Dragonieri Rustlings

Good news, everyone!

The Twin Hearts Grove, a Druidic Grove on the border of Dragonier's mountains, seems to have put out a call to Alexandria for assistance. Indeed, the Dragonieri there have been waging a war on the wights and restoring those they can with druidic magic, but it's been a slow process of reclaiming people and territory lost to the life draining monstrosities that were spawned in the wake of Heth's rise.

You are travelling there, just over the mountains, in the mist and clouds for your own safety, upon an airship called the Sunny Day and moving slowly.

But you will, at least, be there soon. Still, it's giving you the chance to get acquainted with your fellows.

There's a half-ourch sitting far from the sides of the ship looking a bit the worse for wear. "Why did they not tell us about the ship?" He asks the question mournfully and seems to be quite queasy at the passage of the clouds around their airship. Razen knows at least some of the people here, but he's only offered a brief nod to those he doesn't. It's the fact that they're way too far above the earth supported only by things far beyond his ken. "I would rather have walked."

Erakirak , on the other hand, is watching the mists drift by with delight. Or, well, watching the mountains drift by through the mists, which his eyes are well suited for seeing through. "That would take a long time."

Sitting towards the middle of the ship is the huge armored Ork. His blackened plate hosting pyramid-like spikes and a host of cruel weapons. One of which, a curved massive two handed blade, he is slowly polishing and checking for defects. This he only pauses in to take long swills of whatever liquor the ship had in its stores. Being a seven foot armored monster allowing him to sort and pick from the ship's larder to his desire. He snorts and laugh's at Razen's comment.

"Oy." Baz says in reply. "Enjoy da ride, one time I was on one of dese and had ta hike back from Skald. Long, long walk, dis bettah on de feets."

Darius, the tall and stock mercenary warrior, steps onto the deck and says to Razen, "Oh come now, after being jailed and tortured in a Charnian dungeon, this should be nothing." He glances around, nodding to everyone else he knows or has a passing acquaintance with.

"I would rather have rode," comes the growling answer from the armored female, Korra-- helm at her side, struggling through various shades of grren, she groans as she focuses squarely upon the horizon. "Four hooves and fierce winds. Even the oceans do not shake so ominously!

Erakirak blinks in surprise. "You were a prisoner of the Charneth?" he asks Razen. "That's awful!"

Laughing at Baz with the 'splat' comment, she shakes her head, "Ya jus' thinkin' tha'." She comments and then notes, "Wha' if we be above ta water? Or ya slide jus' right down a mountain or in ta some farmer shit?" And then Dax shakes her head, "At least when ya proper sailin' ya know wha' ya gettin' inta." She looks to Baz, and nods her head, and then takes a look at her claws, and she checks to make sure her bow is still with her, but that's really all the gear she's got. And a satchel, with some supplies, and a wineskin no doubt.

Erakirak looks back and forth between the others, and shrugs. "Don't worry. If anyone falls overboard, I'll catch you."

Razen glances at Darius and shakes his head. "They did not torture me with dropping me from untold heights." He shakes his head again and flashes a grateful look at Erakirak. "I was indeed, but I am here now, and will be grateful for your aid if this thing falls out of the sky."

Speaking of dropping from untold heights, as you near your destination, the airship begins its descent!

Down, down, down...

Down towards the end of the mists as you begin to hover over the trees instead of a large looking forest, with trees too tall to have grown at a natural pace given the stories of devastation you've heard from Dragonier.

Still, the Twin Hearts Grove is definitely a larger forest.

"Right. We're gonna putcha in the baskets," says a sailor, "and lower you down. It'll take a bit of time, but..."

Seriously, they're rigging baskets to rope -- they sway in the wind on the way down uncomfortably -- and begin lowering everyone down, one by one as they said, through to the edge of the treeline here on a slope down from the mountains.

It's fun.

(It's not really fun.)

There's a grin from Baz as he shifts slowly, putting away the axe and drawing a small wooden pole from his pack. He takes a few moments to tie a makeshift flag to it. The dirty blue cloth having a brown and red painted Ork skull, much like the design of his helmet, on it. Then he thunks the pole into a groove in his armor and the home-made flag flaps in the wind over his shoulder. "Me daughters got me a banner." The big Ork remarks proudly, jerking his thumb up at it. Then he snorts at Dax. "Oy, get over it, yer heah now. Stop be'in the land lubber on yer ship, eh? I bet dey all sniker'n at you like you snicker at dem that can't get their sea legs." Slowly the Ork rotates his head over to grin at Erakirak. His likely quarter ton form with equipment rattling as his laughs.

