The Hidden Way - A Second Expedition (In-Character)

[Karaunios]

Sven

The warrior presses the sides of his head with his hands, as if to fence off the excruciating pain. He fights not to fall on his knees. When the pain starts to recede he opens his eyes and looks in the direction where he saw the path. He points at it, catching his breath. "We can't see it with the naked eye, but there's a path over there. I'll try to remember the little I saw. Maybe later on we'll see some sign of it and can continue on following it. Come on, follow me. I'll lead" He gets a deep breath, swelling his chest and starts walking in the agreed marching order.

[Hadarai]

Josiah Belker

Follows the March's lead being sure to give the stone a wide berth as the pass it, he eyes it wearily. "Were you able to see anything else Sven, any beasts or monsters on the path ahead? Are you sure you should move on so quickly?"

[Paladin]

Expedition Two - A sliver of moonlight...

With Sven leading the way, the party sets out into the benighted forest. The old road-bed is easier to follow once you're on it. You can spot here and there a standing stone protruding from the earth at regular intervals alongside the road and there are high spots where the flagstones, pushed up by tree roots, are visible thrusting up from the loamy soil. The standing stones are marked with a single symbol on the side facing the road. Most are covered in lichen and weathered smooth.

Mounds of earth ringed by cut stone walls dot the landscape ahead, covered now by mature trees and jumbled masonry, but it is easy to imagine that the mounds were once quite impressive. Yawning black portals at the center of each give no clue as to what lies within. Most of the mounds are perhaps twenty feet high and one-hundred in diameter, their stone steps set deep into the ground and descending into darkness.

Ahead of you the road winds through hills and hollows into still more dense forest. Far ahead dances a faintly gleaming blue flame that flickers in the silver moonlight. It flits to and fro, swinging and bobbing before it winks out.

The mounds look similar to this.

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[Radrabbit]

Darion Tanor'Tass

"Should we investigate a mound?"
Darion waits with his henchmen for the party's decision.

[Karaunios]

Sven

"I'm actually intrigued..." says the warrior in answer to Darion's query. He signals for Bautista to follow him and starts going around one of the mounds to see if there's anything that might point at an old entrance or a irregularity of any sort.

"Bob, stay where you are and take a look at the road. I don't like that will o' wisp we saw over there. Give us a sign of you see it again."

How high and wide are there mounds? How does the symbol on the stone slabs flanking the path look like?

[Paladin]

Any ideas/actions from Josiah and Juan before I advance us a turn? I roll for wandering monsters, so if anyone has any sort of action or ideas at all, don't hesitate to blurt them out. You've been outrageously lucky so far, but it can't last forever (just ask the players from the first expedition).

The mounds are different sizes. Some small, some enormous. Anywhere from ten feet wide to a hundred. Some have large stones blocking the entrance. Others have had the stones torn aside. The markings on the stones look like mile markers. The numerals aren't any you recognize, but you get the impression that their purpose is to count off the distance traveled from a particular point.

[Hadarai]

Josiah Belker

Josiah holds back with the retainers to offer them protection should they need it. "Watch out for snakes, they loved to nest by these types of mounds back in by my home."

[Paladin]

The mound Sven chooses to examine is so old that trees have begun to grow atop it. Their roots spread across the top of the mound like a vulture's talons gripping a bleached skull. A flight of stone steps lead down to a pitch-black opening. The stone that once presumably blocked the way in lies flat on the ground.

It looks to weigh several tons. Did time and the gradual shifting of the earth topple the mighty barrier? Or was it the bulging sinews of some powerful beast? No sound issues from the aperture and no currents drift from within. All is perfectly still, utterly silent, and impenetrably dark.

In the distance, near where the first odd light flickered out of existence, a second appears. It bobs playfully through the air, diving behind trees to reappear moments later and hop across the ground. And then it's gone.

[Karaunios]

Sven examines the ground, the walls and the big stone that used to work as a door. Is there any markings from claws or extensive usage? Are there any foot prints?

Bautista will light it for him with his torch.

[Paladin]

The surface of the stone is indeed marked in places. But moss grows over the gouges now and makes it impossible to tell if they are natural or inflicted by some outside force.

Those waiting on the road either don't see the dancing lights or don't report their presence to you, so you labor in ignorance as several more of the lights flicker into being. Some blue, some orange. They zip to and fro, buzzing closer now and zinging past the party's ears. They hum like bees and then they're gone, all winking out at once as if a switch was flipped.

From within the mound, a faint rustling sound reaches your ears. It becomes a scraping noise which grows louder the longer you remain near. It is soon joined by another, and then a third.

