You move out to meet them.
At last you all together, meeting on the side of a mountain ridge.
"Am I glad to see you, Sian!" exclaims Vanadil.
Zanax greets Kadlian with a smile and a nod. "This is Aron. We met him on our journey back to find you."
Kadlian nods. "Well met. We are need of allies in this neck of the world."
Aron bows, letting the ranger finish.
"It seems, no doubt, that we need to discuss the last week of events. I'll tell you our tale first.
"We were making our way toward the location of the troll tracks, when we passed this tower that said Bell Teleportation...and there were two of these booths there, that you described to me earlier. Anyway, we had a short look around and then continued onward under a canopy of trees. Suddenly, it started to rain spiders on us. Rage managed to cast a spell to get herself away and I was able to kill off the spiders on me and my steed. Sian wasn't so lucky, although he wasn't bitten, his hippogriff was and died of its poison. Rage's horse was also killed.
"After slaying all the spiders we continued onward, whereupon we finally reached our destination. It was at that point we noticed that our ability to move and to communicate were severely hampered. Rage cast something called Cloudkill where the troll tracks went down some stairs. Rather than venturing forth to explore more, we retreated to try and join up with you. That's when we met Aron and convinced him to come with us rather than try and slay the trolls himself."
"We've spent the better part of the week trying to catch up with you when we saw the devastation. What happened there?"
Kadlian looks at the ground for a moment and then speaks with a large lump in his throat. "That is where the rest of the party, including all of Sian's and my followers, met their death from unknown agent. The three of us, Vanadil, Birch and myself, went to inspect a ridge we were going to climb to avoid that nearby town. Furgh went into town, hidden, to try to discover what was there. While the three of us were returning from our trip, there was a huge explosion of many fireballs at our camp. The treants do not have any real specifics other than unseen enemies cast the fireballs and other magic. Our friends never had a chance to do anything. They died instantly. And then they were raised and asked questions. Whoever did this knew that there were others out there and they know about us."
"Then your friends are still alive?"
"No. I guess when I meant raised, I meant their spirits. They must have had priests that could speak with the dead. Our friends are dead."
"I wanted to go back to the camp, but the treants talked me out of it. There was a trap waiting for us at the top. Instead, we turned tail and ran until we got here where we could wait in safety for Furgh or anyone else to catch up."
Rage shakes her head. "And we have no idea who did this?" the mage says in a detatched tone. "It seems that we have more enemies than we originally thought. And there is the disturbing problem of not being able to teleport or use distance powers."
"I assume it is the folks from that town. We are in Mestom now."
"What is this town ahead? Why do we seek to avoid it? Are our foes from this place? Could they be connected to the temple?" Rage starts with the questions.
"The town is days behind us. It was a few hours walk from the campsite where we lost everyone. Did you not see it?"
"I suspect we need to meet up with Hlarn and Kailar, and quickly," the mage says, "And then we can use the magic of the crystal ball to locate our various items and hopefully get a better idea of what happened."
Kadlian nods. "Well, we had better be off, then."
Zanax looks disturbed, as his brows furrow and his look turns black. "We should finish our business here and return to Sandas as soon as possible. But mark my words, we shall return one day and exact justice upon these people who killed our companions. This I swear by Votishal."
Kadlian nods. "I wish we could go back now. Maybe when we rejoin with Hlarn, we can take stock and see if it is a reasonable option."
"Kadlian, by the way, did you happen to see Rage's signal fireballs? In any case, we should definitely start setting more guards when we stop to rest. Shall we try and catch up to Hlarn and the others now?"
Kadlian nods resignedly. "Yes."
"Did the treants see who attacked? Earlier a large creature flew over us, leading me to believe a dragon caused this destruction."
"We did not see the attackers," says Barker the treant, "For it was almost dark and they attacked out of the sky. Balls of fire exploded, and the air filled with whirling magical blades. We were at the edge of the attack, and so survived, but fled before we were attacked again."
Zanax looks confused.. "How did you guys know that their spirits were raised if you fled after the attack?"
"I did not say that," replies the treant.
"Apologies, I was refering to Kadlian's account of the story."
Kadlian looks at the treants. "Would you please repeat what you told me about the attack?"
They tell the tale.
"They came from the sky unseen, with fire and cutting blades of magic. They landed once all were dead, and spoke with the bodies," the treant continues in a barely audible voice. "The dead answered them. Then, they dumped the bodies in a strange pit that one unfolded from his robes, and stripped the dead animals of anything of value. At last, they took to the air again, and vanished."
"From the description of your friends, it sounds like the bodies were taken away as well. We need to find Hlarn as soon as possible and get the crystal ball to see if we can locate their bodies. Alternatively, we have cash reserves in Sandas and we could pay Ray Jay for a wish, once we get out of this area and my teleports work again," Rage says.
"My shelter should keep us safe, and with your expert guards, we might be ok now. I am afraid that they may try to magically locate us and we need to keep a kean ear and eye out."
"Do you know why we cannot teleport?" Kadlian looks at Zanax. "I presume your telepathy is not working, either?"
Zanax nods solemnly. "Correct. I've been trying for the last week or so..."
"We know that it is a recent occurence, and I am convinced it is a regional effect, but have no proof of that, but it could be something else, and if it is the latter explanation, then we are in deep shit, cause whatever power is messing with the mages ability to tap into the magic of the universe is way powerful," Rage says.
"So, it is more than just your teleport spell? What other spells have been affected?"
"As far as the treants go, they did not save our friends. The treants are very useful, but they are not proof against magic. And they took some horrible wounds at the ambush. Birch and I have been healing them every chance we got, so they should be fully healed, by now..."
"Now, what is this about your shelter, Rage?"
"A magic spell, Lemounds Secure Shelter, with an invisible servant to fetch and gather and wizard locked doors, should keep us safe," the mage says. "We've been using it since we began having teleport problems."
Kadlian nods. "How big is the shelter? Can the treants fit inside?"
Aron points to the treants and asks Rage and Zanax, "Do you think they might know anything about your magic not working around here?"
The treants are unable to provide any more information.
Kadlian, Vanadil and Birch quickly break camp, and you all set off. It is early afternoon. The temperature is in the high 80s. The rest of the afternoon is uneventful, and that night you sleep in Rage's shelter.