Two horsemen ride up to a tavern...

Ascian watches Kaed with raised eyebrows, his slight disappointment that the man hadn’t gone for money abating when he instead takes the hat and seems to find something perplexing within it. He glances from the wizard to Kaed and back, an expression of distant amusement fixed on his face. It resonates in his mental tone as he asks Thrandimir,  “Are all great and powerful wizards tricks wrapped in secrets wrapped in hats, or just you?”

As Tasagrad returns to him, Thrandimir slowly comes to his senses once more. Realising that his hat is missing, he throws Ash a smirk in response to the question. Well, anything else would be boring now, wouldn't it? The wizard thinks back at the pale young man, before turning and spotting Kaed wearing the heavy grey hat. " Kaed ," he admonishes, shaking his head with a teasing grin. "An honourable warrior like yourself would really rob a blind old man of his medicine?"

"Honourable? Now you are being funny, great one." Kaed flips the hat from his head and steps back towards Thrandimir, offering the hat. Once taken his hand dips into his pocket removing the pipeweed and offering that back too. "This stuff will kill you, you know? But we are all going to die one day, so why not enjoy the living" He smiles as he gets very close to the aged wizard "But maybe we should talk another time, you are full of mysteries and as a rule I don't like mysteries,  I would like you to be the exception that proves the rule though. A likeable mystery, I could journey with one of those." His voice is soft, trying to not let it carry to the others, then he finishes louder. "My apologies for my childish sense of humour, you were doing something important and I interrupted you."

Thrandimir laughs good-naturedly. "No harm done," he assures the barbarian, "I aspire to be exceptional in all things," the wizard adds with a wink. "Do we wish to bother with these beasts, or simply save ourselves the effort and go around?"

Kou smiles at the groups silliness, his master often said to find the joy in even the most dire moments. And for good or ill this group seems well equipped in that arena. Stifling a bit of laughter Kou shakes his head and focuses up on the task at hand.  "Axebeaks are nasty little beasts. Normally I steer clear of them but the village needs the grain so I think we may have to risk getting involved." Kou looks over to Thrandimir "The great and powerful" a man proving to be interesting if not humble  and Erika and says "The birds are very territorial, do either of you have any skill in illusion magic? If we can make them believe that a predator or another animal has entered their territory, it may distract them enough that we could be able to sneak in and grab the grain without having to kill the birds. Their viscous but I would prefer not to hurt them."

Katrin raises an eyebrow, taking in what Kou says. She stabs the tip of her sword into the dirt, resting her hands on the hilt. She chuckles, her chain shirt clinking. "Good luck trying to sneak with me around." Her face turns to seriousness. "The village does need that grain. And axebeaks are a menace. Kill two birds with one stone?"

Erika had been mostly quiet, just trying to keep an eye out for any threats. Upon mention of the smell of rotting flesh, followed by Axebeaks, she furrowed her brow. "I've got some  skill in illusion but it's not in my usual repertoire  of spells. I know it seems a bit odd but I prefer to put foes to sleep so others can finish them off, or picking off weakened foes with a firebolt or a magic missile...though I am no stranger to melee combat." She said as she drew her trident. "If they're like other wild animals they could just follow our scent. That could lead them right back to the village and we'd have yet another problem on our hands. I feel like we're going to have a vote over this if we all keep deliberating, mind you, and I don't think we quite have the luxury of time."

"I can get to the grain, but I can't grab all of it. Multiple of us would have to."  Ascian's gaze skates aimlessly over the crest of the hill. "But I agree. Killing them would be quicker."

" We need the grain, those creatures should be no real threat, kill them now and be done with it." Kaed has no doubt in his voice as he slowly draws his sabre and moves forward a little towards the axebeaks.

"Well, they can't follow us if they're dead." Katrin pulls her sword from the ground, and follows Ascian up the hill, eager to get to the fight that lay ahead.

Thrandimir adjust his hat and flourishes with one hand, causing an illusion of one of the sacks of grain to appear besides them with a dull thump. "I should be able to take care of that. Did you have a particular kind of creature in mind?"

