[IC] A Stranger Land

[Stix4armz]

"Yes I had no doubt in your ability to fell the beast." Rorik says

"Why thank you." Artemis smiles and bows, straightening back up he says, "Rorik is right, around twenty pounds each should last us for a while without slowing us down very much."

"Twenty pounds each is... a lot of meat. Is that really necessary?"

Artemis turns to Astrid, "Carrying supplies will save us from wasting time foraging everyday which will give us more time to march. Is it neccesary? No. Will is hasten our journey? Yes." he continues, "You are keeping pace with the group as it is, so if you can carry food then you should."

ooc: Artemis will be at Medium encumberance with 20lbs of meat, which thanks to the speed buff is still BM 6. Since it sounds like 20lbs puts everybody at BM 6 thats what we should take; if thats too much for your character take however much less you need to in order to ensure BM 6.

[momothefiddler]

Astrid grumbles a bit, but packs on a large share of the meat, tying a quick-release knot.

(Imma take 40 lbs because I can without slowing the group. Knot-Tying at half speed, Climbing-4 +1 = 11, made it exactly)

[Ulthar88]

(Marcus recovers his bolt, but Artemis' arrow cannot be saved. I will assume an enhanced Move of 6 for the coming days, plus a generous supply of bacon :) )

You each gather as much meat as you dare and by the time you are finished it is well & truly dark. There are already a couple of furtive jackals lurking at the edge of your torchlight, and you take off before any larger scavengers find you.

The moon is late in its waning phase by now, and rises very late into the night and provides only a sliver of light -- the new moon is not far off. This, and the increasing hilliness of the land, slows your progress more than you'd like -- on the plus side, the walking is still easy and you've encountered no obstacles that caused any serious delays.

An hour after sunrise on the following morning, you find a suitable campsite shaded by one of those large trees with a massive trunk and widely spreading branches. Martel has just sat down and laid back for a brief rest as the warriors are checking the area for any potential threats -- it is then that Astrid yelps when she sees Martel vanish momentarily.

Martel: As you finally sit down after a long night's march; you find yourself thinking of another lost teammate -- you wonder what a mage like Siri must have made of that errant teleport spell, idly wishing you could consult him on it. It is then that you are overtaken by a moment of light dozing. You are almost unsurprised to be dreaming of Siri being assaulted by some hellish flying skulls... he catches sight of you and reaches out... you are definitely surprised to find yourself being pulled back into the teleport spell. This jolts you awake instantly and you dig in your mental heels and pull back...

Siri appears in a literal puff of smoke -- the stench of brimstone is suddenly everywhere. He shouts something as he spins about, hurling a gout of magic flame through the air and then tumbling to the ground, momentarily blinded by the bright morning sun.

Siri: you are lying in the dirt looking up at the branches of a great tree... you are covered with strange scorch marks but bear no real injury, although you are suffering from Pain throughout your body. You have 2 FP remaining and no energy reserve.

[momothefiddler]

"What the-"
Astrid jumps to her feet and runs over to the re-appeared mages.
"Martel, are you okay??"
She looks around worriedly, then grabs a blanket to wrap Siri before checking Martel's temperature.
Martel's the only one who can deal with these trips, and they keep getting worse. I can only hope she'll be ok because she wasn't gone long - I don't know how to fix her if she's not.

[Ulthar88]

Martel is only a bit startled and disoriented by the event... Siri, unlike the others, is not only conscious but actually feels a little warm even by the standards of the locale.

[momothefiddler]

Astrid, having no faith in her own supernatural medicine skills, continues until she notices Martel is awake, at which point she steps back and lets her take charge.

[Lamech]

Another one? Lets see here
I'll make the standard diagnosis roll: 11 to notice any changes.

[Dragyn]

Siri rolls to his stomach and shoves himself frantically to his knees, a fierce look on his face as he utters words of power, a faint glow forming in his hand.

"Vatrena Ku..."

Arm cocked as if to throw, the young wizard pauses. The magic in his fist slowly disappates as he looks around. "Astrid? Martel?" A glance towards the warriors confirms that he is once again among friends, and Siri slumps in exhaustion.

"Asheryne's Breast, what a day." He submits to Martel's ministrations, offering only a small cough at the brimstone-laden smoke rising from his cloak. "What happened to you all.. and where did we end up?"

[Stix4armz]

"Whatever went wrong with that spell sent us all here; wherever that is..." Artemis' voice trails off, "Doesn't matter I suppose, there's plenty of work here too."

[Dragyn]

"Yes, well, when Master Cedric's spell begain to slip, I did my best to help him draw it back under control," Syrik gingerly lowers himself down fully to the ground, wincing as though he were snuggling into a bed of thorns. "Lent him a finger to hold the threads to his knot of Kapija, as it were, you see."

"I tried to force the spell into obedience, but it wasn't working. I know little of Gate Magick, theory mostly, but magick has a feeling when it goes bad, and this magick felt very bad indeed, certainly nothing like the spells Cedric cast in our presence before." Siri shrugs, "It seemed that the more I fought it, the more went wrong. I think the Demon had something to do with the perversion of the spell, and that must be what sent us here, why the magick felt so foul."

Siri looks around again, getting a better perspective of the surroundings. "I take it you've been here some time. No doubt while I was fighting off those horrid demon-skulls, you had a chance to check the area. Are we near some sort of town? I feel I could sleep for a week in a nice feather bed."