Leo nods to himself at the decision. Even were wasting time not a concern, emotions were very badly strained as matters stood. Idling much of the day away with nothing to do but think just might bring people to the breaking point. A little tiredness was worth avoiding that.
Out of Character: Fatigued isn't a horrible condition, and we can remove it with the normal 8 hour rest at night. We won't be in great fighting shape in the afternoons, but it is worth getting there in half the time in my opinion.
Edited: daishain on 20th Dec, 2016 - 1:11am
Zinna thinks of her desperate plight. She thought if only someone would help. She would take help from anyone or anything at this point. Escape is all that mattered. She grins at Lorilys. Zinna had quickly taken a liking to her. It had been quite some time since she had another female to chat with. " We can do this Lorilys. I'm sure of it. I have magical capabilities. I was ambushed and was unable to do anything before now. We are all in this together. Yes it is risky to try to escape. It is sure death to just sit here though. " She thought of her friends. What the Iliosani said had given her hope that her friends were still alive. Why weren't they here yet? Could they track the elves here? Should she just wait and hope they show up? Zinna wrinkles her brow in worry.
Zinna looks at Lorilys with a smile on her face again. " You have much more influence with everyone here than I do. Would you be willing to work with me and plan an escape? If so, do you think the others will join us? I do not wish to press you into something you think is foolish. I can explain what I can do magically if you are willing to work with me. I don't want to die down here. I know you don't either. Let's do something about these evil leeches. "
Specific Action: Persuasion.
Mradoric keeps watching about them as they move for any signs that may help them. He also looks for rare herbs that could come in handy for what ever they may find. Knowing that they may be close or far away from Zinnathyra does not help but he keeps his silence as he follows the rest. He hopes that they will not be too tired when they do finally get there. Knowing they will be facing elves and knowing they are good at hiding and shooting bows does not make it look good for them but Zinnathyra needs to be found and returned to them safe.
As they march a long in silence, malek's mind starts to wander. Will we even find ZInna? What condition will she be in? What kind of shape will our group be in? He tries to distract himself with putting names to the plants and trees and animals. Not many have been here, not even his teachers have seen this area first hand. He tries to take notes as they walk counting on the others to keep an eye out. Every time Carrick loses the trail and has to search for it Malek takes advantage of it and sits even if only a minute or two. Each break lets him review his notes to check them to see if what he was taught was right and making corrections when needed. His mind drifts back to the bard and the elves that captured her, I wonder what she is being subjected to and why they targeted her. Well they did assume she was our leader so I probably just answered my own question. Looks like they want to press on, should I really be talking to myself this much?
Carrick is used to tracking beasts through the dense forest, sometimes even for hours as the wounded animal presses on until it finally gives way to exhaustion. Carrick is not a wounded animal. Carrick had also never had to track something for so long either…
When Corren gives the dwarf the go ahead to continue pressing ahead, Carrick nods after taking a quick rest and gets back to finding the subtle evidence left behind by the spiders. He can see the frustration on his companions' faces with every hopeful new trail Carrick points out only to find it just continues on deeper and deeper into the wilds. He changes his attention back to the task without words, as really what is there to say? They were all probably thinking the same thoughts as him, so why make more noise then necessary with conversation?
As feels the aching start to creep into his calves, Carrick mutters softly in dwarvish, "Maker, guide us."
After roughly an hour of further tracking, Corren can see how visibly tired Leo and Carrick are becoming. He finally calls a halt. "We make camp here. Carrick, Leo, you two will take the last watch tonight. Get some rest. I'll make supper. Malek and Mradoric will stand first watch." He plans to work with only a very small fire as they are deep in dangerous territory.
Lorilys nods and looks around the cavern before returning her attention to Zinna "Well, you wouldn't be the first magic user to grace us; many if not most here have lost all hope of escape, if it were merely death that awaited those who made the attempt there would be many that would be easy to convince. The torment here is nothing compared to what the ancestors have in store for those that they truly wish to punish." Lorilys face suddenly takes on a thousand yard stare and she becomes silent for a moment as though she is reliving some horrid experience.