"A direct confrontation could get messy, however. Maybe we sh-" Erika stopped as Thrandimir conjured up a bag of grain. Clearly an illusion, it landed with a dull thud. ' Wait.'  Her mind began to focus on it without her consent to do so. There were more important things to be thinking about than this one spell cast by one wizard. ' But it made a sound. Minor illusions do not make noise.'  She damn near spun on her heel to look directly at the bag of grain. No, there isn't time for this. Looking away, she took a shaky breath and closed her eyes, attempting to re-focus herself. 'He's either more powerful than I thought or an illusion specialist. My money's on the latter.' 'Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.'  Erika opened her eyes and let out a sigh. "So, does anyone know if the Axebeak has any natural predators?"

Kou gives a nod of respect towards Thrandimir impressed at his talent. "It appears the Great and Powerful moniker that you bandy around may be something other than hubris. Before leaving the Citadel I studied reports on this areas wildlife. The Axebeaks don't have many natural  predators but have been known to be hunted by owlbears. I think that may be enough to at least keep them occupied if not scare them off." Kou looks over at Katrin and Kaed "We are far enough from the village that I don't think the birds will be a threat and Axebeaks rarely venture closer to human settlements." He looks at Katrin  "Tempus urges us to never back down from a just fight but if possible I try to find the path with the least bloodshed." He pauses and sadly adds   "And I fear that we may get more than our fill of battle dealing with the savages." 

"...so an owlbear?" Thrandimir asks in confirmation of the plan. The crystal topping his staff begins to glow as the wizard channels power in preparation for spellcasting. Light sparkles off of the clear gemstone and the snarling cry of an owlbear on the hunt can be heard pealing out of over the top of the hill. Then, with a thrust of his staff, Thrandimir conjures up the image of a large male owlbear, which he sends plodding up and over the top towards the axebeaks.

The strange noise splits the air and Ascian waits a beat before dropping his backpack and lowering toward the ground, propelled up the hill by curiosity to see its effects. Grass tickles and sways as he climbs, stopping just short of the crest to see through the tall fronds and watch five of the six birds take off. It inflates threateningly with a cry, glaring toward the illusion, and he holds up a single finger back towards the others to indicate as much.

"We could just kill this one at least, coming Katrin?" Kaed walks quickly forward  bending his knees a little to stay a little lower, sabre held low, he moves towards Ascian, stopping short of the fragile looking fellow. "Do you want to lead the charge?" He whispers with a glint in his eyes that is probably mischief.

Katrin looks at both Kaed and Ascian. Despite the fact that the wizard had decided to scare off nearly all of the things she was eager to kill, she was looking forward to smashing this one's head in. It wasn't an orc, but it was at least something.  "Race you." She begins to charge across the field, towards the last axebeak.

Kaed and Katrin race towards the final axe beak, but their footfalls are interrupted by a powerful roar. Not the sound of the axe beak, and not the owlbear call that Thrandimir had conjured earlier. But a primal, savage roar. The axe beak's nostrils flare, and it turns and runs -- a path perpendicular to Kaed and Katrin's line of approach. Beyond the illusory owlbear, beyond the bags of grain and the dead cattle, four golden-maned cats climb slowly up from the tall grass, snarling and preparing to pounce.

Hearing the cats snarl and approach his new allies, Kou jumps into action. His silver eyes glow with a blue energy as he runs across the clearing. He says a brief prayer to Tempus for strength and works his power to create a shield of crackling blue energy around him. He hoped to avoid bloodshed but these cats are top level predators and will not be scared away. As he gets closer he digs deep reaching towards the energy that had been awakened within him and gathers the lightning in his hand and unleashes towards the cat. It his the beast sending electrical currents through the cat but doesn't put it down. He lowers himself into a fighting stance with his clawed gauntlets in front of him. He yells  "Be ready these beasts are natural killers"

Callahan moves quickly, up to stand next to Katrin and Kaed. Gripping his staff tight, he imbues it with natural magics and waits patiently for a lion to approach.

Kaed see the threat and looks over his shoulder at the rest of the party some of whom are too close to the pack. Cutting across past Katrin the tribesmen roars in defiance, even as he prepares to avoid the oncoming attacks. " Katrin, stand with me, hold them away from the others! Glory to the brave!"

Glory to the brave indeed. Three of the four lions move toward Kaed, and two of them pounce. But the barbarian is too quick, and he avoids their razor sharp claws with relative ease. The remaining of those three paces a short distance away, waiting for an opening. The final lion pounces on Katrin, batting her with its claws and letting out a ferocious roar. But the dwarf is made of sterner stuff, and is able to stay on her feet, the armor catching all of the impact. Katrin takes 4 slashing damage to vigor, reduced to 0 by DR. As the lion focuses on Katrin, Callahan takes the opportunity to attack with his staff -- a quick, sharp thwack  on the head. The lion rears back, shaking its head, with a look of confusion on its face. Katrin's action.