"Oy, you catch me bird man? Dat may be worth tak'n a jump off ta see. I wonder if Kor would let me in if I died dat way, Hah!" Then the Ork is drawn up quiet as he's told he's going to need to be lowered down in a basket. "Wot?" Is all he manages.

Darius isn't too pleased, but he's too professional to complain about it, if this is the way to get to where they are going then so be it. It's not that bad... ok, not HORRIBLY bad, but Darius is a little rubber legged after getting out of the basket.

Erakirak forgoes the baskets and flies down under his own power. And is only a LITTLE smug about it. Well, OK, no, he's very smug about it.

Razen has no choice but to go down in the basket, but he's not happy about it. Not on the way down, and not when he's stumbling out of it looking an odd color for a half-ourch. He glares at Erakirak. "Traitor." He mumbles to himself, and wipes the sweat from his brow.

"Not my fault Walkers can't fly," Rak mutters.

The downward motion is the part where Dax grabs ahold of a nearby mast, or large ork type person to ground herself. Then she gets a little more comfortable with the descent and balances easily enough. She responds to Baz, about the question of the basket, with a movement of her hand and then hitting her breastplate. She chuckles, "Splat." And then she's headed to the side of the ship, waiting for someone to come by with a basket, one of the few times being a small human is worth it. Though on the way down the wind does make her grab hold of the basket's edges a bit more, she's more easily knocked about too because of her lack of size.

Calling up towards the ship as she's lowered, "I hope we get ta ride a real ship on ta way back!" And with a quick jostle of the rope, it quiets Dax down enough because she's got to hold on that much tighter. "Man bird, ya didn't even offer a carry!" Calling out at the gliding Rak.

Jaen trades mast for basket. At first, leaving the flying ship is a very good idea... until he's in a swaying basket. Suddenly, the ship seems much more solid and stable. He clutches on for dear life, envious of those who -were- born with wings.

"Oh, sorry," Rak says to Dax. "I can fly you back up and then back down, if you like?" It's likely he's not serious.

Iskandar 's knuckles are white as he grips the side of a basket. "Are you sure this the best way down?" he queries before dropping down out of sight. "The stories I've heard - disposable wings, rings that make you float down like a feather. It makes airship travel seem so much more heroic."

"Well, my girlf--" Rak looks over at Baz and swallows the rest of the word. "A friend of mine uses a Feather Fall spell for things like that. It works pretty well."

"I think I might prefer a magic ring or spell to that basket." Razen glances around for where they are supposed to go. Anyone that knows him knows that that's saying something for the half-oruch.

When Dax's basket hits the ground she hops out and then tugs on the rope twice to signal that it's fine to pull it back up. She shakes her head at Rak, calling out to him, "Next time ya better offer sooner! Clip someone's wings, like a chicken." Dax says the second half more quietly as she moves over to help Baz out of his restraints, but then lets him run off to puke all over a doomed tree. Laughing, though it almost doubles her over, "Ya got ta get yer stomach stronger. Jus' spinnin' round an' round an' round." Sighing after the big ork, Dax just moves her tightly braided hair about before grabbing at a stick of jerky and starting to chew on it.

You each feel it in turn. The ground shakes beneath your feet. The crack of splitting wood in the distance.

The trees then part and a... walking... tree passes between them. It stops. Stares. With eyes, of a sort, from a face that appears to have emerged in its trunk.

"WELCOME," It booms.

Darius... simply blinks... just blinks at the walking, talking tree and gapes for a moment. He says to himself, "What... in the Abyssal Planes is THAT?!?!"

Tugging out a wineskin, Baz takes a big pull and swishes the liquor around in his mouth then sprays it on the already besotted tree. Shaking his head he takes another drink, which this time he swallows. Then sets about rechecking his gear. "Oy, Orks not meant to swing around. Orks meant ta do the swinging." Baz replies to Dax and snorts a few times before he slaps his helmet over his head, the stylized faceplate up letting him take another pull on his wineskin. He turns slowly and then looks up at the tree when it booms it's greeting. "Oy, not talk'n trees again."

"SWEET MOTHER OF ANGORON!" Razen jumps back from the talking tree with one hand flying to a weapon and staring at the thing with undisguised surprise. His next words echo Darius's exactly. "What is that?!?"

Erakirak jumps into the air as the ground starts to shake, his wings flapping furiously, and never comes back down, staying ten feet or so above the ground. Then he identifies the tree, and settles back down, apparently unfazed by it. "Thank you," he tells the tree. "So... how can we help?"

