Feathers Tickle

Not enough time. Never enough time. As the third Veran thuds to the ground, the tinkling noise of obsidian cracking and plummeting in the thicket, the sound waves pulse outward, though our heroes hold their ground.

Looking up, their hearts sink as they realise a much larger threat is now circling. The loud squawk frightening a couple of our warriors, though they bravely battle the snapping, clawing creature.

The swooping bird finally falling. Antoinette and Lucy are unable to avoid being hit by the fourth creature as it crashes to the ground. Taking minor damage, Lucy’s is quickly dissipated by the spell Martonis enveloped her in earlier when she was hauled up from the tunnel.

Martonis speedily, now, performs a great deal of healing, nearly exhausting his supplies. He will need rest before continuing – will he get one? He wonders.

The party searches around the area to find anything of value and is disappointed to have only bird parts. Lucy is fascinated with the feathers, and stuffs a few in her pocket. As she is doing this she looks up, “What’s that?” she asks inquisitively.

The others look up and spot a nest. An ENORMOUS nest. To placate Lucy, Morgan shimmies up the jagged obsidian tree, discovering there are three large, one-foot in length, red-and-white marbled eggs. Morgan squeezes these inside his enormous rucksack and carefully descends from the tree, telling Lucy what he found.

Calls to “Crack them!” are immediately voiced.

“We don’t need more of those creatures hatching!”

Morgan frowns as he raises an eyebrow at the group waiting for them to be silent before he speaks. “I don’t know about what you folks do with eggs, but from where I come from, we eat them.”

Groans and faces are made at the swashbuckler from the sea as they determine their next direction.

Spinning about they can discern no direction better than another. Ooma suggests floating a feather to earth, which does not work, but it inspires Martonis to attempt the same using the softer, down feathers, which does work and they set off in, what they conjecture, to be north. A lengthy journey, chipping away at the obsidian, which seems to have slowed its growth a bit; they appear to be making headway, so much so that Martonis, in the lead, notices a sort of tunnel.

Abruptly the air is broken with the sounds of more Veran pelting the thicket.

“Run, this way!” Martonis shouts as he scoots down a tunnel he spots made from obsidian branches and twigs, a glowing light at the other end. He makes sure Antoinette and Lucy are in front of him before he continues.

As they run, the Veran’s beaks puncture the canopy above them, their force quickly collapsing the ominous protection as the last of our heroes leaps and rolls from the dark copse into the edge of a wide open circle, the deep blue sky overhead, a cool breeze wafting gently across a field of tall grasses, daisies, buttercups and other wild flowers. The Veran's seem unable to penetrate into the airy opening.

Lying on their backs, staring at the sky, gulping clean, fresh air, our heroes enjoy the momentary respite.

Lucy, being a mere child, rises first, unwinded, and looks about.

“What is that?” she asks, pointing in the direction of an old wooden structure standing one-hundred yards away, in desperate need of painting and some major repairs, as the clapboards look old enough to clap! Several unbroken windows, on two levels, reflect sunlight; how they avoided the onslaught of time one can only conjecture.

A clock, high on the belfry, reads nearly seven, but if it is accurate, or not, is anyone’s guess. A wide porch with rickety stairs invites one to enter…

A fuzzy memory tickles your mind...

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XP:  2,050 EACH. (Although the Veran did not hit due to my poor rolling they would have annihilated you if I had rolled well; good job folks!) EXTRA-XP for those who write a story (with the Tavern at its centre...); journal entry (of usefulness); or an insight into their character’s back story... 50xp x character level, for one entry per week… (Remember, I don’t know what you need or covet if you don’t tell\hint me...)

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video version\proof

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fledgling Dungeon Mistress,

khrys...

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