"That is unusual..." He explains to the others what he sees. "I have never seen such a complex patchwork of magical and non-magical areas in the same place. Particularly in a village. Something very peculiar happened here."
And then he sees the raven, with a magical air, circling overhead before it lands on the big cross in the graveyard.
"And that raven that landed on the cross is magical," he adds, without pointing at it and in fact turning away from the cross in what he hopes is a natural movement.
Without looking at the cross, Ealhstan says, "can you capture it? A Diedne spy, perhaps?"
"I got nothing that would allow me to do so. I assume you don't just mean killing it? An arrow could do that."
"Yes, if possible, alive. Questioning it or trying to discern nore of its purpose may be more important than stopping it from reporting... and if it is not a Diedne spy..." Ealhstan says in a low voice.
"Likely a spy. Unless one of the missing magi had a raven familiar?"
Thadeus shrugs, "I can try to determine the kind of magic it has, but that takes more than a glance. But that will give away the fact that we know something is off with it." He tuens to the other magi to include them in the decision, "Want me to do that?"
The vulture nods. "Yes, I'd like to know if it's a magical raven, or a human shapeshifted into raven form." If it flies away while Thadeus is scanning it, Cath'rinne is ready to take off and catch it.
When Thadeus takes some time to study the raven, he can see a shape shifting effect powered by an Hermetic enchanted device on the raven, who, by inference, probably isn't a raven after all. Looking suspiciously back, the raven flies off, out of sight, to the Northwest.
(This takes about two rounds.)
1 Like
Cath'rinne flies and attacks the crow with her talons. Attack roll is 10. The damage on a hit is +4. If the crow attacks back, my def is 16.
Janus will pursue on foot, hopefully to get within voice range. He will be ready to cast Ball of Abysmal Flame if the aerial combat does not go Cath’rinne’s way.
Hamish moves as well, stepping quick, sword coming free as he hustles to track after the aerial combat. He moves alongside Janus.
The raven dives towards the nearby woods, away from the main group, and takes cover in the branches. The vulture follows and tries to capture it in her talons, but the raven is fast and the leaves are in the way.
Janus, following, is 40-50 paces away. He can still reach it with a voice range spell and booming voice, but it takes Awareness+Perception 12+ to make out the raven between the branches.
The vulture can see the fear in the raven's eyes.
And the bystanders with nothing better to do, can see the slackjawed peasants watching the vulture attack.
[The raven won initiative and rolled athletics 17 to dive and defense 11 without cover bonus.]
Janus fails his awareness roll (10).
The raven moves further into the woods towards the Northwest. It does not move fast, making sure to keep cover. It is not hard to see, not for the vulture ten paces away, but attack is hampered by the branches (+3 to defense).
Janus and Hamish can obviously see the vulture between the branches, even if the smaller raven is obscured. It will take two rounds to reach the woods.
Thadeus follows as well, as fast as he can. If he can get in range, he casts The Heathen Witch Reborn to end the transformation magic of the raven. (Awareness 9, Init +8, Penetration +15)
Ealhstan stands slackjawed at this response.
1 Like
Spellcasting Initiative of 9. Cath'rinne sponts a call to slumber on the raven, hoping to make it crash and suffer falling damage. Roll for ReMe assuming an aura of 0 is 36 (bonus should have been +27). This would give a Penetration of 14 for one fatigue.
Hamish throws a rock at the bird as he moves quickly toward it.
[Init: 11. Stone Throw: 8]
The raven falls asleep. The leaves and branches cushion the fall and it does not seem to suffer a lot of damage.
Cath'rinne has a round to act before Thadeus arrives to dispel the raven shape, leaving a middle-aged man with slender features and greying hair aslkeep in its place. He is dressed like a humble woodsman in woolen clothes. The raven cloak falls off from his shoulders and is left on the ground.