Demons What pt 6

It's near, but not near enough to /see/ it yet.

Still obscured by the mountain, perhaps.

Still, another cry is audible.

Serraphine looks up toward the sky again at the sound, but it seems that passing cloud she thought was their quarry was not the creature at all. "Perhaps discretion is the better part of valor?"

Malorn takes out his crossbow, "Well I can certainly go find a spot and start to shoot at them. I can move faster then most."

Lucy scans the skies an anxiously for a moment before glancing over the group of survivors. "Well let's think about this. It sounds like it's alone so it might be some sort of scout. If we want it to leave us alone and not bring the others this way, at least not right away - what might make a flying demon scout do that?"

Serraphine stares at Lucy for a moment, "If it has nothing to report, or thinks it's quarry is elsewhere."

"Any time we spend standing around talking about it is time that we're not spending on moving," Celeste points out. "Right at this moment, we're in the worst spot, exposed on a mountainside. We're going to continue to be exposed on a mountainside until we get to the trees, and no amount of distraction is going to change that. Let's just get moving and move as fast as we can, leaving nobody behind."

Serraphine points down to the snow under their feet, "Or just try to get under the snow until it passes." She shrugs and looks around, "But - yes - we need to be quick."

GAME: Lucy rolls stealth: (3)+8: 11

GAME: Malorn rolls stealth: (13)+3: 16

GAME: Felicia rolls stealth+2: (7)+1+2: 10

GAME: Serraphine rolls Stealth: (10)+-2: 8

GAME: Celeste rolls stealth: (4)+0: 4

Everyone bunkers down

As best you can. But you know, you're on the side of a mountain in plain view and there's just nothing that can really be done about that. You hunt and lurch for overhqangs, crowding down around under them as the great buzard-demon-vulture-thing's call... grows suddenly frantic and then is abruptly cut short.

Uh oh.

Lucy shifts her grip on her spear, readying it to throw. She tried to meet the gaze if other party members. Her face practically glows with curiousity, but she keeps herself from asking anything out loud.

Malorn is hungered down in the snow and he has his light crossbow out and ready to shoot one of the demons as soon as they get close enough and it looks like they are coming at them.

The Arvek Paladin tucked away in her hiding place as best she can, the rod in one hand and the grip of her bastard sword in the other - though still sheathed. She waits every agonizing second wondering what possibly had gone through her mind to suggest hiding. She's terrible at hiding, but then again though others - those sixteen crewmembers - yeah...

She takes a deep breath, drawn in, exhaled and then... It gets cut short?! Serraphine bursts free from her cover, looking to see why exactly it has gone quiet. "I don't trust quiet demons!"

Felicia really really does not want to be found by this demon. It's ugly as hell. Just....ew

...there's no sign of the demon! Just that it was making sounds and then those sounds ended rather abruptly. Violently, one might say.

Celeste is about as effective at hiding as a screen door is at keeping water out of a submarine. She just kind of stands there, dumbfounded after someone told her 'hide', as if that was such antithesis to her very being that it broke something in her psyche. Then, fortunately, the need for hiding seems to have passed; the demon's shrieking got cut off, and all is well. Or, if not well, at least quiet. "Let's just get a move on it," the half-orc grumbles.

The demon stopped shrieking. "Yeah....let's get going. I'm hoping it stays silent and it didn't see us."

GAME: Serraphine rolls Perception: (4)+3: 7

Serraphine looks in a direction she thought heard the call cut short, and then back to the rest of the group, "Was that along the path we were taking? I'm having a hard time getting a good read on it. If it is, I say we go around. My guess is the demons will head to where the creature last called to see what happened, let's use it as a distraction."

GAME: Felicia rolls perception+2: (18)+3+2: 23

GAME: Lucy rolls perception: (14)+12: 26

GAME: Malorn rolls perception: (6)+13: 19

GAME: Celeste rolls perception: (15)+6: 21

Lucy nods solemnly in confirmation. She peers ahead trying to guess what could have violently silenced the demon in mid-screech. "Dire goat?" is all she can come up with.

Felicia says, "We'll have to figure it out later. We need to get these people to safety....""

GAME: You nominated Celeste for good roleplay.

GAME: You nominated Malorn for good roleplay.

GAME: You nominated Lucy for good roleplay.

GAME: You nominated Felicia for good roleplay.

Malorn looks around, "Something happened to that demon. We need to be on guard." He says as he shakes the snow from him and he looks around crossbow still in hand.

"Something did happen to the demon," Celeste acknowledges, "And the longer we stand around here not moving, the longer our enemies will have to rally another one to search. We need to simply get moving without second-guessing ourselves. If there is some other threat in our path, we'll deal with it when we find it."

Serraphine points at what Celeste says, "That's exactly what I'm saying, we just move a bit further around where we last heard it." A nod of her head and Serraphine will start walking off through the rocks and snow.

