The Adventures of The Unknown
Episode 4
“The Wizard’s Tower - Part II”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    Manderkarr: Dwarven master of Axe and asskicking.
                                    Seth DeCalea: Half-Elven Ranger
                                    Issic:  Half Dragon from Sigil
                                    Flower: Elf.
                                    Shanagra Darmal: Nyandarian Druid late of Drychtnoth.
                                    Adas Jou'Nar: Lamapachan rogue
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Place: The Unknown Lands,
The Time: Spring, 24 Artim, Sixth Year, Eighth Age. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            “The ambush looked planned, I say we saw if Kuthia has anything to do with this,” insisted Seth.  Issic stood up, prepared to go get her.
            “Wait.  I should go.  She is scared of you, Issic,” said Seth.  He then mumbled “Don't know why.”
            Shanagra said that he doubted the lady had much to do with it.  “She was terrified of us.  Why do you think she would be in cahoots with werewolves?”
            “I don't know, but I think they were waiting for us,” said Seth.  “At least what’s left of the town should be safe for awhile.”  Flower dropped down out of a tree.  Shanagra blushed.  She was still naked.
            “Hate Werewolves,” she muttered.  “They bit Mandakarr.” 
            “You bring a pet demon along and suddenly no one likes you, geez,” said Manderkarr to the little elf maiden.  She looked at the dwarf and pouted.  “And put this scar on my ankle,” she said, pointing.
            “I'd’ve bit them back, but they runs off like scared puppies,” the bearded dwarf said, with some pride.  Flower, bored with the conversation ran to the edge of the path and picked a flower.  Shanagra watched with some interest as the nude little elf bent over to get the flower.
            “Silly elves,” said the dwarf with a shake of the head.  “At least they’re more civil than them there humans.”
            “What do you expect from savages,” said Issic, his large bat-wings folding behind him.
            Suddenly they all hear movement in the woods.  Seth redrew his sword.  “Who's there?”          
            Manderkarr watched, alert, with his omnipresent weapons at the ready.  “Come out or I’ll rip ya to shreds!”
            Seth whispered, “It could be the bandits.”   Issic leapt up into a tree.  He stepped from tree to tree, using his wings to help with balance.  Seth melted into the woods, as did Shanagra, vanishing from sight.  Manderkarr trod toward the the rustling they heard, obviously making a lot of noise.  Flower laughed then jumped lightly into a tree.
            They saw man dressed in a night suit with a rope. He had blonde hair and wore earrings.
            “Who are you,” demanded Manderkarr.  “If you don't answer now, I'll kill you dead like the last bandits that showed up!”
            “It's been a long night with those men running around,” said the black-clad stranger.
            “WHO ARE YOU?  This is you last chance to speak before dying!” demanded the dwarf again.
            “My name is Adas Jou'Nar.  I'm looking for a group of men.”
            Flower said,  “Eeek.  A weirdo!”
            “That's a strech with this lot, Flower,” commented Manderkarr, his eyes not leaving the newcomer.  “Sounds kind of sick.  We’re not into that,” he added.
            Flower looked to Adas, and said,  “Sorry,  no Men here.   Humans live in cities.”
            “What group of men?  Those bandits?” asked Seth.
            “Yes, those bandits,” said Adas.
            Shanagra said to Adas, “Well met, Adas.”
            Adas nodded to the red-eyed druid.  “Well met, too!”
            “Do you know him Shanagra?” asked Seth.
            “No, but he is not attacking, and I call that a good meeting,” said Shanagra.
            “What purpose and type of men were you looking for?” asked Manderkarr.
            “Are you friend or foe to the bandits?” asked Seth.  Adas noticed, high up in the tallest tree, a naked elf playing with a leaf.  Adas looked back to his interrogators.
            “You think I would befriend cowards?”
            “Not in this lot,” said Manderkarr.  “Why were you looking for these men?”
            “Well, it isn't ‘these men’, it is a group of men with a wizard,” said Adas.  Issic decided to jump down out of the tree to saw what Adas’ reaction to him would be.
            “A wizard?  And your motive with this wizard is?” asked Manderkarr as the Half-Dragon leapt out of the tree, wings outstretched.  He looked like a demon.  Adas took a few steps back. 