The laughing continues from Dax as she's practically snorting and then the ground starts shaking. Dax, smiling, flicks her claws out and prepares for... lumberjacking? She seems confused, squinting a long moment, and then tilts her head, squinting some more. Taking one hand she slaps herself against her right cheek, and she blinks, "By Rada, did they spike the drinks..." And when Baz says something about these being talking trees, again, she looks around. Wide-eyed, and worried looking like everyone's drugged, "This be forest witches, ain't it?" And she slumps her shoulders, "Why is it every where I go there be witches?!" She folds back her claws, and pulls out her wineskin, downing a good few gulps before closing it back up.

Iskandar tilts his head back to look. "At least it's friendly," he murmurs. Welcoming counts as friendly, right? "Although I'm starting to wonder why they need -our- help."

"I am here to guide you and explain to you your mission. Come, o' creatures of flesh and bone, there is much to be done."

He turns, leading through the forest. Presumably, you follow him and find yourself soon deeper within the trees.... following a trail which seems to magically appear for the treant and no one else.

You wouldn't want to wander off the path.

This takes an hour, perhaps, but soon you're emerging into a clearing in which sits a rather large... well, perhaps the best thing to call it would be a 'heart'. It certainly looks like a human heart, if you've had the occasion to see one for some reason, but made of gears and cogs and metal.

It seems still at the moment but there's a potent sense of wrongness about it.

"Some like you located this in one of our farms water supplies. It was tainting the water and calling the wights to itself. We believe we can use it as a trap to lure out more of the undead and perhaps who even made it."

Erakirak nods. "I was one of the ones who found it," he observes. "It was pretty disgusting."

Dax follows along after the Treant though quite a bit of a ways back. Maybe even protecting the 'rear' of the group as she goes. There's a lot of magic, and she doesn't really understand much of that world. Looking over at Rak, and then to the giant mechanical heart, "This 'ere drains water, an' summons undead?" She questions, "Why don't we jus' rip it apart?"

After the march Baz seems none the worse for wear, at least until he's brought before the 'heart'. "Oy." The big Ork intones. "Dats some dark magic. I can feel dat evil in me bladder." Shifting on his feet he moves to the edge of the area so he does not need to stand near the device. His own clerical aura reacting poorly to its presence.

Razen follows the tree with some trepidation, and then stares at the weird heart-shaped thing with even more. "Then it sounds as though we should stand here and kill all the undead we can get our hands on!"

"Well. I'll skip the standing here part," Rak says, "but right there with you on the killing the undead. Or, well, destroying them, anyway." He draws a longbow.

"It calls undead. It poisons water. It entered one of these pumps and came out the other, made into a toxic that would seep into the earth and poison it. WE wish to find the maker and end him. A wight this intelligent can't be allowed to remain embedded within Heth's forces," rumbles the talking tree, it's voice punctuated with sharp snaps of cracking timber.

"But gathering the local wights that harass our farms and ending them, that is good too."

"If it's that smart, it's probably not dumb enough to just walk into a trap," Rak observes.

Razen tips his head. "Destroying it sounds good, but maybe after we use it as a trap. Then this smart undead will have to make another or something." He's not so good with plans, but he's clearly trying.

Iskandar squints at the contraption. "You think this was made by one of the undead?" He walks in a slow circle around it. "If it was left in your lands, perhaps the creator will return to see how well it works." He reached out a hand as if to touch it.

Darius just draws his greatsword, "I don't care HOW we do it, just get them here so that we can END THIS!"

As the words get flung about with this and that, and mechanical bits. Dax is just shaking her head, "Why don't we jus' destroy it, then track down ta fella who made it, an' kill'em too?" She wonders and reaches up to her head and scratches at the side of her head, making her braids bounce about against her armor, "Ya all seem ta kno' wha' it is... ain't sure I'd go ta somethin' I made as a trap." She is confused no doubt, and she shrugs, "Ya all figure it out, an' when ya do, tell me what ta tear apart."

The treant eyes Darius for a moment.

"You humans. So enthusiastic about the bloodshed."

A pause. A long one, then it speaks again: "We do not believe that he will come himself to a trap. We believe he is likely to counter with one of his own, but either way, it is the best option we have aside from destroying it that will allow us to eliminate many wights at once. We will assist you with the might the forest has to offer, but we will need your help. There is a hill within a mile of the end of the forest. We believe that is the best sight for an ambush. We will have you seeds which will help protect you."

Erakirak nods. "You know the area best," he agrees. "Show us the spot and we'll prepare."

Razen knows he's not much with plans at least so he nods his head. "Lead on then!"

Iskandar adjusts his bow and eyes the artifice heart, ready to help move it. "Are wights vulnerable to steel? Or do they have to be struck with enchanted weapons to be harmed?"