Katrin pushes back against the lion as it pounds on her chest. She whips her sword, both hands gripping the hilt, around towards the body of the creature. It ducks out of the way, her sword shaving a few hairs off instead of breaking flesh. She roars back at the lion, and a smile lights her face.   

Ascian sees the others head for the beasts and decidedly takes off in the opposite direction, skidding to a stop near the wizard and elf. Raising his bow in a fluid motion, he exhales, not giving himself time to second guess the shot that soars across the grassland to lodge itself deep inside a lion's heart.

Erika muttered a few words, took some rose petals from the pouch on her hip, and releases them with a gesture. The rose petals would fly on the wind, circling around the two injured lions, placing them to sleep. She moved by Ascian, preparing her trident to stop an advance, should one come.

Cautiously, Thrandimir advances up the hill, careful not to draw attention to himself. A few arcane gestures follow and yet another owlbear cry peals out over the hillside. Up ahead by the lions, the illusory monster goes charging towards the nearest of the big cats.

Seeing two of the lions lulled to sleep by Erika's magic, Kou runs up gathering another blast of lightning as he moves. Seeing that the sleeping lions are no longer a threat he moves to engage with the other beast. Seeing he can't make it there in time, he unleashes another blast of lightning, but he over shoots the lion in his haste. 

Callahan watches Kou overshoot with his lightning, and starts a quick mental calculation in his head on aim. The growl of one of the remaining conscious lions interrupts him, however, and he doubles backwards away from the pride. Holding his staff aloft for the time being, he quickly reaches into the interior breast pocked of his coat and retrieves a small crystalline orb, it's glass surface glinting in the light of day. Raising it up towards the lions, he aligns it with his eye and peers through. A shimmering swirl of bluish-purple light emanates from the small orb, with small specks of light glowing like miniature stars, which grow in radiance until finally exploding in a twirling comet of energy towards the lion ahead of him. At the last second - sensing he may have miscalculated afterall - he pulls his arm down slightly, and the ray of radiant energy follows suit as it connects dead-on with the beast. Seeing the successful hit, Cal clutches the orb close to his chest, his eyes closing momentarily as he smiles.

Stepping forward Kaed locks eyes with the last awake lion, just as a bolt from Cal smacks into it, hurting the creature and then somehow covering it  in sparkling light, clearly confused the beast shifts about barely paying attention to the tribesmen who knows the time to strike is now. Lunging forward he lines up the blade perfectly with the ribcage, slashing between two bones with expert technique, he feels the blade cut deeper as he pulls back, blood running freely from the wound. A quick glance tells Kaed this wound will ultimately kill his adversary but not before it could maim or kill the group. There is a moment when time stands still, their eyes catch again and he sees fear in the face of the noble beast. It turns to run and instinct takes over, Kaed flicks out the sabre once more, a small hit compared to before but deadly, the arterial spray from the throat a clear sign of his success. The lion bounds away, two strides, then a third before it slips and falls, bleeding out on the ground. Kaed flicks his sabre out to the side, blood drops flying away as he turns to the higher creatures unsure of how long the magic will control them for. " Katrin, are you hurt? Let us finish these beasts before they awake."

The two sleeping lions remain still, their  rib cages  rising and falling raggedly. The remaining lion charges Thrandimir's owlbear illusion, cutting straight through it and looking dreadfully confused as its claws come away with nothing.

Katrin closes her eyes for a brief moment, channeling the divine power of Tempus into her sword. Flames lick up the blade, and she whirls at the sleeping lion, striking it deep in the shoulder. Flames erupt on it's body, leaving behind burns and blistering skin, and the smell of burning hair fills her nostrils. She grins at Kaed. "Not at all. Though this one will probably have something to say about what I just did," she says as the lion begins to stir.  

Ascian watches the bedlam unfold, the magic flashing across the grass. Sighing, he runs around Erika to stop by Thrandimir, raising his bow again toward the lion Katrin had just swiped with fire. The arrow flies true, burying itself in the large beast's throat. He watches unblinkingly as it sags to the ground.

