My companions were kind enough to let me sleep for several hours. It was not enough, in light of my recent sleep troubles, but it helped. Once I was back on my feet we headed through the forest toward the town of Hillmarch.
Once there, we left Ty and Dettrick as they felt they'd be too easily recognized. The rest of us went first to buy potions and scrolls. Healing potions were essential, as were boosting and modification potions. Having stocked up on some essentials, we headed over to the Lonesome Tankard Inn for some other "essentials."
The ale was passable; nothing nearly of dwar quality, unfortunately, but better than mud water. We struck up a conversation with one of the barmaids who refers us to a local historian -- a Seth Trumbolt. "A real nature freak, he is," she told us. Having this information, we returned to the camp in the woods where we left Tymora and Dettrick. As a group, then, we headed to the north side of town to meet with Seth.
"Hello the house," I called in Druidic. "Nature freak" is how I have often heard others refer to druids. It was decided that Dettrick, our negotiator, and I as our group's "nature freak" would approach the man alone. It was worth a try, anyway. There was no response from the cottage to my hail. I knocked at the door. Finally I heard someone come down the stairs inside. A voice called out, "Who is it?" "Garrik Garrik-mos Torgyth Urdin Elaster Darjyr, friend to Turlang, wielder of Rimgah," was my reply.
"I don't know you," came the voice. I responded again in Druidic, "No, you do not." Again the voice, with "What did you say?"
I answered him in Common and beckoned Dettrick up. Dettrick talked to him briefly and convinced him to open the door. Dettrick went inside after unbuckling his sword at the man's request. Once inside Dettrick worked his magic and charmed Seth into finding a picture of a family crest he thought would assist us. We met up with our comrades and together headed to a local craftsman to negotiate the building and painting of two copies of the crest. The craftsman told us it would take him several days to complete the work.
We decided to head off on our search and reconnoiter our destination. On our way we were warned of rumors of lycanthropes in the forest. We learned the truth for ourselves shortly after entering the forest as we walked into a clearing and were confronted by an elven female surrounded by worgs. There was something not quite right about her; as we watched how she ordered the worgs about, it became clear that she may, in fact, have been a lycanthrope.
This female, Djalia was her name, claimed this forest as her own. She ultimately agreed to give us free access to the forest if we were to take out her rival, an Orc. She invited us to a "great feast" with her, her "associates," and all their followers at the Standing Stones, where we could confront and battle with her rival. She seemed to think it would be an ideal place to carry out the task. She did not seem evil -- even Jalore agreed with this assessment -- but none in the party could read her true intentions to be certain. All that we could tell was that she hated this orc intensely.
We held a quick discussion; from what little she told us the Standing Stones did actually seem to be a good location for such a fight. However, because we fully believed her to be a lycanthrope, this idea of a "great feast" troubled us somewhat. We could very well end up as part of the main course for a horde of skinchangers. We made plans and strategies with Djalia even while expecting an ambush. The only fact that made the prospect palatable was that the meeting was taking place in the very location we were seeking; we would have an unsuspecting guide lead us right to our goal.
We finally settled upon a basic course of action -- Djalia was to enter the meeting place first, with us following. Once we were within the circle of stones we would launch our assault against her rival. As my cousin Boric always said, though, "The most carefully-mapped mine rarely matches the run of the lode. The most carefully-planned blade seldom survives the first strike of the smith's hammer." Such is the case with even the most well-laid plans. Ours were anything but well-laid. We knew very little about the personalities, the terrain, or anything about what to expect. I admit to a certain degree of reservation about the oncoming evening.
As we walked through the forest, Dettrick and Ty walked alongside Djalia. They kept up a steady stream of quiet conversation with her, although I could not quite hear most of what was said. At one point, however, Dettrick glanced back at Jalore and myself with a peculiar look on his face; then he smiled and gave us a knowing wink. "The fool," Jalore said, shaking his head. "He believes she can be cured. I think he intends to try it, too." I shook my head at this too; I was amazed. I had witnessed such an act years before; the effort nearly killed Master Delias, aside from the very real risks posed by capturing and restraining a skinchanger.
Finally we came to the Standing Stones. Djalia signaled to us to wait, then entered the ring. On the right side of the ring we could see a mighty wereboar -- this was Gillshar, Djalia's orcish rival -- standing among four other large boars. Straight ahead -- directly across the stone circle from where we stood -- was a massive werebear carrying an enormous axe. He was flanked by four large brown bears; this, then, must be Taelgarth. Although Djalia named his as a rival for control of the forest as well, she did not consider him of sufficient danger to her to warrant our help. She did, however, warn us against antagonizing him or his minions. Upon seeing him, I had to agree that it was considerably more prudent to engage only Gillshar. Bears, after all, are much stronger and more dangerous in my experience than a boar. Not by much, perhaps, depending on the individual animals, but better left as reluctant allies than angry foes.
Djalia entered the circle with upraised arms. She called out, "Gillshar, Taelgarth -- I greet you and . . . ." Gillshar roared out and the four bears charged towards us, snarling and spitting. It was good that we were expecting an ambush; I do not know how they could have known we were coming; something tells me this was not Djalia's doing. Perhaps Gillshar is simply that overly suspicious. At any rate, it is good we were somewhat prepared, for we moved immediately into action.
We all moved up into the ring of stones; Yev'rah and Tymora moved as one up near the center of the ring, with Ty firing arrows at Gillshar. Hayai ran into the circle and performed a stunning flying kick; he succeeded in dropping one of the wild boars. Creeg moved like a dancer, drawing his massive glaive and slicing into a second wild boar mid-stride. Meanwhile, a third boar charged Jalore.
Dettrick ran into the circle and a bolt of lightning surged from his hands and arced through each of the boars still standing, as well as Gillshar himself. Two of the boars dropped, smoking. The wereboar charged Dettrick and bit him; Dettrick cried out and fell back to my side. I covered his movement; I threw Rimgah followed quickly by a javelin. Rimgah sunk deep into Gillshar's shoulder, then vanished, traveling back to my hands. The javelin struck the same shoulder just after Rimgah disappeared; it sunk deep into the wound, deep enough that it protruded from the werebear's back.
At almost that same instant, Yev'rah threw a small bag at Gillshar's feet; the bag erupted with sticky strings wrapping around the wereboar's feet. Between the impact and weight of my javelin, and Yev's cunning trap, Gillshar was clearly off-balance. This was essential to our victory, of course, because if we allowed this creature to close with us, the result could be deadly.
Gillshar flailed about for a moment; Ty took this chance to fire several more arrows, knocking Gillshar backwards with their force. Unfortunately, the wereboar took several hops backward and maintained his balance. His movements freed his feet from the sticky substance and he charged at Dettrick. Dettrick hastily called out a spell; a pillar of fire stabbed down from the sky. Dettrick's spell caught Gillshar in its searing heat. In his haste, however, Dettrick was not careful with his aim and several trees ignited from the passing flames.
The wereboar quickly looked up in alarm; "Djalia!" Taelgarth growled. "What have you done? They'll burn down the forest!" He dropped into a crouch, his axe before him, and walked forward, focused on Dettrick. I did not have much time and moved almost without thinking. I grabbed the warmage and pulled him behind me. "Move, Dettrick. Move away now if you value your life," I growled at him. Then I focused on the werebear. My mind wandered back in time to that night nearly four years ago.
The Boldauk were wiped out, completely and utterly, except for myself. A large tribe of ork ambushed us. Their shaman wreaked havoc among us--green fire, unholy creatures fighting side by side, turning our bear-steeds against us. I received a near-killing blow from my own mount, Bara. It took three strikes from my warpike to put her down.
After Bara threw me from her back, she turned and came at me even as this werebear did tonight. He's going to take more than three strikes to put down, I fear. Since that night I have never trusted my life to any animal. They are all too intractable, too inconsistent. Since that night my hatred for all animals pours from my soul, emanates from me. Most lower animals sense my feelings and it causes them to flee. I do not expect it to work on this Taelgarth, but it may have some startling effect. With my right hand I quickly gathered the moisture from the air around us and dropped it in one large wave onto the flaming trees, dousing them and extinguishing the fire. Then I gripped Helgarn in both hands and turned my attention to Taelgarth. I hunkered down in the werebear's path and began yelling at him, trying to calm down the raging beast. I called him by name, told him the fires were out and no further harm would be done to the forest. I even called out my willingness to help repair the fire damage and promote heavy new growth.
Even walking, it did not take him long to close the distance between us. I sincerely hope that Dettrick has gotten away. I appealed to him once more. "Taelgarth, you surely know that I have a strong affinity for nature. I am also a friend to Turlang, the treant. I am certain that if you know aught else about Turlang, you know that it is difficult to have him call you friend. Turn aside; I have stopped the damage and will see to the health of the forest all around this circle. The human acted without thought; he does not deserve to die for this."
The werebear drew himself up to his full height and glared at me for a moment, then simply said, "Step aside, dwarf." Well. Diplomacy did not work. Intimidation? Not likely, but I have to try. I summoned all of my hatred for animals, and particularly bears, and focused it, pushed it at him. He only flinched. He glared at me again, shaking his head, and continued around me.
I should have let him go because he had not yet been hit. We had not yet drawn ursine blood. We still could have tried further diplomacy. In all honesty, that was where my mind went first. It would have been a risk to Dettrick -- if he was still there -- but it was still a chance for peaceful resolution. I said that was where my mind was. My heart said -- especially as the creature pushed past me, as if I was of no consequence -- even though I had a great love and affinity for the natural world, that: first, I had no great love for animals; second, bears themselves are hateful creatures; and third, Tel! I really hate bears. I acted, then, without really thinking, but letting my heart rule.
I had only one chance and I took it. Helgarn lanced out and sliced deep along the skinchanger's flank. Blood spurted; it was nearly black with lycanthropic contagion. Flesh and muscle parted beneath my blade. Taelgarth spun around, roaring insensibly. Both of his foreclaws slashed out; from my experience with bears, I anticipated the attack. I was not able to move quickly enough, however. Tel! The beast is fast -- even faster than Bara was, and she had years of intensive training with the Boldauk.
Taelgarth's claws hit with incredible force. His left paw raked my side; at least one plate of my stone armor was torn free by the power of his blow and his claws raked my flesh. They caught the underside of my armor and hooked me around to meet his oncoming right paw. Brilliant tactic! Increasing the power of his strongest blow by spinning me from one paw into the other! I shall have to remember this!
The claws on the werebear's right paw slashed at my face. I do not know how he missed my eyes, but he still succeeded in blinding me -- blood pouring from those wounds quickly obscured my vision. I dropped away from him feeling suddenly fatigued. I felt my vitality drain away from me; I felt sick and bile rose in my throat. Taelgarth lunged forward, his fangs snapping at my face.
Desperate to save my life, I gripped his head hard between my hands -- as hard as I could in my condition -- and quickly began to transform his blood, thinning it until it was little more than seawater. It was difficult because of the lycanthrope contagion, and there his body put up considerably more resistance than I had expected. Whatever it was, he did not suffer the full effects of the spell; it hurt him enough, however, that he paused in his attack and jerked away from me.
With that, I stumbled several steps back and fell to the ground. There was something tainting his claws. I could feel the corruption moving in my body like a rampant infection, weakening me as it raced through me. I fell into a state of lassitude then. I have a vague recollection of my friends surrounding Taelgarth and striking him, I suppose. It was difficult to see through the blood in my eyes, not to mention the incredible fatigue and sickness I felt.
I could hold up my weary head no longer and it flopped to my shoulder. Through a haze of pain and fatigue, I saw Yev, alone, threatened by the two remaining bears. No one else was close enough to do anything, even if their attention had not been focused on the defeat and demise of Taelgarth.
From somewhere deep within myself I summoned all of my remaining strength and surged to my feet. I charged towards the two bears; as I ran I focused all of my anger, all of my pain, and all of my hatred for the animals. I even drew upon the rage and anguish I felt during the Ambush of the Boldauk -- feelings I had long suppressed and denied. All of these emotions I gathered together, combining and refining as I ran. Then, I began to yell, wordlessly and incoherently. I felt a physical charge around me as all of the feelings coalesced into a palpable force. I do not know what the two bears saw or sensed at my approach, but it was sufficient to make them flee like mice, scampering into the safety of the forest.
With that, I sank to my knees and feel at Yev's feet, prostrate. Tears ran freely down my face. I seemed to hear Tymora move to negotiate with Djalia -- most of the words were no more than gibberish as I tried to recover some small bit of strength. Eventually, Yev nudged me -- he had taken a seat next to me -- and told me that Djalia had agreed to open the portal, but not to join us. He helped pull me to my feet to stand with the others.
After we went through the portal, we found ourselves below the standing stones. There was a 60-foot-high ceiling; there is a pool on the floor in the center of a ring of stones which rose to support the ceiling. Each pillar seemed to correspond to the individual stones around the portal.
