Chapter Twenty: Disguise

We are training the dwarves for a few days to protect their new forest before we abandon them to hide among Kriv's dray at the Isle of Bones

-= DAY 1 =-

Aruna and Xa'oc are training dwarves how to fight.  They have metal swords and spears but they have no idea how to use them.

              Kriv makes a berm wall.

Vex tries to inspire half the dwarves to pretend to be the attacking army from Urik in order to create convincing training simulations

              It is not very successful

Tenneth is showing them how to use rocks and things on hand as ammunition, e.g. sling shots

Nirin, the cleric arrives one evening looking to speak with Xa'oc

              Xa'oc is keeping watch on where the rest of the group is resting overnight because he doesn't need to sleep.  Uses the time to speak with everyone in the sword.

              Amara says the goblin is confused, feeling lost, and has been a spirit a lot longer than some of the others.

Nirin: "do you still have the sword you showed me last time you were here? "

Xa'oc: "Yes, but it's not the same. Before it had a possessive curse, but that has since been removed. It now serves a new function, which is a secret between me and my clutch."

              Nirin: "it was worrying to me because the gith you brought here is nonresponsive. It seems like it was the sword, and I was worried it would do the same to you. May I examine the sword?"

              Nirin takes the sword, takes a step back, and tests Xa'oc to see how he reacts. Satisfied, he hands it back.

              Nirin: "Sorry for bothering you about something you've already solved. I'm still somewhat concerned, as I still don't like that sword."

              Xa'oc: "You are right to worry. But I don't feel compelled to keep it, I now keep it by choice. Reasons I don't want to share."

-= NIGHT 1 =-

Aruna: collects a lot of wood for whittling

Tenneth: exploring the forest.  He sees new things, only heard of, e.g. sunflowers, also useless beautiful plants. He collects all sorts of samples. He meets the thri-kreen druid from the nearby water source.  Tenneth expresses regret this will soon be a place of conflict.  The druid agrees and helps Tenneth collect additional samples.

Kriv: sleeps during the hottest part of the day as he normally does, stays busy planning town's defences.  Builds a trench around exterior of the town with an inner wall behind it.  Irregularly spaced potholes with pointy sticks in them. Lining the slopes with thorn bushes.

Claodis visits Kriv, falls into the pits a lot.  Kriv tells him to get the things to build a sled so that he can get more things from the forest.  Claodis tells Kriv stories of his battles against local giant insects.  Kriv gets Claodis to make caltrops out of all of the teeth he has collected, which stops him from killing himself in the spike pits.

Xa'oc: training with Mistsong which has begun to emit tendrils of mist

Vex: sneaks into the town at night and tries to murder Barunas to see how prepared the town is.  She manages to bypass the spike pits with great effort.  She sneaks through the city and is stopped at spearpoint by a guard. She tells the guards to prepare for attacks every night from now on.

-= DAY 2 =-

Aruna and Xa'oc and Tenneth continue training dwarves, including ranged weapons such as bows.

Kriv keeps working on defenses.

Vex rests during the day so that she can test their defenses at night.

-= NIGHT 2 =-

Vex tries to get as close as possible to Barunas.  She is disguised as a different elf wielding a stone dagger and manages to evade the guards.  she teleports over the wall because they don't have ceilings, and gets close enough to murder Barunas.  She convinces Barunas to put the flaps overnight.  (Vex actually wielded a dagger and did something physical).

-= DAY/NIGHT 3 =-

At lunch the dwarves feed us delicious cactus fruit.  The villagers try to converse with us during meals.  Nirin speaks with Vex.

Nirin: "I know this is rude, but I'm nervous about letting the book out of your sight, but Aruna said we might bring it back eventually, and Barunas let us decide what would happen to it."

              Vex: "After we learn what we need to from the book we will return with it and leave it here with you. It's better that you don't know where we are going and why so that when you are interrogated they aren't able to follow us."

              Nirin: "But wait, Aruna was just with me at the temple, and I gave her the book."

              Vex sounds the alarm and everyone races towards the temple.  Vex tries to convince villagers that they need to find the book immediately, but some think Vex is just testing them.  The village isn't very organized when it comes to searching and are confused about the concept of an imposter.  We notice one of the dwarves trying to escape and chase them.

              Xa’oc leaps over the crowd of dwarves and gives chase to the dwarf.

Vex stops the dwarf with shadows but they resist the magic somehow and keeps running.

Xa'oc catches up and starts attacking with Mistsong.  The dwarf strikes Xa'oc with a pillar of radiant flame.

Aruna prevents him from running.

Mistsong looks as though it is wreathed in black flames.

Ramas: "Don't you think this is getting a little old?"  He doesn't turn into a human, he turns into a tall lanky dray carrying a big bag, which frightens all of us except Aruna and Kriv.

Tenneth wants to tackle him but can't make himself approach.

Aruna punches Ramas a few times and tries to stun him.

              Kriv attacks him with shadow blades, and Ramas lashes out at him by draining his life essence.  Kriv's eyes flash and Ramas is blasted with a blast of force.  Ramas tries to wither Kriv yet again and somehow Kriv survives.  Ramas stabs Kriv with a sword and Kriv once again reacts with a blast of force.  Kriv is panting, in terrible shape, but creates another shadow blade and attacks.  Ramas only looks slightly wounded.

Xa'oc bites Ramas and poisons him.

Vex uses magic to cause Ramas to drop his bag.  Ramas picks up the bag.

Ramas grabs Kriv by the throat and says, "Kriv, I'm getting really sick of you" and pushes Kriv into the ground.

Tenneth runs away.

Ramas snaps his fingers and Aruna is banished.

Xa'oc stabilizes Kriv

Out of desperation, Vex blasts Ramas with shadows, and Aruna reappears.

Ramas magically weakens Xa'oc to the brink of death.

Ramas stabs Aruna, she punches him a couple of times.

Ramas glows and regenerates some of his wounds.

Xa'oc keeps fighting Ramas and heals Kriv.

Ramas grabs Aruna and drains her entire life force, but she survives because she is a mul.

Ramas stabs Xa'oc, knocking him out.

Kriv roars back to life and breaths two blasts of lightning at Ramas, almost killing him.

Ramas grabs Krivs, pulls him close, and bites Kriv in the neck, but Kriv manages to stay conscious.

None of us can manage to take down Ramas, and he drains Kriv's life once again

Tenneth is finally overcome Ramas's frightening aura and charges him with his mace and club, but Ramas manages to stay standing.

Aruna stands up slowly, painfully, reaches back, and punches him twice in the nose, bashing it into his face

We murder Ramas dead forever, and he stays in dray form.

We stabilize Kriv and Xa'oc

We loot the corpse and recover the tome.

We find a bronze amulet that depicts a crimson sun trapped inside the claw of a dragon, which Kriv recognizes as associated with Dregoth.  Vex identifies it as being able to cast sending to a specific recipient once a day at will.