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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 4:00 am
by Gizmog
Voulton looks around. "Kalar? Lynda? Think they'll be okay?" He doesn't want to leave 'em, but the situation is dire and he doesn't want to die again. This is a good head-start against superior numbers and the wisest move would be to run. There's nothing good to do. "Damnit."
Voulton will follow Rob and Rachelle's judgement, even though Rachelle seems a little out of it.
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 4:07 am
by Master K
Lynda begins to panic slightly. The group is gone. Bugs are surrounding her, as well as Kalar. She's now left to fend for herself. She promptly tries to keep her head together, and begins to form a plan. Nearby, she sees the river. Follow the river, and it should bring her to some sort of civilization. She has enough valuables horded to sustain her, a hat of disguise to normalize her, ethereal abilities, a map of Averoigne, her ranger skills, and her flagrant lying to keep her safe.
"Forgive me Kalar, but I have to run!" Lynda shouts. Even if he didn't hear her, it clears her conscience of the fact she is abandoning her fellow ally.
With some despair, she slips in to the ethereal realm, and flies off to follow the river downstream.
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 4:12 am
by BMR
Desperate times... A sacrifice will be needed, and Kalar would rather it not be him. He grabs Bill's saddlebags and uses his ring to start flying up and towards the river. He presses his holy symbol to himself and and invokes his deity's protection. With luck, Bill will hold the bugs off long enough that he'll be able to escape.
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 4:24 am
by Spoonweaver
Bill began to scratch at the devil bug following Kalar, allowing Kalar to escape. Kalar turned back to see another devil bug join in the fight and some of the ground based bugs shooting what looked to be acid at Bill. Kalar lost sight of Bill was he flew low along the river. He felt his bond with Bill break after a full minute. He was proud that Bill held up so long under that kind of assault. He looked around and saw that he wasn't followed. Lynda saw Kalar flying along the river, much the way she was, from the ethereal plane. What luck.
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 4:31 am
by BMR
Kalar wonders about the others. It's a good thing they got away safely, or at least he hopes that's what happened. But now he has no idea where they are. He fastens Bill's saddlebags to himself as best as he can, and then flies straight up got get a good look at the land. Perhaps he'll spot the others, though he thinks it unlikely. At best though, he'll get an idea as to where to go next.
Kalar considers his next move. Rob must have teleported everyone away, and Lynda has that ability to go ghostly. So by the looks of things, he's alone for now. It doesn't concern him overly much, as he can get in touch with them should the need arise. He's lost all of his minions, so it might be a good idea to get some more as soon as he can. Preferably something that's tougher than the skeletons he's been using. With luck, Hrulgin will still manage to return and evade the bugs long enough to regroup. He trusts Hrulgin to be smart enough to make his own choices, but for now he's not an asset that can be used.
And speaking of assets, he'll need to acquire some more. Kalar has no idea how long he'll be on his own, and getting into combat alone is not something that he looks forward to. Just in case he has to though, he uses his glove to pump himself full of negative energy, knitting his wounds together.
The way he sees things, there are two options. One, regroup with the others. Two, acquire some minions. The first option is attractive, but he has no idea just how far Rob was able to teleport everyone away, and finding them could take days. With that in mind, Kalar resolves to acquire some new creatures under his control. He flies upwards, to at least a thousand feet up where he hopes the bug creatures won't follow. From there, he follows the river south, keeping an eye out for anywhere he might be able to kill and animate a new set of minions.
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 4:32 am
by Master K
Lynda, seeing as it's now safe, decides to emerge from the ethereal plane and become corporeal. She will then try and catch up to Kalar.
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 12:24 pm
by Bob the Hamster
Rob scans the sky back over the river.
"We have a head start now, but we still have to keep running. We aren't all that far away."
He hopes to catch a glimpse of Kalar fleeing before they continue running
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 3:04 pm
by Spoonweaver
As Kalar flies up, he looks back towards the camp. He is thankfully far enough away that the bugs are too small to even see. A quick look around and Kalar spots Lynda.
Rob looks over towards the river. There are a number of rock formations between the river and Rob. If Kalar was a bit closer or if Rob was a better scout, Rob might have spotted him. However, Rob only saw clouds and sky.
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 3:43 pm
by Bob the Hamster
"Let's backtrack the same route we took to get here in the first place." Rob suggests. "I am hoping that if Kalar made it out of there.. Um... 'Alive'... that he will go that way too... And if I guess wrong, maybe he will contact us with that sending spell of his tomorrow"
Rob starts riding, hoping the others will follow his lead.
His stomach feels sick as he thinks of that poor kid Arden. He may have only been a ghost, but Rob feels terrible for leaving him behind-- of course they left Kalar behind too, but Kalar has a fighting chance.