Turning to take in the surroundings, I found myself standing next to a pillar. The details carved into the stone tell aobut a human druid named Hulag. A nearby pillar talked about the "Tomb of Hulag," which, I gathered, was where we stood. High above us was a brilliant white gemstone. It was truly a magnificent jewel. Dettrick levitated then rose upward until he hung in space near the white stone.
Just then, a misty-looking humanoid form walked from the tomb. Jalore, who stood nearby, looked a little shaken as the figure passed him. It -- he -- looked up at Dettrick and called, "I wouldn't touch that if I were you." I was sure it had to be Hulag himself; I took a chance and greeted him in Druidic. He looked around at me with a raised eyebrow. He responded in Druidic, "Tell your friend to come away from the lore gem." I motioned to Dettrick and waved him down.
The obviously-undead druid looked around, taking us all in with his cold eyes. "I am Hulag," he said. "What are the living doing here?" My companions quickly related to him the details of our quest. Shaking his head, he told us that only a member of the Aammarathar family can access the lore gem. Fortunately, Dettrick had learned earlier that Ammarathar was Djalia's family name. We quickly gathered for a return to the surface and promised Hulag we would return. I quaffed several healing draughts and felt a bit better, but remained very weak.
Upon our return to the portal entrance we found Djalia had fled. We easily tracked her and her worgs. Dettrick cast a spell, drawing black tentacles from the ground; these promptly snared both Djalia and her worgs. The worgs were quickly torn apart.
Yev approached me and spoke a prayer over me. My weakness vanished and I felt my strength and vigor return to me. I nodded my thanks to him and he just smiled and shrugged.
Dettrick dispelled the tentacles; Djalia immediately changed into her wolf form and four identical wolves appeared at her side. All five began to run. Small bolts flew from the mage's fingertips striking each of the wolves; four disappeared as quickly as they were summoned and only Djalia was left. After a brief tussle, Djalia resigned herself to return with us through the portal.
After we returned through the portal to Hurlag's tomb, Dettrick came to me as we were preparing to camp. "Urdin," he said, "I fully intend to do all possible to break the curse Djalia suffers. Will you help? It will take all of our skills."
"My friend, it is indeed a noble goal you set for yourself. I wonder, though, if you fully grasp the magnitude and the danger of your request. I have seen such a deed accomplished only once and my Master nearly died in the attempt. It is difficult to say the least to hold a skinchanger and break its curse."
Dettrick nodded. "As I saide, it will take all of us. Those of us who do not possess the magic to assist with the actual braking and cleansing will be responsible for holding Djalia here. I suspect the effort may be easier in this case as we've convinced Djalia it can be done and that it is for the best. I would guess the cure your Master attempted was applied on an unwilling recipient?"
I agreed, "Unwilling he was. That is an understatement. Even for a willing subject, however, it can be painful and traumatic. Djalia may find her mind changed before the cure is accomplished. Creeg and yourself must hold fast. Ty must be diligent." "You'll help then?" Dettrick asked, hopeful.
"Yes, but let su hasten before my resolve weakens."
"Good." Dettrick smiled briefly. "Because I will share with you a fear best left unspoken for now. Since that boar's attack I have felt -- not sick, per se -- but ... not quite right. I have been healed but I do not feel quite myself. I fear I have been infected, friend dwarf. I may have need of your help as well. But let us cure Djalia first, eh?"
It took all of skills: Yev'rah, Jalore, and I. We were able to break the curse under which Djalia suffered. It also took everything Creeg and Dettrick had to hold Djalia in place until we were finished. It was well it worked and worked quickly -- we had little time to help Dettrick before the curse set hold in his body. Creeg and Tymora had the honors to hold the warmage down as we worked. I am always surprised by the strength that girl has.
As the rest of us bedded down for the night, Hulag drew Djalia to one side and talked with her, late into the night. By morning, we knew that the dagger was somewhere on the Isle of Mezeketh. Somewhere. At least we had a beginning.
Statistics: Posted by Boric Glanduum — Thu Apr 30, 2009 9:23 pm
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As we traveled towards Cormyr and Dettrick's childhood home, we enjoyed the first full night's rest we've had since leaving Teuveamanthar. We awoke fully healed; at least, I felt fully rested and well, with just the normal aches and pains.
During our second full day of travel, Dettrick received an arcane message from Laresh. Dettrick reported that the fey'ri had attacked Laresh yet again. He also cautioned that a powerful fey'ri sorceress was tracking us. Finally, Laresh indicated that he was sending us additional help in the form of an elf named Hayai.
Hayai caught up with us late on our third full day of travel. We were nearing Cormyr's borders when an elf appeared from the woods. He claimed that Simon sent him and showed us one of Simon's pins. I was concerned about his veracity and I know that my companions shared that concern. However, he was wearing the pin and knew what it could do -- that itself speaks volumes.
As night fell, we arrived at a small keep. Dettrick named it as "High Horn" and stated that there was no way around the keep; no safe way, at any rate. He knocked for entry and we were readily admitted. It was clear from his face that Dettrick was upset by the lack of security. "In my day," he said as the guards left us alone for a moment, "we would never have been admitted. We should have been questioned, and probably should have been separated and questioned again. I can tell you I would not have let me in. Ty either." The guards returned and motioned us to follow.
As we entered it was plain to see that the walls were sparsely manned. The guards reported that there was a Waterdhavian bard in the keep that night and the Commander was holding a banquet in his honor. Upon being admitted into the great hall where the tables were laid out, Dettrick immediately sought for and caught the Commander's eye. We were welcomed to make ourselves at home while Dettrick wandered off to speak to the Commander.
I quickly finished off my first plate: potatoes, red meat, and roasted onions. I was sopping up the last bits of gravy when the Bard finished his tale, announced a short break, and left the hall. Yev jumped to his feet and trotted after the Bard; I confess that I did a double-take. The Bard was our old "friend," Dirk. I was well into my second plate when Yev hurried back to the table. He said that Dirk carried messages from Simon: Dettrick should not enter the heartland of Cormyr--if he does, we will be facing assassins without number. When Dettrick came to the table, he seemed to shake off the warnings.
After the meal and entertainment, we headed off to the cold upper room we had been offered. The furnishings were so sparse as to be non-existent and no fire had been laid in the fireplace in at least a year. Yet the adulation Dettrick had received was as if a king-in-exile had returned. Well, the respect was not evident in these quarters. We were quiet and reserved as we bedded down; quiet until the dragon cry echoed through the night. We were high enough in the keep that we had a fair view of the dragon's silhouette against the moon. A dragon in flight is always a disturbing vision.
We began the next day early and none the worse for our night's revelries. We were well on our way, walking along the edge of a wood, when Tymora spotted a white object high in the air above us. No sooner had she seen it than it began to grow in size; a call similar to that we heard the night before. Ty yelled, "Ware the dragon!" and the rest of us scrambled from the road, searching for cover. Dettrick called out some strange word and we were each covered in wispy, flickering blue flames. They did not burn, but they did give off a slight warmth. 'Tis the same protection he offered back in the dragon's lair! Yev also called out and I felt confidence and assurance settle over my mind and heart.
Arrows flew into the air and rained down onto the road. Despite Yev's prayer, it was plain to see that the presence of this dragon had driven several of my companions to distraction with fear. Understandably so; even though the dragon's influence had not affected me, it was still a daunting enough foe that I was close to sharing their fright.
Dettrick called out a phrase, then, and a veritable storm of flame raged into existence directly between he and the dragon. As I watched, the flame grew in intensity, in heat, and in light. I must see if I can duplicate this: a storm of fire. Beautiful. When the dragon struck the fiery cloud the flames were almost too intense for my eyes and I could feel my skin drying out and my hair singeing from twenty feet away. The dragon soared out from the near side of the cloud, apparently unaffected, and flew directly at Tymora. From somewhere Ty received the benefits of a spell; she jumped into the air and began running upward, walking on nothingness--just as I have done numerous times.
Arrows rained down around the dragon as it flew closer; somehow they all missed. I must do what I can while the beast is within range. As the dragon passed me, I drew upon the power of the earth beneath my feet--I searched out the dry, sandy layer of soil far below. I drew that dryness forth, imbuing it with the heat of the desert sun. I then pushed that dry heat forward in a bright, hot wave before me; it crashed into the dragon mid-flight. What physical damage the heat may have caused, I cannot tell. However, exposure to the searing heat and light had other obvious effects: the dragon's scales dulled, the ever-present rime of frost evaporated as the beast became instantly dehydrated. The white-hot light and the pain of dehydration confused the dragon, as it veered off course, shuddered once, and shook its head.
The dragon swooped around and landed underneath Tymora; if she had remained on the ground she would have been torn to shreds. ~Excellent work, youngling. If that beast had not been confused and addled just now by the heat and the light, it still could have struck at your companion. The elf would have been finished.~ I had to smile; it was not easy to get a compliment from the old one. ~But you have no time to rest. Get back to it.~ Ah, there it was. Just what I expected.
A ten-foot section of air began to shimmer, heralding the summoning of a supernatural creature. I looked around to see Yev'rah's hands moving quickly; I turned back to see a large bird of prey fade into existence. The huge bird was not solid; I believe I was the only one who could see it clearly. Despite the fact it was not a creature of substance, it immediately began pecking and clawing at the dragon; bursts of brownish energy sparked from the bird's beak and claws with every strike.
Tymora's arrows rained down on the beast. Creeg ran at it swinging wildly; too wildly if you ask me -- he missed with nearly every slice, the flat of his blade glancing off the dragon's scales. Something had to be done; I gathered the heat in the air; I pulled it together, swirled it into an unseen ball. I could feel it as it came together. It grew in strength, heat, and power, until I could scarcely control it. Then, just when I was about to lose control of the superheated sphere of air, I sent a quick spark of fire into its midst and pulled. A column of fire sprang into being and blasted downward onto the dragon. Steam burst from the dragon's flesh as scales were burned away; the dragon keened in pain.
At nearly the same instant, a wall of fire erupted from the ground and surrounded the dragon. It must have been the work of one of my companions; the weave felt different -- it left a bitter taste on the air. Likely Dettrick's magic. The beast's keening rose in both pitch and volume. The heat must have been nearly intolerable to the creature, borne of cold.
The dragon's scream was cut short, turning to a
ing gargle as Hayai landed a flying kick on the beast's throat. The dragon spun, choking and spitting; its gaze fell upon Dettrick and its head struck out, serpent-like, to grab Dettrick in its mouth. The dragon lurched its way into the sky. Dettrick screamed once as the beast bit down -- hard -- as it left the ground. The warmage took his revenge, though: a fireball blew chunks of the dragon's face away and Dettrick fell to the earth. He struck the ground with a sickening wet sound and rolled to a stop against a large boulder.Ty screamed out a vile curse in Elvish and pulled back on her bowstring; she drew bead on the beast, following it as it spiraled around in pain. Creeg launched a lance upward and struck the beast in the shoulder. The dragon rose upward a hundred feet or more with only a few wing-strokes. Tymora let her arrow fly and the fletching whistled, matching Ty's continued scream. The arrow buried itself deep in the dragon's breast, in a patch of singed flesh, where one of the several fire attacks had taken its toll.
The dragon's foreclaws scrabbled at its breast and the beast fell to the ground, nearly shaking us all to our backs with the impact. The creature shuddered once, then was still. Creeg immediately began to skin the dragon; he worked silently as Yev and I worked frantically to start healing Dettrick's grievous wounds. Creeg was nearly finished with his task before the warmage was able to sit upright and sip at a cup of tea. It was clear to all that Tymora had been badly scared by the attack; she was flitting about Dettrick like a mother hen around a chick.
Camp that night was uneventful. Relatively speaking. The dream was getting worse. I now had no single moment of sleep unburdened by the images. It had gradually changed over time. I was no longer smug at Boric's apparent demise. The foe was more numerous, more bloodthirsty. The dream had also become darker of late. The very air carried an evil taste. That was not all, either. There were other, more troubling changes as well -- among them was the sound.
~
Three clans of giants, a horde of orcs, and a swarm of goblinkin pour over me. Upon the ridge stand filthy worgs, grey dwarves, black elves. Rimgah moves almost of his own accord, slicing flesh with every move. Foemen fall with every stroke, but still they come: screaming and yelling, clawing and biting, with blood, sweat, spittle, and venom flying in the air. My hands hurt, burning with blisters and blood. I so badly wand to drop Rimgah, but the weapon seems to grip my flesh, not allowing me to leave the weapon behind. Surges of strength course through my hands and into my body, sustaining me and keeping me on my feet. Despite that, my arms are becoming limp with fatigue and still the filthy orcs and goblin come in waves, one after the other, each one cresting higher as they climb over the bodies of their fallen allies.
Then I felt others surge around me. Dwar, humans, elves. My every move protected them while theirs each defended me in turn. In the distance I saw bears of every type tear into the front lines, orcs and goblinkin flew through the air. Massive earth and metal elementals traded blows with the giants.