            “Greetings,” said Issic.  Adas nodded.  Seth put his sword away.
            Adas turned back to the dwarf, “The motive of me towards this wizard is none of your business sir, just a job that is needed to be done.”
            Shanagra said, “Well, it is likely if there is a wizard around here, he is behind the werewolves.  Likely our quests are one and the same.”  He looked up and motioned for Flower to come down and join him.  She motioned for Shanagra to come up and join her.  He was very tempted. Damn she looks good!
            “Werewolves?” asked Adas.  His employers never mentioned any bloody werewolves.
            Flower dropped a leaf and tried to get it to drop on Shanagra's head.
            “Yea, we got jumped by some bandits and wolves, but they reconsidered their actions and ran off,” said Manderkarr.  He extended his war hammer.  “Meet Reconsidered.”
            “Werewolves, demon-dragons!  You fellows are crazy! And the naked one which is in the tree! For goodness sakes!” exclaimed Adas.
            Flower started on her way down, stopping to watch a squirrel crack a nut.
            “After we killed many of there number,” said Seth.  “Sad waste of life really, but they deserved it.”
            “It was their own fault, Seth,” said Issic.
            “A waste we stopped, for some,” commented Manderkarr.
            Shanagra said to Adas, “Mother Nature tells me that your quest will be best accomplished with us at your side.”
            “Who has paid you to do this?” Issic asked Adas.
            “Some friends from home.”
            Shanagra said, “Adas is dressed differently than the bandits,  Obviously he is not one of them.  You should quell your paranoid tendencies, Seth, Issic.”  He stopped to stare at Flower’s nude shape some more.
            Manderkarr stamped his armored foot.  “Flower, get some clothes!  You'll drive these humans silly!”
            Flower said,  "Ok, Manny."  She climbed high in the tree again.  She asked to borrow some leaves and the trees clothed her in a gown of leaves.
            “I should be able to track them,” said Seth, looking up from the ground.  “Lets set out, shall we?”
            “Agreed,” said Adas.  Everyone lined up and began walking through the woods, following Seth.  Seth tracked the bandits easily.  They were wounded and moving quickly, not trying to cover their trail.  The forest grew denser and denser, but Seth left signs for the rest of them to follow him.
            Shanagra shuddered, “We are nearing, if I remember my old maps aright, some Angustian ruins.  We should be cautious.”
            Cut apart a piece of bread with his dagger.  He ate the quick repast and put his arm in his vest.  The woods continued to grow denser and thornier.   Seth pushed branches apart, not cutting them.  The plants and trees seemed to move out of the way for Shanagra and Flower, allowing easier travel for all of them, except for Seth, who was in front.
            “Seth, are you sure you know where you're going?” called Adas.
            Shanagra started to worry about a possible ambush with the closeness of the forest.  They soon saw the top of a hidden tower peeking through the trees.  The tower was three stories tall and crenelated with merlons.
            “What if more bad guys are in the woods?” asked Flower.  Seth quietly returned to the group.
            “And what did we find tracker, Seth?” asked Manderkarr, who was too short to see the top of the tower.
            “A tower, gene,” said Seth.  He led the way through the forest to a clearing.  They could see the tower with more clarity.  Behind the tower was the ruins of a rather large city.  The tower, with smoke coming out of the top, looked as if it were made of stones from those ruins.  The tower had a rough-hewn look of primitive functionality.
            “Well friends.. either this tower didn't get blown away, or it was newly erected,” said Adas.  Flower looked at the construction with disgust.
            “Hmm residents; always pests,” commented Manderkarr when he noted the chimney smoke.  “I'd guess our wizard might be here.”
            Shanagra said, “Looks like it.”
            They heard a loud howl from the tower.
            “Charge!” exclaimed Manderkarr, running towards tower.  “It's dog pound time!”
            We don’t even know what we are doing! thought Adas, remaining behind.
            “Wait, you blundering fool!” yelled Seth to the charging dwarf.
            “FOOL! There could be archers!” said Adas.  Shanagra was thinking the same thing.
            “I just wonder how he expects to get thru the wall to the wolf?” commented Issic. 
            Arrows pelted the dwarf.  Manderkarr was forced to back out of range.  “Damn cowards!” he cursed.