[Radrabbit]

Darion Tanor'Tass

Darion draws his blade, "Be aware, there is something inside the mound."
He stands on the track with his retainers, watching the opening to the mound.

[Karaunios]

Sven

"I don't like this. Stay at the entrance. If whatever is there doesn't move, maybe one of us should try to lure them out."

Do the lights flicker faster as we approach the mound entrance?

How wide is the mound entrance/how many people can walk abreast?

[Paladin]

From your (Sven's) vantage point near the mound, you can't see clearly what's happening with the lights. They zoom past those on the road like increasingly angry hornets, but are seemingly ignored. More and more gather from the forest until it becomes a suffocating cloud of dancing, twinkling lights which dazzle the eye and make the air vibrate. The varying hues begin to coalesce into a rapidly blinking red mass. Obviously, whatever these entities are--they are not pleased.

But at the mound, your focus lies upon the empty doorway. It is large enough to accomodate one man at a time. As you inspect it to get a quick idea of the general measurements, a loud clang echoes from inside, followed by a meaty thunk. Nothing has emerged into your field of view...yet.

[Karaunios]

Sven

"I don't like this. I think we're dealing with forces beyond our capabilities. These lights probably are protecting these mounds and I couldn't imagine the ancient interring their deads in here without good protection. We should continue on our way. Now."

He says this looking at the lights and the darkness inside the mound in turn. Then he commands his henchmen to follow him and moves away from the mound entrance. He looks at his companions' situation and waits for their reaction.

[Radrabbit]

Darion Tanor'Tass

Darion will back away from the mound as well, ordering his retainers to follow.
He will wait for the consensus of the party before doing anything

[Paladin]

Farther from the mound now, Sven can see his companions beset by the twinkling lights. As he nears, the lights begin to flicker in his direction, too.

From the mouth of the mound burst several large rats with gleaming red eyes. They glare hatefully and scurry away through the benighted forest. Inside the mound, all is silent. On the road, the hornet-like hum grows louder.

[Karaunios]

Sven

"Gods dammit! Why haven't you told me about this dancing little lights? Now we have enemies all around us! Bautista, Bob, keep an eye on the rats but don't engage them, maybe they will go back to their hole. Let's move away calmly."

He starts backing away and closing to where the rest of his companions are. He won't attack the lights just yet, as he doesn't know what they might do. And... besides, they're lights, who knows if a simple sword can damage them.

[Hadarai]

Josiah Belker

Josiah keeps his sword drawn and trained on the rats whilst backing away with everyone else. "Stay together, don't stray, you get caught out those rats will chew you down to the bone in an instant!"

[Paladin]

The rats are nowhere to be seen. They were of a normal size, perhaps a foot long with fleshy tails, and scurried into the forest immediately upon spotting you all. It appears that you interrupted their rummaging within the mound.

For their part, the odd lights begin to coalesce slowly into a form roughly humanoid. As more and more of them meld together, the outline of a woman takes shape. She looks vaguely elven, her ears pointed and features a luminous blue tinged with angry crimson. A flood of emotions washes across her beautiful, alien features. Anger, fear, hope, disdain. Over it all rests a sense of great age--a sense of wisdom and ancient roots.

When she speaks, her throat overflows with voices. Some are deep, others shrill. All are stronger than the foundations of the earth. Her eyes flare a brilliant, solid gold and rays of light emanate from her lips as she shapes each word.

"You tread sacred ground!" the voices intone as one. "Mortal eyes have not gazed upon these mounds in many lifetimes. The men of Stone defiled the land of the Old Ones with their barrows and their rotten corpses, a blight upon my beautiful forest." Her face contorts with rage.

"Are you Men of Stone? Do you come to my home, after all these centuries, to further desecrate my land?" She seethes a brilliant red for a brief moment, then lapses into a cold blue. For anyone looking at her feet, you'll notice she isn't touching the ground. Rather, she hovers several inches above it, her eyes on a level with yours. Her hair flares like tendrils of light in a blinding halo around her head.

[Karaunios]

Sven

The warrior nods to the lady of fire with respect. "Nothing further from the truth, my lady. We are just passing through. We're lost in this forest and we saw that the only path leading us out of the place we were brought us through these mounds.

We don't know about any Men of Stone, we don't belong to them. For the sound of it, they disappeared long ago, right? We would help you combat them if they still were alive. Tell us, please, my lady, is there anything we could do to help your land?"

Sven, being the superstitious magic-fearing type, treats the appartion with exagerated deference and care.