Seeing our chance, we began to withdraw as a single body. The stronghold is close, yet still a dangerous distance away. Dwar fell around me, as did elves and humans. Each ally that fell was quickly swept up into the arms and over the shoulders of those nearest without regard for race. The idea of any hero being left behind was too abhorrent to even consider.
Then the retreat stalled. I knew it was coming, every dream was exactly the same. The race to the stronghold ran into a wall of orc-flesh at the same point every night in my dreams. As we fought and battled to continue our push, I found myself looking around, expecting to see the same lone dwar racing past me, as he did every night. Tonight, however, he did not come and yet, still I looked for him.
There! My cousin was already in the field, tied up in a knot of enormous orcs. His shield and massive hammer swung back and forth but he was clearly in trouble. I gave those around me one last push, forcing them behind the great stone doors of the stronghold. The doors were closing; just enough room was left for me to squeeze inside. The orcs and goblins pressed forward; in the rear and on each flank the rest of the forces joined the battle: wargs and bears tore at each others throats and muzzles. Dark dwarves and elves stood side by side forcing their way through the forces of good.
Something has happened. The dream has changed. Something dark has taken control. This is not the way things are meant to be. I seemed to hear a deafening sound now, much like the beating of a massive heart. The sound brought with it dismay and discouragement.
I moved as if to dart between the nearly-closed doors, just as I had in countless versions of this dream before. Something made me stop this time, however, and take one last look back at Boric. High above him, hovering in the air, was an orb of purest black -- so black it was difficult to focus on it; your eyes simply slid away from it. Were it not for my Aiskan, my Dream Sight, I doubt I could have seen it at all; it did not look like Boric was even aware of its presence.
As I watched, the orb began to pulse, giving off an unholy black energy -- I do not wish to call it "light" because of its utter darkness, but strangely "light" still seems to fit. Its pulses grew stronger as I watched, the "light" more intense as it slowly descended toward my cousin.
Utterly unaware of the falling orb, Boric glanced in my direction. He shouted, yet I could barely hear his words over the din of battle. Once again he yelled; my cousin's voice rang out, ordering me through the doors and into safety. "By your beard, cousin, get inside and shut the Tel-blasted doors!" I glanced from Boric to the orb and back again. Somehow I knew that the orb was deadly and that it was Boric's doom. I shook my head, turned long enough to push one last young dwar through the crack in the door, then reached up and pulled the doors closed before me. I turned back and began making my way toward my cousin. Rimgah laid two or more foes low with every stroke, so thick did the filthy animals crowd about me.
I had taken no more than ten steps and it was clear I was not going to reach my cousin's side in time. The orb was descending even faster. I did the only thing I could and did it without thinking: I reared back and sent Rimgah hurtling through the air. I was already drawing my broadsword when Rimgah struck the orb. He bit deeply and simply hung in the air. Boric looked up in shock at the passing warpike. I can only imagine what he saw, what he thought. There followed a horrifying scream that seemed to come from all about me and rattled my bones. The black energy began to coalesce around Rimgah, licking around the haft of the weapon. A bolt of energy lanced out and struck me. I saw a brilliant whiteness, then nothing.
~
The nothingness brought with it a breathlessness and I would jolt awake. The first time, it was almost immediate; with every occurrence of the dream the nothingness grew longer and longer until, by dawn, I jolted awake with my hands scratching at my throat in an effort to breathe.
I cannot let the others know about the dream. I do not understand its meaning myself, cannot fathom the reason for its evil tidings -- how could I expect them to understand? They may feel I have become an unknown quantity -- or, at worst, a danger to them.
We broke camp early and began the day's march toward the next village. As we approached, late in the day, we found that the only apparent way into tow was across a single narrow bridge: the perfect place, we thought, for an ambush. Instead, I wove essences of earth and water around the hooves of Jalore's horse, Trouble, which would enable the animal to walk on air as if it was solid ground. In this way we took turns riding Trouble across the ravine some distance away from the bridge. After we had all crossed, we spied two figures at the bridge jumping around and pointing at us. This was, we supposed, part of the ambush that had been awaiting our crossing at the bridge. We moved quickly to put the village behind us and disappeared back into the trees.
Camp was again uneventful that night, save again for the dreams. They were growing in intensity and sensation until I was convinced that I would awake covered with the gore and slime of battle. A full pot of Tymora's wonderful soothing tea was insufficient to calm me that morning. I was now convinced somehow that the dark orb in my dreams was somehow the creator of the chaos and was guiding, prodding, and abetting the forces of evil in the dream battle. I was also now convinced that Ty suspects something. I did not like the looks she was giving me. I must confess, I was somewhat slow in breaking camp that morning; I was fatigued from lack of sleep.
It was not long before both Tymora and Yev'rah spotted two humanoid figures several hundred feet behind us, seemingly following our trail. Jalore circled back, in a wide, sweeping, flanking move. As soon as we crested the next ridge both Ty and Yev, as well as Hayai, moved around to circle behind the followers. I moved over to the side of the path, behind a lone tree: a stately oak. The road in both directions was dotted with random oak trees, which helped our plan greatly. After that, it was simply a matter of time: we waited and waited.
A shout rang out: they'd seen Hayai. Sounds of battle waft over the ridge. Dettrick moved to the top of the ridge; Tymora likely called to him. Dettrick works for a moment and I see a bright glow in the distance as one of Dettrick's spells goes off. Creeg followed Dettrick to the ridgeline drawing his bow and fired an arrow into the distance. I took the chance to move into the tree and then to step about six hundred feet distant. I could just barely sense an archer some distance further away; deep within the oak tree I could only tell his presence because he was standing near another oak himself.
I stepped again, moving to the oak immediately next to the archer. I moved out from the tree already preparing to call down a column of fire upon her head. She had moved in the meantime about sixty feet closer to the ridge. She must have sensed movement behind her, however, as she turned toward me. Her right hand was a blur and I was struck by four separate arrows. I felt the weave vanish and the heat dissipate from the air. The pain was too great for me to keep hold to the weave. Instead, I drew Rimgah and moved closer to the archer. She moved too rapidly, however, moving sixty feet away; her bow glowed and suddenly she was surrounded by several identical images. They wove around and I soon lost track of which was the original and which were the copies.
I reached down deep, then, into the earth. Far below me was a pocket of primeval fire: liquid rock, fire given form. I pulled at the fire and heat, drawing it upward. At the same time, I reached out to the moisture in the air, focused it, drew it together into the ground at the archer's feet. It condensed and turned the ground to thick mud. The mud spread ten feet down into the earth and into a circle over two hundred feet around. The heat and fire reached the surface immediately after the mud formed; the primordial flame superheated the mud. All of this happened in a matter of seconds; between one step and another the archer and her copies found themselves on uncertain footing, then sunk into the scalding mud. The copies winked out and the archer cried out -- whether in frustration or pain, I could not tell.
She managed to turn slightly, bow still in hand. The bow glowed brightly and three more arrows struck my body. She cried out once more, then keeled over into the boiling, sticky mud.
As for myself, I sank to my knees. The pain of the arrows was nearly unbearable. I must have fairly looked like a pincushion; Yev'rah chuckled as he and the others came over the ridge towards me. By the time they reached my side, I had fallen to a seated position after having pulled the arrows from my flesh. I held held Rimgah cradled across my knees; I found strength and vitality flowing from Rimgah into my body. I quickly drank two healing potions to speed up my recovery. When Yev reached my side, he drew a Rod from his pack and muttered a few words. More strenght and health poured into my body.
I was healed, but I was tired. So tired. I dropped into a senseless sleep. For the first time in weeks I did not dream.
Statistics: Posted by Boric Glanduum — Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:58 pm
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"Creeg, lend me a hand. Yev cannot stand much longer!"
Creeg obliged; he stepped back and grabbed Yev's arm to help me support him. As he did so, a zone of utter darkness fell over the blade wall. It is clear the fey'ri have not gone far. Jalore and Yev had the same thoughts; the paladin cast a spell bringing daylight to the chamber and banishing the darkness. Yev moved his right hand about and a wall of fire sprang up in the outer chamber, just outside the sigil's influence. This wall effectively blocked off the passageway on both ends.
I sent another surge of stone-strength channeled from the chamber floor into Yev. I checked him over to find that he was stable--still hurting, but stable. I left him in Creeg's care and moved to S'ven's side to heal him; he had taken much worse than he had been able to deal out, unfortunately. Just as I finished with S'ven, Ty came to my side and whispered, "Urdin, is he well? We must leave this chamber. We must leave now." I nodded and helped S'ven to his feet.
We walked from the blade wall to the left side of the cavern where a small hallway ran parallel to the icy stream. Dettrick motioned me to his side and, after a quick conversation, we started down the hallway. The walls were well-hewn stone; this was no natural formation--or if it was, it had been modified and expanded. The passage curved to the right after about twenty or thirty feet. In several places along the corridor there were runes--some familiar, some unfamiliar--crafted upon the walls; it was difficult even for me to discern whether they were painted or carved into the stone. We came to the first rune. This one was familiar: it was an Elven rune that read simply, "Go back."
Dettrick looked at me and said, "Does that say what I think it says?" I laughed at him and nodded my head. I pressed my hands against the stone wall and summoned a small bit of essence from the stone. I felt magic around us. I drew a bit more essence from the stone; instantly six of the runes in the passageway glowed with a yellow light. Magic. Just as we feared. I glanced up at the rune above Dettrick and me; it was not glowing. So. Just a warning, then.
I held one hand out to Dettrick to stay where he was. The next rune down the passageway was glowing yellow; as I studied the rune it seemed to shift and gradually became legible. It was one word: cacophony. Blast! As the thought came to me I had to chuckle at the unintentional pun. [I am going to have to bring in some help. Expendable help. This is not going to be pleasant, I fear. I could not rely on stone-strength for this; the calling forth of a living creature required the strength of flesh. Kind begets kind, with a few exceptions.
I reached deep within me and drew from my own strength. There was a popping sound and there before me stood a small monkey. I couldn't communicate with him, of course, but as he looked up at me I stamped my foot and shouted. He jumped, frightened, then turned to scamper down the passageway. He hadn't taken two jumps before a loud blaring sound rang out and the poor frus {animal} exploded.
Yev moved up to my side and summoned forth a small dog. Yev and I looked at one another and nodded; I yelled and moved toward the dog. It ran a few feet and then fell over dead as a ray lanced from a spot further down the passageway. I took another look at the runes; the yellow glow had diminished. The "cacophony" rune no longer glowed.
I wanted to try another tack. I reached into one of my belt pouches and brought out a small handful of moist soil. I knelt down and mounded the soil in front of me, then placed both hands upon it, touching both the soil and the stone beneath. I pulled, then, bringing forth stone-strength and the living fire within the stone and forced it into the soil, infusing the mound of earth with the power and saturating it. The mound expanded and shaped itself while the elemental forces within it grew and gathered strength until finally it stood before me as a bipedal figure. I grumbled out instructions to it in the gravelly language of the earth, and pointed down the hallway.
The earthen figure moved down the hallway; too late, Ty shouted, "Stop!" There was a click and mist began to fill the passageway. Ty pushed the others back as the cloud enveloped Dettrick and me. It had no discernable effect on me, but Dettrick looked a bit dazed, a bit confused, and his mouth slack. His posture had changed too, he had slumped slightly. The sparkle and gleam in his eye was gone. I yelled out to my summoned servant to move, the coarse words hurting my throat. It took two more steps and there was another click. The flow of the mist stopped and it dissipated.
The elemental creature took three more steps and again, a ray of light lanced out from the bend in the passageway. The creature stopped short and fell to the ground in a shower of dry, sterile dirt.
Yev and Ty moved forward then to check for traps. Dettrick and I had assumed the runes to be the passageway's only obstacles. I fear he has paid the price for our impetuousness. Yev called out that they had found the first trigger and marked around it with a piece of chalk. The mist should not be a problem again. Ty called out that she had found the second trigger; she and Yev talked for a few minutes and studied the trigger. Ty came back to us to report that neither of them had any idea how to disarm the trigger or how to get around it.
We all moved past the first trigger and stopped short of where Yev stood by the second trigger. A second glyph on the wall next to the trigger said, "You have gone too far." A third rune a little further down the passage read, " Welcome to the Cliffs of Insanity." Tel. A bit melodramatic, isn't it? 'Cliffs of Insanity'? I looked at Dettrick as I translated the runes for the group; he just grinned at me. I believe he's lost a bit upstairs as a result of the mist. Not stupid...no...but lacking something....something crucial, essential.
He kept grinning at me while his hands moved in an arcane pattern; he turned toward the end of the passage and muttered a few words. A shimmering wall appeared before us, blocking the last three runes. Instantly the same ray began shooting forth in short, staccato bursts, splashing against the far side of Dettrick's arcane wall. Yev clapped a hand against Ty's shoulder and they both moved forward.