The Captain simply says, "Decide something quickly," and then she's back to her men. She's got too many things to be responsible for as it is.

Felicia says, "Right." She says waving people forward. "Come on, let's go.""

Lucy holds her spear ready and takes up her place to one side of the little troop. "Watch your footing there," she advises one of the crewmen. Then a few steps later she drifts closer and pats a handhold that will help a climber. She gives them a cheerful smile every time they look at her, although the expression fades every time after she turns away.

GAME: Serraphine rolls athletics: (18)+-1: 17

GAME: Lucy rolls athletics: (15)+5: 20

GAME: Felicia rolls athletics: (1)+-3: -2 (EPIC FAIL)

GAME: Malorn rolls athletics: (19)+11: 30

GAME: Celeste rolls athletics: (8)+5: 13

Let's be honest.

It is cold.

It is snowing.

It is COLD.

It's hard work.

It isn't long before all of you are gasping for breath as you work your way up slowqlyt the side of a freezing mountain in the middle of the witner. Indeed, after a few hours of traversing this area with wilma's guidance, you actually find the demon!

Here on the snowy lerdge, it is quite dead, splattered from one end of it to the other as if it crashed into the ground at a high rate of speed and rolled. It's body is caved in, smooshed with a single ,great blow.

Yikes.

Felicia stares.....at the demon....gasping for breath.....then LOOOOOOOKS.....at Serraphine. Then back at the demon.

Malorn helps others on his way up and he stops as he looks at the demon with his chest caved in. He hmms and looks around, "Giants perhaps?"

Serraphine is feeling it too, she's just trying not to act like it as she pants and stops - totally to look not at all because she's feeling a bit winded. She looks at the corpse on the ground, "I thought we were going around." She says, looking back at Felicia, reaching down to pull her sword free from its scabbard. She has a bad feeling about this too.

Lucy edges over until she's standing next to the demon, then peers up at the sky. She then turns slowly to scan the area, trying to imagine who or what could have done something like this. "Giant," she agrees. "A giant throwing rocks. If we meet her, I don't know if I'll want to stab her, or shake her hand."

Celeste rolls her shoulders. "We're here now, and we learned something by looking at it," she points out, "There's something out here that's bigger than it is. Regardless, our plan can't change. We keep going. Let's not tally here, we can rest later."

GAME: Felicia rolls heal: (14)+10: 24

GAME: Lucy rolls heal: (14)+2: 16

GAME: Serraphine rolls heal: (20)+1: 21

GAME: Malorn rolls heal: (5)+3: 8

GAME: Celeste rolls heal: (3)+0: 3

Felicia rubs face as she checks the body. "Great.....We've got giants up here. I'm pretty sure, if it's this high up, it's gotta be frost or storm giants." She then groans. 'Come on. let's get out of here before he finds another boulder...."

Serraphine stares at the demon laying there and she tilts her head to the side. She would rub her chin even but one hand has the objective and the other is holding the sword. She tilts her head the other way, "Anyone have any good ideas to clean this up? It could probably feed us for a few days - and already pre-tenderized by the boulder." A nod of her head.

Lucy gives Serraphine a look. Eat a demon? Isn't that against the Paladin code...?! But all she says (in what for her is an unusually quiet voice), "We're not -that- hungry...."

Serraphine looks to Lucy, a bit shocked, "I am. Besides, better to eat and keep our strength up." She nods and nudges at the tenderized meat with a bit of a frown down at it. Yeah... Yeah, it should be good.

GAME: Wilma rolls Survival: (8)+9: 17

GAME: Malorn rolls survival: (3)+3: 6

....so, after a while of walking, you unfortunately realize that you've wound up going the wrong way. Wilma did her best, but this part of the mountain winds up being a bit more impasssable than was apparent. So there's some backtracking involved to find a better, more stable route for the ascent. Thankfully, this is not the most difficult mountain out there. It's not the Icewall, thank the Gods, or a Dranei volcano (also thank the Gods) that you need to contend with. In any case, you're able to eventually find a better route and renew your ascent. In the distance, you hear the occasional cry from the demons. They're still hunting you, and so far, you've been able to narrowly avoid their eyes. Interestingly, you haven't heard a buzzard in a while.

As dusk begins to fall, Wilma points off in the distance. There's a cave up that way, it seems, and she's wondering if you want to spend the extra time getting to it or try to dig in again.

Serraphine looks at the cave, scowls, and looks at the group. "We can cook the meat and get more comfortable in the cave, but a better chance of the giant I would think." She looks at the ground. "MMm.. Damn it all. I say we camp here."

"If we camp here, we will have to spend a great deal of time making shelter, as we did last night. I suggest a better use of our time and effort is to keep walking, reach that cave, and make use of the shelter that is already built for us while advancing our position considerably in the process."

