by Greylen » Tue Mar 20, 2007 5:00 pm
Pilin Journal - 02/10/2007
The trip down the river was fairly uneventful. I enjoyed the ride, even though Aon griped the whole way, sitting in the middle of the boat. I think she was a little motion sick from the boats movement. It was hard to tell through all her thick fur, but the look of misery on her face was unmistakeable.
We shall have to find a different mode of transportation, Aon and I, when we return this way.
When we reached the small village, the docks and village were in the natural process of being reclaimed by the land. This gave me some pleasure to see. Vines, moss, small trees and all manner of other vegitation had already began tearing down many of the structures. However, the dark pall over the whole area was palpable and ruined the slight pleasure before I had much chance to enjoy it.
I didn't realize HOW bad the evil was until Aon refused to get off the boat on the dilapidated old walkway we docked at. Her refusal surprised me since she had been so miserable on the trip down. But since her reluctance stemmed from something on the half suken boat next to us, I was able to coax her off by leading her to the stern before having her jump to the dock.
I called to the captian of our boat to cast off and warned my companions of Aon's perception. At that moment, I also caught sight of a figure looking at us from the doorway of one of the larger intact structures. Looked to be an inn of some sort where "civilized" travelers can rest their soft, civilized bodies.
Give me a good moss bed and a clear stream to drink over anything civilization can offer any day.
Again I warned my companions and watched as they moved to the door where the figure had been. At the same time, I prepared one of my most powerful spells in case he should be hostile and also to assist Corwin who was now investigating the boat with Barr.
I also sent Aon with Azarr to warn me if anything should happen there. She relunctantly obeyed me, though I could feel her fear and irritation at leaving my side in this town of unnaturalness.
Seeing the state of the boat, I decided that my spell would be useful in this case. Casting it, I swirled the energy from my environment, aided by the already stormy sky and caused a bolt of lightning to blast open the roof of the cabin and damaging whatever was inside... I hoped.
As Corwin opened the door, two shadowy figures burst out and attacked him. I must admit his faith was strong, however, and these shadowy figures were forced to flee from the righteous might of his channeled power. Different from my own, raw power of nature, but effective non-the-less.
Things went wrong rather quickly after that, however, as an orange glob of something literally reached up and sucked Corwin down into the small amount of water in the cabin.
Not able to see anything, I again called upon nature, summoning to me a water elemental to see and attack what was in the water. He did and started beating on whatever it was. Barr also flailed away with his mace, trying to get at whatever it was holding our companion down.
Then it raised up, it's bloated, orangish filth towering above us, seeming to writh from within. Then I saw a glint of steel and realized that our companion was INSIDE the creature.
Quickly calling on Melikki again, I summoned another bolt of lightning from the sky, striking the creature full on.
It split in two! Instead of damaging the creature as I had intended, I actually aided it. Luckily, the split dimished the creature enough that it released Corwin, and with two quick spells from our newest companion the creature collapsed in on itself.
Corwin looked terrible, however, and took a moment to heal himself and catch his breath. I asked the elemental I had summoned to check for anything under the water while we waited and he quickly came up with a rusted chest.
With Azarr reminding us of the unknown figure in the building again, I left the chest in Barrs care and we ran up to the building, entering in a non-threathening way, as this man had a very dangerous feel to him. A feeling of threat one feels when being watched by a hungry carnevour in the wild.
He said his name was Vryxnr and as we talked Barr entered the room from the opposite door, looking around cautiously. Not cautious enough, but we all missed another shadowy shape, until it's etherial blade came out of Barrs' chest, dropping him dead instantly. I could see the life force ebb out of his body as he stumbled forward and dropped to the floor.
Seeing the foe clearly, I realized it was one that we may not be able to defeat in our present state and not wanting to lose any more companions, I calmly asked Vryxnr if we would make a bargin for information we could gather, for him to deal with this creature. He obviously had power since the wraith dared not touch him.
Thinking it over, he called over to the ghost to stop his attack. It was clearly pouting as it faded out. I was right. It was good we did not rashly attack this man.
Gathering our fallen and ourselves, we followed Vryxnr to another building where we learned much about the temple and a "Gate" within. As well, we found that for a certian ring that had been in the chest outside, and to show his good faith, he would raise our companion Barr back to life.
While death is a natural cycle of life, I have a feeling we will be in need of Barr's services before our journey is complete, so this is welcome news.
A hard fought day and it was only just beginning. Aon was still peaved at me as well, for leaving her with Azarr during a battle and we had used up much power already. Ah well, at least the forest before us looked more normal, beckoning for me to enter.
Magic? Who needs Magic?
-Greylen Dragonslayer