And vanished.
Dettrick yelled, "Ty!" and ran forward. That's what is lacking: his common sense is impaired. It is almost as if he is drunk on strong ale. He reached the same spot and vanished himself.
Once the shock of our companions' loss passed, the bladesinger drew a mirror out of his belt and managed to place it magically just below the spot from whence came the ray. Using the image in the mirror he was able to teleport us around the corner to the end of the passageway. As we reappeared, S'ven and Creeg are standing at the entrance to a cavern with myself, Jalore, and the bladesinger directly behind them.
It was an immense cavern. It put the dragon's lake-room to shame. Directly in front of us was a four-story octagonal structure. There was, at its base, a set of double wooden doors. There were no visible windows or breaks in the structure, which tapered to a smaller diameter at the crenelated top. There was an orb floating above the tower; this orb gave off sufficient light by which to see, much like a full moon. Next to the tower is a large stone cube; three tall statues stand by the doors--two flanking and one in front. The statues are tall with elven characteristics. Each one wields a greatsword.
S'ven stepped out into the cavern and walked straight towards the tower. The front-most statue's eyes popped open and a voice said, "Stop." S'ven stopped. Creeg followed him out and moved rightward towards the tower. The statue on that side of the door said, "Stop." Although Creeg stopped, he then roared his defiance in his native tongue. I recognized a few words that he certainly would not use in front of his hearth-mother. The statue understood his tone, at least, and moved his greatsword to a ready position.
I entered the chamber and moved toward the left. The corresponding statue said, "Stop" as I expected, but I took another step or two. I suddenly found myself some sixty feet up in the air, suspended there and unable to move.
From my new, unique vantage point, I could see the roof of the tower. A lich sat there roasting marshmallows over the tower's chimney. I blinked twice and rubbed my eyes; the lich was actually looking at the roof of the chamber through a telescope. Where did the other vision come from? Marshmallows?!? The roof of the chamber resembled the night sky in amazing detail. The lich saw me then and said simply, "Oh. More visitors." He then went back to his telescope.
I muttered a quick spell that caused the air beneath my feet to increase in density and I began walking downward as if on a spiral staircase. Below me one of the statues moves closer to Creeg, almost within striking distance.
Jalore, in Elven, called out, "We are here to speak with Laresh, the lich. We seek to negotiate with him." The statue in front tells him to wait and enters the tower. The statue that had moved to confront me now moved to stand before the doors. A fourth statue appeared from a doorway in the wall of the cavern to our left.
The lich on the roof--who I had to assume was Laresh--leaned over the battlements and yelled out, "Well, you are all still alive, so you must not be evil!" Whatever could that mean? He then pointed at me, "You in the air! You may want to move to the side. Quickly. You others on the ground: you may want to move as well." we all followed his advice and just in time. Several heartbeats later the roof of the cavern collapsed, burying the ground beneath where I had been standing--and directly where my companions had been standing--in feet of stone and rubble.
A moment or two later, as I reached the ground and rejoined the others, Laresh appeared from the tower doors. Although he expressed his amazement at how we bypassed the trapped passageway, he was visibly disturbed at having guests. He was not used to it and his conversation belied his anxiety, as he seemed to want to impress us with his power. He began by explaining that the square cube was something he called a "living vault." He demonstrated with one of the statues--the box grabbed the statue and pulled it inside where, Laresh said, it was trapped in a temporal stasis.
He then explained that the stars on the ceiling were an illusion. With a wave of his hand he created a beautiful summer robin-egg blue sky and bright sunlight. He then told us that our companions were in a "dimension box" where he held intruders who tripped the runes. He sent the fourth statue back through the door on the cavern wall and it re-emerged with our companions following behind. Laresh cautioned us that we would need to treat Dettrick immediately, for he was on the verge of losing his sanity. He suggested that anything that would cure toxins would help; I had none of my own potions prepared, but Yev stepped in. He unrolled a scroll as Dettrick approached, then quickly read the lines from the scroll. Dettrick instantly looked like a new man: the sparkle was back in his eye, the spring back in his step.
We informed Laresh that we needed information, and warned him that the fey'ri had sent us to kill the dragon so that they could get in to attack Laresh. Yev continued, telling Laresh that the fey'ri were after a lore gem. Laresh started to get agitated at this information; Yev confided in him that both he and Jalore were also after the lore gem, going into a lengthy story about their individual quests for a dagger. Laresh visibly blanched when Yev told him that he was serving the god Mask. The lich stopped the story, ordered Yev to strip off all of his magic items, and then disappeared into the tower with Yev in tow. The rest of us were left surrounded by the guardian statues, staring at each other in surprise--as most of this information is all new to us. At least it was to me; I knew that they both had their own quests and had some connection to one another, but to my knowledge they had never confided in any of my companions.
Laresh and Yev returned; the lich had satisfied himself that Yev posed no apparent danger to him. He told us about his history with the fey'ri, and explained about the "greater" fey'ri, warning us away from them, describing them as--essentially--Demon Princes. There followed a lengthy discussion between Laresh, Yev, and Jalore, as if they were unaware the rest of us were still there. They spoke softly and snippets were all I could glean from their conversation. I opened my journal and jotted down what little I heard for future research.
Apparently it had been 500 years since Laresh knew the exact information they needed, but it was not contained within his lore gem. Laresh had been assigned to help the Netharese; he's now a baelnorn assigned to protect this particular lore gem. Because he had not left his lair in several centuries all he knew now were faded memories and rumors. They were searching for this Jathiman dagger, which had apparently been used to kill a god. The dagger had been seized by a group of elves who hid it.
Laresh reported that one of this group was actually a human druid--an elf friend named Hullack. The elven house of Amarrathar had put the knowledge of the dagger into a lore gem and placed the gem somewhere in Hullack's forest. The House of Amarrathar set up a portal in a pool of water that can only be activated by a full-blood elf in one of two ways. First, one of the blood of Amarrathar can activate the portal by holding a dove in one hand and entering the pool. Second, a full-blood elf not of the House of Amarrathar may enter the pool holding a dove and the symbol of the House of Amarrathar. Finally, he believes that only a full-blood elf (and possibly only of the House of Amarrathar) may activate the lore gem itself.
When they were finished conversing, Laresh bade us farewell. Considering the shape we were all in, we asked for his hospitality; he allowed us to stay overnight and said that he would consider looking for a weapon for S'ven among the equipment he had stolen over the years from the dragon's hoard. With that, he told us goodnight, giving us the ground in front of the tower on which to sleep.
In the morning, Laresh presented S'ven with a bow and a sword, then let us out through the traps. He was obviously eager for us to leave. I sensed that he had enjoyed the intellectual contact, but was too used to being alone to allow us to stay longer. His parting words to us strengthen my conviction that we have--if not a friend--an ally. "If you simply must come back, do not step on the Insanity Mist trigger. Just holler at me so I know it is you, and I will come and let you in myself." He waved farewell and cast a spell of invisibility upon us at Dettrick's request; it was a stylized invisibility as we could all see each other.
As we walked through the dragon's lake-room, I parceled out three potions to the group that would allow them to see invisible creatures, just in case the fey'ri had any of their frus around waiting for us. When we reached the outer chamber I stopped momentarily to draw in stone's essence in attempt to see any magic in the chamber. All I can sense is the sigil, which the fey'ri have covered with a blanket. I delved deeper into the stone, expanding my senses outward, searching for any hidden creatures. There was nothing there that I could sense, however.
Dettrick cast another spell which outlined us in fire--obviously some sort of protective spell, although whether from cold or fire, I could not tell. I asked Ty if she would mind examining the blanket to ensure there is no rope or cord attached; neither she nor I saw anything other than an ordinary blanket.
~Old one, wake up!~
~Ahhh, I see. You must need something. To you I am nothing more than a sharp pointed stick. Only when you need something do you come crawling to old Rimgah.~
~I am not crawling.~
~In your mind, you are groveling, youngling.~
~Rimgah, I need to know if you sense anything in this cavern.~
~I thought you would never ask. I do sense something indeed. I sense an arrogant milk-drinking rockrunt and an ungrateful beardless blade-chipper.~
I sighed. I do not know what it will take for this weapon to accept me. Maybe he is becoming senile.
~I heard that, Urdin.~
~I intended you to, Old one. Now, do you sense any of the fey'ri or their frus?~
~No. There is nothing for as far as I can sense other than yourself and your companions.~
~Thank you. Now....~
I realized that Ty had asked me a question. "I'm sorry, young...." I winced as I caught myself using a term Rimgah used as a pejorative. I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry, Ty. What did you say?" She just grinned at me. "Guess someone's becoming a bit buggy?" All I could do in response was shake my head and chuckle. "I asked, dear Urdin, if you sensed anything."
"Not a thing, child. Not a thing," I replied.
She nodded at me and grabbed Yev's arm. They moved around the outside of the outer chamber. Jalore summoned his horse and rode past them straight to the left exit. A red ray lanced out from the left passage and glanced off his armor. "Damnable fey'ri! They're in hiding! To arms, my friends! To arms!"
At Jalore's yell, Creeg ran to stand atop the blanket-covered sigil, readying his longbow and drawing an arrow as he moved. Upon reaching the sigil, he fired a single shot, which clattered off the corner of the wall in front of Jalore.
Ty ran to join Creeg and prepared her own bow to fire but was struck by another red ray. A fey'ri stepped from the passage and attacked Jalore. Dettrick hurled a sphere of force, narrowly missing Jalore, and striking the fey'ri. As the sphere hurtled forward I threw Rimgah and a javelin in succession. Rimgah struck just behind the sphere and returned to my hand ; the javelin, unfortunately, struck him at an odd angle and clattered off his shoulder to be carried away by the waterfall behind him.
Another fey'ri stepped out and Dettrick was again struck by a ray. Ty ran toward the fey'ri, firing several arrows, which all missed their target. She looked wearied after that arcane ray struck her. The fact that she was trying to assess Dettrick's health at the same time did not help her aim.
The fey'ri facing Jalore redoubled his efforts and, despite the grievous wounds we had dealt him, struck Jalore with two mighty blows. The paladin actually swayed in the saddle a bit. The fire-shield Dettrick had placed on us played as a wild card, however--Jalore's saving grace, perhaps. The blue flames crossed from where the fey'ri struck Jalore and they flickered down the fey'ri's weapon, then gathered around the fey'ri's arm. They circled and then spread. The villain screamed once--a dreadful noise--then collapsed in a heap. As his life force fled, the flames ebbed, shrank, and died.
Dettrick fired a ray of his own in a return shot at the fey'ri. I ran up behind him and grabbed his back, letting the strength and life-fire of the stone beneath us flow through me and into his body, forcing his body to heal. It was just in time, for a column of fire suddenly fell on the two of us from above. We were able to roll out of the way enough to minimize the damage. I whirled around as a fey'ri stepped out of the rock face beside us.
From that point, the melee became a confusion; I only recall flashes and images. S'ven rushed toward two of the fey'ri and was stuck. Another ray lanced through Dettrick's body, ignoring his armor. Creeg charged one of the fey'ri mage and knocked him prone. The fey'ri in front of Jalore begins casting a spell. Jalore took the opportunity to charge at him. He appeared to do some damage, but the fey'ri shrugged it off and yet another ray stabbed into Dettrick's body. Dettrick slumped in my hands and fell to the ground, unconscious and barely breathing.
Ty saw Dettrick fall and screamed in a fit of near-rage. Two arrows sprang from her bow like arcane bolts and punched into the other fey'ri mage's chest. The arrows struck with such force he was lifted off his feet to fly backward several feet; he slumped to the floor dead.
I had to work quickly as Dettrick was fading fast. He may just join his attacker if I am not careful. I flipped him onto his back. I managed to wrest some herbs from my belt pouch and worked them between my fingers, mashing them and breaking them open. I managed to get them between Dettrick's lips and teeth; his jaw was clenched in pain. I spread a small bit of embramaph unguent on his wounds. Embramaph is often believed to lose its potency shortly after harvest, but Master Delias found a way to preserve most of its healing properties in this salve. The purple paste seemed to help immediately as Dettrick relaxed. I began to draw stone-strength into my body again, as much as I could hold. While I did, I surveyed the field.
More images: Creeg swinging at and missing a fey'ri as the villain lay prone and weaponless on the ground. S'ven being struck by another ray. Ty yelling at me for an update on Dettrick's condition. At her yell I enveloped Dettrick in the stone-strength. He took several deep gasps and staggered to his feet; he fired a ray at one of the few fey'ri still standing, but missed.
I managed to trip a charging fey'ri with Rimgah; Creeg managed to hit him as well to keep him on the ground. Jalore charged over to finish him off when the fiend yelled, "Parlay!"
"What do you know that could possibly save your life?" Jalore asked.
"Keep me alive and find out."
