entire sky light up with heat and he could see movement. Then, he knew what it was.
"Cloud ray!" Ren shouted. "Get against the rocks!"

Everyone did as Ren commanded. The cloud ray hovered above them, it's mouth open. Aziza shot it with a magic missile.
"Cyrus, get us out of here!" Aziza ordered.

Cyrus used clairvoyance to see the top of the creature. There was a small crevice in the rocks and Yaotl shoved Basheera inside of it. He then covered her with his own body. The cloud rays tail lashed out, creating a deafening crack that sounded like thunder. Cyrus then teleported on top of the cloud ray.
"Cyrus, " Aziza shouted, "You coward!"
Fenuku was impailed by the barbs on the cloud rays tail and was pulled into the sky. Everyone was shocked and Gahiji fled in terror. Cyrus began hitting the cloud ray in its eye with his morningstar and the cloud ray certainly noticed. Aziza was shooting the cloud ray with her bow. Ren stopped using accelerate and instead attacked the beast with his mind.
Rens initial mental assault was a success and he shouted, "Everyone, attack it's mind!"

Everyone in the group, except Cyrus and Gahiji, entered the mindscape and began assaulting its defenses. The cloud ray lashed out with its tail and ripped into Cyrus, wounding him badly. Cyrus kept his footing and, despite the pain, continued hitting the cloud rays eyes. Blood poured from Cyrus' wound, but he refused to give up.

Tubaloth, Jabrek, Alroy, Arabella, and Basheera quickly ran out of PSPs and exited the mindscape. Yaotl, Aziza, and Ren continued their assault. Yaotl cracked open the beasts mind, but did not have enough PSPs to strike it with any power. Yaotl exited the mindscape.

The cloud ray turned and began moving away, seeking to find easier prey. Cyrus lost his footing and began sliding down the creatures body. Aziza and Ren kept harassing the cloud ray in the mindscape, until it was out of range. Cyrus teleported to avoid falling off the creature and plummeting to his death.

Cyrus' wounds were quickly seen to and the group mourned the loss of Fenuku. Gahiji, Jabrek, Basheera, and Tubaloth were , of course, the most distraught. After awhile, everyone went pack to sleep, except Ren.

10, Sedulous, Dragon's Agitation, 190th Kings Age
A few hours later, Ren heard a rumbling that sounded like distant thunder. It was rhythmic, however and he knew it was the foot falls of a large creature. Aziza and Cyrus were awoken. Ren crept closer to look out from their hiding place to see what sort of creature it was. Aziza saw what a terrible job Ren was doing at hiding and quickly turned him invisible.

Ren was frozen with fright, when we saw the monster that was walking toward them. It was a huge beast, with six legs, and gray scales covering its entire body. The four rear legs were large round pads, while the two front legs had claws as long as sword blades. The face was out of a nightmare, with long, dirty fangs and glowing red eyes. Its nose was similar to a vestigial horn, and it had small rounded ears.

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

Ren decided not to attack it as it walked by. Aziza and Cyrus went back to sleep.

In the morning, the group set out to find water. Ren was still invisible and it took the group a little while to find him. Then, they set off into the rocky badlands.

The morning was hot, but uneventful. They march in solemn silence until the heat of high sun forced them to seek shade. As they were hiding a sand storm kicked up and threatened to stop their travels for the day. Cyrus decided to just teleport himself and a couple of the non-combatants to the unnamed village.

Everyone agreed that it was a good idea. Cyrus wanted to take Basheer and Arabella, but Basheera refused to leave Yaotl behind. It was agreed that Arabella and Gahiji would be teleported instead. Cyrus took their hands and disappeared with a pop.

They appear in a sandy waste, which is not where Cyrus was hoping to teleport. The sun was beating down on them from above. In the distance was a ruined city. The silt sea had claimed part of the city. Cyrus was too low on PSPs to teleport them away. Seeing no other option for escaping the sun, the group walked to the ruined city walls.

Don't worry, nothing is ever lurking around runined cities.

On the way, Cyrus saw movement from with in. The reached the city walls and stood in the shade. He needed to rest for three hours to regain enough psionic strength to teleport all of them away. After an hour of waiting, a small group of cloaked figures came out of the ruins and approached Cyrus' group.
"What are you doing here?" The cloaked figure asked aggressively.

"We are simply passing through. We will be gone soon." Cyrus answered.

The cloaked figure seemed upset at his argument, "You are not welcome."

Cyrus quickly grew impatient, "As I said, he are only passing through and will soon be gone."

Cyrus gripped his obsidian orb and placed his conical hat upon his head. The cloaked figures seemed uneasy upon seeing his hat. Two of the cloaked figures kept their datchi clubs at the ready.

Cyrus looked at one of the datchi club weilders and commanded him, "Surrender!"

The cloaked figure failed to resist the magic, dropped his weapon, and held up his hands. Cyrus could see that his hands were covered in scales. He quickly surmised that the creatures were not human. Arabella and Gahiji stood close to Cyrus, who seemed very confident and unafraid.

The cloaked one who was doing all the talking continued, "Yes, forgive my manner, great one. You are most welcome here. Perhaps you would like some water, or food?"

Cyrus shook his head, "No. I will be leaving soon."

The cloaked figure bowed, the one you had surrendered picked up his weapon, and the group departed back into the ruined city.

If you can't trust a mysterious cloaked figure, who can you trust?

"What were they?" Gahiji asked.

Cyrus watched the creatures leave, "I don't know."

Meanwhile, the sandstorm was beginning to abate. Ren, Yaotl, and Aziza were wondering why Cyrus wasn't back yet. The decided that if the sandstorm ended before Cyrus was back, they would be forced to move on without him.

An hour later, a dozen cloaked figures emerge from the ruins and approach Cyrus' group. Two of them are mounted on strange creatures that look like a cross between a giant spider and a giant ant. One of them stepped forward and removed their hood.

The individual had human proportions, but appeared to be some sort of lizard person, with dark sandy colored scales and the facial features of a wyvern. It smiled.

"Hello and welcome. You are to be guests here." It began.

Cyrus sighed, annoyed, "No, thank you. We will soon be leaving."

"I'm afraid we must insist."

The cloaked figures moved closer. Cyrus cast whirlpool of doom and five of the cloaked figure began being pulled into the ground. Six of the cloaked figures rushed forward to attack and the cloaked figure, who had been doing the talking, used magic to dispel the whirlpool.

Arabella grabbed Cyrus' morningstar and held it in front of her. Gahiji pointed his spear forward, ready to attack as well. The cloaked warriors rushed forward and sliced Arabella across the stomach with a bone falchion. She collapsed, unconscious, but not dead. Gahiji managed to strike of the creatures, but was quickly knocked unconscious as well. Two of the creatures fired arrows at Cyrus, but the shield from his obsidian orb deflected them. The warriors that struck at him with falchions fared no better against the shield.

Cyrus called sand warriors to aid him and they rushed to attack the other caster. Some of the warriors engaged the sand warriors and some of them struck the caster. The caster dispelled them, before they could do anymore damage. Arabella and Gahiji were dragged away by two of the creatures, while Cyrus continued to fight. The creatures beat on his shield, but could not get through it to strike him directly.

Cyrus attempted to fill the casters lungs with water, but it had no effect. The caster attempted to cast a holding spell on Cyrus, but it had no effect.

Cyrus looked at the creatures beating on his magic shield and saw Gahiji's and Arabella's unconscious forms being dragged away. He knew that, even though he was invincible, there was very little likely hood of rescuing the two captives. Since he had enough PSPs to teleport himself there was no reason to wait around any longer.

Cyrus disappeared with a loud pop.