            “Looks like Mandekarr is going to need help soon,” said Seth to Shanagra and Adas.  Adas whispered to Shanagra, “He could always knock and ask for a cup of sugar.”
            Shanagra smiled and whispered back, “That is a plan.”
            “Well, thank you Dwarfkind! They now know we're here,” said Adas when the dwarf returned to them.  Flower ran to the dwarf, concerned.  One arrow had pierced his armor and was in his shoulder.
            “I have there their attention, captain.  Now what?” said the dwarf, pulling his shield off of his back, trying to avoid the arrow lodged into him.  “I hates archers!”.
            “My suggestion would be to move from our current position,” said Adas.
            Shanagra agreed.  “Seth, find us a path to a different position, but stay out of those ruins.”  Seth nodded and went off to find a new path.
            Flower told Manderkarr to close his eyes for she has to pull the arrow out.
            “Just pull them out,” he grumped.
            Flower grimaced.  “You might have to take a little of your armor off for me to patch it.”  She pulled the arrow.  Manderkarr did not flinch.  In fact, the dwarf almost smiled.
            Adas quietly moved ahead next to Seth.
            “Yes, Adas?”
            “You know where you’re going this time, right?” whispered the black clad newcomer, winking.
            As they walked, Flower sat on Manderkarr’s shoulder, holding his wound.  “We have to stop at a tree for me to get the wound to close and be better,” she said.  Manderkarr stopped at a tree.  He loosened his armor for healing.  Flower put her hand on the wound and healed it.  “See how nice trees are?” she said.  Manderkarr grunted a vague reply.
            Seth silently moved the group through the forest to a new position, as Adas requested.  Shanagra suggested waiting till dark and sending Adas in to quietly take out the archers.
            “I suggest all of us go.  It wouldn't be wise to send one man into that tower.”
            “Too much noise for us all to go I think,” said Issic, looking at Manderkarr.
            “I still advise against just one person,” advised Seth.
            Flower said, “Then go with him and keep him safe.”
            Shanagra suggested then that Adas and Seth go to the Tower and take out the archers and secure the top of the tower.  Adas nodded to Seth, asking, “Are you up to this?”
            “What should we do?” asked Flower.
            “I still don't have a grappling hook, 100ft of rope but no hook,” said Seth.
            Adas tapped his backpack, “I came prepared.”
            “I's got hook and the arm for it too,” offered Manderkarr, remembering Seth’s failed attempt to hook a grapple three days ago.
            Seth said, grinning madly, “Of course.”  He took the proffered grapple.
            “But I do not think that's where we should start - we'd be passing right by the windows. Might make a stir - wake the residents up,” said Adas.
            Shanagra nodded to Adas.  “Proceed as you see fit, just get us into that tower,” he said.
            “Have we looked for a back door?” asked Issic.
            Shanagra said, “No, we haven't, Issic.”
            “We can wrap the hook in cloth to quiet it, damn no one’s raided or sieged here, eh?” suggested Manderkarr.
            Adas noted which window had the last light.  He figured that one to be a bedroom.
            “We stay away from that one.. agreed?” said Adas.  Seth said, “Agreed.  Let’s go then.”
            Shanagra gave Seth a dagger.  “Throw this when you need help, or when it is safe for us to join you.”
            Shanagra lifted his arms in invocation to nature and a fog covered the ground, providing cover for both Seth and Adas from the forest to the tower.
            “Now's our time - move!” ordered Adas and the pair ran across to the near front-door of the tower.
            “Alright, Seth. If this really is a mages tower, he'll have traps all around,” warned Adas.  He looked over the rough stone wall of the keep.
            “I am just a simple woodsman, not a priest or magician,” said Seth.
            Shanagra asked Flower to climb the tree and watch for the signal.  “It may be hard to saw in the dark from the ground.”
            Flower did a strange courtse and leaped into a tree.  Once she was up there she whispered to Shanagra.  Not for anything special, just so he would look up.  He looked up and immediately blushed for he could see up her dress.  While the tree may have clothed her in a gown, it didn’t provide for panties.
            Seth and Adas threw clothed grappling hooks to the top, each of them hooking quietly.  Seth scrambled up easily, but Adas had a momentary slip before he made it to the top.  Popping their heads over the merlons, they saw a guard taking a piss off the tower wall.  His back was to them.  Adas whipped out his hand crossbow and aimed.
