Porthca Landing II: Lost & Found

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Evening of the Fourth Day | A few miles outside Porthca

Abrahms

One Thousand Club
Evening of the Fourth Day | A few miles outside Porthca:

Travel, once out of the crowded streets of Porthca, became much easier, especially once the horses managed to not have to deal with the incline and finally made their way to the tops of the cliffs. Looking behind yourselves, you can easily look down at Porthca -- for some of you this was your view not too long ago as you entered the port city, likely not realizing you'd be leaving quite so soon, or perhaps eager to be on the move again.

The clip-clop of the horses hooves is pleasant and soothing in its repetition, still along the paved roads near Porthca though soon enough they will fade into dirt and gravel roads. At one point a fork in the road offers two directions: one further to Wyford and the other to a smaller nearby village of Redale. Keeping in mind the task, the group continues onwards to Wyford, until they end up pulling along to the side of the road to make camp.

Setting up a crude camp, the light begins to fade as the sun sets, leaving only the flickering of your fire to light each person as they sit ... or perhaps there's more? A strange color catches attention off to the side, a vibrant blue that glows across the nearby field...
 
Hearing from Eliza about blue light nearby their camp, Tyrius stood up and looked in the direction Eliza indicated. Seeing the flickering become a vibrant blue glow, Tyrius thought about willowisps, creatures he'd read about in Azarad that caused blue glows.

'Although all my reading said they were in forests or swamps. Not in flat fields.' thought Tyrius to himself.

"I could be wrong," Tyrius said, "but I think those might be willowisps. Only read about them, amazing to see that light display though."
 
There was a loud clattering in the covered wagon as the knight woke with a start at the sounds of speech, and after a few moments he poked out, heading over to rejoin the group. “What’s this about a light?” He turned to look over at the bright lights in the relatively close distance, and squinted at them as he let out a low whistle. “Well. Ain’t that quite the sight?” He thought to himself for a moment before shrugging. “Don't know about no will o' wisps and never saw anythin' like this myself, but I think I heard a thing ‘r two about strange glowin’ lights from a coupla folks I spoke with on my way. Sounded like some sorta tall tale, but I reckon there’s some truth to it.” He shrugged and pulled his shield off his back, strapping it to his arm. “We lookin’ to check it out?”
 
Virra let out a low whistle, turning her head to follow the lights as they drifted in their clusters high above the plains. "Wow. So those are will-o'-wisps, huh?" Her decision was made in a heartbeat; she stood and grabbed her bow. "Well, I'm gonna check them out. Anyone else coming?" she asked cheerily. By her reckoning, her vision was enough to see through any traps that the things might try to lure them into.
 
Eliza chewed her lip, seeing one by one of her group members leave to check out the lights. “Be careful! It might be a trap!” She tried to call after Vira quietly. Hesitating for another minute, she decided she would rather not be left alone and followed the group to the strange glowing lights.
 
Following along with the others heading for the field, Tyrius fancied a good look at the Willowisps. Having only read about them he wanted to see what they looked like up close. As he walked along, looking around but not noticing much but a large field of tall grass, the occasional weed growing up amongst them, Tyrius got an idea.

'Hmm, I moved pretty quickly through the De'Porthca Manor when I tried to get Robern and Joane to their parents.' the sorcerer thought to himself, 'Maybe I should find out how fast I can actually run in such a state.' Seeing Eliza casting a spell and a shimmering magical outline of armor flowing around her suddenly, Tyrius grinned. 'Worst case, I'm running around like a blue arsed fly in a battlefield. Best case, we don't encounter anything and I can find out how fast I can go without stopping.'

Hearing Banrigg saying something about the fireflies, Tyrius cast the spell, feeling his magic flow through him and seeming to hype him up. For a few seconds, it felt like his magic was about to overwhelm him and flow uncontrollably but the feeling of being overwhelmed subsided while the feeling of just standing there being too slow remained.
 
