The Dragon

About a mile to the east, where you all now see some circling birds, the
dragon swoops down behind a small rise, roaring loudly and sending many of
the birds into the sky in his wake.  A few minutes pass by, during which time
the birds regroup above the rise, circling, and the dragon does not 
immediately reappear.  The rise is about a mile away.

About this time, Beren realises his jaw is on the ground, and closes his
mouth.  Those near him hear him say, "A dragon?!?" quietly to himself, followed by
his squinting at the rise and rubbing his eyes.

Dax has also gotten to his feet, scooping up his pack on the way, and is
looking to the ridge where the dragon has apparently gone to hunt.

Manon stands up and walks towards his horse Thunder "What in gods 
name did he do? And what is he doing? I have never seen anything like 
this in my whole life"

Turning towards the rest of the group "Do we follow his example and 
leave for the ridge or do we wait and see if he returns? I can 
swiftly ride there and see what is happening."

"Will you come with me Kai?" Manon asks.

Swiftly removing the travois from Thunder sir Manon holds the reins
and is ready to depart.

"you will see far more that you have never seen before if you continue
in our company good captain" remarks Kai placidly "do not trouble
yourself for i am sure kirion can hunt alone quite adequately  he merely
demonstrates a choice besides eating our rations or the work of our
enchanter friend"

From before the moment of Kirion's transformation Kai has not so much as
glanced in the direction of the Dragon or indeed away from Mac save for
his look at each who has yet to volunteer for a prophesy.  His back to
the developing scene, he nonetheless comments "you might want to
restrain dax though ere he becomes the prey"

Dax turns to look at Kai, scowling, and explains "My people are closer to
his than to yours, human."

"Ohh, well you are naturally right Kai. I just am so puzzled and 
bewildered by all this magic" Manon concludes. "Dax there is no 
reason to leave. I myself will now have my meal in peace"

Sir Ehron continues "Kai, I have had no spontaneous visions but I am 
ready to try your magic nevertheless"

"very well captain do you prepare thyself for a vision of thy fate"
quoth Kai, who proceeds to repeat every action of his ritual save that
it now centres around Manon...

As the smoke evolves around Manon's head he is completely still.

Then staggering backward as if hit "ahhh", his hand to his belly then 
crouching like a wounded animal.

Ashen grey and covered with a thin film of sweat he utters "Dead, 
dying, death"

Perhaps some fifteen minutes after you saw the Dragon last, you
notice it returning.  The little bit of blood around his mouth
and talons that could not be neatly wiped off in the grass
earlier confirm the fact that he has indeed just finished eating.

After landing nearby in a modest rush of wind, he says "I am what
you see I am.  I am Kraken."  And, adding a slight afterthought,
"And I suppose it would be better if you didn't talk so much
about food...."

You imagine Kraken to be a fairly small dragon ... certainly no
where near as large as those from legend, but still several
yards in length, and at least as massive as most horses.  After
morphing back into Kirion, he tells anyone who seems to care
what he has to say what he has learned.

"The scavengers wanted the flesh of horses and men...already
dead.  They were from Tix...cavalry...and they were surprised
by a well-armed foe.  There were some signs of magic in use...
scorched earth, and these," holding out several arrows, "for
example.  Their enemy was headed northward, on horseback."

Giving the arrows to Quill, Kirion continues "Identify
these.  I suspect they are no ordinary arrows."  And with that,
unless someone stops him, Kirion moves aside...toward where Kai
is, but still a bit apart from everyone, and takes a seat to
rest a bit.

The arrows are black-feathered and have arcane letters inscripted along
the shaft.  They appear to be longbow arrows.  They are magical and anyone
with magery will note this, as Kirion has already mentioned.  They are also
somewhat bloody and dusty.

(The arrows Kirion/Kraken has brought back with him look somewhat familiar to
you, with strange marking carved into their sides and thin, black feathers.
You realise that in your vision you were struck by very similar missiles.)

"These are the arrows I was struck with in my vision!" Manon 
proclaims. "Or very similar arrows" 

I rather then tell you the full vision I had Manon volunteers.

"There was a battle in the dark, this group and, god forbid, a group 
of elves..."

"I fought an elf." The count sighs deeply and continues "Out of the 
dark an arrow embedded itself in my breast and the elf took duly 
advantage of this and slashed me badly..." seeming to remember the 
pain you see Ehron's eyes glaze over.

"I riposted and hurt him but again an arrow hit me. This time my leg. 
I fell and the elf aided me with a fierce blow"

"Dying I saw Kai and Beren drive the elf away then I drifted into 
darkness"

With this Manon takes his seat next to Kirion and Kai in the grass. 
Now lost all of his appetite Manon hardly touches the ration brought 
to him by Beren

Gwar speaks again, "It seems that these MAGIC visions that we are all having
are trying to frighten us. In our visions the only persons dying our
ourselves.
I die in my vision, Manon in his and so on." I do not think that these are
visions of the future, theses are some wizards deterrent to keep us from him
and his plans and for that he deserves nothing but death.

Addressing Quill who has got the arrows to identify them Manon says. "I 
surely want to know what is so special about these arrows"

Turning towards Kirion "You say they are coming north, those who slew 
the Tixian men?"

"They are travelling north from here...ahead of us on our journey."

Mac takes one of the arrows and looks it over. 

I don't know for sure, but it is a magical arrow with some minor 
enchantment on it.

I think we should go check out the battle site and very carefully 
check out the scene.

Kirion gets up from where he sits and offers to take up the lead.
"We will go back with you.  We would have...collected more things
if we had time."

"Mac and Kirion, I will also join you to investigate this battle site" 
Manon declares. "I might even find some clue of their tactics"

With this Ehron mounts Thunder and is ready to leave for the 
scene of the battle.

Recinching his horse's saddle, and replacing the bit in her mouth, Kai
remarks "given the nature of your vision i warrant we should be prepared
for ambush here and further along in our journey" as he mounts and urges
his steed along with the others.  

"gwar i warned all that verbena is a bitter root and its visions almost
always centre around death and disaster" the black clad Hawk drones as
he rides "and macs earlier dreams did not linger in this vein but rather
drew him towards this place"

Dax glances about the group, then speaks.
"We all go.  Sssafer that way."
He then follows after Kirion, looking back to ensure that the rest of the 
group is coming along.  To Kirion, he is heard to say, "An honour, sssir Kraken, to
travel with you." Behind him, Beren quickly gets his mount ready and catches up
with Manon, and Quill and Max follow dutifully behind.