"No. Die, demon-spawn." Jalore then stabbed downward but missed three times as the fey'ri writhed around. Even Jalore's horse, Trouble, missed.
One last fey'ri appears in the passageway leading out of the cavern. He fired an ugly purple cone of energy from his hands. The energy blasted around S'ven, who dropped to the ground. Dettrick returned the favor with a ray of his own and blew through the fey'ri's defenses, killing him.
Creeg, Jalore, and I again each swung at the last fey'ri--the one laying on the floor in front of us. Dettrick turned and looked down at the fey'ri. His face tightened and he hurled a force orb downward. The fey'ri--what was left of him--kicked twice and died.
We had won, but at what cost? We had once again lost a companion: S'ven lay on the ground, his flesh and clothing in tatters. I had just enough strength within me to ease his corpse through the stone--into the stone--for his rest. It was not much, but it was all we could do at the time. We had won, but only barely.
Statistics: Posted by Boric Glanduum — Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:45 pm
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I finished speaking and the cavern was silent for a moment. Dettrick and Ty talked softly while standing over the sigil. I could only suppose that Dettrick was trying to understand the arcane workings.
~That speech was well-stated, youngling. At times it is easier to see what Boric sees in you. The moments are rare, of course, but there is something there.~
I scowled; even though I was fairly certain he could not “seeâ€
Statistics: Posted by Boric Glanduum — Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:11 pm
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Once I could again stand, we headed off after the running elves. We were able to catch up to them and, after discussion, took them to a cave in the hills where they could hide until we could finish some reconnoitering of the area. They said they were missing some of their comrades we agreed to assist them and went off to find the lost elves. I must confess--I was not overly attentive to the discussions with the elves. I was troubled by the odd way I had acted at the riverside in the battle with the giants. One of them--the one I had charged and disemboweled--had been carrying a quiver full of javelins on his belt. I took them without knowing why; the spear had never been a favorite weapon of mine.
It is strange. Ever since Rimgah jolted me into unconciousness with his energy, I have not felt the same. I feel--constantly--as if a lightning bolt were coursing through my body. My hands and fingers tingle with energy. My every breath is tinged with the smell of a rainstorm.
No. A lightning storm--with a slight odor of burned air. My beard crackles when I comb my fingers through it.
I have felt this way once before, you know. Shortly after the great battle where the Boldauk were lost; it was in the month of Kythorn, in 1370 D.R.--the Year of the Tankard. I was saved from being discovered by an Orc scout through the intervention of a storm: a lightning blast. For several days after the blast--as I fled through the wilderness--I was hyper-aware of the lines of energy coursing through everything around me.
I had plenty of time with my thoughts as we escorted the elves to a cave for protection and rode off in search of their missing scout. It is certainly cause for thought.
Around mid-day we came across an elven scout--a lone elf in these woods led us to believe this was the missing scout. He told us his name was Aryn and that he’d been separated from a larger group and had no idea where they’d all gone. He suspected, however, that a group of elves was being held by giants just a short distance away. Aryn proposed to lead us there and we soon assented.
After a half-hour ride, we started up a ridge. Three of us went to the top of the ridge to reconnoiter. The top of the ridge overlooked a small valley--a dale (??) really--about 40 yards. A cave entrance is visible on the far side of the valley. As we watched, wo giants appeared at the mouth of the cave, walking from the darkness. I ducked back down below the ridge and returned to where the others were waiting.
[i]I do not know whether Rimgah uses my senses to “seeâ€
Statistics: Posted by Boric Glanduum — Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:43 pm
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Another days walk and we were starting to relax a little. I shook off the mood that had taken me after another death in our party and Ty started good naturedly ribbing me again for my little missteps here and there. A very good sign.
Hayai caught up with us before that evening, just as were starting to come up on the boarders of Cormyr. I found him a little solemn, but he seemed stalwart enough.
As I was technically headed home, I spent a lot of time remembering some of the better times growing up there. Reminded of my favorite prank as a boy, I secretly fashioned a little dye bomb and seeing the perfect opportunity, I flicked it over the head of the new guy, thinking to catch him unawares... and was totally surprised when leaping up, he caught it and had thrown it BACK at ME... when it went off, I was still blinking in amazement at his speed. Even ty would be hard pressed to move that fast, I thought.
Laughing, though, as I cleaned off as much dye as I could, could see Ty looking at the newcomer appreciatively. Evidently her competitive nature was asserting itself.
As the day was ending, we arrived at the gates of the small boarder keep that Cormyr maintains at all the main access roads into their kingdom. Evidently there was some entertainment going on, as we were hardly questioned, and the walls manned with a skeleton crew.
The evening was enjoyable, though I did not enjoy the adulation for my role in the goblin wars... I just did my duty and what I thought was right... nothing more.
The only thing marring the evening was the call of a dragon on the night air... despite our having bested a dragon twice now, the call still chilled my blood and I pulled the blanket a little tighter.
The next day was as fair a day as you could want for travel. We can down the pass, on the main road, moving quickly to cover the ground to the next city.
However, we were soon dismayed to find a white object in the sky that seemed to be tracking us... and as we watched it dived right for us.
"Ware the Dragon!" yelled Ty and she started back, before realizing she should be off the path. Everyone scrambled for cover and I followed Creeg for the rocks, after casting another fireshield on everyone within range.
Creeg, being unhappy about my presence, wanted to move, but the dragon was coming in too fast. I cast a firestorm in front of it, reveling in the power as I poured my rage into fueling it hotter and hight, but as the gragon emerged, I saw it had been unaffected. I followed up with a fireball and an orb of force a moment later, but then the beast was upon us.
I screamed in pain as the teeth punctured the plate armor I was wearing like so much parchment. The Fire around me flared up, burning and searing. Through the pain I instinctively cast my most powerful defensive spell, blowing away part of her lip and teeth... then she dropped me... Lucky for me, she had not gone high and I hit the ground rolling to a stop against a boulder, as I saw the beast slam into the ground not far from me.
Lots of healing later, I was sipping a cup of hot tea that Ty had brewed up for us all, to calm our nerves... I could see it had shaken her a little more than usual, but it was to be expected with a beast that size.
Having skinned the Dragon, to put it's skin to good use another time, we sent it on to the village to be tanned, but decided to take a more round-about way. Good thing we did, as we crossed a ravine, we saw two figures taling us, evidently frustrated with our choice of crossings.
Hours later, as the sun dipped in the sky, Ty called to me that we were being followed again. Looking back I couldn't see anything, but she assured me they were there.
Going over another hill, we stopped and had Ty, Yev, and Hayai fan out, hiding to create an ambush. But evidently Hayai was not as good at hiding as he was at snatching dye bombs and the two figures stopped, with one firing arrows at his position.
This proved to be too much for him and he jumped up, speeding toward his attacker at an incredible speed. I'd never seen anyone move so fast, even magically enhanced.
But the archer was also very good and sent arrow after arrow into him. Sighing, I quickly gathered the weave together and hit both with a fireball. making it larger and hotter than normal just required a few extra tweaks with my hand and it burst forth singeing both.
The next thing I know, I was surrounded by my own worst spell, as Black Tentacles reached out to grab me. I evaded the first one, launching another spell, as I jumped out of the affected area, but found myself again surrounded. This time, one got a hold of me and didn't let go.
I struggle with it for a moment, fearing it was too strong, when I heard Ty cry out in anger. It propelled me to greater efforts and again, I broke from it's grasp and ran to an unaffected spot.
The battle was in full swing and I hit the armored man, who had appeared on our hill now, with a couple of good spells, and he went down with Ty and Everyone else around him striking almost simultaneously.
Looking out, I saw the archer frozen in waste deep mud. The battle was over. A good thing too. Everyone looks like they could use another cup of tea.
Statistics: Posted by Greylen — Fri Jul 25, 2008 3:38 pm
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The Fey'ri gone, we decided we had a few minutes to find the lore gem that Yev had been talking about.
Looking down the tunnel, I noticed there were many runes on the walls, in Elvish, stating things like "Go back now. Death" or some such nonsense.
However, I did feel it prudent to send something else down first. Yev obliged and sent a conjured monkey down the tunnel. Immediately it was fried a the first set of runes. I smile ruefully... it does pay to be cautious at times.
Another couple of monkeys and I was pretty confident at defeating this tunnel. A wall of force to contain a ray that kept zapping everything that went by, and Yev and Ty were almost around the final bend... then they Disappeared!
What Had I done? Screaming in rage, I ran around to the spot they had disappeared, looking for a rune or something. The air around me popped and I found myself with Yev and Ty in a 30X30 room and an exit guarded by two huge golums... at least I assumed they were golums.
Ty moving to the side confirmed it when the right golum raised an arm and stated "Wait. Do not move." Looking at the size of the swords they carried I was inclined to do just that for now.
Finally I asked in exasperation. "We are not enemies. Who are we waiting for and can we talk to him now!" The Golum considered it and again said "Wait here" and opened the door behind him and walked out, returning again in a moment motioning us to leave with him.
The cavern was spectacular. I was amazed at the whole illusion of the night sky. Our companions evidently had made it down the cooridor, which spoke well of their reasoning, and an impressive elf stood at the top of the tower. Though there was something odd about him and as he spoke I realized he must be an undead guardian elf, what were they called? Balnor or some such.
I was fairly dancing at the thought of learning something new from this powerful being, but our time did not permit it. After making sure we were not a threat, he offered to allow us to remain in his tower for a day. Evidently the foul Fey'ri were his enemies as well.
During this conversation, it was revealed that the lore gem he protected did NOT contain the information that Yev and Jalore wanted... something about a dagger to kill gods. None of my business who they wanted to kill, as I trust each, but holy heavens above that would be a hard burden to bear. However, he did tell us of a lore gem that WOULD be able to tell them the location they sought... it was in an Elf fortress in, of all places, Corymr... I laughed at the thought of going back deliberately to the place I'd tried so hard to run away from.
Refreshed, we again set out the next morning. Being cautious, we started out invisible entering the cavern where we encountered the first dragon. Someone had thrown a tarp over the sigil on the floor, effectively negating it's effects.
But some in the party were impatient and our cover was soon blown... partly due to the fact that our hidden members, not covered by invisibility anymore, were outlined by my mass fireshield effect... something we didn't consider.
The Fey-ri had been planning this for a long time, it seems. They attacked in two groups from the sides and as we were distracted, another came out of the cavern wall.
I launched attack after attack, the spells coming easily and rapidly. The spell casters in the enemies ranks soon started targeting me and I was hit twice with staggering spells of great power... I felt bones break and muscle split as the rays scorched my flesh, such was their force.
Through the haze I launched another spell at them and felt a warmth spread through my body as Urdin chanted behind me, his glowing hands spreading the healing and reknitting the bones and muscle split by the massive rays.
I nodded my thanks as he ran to help with the attacker from the wall.
A few more well placed spells and the fight was over on the left of the cavern, it looked like the Wall attacker was down and being pummeled and Ty, Yev and the new elf who's name escaped me, were taking the final two down on the right.
Just as they took them down, though, the last Fey're launch a final spell, trying to knock the elf and Ty off the ledge... Ty dodged magnificently, but our new friend did not, and I saw him slump, unconcious or dead, I did not know, but he was hurt badly, with arrows and slash marks across his body.
It turned out he was dead. Knowing how elves feel about the afterlife, there was never any discussion on bringing him back. A simple burial was all we could offer at the time.
Again, we have lost a companion. One I didn't know well, but a companion none-the-less. These Fey'ri continue to really piss me off. It is time someone eradicates them. However, it will have to be after our mission is complete.
We moved quickly out of the cavern and headed towards my home. Now why did Ty look so concerned?
Statistics: Posted by Greylen — Fri Jul 25, 2008 11:03 am
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With the dragon gone, an odd silence filled the cavern. Taking stock of the area, I finally got a chance to look at the sigil closely. Taking up a 20-foot section of the floor in the middle of the cavern, I could see the power radiate from it as it encompassed the room.
"Nine-hells" I growled to myself, as I studied the Sigil. I did not use such magic myself, but had prepared myself well during my time at the acadamy in studying the various schools of magic. This seemed to be a magic from the school of Abjuration, but there was something odd to it... If I didn't know better, I'd say it was a... except for that odd squiggle by the loop there... Hmmm.
"So what is it, D" Ty asked, having walked up next to me in her silent, cat-like walk... I was concentrating so hard, the sound of her voice so close to me, made my heart skip a beat or two.
"Ty, your far to silent for my good" I laughed after nearly screaming like a little girl. She grinned impishly at me, her eyes twinkling... I grinned back at her obvious pleasure.
"Well," I said to her, looking back at the Sigil, "I would have said it was a Globe of Invulnerability, except for that squiggle over in that left corner, next to the circle" Then it hit me... the squiggle OPENED the circle... and encompassed a larger area that surpressed spells WITHIN it... Ahhh.
I looked at Ty triumphantly and as I started to explain, she just rolled her eyes... "Yeah, yeah, keep the mage talk simple, D." she teased.