            The crossbow bolt hit him square in the back.  The armor protected him from instant death, but the impact pushed him over the edge of the tower.  His armor didn't protect his neck from breaking when he hit the ground three stories below.
            Seth and Adas climbed over the merlons and looked cautiously around.  They saw no other guards on the roof.  There was a trap door in the center of the tower floor and a small shack next to the trap door.  Adas went into the shack, finding an archery armory, filled with bows and arrows.  Seth pulled out the dagger Shanagra gave him.
            “We could use these,” said Seth, eyeing the bows and quarrels.

            Down below, Issic, under cover of fog, went up to the tower and dragged away the corpse of the archer
            Flower made a point of not watching Issic.  She did not want to see a demon eat.  Manderkarr searched the body, hoping for daggers.  He found a dagger, and two pouches.
            On the tower, Seth threw the dagger into the air.  Flower saw the dagger and said the signal had been given.  “Catch me, demon, demon, demon!” she yelled to Issic, then she leaped out of the tree.
            Issic took the daggers and two pouches and said, “Let's go!  They must need help!”  Issic did not hear Flower, so she plummeted to the ground without anyone to catch her.
            Shanagra ran across the intervening distance and clambered up the ropes.  “Charge!” he yelled.  Everyone ran to the tower and went up the ropes.
            When Shanagra made it up Seth said, “Thanks for the dagger, but I have my own.”  Shanagra took the dagger up.  Seth said, “Help yourselves to the shack.”
            Manderkarr pulled up the ropes, “Can't have any signs behind for an ambush this way.  In the name of the dwarven nation, I claim this tower!”
            Seth went over to the trap door while Manderkarr and Flower broke arrows in the shack.   Seth lifted the door and the door exploded with a loud bang.  Seth was thrown to across the tower, almost off of it.  
            “I think they now know we're here, might as well make my presence known in person,” said Manderkarr.  A wolf suddenly leapt out of the resulting hole in the floor.  Issic swung his two handed sword.  Manderkarr prepared to charge the wolf in case Issic missed.  The two handed weapon connected with the wolf, doing him no damage, but flipping him off the roof.
            Shanagra knelt next to Seth and laid his hands on him, muttering an invocation to Mother Nature. 
            Seth groaned, “Thanks old friend.”
            Issic and Manderkarr looked to see if any more wolves were coming up.  None appeared to be.  Flower looked off the tower to see if she could see the wolf, but could not.  She was glad they pulled the ropes up.
            Shanagra motioned for Issic and Manderkarr to take the lead down the steps revealed by the blown up trap door.  Manderkarr went first.  Shanagra asked Adas to wait on the roof, both as back up and to make sure the werewolf they knocked off the tower didn’t find a way to climb back up and bite them in their collective butts.
            Seth started down, saying to Shanagra, “Better I take that blast than Flower.”  The steps were made of wood and went down about six feet into the attic.  The attic was dusty and cluttered with chests and odds and ends.  The only clear path led to another trap door.  It seemed to be the path the archers took to and from the roof.
            They saw no traps, but their footsteps were loud on the wooden floor.  Manderkarr went to the trapdoor and listened closely.
            “Lets use a triprope so when they come running threw the door they will trip,” suggested Flower.  Manderkarr shushed her and listened again.  He signaled that they had company, more than one.
            The sounds below were shuffling, as though people were trying to be quiet, waiting for them to come down.  Shanagra whispered that they may have pikes or something to hack at their legs as we step down the stairs.  Manderkarr tried to determine how sturdy the floor was.  He decided it was reasonably sturdy, but it sure wasn’t made by dwarves.
            “Why not just set the place on fire and let them all burn?” said Issic.
            “Well, I can do this the hard way or ya'll can come up with an easy one.  What'll be?” said Manderkarr. “I likes the demon's suggestion.  Burn it down and let the Gods sort out the pieces!”
            “If we burn the place we should be ready outside to grab the person we want in the confusion,” said Flower.
            Shanagra said, “Because then we won't know what he is up to, whether he deserves to die, or whether the town deserved to be destroyed, or what evils he has brewed up this close to these Angustian ruins.”