Darius glances over at Iskander, "Zombies, die like anything else, just make sure to burn the bodies afterwards so that they don't reanimate to attack again."

"The ones we fought before died from regular weapons," Rak tells Iskandar.

More talking, and Dax walks up toward the contraption, "How we get this thing 'ere movin'?" And she looks at the size of it, and even reaches out to push on it, to see is she can move it. Yes, the human fighter is brash, doesn't know a thing about artificer stuff, and STILL attempts to push on something that summons the undead.

"Wights are vulnerable. They die to steel as any other... again... But their touch is death. You can not let yourself be touched by them. You must prepare whatever you can, however you can, before we bring you the device to stand against them without letting them overwhelm you with their numbers or allowing yourself to be touched by them. Go now to the hill. We will bring you help and then you can prepare."

A trail seems to... blossom before you, the trees parting.

You're expected to follow.

Erakirak follows.

Razen follows as well, trying to think about how to be better armored against the wights. He has his armor at least, and that will protect him from being touched he assumes.

Darius shakes his head, "This is getting more strange by the moment..." He also follows, not liking this whole thing.

Dax has words of wisdom then, when the pushing on the heart doesn't really work very well, "Kill'em 'fore they touch ya." She offers to the rest of the group as she nods her head a few more times. As people start moving to the path, she heads off in that direction as well.

Fabris listens quietly, and then follows. He's gotten good at following that trail.

Moving through the forest isn't difficult, not with the forest itself trying to help you. On the other hand, the entire time you can't help but feel like you're being watched. Probably because you are.

You eventually emerge out the other side, however, and there's a... clear demarcation between the grove itself and the blasted lands of Dragonier, ashen and dead from what you can see ahead of you. While there are signs that life is recovering here, it's like it's been utterly ravaged.

In the distance, you can see the hill mentioned.

Erakirak heads to the hill in question, and starts looking around for a good spot to perch from that lets him fire on the whole field. When he finds somewhere good enough, he flies up to it and waits, bow in hand. Hopefully wraiths don't climb trees.

Razen heads toward the hill in a more mundane fashion, and doesn't seem to mind. He's still clearly deep in thought. The half-ourch checks his gauntlets, tightens the straps on his armor and generally makes sure that he is as covered and ready as possible when he reaches the location where they're going to be set up for this little adventure.

The woods kind of part ways for them. If the big heart contraption needs help being moved, Dax will do so, even if it means dragging the thing with ropes. And then the woods sort of part way into... ravaged landscape with some grassy bits. Looking back, Dax kind of blinks, and then looks forward again into the decimated landscape, "I... jus'..." She pauses and shakes her head, taking another swig of her wineskin instead of thinking about this whole thing.

Darius looks around and then heads to a side of the hill where there is a big rock and stands on it. He looks down at the blasted lands and then says, almost as if to himself, "This... I remember this rock... this.... this is where I played as a very very small boy... I... this near the village where my parents were killed."

Fabris steps forwards, squaring his shoulders at the demarcation. He closes his eyes, opens them, says "Onward!" brightly, and steps to, surveying the terrain.

Iskandar seems a bit subdued at Darius' revelation. It takes him a long time to find the words. Then he gives the warrior a comradery pat on the shoulder. "We'll do our best to avenge them." He hikes up to the top of the hill as well and then peers about. "If we let them surround us we will have no way to fall back...."

To the top of the hill, then, you finally march. It is here that you see the scars of battle of some kind long past. Decades. No bodies, though.

...they got up and walked off, more than likely.

..still, you have a lot of work to do to make this defensible. a hill is a good place to make a stand, especially one that's... growing... thick... hedges and bushes all over it all of a sudden as you stand there.

Seriously, along with young sapling trees that have begun immediately maturing.

God damn druids.

Razen looks around, discomforted by the sudden growth, but comforted to have such a lush land around him. He finds a good... sapling that's quickly becoming a tree to put behind himself and keeps a sharp eye out for wights.

Erakirak continues to perch in a tall branch and wait. Wait for what? Wait for wights.

When they get out of the forest, and Dax hears what Darius says, she shakes her head a little bit, "Not sure why ya would play out 'ere..." Mostly to herself though. Then she keeps moving forward, putting her wineskin away for another moment, and starting to move forward. She has her claws with her but if she's not supposed to get touched, she goes to reach for her bow, but waits for now to unshoulder it. That's when the druids do their work, and Dax stops moving, "Work of devils? Undead?" She questions, hunkering down and getting ready to attack if that's what this means.