Erika observed the situation, watching her allies deal with the two still active lions. Now all that was left was one, it was time to strike. She dashed into position, passing just behind Callahan, keeping her eyes on the lion that was preoccupied with the bugbear illusion. It wouldn't stay that way for long, and she had to make sure it wasn't in a condition to really fight back. She wove her hands through the air, lowering its temperature, gathering frost on her hands, lowering the temperature even further, to the point where she could see her breath. Her right hand eventually became covered in frost, and that meant it was time. Erika reached out towards the lion, inhaling an icy breath. "The icy grip of winter claims you."  She closed her hand into a fist towards the lion, causing the frost to vanish off of her hands, and a gust of incredibly cold air to strike the lion through its more summer-oriented coat, instantly creating frost on the creature and chilling it to the bone. She would then bring her hands up to her face, rubbing them together and exhaling hot air onto them to warm them up.

Thrandimir chuckles under his breath as the lion falls into his trap, leaping claws-outstretched at the illusory owlbear. The wizard's fingers move rapidly, his palms sliding along his staff as he manipulates the image to show what appears in his mind's eye. The big cat's claws slice the owlbear into neat strips that drift lazily to the ground and from within bursts the enormous form of an aggressive male dire lion!

Seeing the lion burst through the illusion Kou dashes over and lashes out twice with his clawed gauntlets. The lion while off balanced is still able to neatly dodge Kou's strikes. Kou curses his luck and takes a deep breath centering himself preparing himself in case the lion strikes back.

With Kaed and Kou and Katrin already within range of the final lion, Cal feels confident they will be able to finish up the fight and gingerly returns the small crystal orb to his pocked. Striding up towards the group, he hangs back a little, carrying his staff by his side just in case something were to go wrong - but that was unlikely, the stars had already shown a clear path ahead.

As the battle ends its final stages Kaed charges across to the last lion standing, watching ad it nimbly dodges the monk's attacks. He focusses, calling the icy calm to him, a fury that lends strength to his arm and to his heart and angles the blade to cut at the throat again trying for the quick kill but he blow doesn't strike true, instead ripping a cut down the shoulder of the creature, serious but not fatal.  Feeling bolstered he prepares for retaliation from the final beast.

The final lion, slowly backs away from the fearsome dire lion illusion and from Kaed and Kou. It turns and bounds away, down the hill and into the tall grass.

Katrin narrows her eyes at the fleeing creature. She charges past her allies, an unearthly and terrifying cry coming from her lips. It almost sounds like just noise, but there are hints of words laced in the screams, an ancient prayer to Tempus from long ago. She comes to a halt, her voice hoarse and cracked. "And stay away!" Her voice cracks on the last word. Breathing heavily, she turns to face the group, a wild grin on her face and exhilaration in her stormy blue eyes.

Raising his eyebrow as Katrin thunders after the creature, Ascian shadows, ending some fifty feet behind her. He raises his bow as she yells, punctuating her scream with an arrow that sinks into the lion's hide, finding purchase but far from as deep as his first two.

Erika, looking to enforce the message to the lion, rubbed the index and middle finger of her right hand together, creating a little bit of heat between them that turned into a mote of flame. She pointed with her index finger, with a quick motion she snapped her fingers, muttering a phrase as the bolt launched at the lion. But the shot veered wide, sailing over the lion and fizzling out.

Having watched the proceedings with an almost amused curiosity, Callahan releases the magic from his staff, returning it to its plain wooden form.  “Hey now, that was pretty exciting and whatnot but surely we can simply let the rest of these fellas go, yea? I’m sure they didn’t mean anything wandering through, and I think they learned their lesson,” he says, as he scratches his head, “Though I admit I’m a bit confused myself on what that lesson was...”

Kou relaxes his fighting stance but continues to focus on maintaining his shield of faith. Hearing Cal he slows his breathing and says "I believe we can, it was a sad twist of fate that maneuvered us into this conflict. The lions probably caught the scent of the cows on the wind, and thought they found a free meal and instead crossed path with us. No need for us to pursue them further." Looking around the battlefield and spotting the grain again, he sighs and says "we should have brought a wagon. Probably not worth it to run back, maybe we could bury the grain and retrieve  it when we return? Kou then walks to the lions looking to see if any of them had any signs of life.

