Flying above the outskirts of the gorge of the dead...

[DM Bob]

A few hours pass.

Any communication you attempt is completely mental at this point (or simply hand gestures). It is simply too loud.

After navigating the rough, angular border of the magnificent chasm, a light colored stone-walled town with some green patches within it's border is seen to your right (south). It's perhaps a couple miles away from the edge. Inside? There are perhaps a hundred small buildings. And outside the walls? Patches of the same crimson cacti you saw at the previous dwarven town... along with other differently hued plant life. There is also an obvious bustle of life.

Crodlu are seen, like small chicks next to the ant-like herders.

A half dozen wheeled things with sails, perhaps slightly larger than the mini-crodlu are seen leaving the fortification away from you in the direction of the wind. You assume they're manned. But at this height? Who knows.

[Attilius]

The group consensus is we continue flying on. We know the town wants their dominated leader and friends back. If we can free them and return them, we will.

HurKeagle continues the path laid out by Kri using warm updrafts when possible to gain speed.

[DM Bob]

Kri-kcht would notice that this town does not look like the one he'd visited before. The walls are nicer and it's about a third bigger. The kreen also would've noticed the gigantic gorge in his prior wanderings...

This is simply not Spoil.

Does this change your consensus?

[Attilius]

No. We continue on our N.W. heading.

[DM Bob]

You get about a mile out from the unnamed town. The gorge angles this way and that, so you go a tad wide as you soar. The wind actually begins to die down a bit. The howls a bit less pronounced.

That's when you fly into a mass of stinging blood flies. They obscure Hurk's vision as the poke and sting at his eagle eyes.

Odd. They seem to have come out of nowhere...

And Mak would know that it's even stranger that they'd be at this height.

[Attilius]

<Tell everyone to hang on...>

HurK dives down for maximum speed, hard banks left, then right to outrun the insects.

[DM Bob]

Good news first.

You do manage to shake off the bugs.

But...

Hurk opens his eyes only to see a bright flash of blue-white light! A loud crack is heard as well as a faint skittery-clittery noise (like a centipede tap dancing on a tile). Heat wells up singing your feathers...

I'm going to need a save vs. spells from Hurk (with a minus -2 modifier). Please use the rollz room.

[DM Bob]

The blast hits squarely in feathered breast. (36 damage)

Anyone else on Hurk will get a jolt. Instead of damage, given his mass... I would like to see saves vs dex at a +2 for everyone on the eagle's back.

Anyone who fails?

Will lose grip.

[Skrye [AC3; 48/48HP]]

[OOC:I missed, I rolled a 2+2=4. I was going to sleep so please apply anything to my sheet, or if I pass away, I'll check it tomorrow]

[DM Bob]

Low is good.

[Coden Rokos (Jesse H.)]

Pallia grips tight and manages to hang on.

[Scored an 11 on the die vs. Dexterity 16.]

[Attilius]

<Dormus, WAKE! I need you for battle!>

<Albart! Levitate as much of my weight as possible so I can land softer! NOW!>

[-50 PsP's
-36 HP
Altitude 40']

Regardless if Albert succeeds on his check or not, HurK makes an emergency landing and scans the direction with his keen eagle eyesight where the bolt came from while letting everyone jump off...

[Niachi]

Laakh feels the burst of energy slam into their transport and hangs on, gripping giant feathers... his hands slide away.

Dex 11 rolled 13+2 =15.

Tumbling into the sky he barks a curse, instincts triggering one of his two current survival options.

Others see him drop like a stone as he Phases into a dimly shimmering form which plummets to the ground. A curt wave, and he plummets at his initial momentum, maintaining PSPS to land with no falling damage. He aims for a patch of barren ground no closer than 1000 feet from the edge of the gorge, trying to adjust for wind and not get blown into the gorge. A curt wave is the last thing you see.
Mindlink to HurkOwl:

<"Trying to land 1000 feet west of gorge top away from plants, will 'port if I'm fucked...>

-14 PSPs. He will find a Safe Path to guide him:

Score 15, rolled 13. -8 PSPs.

[Deleted]

Mak holds on.

((Roll: 16. Dex (17)+2=19))


"Someone is tossing magic at us."

[DM Bob]

Kri-kcht manages to keep his grip. Although there's a vile stretch of kreen curses in kliks and klax.

It does not take long to discover the source of your woes. A massive looming half man; half cilops... the Son of Nibenay himself, slowly begins walking towards where Laahk lands. He's perhaps 50 yards away, from the direction of the last seen settlement. Hurk-bird manages to land a bit further away than that (75 yards out).

He carries a big stick. Well, a barbed battle stave. The heat wavers. Behind him? The smaller figure of a lone rider on a cilops, carrying what looks to be a massive axe made of some animal's jaw.

The half man's voice booms over the sands and wind.

"THAT WAS CLEVER. ONCE WE FIGURED THAT YOU USED THE SILK? WE NEVER RELENTED OUR DIVINATIONS. MANY TREES HAVE DIED TO FIND YOU, SPIES OF BORYS. YOU ARE THE FRUITS OF THEIR SACRIFICE."

Intentions?

Oh, from an earlier description:
16' tall. Part human, part cilops, this man-creature resembles a giant
centipede from the knees down, with a flat body divided into
twelve segments. From the knees up, it is remotely human, with
its torso swaddled in a silk sarami and a black skullcap covering
its shaven head. It has tiny ears located at the base of its jaw,
bulbous eyes resembling those of a cilops, and a muzzle with
cavernous nostrils that flares every time it draws a breath.