Adventurers

Grok waited back in the shadows just inside of the cavern as Ryena exited outside. Not much could be seen for the cavern made a steep downward slope. Another few minutes pass by and a strange stillness hung in the air.

The entrance to the cave exited from the side of a small plateau into a creek bed where the stream made its way across brushland spotted with tough short trees and hard thorn bushes The only green plant life was around the creeks banks. Ryena made her way carefully down the creek some 50 yards where the flow of water ended in a deep pond. The ruins of a dwelling sat here, and even a pair of gravestones which names etched into them long faded away. The brick and mortar remains of the small structure was overgrown by mighty Spiked Ebony tree, a rare sight for one this size. The pond is home to a small school of crustaceans normally dubbed mudbuilders, similar to crayfish but they are smaller and are a colony based creature. Typically these creatures are most active nocturnally to protect themselves from the sun and predators. They are dubbed mudbuilders because they erect conical mounds around their homes, they have a unique protein in their saliva that they bind with mud that hardens into a waterproof material they use to build their mounds. This makes their mounds all but impervious to a few creatures who specialize in eating these critters. They are not hostile until their mounds are broken. These creatures are omnivorous in nature but can subsist mostly on pond algae. The oasis is probably 40 yards across and the pond some 20 itself, reeds scattered around the banks and in the pond itself a large mound nearly 5 meters high.

There are other small creatures scattered around similar to hares and rodents. There are also wild tubers that seem originated from a field that was garden that is now overgrown. As Ryena makes her way out into the open threw the trail she has used before many times, a well worn path, she is struck by a **** and the quiet sounds of the area cease into a void of nothing, she tries to speak and cannot hear he own words. As she tries to speak a small sac flies out from the nearby brush bursting into goo that coats her and begins hardening, making it tough for her to move. Ryena stands there as she sees two figures approaching her, armored, one wielding a pole arm and the other shorter one hammer and shield. She doesn't notice a third one even smaller sneak up behind her until its too late and she feels a prick of a dark in her back and the world around her begin to go dark. She barely manages to connect to Grok an whispers "Help..."

A moment passes and as the party of adventurers watch their target drift off to sleep before their confidence is shattered by a roar echoing out from nearby. They quickly tie their target and begin to flee. Here, the pole armed human fighter skin begins to tingle with a bad feeling and Rewards, a halfling thief, pet ferret ducks back into his pocket, Catla a dwarf who is unusually pretty for a dwarf, stows her weapons and slings Ryena over her shoulder "We probably do not want to find out what that came from." The other two members of their party an Umag, elven alchemist and Burhiue a human wizard still hidden behind the brush see their fellow comrades rush towards them and they begin making their way back to their horses.

Grok felt the magic collar around his neck burn and a **** angry shock as Ryenas message hit him, his baser instincts let out a roar, he calmed down enough after taking a breath. He moved out of the passage quickly following the scent left by her down the path she left, the rocky terrain and scattered vegetation didn't impede him much. In less than 30 seconds he arrived at the spot splattered with a strange stick substance and trampled by several heavy boots. Ryena's scent was mixed in with the ooze and other scents not hers lingered. He followed them down a freshly stamped path. He could hear shouting and the neighing of horses. They were close. Grok took a second before rushing towards his prey, fighting his instincts to hunt them down. Just from the scents alone he knew there were more than 3 of them. Exactly how many he could not tell and they managed to take down someone who dominated him with magic. He had to be cautious if they had more powerful spells than she did it wouldn't end well for him. He needed a plan, or at least more information about his enemies. He knew one thing, the collar would lead him to his companion, there was nearly unbreakable chain they didn't know that was pulling him toward her.