Fabris watches it the life bloom, then, in turn, looks for the gaps. After all, there'll have to be a way into the trap. And so, that's where he stands.

The heart hasn't been delivered yet, but no doubt it will soon be.

In the meantime, there are indeed convenient gaps in the tree lines, funnels one could say, and there's a whole lotta vines.

Iskandar takes off his own bow and a handful of arrows. The latter he plants in the ground around where he's standing. "Everyone who has a bow - if we all fire together, at the same targets, we can whittle them down as they draw near.

Darius looks glum and introspective, barely noticing the growth as he looks around, remembering more of his past. He barely acknowledges the comradeship of Iskandar and Dax and then says, "Nothing is left..." He closes his eyes and kneels and for once after a very very long time, tears for his lost childhood and family are shed. It takes him a moment before he digs a hand in the dirt and pulls up a handful. He looks at it and says, "No more, there will be no more death here, once the wights are gone I will help rebuild this land." Then he moves into position, resolved.

"If anyone knows anything about trapmaking, this might be a good opportunity," Rak suggests. He does what he can to make the terrain difficult for the oncoming wights.

GAME: Erakirak rolls survival: (15)+9: 24
GAME: Razen rolls Survival: (15)+10: 25
GAME: Erakirak rolls intelligence: (19)+0: 19

Fabris finds a job -- digging. This is something he can do! Nevermind the dirt, he's a dwarf, and he proudly sets to!

Darius is basically helping by carrying and hauling things for whoever needs it.

Razen works hard digging ditches all around the edge of the area around the heart. He's not sure who came up with this plan, but this is something he's good at. Hard physical labor is right up his alley. It's surprising how much work can get done when one puts this many people and a few minds into it, and by the time they're done Razen is covered in sweat, and dirt, and generally looking very pleased with himself. He has himself set up right at the mouth of the heart-centered glade with his spiked chain looped out. Hoping that it will give him a little range on his attacks.

And there's a montage. Folks dig, and others build traps. There's movement, it's a beautiful thing. Really it is, and Dax is seen in the montage patting Razen on the back and nodding her head. Giving a thumbs up even, and then taking a swig of her wineskin. Later, she's saying, "Looks good." in the montage as things are coming along with others digging, another swig of her wineskin. As Darius is hauling things across the screen, Dax can be seen in the background, wineskin drinking. Someone is sharpening sticks, and yep, Dax is swigging. By the time things are done she's seen tipping her wineskin to show it's empty, and then she tosses it behind her. "So, where ya want me...?"

When you're ready, it seems the trees themselves sensed it. Emerging from the earth is the artifice heart.

It A vine reaches up and adjusts a cog on it that seems to set it into spinning.

It pumps, rhythmically, like a real heart might. Perhaps even in time with your own as you wait. Tension building.

...and then they come. You see them in the distance. Dozens of them.

/Dozens/ coming up the hill.

It's going to be a long night.

The resident of dragonier, long of limb, pallid. Gaunt, dressed in rags or nothing at all. Empty, vacant eyes but for the search hunger that's always present in them.

Undead.

GAME: Dax rolls weapon1: (9)+9: 18
GAME: Dax rolls damage1: aliased to 1D8+0: (8)+0: 8
GAME: Iskandar rolls weapon1: (8)+10: 18

As the wights appear at the far reaches of sight, Dax's eyes get a bit big. She shouts down, destroying any stealth she may have had, "Fer fucks sake... there's a lotta of 'em!" She pulls back her bow, that's not magical, and it's not even build for her strength really, it's just a composite longbow. And the arrow flies through the air and impaling itself right into the Wight.

GAME: Iskandar rolls 1d8+3: (4)+3: 7
GAME: Erakirak casts Entangle. Caster Level: 5 DC: 12

Iskandar draws his own bow, the weapon creaking slightly as he pulls it as far as he can. He sends an arrow sailing out on a shallow arc until it punches into the same wight Dax had previously shot.

Erakirak invokes the spirit of the forest to slow their enemies' advance, and local plant life starts to grab at the wights' limbs.

Razen pulls one of the stakes out of the ground near himself and watches the horde of wights warily. He keeps looking around though. He doesn't want them to get snuck up on.

Fabris hunkers down, watching the advance. He holds a flask in each hand, with more slung at his belt.

GAME: DistractedPool rolls 1d20+5: (17)+5: 22
GAME: DistractedPool rolls 1d8: (7): 7

Immediately, the rows of wights begin to advance, but the earth itself seems to spring up against them, snaring them in vines, slowing their advance against you even further.

Some break through, of course, and begin advancing, but others are definitely...

...rooted.

All the same, it's going to get ugly fast.

-TBC-