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Alien Abductors? (Session #3)

After finishing the previous battle, the party camped through the night with the family. 

In the morning as they were packing their supplies, Rory was jolted by his necklace which caused him to look towards the forest. When he looked to the forest he saw two tall figures dressed in black. He pointed them out to rest of the group and the companions sprinted towards the forest edge. The figures began moving deeper into the forest as the party followed. When the entire group was within the forest, a group of wild dogs burst from the brush ambushing the group. The two figures stopped and turned to watch the encounter. The wild dogs held back long enough to begin changing from the shape of a dog to strange chaotic, morphing shapes. 

One dog had blown up to twice its normal size with strange, undulating shapes moving just beneath its skin.

Another dog had several tooth-like protrusions erupt from beneath its fur.

Some of the other dogs sprouted tentacles from throughout their bodies.

The rest of the dogs changed in various ways as well, just before launching themselves at the party. Kyle charged towards the black figures, while the rest of the group attacked the strange dog-creatures. As Kyle got closer to the figures, he saw that they were about 7-feet tall with long, thin arms and legs. Their entire body was wrapped with strips of a material similar to the strip of material that was found at the Tourlin abductions. 

One of the black figures approached and attacked Kyle while the second figure positioned itself for a flank attack. The one that attacked used a strange flexible dagger that he attempted to wrap around Kyle's sword to disarm him. Fortunately, Kyle was able to pull the weapon from its wielder and retain his own weapon. He was able to kill the first creature while the second attacked him from behind. In the meantime, Blaine had killed the two dog-creatures in his area so he rushed towards his brother to aid with the last figure. As he approached the creature attempted to flee, but Kyle cut it down before it could get away. 

Blaine and Kyle turned to survey the remainder of the battle. The rest of the group had it well in hand, but the brothers charged forward and helped the group destroy the last of the dog-creatures. After the creatures were defeated, their bodies turned back into what looked like normal dogs.       

The group wrapped the tall figures in blankets and took the bodies with them to Xraxus. After passing through the gates, they headed straight for Hart House to see if Sir Jarik had any clue what they were dealing with. Sir Jarik looked at the creatures and told them that he had never seen anything like them. He suggested that they head towards High Tower and speak with the guild wizards. The group headed straight for the wizard's guild which gives the neighborhood its name. 

Rising high into the air like a silver finger, the Tower of Wizardry is an imposing structure. The group knocked on the door and were greeted by a young apprentice. The companions told the young man that they wanted to speak with someone about the corpse that they had with them. The boy told them to wait and ran through a door to the far right of the front doors. Once the boy had left, the group got to look around the entry hall to the guild. The room itself is enormous, with ostentatious displays of wealth everywhere: crystal chandeliers, lush wall hangings, and fine, sturdy furniture. The boy was gone for about fifteen minutes before he returned with a tall, thin man with salt and pepper hair. The man stepped forward introducing himself as Goran Peters, a wizard of some note. They unwrapped the corpse so Goran could examine it. After a cursory examination he announced that he had no idea what the creature was, but he offered to buy the corpse so he could examine it further. The group declined saying that they would sell it to him after they found out more information about the creature. Goran then gave them a name and directions to a local sage specializing in otherplanar matters: Allister Camesi. Since the sun had set, they raced to Allister's home, hoping to meet with him before it was to late.

They were able to meet with the sage after mentioning that Goran had sent them. Allister is an elderly man of immaculate appearance and his home is kept completely clean and orderly. They explained that they believe that these creatures were abducting the people of Tourlin. Allister said that he didn't know what the creature was, but if the group could leave the body with him overnight that he could do some research to find out. They agreed and left for the evening. When they turned to leave, they noticed that Kruenor was no longer with them, he must have slipped away.

Kruenor spent the remainder of the evening watching the Teketian Embassy, hoping to see some clue of Terrak Dojan's whereabouts. Unfortunately, he saw nothing of the sort.

The following morning the group, Kruenor included, met at the Cat House, ate breakfast, and headed up to Allister's house to get what information that he could find. Allister told the group that the creature is called a kaorti. Kaortis hail from a plane known as the Far Realm. It is the void beyond the Astral Plane. Very little is known about the Far Realm, or kaortis for that matter, and creatures from the Far Realm are seldom friendly.

The companions decided to travel back to the campsite where they fought the kaortis and search the area for any clues. Once they returned to the site, Rory and Milo scouted out the edge of the forest. They went a bit father into the woods until they approached the site of their battle with the kaortis. They heard a crunching sound coming from ahead, so they stopped and the crunching sound stopped as well. Suddenly three forms burst through the undergrowth directly in front of Rory. Rory cried out for help as one of the creatures bit him, almost killing him with its initial attack. The rest of the group charged towards the battle which allowed Rory to fall back from the creature. The creatures were giant cockroaches, but instead of legs poking out from beneath their shells there were tentacles with reflective skin. After a tough battle the group was able to defeat the mutant roaches and the party was alive, but just about everyone was injured.       

Next: Tragedy