Zion: Light of the New Moon Part 2, Ch 3.5 Bannihar
Zion - Light of the New Moon, Part 2 Chapter 3.5
Bannihar Measured in Minutes
The party survives the incredibly dangerous encounter, but somewhere out in the desert that monster still lurks... Despite what may lay ahead it's good to know that the Dana and Raes will survive. The final modifiers to Bannihar for this chapter are as follows: ++ Favor, + Willpower, - Delay, ++ Experience, and - Luck.
"RAES!" Kayte's scream emerged from somewhere deep within her, somewhere so base and unfiltered that the shout carried across the desert as if it were Divine Word. In unison, everyone looked to the opening in the ground, and the next several seconds, less than the span of a full breath, everyone was running to where the champion of Bannihar had disappeared.
"Raes!" the priestess called again, arriving at the lip of the chasm a stride ahead of everyone else, and she gaze down into the blackness, cheek fur already wet with the tears that had started to come to her eyes. The call was echoed by several other members of the party as they likewise arrived at the edge of the great opening.
"...ow..." a faint call arose from below; everyone froze in place.
"Lord Raes?" Roarg called, "Is that you?" the badger motioned to Sebastian with a single digit and, without any other hint, the gryphon knew exactly what to do; he sprang forward and into the hole.
"Oh Goddess..." Kayte fell to her knees at the edge of the opening in the ground, and raised her voice, "Raes? Are you alright?"
"I..." the call came from below, "...caught a... ledge..." his voice was obviously strained.
"How far down are you?" Jules called, "Maybe we could get a rope..."
"Less talk!" Sebastian called from below, "More rescue!"
"Stay close to the edge!" Elias called down into the pit, and held his hands close together, summoning a small ball of flame within them. He let the fire go merely by opening his fingers, and the orb fell slowly downward. Everyone at ground level held their collective breath as the ball of light descended lower... and lower... and lower... until, after almost sixty feet, illuminated the dog. Lord Raes was covered in dirt and blood, hanging by a single paw from a thin ledge.
"Hang on, Raes!" Kayte called, "We'll find a way to get you back up!"
"I think hanging on was part of the plan!" Sebastian called in response, colliding noiselessly with the side of the hole. Latching onto the earth with his talons, the gryphon began to climb his way closer to the dangling champion. Nobody at the top of the opening could hear what Sebastian said to the dog, or Raes' reply to the gryphon, but it appeared they had some kind of plan.
Sebastian climbed even closer, his claws digging deep into the semi-firm surface of the side of the chasm, not stopping until he was just beneath Lord Raes' legs, and then he flexed his legs, coming up under him until the champion was seated on his back. The dog let out a groan as he slowly lessened his hold on the lip of earth that he had used to catch his fall. "Goddess..." his voice echoed up from below, "That hurt..."
"Sit tight." Elias directed down to the two in the hole, and then motioned everyone away. He rubbed his hands together and began to chant. The armadillo moved back at a measured pace, each step bringing with it another implied beat to the tempo of his words and, as he continued to draw further and further away from the hole a section of dirt slowly started to descend, a ramp appearing in the sand, "Get ready!" he called as he shaped the ground further with motions of his hands.
The desert continued to fold in on itself as ground level tilted downward toward the hole until it was even with Lord Raes and Sebastian; it was a simple action for the gryphon to move from clinging on the wall to stepping onto the slightly sloped rise leading back up to ground level. Once they reached the top Lord Raes slid off of Sebastian and they both collapsed, exhausted. "You and that damn armor are way too heavy for me to do that on a regular basis, you know." the gryphon pointed out, "No more falling down holes... for at least a week."
Lord Raes chuckled, gazing up into the sky as he panted, "Thank you, Sebastian... I will take that into advisement." he didn't have much of a chance to say anything else as Kayte threw herself on him, crying and laughing at the same time. The champion yelped in response, grimacing. Kayte quickly took her weight off of him and his paw went immediately to his shoulder.
"what's wrong?" the priestess asked, her attention going right away to where he held his arm.