"Um, right" I turned to everyone. "Evidently this Sigil makes any lower level spell uncastable." and as I started to explain, a noise to the right interrupted me.
An elf stepped out of the path on the other side of the cavern from where we had entered... Everyone tensed, ready to attack, when Jalore walked around the bend behind him... the relief was intense.
Everyone greeted Jalore with hearty backslaps and hails, Creeg even picked him up in a bear-hug, all but Yev, who despite his reserve seemed to be the most glad to see the Paladin again.
The elf, who's name I promptly forget AGAIN, told us that he'd watched the Dragons habits for a couple weeks waiting for us and we didn't have much time before it would come flying back in through the waterfall... if it wasn't waiting for us already.
Quickly moving, we all headed for the entrance to the other cavern. But my armor was just too slow for Creeg, as he picked me up as if I was a child and deposited me in the cavern mouth.
Our summoned friend called to us from the other side of the entrance, where he had quickly taken post. "There is nothing here but a staff and some coin. But the cold is magically intense" he said.
Thinking quickly, I drew the cold in this room into myself, and cast it out as a shield to all those around me... Our new elf friend was too far away already for the effect to reach him, but everyone else was encased in a blue flame to protect from the cold.
Suddenly, the staff shot a crystal of ice at the outsider hovering in the air. It struck and he moved toward it quickly.
As we all moved into the room, the cold was like a blow to the chest, snatching away our breath, even with the protection I'd provided. Luckily the flame seemed to melt the ice around us, so we could move without slipping on the ice-covered floor.
Everyone fanned out, the staff still shooting ice daggers at the closest person. The staff was standing in the ice, so I sent over a fireball to see if it would deactivate if prone... which worked getting it prone, but not so well getting it to stop shooting at us.
Creeg and moved over to a large lake, covered in ice, and breaking a hole in the edge, stuck his head through it.
"brrrr" I thought, a chill going up my spine, when sputtering, Creeg stumbled back from the hole yelling "Dragon! Dragon in Water!". We all readied, but it was too late, as exploding out of the ice, water and ice shards spraying everywhere, the biggest dragon I'd ever seen roared and engulfed Creeg in it's mouth.
I could tell the flames surrounding Creeg were hurting the dragon terribly, but it held on to him. That's when all hell broke loose. First, I sealed the cavern entrance. Gathering the pure weave about me, I shaped it into a wall, blocking the entrance. Then using that released energy to spawn my next spell, I gathered the weave into my palm, shaping it into a ball and fueling it with my fury and anger. The ball of fire released struck the Dragon between the wings on the shoulder, causing it to roar in pain again.
I swear the beast was eyeing me for it's next snack, as it continued to chew on Creeg and strike at those around it. Jalore got a good charge in at the beast, while spells from Urdin and our elf friend struck it from above and the side.
Glancing at Ty, I could see frustration in her eyes, as her arrows continued to bounce off the armored scales. One glanced close to an eye, but still did no damage.
All of a sudden, Creeg vanished from the dragons mouth and Ty also disappeared. The combined spells of our group were obviously wounding the dragon deeply, when it suddenly dove back into the lake and disappeared.
Creeg and Ty had evidently just teleported to safety, but we were not done yet. We couldn't leave the dragon to escape.
Urdin had a plan. Casting a quick spell, he caused three of us, myself, Jalore and the bladesinger to be able to breath under water. So we quickly took after the Dragon, hoping to kill it while it was so wounded.
The lake entered a passage that started sloping back up about 100 yards back from the other cavern. Jalore suddenly signaled for us to stop. Pointing ahead, he signaled that there was a source of evil very close. So we split up and came up from three different directions.
Sure enough, there was a smaller dragon before us, the huge one (mother, I thought?) standing behind it.
Moving quickly, the bladesinger cast two quick spells into the small of the dragons. I followed up with one of the largest fireballs I was capable of producing... it took a bit out of me, those spell tweaking, but they were sure worth every bit of energy the stole from me.
The fireball did the trick for the smaller dragon and as Jalore started toward the mother, it suddenly took off and I was surrounded in a bitter cold fog. Luckily, it again burned off with the blue flame surrounding us. Hearing a commotion to my right, I quickly ran forward, almost tripping over the body of the smaller dragon.
The huge dragon now had Jalore in it's jaws and was headed for the end of a chasm. Quickly, I formed another wall and placed it in front of the dragon, but even though it slammed into it, the wall was not large enough to impede it's progress to the Chasm.
The dragon violently threw Jalore into the chasm wall, and I watched him disappear with the dragon diving down as well. The bladesinger, chanting another spell, ran after, diving over the edge as well. Running to the edge, running being a description only, since I could not move very fast in my armor, I looked down and could only see spray from a waterfall close by... but after a minute, the Bladesinger flew out of the water carrying Jalore up to the landing again.
Not a moment too soon, from the look of him... I was amazed he had survived at all. A tribute to his toughness for sure.
As the bladesinger took Jalore back for healing, I looked around the chamber in detail... over in the corner was a HUGE pile of goldly glinting coin... now THIS is a Dragons horde, I laughed out loud.
It took a couple trips, but we finally got all the treasure divided up so we could carry it. But then Urdin, ever watchfull, call a warning out to us, as he said there were a number of Fey'ri entering the cavern in etheral form. One of them was not, however, and called out to Yev'rah "Thank you for taking care of the dragon for us. We can take it from here." I recognized him as the Fey'ri leader Yev had negotiated with earlier.
With that, the leader of the fey'ri raised his hand and hit Yev with a beam of intense heat, which staggered him back.
Ty took off to the left, as I drank another of my See Invisibility potions and making a whirling motion to gather the weave into a chaotic frenzy, cast a Blade barrier around the group I saw clustered in the entrance. I grinned fiercly as the whirling blades of pure force sprang into being around them, spinning wildly about.
One of the Fey'ri danced through them, however, without seeming to get a scratch! I thought only Ty was that graceful.
Between arrows, spells and our fighters cleaving a couple of Fey'ri in half, the rest stuck in my trap just disappeared, but not before we'd killed their leader and the traitor that had led us into that trap earlier.
A good days work, I smile contentedly to myself.
Statistics: Posted by Greylen — Wed May 28, 2008 4:56 pm
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Whew! that was one less debt to be repaid. Lucky for most of us that Udrin's cousin, Boric, happened by just in the hour we needed his services most. Lucky for us I happened to see the exchange and stopped him before he stormed off from his confrontation with Urdin.
I see the same power in Urdin that I often feel in myself when in battles casting spell after spell... the madness that grips you as you feel the power flow from you and you shape it into your enemies worst nightmare.
But I feel something more from Urdin... something less... predictable. Ah well, he is a solid companion and saved all our collective butts many times.
With Yev back and none-the-worse for wear, I was interrupted by an elf that came from the forest. I recognized him as one in the party that had returned with Ty to help defend the Tree fort, Sven I think was his name. I was very weary, but felt I owed him at least a few minutes of my time.
Orcs? He wants me to go after Orcs? "Ty, can you take a few men and deal with this for me?" I mumbled as my eyes were half-lidded. She grins widely and looks over at Yev. "Ready for some action"? she says teasingly.
Sven, interrupted before she could leave. "These are no ordinary Orcs," he warned. "They seem to be the ringleaders and as such, will not be an easy mark. They are beyond your men here."
My men bristled as he spoke those words, "Beyond the best soldiers this side of Calimport?" I asked incredulously of Sven and saw that my word had the desired calming effect on my men.
"I am sure they seemed tough," I continued and holding out my hand to forstale Sven's next remark, "But since my men have had probably less sleep than myself, I'll take a look at the 'orcs' on our way to see Turlang tomorrow."
Sven looked skeptical still, but seemed mollified, as were my men, but Ty looked annoyed. I winked at her and grinned so she'd know my reasoning.
That night, my rest was fitful... Battle never worried me for my own safety, but the worry for those who trusted in me and followed me sometimes plagued my mind. This was no exception as we'd lost men to the battles with the orcs and almost lost more. When I returned from Talking to Turlang, I must explore more options for making our budding community safer.
The next morning, preparations complete, we started for the area the Orcs had holed up. It was a pretty uneventful ride and the tan and white palamino I was riding seemed determined to try and grab anything withith reach to eat on the way... after the 20th time of jerking his head back, I finally had to resort to little shocks until he decided it wasn't worth the effort... Ty just laughed silently at me from her position in the front while all this went on.
About midday, Urdin called a warning to us pointing to the left. Looking over, I saw the ugly head of an orc pop up, just as he fired two arrows at Sven. They both missed, but the thunk as they hit the trees around him testified to the power behind them.
"Hmmm," I thought as I gathered the weave within my palm, "I guess Sven was right. These don't seem to be ordinary Orcs". I launched the newly formed greenish orb and hit the Orc in the chest, the Acid from the Orb sizzling a hole deep into his skin just after two arrows from Ty hit him as well... He dropped. "Dead I hope" I thought, as I scanned the area. Ty was already next to the downed Orc... Man can she move.
Another orc started firing arrows at us from in front, and as Yev ran to engage him, a couple of Wargs also appeared at his side. Yev struck the orc, a thunderclap startling me... "where in the nine hells did THAT come from?" I wondered.
"This won't do," I grinned, as I stretched a string of the weave between the Wargs, the Orc in the center. "Yev, duck" I called as I released the energy and saw the lightning arc between the three. Yev easily rolling out the connection.
I laughed and could feel the battle frenzy rising up in me, as I cast spell after spell. Two orcs had appeared closer to us, and engaged the fighters toe-to-toe... VERY un-orc like... so I hit them with scorching rays and a fireball to keep them on their toes.
I grinned again at Urdin, as I saw him move INTO a tree. This was EXCITING! and I laughed again with the sheer feeling of raw, untamed power coursing around me and through everything and everyone. In times like this I could SEE the lines of force exuding from every living thing, and in many cases, I could almost directly manipulate it. The harder the battle, the more I became closer to reaching out and directly manipulating those strings...
As fire struck unexpectedly, scorching my new armor, (and to be honest, heating it up to an uncomfortable level) I realized we must have a third orc somewhere around. Quickly drinking a potion of see invisibility, I scanned around again and saw the orc, just as he raised a wicked sword, penetrating my armor on the shoulder and releasing a blast of arcane energy into the wound... I screamed. I don't scream very often, but that HURT!
Backing away, my head swimming, I gathered the weave again and hit him with a couple of scorching rays, but while hurt, he didn't seem hurt enough. Sven distracted him a moment from behind, but got hit himself. I could see the energy pouring through the blade conduit into Sven and shuddered.
"I can't take another hit like that" I realized as the armored orc turned to me again, a nasty smile on his face. I had backed up against a tree and as he advanced, I could see the organized lines of the weave that enveloped and gave shape to his corporeal form.
My pain hazed mind unconsciously started picking apart the weave around the orc, when it hit me... I can unravel this! The words were there, drummed into me for years in Battle school. The power now unlocked in my mind. A few quick gestures, the activation word and a green beam struck the weave around the orc, blinding me a moment and then leaving... nothing. He had been utterly destroyed, his body disintegrated beyond any hope of recovery, below that of the gods themselves...
I slumped against the tree, the rough bark scratching my backplate. I removed my helmet, the slight breeze blowing feeling good against my sweat drenched brow... closing my eyes, I tried to summon the power to reach in my pouch for a healing potion, but didn't find any to answer my call.
Urdin found me in that state, and thankfully raised the potion to my lips for me... the warmth infused my body, refreshing and replenishing the weak life-force I had left. Two more potions followed the first, and I raised my hand to forestall the next...
"Thank you, my friend" I smiled "Didn't know how I was going to get the energy to drink that first one myself. But I'll be fine now." Urdin grunted and walked off to check the others.
My energy somewhat replenished, I cast about for Ty, finding her in Yev's good care. She smiled brightly when she saw me lumbering over. "D, I can hear you a mile away in that thing." She laughed pointing to my new Mithril Plate. "Its a wonder that you can move at all" She smirked and hopped to her feet.
I laughed as well and ruefully conceeded that she had a point. While the armor was very comfortable, it still hampered my movement somewhat. But it was fun to have, and felt somehow 'right' that I should be wearing it.
Taking stock of our situation, we determined that we needed more supplies and rest, so heading back the way we came, we arrived at Fort Tree before night fell. A good nights sleep and raiding the potions and scroll stock got us back to full health.
Leaving Jeeves in charge again, we set out to find Turlang. Again it was fairly uneventful, until we walked into a grove and the trees around us suddenly came alive, encircling us. The one in front of Urdin bowed formally and began talking with him. I was hot and tired, and trying to bring a little levity to the moment, asked Creeg to to smile, so he didn't frighten our guests... the Treants were singularly unimpressed and the leader even walked over to me with a warning.