Hearing the muttering around him in the darkness, the knight thought to himself for a second before shrugging. Guess there's not much point in keeping everything a secret, especially if they're things that'll help me out. He clenched his right hand tightly and muttered under his breath and a barrier of salt coated his body. In the darkness, he couldn't tell if anyone noticed his new armored coating, but he figured it hardly mattered anyways, since they'd find out in the fight. He looked at the shield on his arm for a moment and then unstrapped it, returning it to his back. Might be a better idea to get some reach for whatever this might be...
 
Eliza was cut short in her nervous ramblings by the sight of the Knight casting a spell. Stepping quickly forward till she reached him she eyed his crusted armor poking at it. "I have never seen an armor spell used this way before, this is most exciting!" Lost in her wonder she didn't focus on her footing and tripping on a loose rock fell with a loud smack facedown on the ground. Before she could stop herself she let out a loud yelp. She lay there for a quiet mortified minute before she trying get back to her feet again with new aches and old playing a fresh cacophony of pain throughout her body. "Well, uh, I am quite sorry..." Cheeks flushed, she continued on the path towards the blue lights limping more than before.
 
Guess someone did notice after all. The knight turned at hearing Eliza speak and quickly sidestepped her attempt to touch her. "Be careful! The armor hurts folks that touch it. Sorry, probably shoulda warned ya first, but honestly didn't think any of y'all would notice." He paused as Eliza tripped and dropped to the ground, instinctively reaching down to help but then pausing. "Sorry, almost just didja in myself. You alright?" Seeing her starting to walk again, he continued on as well.
 
Fancying that she was moving with totally silent steps, Virra jumped as a crash and yelp came from somewhere far behind her. "Ssssshhh!" She turned and held a finger to her lips, too late to see Eliza picking herself up. "They're gonna hear us if you keep --" Pausing, she raised an eyebrow at the sight of the salt-covered knight. Something to ask about later, maybe. "Come on, you'll miss them!" she whispered loudly, gesturing for him and Eliza to hurry as she plunged ahead.
 
Fields Outside Porthca:

While Tristan remained with the cart, casting a blue light on his armor so he could see, the rest of the group attempted to "stealth" through the tall grass towards the glowing blue lights as they swirled and spun in the air alternating between twenty and thirty feet in the air. Getting about forty feet from the display, to those with darkvision a tree is faintly visible in the light -- evidently what the lights have been circling around in their clumps, however as they get closer there's a strange sense that they've gained the attention of the lights.

The larger blue colored shapes remain yet the other groups of light shift from a pleasant pale blue to a fierce vibrant orange as they all begin to move towards the party!
 
Seeing the injects swarming together, Tyrius had just one idea in mind. Use the most powerful spell he'd heard of that he could do. Casting repeatedly, Tyrius felt the magic threatening to surge him but it held steady enough that he could fire off two Shatter spells. When he moved, it was as if everything was moving slowly for him.

This is amazing. thought Tyrius as his friends destroyed the swarms in their own ways. Not wanting to let the spell go to waste, Tyrius dashed about the field as fast as he could go, moving fifteen feet in a single second. When the spell finally wore off, Tyrius felt drained as he slowed back down. Walking unsteadily back to the others, he had a large grin on his face, was out of breath and his cheeks were red. "I needed that." Tyrius laughed, "Everyone alright?"
 
The Knight's eyes narrowed as he saw the lights zoom towards the group, and he outstretched a hand, salt seeming to materialize and swirl in the air before coalescing into a long, wicked looking, stark-white pole made of his namesake mineral. He pointed at the wisp approaching him, and salt seemed to crust over its form before he swung his glaive with cacophonous force. Seeing it fade soon after he struck, the Knight dashed forward, moving far quicker than one would expect from the heavily armored older man. He darted past a light, trusting his armor to protect him from whatever blow it may land, and upon feeling no such retaliation, he whirled about to deliver a cleaving strike at the light.