"Dislocated... at least." Lord Raes responded, removing his paw to let her have a closer look, "Sebastian is right... this armor is goddess-damned-heavy." he chuckled in good spirits, but he winced at the reaction his body had to the movement.
"If you've got things covered here, Priestess," Jules commented, "Iskiy needs help with the Moon-Pelted shaman woman."
"Go." Kayte acknowledged, her attention focused solely on Raes. Elias, Sebastian, and Roarg stayed with the priestess and the Champion while Jules went to check on the other two Wild Landers.
Jules approached purposefully, glancing down to where Iskiy sat beside Dana, working quickly with the bandages he had to patch the sword wound she'd received in combat, "How is it?" Jules questioned.
"I'm not sure." Iskiy admitted, putting on another round of bandages as blood started soaking through the layers he'd already placed, "I'm not really all that good at this kind of thing." there was almost a faint whine to his voice, "Do you know anything about healing?"
"No..." Jules admitted, then offered a faint smirk, "...but I can wing it."
Twenty minutes later, between the two of them, the scouts had managed to stabilize Dana, finally bandaging her effectively enough to stop the bleeding. Around that time, the wolf woman groaned, "Ow..." she raised an arm and moved it to her bandage, "...she... stabbed me?" it was much a comment as a question.
Iskiy nodded, "She wasn't herself, Dana..."
"Moon Crazed." the shaman woman acknowledged, making no move to stand, "Did ye make a poultice?" she asked, running her paw across the covered wound.
"I don't know a lot about desert herbs." Jules admitted.
"I had a few things in my pouch." Iskiy spoke up, "Mostly to stop infection..." his ears drooped slightly, "I never learned much about healing herbs."
"Eh..." Dana responded, groaning as she shifted position on the ground, "It's a start... ah'll dress it proper when ah get a chance."
"I don't think you should be sitting up." Jules commented.
"Bah." Dana waved the scout's paws away and went to sit up anyway, "If ye canna move ye canna live." and she grunted, slowly forcing herself up into a sitting position, paw still holding tightly to her bandage, "Where's Ella? Damned git... ah got a few choice words fer--"
"The worm killed her." Iskiy noted, ears lowering further.
"Ah..." Dana's ears likewise drooped, "Then there's no point talkin poorly a'her." the shaman sighed and grunted again, shifting her weight forward to stand, "We'd best be gettin on..." Dana commented, grimacing as she failed on her first attempt. Her second went better, and she rose up to her knees, "it'll be back soon enough."
"You can't travel like that!" Iskiy objected.
"Don't got much choice, Iskiy." she countered, getting one foot underneath herself, followed by the other; a faint trail of blood began leaking down her abdomen from beneath the bandage, "If we stay here we're good as dead... gotta make sure ye all get movin..."
"You won't be going very far like that." Lord Raes spoke calmly, joining the three Wild Landers, "The Risen tipped... we'll need some help righting it." he rolled his shoulder, newly healed from divine attention, "And that will take you," he nodded to Isky, "and you." he nodded to Jules, "I'll see to the lady." and the dog's attention returned to Dana as the other two obediently went to help out at the tipped carriage.
"Ye have yer party to worry about." the white furred wolf responded, kneeling in place; a droplet of blood fell from her little finger, the bandages newly stained in red.
"You just got finished helping save as many of us as could be saved, ma'am." Lord Raes stated, reaching a paw out to rest it on her forehead, "As far as I'm concerned, that makes you part of us." and, he closed his eyes. The champions' paw glowed a bright silver and a vibrant light shined forth through the crease where his his eyelids met his cheeks, "Which also means we need to make certain you're ready to continue." he offered, drawing back. "Take a few moments if you need, but we must get moving."
Dana slowly removed her paw from the bandage, then tentatively poked and prodded at it with a single finger, "Not bad..." she commented to herself with a smirk, "...for a city dweller." The shaman woman slowly peeled the bloody bandages off of her body to inspect the wound; it was nearly gone. "Picky little hole, ain't ye?" she asked of it and casually began to redress it in the traditional way; despite the promise the city dwellers were showing, they still had a lot to learn, and it appeared that they would give her a chance to teach them. Dana's tail wagged... there was hope yet.