Clan of the Cage (Date 1/12/30)

Winter was cagy, speaking in quick declarative sentences and darting her head about at every sound no matter how faint. The girl seemed uncomfortable and on edge, but it wasn’t until Ilyana transformed herself into an air elemental that she revealed why. Taking the druid aside, Winter confided that since meeting the Prince she had developed strange powers, most notably her ability to grow claws and a beak. Unimpressed, Ilyana dismissed the girl’s powers as having to do with animals, leaving the impression that – far from being shocked – the Prince would find the revelation scarcely worthy of note. Eventually, she did reveal her powers to Euwyn, who did indeed acknowledge them with little more than a shrug. Marty tried to postulate that a similar thing might be occurring as happened with him, that his powers were rubbing off on those near him. Euwyn admitted it was a possibility.

After the first day, the party had little need for Winter. Though she was acting as a guide, she confessed she had never been this far south. After three days, the party came to an intentionally, burned zone three miles across. It stretched as far as they could see in both directions and everywhere the savanna was dotted with ornamental skulls on small posts. They saw these as warnings, but pressed on. Eventually the frost-covered, open ground gave way to plowed fields, ringed by a crude fence. The occasional placard read, Clan of the Cage. They pressed on until they encountered a patrol, which they hailed. The guards responded with arrows. The party responded to these with volcanos and the guards fled. Moving forward, the party found a small village. In the distance loomed a large lattice-work structure that did indeed look like a giant cage. When the guards returned, they did so mounted and at full charge with a massive man at the head of their party. They called a wall of fire, but the man leapt right through it. As his riders circled, he stepped up to Hedge, turning aside the ronin’s enchanted blade with his metal infused skin and took the warrior down with a dervish whirl of daggers. Blood burst from the wounds wherever they struck. Ilyana cast burrow on Giada and the pair fled, hoping to link up with Winter who had escaped with the horses.