The Crows

You had left Marhund intent on reaching Aja where you hoped to make contact with the Theoninn crew. The Skedic power boat got you just past Slodaulur when the river became too rocky and shallow too continue. While 'hiding' the boat and preparing to leave, Silus happened to notice a strange beetle crawling out from your sacks of gear; something reminded Silus of things Demonic, perhaps from his younger days hanging out in Marhund. You all concluded this was a sign that you had been followed and spied on, presumably by Ililsus.

Farallon attempted to arrange air transport from Aja to come pick you up, but it took a while, and, ultimately, they would not agree to send you an aircraft until morning light. You all decided to forge ahead through the forest around 2:30am. It wasn't long before “something” started following you, staying at the fringes. Despite the efforts of Silus and Farallon to figure out who or what these pests were, they offered no clues.

An relatively uneventful night gave way to dawn and the news that a V-Lift transport would meet you all in a clearing about 2 miles south. You make it to the rendezvous location and meet the craft. On your way out to the airship, a sudden stampede of forest animals – chipmunks, squirrels, deer, bears – comes rushing out of the forest behind you. You all run for the ship. Suddenly 13 crows dive out of the sky and transform into wraith-like creatures sitting astride black steeds. The ground crumbles into sinkholes, trapping all the animals. The ring of sinkholes creates a small island on which the V-Lift waits.

You all jump on board and order the pilots to swing around and strafe the black creatures with the 50mm guns. As the ship rises into the sky the creatures return to crow form and fly towards you. Treasda's shield keeps them at bay for only a few seconds before one drops through the shield and gets sucked into the turbine. The engine explodes, sending shrapnel everywhere, one piece pegging Farallon in the arm (lucky for his kevlar diggs). The ship immediately spirals out of control, heading for a wicked crash landing...

And Silus saves the day by using Celeros to reset time to when you first boarded the ship. So a change plans: Agar, Silus and Farallon decide to draw their Dragon bone weapons – an action which gets a bit of a rise out of the creatures – and essentially charge the enemy. Two crows down, and the rest of the horsemen flutter into the trees as crows. That's when you all sense that a dragon is heading your way.

You run for the ship! From back over your shoulder you can gleaming in the golden morning light the scales of a dragon you will never forget – Echo.

The group consensus was that Mirella would use her amulet to banf you all to safety at this point, but Mirella will have to make that call, and see where she wants to go.
Musings: I don't think there has been talk of what the relationship, if any, between Ililsus and Echo might be. For perspective, Echo is probably at least 4 times the foe that Anskut, the Baalrog, is. But, it is disturbingly possible that Anskut has Void. And then there's the question of Necros: what are its powers and limitations; how might that effect how to approach a massively powerful foe like Echo?