The Knight suddenly heard a loud buzz and let out a high pitched yelp in surprise as he felt bugs suddenly pelting his armor. When Banrigg came to his aid, the Knight gave him a grateful nod before quickly darting in, charging the final wisp and turning away at the last minute, provoking the light to strike out at him. He grunted slightly, but his armor held and sprayed out at the light, pelting it in salt and tearing it apart. He carefully swatted his weapon past Tyrius, dissipating the majority of the swarm. He turned towards where Tyrius was. "Hey, are you alr-" He stopped as he saw that Tyrius had disappeared, and shrugged before walking over to the tree, inspecting it. With a well executed strike at one of the branches, the Knight dropped his glaive and caught the severed limb, his weapon shattering as it hit the ground. "Huh... looks like these fellers were perched here fer a long time. Scorched this tree half way ta hell an' back." He shrugged and walked back over to the cart, hopping back up into it. "Anyways, good work, folks. Let's get us some shut eye."
 
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When Banrigg saw the lights, he was able to make out that the small clusters of flickering lights were fireflies, but he was unsure of the larger sources. After he informed his new companions of his observation, the dwarf attempted to creep through the grass towards them, but the noise of them all alerted the lights. As they rushed at the party, Banrigg stepped forward in an attempt to fulfill his duties as the hired protection for this troupe. He swung his giant maul with relative easy, although his swing patterns were not very complex, and it was clear that the dwarf had not had any formal training in combat. He depended solely on the strength of his swings to overcome the defenses of his enemies, and his brow furrowed with frustration as the quick little balls of light evaded his swing. Seeing the others being harried by the wisps and the flies, Banrigg's frustration overcame him and he arched his back to the sky and let out a primal roar, just as a lightning bolt came down to strike one of the lights. Without any care for his own safety, the stocky dwarf took a wild swing and connected with a wisp, before his allies took out the rest of them.

Closing his eyes, Banrigg took a few deep breaths to allow the pounding in his ears to die down before reconvening with the others. At the Knight's suggestion for a nights rest, Banrigg nodded in agreement. "Aye, let's get to sleepin'. I'll take first watch tonigh'."
 
Eliza strongly believed by the phrase "Out of sight, out of mind" and so couldn't understand why the others chose to get entangled in another fight. On one hand she understood that the creatures might attack them in the middle of their sleep, but on the other hand, she was too much of a sleepy, bedraggled half-orc that has found herself on the road yet again to care about what considered rational.

She kept her distance from the fight, and from the others, debating whether to stay or head back to relative safety of the cart when the guilt overwhelmed her. For better or for worse she was in a group now and she had to at least stick around and try her best. And anyway, was it so bad that she finally got to summon a giant flaming sphere to run over these glowing pixies?

Moving her wand in a twisted motion round and round, jets of flame poured from the tip coalescing into a giant glowing ball of fire that rolled towards one of the wisps ricocheting off of them and towards the one of the fireflies swarm. She finished by firing a few magic missiles before taking a deep sigh at what her life had become and heading back to the cart.
 
The moment the creatures turned aggressive and swarmed towards them, Virra went on the offensive from the back lines. Seeing the knight hack at one wisp with his salty pole, she reached out for its mind and, when she found it, snuffed it out. To an undamaged one she tried to negotiate mid-battle: "What's with the hostility? We're friendly!" she called out telepathically.

No answer. Clicking her tongue, she shifted her attention to the fiery insects closing in on the knight. Flexing her mind again, a cluster of them dropped out of the air. So, they had a consciousness she could attack. Deciding she may as well make the attempt, she tried to start a dialogue with one of the fireflies from a different swarm. "Hey, you're all about to die. Just stop fighting and we'll stop too, okay?" she offered, backing up to take cover next to Eliza as she spoke. This time all she got for her trouble was an anoying buzz in her head. Ugh.

The rest of the combatants were finished off in short order, leaving a slightly disappointed taste in Virra's mouth. Once she got close to the tree that the wisps had been clustering around and saw that it was all burned up, she sighed. "Well, at least we got some practice out of it," she said, unaware or uncaring that half of the group would only have seen her standing still throughout the fight. She made her way back to the cart along with the others, quickly approaching Banrigg as he prepared to take his watch. "Hey, good job out there. Was that lightning you made when you started yelling?" she asked straight out. "That was amazing."
 
