The 500 strong mob bayed for blood, and Jan the Sell Sword complied by slashing the magically restrained Murdoch cleanly across the face. The spell wore off and clasping at his ragged throat in an attempt to stem the flow of blood, Murdoch slumped face down in the dirt gurgling "Mercy Sir, Mercy!"
An Aarakocra
On the stage, Bernhardt the Chosen of The Temple, screamed at his two acolytes "For the Gods sake help him you idiots".
Sir Tarigoz closed in on the nearest cleric, Grunb, and at sword point told him to stop. Grunb responded swiftly, casting a sound blast spell right in Tarigoz's face. The Knight of the 5th Legion was not phased by this but the sheer intensity of the spell made him step backwards, lose his footing on the edge of the stage and tumble off. The other acolyte Penryk hurried across to the stairs at the right hand side of the stage to get to Murdoch.
Having released the winged Deamon from the cross,
Nyx,
Styx,
Laurel and the creature hid behind the stage contemplating their next move. Escape.
Watching the trial by combat from the edge of the circle,
Wulf Brundson, seethed with fury at this clerical interference in a lawful trial by combat. The Euborean Barbarian could not let this religious interloper change the outcome of the battle with a healing spell and so proceeded to block Penryk's progress down the stairs. The mob shoved him into the circle and screamed "another challenger". As Grunb leered over the edge of the stage laughing at the fallen Knight, Sir Tarigoz jumped to his feet and plunged his bastard sword into the clerics belly. Grunb tumbled off the stage impaling himself up to the hilt on Tarigoz's outstretched sword. It took all of the Knight's strength not to crumble under the weight of the cleric and he briefly held him aloft before unceremoniously dumping him to the dirt. The crowd recoiled in shock and horror at the sight of one of the God's chosen being righteously put down by the Kingsman. This day would go down in village history and the God's would surely wreak a vengeance upon the Kingsman for such a bold act.
The spell holding Ssinkar wore off and he immediately moved towards the fallen Murdoch. The Salamankari was a cleric not a fighter and he had no intention of letting the poor man die at his hand. Grasping at this throat with his scaly hands, he stopped the flow of blood with a healing spell. Murdoch immediately cried out in pain as the opportunist Jan the Sell Sword stabbed him in the arm. Murdoch scrabbled through the dirt towards the foot of the stage.
Hoping that they could find bandages and supplies in one of the empty village buildings, the Phylus sisters Nyx and Styx and Laurel, carried the winged daemon to the nearest one. Once inside the Absent Badger tavern, they found that it was was empty save for one odd looking old man face down in his own puddle of mead.
Trying not to disturb the fellow, the sisters hauled the daemon onto one of the tables at the back of the bar and tended to his wounds. The old man immediately awoke from his slumber and asked "Has he finished torturing that poor Aarakocra yet?" The near sighted old man introduced himself as Asdos and with a wave of his hands and a mumbling of words cast a spell. Laurel went to the bar to fetch a bottle of strong spirits to staunch the Aarakocra's many small cuts and bruises. When looking at the rest of the party she noticed that they had disappeared, she could still hear them but could not hear them. Moving over to the table she passed through some form of illusory barrier which hid that end of the room from view.
Tarigoz mounted the stage and as he passed the now empty cross he confronted Bernhardt telling him that he had lost a fair fight and he should stop this travesty. Bernhardt, unaware of the deamon's escape, addressed the crowd and flamboyantly pointing at the empty cross screamed "The kingsman is in league with the demon"
The crowd, enthralled by the red faced cleric noticed the empty cross and retorted in unison
"The Deamon has fucked off!"
Bernhardt's face dropped as the realisation that he had lost dawned on him. He screamed at the crowd "Halt the combat! Halt the combat! Return to your homes and defend your babies! The Deamon is loose!.
As the mob disbursed in all directions, Bernhard gathered his injured men and taunted the Knight of Wulfschlossen defiantly cursing
"This isn't the last you've heard of this Kingsman. I will be writing a report of your treasonous conduct to your superiors."
They clambered into a cart and drove off in the direction of the Temple.
Some of the villagers decided to quench their thirst in the tavern before they went home to their farms. Inside The Absent Badger, the mage Asdos declared that it was "Time to go" and opened the window behind him and ushered everyone out. They headed across the fields to the hovel in the woods he called home.
Jan, Ssinkar, Wulf and Sir Tarigoz found themselves alone in the village square, they decided to band together to search for the Deamon and get to the bottom of what it was and why it was here. Wulf's tracking skills soon revealed that a party of three had dragged the creature in the direction of the village tavern. On entering the bar the locals immediately stopped their raucous conversations and glared at the strangers. Ssinkar plonked 10 gold on the bar and declared "A drink for all". The barkeep bit into one of the coins and exclaimed "The red devil's money is good". This immediately broke the awkward impasse with shouts of "he has scales on the outside but a kind heart on the inside". As the illusory wall spell wore off, Jan noticed the suddenly gaping window with blood and feathers coating the window ledge.
The posse of PCs swiftly downed their drinks and began following the tracks from the window, which had now become 5, across the fields towards the woods which Tarigoz knew was the home of the mage Asdos. He contemplated that Fate was a strange mistress and was hard at work weaving together a strange band of folk to do her mysterious bidding.
In the mage's hovel, the assembled group crowded around his small stove, the Aarakocra told them that he was a messenger sent to find help. His people were being systematically wiped out by an angry vicious Cloud Giant. He was moving his cloud castle around the mountains destroying the AaraKocran nests and slaughtering their chicks. The shaman of his tribe had consulted the Sky Gods who had flatly refused to aid them, but for one renegade who said that he would send his daughter, Laurel. The Sky Gods promptly moved their crystal castle higher into the sky than any Aarakocra could fly.
Sensing that the group were not entirely convinced that preventing the genocide of his people was a worthy and heroic enough deed he declared "I have money!!"