"Sir," I replied solemly, "I don't think that anyone would disagree that I have done much for the forest in my time here. Your warning is unnecessary" He looked at me, then had us follow him to Turlang. Urdin handled Turlang well, and accomplished our mission of visiting him. I hope he follow the advice given. At the same time, he asked that we look at the Elven City of Elfport, as some of the devils he was trying to contain had slipped his grasp.
So, we started our journey down the river towards Elfport. We followed the river fairly close, since it was on the edge of the forest and easier walking.
A days ride later, Ty signaled us that there was some commotion on the other side of the river. Sure enough fleeing Elves were running full out north... the reason became very apparent as boulders crashed around them and the heads of some Frost Giants appeared over the tree-lined hill. Sven moved to cross the river to help the Elves.
The opportunity was too perfect, the giants grouped too well... Calling the weave, and tweaking the end result slightly here and there, I launched the fireball dead-center into the Giants. It exploded with a fury beyond that of the normal fireball, as the enhancements I'd tweaked into the spell blossomed into a massive roaring ball of fire, hotter and bigger than any I'd produced.
"That HAS to hurt" I yelled excitedly, my companions glancing at me amused, yet a bit awed. When Ty called out her warning, I had already started my next spell and looking over, just changed the target to the giants and wolves that had just crossed to OUR side of the river.
The lightning arced through the wolf and giants, and Ty's arrows finished the job. Ty and Yev seemed ok dealing with some Ogres that seemed to be the wolves masters, so I turned my attention back to the Giants on the other side, just in time to see Urdin yelling something in Dwarvish about the giants paternity and table manners, as he struck with the new Halberd that his cousin had brought him. What did he name it... Rimgah? Funny I hadn't seen the power radiating from it before, as it sliced open the bell of the lead giant, causing it to double over, as the second struck Urdin a mighty blow, knocking him back. Amazingly he shook off the blow and struck out again with the halbard, but a third giant also hit at the same time with his huge battle axe, knocking him to the ground again. A third hit by the other Giant still standing put Urin out cold. At least I hoped he was just knocked unconcious.
Weaving together another fireball, I launched it at those two giants and watching it ignite around them, I caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye. Turning, I found myself looking into the eyes of a young white dragon, only a few feet away. Surprised, I feel it's icy breath coat my armor with ice, as arrows suddenly thunk into the dragon from two directions and a fireball hitting it from Tera.
Visibly hurt, the dragon dove into the river and started heading up stream... "oh no you don't" I yelled, and drawing on one of my most powerful spells, I caused lightning to jump all around the area the dragon was in... but to no avail. "Damn him to the Nine Hells" I muttered as I looked to see if I can strike again. But the dragon was gone.
Looking at my companions, we had came out of this pretty well. Urdin was revived by Yev and no-one seems to worse for the wear. Now if we can just stop those elves, maybe we can find out what is going ON here.
I walked to the river and start cleaning the frost off my armor... Ty keeping her customary watchful stance.
Statistics: Posted by Greylen — Thu May 15, 2008 10:48 am
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When I returned to my senses, I found myself in my room. Someone apparently had me taken there when Rimgah--curse Boric's beard--stunned me. I heard voices outside and so I rose, painfully, and made my way outside and to the ground. There I found my companions surrounding an elf that looked somewhat familiar. He introduced himself as S'ven. He was one of the group of elves I met when returning from my last audience with Turlang. He has been discussing with the others the situation he and the elves faced with the orcs. He has convinced my friends that we should go with him to help battle the orcs. We quickly made preparations and set off following.
After traveling for several hours, I saw an orc in the distance pop up from behind a tree; he was armed with a bow. No-one else apparently saw him and as I called out a warning, two arrows flew past S'ven--one on either side of his head. Ty ran forward, smoothly drawing her bow with one hand and two arrows with her other.
It's always amazing to watch her fight; she fights like a dwar at times.
Her arrows both hit home, but the orcish archer seems unfazed. Dettrick called forth one of his orbs and launches it at the orc. It burst when it struck him; he screamed once as the acid drenched him, sizzling through his flesh as he dropped to the ground, dead before he landed.
He was not alone: another orc appeared and Yev'rah moved to close with him. Two worgs stepped out of the greenery at his side. Yev drew his sword and in one smooth action struck this orc; there is a thundering "crack" that resounds through the woods. Ty whirled and shot an arrow at this new orc as well. As I swung off my mount, a lightning bolt arced between the orc and both worgs. Yev'rah was extremely lucky, as the bolt happened to pass right around him; there was enough energy in the strike to kill both the orc and one of the worgs. The other worg looked badly burned, but angry. Creeg leaped over a row of bushes, landing on the worg and stabbing it repeatedly, all the while yelling insensibly.
The ambush grew worse: another orc appeared from the brush, foaming at his mouth and wildly striking out with his sword. He moved up to Tera and hacked him several times. I moved up within ten feet of the raging orc and slashed at him through the branches of a tree. Rimgah sliced through the branches and the orc's armor equally well. It was enough to distract him from the Loremaster for a moment, just long enough for Tera to scramble away.
Another orc appeared from the trees. How many of these filthy creatures can there be? S'ven had warned us that the orcs had large numbers. Fire lanced from this new orcs mouth. A shaman? Fiery breath? The flames enveloped both Yev'rah and Creeg. This new orc grinned evilly and drew an enormous sword from a scabbard on his back. His sword stood nearly as long as he was tall.
Yev'rah dropped to the ground, extinguishing the flames, and rolled to his feet. Both the raging orc and the shaman attempted to hit Yev'rah as he tumbled, without success. He popped to his feet behind the shaman just as two of Tymora's arrows struck this orc in the shoulder. Creeg stepped in and struck the shaman with a powerful blow.
With perfect timing a ray of energy struck the raging orc. The grin on Dettrick's face had pulled the skin so tightly that his face now resembled a death-mask. This hurm {human} truly frightens me sometimes. From the gloom of the forest, two arrows raced forth and struck Ty. Another ork archer was out there, but had withdrawn apparently as soon as he fired his shots.
The raging orc, having missed Yev'rah, simply continued an arc with his sword and brought it around his head to strike at Tera. He missed and overextended himself. I took the opening and stabbed Rimgah into the orc's armpit. He elbowed the pike to one side and stepped inside my reach and stabbed his sword upward. He was unable to breach my armor, but I felt something in my stomach tear at the force of his blow. I was shaken a bit, but still able to cast my tree-walking spell. A stumbled away from the orc and stepped into the elm tree beside me.
I had a vague idea of where the new archer was hidden. I closed my mind to the sounds and sights of battle around me and moved through space into a second elm tree some distance into the forest. I had the sense of an orc hiding near this tree, so I stepped out of the new tree already swinging my blade. I appeared directly in front of him. His eyes widened in surprise, and then pain, as Rimgah's blade sliced and then stabbed through the orc's chest. A gout of blood sprayed the elm tree.
From behind me, there was a bright green flash. Dettrick again, I thought. I cannot spare a glance, however much I would like to see the damage he wrought. The orc in front of me ran backward and fired two arrows at me; they flew wide to my left. I grinned at him and stepped back into the elm tree at my side. Thank you, Tree, I thought. I could feel the tree's disgust at being coated with the orc's foul blood. I will care for you in a moment.
I moved through the space between.
I stepped out of another elm tree directly behind the archer with Rimgah upraised. Just as I did so, two of Ty's arrows slammed into him: one in his forehead and the other in his chest. The latter buried itself deep in the orc's chest until it emerged halfway from his back. The force of the blows made the orc fall backward into a sitting position, and he slowly slumped sideways onto the ground. Such a mighty bow!
I stepped back into the elm and moved back to the second tree. I stepped from that tree momentarily and caused a shower of water to appear from the sky and drench the tree, rinsing the foul offal from its bark. From where I stood I could see Dettrick slumped on the ground back where the ambush was sprung. I stepped back inside the elm and moved toward Dettrick, sensing the gratitude of the tree as I left its presence.
I was already removing gulm {healing} potions from my belt as I stepped out of another tree and jogged toward the mage's prostrate form. Fortunately, he was still conscious and able to drink the potions; I knelt and gave him three potions in a row to bring him back to a reasonable level of health.
I felt hands on my back and a warmth that suffused my body. I looked up in time to see Tera taking his hands from my shoulders and nodding at me. I nodded back and stood to see which others needed my aid.
We were close enough and so traveled back to Teuveamanthar where we rested for a day and replenished supplies lost or fouled in the ambush. It occurs to me that I am thinking and speaking in Dwarram {Dwarvish} more than I have in years. After much thought I have decided it is the presence of Rimgah. His will is seemingly strong enough to impose some of his thoughts into my mind. All that I have heard him speak has been in Dwarram, not in Common. He may not be too skilled with Common.
Our next march was uneventful, at least for the first two days. On the third day, we were surprised by four treants. They stepped out to confront us; one in the middle held up a hand and bellowed, "Halt!" I recognized him as Turlang's ... lieutenant ... for lack of a better term. Oendith, I believe his name is. Dettrick, as is his wont, begins to speak sarcastically to the treants. Sometime his mouth is going to get him killed. Tymora has shared similar thoughts with me on occasion. S'ven moved up quickly and convinced Dettrick to stop talking.
Oendith recognized both S'ven and I and took us off to confer with us. He began by telling us that some of the devils they were fighting at Hellgate Keep have escaped the treants' seige and that he cannot ensure our safety if we continue traveling.
"We had heard as much, Oendith, and we understand the risks we are taking. However, we must continue on; we must speak with Turlang. We have matters to discuss that concern the Wood and the entire region, not just the Keep. We will take the chance in order to complete these goals. Especially if you are willing to accompany us back to Turlang." He thought for a while and then agrees. "My root-mates and I will come with you. If things as are you say, Turlang must make the decision to hear you or not."
Having that out of the way, I asked him round-about questions concerning Turlang's state of mind. All he would divulge is that Turlang was "entirely focused on Hellgate Keep." As we walked back to the others, Oendith said, "You would be well-advised to keep the human mage quiet."
"I understand, Oendith; perhaps it might come better from a treant than a dwar." He made a sound of assent and, as we reached the circle of our friends, marched directly to Dettrick, put a finger-branch in the mage's face, and growled menacingly. "You will be quiet, little man." Dettrick mumbled something about his new armor; Oendith shook his head and said, "That's not what I meant. Now, we are going. Come." He spoke to the other treants and they started off into the forest.
We had not traveled far when we hear howling in the forest. Ty appeared frightened at the sound and moved closer to Dettrick. The howling continued for nearly an hour, then stopped suddenly. We traveled for another hour and Oendith's companions melted into the forest. He walked a few more steps, then nodded at me, and himself walked into the trees. We found ourselves standing before Turlang. I left the others and walked toward him.
"Ereden'indyo. Welcome. This is not an opportune time for a visit; however, you may speak. Just do so quickly."
I retrieved a flask of pure water from my pack and extended the flask. He accepted it with a nod and I began explaining my concerns. "I admit there is trouble here, Eredin'indyo. More than I would normally want your companions to know. There is a war going on within the Keep. A civil war. The demons and the devils are fighting amongst themselves and it is bleeding out into the Forest. We suspect there have been a large number of these creatures that have escaped through our lines and are roaming the forest."
"Perhaps, Turlang, the problem lies in your defenses." He growled a response. "No, no. I misspoke. It was too simplified. Let me explain. Perhaps it is the nearness of the wood to the Keep that is allowing them to sneak from the Keep to the Wood."
Turlang just looked at me for a moment, then said, "You have been listening to those from the Emerald Enclave, have you not?"
"I cannot deny that, Turlang. But I have also thought much about this on my own--and deeply--and am forced to agree with their assessment. As you know, I was not born a tree-brother, but have come to it later in life. I have had much training as a warrior and have been taught by a High Old One of Moradin--curse my cousin's milk-dripping beard!--something of tactics. The encroaching forest makes it too easy for the demons and devils to escape. It gives them cover; there is not enough open ground for them to cross.
"I believe that if you were to withdraw the Wood from around the Keep, you would provide yourself with a barrier of bare ground. The creatures within the Keep would be obvious as they tried to cross this ground; you could pick them off as they scamper for cover."
"What you say makes a degree of sense, little one. I will consider your words. I will consider them well." His eyes were already distant.
"I thank you, Turlang, for at least giving me a hearing. Now, what do you wish of me?"
"I do not know, little one. Tell me what aid you think you can offer me."
We discuss for a time the creatures we have encountered; he tells me of the demon-fey. We discuss the kidnaping of elves and other creatures. Finally, we wander back to the rest of the group. He addresses them and tells them some of what we have discussed. As a group, we agree to track down the Fey'ri and other creatures, as we are more suited to that purpose than to a prolonged head-to-head siege of the Keep.