Ander struggled to keep his armor from clanging as they approached the lights. He swiftly drew his greatsword once it became apparent that they posed some danger to his new friends. He lunged forward, but the lights bobbed as weaved erratically, causing his blade to slash into the ground. He saw that the others were getting surrounded and moved in to attempt to protect Tyrius. He got a pretty nasty shock from one of the lights, causing him to jump and curse in dwarven (one of the few things he could do fluently). He took some more swings as the others around him impressed him once more with their abilities. The final foes was defeated and Ander wondered what had brought these odd things to this place.
 
Banrigg looks at Virra with an embarrassed expression and tugs at his braided beard. “Aye, tha’ was lightnin’. I’m not sure why it ‘appens...I’ve got some kinda connection with th’ Sea an’ storms. I’ve been ta many druids to help me understand, an’ they can’t gimme a straight answer.” Banrigg starts to unbraid his beard as the group prepares to camp for the night, and his expression turns to one of curiosity as one bushy white eyebrow arcs. “And what aboot ye? I saw ye standin’ and watchin’ durin’ the fight, were ye alright?”
 
'Somebody has to stay with the horses' Tristan thought, watching the group he met at the DePorthca's traipse away. He spoke a quick word of magic, coating himself and the horses in that beautiful blue light the others had gone to investigate.

When the fight started Tristan did what he could from such a distance, shooting off bolts of divine light and conjuring arms, while racing to get close enough to help if things turned bad. By the time he arrived in the midst of it the fight was effectively over.
 
"Ooh, you too? We're running into lots of people like that lately," Virra smirked. In response to the question, she gave a dismissive shrug. "Oh, that? I kill things with my mind. Hey, are you guys all going to sleep already?" she called, moving around to lean on the side of the cart. "I'm not tired yet."
 
“Well it is night time after quite a hectic day. And the way things have been going I am sure tomorrow will be no different.” The half-orc leaned against the cart, “Why? Did you have something in mind?”
 
She nodded. "I kind of like the sound of a quick walk. Go see what the deal with that tree is." She pushed herself off from the cart, swinging her arms languidly. "Wanna come?"
 
Seeing Virra and Eliza heading towards the tree, Tyrius shrugged his shoulders, figuring he might as well go along as well. When they got closer, Tyrius realised that it might be a good idea to use some magic to help since just eyeballing it would be hard for a human at night. Casting magic, Tyrius felt the trunk giving off a strong indication of Evocation magic.

"Um, this tree has Evocation magic." said Tyrius, not sure what the others would want to do with this information.
 
Eliza's grinned wide with a maniacal glint in her eyes. "You know what this means? Magic staffs! We should totally chop this tree down!" She went around searching for an axe and came back after having borrowed one from a sleepy Ander. She tapped the axe with her wand muttering an arcane incantation and the weapon gets covered with a dark, sparkly shadow before dissipating leaving behind an axe that looked sharper and shinier than before.

Getting into position near the tree, she started swinging wildly. She continued hacking through the night alongside Tyrius not stopping for aching arms or burning legs letting loose all her pent up frustration and anger on the poor tree.

When dawn set and the other roses from their sleep, the half orc watched as Tyrius delivered the last blow to the tree felling it. She knelt slowly then just fell to the ground lying exhausted and looked up at the orange sunrise, a strange calm washing over her.
 
Grinning with Eliza in enthusiasm, Tyrius pulled out one of his daggers and sawing away with it. Stabbing it in, wiggling it, pulling it out. Over and over again all through the night. As the final blow was struck and the trunk fell to the floor, Tyrius took a deep breath, happy with what the pair of them had accomplished.

Seeing the others coming over, Tyrius grinned "Magic. Staffs." Tyrius groaned by way of explanation, before passing out from exhaustion, just flopping face down on the grass and falling fast asleep before anyone could stop him from doing so.
 
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