"If we camp here, we will have to spend a great deal of time making shelter, as we did last night. I suggest a better use of our time and effort is to keep walking, reach that cave, and make use of the shelter that is already built for us while advancing our position considerably in the process." Celeste rattles her sword in its scabbard, just to make sure the frost isn't making it stick. "We're going to spend the effort either way; let's spend it travelling instead of digging."

Felicia takes a deep breath. "we'd be better off in the cave. plus we can have more shelter....and a fire..."

Malorn nods, 'I would suggest that we stay here as well. I know I can see in the dark, but others cannot and you are just asking for trouble trying to transverse a mountain in the dark. Especially if there is something out that that can make mince meat out of demons."

Serraphine jumps right back in now that two people said it, "Oh thank the Gods, my plan worked. Yes! I was hoping you all would want to go for the cave too!" She starts off with a renewed vigor and pulls out her bastard sword from the scabbard with a slither of metal on leather. "Hahaha!" She's grinning.

Lucy has reconnected.

"I'm fien with going for it, but if the cave isn't big enough or is already occupied, we might have a problem," points out the Captain. r

She glances back at her injured cremen, but seems fine to be making her way to the cave.

It's still a ways off.

Lucy has partially disconnected.

Lucy rubs her forehead and shoots Felicia a 'well-she's-your-friend' look. Then she turns and heads for the cave. "Maybe there will be a giant," she remarks to the nearest crewmember. "That would keep us warm."

"And more food!" Serraphine chimes in to Lucy

Lucy shudders. Must be the cold!

Felicia says, "Come on. We need to get to the cave....." She says with a 'yeah-yeah' look to Lucy."

Celeste pulls her shield off her back as she walks, making sure the spiked bulwark is attached firmly to her forearm. "If the cave is occupied," Celeste growls, "Then we were un-occupy it. Everyone will be much better off in the cave than out, I promise you."

Malorn puts his crossbow again and he crackles his knuckles, "All right let's go check it out."

"And Giant meat!" Serraphine says as she tries to take the lead, she's moving as quick as she can and smiling. She's quite happy about this idea, mostly because - "And no snow cave!" - because no snow caves.

...and there's the cave! It is very dark.

Peeking just into the interior shows that it's actrally fairly deep. So there's that, at least.

Looks like there ought to be enoug room for all of you. The wall are a bit iced over, of course, showing that it freezes on the inside and yiu're going to need some kind of fire.

Malorn looks around, "Well at least there is no giants in here." He says as he tries to clear it out a bit so everyone can fit.

Lucy activates her Ioun torch and walks into the cave, intent on giving it a thourough search before agreeing with Malorn's assessment. "I wonder how many giants there are up here in these mountains," she muses. "If we could somehow set them against the demons - wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Serraphine heads on in, sword still out and she gestures at the airship crew and Captain, "Listen to Felicia, help get this place set up." She turns to look deeper into the cave. "I'm going to see if there's anything deeper in there."

GAME: Serraphine rolls Diplomacy: (7)+7: 14

"I'll come with you." Celeste draws her own bastard sword, giving her shield a tap with the blade. "You shouldn't explore the cave alone, at any rate. And, we don't even know if it's giants yet, what killed that demon could have been any number of things, most of which I'm certain we aren't going to think of in the next five minutes."

Felicia says, "get everyone in here and somewhat deep into the cave." She says before she starts to set up a fire pit."

The airship crew, at least, piles into the cave and begins trying to get a fire going. Assuming someone doesn't stop them. They still have some wood, but not a whole lot. THey're trying to find some other things to add to the fire but... good luck wit hthat!

Mountains aren't exactly replete with firemaking material.

The cave extends onwards, this one does. It's easily big enough to fit an ogre through it, so that's not so great.

Felicia stops the crew from using their wood...and uses her campfire bead. It's only one fire, but it works....

Serraphine will continue deeper into the cave to see if it's uninhabited. It wouldn't do to have a nasty surprise in the middle of the night.

It goes deeper.

And deeper.

And deeper.

So far, it looks like the cave doesn't actually /have/ an ending. In fact, it starts to get twisty, branching into other passages and worse.

Lucy has been following along, but once new passages start to show up she whispers, "Wait." She looks back in the direction they came, then farther down the passageway. "It might be better to bring the others," she suggests. "At least we'll be out of

the weather. And maybe with a real rest you two

can heal the crew properly.

Yeesh

Serraphine was stopping as well, looking to Lucy and she nods, "I was about to start heading back." She says in a quiet tone. "It wouldn't do to get lost while trying to search the cave." A nod of her head.

Celeste bobs her head. "Agreed," she replies, in as low a tone of voice as Serraphine was using. "Getting lost won't help us or them. We've gone far enough that we can at least hope for safety for the night, if we keep appropriate watch. Let's go back."