"We need to be careful about who we approach, there are certainly those who would sell us out to appease the ancestors and avoid their wrath and they are not above having spies hidden among the prisoners There is something about you that tells me that we just might be able to pull it off though. If the Illiosani follow their usual pattern with new prisoners you only have maybe eight hours to rest before they come for you again. They like to break down the new ones quickly… they want you to accept your fate and the best way to do that is to keep you fatigued as much as possible, make you too tired to resist.
I will help you as much as I can but I want you to know what may be in store for you if we fail. You may not have seen them, but the ancestors have a retinue of slaves on the astral plane and there is a chance that you may be among them. They will keep you permanently connected to their nexus trees slowly draining your life force while attendants keep you alive for as long as possible, then when you finally expire they will hold you in the astral plane indefinitely where you will serve them as a wraith. They will prevent your second death by feeding you small amounts of energy from the prisoners here and your spirit will linger, they will overpower your will. You will experience every atrocity that they enact and you will help them accomplish their evil deeds completely aware of what you are doing yet unable to direct your will. I know that this is what will await me if we fail; the ancestors have made this very clear to me the last time I tried to escape."
Lorilys pauses for a moment, again as though lost in thought, but then shakes her head and smiles “Anyway, since you’re here I’m assuming that you are either a leader among your people in some fashion, a great warrior, or a respected mage of some kind. Considering that you’ve told me that you have magical abilities should I assume the last or perhaps a combination of all three? Those that are not seen as worthy are generally sacrificed outright to the ancestors, only those that they see as have some sort of importance attached to them are kept alive for continued draining.”
Lorily’s expression darkens and she appears to tense up as she looks past Zinna and a moment later an elven man has sauntered up to join the conversation. This one is less emaciated than the others though he does have the puncture marks on his sides. He is tall, about 6’4” with piercing green eyes and long black hair that flows down his back. He wears a robe similar to Zinna’s but also a pair of fine silk trousers. He addresses Lorily’s in elvish.
“Welcoming our new guest I see, per the norm” he says to Lorilys with a smile “you are a gregarious one aren’t you Lorilys. You should really let her rest though, giver her a chance to get acclimated.”
“Aymar…” Lorilys responds with a hint of disdain in her voice but says nothing else as she glares at him.
“A human” Aymar says with delight as he looks at Zinna though he appears to still be speaking to Lorilys “I figured it would happen eventually, what with the human settlements popping up on the outskirts of the forest.”
“Yes, only a matter of time when dealing with the Illiosani.”
The statement seemed to hit Amyar and his eye twitched slightly. There is something of a pause as the two glare at each other before Aymar continues “Well, I hope that you will be sure to explain to her how she can be made comfortable during her stay… I hope you’re not putting any ideas in her head. You remember what happened last time.”
“How can I forget, traitor”
Since Zinna speaks and understands Elvish I will let her interrupt the conversation here if she chooses to. Aymar appears to be unaware that she understands what he is saying; otherwise the two will exchange a few more “pleasantries” and Aymar will leave them alone.
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The party moves through the forest even as night falls, while Carrick is able to see in the dark, Corren, Leo and Mradoric find that the canopy of the trees blots out almost all light from the stars/moon which makes them effectively blind unless they light a torch or find some other source of light. An hour in Corren calls the group to a halt and they set camp.
Watches are set and the night passes without incident with the exception of a dream that Leo experiences… at least it seemed a dream but perhaps it was a vision…I’m actually going to do two dream sequences, one for Leo and one for Zinna. The two of you may want to hash this out a little in the support or intercharacter exchange thread before posting in the Main thread. I would like them to eventually share an archfey patron. Leo will describe Zinna’s dream (Which will occur as she is being transported back to the tree for another session) and Zinna will describe Leo’s dream, just to make things interesting.