When they left the birdmen's lair, now referred too as their
new home base, they searched again for tracks suspecting that they had been led
here as a diversion. They were right!
No attempt had been made to hide the tracks that had led to
the Murden cave (their new home base). The tracks that had been covered up led on
through the ravine but before they came out the other end they found a huge
dead animal laying in their way. The
carcass had a bunch of blue flowers growing out of it.
As they approached the carcass the blue flowers launched
into the air at them. The "flowers" attacked everyone but Natan, as
he had no flesh to attract them. The flowers were venomous making the fight
much more brutal on the party.
Natan
As they were trying to recover from the flower fight they
noticed at the top of one of the ravine walls was what appeared to be a hooded
tall man draped all in black robes. He
seemed to be just standing there possibly watching them. Corbin took a closer look with his sphere of
seeing things far away. It was difficult
to tell anything about the robed figure but looking at the cowl trying to see a
face revealed only what looked to be a panel of black glass.
Feylor opted for a face to face confrontation. He levitated to the robed figures height and
allowed himself to drift towards it.
They all watched closely for any reaction. There was nothing at first but as Feylor got
close he heard it say, "Greetings
Harbinger, how are you feeling?"
Up to this point it hadn't moved in any way but once Feylor
tried to respond it turned to face him directly and told him, "I wasn't
speaking to you. I was addressing your companion."
This caused Feylor no end of confusion, even looking around
to see if anyone else was around. When
he tried to get clarification all he got was, "The roses will bloom in 432
days." Feylor is now counting the days.
Feylor had continued to drift with the wind but the robed
figure did not track with him. Feeling
confused but unthreatened, Feylor landed beside the robed figure. It turned
toward him and said, "The reason for your troubles is wood." It then disappeared into thin air.
Feylor went back to the party and discussed all that had
happened. There was much confusion all
around. Elif asked if it had left any
tracks. Feylor floated back up. The only
tracks he found were where he had landed.
Elif
(rude-mechanical.tumbler.com)
In time they continued following the tracks. They led them
on through the ravine and back into forested area where they found another
section of trees that had been knocked down.
So they followed the path of fallen trees. They followed it for another four days before
they noticed a familiar sound. The sound
of trees falling. They found a second device being used to cut a path through
the forest. A second device capable of knocking down the Great Trees. This one was being used to widen the already
cut path through the forest.
They followed the double wide path for two more days when
they heard the sounds of saws and axes.
Corbin saw a chance to use a cypher that he had been carrying for some
time, Eye in the Sky. He sent a camera
high up into the air to show him what was going on in the area. He saw a dozen men chopping and cutting the
fallen trees. Most of the pieces were
being thrown to one side but the best logs were being pulled away by very large
domesticated beetles.
There were also five guards spaced out among the
woodsmen. After watching for a time it
was determined that the guards were protecting the woodsmen not forcing them to
work.
Feylor combined a pair of cyphers to help him get more
information about what was going on. He
had a Faraway Ear cypher to which he attached a device enhancer that would turn
him invisible when the Faraway Ear was activated. As he moved in closer he saw one of the
guards from the outer ring of guards approaching the guard in the middle area. Feylor thought this was opportunity to hear
something.
Female guard from the outer ring: Jachek!
Lead Guard: What is
it Vandra?
Vandra: We are being
surveilled from above.
Jachek: What!?!
You're sure?
Vandra: Yes, started
just a few moments ago.
Jachek: Damn. Jarvis
said we would have more time. Okay, let
the others know. I will tell The Tender.
Jachek then started walking
toward a portable building that had been set up in an already cleared area. Feylor gave up on his listening device as it
focused on one spot but he was still invisible and that would be a great asset
in helping him find out what this Jachek and Tender were going to talk
about. Since Jachek was walking toward
the building Feylor ran to get there first and try to sneak in behind him.
It worked perfectly but instead
of seeing who The Tender was Jachek opened a chest and pulled out a small
device and spoke into it.
Jachek into device: Zade.......
Zade!
Zade: Yes! I'm here. What is it Jachek?
Jachek: Tell The Tender that we
are being watched. There is some kind of
surveillance from above.
Zade: I will let him know
immediately.
Then Jachek tucked the numenera
communication device back into the chest and walked back outside. Feylor grabbed the communication device and
took off to meet back up with the others.
There was a great deal of
discussion about what was learned:
1. The loggers had a women,
obviously a nano, that could detect numenera 800ft over her head and could tell
what it was doing.
2. Jarvis the trader that had
been coming to see them for several years was involved.
3. Alivia pointed out that Jarvis
traded for wood carvings, specifically wood from the Great Trees.
4. The guards were reporting to
someone called The Tender.
When Feylor told them he took the
communication device Corbin asked if he had grabbed any paperwork that could
help them figure out what's going on. No.
Feylor decided that he didn't
want anyone realizing that their communication device had been taken so setting
fire to the hut was the next course of action. Since his invisibility was gone
he needed a distraction. He had Corbin
and Alivia attack with nonlethal arrow fire from far away from the cabin while
the rest of them used a cypher rigged to burn to set the fire to the building.
When the arrows flew the guards
reacted by immediately charging in that direction except for Vandra who started
escorting the woodsmen to safety. While
distracted Feylor searched for and grabbed some papers in the hut then threw
down the firestarter and ran. The lead
guard Jachek ran at Corbin and Alivia's position and pulled out a cypher and
threw it as hard as he could toward them.
When it hit the ground the cypher
blew up into a larger gout of steam out of which charged a full grown
completely uninjured Jiraskar!
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