A neverending field

[Anastasia]

You work on the papers and come up with a good set of documents. You can tell that if you're off, it's a very minor thing indeed.

Getting your payment is without incident and quickly handed over. With that done, it's off to Black Resolve. You head out and Zariel leads you down one path.

'This should not be as difficult as the last leg, at least for terrain,' Zariel sends back.

[Corwin]

'Right. We'll follow your lead there, and try the same thing. If no one wants to hire us and we can't catch any useful rumors, we'll reassess.'

[Anastasia]

Give me a quick d100 and I'll adjudicate the trip.

[Corwin]

21:58 <Corwin> roll 1d100
21:58 <Penuche> Corwin invokes Penuche's magic: < 96 > [d100=96]

[Anastasia]

You begin to travel. As you do...

Will save.

[Corwin]

22:13 <Corwin> roll 1d20+80+4+25 (GH, MoP)
22:13 <Penuche> Corwin invokes Penuche's magic: < 110 > [d20=1]

[Anastasia]

You shake your head. You felt momentarily distracted. How strange. You're barely left behind the previous town in your dust, and yet your mind almost got away from you, figuratively speaking.

[Corwin]

'Something tried to mess with my head,' Seira relays to the others. 'How about you?'

And probably something powerful to get past Mind Blank and other protections.

Can spellcraft (10 for 120) tell what it was, or it wasn't a magical effect?

[Anastasia]

Whatever it was doesn't seem to have left a magical aura that you can detect.

'Dispater?' A tense, tight reply from Amaryl.

'Possible,' Zariel says, 'Or merely a defense built by him, or someone trained by him. Or perhaps something not even from the iron Tower.'

[Corwin]

'Possible but unlikely, given the disorientation aftereffect,' Seira muses. 'Xera?'

[Anastasia]

'I didn't feel anything,' Xera shakes her head, 'Is there any other reaction, any other sign?'

[Corwin]

'No, and it didn't seem to be magic. Let's keep going for now.'

[Anastasia]

The road. It is a long road indeed, hours and hours passing as you travel. After about ten hours, you come to a barrier. A check point has been set up, manned by barbazu and a single malebranche, the latter flying above it in a tight circle. A cornugon commands it all, arms crossed.

You can see it from far away indeed, plenty of time to react before you have to deal with it.

[Corwin]

'A checkpoint up ahead,' Seira relays, describing it. 'I'll take the lead, and Zariel, help out if I make a misstep?'

[Anastasia]

'Understood.' Zariel sends back. 'It may be to catch criminals or to extract tolls. Possibly both.'