The Witch, the Rider, and the Ku Rog

Saigarn seemed a little winded while we discussed the events inside the orb. The moon was clear and the moon was up. We felt a concussive force wash over us. It wasn't enough to knock us over or anything like that and seemed to be more of a metaphysical shockwave.

I recognized the effect; it seemed like the first encounter we had with the orb and the lich. I believed it was related to the orb. The orb didn't seem to be changed. The hairs on our necks were standing up. Nothing seemed out of place; no mists, no dragons, etc. Saigarn was as concerned as we were. I told him what we knew - it seemed related to the orb, but we weren't sure what it was either.

I settled down to try and contact the witch to see if anything had happened. Shatain & Brennan heard something - 2 sets of footsteps about 50' away in the night. The padding feet continued past our location at a jog. Shatain moved into a stealthy jog, and tried to close on the footsteps.

It was dark, but she caught up with them. The figures were 2 bulky humanoids, about 6' tall. They appeared to be A'aloss. She broke of her pursuit, and returned to us. Saigarn said it wasn't really out of the ordinary - could be training, hunting, or possibly looking for us. Saigarn gave a distinctive whistle to call them over to us; they might have information we needed after all.

Not long after, we heard the A'aloss approaching our position. Saigarn exchanged a few whistles with the pair. We recognized them as 2 of the young elves from the ship; one was Za'vor, the other was A'akasa. They were a little out of breath, but not badly. They reported to Saigarn that the Ku Rog had dispatched a small contingent (50 or so) to hunt us down. They weren't sure they would make it through, but they seemed capable. They were about 2 hours behind us; they had to move slower in the country where it was open season on Ku Rog.

Saigarn was curious how they'd even made it as far as they have. Saigarn asked of the boys had alerted any of the townships - they said they'd only alerted one directly in their path. The Ku Rog seemed to know the best way. We suspected either a paid guide or Zhanna on the ground.

I attempted to use my crystal ball to scry on the army. It failed - I wasn't sure, but it seemed like the attempt was blocked by another magic. I tried again, failed again, but was completely sure that someone was trying to block the scrying. I tried the other guard, and got through - he was in the wilderness, surrounded by at least 15 other Ku Rog, and there was definitely an obscuring effect. My vision through the crystal ball felt extra blurry.

I tried to scry on Zhanna. I wasn't successful, though I tried a couple times. I just couldn't pin down if she was with the Ku Rog group or not. I could try to obscure the orb from scrying, but I would need time to pray for the spell. We decided to move through the forest with protection from normal tracking thanks to Brennan.

We set a hard pace, running for several hours. Every 20 minutes or so, the orb sent out a shockwave. Things changed a little each time. It appeared they weren't perfectly symmetrical. We kept up the run for about 2 hours before Shatain & I dropped out. I tried to settle down and recover some spells, but within about 15 minutes, the orb sent out a shockwave that snapped me out of the needed peace.

I tried to contact the witch again, and this time was successful. She told us the world of the orb was collapsing. The shockwaves would get closer together as the time grew shorter; everything would come out once it became continuous. She warned us we needed to get some place as safe as possible, as quickly as possible.

We ran for O'ritan. We had to stop and rest every 2 hours or so. We had the A'aloss kids spread out to check the range; they got as far out as 1000 yards without noticing any change in the strength of the shockwave from the orb. I decided to stop after our next rest period and see if I could contact the witch again. We were running for O'ritan, and we needed to know what she considered safe.

I couldn't get through, and couldn't recover. The sun was up. We had to walk for about an hour before we could get into a run again. I still couldn't get moving. I distributed my gear out to the rest of the party. Once I finally shed everything, including all my weapons and the breastplate, I could get up to speed.

We got another 2 hours before I had to rest again. It would take a serious rest period before I could run any more. I couldn't reach the witch, either. We rested for an hour, and got into a run for another 2 hours.

It continued in this vein. After a couple more days, we came to a mineshaft. I contacted the witch, and asked about where we should drop the orb. She knew it was the best thing, but she still had her ball & chain. She'd never see sunlight again. We dug a shallow pit above the mineshaft. If we played our cards right, she'd have a moment to kick the orb into the mineshaft, and stay above ground.

We ran. Our veins pumped with acid. About half an hour later, we couldn't feel the pulses. We'd covered about 2 miles, and we could see the orcs closing on the location of the orb. We continued running for another 5-10 minutes before we just couldn't keep going. We looked back, and it was just when the witch stopped holding on.

The land changed. Castles and citadels, weird creatures, new landforms, everything started materializing. There seemed to be an order to it; a large, circular perimeter made out of the mansions, walls, and castles. It finally stopped. We saw a variety of creatures flying above the area. Regardless, it was done. The final circle was about 2 miles in diameter; we were not far past it.

One of the kids pointed to the new city again - it was still moving, reality was still morphing and shimmering. It wasn't collapsing, but it was tightening up a bit and organzing further. We didn't know what had happened to the orcs. They were still inside the radius when the orb gave.

We rested and watched. The A'aloss kids pointed out the very distinctive shape of Zhanna and her dragon, flying up from the city, chased by a huge number of the flying creatures in the air. The battle was intense and furious; eventually they took it down and the dragon didn't rise again.

Not long after, the A'aloss pointed out a tall, thin, black spire that rose at the location where Zhanna went down. It seemed the outline of her dragon, impaled, was at the top. Over the next hour, we saw the orc patrol stumble out, looking beat up and tired. They were defending against incursions from demons & gargoyles from the city. They lost something like 20 Ku Rog. They were still in a tight formation.

The structures continued to swirl and shift, like the buildings were fighting for the center. In particular, we saw a thick patch of forest migrate slowly but surely to the center as the community compacted. Also one of the citadels was moving more rapidly towards the center. In the center, a very large tree was sprouting. It looked like it had keeps in the boughs and other oddities within the branches. After about 2 hours, it seemed the area had condensed to a cone, with the tree and its hybrid aspects merged at the center. We could still pick out the spire with Zhanna's dragon, and many aerial battles; the area had contracted to about a mile radius circle.

The Ku Rog were making their way towards us, without malice. About 300 yards out, one of them moved forward with a white flag, standing out a little from the rest. Saigarn at least knew some of them, and was confident they would maintain the honor of the white flag.

We all went down to the Ku Rog. As we approached, the tight formation of Ku Rog sat on the ground as a sign of truce. The captain moved forward and clasped hands with Saigarn, and asked what we should do now. The Ku Rog captain told us that he had a duty to go into the city and retrieve Zhana. Saigarn said he'd go in, with one of the boys. The other would need to go send a warning.

We told Saigarn and the Ku Rog that we were going back to the trade city. Saigarn hugged us - he wasn't too sure he was going to make it out. He told us he would look for us in the trade city or Valleya. Once of the A'aloss kids came with us, as well as Beefy, one of the Ku Rog guards. Saigarn also told us he'd say hi to the witch for us if he made it to the center.