EOTE 05. STRANGE FOES & FRIENDS
Dates
Participants
Locations
AOR 542-6-01
Trapped and outnumbered, the party had to think quick. Jonesie decided to try and convince the bandits to join his cult of Pan-Da. While not directly converting the bandits, it did get them to hear the party out. Unbeknownst to the party, the Bandits had been investigating a nearby ruin where Echo activity was unusually high and they believed it to have something to do with the god that had called that area home during the Age of Divinity. Jonesie’s claim to be in a tune with a deity would prove useful.
However, there was another obstacle they would have to overcome. There were three Scourge among the Bandits, which Boris could not tolerate. As a test the Bandit leader, Aryus, said that if Boris could singlehandedly defeat the three Scourge, this would be a sign the Pan-Da was real and had enough power to grant its champions victory over unfavorable odds. The party agreed, hoping Boris was up to the task.
As it turned out, Boris was more than up to the task. He lit his fireflask and tossed at the Scourge that looked like it was the strongest. While the first Scourge tried to put out the flames, Boris lunged at the next strongest, landing a powerful blow that dropped it instantly. The weakest one tried to attack, but Boris easily blocked it with his shield and finished him off before lunging at the first one and finishing him too. Within less than fifteen seconds, Boris had dropped all three of his opponents without taking a scratch.
Impressed, the Bandits agreed to work with them, though the party assumed they would only remain alive as long as they were useful. The Bandit leader informed them that there was a set of ruins a few two days to the west swarming with Echoes that they had been trying to get past. They agreed to share the treasure found within the ruins if the party found a way to get past the Echoes.
AOR 542-6-02 to 03
Over the next two days, the party accompanied nine of the Bandits towards the ruins, doing their best to not irritate their new allies, though Kagbar seemed to be trying to deliberately irritate them.
Towards the evening of the second day of travel, they arrived at an area where the ruble of what looked like some sort of academic or political structure from the Age of Divinity stood. In the fading sunlight, they could just start to see the Echoes walking amongst the ruins, being far more visible than any Echoes they had encountered before. They spent the night watching the movements of the Echoes, trying to identify loops or patterns they could exploit to get towards the center of the ruins.
AOR 542-6-04
The following day, the party rested in preparation for their infiltration of the ruins. They believed they had learned how to safely navigate through the crowds of Echoes and make it to the inner portions of the ruins.
That night, they entered the ruins, carefully avoiding the Echoes as they moved about, seemingly unaware that the bridges, doorways, and stairs they walked on and through no longer existed, no did they notice the party weaving between them. With a few close calls, the party made it to the central structure: a relatively intact tower with the remains of bookshelves and writing desks rotting within. At the very center of the tower was a courtyard with a fallen statue at its center. A strong, magical essence emanated from the statue.
Kagbar feel and ended up touching the statue. Instantly, everything feel silent and the Echoes froze in their path. The status, being animated by some invisible force, began to rise, radiating thoughts and words in a language the party didn’t understand. After a few moments, the thoughts and words consolidated into ones they could comprehend, demanding that they identify themselves and state their purpose. Unsure of how to respond, the party told it they were looking for treasure, to which it responded that only the worthy could claim the power that was guarded there.
What followed was a quick but challenging fight where the surrounding Echoes honed in on the party, trying to defend the statue. Many of the party members suffered serious wounds and some were on the verge of death when the final blow was struck and the statue crumbled. Within was a majestic sword hilt. Kagbar quickly grabbed it. When he did, the Echoes vanished. A voice spoke in his head, telling him that he was worthy to carry out its divine quest, but would need proof of competency and loyalty before revealing its plans.
Tired, wounded, and in need of rest, the party returned to their camp and informed Aryus that the Echoes had been taken care of but did not find any treasure. Unconvinced, Aryus told the party to get some rest while he and most of his bandits searched the ruins.
Rightfully believing that the three bandits that remained to watch over the party while they slept would likely kill them in their sleep as their usefulness had come to an end, the party went on the offense and quickly killed the bandits before they could sound an alarm, then fled. They would a place where they could set up a camp and be reasonably confident that the remaining Bandits wouldn’t find them and tried to rest. Throughout the night, they could hear the angry shouting of Aryus and his bandits as they searched for the party.
AOR 542-6-05
The following day, the party continued to flee, traveling mostly to the east and doing their best to not leave any tracks. However, Aryus and his remaining bandits weren’t far behind. By nightfall, the party found themselves in a hilly area covered of shale and loos rock, which would hide their tracks but would create significantly more noise, though the thunderstorm that was approaching could potentially help mute their movements.
Too exhausted to continue and still tending to their wounds from the fight the night before, the party found a large cave and hid themselves in the back of it, hoping that Aryus and his bandits would lose their trail amongst the shale and storm. However, before they could fall asleep, Aryus and his three companions entered the cave, shouting angrily at each other. From the arguments that followed, the party deduced that Aryus’ mage had been tracking them, but was too exhausted to continue and needed to sleep. In their anger and haste, the bandits did not check the back of the cave and instructed their Bovine-Kin to keep watch while the others slept. If the party waited until the mage awoke, they would be detected, so they had to figure out how to dispatch the bandits despite their own exhaustion and injuries.
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