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 6:34 pm
by Spoonweaver
Lynda and Kalar didn't speak much as they traveled. They had both felt so powerful before the fight, but now they were fleeing. The shame weighed heavily on them both.
Rachelle felt both angry and disappointed at the outcome of the battle. For a moment, she thought she felt the disappointment coming from her staff. In that moment, a clear thought came to her, "Two more battles need to be won." She wasn't sure the exact meaning and it didn't come to her again after that. Rob slowly trotted ahead on Stumpy as Rachelle and Voulton walked behind. The nearest town was quite a few days away at this pace. They hoped to hear that Lynda and Kalar were safe soon.
Meanwhile
Hrulgin emerged from the well leading to the portal to the Ghoul Lands. He led a group of ghouls towards the exit of the ruins where he met Arden's ghost. There he saw the camp overrun with the bug-like creatures. Arden explained how there had been no sign of the others since the bugs came. Hrulgin, understanding the threat, quickly drew up plans to collapse the four entrances to the dungeon.
Galse was doing great. The people of the kingdom had never tasted anything like his cooking. They were also starved for culture, which Galse was also providing them. Having not experienced the werewolf plague that had once swept the kingdom, the people also had little problem with the misbehaving children that Tammy was taking care of. Though she made a point to hide them when they transformed, they gained very little attention otherwise. Tammy also made time to care for her comatose friend, Thistlewhistle. She had still not lost hope that one day she would wake up from her magical slumber.
Back at the silver dragon's lair, Dan stood over a scrying pool. "This isn't good." Dan had added the three artifacts tot he dragon's horde with care and had gone about checking on a number of things. One of those things was what he was looking at in his scrying pool now. "I didn't think they would get this far," Dan said as he watched the green man lose his head yet again. "We'll have a real problem if they make it out."
"Don't worry so much," the dragon boomed. "They are a weak group and are unlikely to make it through. I doubt the artifacts will be reset during this cycle. We will still have time to make our attempt at the tomb."
Elsewhere, a grim meeting was taking place. A tall man with a fierce looking spiked chain was leaning against a tree as three men on horses rode nearby. One of the horsemen took out a scroll and handed it to the tall man. "These are your orders, straight from Azedarc," the lead horseman said. The tall man didn't take the time to read the scroll, but instead stuck the unopened scroll straight into his belt. "Let him know that after this, we're even," the tall man said. The horsemen looked angry at the rude tone of his remark, but their response was cut short as the tall man readied his spiked chain. "I'll never understand why he always sends so many of you to deliver a message. Messages only need a single carrier," the tall man said with a sinister tone.
The now split group traveled on. They had both aimed towards the fishing town they had passed in the night. If they would they survive until then is something that remained to be seen.
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 1:14 am
by BMR
Kalar intends to fly through most of the day, not stopping to eat or rest as he has no need for such things. He remembers though, that perhaps Lynda still needs a breather.
"Lynda, how are you doing? I can keep traveling indefinitely, but should you need a rest, we can set down to take a break."
And if they do, Kalar will keep an eye out for any woodland creatures that he might be able to kill.
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 1:22 am
by Master K
"I'm fine, a bit shaken up considering the recent events." Lynda replies. "If night falls and we're still not to a town, then I guess we'll have to stop."
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 1:27 am
by BMR
"Very well. But I would rather it be somewhere that's secluded. A cave perhaps, or up a tall tree. We're rather exposed here. You can sleep through the night, I'll keep watch and work on a magic item or something similar."
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 1:38 am
by Gizmog
Voulton risks a stop or two along the way to knock down a tree, hoping to provide a trail for the others to follow but worried about leaving a trail for the bugs to follow: Hence his caution in not doing it too often.
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 2:20 am
by Spoonweaver
The party traveled towards the nearest town. Rachelle, Voulton, and Rob had lost hopes of spotting Kalar or Lynda any time soon. They hoped the two had escaped and assumed they would head towards the nearest town too. They soon came came tot he edge of a light forested area where Voulton began to chop down trees. Impressively, he was able to slice through most of them in one or two swings. Rachelle and Rob figured it was best to let him. It wasn't slowing them down too much and they knew how fond he was of chopping down trees. As the day went on, the only wild life the three ran into that could be considered even slightly dangerous was a bobcat, which left them alone. Day was turning to night and the three were getting tired. However, it was at this point that they noticed they had left most of their camping gear behind.
Lynda and Kalar flew all day. They didn't spot any big animals at all as they zipped by over the river. They were making good time as their magical flight allowed them to keep a study and fast pace the whole day. As night began to fall, Kalar brought up how Lynda should inform Kalar when she gets tired. Lynda felt fine.