Katrin, still riding high from the fight, gestures to the dying lions. "Just kill the bastards and then we can move on." She sheathes her sword, and stomps back over to the group. 

Kou shakes his head thinking  "Is this the behavior of believers of Tempus? From my readings Tempus demands honorable battle from his followers, not senseless slaughter." Seeing Cal tending to one of the lions Kou runs over and brings out his healers kit and assists the Firbolg.

Ascian doesn't lower his bow, training it on the lion Kou and Callahan are bent over. "Save it now, and it's just going to die more painfully in the wild," he states bluntly.  "It's kinder to kill it."

"Are you going to heal all it's injuries and give it a good meal too. You are sending it to die in the wild, probably slowly and painfully. They are predators and they saw us as prey. It was an honest fight and they were defeated. That is the end. Let them die in peace." Kaed walks towards Kou and Cal, sword still out, point dipping low near to the throat of the closer of the two animals. "If they had their way, they would be feasting on us now. I would like to know where you would draw the line. Will you waste you gift trying to save all the orcs that pillage and murder for grain,  will you ask me to risk my life to protect you only to reward my courage with the healing of creatures who sought to cut my thread?" Kaed holds the blade out, the tip resting against the throat of the lion, he watches the laboured breathing and sighs. Turning his back he walks away back towards where Thrandimir is standing muttering "Fools " far to loudly to think it might not reach the two kindly souls, but clearly not caring. Adding as he walks away " If it gets up and slashes you with this claws, do not expect sympathy or saving."

Seeing the animal stabilized Kou slowly stands to his feet as Kaed speaks, smiling sadly as he does so. Calmly stating in a diplomatic tone  "I have no need of your protection Kaed, I never have and never will ask you to risk your life in my defense." Pointing to the injured beast   "Helping this animal costs me nothing, and gives it a chance at life. It may die as eventually all beings will, or it may find the strength to fight and survive. That choice is up to it, my choice is to help. The lion smelled the corpses and found us, it is not evil or cruel and didn't specifically try to harm us. It was an animal seeking food, so I choose mercy ." Calling after Kaed as he walks off, his smile fading as he does so  "You mentioned the orcs." He pauses as his face hardens "While they may behave like animals, they are men. They chose to terrorize the village, they chose to steal from, murder and butcher it's people. Throughout my life I have sought to give mercy to those who deserve it. The only mercy the orcs deserve is the that of a quick death, which by Tempus we will deliver to them."

"Will shall see, when we are there and slaying our foes how hard your heart can be." Kaed sheathes his blade after cleaning it with a rag from a pouch. "I asked  if you would heal them because what you may not realise is that those wounds run deep. I would prefer it dies clean than in a feverish nightmare of agonising pain because it's organs are damaged and it will not have your pack of balms and bandages in the wild."

Callahan had knelt low next to the lion to attempt to soothe its pain. Listening in closely to its chest, he felt his head rise and fall slowly and irregularly with each labored breath it took. He had some experience with first aid - a handful of times at sea a crewmen had caught a line around his arm and found the coarse rope - lathered as they tended to be in the brine of the sea - had shorn off more than one would expect, leaving a nasty bit of burnt-red skin in its place. A tourniquet or soothing balm had often done the trick, even before he'd attuned to the natural world as he had. But a lion was, well, a whole different animal.  He did what he could, applying pressure to the visible cuts and gashes along its hide to stem the bleeding, and tearing a strip of cloth from his own shirt to wrap around a particularly nasty wound on its front paw. He wasn't quite sure if what'd he'd done had helped, but after a moment the large cat seemed to relax a bit, the tension in its form dropping as its breathing eased up. He had but a moment to smile, content with his efforts, before the ignorant comments of the man cut through. "I'm quite sorry to hear you feel such a way Mr. Kaed. I thought I understood your boisterous boasting earlier, but I see now it is more than that."  Callahan sighs as he stands, adjusting his clothes and dusting off the dirt that now clung to the knees of his pants. "This goes for all of you but just know it is no weakness to have a heart. I personally think it is weaker not  to. These animals acted on instinct. We defended ourselves, but there is no need to take joy in it, is there?. And I think we should reserve judgement on these orcs until we have met them. Not all criminals are evil - some are simply misguided or desperate. We won't know until we get there, but I hate to think we're just a group of executioners." He looks at the lot, a sudden pang of worry come over him, "That's... not what we are, is it?"