            “We did not deserve to be attacked,” said Issic, referring to the bandits earlier.  “He did not ask first.”
            “Better reason to burn first and ask later.  Got any better ideas, Shanagra?” asked Manderkarr.
            “We could send out one of us into the woods so they could chase after the one and the others could do what needs done here.  I bet I can outrun them,” said Flower.
            “I leave it up to you all.  Lets vote.  Burn, or look for an alternative plan?” said Shanagra.
            “I'm all ears if you'uns got other ideas, but we ain't exactly got a lot of time and we're in hostile territory,” said Manderkarr.
            “I can warp the wooden rafters holding the floor up, until this floor, and us, crash ontop of whoever is below us,” said Shanagra.
            Flower looked up at Shanagra,  “You can?”
            “That's more like it, remove the beams and let 'er fall.  We'll teach these humans to use wood to build!” said Manderkarr, a gleam in his eyes.
            Shanagra said, “Let's vote.  Issic?  Seth?”
            Seth said, “Lets not burn, we might catch the forest on fire.” Flower smiled at Seth.  Seth smiled back and said, “I may not be an elf, but I still would protect the forests til the death.”
            “Warp and war!” exclaimed Manderkarr.
            “Burn or warp; it makes no difference to me,” said Issic, a wall sitter by nature.
            “Should I be a distraction?” asked Flower, “or stay with you?”
            “Hang on missy, tie ya my rope on the roof above,” said Manderkarr.  He prepared for the floor to give way.  Issic moved to the wall.  Flower grabbed onto a wall fixture.
            Shanagra knelt down.  "If you don't want to fall, I would get over to the walls."  He pressed his hands to the floor and began his incantation, summoning the power of nature around him, directing the powers into the wood, explaining to Mother his need.  They all heard the wood starting to pop and crack as it started to warp.  The floor shook.  The people below started moving, trying to figure out what is going on. 
            “HO!  Take that you yaller bellied dogs!”  yelled Manderkarr.  “YEEEHAAA!”
            Suddenly, the floor gave out and crashed down to the floor beneath.  Dust exploded upward as boxes, crates, Shanagra, and chests crashed down with the timbers.
            “To hell with you, dogs!” cried Manderkarr.
            They heard cries of pain.  Bloodied, Shanagra stood amid the rubble when the dust cleared.  Two dead guards were at his feet.  Issic jumped down next to Shanagra.  Shanagra held his arms out to catch Flower should she wish to leap down.  Flower shook her head, prefering to stay a wall-flower because she figures more guards will come in a second.  Then she changed her mind and leapt down into Shanagra’s arms.  He caught her and gave her a hug before setting her down amid the debris.
            “What a ride, let's do it again!” said Manderkarr.  Seth prayed to Mother to keep their souls.  “I hate death,” he commented.
            “Death of evil is never nothing to be sad about, Seth,” said Manderkarr.
            “We don't know who these people are, just what Adas said,” retorted Seth.
            “True,” said Shanagra.  Shanagra kicked aside the lumber to find another stairway.  “Summon call Adas down here.”

Finished Campaigns in Inzeladun | The Adventures of The Unknown 3 | The Adventures of The Unknown 5

________________________________________________________________________

Current Events In Inzeladun:  Yodfah tried to take revenge on the cutthroats who caused his fall from grace in Muluk (Zakhara).  They battled ghouls and then went on a futile search for Yodfah. (spring, 10-22 Artim) (See AlQadim02 for more details)
                Issu’l took an interest in the doings of the Guardians and targeted them for immediate termination (and possible digestion.  Iss’ul is rumored to be so evil that he is cannibal).  He prepared plans to bring them to his new citadel in Alisander.  Having successfully destroyed Sir Xavier, he now planned the next assassination.
                Stuck in a stormcloud, the Guardians were attacked by the Angels of Yam ibn Saud.  Defeating them they stood poised to attack Alisander (see Nash 25 for more details) (spring, 14-20 Artim)
                For the next five weeks, Amren researched a spell at Istilawikanah During that time Grindill cast his second spell.  The city of Catemar was moved to a prepared place underneath Tsareth’s palace in a massive cavern on Golgaryllgar.  (spring 21 Artim through summer 25 Eul).