As we prepared to leave, Turlang held up his hand and spoke again. "You should follow the Delimbiyr River. That will provide you the quickest route, as well as the safest from the Fey'ri, as the ground is fairly open." He winked at me. "Eredin'indyo has convinced me, I believe, that despite its appearance, open ground can also provide a good defense. Beware, however, for while I believe you shall have relative safety from the Fey'ri on this route, there are reports of orcs--as you know--but also of giants and giant-kin. Use caution." And with that, Turlang walked into the forest and vanished from sight.
We took Turlang's suggestion to heart and traveled down the River Delimbiyr. He was right, for although we heard some distant howling, there was no sign of Fey'ri or their vile beasts. After several hours, however, we saw a group of elves running toward us on the other side of the river. They were being pursued by a giant whose skin had a slight blue tinge.
Frost giants, I thought as I drew Rimgah. Odd. I can almost feel the shaft turn within my hands.
When they saw us, they began yelling at us; several pointed to our side of the river, in front of us. As they did, Ty yelled out that there was a large wolf coming toward us. "It is large--nearly the size of a horse," she said while drawing her bow. "It is white and a plume of smoke rises from its muzzle." That confirmed my suspicions: a winter wolf. That meant we were facing at least one frost giant, if not more.
S'ven called out that he was going to help the elves. He scanned the riverbank quickly, then started across, wading through the river. In no time he was immersed to his waist in the water. As he crossed, the wolf came into view ahead of us. It trotted up to Yev'rah and breathed out a blast of icy air that surrounded Yev. He was not slowed by the blast of air, however, circling the wolf and attacking with his sword. Tymora launched two arrows into the side of the shaggy creature, again with such force that the wolf spun around once before falling dead to the ground.
Two more winter wolves appeared and three more giants. I feel strangely compelled to race at the giants. I have only fought a giant once before; it is not as if I relish fighting these beasts...any more than the rest of my people. Rimgah is nearly twisting and bouncing in my grasp. It is almost as if he is eager to engage the huge beasts.
With only a glance at the river's edge, I selected a shallow, wider turn in which to cross, and quickly forded the river, passing S'ven still pushing his way across. Yet another giant appears behind the other three and crosses the river, walking towards Ty. Two ogres leave the cover of the trees and start towards Yev. Boulders were falling from the sky, targeting the running elves and my companions.
I am beginning to feel an uncontrolled rage come upon me, similar to the anger I felt following the disastrous ambush of the Boldauk. My focus narrows down to the lead giant before me, still a good distance away. Dettrick set off a massive fireball, which engulfs all five fo the giants. A truly powerful spell. "Impressive," I heard Rimgah say. "That hurm has considerable power."
As I watched, a small white dragon swept past Dettrick, nearly knocking him from his feet. A cloud of ice passed Dettrick and engulfed the Loremaster, Tera.
"Pay attention!" Rimgah again.
Six elves--I believe it was six; I'm having trouble seeing anything but the giants!--rushed past me and the lead giant strides forward. He is sixty feet--now fifty feet away. All I can see is the giant. My vision--it is narrowing. My friends have vanished from view...my friends.....what friends? I am alone. Alone against the giant. Alone.
He is mine.
Mine.
My friends told me later that I was yelling in Dwarram: battle cries. I know this to be true because my throat feels as if I had swallowed knives; it is coarse and raw. They also tell me that I dropped my pack to the ground and rushed forward, Rimgah above my head. They tell me I charged into the giant at a full run, opening the giant's stomach from one side to the other. They tell me that offal and entrails sprayed twenty feet or more.
The giant fell.
What happened next, only S'ven could tell me. Two more giants flanked me; the first hit me with his axe. S'ven tells me that Rimgah struck the giant at the same time, digging deeply into the blue flesh. The second giant then struck me with his axe, knocking me from his companion and ripping Rimgah out of his stomach. S'ven tells me I dropped to the ground like a stone; he feared I was dead.
Sometime later I came to myself. I had received some healing, but not enough that I could not feel the damage the giants' huge axes had done to me. My armor was still intact; the force of their blows, however, tore muscles and organs. I had lost a lot of blood--it soaked the ground around me.
My friends had done some good work, though. It was a true arglary {a proper butchering} as corpses, charred corpses, littered the ground around the river. Wolves, giants, ogres...all dead.
Somewhere in my head I heard a deep chuckle.
Statistics: Posted by Boric Glanduum — Sun May 04, 2008 3:06 pm
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It was a good day... Not often do I get to let loose so much firepower so quickly. But these Giants obligingly clumped together to make my maximized fireball all that much more effective. <grin>
Once we stopped the terrified elves and convinced them we were not a threat, the calmed down and took the shelter we found for them. Our bookish elf friend volunteered to stay with them, so all-in-all, it was a good days work.
Continuing on to Elfport, we ran across who we assumed was the Scout for the elves, who was running interference with the Giants. Ty again was pleased to surprise the elf with her superior hiding skills... As was her nature, I could see her after giving him some tips on how to hide better.
The Scout told us of some other elves being held by the giants in a nearby cave. I hate to take MORE time with this, but we cannot leave innocents in the hands of such despicable evil.
Coming up on the entrance, the scout and Ty decide to check out the cave, before we attack. While they were gone, I kept getting a feeling of impending doom and finally, succumbing to the feeling, I sheepishly took out a potion of See Invisibility and drank it.
Looking around, I saw the elf standing not 5 feet from me... at the same time he smirked and cast a spell. Darkness enfolded me and I heard shouting from my companions as the ground shook from what I took as the Giants attacking our position.
But I had other things to attend too. Casting quickly, I gathered the wild magic into me and converted it into a pure burst of energy that exploded from my body into the surrounding area.
Take that, I muttered as I quickly ran toward the hill out of the darkness. Looking around, I didn't see the vile betrayer, so I concentrated again and sent a burst of lightning between the two Giants.
Staggered but not down, I hit them again with a fireball, knowing their weakness... but it didn't seem to harm them as much as the lightning had. Odd.
By now, I could see arrows slamming into the Giants from behind, which was a relief, at least Ty was OK, I thought.
Finally, the giants went down and looking around, could tell they had exacted a terrible cost, as most of the fighters looks worse than I'd seem them ever look. But a few healings later and we were on our way again.
I swore, however, that the elf would pay for what he did... looking at Ty, she was grim as well and nodded her answer to my unspoken question. I wouldn't want to be that elf when she found him.
Our decent to Elfport was fairly uneventful, minus an issue with getting down the cliffs in full-plate... damn stuff is very stiff, but surprisingly comfortable. Luckily Urdin, likely hiding a smirk under that beard of his, cast a wind walk for us to 'walk' instead of climb down.
Once down, we setup camp and sent Ty and Yev to scout out the high village, next to the waterfall. It wasn't long before Ty's voice come out of the darkness telling us of Yev's plight and situation. I must say, I was quite astonished we even CONSIDERED allying with the infernal Fey'ri... but I will go and listen, if nothing else, to line them up in my sights. And speaking of Sight, I count the rapidly dwindling "See Invisibility" potions I have. Down to 3 now... make that 2.
Getting to the village, it is a quick matter to see the situation is untenable. We truly do not know the number of the Fey'ri and their locations. Their offer seems an alternative, for now, to fighting now.
But by the gods, an ancient worym? I am confident in my ability to hit whatever I go after, but I have never faced such a beast in their lair.
The lair is close by and after careful deliberation among ourselves, it is decided to try the beast. We will take care of these fey'ri later.
Walking through the waterfall, we found ourselves surrounded in a magical glow from a strange Sigil on the floor. Talking to myself, I study the sigil and suddenly realize it's meaning... just as a dragon flew out of the second cavern.
The breath raked me as it flew by and lightning and arrows flew all around it. I could tell it was hurt, but couldn't get my own spell off in time. It flew through the waterfall and while Ty ran to see if she could track it, it was gone.
I hope we shall have better luck with it's big sister.
Statistics: Posted by Greylen — Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:20 pm
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It is unfortunate that we are down a companion at this juncture, as we truly need all the help we can get. But it is what it is and while this was a somewhat unforeseen foray, I do know that the forces we battle here are connected in some way to the forces we have been battling all the way here. A blow here will have further repercussions that just the death of a might Wrym.
You'll have to forgive me, I'm used to addressing troops before battle, not friends, so if I seem to state the obvious, please overlook it as a habit from talking to green recruits. (I'll get to that Ty)
We must determine two things. One, does the magic from this Sigil here extend into the next cavern. Two, the location of the beast himself. Knowing some of Dragon lore, I do know the Dragon will not be too far from it's treasure, so we can be certain it is in the next room... just where.
The determination of the first can be as simple as having someone or something enspelled move into the next cavern. To determine the second, I feel the beast will not reveal it's plans until we are fully committed. Scouting will be useless as the creature will know where we are regardless of skill.
However, If we can move quickly with our strongest moving in first being covered by all with distance weapons or spells, we can spread out to minimize the damage the beast can do with it's most fearsome weapon, it's breath. Most likely the beast will be high up, so as to minimize the capabilities of any fighters we have. I can cast a spell on the ceiling that will make it rather difficult for the creature to stay anywhere near the top... Evards Black Tentacles you have seen me use before. If I maximize the spell, it can cover a good portion of the ceiling, making it difficult for it to fly.
As well, I have numerous spells that can hurt the beast and keep it from escaping. Most of which I can cast regardless of the reach of this Sigil.
ALRIGHT Ty, fine it's your turn.
Finally the windbag gives up the floor... <laugh> You all know how fast I can move when I put my mind to it. So I am proposing that we put that speed to good use and use me a bait.... Pipe-down D. I know I know, but the thing we are missing most is tactical data. I can provide that by making a quick round in the cavern... my only concern being that ice. I'm pretty good at keeping my balance on just about anything, but one misstep and my little jaunt won't be worth a nine-hells vacation spot.
Keep me up, though, and I can outrun the wind itself. <smirk>
Statistics: Posted by Greylen — Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:36 pm
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Allindingrurvir de abach vor fuar linding rim;
Zarn de glar vor stigh ainding nyr.
Excuse me," Urdin chuckles and shakes his head, "in Common it would translate as: 'The mastersmith's hand shapes the blade from without; the fatal flaw strikes the axe from within.' What this means is this: The chance to secure against defeat is in our own hands; the chance to defeat the enemy is found within the enemy himself. We must first put ourselves beyond the possibility of defeat and then wait for our chance to defeat the enemy.
"The beast we just encountered was naught but a mere youngling. It is extremely unlikely that he is the lord of the lair. From the space and size in this cavern, we could be facing anything up to a huge, or even a gargantuan beast. The entrances to the cavern alone suggests this. The size of the hoard within the next chamber supports this as well.
"I can see ice within the next chamber. Tymora has also seen ice. That makes it likely that our footing is going to be awkward. I have some spells that may help us in that respect. Any spells or magic that the rest of you have that may aid us? Well, now would be the time to reveal it."
Urdin quickly looks around the cavern again, then continues speaking. "My cousin, Boric--curse his beard!--one thing he did know was warfare. He taught us that there are five essentials for victory.
'First: the victor knows when to fight and when not to fight.' -- we must know whether or not we even can fight. Do we have a chance? Or are we clearly overmatched?
'Second: the victor knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.' -- if our enemy can be overpowered, we fight. If it cannot be overpowered, we may want to reconsider our goal. Is this a fight we want to try now? Or can we return when we have more might and more strength. Are we willing to sacrifice one or all of us for the good of the Fey'ri?" Urdin nods at Yev'rah. "And yes, Yev', I have not forgotten that you have a stake in this as well. But the Fey'ri have--apparently--a larger stake in this. If we decide to flee for now, we have a degree of victory, in that we avoid loss.
'Third: the victorious army carries one spirit among all ranks.' -- we must work together, as a team, with one purpose. Working together, supporting each other, complementing each other--this is preferable to the chaos of independent action in battle.
'Fourth: the victor prepares himself and waits to take the enemy unprepared.' -- if we decide to stay and fight, we must prepare ourselves before hand, with spells, prayers, and other magic. We must launch our attack or attacks when the beast least expects it. We must watch for unexpected attacks ourselves. This is where one of our few advantages may lie; it is unlikely that the beast is unaware of our presence--we must therefore work to confuse and surprise it. Stealth, deception--these will work in our favor. If we are to survive, the beast must not fully know what to expect from us.
"The fifth factor is less relevant here, as it addresses the need of a military commander to be able to act independent in the field. This was always my cousin's favorite; he hated being told what to do and how to act.
"At any rate, one thing we must know is whether the beast is atop its hoard or no. Without that knowledge, all our other planning is for naught. As the dwar say, 'My bak aith kurn vel aith pene, ta bak gaur grahl geode freg dagmos pagh', or 'If ye ken thy enemy and ken thyself, ye need not fear 100 battles' result.'
"So. What say you all? I know a bit about our foe--generally--that I can share for those of you who may not know about these beasts."
Statistics: Posted by Boric Glanduum — Fri Apr 25, 2008 10:53 am
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