#24 - Reemergence

Wounded, the PCs regrouped on the open plains under the sky. It was a dry, brown-and-gray landscape with scrub brush the only flora, but after all this time underground and possibly in the upper reaches of Khyber, it was good to breath fresh air—particularly for Magnus and Cyzicus, whose wilder upbringings demanded open space.

It was still dark, and harder to discern their location in this new land. By now they assumed—given the presence of gnolls and harpies—that they were in Droaam, the "monster" nation in western Khorvaire across the border from Breland. A dangerous realm, to be sure. But they still didn't know where precisely in Droaam. To the north were mountains; to the west, east, and south, open plains.

Where to go next? They had recovered the strange, serpentine longbow that the woman had carried—the woman who helped them escape from the pit in the watchtower but was herself now gone, possibly captured.

The only landmark at this point was the firelight of a nearby camp just beyond the first of the foothills. Upon seeking it out, even cautiously, they encountered a lone gnoll who rode upon a warg—an intelligent, evil wolf as large as the dire variety. The two immediately attacked. The lone "patrol" was defeated, but not before dealing a few more wounds to the PCs.

Too wounded to investigate the camp, they set out instead to find a safe place to rest for the night. Giving the firelight a wide berth, they went north into the foothills of the mountains, searching for water and shelter. They found a thin mountain stream and cleaned up as best they could in the dark—particularly to mask their scent—then continued to wander on, and up, until they found a place far enough away that they felt safe from being tracked.

They spent the night uneventfully, needing the rest badly. In the morning, with daylight and an overcast sky, they surveyed the land. The gray mountains rose tall above them. Vague winged shapes that were not birds haunted these peaks, seen from only a great distance. On the eastern horizon was the glimmer of water—the sea or perhaps a large lake? To the south, the plains stretched on. They could discern two separate structures, fortresses or citadels: one southwest, one southeast. The PCs decided their course while Cyzicus went off to forge, though the shifter didn't have much luck.

At last, they decided to head to the southeastern castle, whatever it was. As they neared the bottom of the hills, they spied the gnolls again. They were a large group, but they were splitting into two. The PCs decided to follow the small caravan of gnolls that headed eastward, but they waited several hours so as not to be seen (even from the air, in case there were harpies). It also appeared that this group had some sort of captive. The gnolls were also traveling by day, which is unusual as they can see quite well in the dark.

When a safe enough distance was placed between them, the PCs set out after them, easily following their tracks—until it got dark and they had to use Doongul's forgelight spell to look more closely. After marching for hours, halfway through the night, they caught up the gnolls. Who had awaited in ambush. At least some of them.

The husk of a ankheg lay across the ground, and beneath it, an unconscious gnoll who looked to be dead. There were several holes in the ground from where the large insect-beasts had burrowed up from the ground. But if the holes were fakes, they sure looked real...yet it was from these narrow ditches that the gnolls launched their attack. Two archers rose up from three holes and looses their arrows upon the PCs, while a second warg and another gnoll captain charged out of the darkness.

Once again, the PCs prevailed, after taking more wounds and burning through some of their spells. Just when things quieted down, they went to search the ankheg holes, to see if there were any more enemies, or perhaps some loot.

There were more gnolls—at least in one of them. Just as Doongul and Rendar peered down the furthest hole, forgelight held out, they heard a guttural chanting coming from below.

Then a column of fire blazed down from above and engulfed them.